Irish Football

Well, tomorrow is the first ND home game, and after winning two games on the road against (arguably) respectable opponents, the atmosphere here is bound to be high spirited and all-around crazy. I skipped out on the big pep rally this afternoon, but I did get to see the ND band perform and rally the cheers of students and visiting alums alike. Emily regaled me with stories of the band (she's a band alum from her undergrad days at ND), and we discussed everything from the personality traits associated with various instruments to why all the tuba players are named Hank.

It'll also be my first time attending a game here at ND (Unlike last year, this time around I bought season tickets. All the cool kids were doing it. I decided to draw the line when they started talking about some bridge off of which they were planning on jumping. I'm not that much of a lemming.) ND is playing Michigan State, so all the fans who have balked against the new "The Shirt" (because it's yellow) will show up in green. Granted it's probably a different shade of green as compared to Michigan State's colors, but it's still going to be a bit weird.

Hopefully Michigan State will put up a good but ultimately futile fight. After the game, one of my 2L classmates, Dmytro, is hosting a big party. Apparently jello wrestling is to be one of the featured events. Since Brendan will undoubtedly be there, camera in tow, to document the festivities, I strongly encourage anyone contemplating a future in public office not to participate.

Mixed results

It's been a day of highs and lows for an Irish Buckeye.

First, the Irish pulled off a 17-10 victory over that team up north. ND's proving to be quite a team this year, winning its first two games, both on the road. The Irish defense looked particularly good today. After this game, all I needed was for my alma mater to win to seal a very nice college football trifecta.

But Ohio State just lost a very close game to #2 Texas. A record crowd turned out to see the night game at the 'Shoe, and the Buckeyes led for most of the game. But the team seemed to self-destruct in the last few minutes of play, allowing OSU to, as Derek might say, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. OSU's defense played very well, but the offense struggled. Still, with just over two minutes to play, all OSU needed was to get down the field and score a field goal. But it wasn't to be as OSU's one turnover of the game, a fumble by Zwick, pretty much sealed the game's fate. OSU's tough loss, combined with losses by Michigan and Iowa today, made it a rough day for the Big Ten.

Still, it was a great day of football. ND won, and even though OSU lost, it was a good, close game.

Return of the sprinklers

Yes, the dreaded scourge has returned to the campus of Notre Dame, and with a vengence. After lulling us into a false sense of security by not popping up during the first two weeks of classes, these watery menaces have once again reared their ugly heads. Be it morning, noon, or night, none are safe from the sprinklers. As always, they are not content to merely water the grass; they insist on cutting off pathways and flooding low-lying sidewalks. And while I've been mostly successful in navigating these misty obstacle courses (due in part to practice in the dungeons of Super Mario Bros.), one never knows when one will be ambushed by a particularly cunning sprinkler head's surprise attack.

Yes, the well groomed green lawns of Notre Dame are a sight to behold and make for attractive recruiting posters. Parents and alumni love to see the magnificent grounds. But lurking below the surface lies the sinister truth -- the sprinklers are waiting...

Mr. Loy, our new celebrity...

Although he hardly needs any additionaly publicity, my fellow classmate Brendan Loy (how cool is it to have your own Wikipedia entry?!) has hit the big time. As many of my readership are undoubtedly aware, Brendan runs a little blog during spare moments here at NDLS. His blogging efforts ran full force during the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit. His site was a remarkable repository of news, links, and insightful commentary. His blog garnered a lot of attention, and traffic at his site soared (in fact, he's had to switch to a back-up site due to all of the web traffic).

He's already been on several radio talk shows, been the subject of several newspaper stories -- both local and national -- and recently appeared on MSNBC. They're all running with the tagline that he's a self-described "weather nerd" who tried to warn of Katrina's landfall while government officials dropped the ball. To see some of the press he's received, look here.

Anyway, a hearty congrats to Brendan on his success, though I'm sure we all wish it could come at a happier, less tragic time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

In addition to surving her first week of law school, Honor turns 21 today! Though I wish I could be in Boston to help celebrate, I'm there in spirit as you and your classmates enjoy spirits.

(Ba-dum-bum-ching... yes, that was bad, I know.)

Once again, Happy Birthday! All visitors feel free to leave Honor a message in the comments.

A long overdue post

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, I promise. But my first semester of 2L has picked up a bit, and I've been pretty busy with that. And when I'm done working, it's been difficult to muster the energy to think of something interesting to write here.

