I have to appologize for the lack of updates. It has been a busy semester.
The wedding is planned for Memorial day weekend this spring. More on that later.
Jake is growing like a weed an chewing up everything he can get his mouth on.
Studying for finals now. Evidence is killing me.
Time is tight. I shouldn't even be typing this now. So look for updates after finals are over.
Peace - out.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Princpal's office
This guy is the principal at the high school where one of my class mates attended.
I guess getting sent to the principal's office at this school was ...
Well, just read the story
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1101071principal1.html
I guess getting sent to the principal's office at this school was ...
Well, just read the story
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1101071principal1.html
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Halloween at Law School
Halloween at school
My Remedies professor passes out candy.
To keep with the law school theme it is “Smarties” and “DumDums”.
Keeping with the grading curve…
There were twice as many DumDums as Smarties.
My Remedies professor passes out candy.
To keep with the law school theme it is “Smarties” and “DumDums”.
Keeping with the grading curve…
There were twice as many DumDums as Smarties.
You know a case is bad when it starts off like this...
Blachy v. Butcher 221 F.3d 896
The first paragraph of the opinion says:
Even a diabolical bar examiner would be reluctant to impose this case's complex mixture of subject matter jurisdiction, fraud, real estate, marital property, bankruptcy, tax liens, contributory negligence, equitable remedies, and civil procedure upon hapless law school graduates. Because reality often marches in where creators of hypotheticals fear to tread, however, we are the “hapless” appellate court judges obliged to struggle with this twisted tale of truelife conflict.
The first paragraph of the opinion says:
Even a diabolical bar examiner would be reluctant to impose this case's complex mixture of subject matter jurisdiction, fraud, real estate, marital property, bankruptcy, tax liens, contributory negligence, equitable remedies, and civil procedure upon hapless law school graduates. Because reality often marches in where creators of hypotheticals fear to tread, however, we are the “hapless” appellate court judges obliged to struggle with this twisted tale of truelife conflict.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Bar Passage rate
By the way.
The bar results came out the other day.
I forgot to mention that the bar passage rate for first time takers from The Thomas Goode Jones School of Law for the June Alabama Bar exam was 92.7%.
We didn't exactly smoke everyone this time. But that is a respectable number.
Congrat's to everyone that made it.
The bar results came out the other day.
I forgot to mention that the bar passage rate for first time takers from The Thomas Goode Jones School of Law for the June Alabama Bar exam was 92.7%.
We didn't exactly smoke everyone this time. But that is a respectable number.
Congrat's to everyone that made it.
Jake update - A not so proud moment in puppy's life
Jake has picked up a new habit. A very unsightly and unwelcome habit.
Humping.
He has humped a stuffed bear animal a few times over the past week or two. And I saw him humping the neighbor boy dog’s head. I laughed it off.
Nothing to worry about right.
Or so I thought.
Today Crystal was busy putting together the new house and looked up just in time to see Jake playing a little rough with the neighbor kid.
And then he humped him.
She stopped him. She whipped him and yelled at him.
Then he humped the kid again…
And then he ate the kid’s pop tart.
How humiliating. I think the kid will probably be in some sort of therapy for some time.
So…
Jake has now committed a tort and may possibly have to register as a sex offender.
I thought that when Crystal caught him running through the house with a pair of panties that it was just because he got into the laundry that needed to be folded.
It hindsight it may have been a warning sign.
Let me get this straight. My dog has now shown propensity to be a homosexual pedophilic cross dressing rapist. And apparently a repeat offender.
Not good.
What’s next? The future looks bleak. Jake hanging out at the local fire hydrant looking for a pick up. Bailing him out of the pound when the gay dog club gets raided. Puppy Porn. Doing tricks for a bone (yes, even hick southern law students know about the use of the double entendre).
This whole humping thing has got to come to a very quick halt or Crystal’s neighbors are going to shoot the dog.
I was wondering if neutering him would stop the behavior but when I tried looking it up on the internet all I got were links to discussion board websites. Each one praised the values of spaying and neutering (mainly these were lengthy diatribes on keeping the unwanted pet population down).
Look, I don’t really care what someone’s opinion is. I want hard scientific data with percentages and graphs. Is neutering the animal going to keep this from occurring, or is it too late? If the habit is already formed why would I spend a bunch of money on getting him fixed?
What little information I did find was of little help and was reprinted again and again as if the authors of the websites had written it themselves. In actuality they had copied an article and plagiarized it. Being a law student I know that they need to at least cite where it came from. But then again nobody is checking their work for typographical errors or if it follows “Blue Book” guidelines. (Although occasionally some jerk will send an email letting me know about one of mine.)
Well, we still don’t know if getting Jake fixed will stop him from humping.
Humping.
He has humped a stuffed bear animal a few times over the past week or two. And I saw him humping the neighbor boy dog’s head. I laughed it off.
Nothing to worry about right.
Or so I thought.
Today Crystal was busy putting together the new house and looked up just in time to see Jake playing a little rough with the neighbor kid.
And then he humped him.
She stopped him. She whipped him and yelled at him.
Then he humped the kid again…
And then he ate the kid’s pop tart.
How humiliating. I think the kid will probably be in some sort of therapy for some time.
So…
Jake has now committed a tort and may possibly have to register as a sex offender.
I thought that when Crystal caught him running through the house with a pair of panties that it was just because he got into the laundry that needed to be folded.
It hindsight it may have been a warning sign.
Let me get this straight. My dog has now shown propensity to be a homosexual pedophilic cross dressing rapist. And apparently a repeat offender.
Not good.
What’s next? The future looks bleak. Jake hanging out at the local fire hydrant looking for a pick up. Bailing him out of the pound when the gay dog club gets raided. Puppy Porn. Doing tricks for a bone (yes, even hick southern law students know about the use of the double entendre).
This whole humping thing has got to come to a very quick halt or Crystal’s neighbors are going to shoot the dog.
I was wondering if neutering him would stop the behavior but when I tried looking it up on the internet all I got were links to discussion board websites. Each one praised the values of spaying and neutering (mainly these were lengthy diatribes on keeping the unwanted pet population down).
Look, I don’t really care what someone’s opinion is. I want hard scientific data with percentages and graphs. Is neutering the animal going to keep this from occurring, or is it too late? If the habit is already formed why would I spend a bunch of money on getting him fixed?
What little information I did find was of little help and was reprinted again and again as if the authors of the websites had written it themselves. In actuality they had copied an article and plagiarized it. Being a law student I know that they need to at least cite where it came from. But then again nobody is checking their work for typographical errors or if it follows “Blue Book” guidelines. (Although occasionally some jerk will send an email letting me know about one of mine.)
Well, we still don’t know if getting Jake fixed will stop him from humping.
So what did we learn today?
1. Jake is a sex crime offender.
2. The internet can be a place with more useless self repeating drivel then useful information. And no one cites where they get their information.
3. If you are a kid with a dog with a propensity for humping coming at ya – Run! And at all costs…
Protect your pop tart.
1. Jake is a sex crime offender.
2. The internet can be a place with more useless self repeating drivel then useful information. And no one cites where they get their information.
3. If you are a kid with a dog with a propensity for humping coming at ya – Run! And at all costs…
Protect your pop tart.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Jake update - dead animals - muddy kids - gnawed valuables
Crystal is moving into a new house. This weekend we spent the majority of our time painting and cleaning and moving. There was an entire team of people putting down flooring, putting up blinds, and all of the other stuff that you do when you move into anew house. Many of these are friends and family, so they brought along their kids. Jake really liked that. I’m not always a big fan of other people’s kids, but Jake generally likes them if they run and yell and don’t pull his tale too much. He is a good dog with kids.
Early in the day Jake and the kids discovered the pond behind the house and played in the mud and muck. Actually I think one of the kids had stepped out of a flip flop shoe and was a little too slow in retrieving it. Jake was quicker. After all, he is a retriever. Never the less the kid was in hot pursuit but Jake had about 3 steps on him and was thoroughly enjoying this game of chase. The chase ended in the pond with the shoe being taken back (I’m sure that a tug-a-war went on because he likes that game too). Anyway, Jake and little kid and the flip flop in question were hosed off in the front yard sometime around mid morning.
The next surprise was somewhere around noon.
The next door neighbor’s kids had left a stuffed animal in the yard. Jake found it and being a retriever, he retrieved it. Now take into consideration that this particular stuffed animal was in the shape of a mallard duck (green head, yellow feet and all). You should also take into consideration that Jake had probably been outside chewing on this for a good half hour or so before deciding that it should be retrieved to his master.
Now let me set the picture for you.
Several women of varying age are inside the house straitening items, touching up paint, cleaning, etc. and in walks Jake carrying a wet and apparently DEAD and rotting animal.
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. But Jake was not welcome in the house for a while.
We step out for a bite of lunch and figure that Jake has earned the right to stay out of the kennel for a little while because he has been well behaved. That was a mistake. I offer into evidence the photograph below which depicts 8 separate chewed items within a 4 foot radius.
1. Jeffers pet catalog torn into shreds one size too large for the vacuum to pick up.
2. My favorite flip flops. Minus the flip, and great deal of the flop has been chewed away as well.
3. Half eaten copy of “Coastal Living” Magazine
4. Small dust broom – chewed
5. Foot stool – now with chewed up corner
6. Collectors edition cup from the Olympic Horse Park near Atlanta, GA. - chewed
7. Gnawed corner leg of my Grandmother’s coffee table that I spent a week lovingly restoring and refinishing
8. Chewed corner of Oriental Rug
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Nifong update
Apparently I am not the only one that has a puppy with a chewing problem.
Below is a link to the “Smoking Gun” website which has a copy of the Mike Nifong letter in which he is tendering his law license. It explains that his puppy chewed it up and that his name is misspelled.
He never really respected it anyway. Why not give it to Fido as a chewtoy.
Below is a link to the “Smoking Gun” website which has a copy of the Mike Nifong letter in which he is tendering his law license. It explains that his puppy chewed it up and that his name is misspelled.