A couple of big events warrant mentioning, though. First off, a little bit of college football. Last weekend was the season opener for both ND and OSU. And as those of you who follow such things already know, both teams won. Though he doesn't have a recap of the game, Derek was there. For an interesting description of the trials and tribulations of attending a game at the 'Shoe, see this recap from a recent alum (worth a read even if you're not a football fan). I didn't watch the OSU game, but I did get together with a few friends to watch ND beat Pitt. Although it got off to a rough start, ND ultimately prevailed with a whopping 42-21 victory. Both OSU and ND have tough games tomorrow: ND faces Michigan (boo, hiss), while OSU faces #2 Texas. Brooke is throwing a little get-together for the game tomorrow, so we'll be rooting for the Irish. Hopefully I'll be able to catch some of the OSU game later.

On Thursday, Brooke, Kristine, Meghan, and I joined Professor Dutile and his wife for dinner at the University Club. We had bid on this dinner last spring at the Women's Legal Forum auction, and finally got around to scheduling it. I had a blast. Prof. Dutile was his typical hysterical self. His wife is a wonderful woman and very engaging. The food was really good too. We talked about everything from Hurricane Katrina to Crim Law (albeit sparingly) to each of our respective backgrounds. It was a lot of fun, and I'll be looking to bid for the dinner again if it's offered this year.

As for a few more mundane matters... classes are going well. Trial Ad remains fairly intensive, as we've now received our cases for the trials next month. Kristine and I will be working together on a criminal case, for the prosecution (that sound you hear is Derek's jaw dropping open in disbelief). It's an interesting case, but we've been busy rewriting portions of it to conform to a gender switch between the perpetrator and the victim. (I'll leave the "alleged" tag to the defense attorneys.) Cyberlaw remains very interesting, and I've started to do a little background research into topics on which I might write my paper. Evidence hasn't been quite as thrilling as I expected, though I'm sure it'll pick up soon. It is interesting to see how things really are, and just how bad some of the evidentiary objections/arguments were back in mock trial (though I'm still a big fan of 404(b) -- prior wrongs/acts not admissible to show conformity of action therewith -- what can I say, I'm a dork). And then there's Moot Court Appellate. It's a big class, much bigger than I anticipated. It's a one credit pass/fail class, but it's also a competition for ten spots on next year's Moot Court teams. It looks like an interesting case, though I'll be representing the side that I don't really agree with at the moment.

Beyond classes, OCIs have been progressing along. I've had a few interviews and some more coming up, but that's all I'm going to say here.

All systems operational

My new power cord arrived today, and I am now officially back online. Score one for Dell tech support. That's it for now. More posts to come soon.

Technical difficulties... please stand by

I had intended to be a bit more active in posting, but I've been temporarily derailed. For no apparent reason, yesterday the AC adaptor to my laptop stopped working. I've gone low-lech for the next few days until a replacement is sent. (I'm currently posting this from the law school computer lab.)

Fortunately, that should be pretty soon. I called Dell support yesterday and with any luck they've already shipped a new power cord my way. As much as some people may complain about technical support lines, Dell was pretty good about the whole thing. Sure, I may have been talking to someone in Mumbai, but if Dell still manages to get me a replacement part without much delay, I'm happy with their service. And I won't even quibble over how long they kept me on hold listening to muzak.

With any luck, I'll be up and running by Friday, and I promise a new post about something soon thereafter. Until then, feel free to browse some of my friends' blogs at the right. In particular, Brendan has been posting excellent coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath in New Orleans.

Back in the trenches

Yeah, I know, it's been a while.

Classes have started back up here at NDLS. I survived the intensive week of Trial Ad, and even had a lot of fun doing it. It was just like mock trial all over again... only there are a few things I need to change ("You must unlearn what you have learned") -- those bad habits that mock trial teaches you because it's more about performance (Razzle Dazzle...) than actual trial work. Still, there's an undeniable thrill of giving an opening or closing, or getting up to do your cross examination, or even make a clever point on redirect. Good times.

It feels a bit strange being a 2L. All of a sudden there are a bunch of 1Ls running around, and they look pretty stressed out about law school already. It's hard to imagine I was the same way last year. The rest of the law school tends to look upon the 1Ls with something like bemusement. Classes seem less stressful now, in part because we know what to expect, and (at least for me) in part because we weren't assigned much reading for the first class. Both of my classes today, for example, were the "hand out the syllabus and introduce the course" variety as opposed to the "let's get started, Mr. Ho will you discuss the first case" variety. In short, very different from the typical 1L first class scenario. It's nice to be able to ease back into the law school groove.

That's not to say that 2Ls aren't experiencing their own brand of stress. Interview season has begun, so there are 2Ls dashing around in suits interviewing for a position in nine months that may lead to an actual job twenty-one months from now. You know, something that will help pay off the mountains of debt we're all accumulating. It doesn't matter that we've barely started our second year of law school, we're expected to land a job now. No pressure, or anything.