He never really respected it anyway. Why not give it to Fido as a chewtoy.
Above is the mugshot from his arrest. I can't imagine that he is looking forward to the propect of doing time with people that he has possibly put away with similar tactics as he used in the Duke rape case. Nifong has now become an example of what not to do as a lawyer (even more so as a DA) and a perfect example of the fact that there are good people and bad people on both sides of the badge.
Jake Update
So we started house training Jake. I read about a dozen articles on how to do it. I think that it is just one of those things that you have to do to be able to understand how it works. I ordered a couple of DVDs and bought a book. All of it takes time to do and if my DVDs don’t arrive soon I will have to complain to Ebay.
I read a lot of hype about puppy pads. Here me now and believe me later if you must. If you have a lab, puppy pads are fantastic chew toys that come into exactly one million pieces. You would better off using the pads to dry dishes but they are treated with something to supposedly make the puppy want to do his business on it. They were a waste of money.
We also started some basic retriever training with Jake. By “basic” I mean very basic. He is fetching a tennis ball but has the attention span of a drunk squirrel with A.D.D. If I throw the ball too far he might forget it before he gets to the ball. But he is getting better at it every day. You can see that it makes him happy to please you, but if he finds something he would rather do (or as Crystal’s mom puts it – “Saw something shiny”) you can forget about him finishing the retrieve or coming back to you. I think that it is clear that an electronic collar is in his future because he keeps forgetting his name and has discovered a new game that he likes to call “Chase the puppy into traffic”.
We go through about a leash a week with Jake. It is not because he eats them or anything. We just keep loosing them. On second thought. He eats everything but I have yet to see any silver buckles in his poop.
Even though we tried to choose a unique name for Jake, I recently found out that the most popular name for a retriever is in fact “Jake” Luckily for us we have officially named him “Gatormouth Jake the Wondetriever”. I don’t think that one is taken by the AKC yet. But who knows. His paperwork is being sent in and we will find out.
I read a lot of hype about puppy pads. Here me now and believe me later if you must. If you have a lab, puppy pads are fantastic chew toys that come into exactly one million pieces. You would better off using the pads to dry dishes but they are treated with something to supposedly make the puppy want to do his business on it. They were a waste of money.
We also started some basic retriever training with Jake. By “basic” I mean very basic. He is fetching a tennis ball but has the attention span of a drunk squirrel with A.D.D. If I throw the ball too far he might forget it before he gets to the ball. But he is getting better at it every day. You can see that it makes him happy to please you, but if he finds something he would rather do (or as Crystal’s mom puts it – “Saw something shiny”) you can forget about him finishing the retrieve or coming back to you. I think that it is clear that an electronic collar is in his future because he keeps forgetting his name and has discovered a new game that he likes to call “Chase the puppy into traffic”.
We go through about a leash a week with Jake. It is not because he eats them or anything. We just keep loosing them. On second thought. He eats everything but I have yet to see any silver buckles in his poop.
Even though we tried to choose a unique name for Jake, I recently found out that the most popular name for a retriever is in fact “Jake” Luckily for us we have officially named him “Gatormouth Jake the Wondetriever”. I don’t think that one is taken by the AKC yet. But who knows. His paperwork is being sent in and we will find out.
My classes this semester
Mediation Clinic
The mediation clinic that I am taking this semester consists some basic conflict resolution training and then being thrown to the wolves at the county court house. We divided into teams and will hopefully mediate on average two cases a week per team.
The cases are the run of the mill average “You owe me money.”, “No, don’t!” type of cases. Good examples are: as botched home and auto repairs; debt collection; and the like.
We have about 4 or 5 cases under our belt so far. This is good because after the class and if we can accomplish 10 mediations we can go onto the state’s Certified Mediator list and potentially get paid for mediations. (Not likely but it could happen and after all it looks good on a resume). I think the best thing that comes out of this class and the Alternative Dispute Resolution certificate offered by the law school for completing all 4 of the ADR classes (ADR, interviewing and counseling, arbitration, and the mediation clinic – plus another practical skills requirement) is that we walk out of the school with some pretty solid dispute resolution skills. Plus I have got to watch several of our cases that didn’t work out in mediation go to trial. I have been surprised by the fact that who we thought would win doesn’t necessarily win even though they had the best argument and facts. It just goes to show you that going in front of the judge or jury is always a dice roll. If you can settle the case with something that you can live with (not necessarily like but can live with), you should settle the case.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mentioned above. This class mainly deals with different ways to resolve conflict (the arguments for against each) and the processes. It is part of the ADR certificate program.
The problem with both of these classes is that I don’t know if I will have conflicts with other classes that I need in order to complete the program and get the certificate. If Jones continues it’s not giving preferential class placements to upper class students I might not get the classes that I need to graduate with the certificate. Or graduate on time at all if they screw me just right.
Evidence
This is probably the hardest class in law school and the most important for trial lawyers to know. It is hard. I hope I get the working knowledge that I need. Due to my former status as a part time student I am taking this class with 2Ls. The professor that teaches this class is well known for ridiculously hard exams. But I have seen few professors with such a mastery of the working knowledge of his subject like this guy does. I had the opportunity to take another professor who was guaranted to have an easier class with less work, easier exam, and higher GPA. But I chose the guy who I thought could give me the best edge when I do hit the court room for real. I hope it pays off in the long run and doesn’t bite me in the shorts in the short term.