I'm pretty excited about my class lineup for this semester. In addition to Intensive Trial Ad, I'm also taking Evidence, Cyberlaw, Business Associations (BA), and Moot Court Appellate. I'm in class by 8:30 everyday, but at least I finish early (9:50 am) on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Finally, it's been nice to reconnect with my classmates. And instead of seeing everyone at once, I've been catching up with my comrades in arms a few at a time over the past few times. It's pretty much just as you'd expect a sequel to reintoduce the main characters. Everyone seems to have had a great summer, and most people seem happy to be back. Of course that will likely change a bit as soon as the good weather is replaced by snow and howling winds cutting across the South Bend tundra...

Chauvinistic Chocolate?

This is a chocolate candy bar that they sell out of vending machines here in London. Seriously, who in marketing thought this was a good idea? Doesn't this exclude a large portion of the typical target demographic for chocolate? Or is this a blatant attempt at reverse psychology, a ruse designed to ensure that women actually buy it? Is the idea to create an artificial demand based on the premise that people always seem to want what they can't have?

Sing a song of...

...none the richer.

My apologies for this really bad before and after.

Return to space

The Space Shuttle Discovery had a successful liftoff today. Despite numerous glitches and delays over the past two weeks, it was by all accounts a picture perfect launch. Discovery's launch marks the first shuttle launch in over two years; NASA had grounded the shuttle since the Columbia disaster in Feruary 2003. Discovery is set to conduct a number of experiments and rendezvous with the International Space Station to drop off supplies and perform repairs. The mission will last 12 days.

Full story here and here.

UPDATE: Not so perfect? NASA is currently analyzing some video footage that appears to show debris falling off Discovery during liftoff. First reports suggest that none of the debris hit Discovery. Falling debris hitting the shuttle during launch has been blamed for the Columbia's destruction as it reentered Earth's atmosphere. More details on the debris at CNN.

UPDATE 2: Pictures here.

UPDATE 3: More (and better) pictures here, including a photo of the shuttle hitting a bird during takeoff.

Another incident in London

There have been additional "incidents" in London this afternoon. Three Tube stations have been evacuated, and there are reports of another incident on a bus. No reports of injuries thus far, which is a relief. The BBC is speculating that these may have been "dummy explosions." Eyewitnesses have reported hearing explosions and smelling smoke. There's also been one report of shattered windows on the bus.

Once again I was at the school as all this transpired. I was actually about to head home when I heard the news. I'll stick around here for a little bit to see if I can learn more. For more, click here.

It's been two weeks to the day since the three Underground explosions and the explosion on the bus in Tavistock Square.


UPDATE: BBC now reports one injury. They're now describing the incident as "minor blasts."

UPDATE 2: There have been reports of armed officers surrounding University College Hospital. BBC reports that one of the suspects (involved in the Warren Street Tube Station incident) may have escaped there.

Tony Blair has met with the COBRA committee (COBRA = Cabinet Office Briefing Room A), the UK government emergency-response team, and expected to give a statement soon.

UPDATE 3: A man has been arrested outside Whitehall, which has just been cordoned off. Whitehall is very close to Downing Street, and in particular, the Ministry of Defense Building. There are not many details at this point.

UPDATE 4: Tony Blair is now speaking. It doesn't sound like he has any more information than anyone else; he's asking the reporters to direct their questions to police and emergency personnel. Blair is urging calm, and states that he will return to his daily schedule. Blair was meeting with the Australian prime minister when the incident occurred.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is now making a few remarks, explaining that terrorism is a global problem that threatens all free countries. He's also pledging Australia's support.

UPDATE 5: It seems everything is under control, though there still aren't many answers. Everyone's been encouraged to go back about their business, so I'm going to head back to the dorm. If I hear more I'll post further updates.

A few quick notes

Tavistock Square is once again open to traffic. We no longer need to carry passes to get back into our building.

Today, I went on a walking tour entitled 'Legal London.' It was arranged by the school and was very good. Alas, I did not have my camera along at the time. But I plan to recreate the tour in a few days and snap all the pictures I would have taken had I brought along my camera (and had the time to take all the pictures I wanted). Look for that in a few days.

Additionally, since a few people have asked, here's a rough idea of my post-London plans:
August 4: arrive in Columbus ~ 3:30 pm.
August 4-12: in Ohio; plans unsettled, but bound to include seeing Honor, catching up with friends, and preparing for 2L
August 5: my birthday; festivities TBA
August 12: drive to South Bend, move back into Fischer
August 12-13: reacclimate to living in South Bend
August 14: Trial Ad Intensive starts, kicking off 2L a week early

For additional information, leave a comment or email me.

And so it begins...

President Shrub has nominated John G. Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy caused by Sandra Day O'Connor's recently announced retirement. I usually try to keep this site apolitical, but if anyone wants to start a discussion in the comments, I'd be happy to use it as a forum and share thoughts on the matter.

Quote of the Day

"Al[ex], if I ever run for a political office, I am going to hire you. I can't count the number of times that I've tried to make a point, only to have you say, 'What Derek meant to say was...' and be totally right."

I'm flattered, D.

Harry Potter Geekiness

July 16th is a big day here in London, as it marks the release of the sixth Harry Potter book. And because people are inherently impatient, that means that no one can wait until business hours and instead insist on getting the book as soon as the day officially begins -- 12:01 am. Not that I'm criticizing this, mind you. After all, this is coming from the guy who twice waited in line outside overnight for Star Wars tickets and saw the two most recent Star Wars movies at 12:01 showings. So keeping with such geeky tradition, I was among those who lined up to get the latest Harry Potter book.

After all, this is the country that spawned the series. It only seems fitting to join in on all the hoopla. When in Rome, and all that (only, of course, in London). A lot of bookstores were doing the midnight promotion, but we (that's Liz and I) decided to do this in style. We headed down to Piccadilly Circus to Europe's largest bookstore, Waterstone's. The queue wasn't nearly as long as we expected, and there weren't too many people dressed up for the occasion (actually, I think more Waterstone's employees were dressed up than customers). There was one group of very spirited and vocal young ladies ahead of us in line, but all in all it was a fairly calm affair. One of the highlights of waiting in line was that we got free Waterstone's ponchos (a glorified garbage bag, really) that people could wear while standing in the queue. If you used your imagination, you could consider us a large group of dementors. Or it can double as a Nazgul costume for your next LOTR party.

Waterstone's also organized the event very well. The queue moved about in an orderly fashion. There were no mobs, no chaos, no generalized pandamonium. Once they opened the doors and the line started moving, I was able to get in, purchase my book, and get out very quickly. And now I'm among the first to own the book, hours ahead of everyone home in the States. Ha!

The walk back was particularly entertaining since Liz and I decided to wear our garbage bags home. The number of looks and comments we got (all good-natured) was really quite amusing.

Pictures of it all are here.

New Pictures Up

I've posted another round of pictures, which detail an outing from last week. I had originally trekked out to St. Paul's Cathedral to see Kofi Annan speak, but wasn't able to get in. Instead, I went with a few other people to explore some of the South Bank and see the Tower Bridge.

New Information

Okay, so no sooner do I make a post indicating that the authorities had ruled out the involvement of suicide bombers, the story did a complete 180. They now think that last Thursday's blasts were the result of suicide bombers. Evidence collected at the scenes, searches at other locations, and CCTV footage have led authorities to conclude that the men responsible for the attack were British nationals. Personal belongings of three of the four men were recovered from blasts sites. Those three are presumed to be dead, but authorities are not certain of the fate of the fourth man.

I have to add a quick note here. I don't mean to be overly morbid, but just because they've found belongings of these men doesn't strike me as conclusive proof that the men themselves are dead. Is there any physical proof that these men actually perished in the explosions? One might argue that leaving personal belongings suggests that the attack was a suicide bombing because otherwise the belongings would point to the perpetrators. But if it leads authorities to assume you're dead, what better way to get away with it? Using a false identity (combined with substantial alterations to appearance -- after all, they've been spotted on CCTV), it would now become much easier to get out of the country if you're presumed to be dead.

Anyway, that's the latest. You can read the full story here.

Quick Update

A measure of normalcy has returned as everyone settles back into the day-to-day routine of classes. Some people spent the weekend abroad, visiting other European cities, but many of us were more or less holed up in Connaught Hall for the weekend. Tavistock Square is still cordoned off so that the police can conduct forensic examinations. There's no official word on how long this will take. Until then, we are now issued day passes so that we can come and go from the dorms. There are signs posted asking all residents to return by 11 pm, but I'm not sure how strictly that policy is being enforced.

London seems to have returned to business as usual. While last week's bombings immediately draw comparisons to 9/11, there is a marked difference in reaction. Part of this may be due to the famed British stoicism, but there are other factors to consider. Londoners are more familiar with this kind of terrorism from dealing with the IRA. After 9/11, many countries have created plans for dealing with such attacks. Finally, the scale of the operation was much smaller than the 9/11 attack.

As of yet authorities have not found those responsible for last Thursday's bombings. They have ruled out suicide bombers as the culprits, so the terrorists are still at large. It is unclear whether they are still in London, but the threat level has been elevated and some are concerned that additional attacks may occur if the terrorists are not found. As a result there have been a number of false alarms over the past few days. Nevertheless, we're getting by okay. One always hopes for some excitement when traveling abroad, but this is one type of excitement I could definitely do without.