Remedies
This bad boy is on the bar exam. What I don’t know however, is what this professor’s exam will cover.
Family Law
So far in family law I have learned that:
A. Common law marriage is a crock of BS that should be outlawed and IS in most states. Alabama however remains on the cutting edge of 18th century legal thought and has seen fit to continue to honor these “sham” marriages. This creates an entire network of new problems because pretty much all you need for a common law marriage to stick is 1.) Have the capacity to enter into marriage; 2.) Have the mutual intent to do so; 3.) in a permanent and exclusive manner (not an open marriage). The marriage doesn’t even have to be consummated or even co-habitation. (AL law requires 24 hours).
B. Co-habitation probably means that they can sue you for $
C. Massachusetts didn’t really want to win the same sex marriage case because if they did so the state’s case wouldn’t look like the arguments were came up with by a 4th grader. There were so many more and better arguments that could have been articulated by the state. Thus….
D. Thank god for the defense of marriage act.
E. Legal Separation is for the birds. If you want a divorce, get a freaking divorce already.
The mediation clinic that I am taking this semester consists some basic conflict resolution training and then being thrown to the wolves at the county court house. We divided into teams and will hopefully mediate on average two cases a week per team.
The cases are the run of the mill average “You owe me money.”, “No, don’t!” type of cases. Good examples are: as botched home and auto repairs; debt collection; and the like.
We have about 4 or 5 cases under our belt so far. This is good because after the class and if we can accomplish 10 mediations we can go onto the state’s Certified Mediator list and potentially get paid for mediations. (Not likely but it could happen and after all it looks good on a resume). I think the best thing that comes out of this class and the Alternative Dispute Resolution certificate offered by the law school for completing all 4 of the ADR classes (ADR, interviewing and counseling, arbitration, and the mediation clinic – plus another practical skills requirement) is that we walk out of the school with some pretty solid dispute resolution skills. Plus I have got to watch several of our cases that didn’t work out in mediation go to trial. I have been surprised by the fact that who we thought would win doesn’t necessarily win even though they had the best argument and facts. It just goes to show you that going in front of the judge or jury is always a dice roll. If you can settle the case with something that you can live with (not necessarily like but can live with), you should settle the case.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mentioned above. This class mainly deals with different ways to resolve conflict (the arguments for against each) and the processes. It is part of the ADR certificate program.
The problem with both of these classes is that I don’t know if I will have conflicts with other classes that I need in order to complete the program and get the certificate. If Jones continues it’s not giving preferential class placements to upper class students I might not get the classes that I need to graduate with the certificate. Or graduate on time at all if they screw me just right.
Evidence
This is probably the hardest class in law school and the most important for trial lawyers to know. It is hard. I hope I get the working knowledge that I need. Due to my former status as a part time student I am taking this class with 2Ls. The professor that teaches this class is well known for ridiculously hard exams. But I have seen few professors with such a mastery of the working knowledge of his subject like this guy does. I had the opportunity to take another professor who was guaranted to have an easier class with less work, easier exam, and higher GPA. But I chose the guy who I thought could give me the best edge when I do hit the court room for real. I hope it pays off in the long run and doesn’t bite me in the shorts in the short term.
Remedies
This bad boy is on the bar exam. What I don’t know however, is what this professor’s exam will cover.
Family Law
So far in family law I have learned that:
A. Common law marriage is a crock of BS that should be outlawed and IS in most states. Alabama however remains on the cutting edge of 18th century legal thought and has seen fit to continue to honor these “sham” marriages. This creates an entire network of new problems because pretty much all you need for a common law marriage to stick is 1.) Have the capacity to enter into marriage; 2.) Have the mutual intent to do so; 3.) in a permanent and exclusive manner (not an open marriage). The marriage doesn’t even have to be consummated or even co-habitation. (AL law requires 24 hours).
B. Co-habitation probably means that they can sue you for $
C. Massachusetts didn’t really want to win the same sex marriage case because if they did so the state’s case wouldn’t look like the arguments were came up with by a 4th grader. There were so many more and better arguments that could have been articulated by the state. Thus….
D. Thank god for the defense of marriage act.
E. Legal Separation is for the birds. If you want a divorce, get a freaking divorce already.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
At last! An update!
I guess that it being so long in between updates that I have lost a lot of my readers.
The fact is that I have been so busy that I have not really updated like I should. I mean, come on. This is a blog about law school. Or is it.
I have questioned myself as to what exactly this thing is. And the answer is that I don’t know.
But I guess the best thing to do is put some updates up so that you can know what is going on with me and at the law school and law school life in general.
Ok so here is a personal update:
Jake the puppy (mentioned in an earlier post) continues to grow at an exponential rate. It is funny how I don’t seem to notice this but people who only get to seem him every week or so really are amazed at how fast he is growing. I started noticing when I picked him up the other day and he was much heavier than I remember. Plus he occasionally has an accident inside (occasionally Ha! – it is a constant battle – I am trying to crate train / house break him). These “little” accidents look more like a fat man snuck in and took a stinker on the rug. I am amazed that an animal that small can leave a pile that big. I have decided that it can't be him doing it. It is obviously someone sneaking in and playing a practical joke on me. I would blame it on my girlfriend but the pile is occasionally larger than she is and I don’t think she has a wheel barrow to bring that much dung up the stairs.
We (me and Crystal) have been spending a lot of time on weekends at her family’s barn and at horse shows. (We took Jake and he got more attention that most of the horses. I think I am going to take a litter of muts to the next show and see how much I can sell them to for. Come on. If daddy will buy his little princes a pony what is stopping him from peeling off a couple of hundred for a puppy.
Q: “Do they come with papers?”
A: “Sure, you get your choice of USA today or the Wal-Street journal.”)
Who knows. Maybe I can pay off my student loans.
I started learning how to ride a horse. I mean most people can ride a horse in the sense that you sit on top of it and as long as you don’t fall off you can say that you can ride a horse. I’m talking about riding it the right way. The way you control a American Saddlebred show horse and the way you control an old trail riding nag are as different as driving a car and driving a car with a stick shift. The idea is the same, but the way it works takes a lot more to learn much less master. We took break from this until after the show season ends next week but…
Here is a picture of Crystal giving me some pointers. By the way, the horse’s name is "Lilly".
The fact is that I have been so busy that I have not really updated like I should. I mean, come on. This is a blog about law school. Or is it.
I have questioned myself as to what exactly this thing is. And the answer is that I don’t know.
But I guess the best thing to do is put some updates up so that you can know what is going on with me and at the law school and law school life in general.
Ok so here is a personal update:
Jake the puppy (mentioned in an earlier post) continues to grow at an exponential rate. It is funny how I don’t seem to notice this but people who only get to seem him every week or so really are amazed at how fast he is growing. I started noticing when I picked him up the other day and he was much heavier than I remember. Plus he occasionally has an accident inside (occasionally Ha! – it is a constant battle – I am trying to crate train / house break him). These “little” accidents look more like a fat man snuck in and took a stinker on the rug. I am amazed that an animal that small can leave a pile that big. I have decided that it can't be him doing it. It is obviously someone sneaking in and playing a practical joke on me. I would blame it on my girlfriend but the pile is occasionally larger than she is and I don’t think she has a wheel barrow to bring that much dung up the stairs.
We (me and Crystal) have been spending a lot of time on weekends at her family’s barn and at horse shows. (We took Jake and he got more attention that most of the horses. I think I am going to take a litter of muts to the next show and see how much I can sell them to for. Come on. If daddy will buy his little princes a pony what is stopping him from peeling off a couple of hundred for a puppy.
Q: “Do they come with papers?”
A: “Sure, you get your choice of USA today or the Wal-Street journal.”)
Who knows. Maybe I can pay off my student loans.
I started learning how to ride a horse. I mean most people can ride a horse in the sense that you sit on top of it and as long as you don’t fall off you can say that you can ride a horse. I’m talking about riding it the right way. The way you control a American Saddlebred show horse and the way you control an old trail riding nag are as different as driving a car and driving a car with a stick shift. The idea is the same, but the way it works takes a lot more to learn much less master. We took break from this until after the show season ends next week but…
Here is a picture of Crystal giving me some pointers. By the way, the horse’s name is "Lilly".
Speaking of Crystal and the horses. During August we went to the World Championships in Louisville, KY. I showed two of the weanling (less than a year old horses) with Crystal at the World Championships. She didn’t win that class. After watching the video I have decided that it had something to do with me looking like a was fresh off the short bus out there in the show ring with her.
Her and her father showed one of the horses together. It was a 2 year old in hand halter class (this means they led the horse around the ring without a rider and that he is 2 years old). How did they do you ask?
Well they won. That’s right, “I’m in command” (or Junior as we call him) won the class and is now Word Champion.
By the way. If you ask Crystal how many different world championships she has won she will loose count but let’s just say that if your girl friend has won a dozen or so world championships at ANYTHING, you can give me a call and be part of my “My girlfriend is a multi-time world champion club”. Not that I am bragging or anything.
Anyway, here is a picture of Crystal and her dad (I think Crystal got cut out of this pic) and the word Champion “I’m in Command”.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Whine and cheese and mediation
Fall classes have started. I got into a capped mediation clinic class on Friday evening before classes started on Monday. Which is great for me because know I can “probably” finish the requirements for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) certificate prior to graduation. One more thing to add to a resume and possibly make money on. I was pretty peeved because the class was capped at 16 people, which keeps it under the limit for a mandatory curve, and upcoming 2Ls got into the class before I did. So I did what I could and got on a waiting list for the class. They called Friday evening to ask if I wanted the class.Duh, yes! I have been complaining constantly to anyone who would listen since this Spring at registration.
Luckily I had not already bought the book for the class that I had to drop.
Jones has been faithful in continuing its policy of part time program This is aprox. A 4 year program and adds great thing to our school because it means that we have some night classes offered. This means that some full time students can pick up night time classes after their first which allows them to cut the number of days a week that they have to drive to school. I originally started at Jones as a part time student (read night classes) and switched to full time status as soon as I was eligible in the fall of the second year. I have attended summer classes and am now approximately 6 hours behind my classmates who began as full time students at the same time I began. So I have more hours than the upcoming 2Ls and am considered a 3L.
Here is my complaint: I can not understand a true blind preference for capped classes. Upper classmen should have preference first in order that they may meet requirements before graduation. (Upcoming 2Ls have an entire extra year to get these classes.) This lack of preference is a bad policy and would probably have denied me getting the ADR certificate if someone had not dropped the class thus opening one slot. Now hopefully I can pick up the last remaining ADR class in the Spring and fulfill the practical skills requirement prior to completing school next summer (2008).
So how about an update???
So how about an update.
I mean. I reckon it is about time.
Summer was blur. I attended class and spent a lot of time on the road traveling back and forth between School and a small town in Georgia where my girlfriend lives. I have not had much time to spare so I have not posted in quite a while.
Generally here are the updates to my life.
I have a girlfriend. Her name is Crystal. She is a hottie and a red head.(with fiery temper to spare) It is going GREAT.
I also have a new room mate. His name is “Jake” (not to be confused with me – yes I know it is confusing – get over it).
Jake is a chocolate 9 week old Labrador Retriever. I have never seen a “Labrador” but Jake assures me that he could retrieve it if I had one. Retrieving a Labrador must be very tiring because he usually sleeps all the time. I guess he is saving up his energy in case someone has a Labrador in need of rescuing.
Ok. Ok. So I caved a little on Crystal’s whole “We need a puppy” thing.
Jake has giant paws (read that as he wont be a tiny puppy for long), sharp puppy teeth, and chews on any and all things. This includes all inanimate objects as well as anything living that does not whack him on the nose. If he can get it or any part of you in his mouth, he WILL chew on it. He sleeps almost constantly when he is not eating, chewing, or going crazy or halfway fetching a tennis ball. He also is the quickest p’er in the world. I swear you can take the dog out and bring him back in and he will have p’d twice before you can hang up the leash. - Jake may occasionally think his name is “bad dog” because of this.
Apparently Jake is also a latchkey dog / child because he stays on the road between here and my girlfriend’s house in GA. Crystal has unsupervised visitation privileges later on this week.
These next two weeks are going to be hectic.
Crystal is a horse person (NO she is NOT part horse). Her family has always had horses and she shows American Saddlebred horses. She is showing at the World Championship in Louisville, KY. So we will be on the road between school, GA, and Louisville a great deal between now and the end of the month.
I mean. I reckon it is about time.
Summer was blur. I attended class and spent a lot of time on the road traveling back and forth between School and a small town in Georgia where my girlfriend lives. I have not had much time to spare so I have not posted in quite a while.
Generally here are the updates to my life.
I have a girlfriend. Her name is Crystal. She is a hottie and a red head.(with fiery temper to spare) It is going GREAT.
I also have a new room mate. His name is “Jake” (not to be confused with me – yes I know it is confusing – get over it).
Jake is a chocolate 9 week old Labrador Retriever. I have never seen a “Labrador” but Jake assures me that he could retrieve it if I had one. Retrieving a Labrador must be very tiring because he usually sleeps all the time. I guess he is saving up his energy in case someone has a Labrador in need of rescuing.
Ok. Ok. So I caved a little on Crystal’s whole “We need a puppy” thing.
Jake has giant paws (read that as he wont be a tiny puppy for long), sharp puppy teeth, and chews on any and all things. This includes all inanimate objects as well as anything living that does not whack him on the nose. If he can get it or any part of you in his mouth, he WILL chew on it. He sleeps almost constantly when he is not eating, chewing, or going crazy or halfway fetching a tennis ball. He also is the quickest p’er in the world. I swear you can take the dog out and bring him back in and he will have p’d twice before you can hang up the leash. - Jake may occasionally think his name is “bad dog” because of this.
Apparently Jake is also a latchkey dog / child because he stays on the road between here and my girlfriend’s house in GA. Crystal has unsupervised visitation privileges later on this week.
These next two weeks are going to be hectic.
Crystal is a horse person (NO she is NOT part horse). Her family has always had horses and she shows American Saddlebred horses. She is showing at the World Championship in Louisville, KY. So we will be on the road between school, GA, and Louisville a great deal between now and the end of the month.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Things that I learned by studying the law today
Things that I learned by studying the law today:1. Strippers are not necessarily contractors but are probably considered employees. Regardless of whether or not they provide their own costumes (or lack thereof).
2. A stripper’s body is not considered a “major item of equipment” in regards to workers compensation claims for injuries arising from and in the course of employment at the "Hide-Out Saloon".
3. Particularly if the injury is a gunshot wound from a disgruntled patron of the “performing arts”.
754 P.2d 444
Don't you just love law school?
Much ado about nothing
I got a lot of grief form folks wanting to know exactly what I was talking about in the rumor mill blog but it will suffice to say that (Long story short): At least two partial stories about me got pieced together to be one full story that didn’t jive with what the truth is. Like any law school gossip (or any rumor for that matter) it was meshed with a little bit of truth, a little bit of innuendo, and a little bit of misperception. And if it is remotely juicy… it spreads like wildfire.
And that is just what gossip is. When people tell what they heard for the gospel truth. When it is told enough times (or by the right people) it is just believed to be the truth and the person who is being spoken about just winds up being the one that pays the price.
The blog ends up being a place to vent sometimes when your voice doesn’t seem like it is getting heard elsewhere. That is what makes this place great. The fact that people occasionally read it that need to see my side of the story is a great plus.
So on to better things.
And that is just what gossip is. When people tell what they heard for the gospel truth. When it is told enough times (or by the right people) it is just believed to be the truth and the person who is being spoken about just winds up being the one that pays the price.
The blog ends up being a place to vent sometimes when your voice doesn’t seem like it is getting heard elsewhere. That is what makes this place great. The fact that people occasionally read it that need to see my side of the story is a great plus.
So on to better things.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
I'm back
So summer school is now in session. Sorry for the lack of posts during finals and right afterward. Summer classes seem to drag on a little slower, so I will have more opportunities to post. Stay tuned.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Finals are over
So that’s it.
Finals are over with.
Which is a bit strange.
I feel oddly uneasy.
After so much time working alone and thinking of nothing but the law (and those annoying little things pester your mind while you are trying to think about the law – you know like: the rent is due, or “I have fish? I wonder who has been feeding them?”
I feel odd and out of place.
I have talked to so many of my friends that feel the same way about it as I do.
I hear the same comment time and again, “I don’t have any social skills left.”
In a crowd they are easy to spot. Dark circles under each eye. Talking to anyone who will listen about something related to law school. Others claim they don’t want to talk about it at all, but always end up doing it anyway.
We all need some time to assimilate back into everyday society. I wish I had more time to do so. The world feels a little self centered and narcissistic. Which is probably how many of us were perceived during finals because we were so single minded in our focus.
The world has passed you by and all of a sudden you have just a little while to get on the ride. The only problem is the ride is moving faster than the last what you remember and it looks like there are not any empty seats left. For some reason the time off between semesters is a time in which I have made big plans to do certain things that are usually dashed on the rocks of other people’s whims. I think I will simply take it easy and try my best to assimilate back into society (for a little while), wait for the summer semester to start, try to learn a little guitar until my fingers hurt and I give it up for the day, and wait on my student loan to make me un-broke again for a little while.
The new summer semester will start for me soon. Initially (and hopefully) it will start with a slow roll and not an incredibly fast pace. Spring semester grades are due to come in probably about the time that the semester starts. Everyone is on “grade watch” everyday. I am sure that I will get several calls as soon as the first one is posted. I will try to resist looking until then. (Secretly I know I will check multiple times every single day.)
Finals are over with.
Which is a bit strange.
I feel oddly uneasy.
After so much time working alone and thinking of nothing but the law (and those annoying little things pester your mind while you are trying to think about the law – you know like: the rent is due, or “I have fish? I wonder who has been feeding them?”
I feel odd and out of place.
I have talked to so many of my friends that feel the same way about it as I do.
I hear the same comment time and again, “I don’t have any social skills left.”
In a crowd they are easy to spot. Dark circles under each eye. Talking to anyone who will listen about something related to law school. Others claim they don’t want to talk about it at all, but always end up doing it anyway.
We all need some time to assimilate back into everyday society. I wish I had more time to do so. The world feels a little self centered and narcissistic. Which is probably how many of us were perceived during finals because we were so single minded in our focus.
The world has passed you by and all of a sudden you have just a little while to get on the ride. The only problem is the ride is moving faster than the last what you remember and it looks like there are not any empty seats left. For some reason the time off between semesters is a time in which I have made big plans to do certain things that are usually dashed on the rocks of other people’s whims. I think I will simply take it easy and try my best to assimilate back into society (for a little while), wait for the summer semester to start, try to learn a little guitar until my fingers hurt and I give it up for the day, and wait on my student loan to make me un-broke again for a little while.
The new summer semester will start for me soon. Initially (and hopefully) it will start with a slow roll and not an incredibly fast pace. Spring semester grades are due to come in probably about the time that the semester starts. Everyone is on “grade watch” everyday. I am sure that I will get several calls as soon as the first one is posted. I will try to resist looking until then. (Secretly I know I will check multiple times every single day.)
Friday, May 11, 2007
Middle of finals
Sorry for the lack of posts.
I am in the middle of finals.
However there is only one left to go and I have several days to prepare. So I am not overly stressed about it. We will see how that holds up as it gets closer to time to take it.
The class is Bus. Admin. and is a 4 hour credit course. So it weights pretty heavy on this semester’s grades. I have one class that is only two hours credit. This one is worth double. I know that is common sense, but it is something to think about.
The stress roller coaster has not been as bad this semester but it is still there. Other things always seem do be haunting the back of your mind. Like a personal relationship, rent being due (I’ve got to run that by the office), what exactly will I have time and the money to do in my break before summer classes start in a week and half after this semester ends, and the totally lack of a personal life that has become me during finals.
So that is the deal. Finals suck. Time is at a premium but seems to move too slow at times. The world is moving by without you for the time being. And everything else seems to be up in the air.
So I probably wont post again until after finals unless I feel a strong urge to complain or have some curious thought that I need to share.
Good luck to all my brethren in the heat of finals. And goodnight.
I am in the middle of finals.
However there is only one left to go and I have several days to prepare. So I am not overly stressed about it. We will see how that holds up as it gets closer to time to take it.
The class is Bus. Admin. and is a 4 hour credit course. So it weights pretty heavy on this semester’s grades. I have one class that is only two hours credit. This one is worth double. I know that is common sense, but it is something to think about.
The stress roller coaster has not been as bad this semester but it is still there. Other things always seem do be haunting the back of your mind. Like a personal relationship, rent being due (I’ve got to run that by the office), what exactly will I have time and the money to do in my break before summer classes start in a week and half after this semester ends, and the totally lack of a personal life that has become me during finals.
So that is the deal. Finals suck. Time is at a premium but seems to move too slow at times. The world is moving by without you for the time being. And everything else seems to be up in the air.
So I probably wont post again until after finals unless I feel a strong urge to complain or have some curious thought that I need to share.
Good luck to all my brethren in the heat of finals. And goodnight.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Studying at Cumberland
Taking a quick break from studying.
I came up to Birmingham to try to get away for a few days to study for finals. If I stay at my school I get a lot of people coming in at odd times on their individual study breaks who want to chat for a few minutes or are looking for an outline or some help. That is all very nice, but after a while it gets to be a distraction. So I drove up to Birmingham for a few days. It was hard to try and find a really quiet place. I tried the local university but the undergrad library was really loud and busy.
On a whim I called another law school and taadaa. Here I sit typing to you in the Cumberland School of law Library on Samford's campus. It is very nice. Lots of study space and nobody knows me. So they won’t talk to me or want to borrow study material. Plus they are in the middle of finals and it is very quiet. The only draw back is, if I need something I don’t really have as quick access to it. But I need time alone with my outlines and study aids.
Finals start Monday! I’m trying not to freak out too bad
So long from Birmingham for now.
I came up to Birmingham to try to get away for a few days to study for finals. If I stay at my school I get a lot of people coming in at odd times on their individual study breaks who want to chat for a few minutes or are looking for an outline or some help. That is all very nice, but after a while it gets to be a distraction. So I drove up to Birmingham for a few days. It was hard to try and find a really quiet place. I tried the local university but the undergrad library was really loud and busy.
On a whim I called another law school and taadaa. Here I sit typing to you in the Cumberland School of law Library on Samford's campus. It is very nice. Lots of study space and nobody knows me. So they won’t talk to me or want to borrow study material. Plus they are in the middle of finals and it is very quiet. The only draw back is, if I need something I don’t really have as quick access to it. But I need time alone with my outlines and study aids.
Finals start Monday! I’m trying not to freak out too bad
So long from Birmingham for now.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Montgomery.
Even with friends this place can seem so lonely at times. Finals don't help. It only makes it worse to self seclude yourself in order to study. It makes it hard to concentrate at times knowing that when you get home that there is nothing behind the door that you unlock except an empty room.
Even with friends this place can seem so lonely at times. Finals don't help. It only makes it worse to self seclude yourself in order to study. It makes it hard to concentrate at times knowing that when you get home that there is nothing behind the door that you unlock except an empty room.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Bar Exam Results
This goes hand in hand with my underdog post.
http://lawofthegump.blogspot.com/2007/04/underdog.html
These are the results for the February 2007 Alabama Bar:
For first time takers at ABA-approved schools, the pass rates were:
Faulkner JSL---87.5%
Alabama---68.8%
Cumberland---54.5%
For all takers, including repeaters:
Faulkner JSL---74.2%
Alabama---61.9%
Cumberland---50.0%
Congrats to everybody that passed the bar.
"Understand that I aint braggin'. I'm just sayin'...."
http://lawofthegump.blogspot.com/2007/04/underdog.html
These are the results for the February 2007 Alabama Bar:
For first time takers at ABA-approved schools, the pass rates were:
Faulkner JSL---87.5%
Alabama---68.8%
Cumberland---54.5%
For all takers, including repeaters:
Faulkner JSL---74.2%
Alabama---61.9%
Cumberland---50.0%
Congrats to everybody that passed the bar.
"Understand that I aint braggin'. I'm just sayin'...."
Friday, April 27, 2007
DEAD WEEK
Or if you prefer it in Latin “Mortuus Dies”.In college I thought of dead week as a free time. Uhhhh. Not anymore.
Dead Week Starts Monday!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Review
Please, please, please. If you ever grow up to be a law professor, please do a relevant review that gives SOME idea about what of the vast array of material that was covered is important. I’m not asking for test answers. I learned the law. Now tell me how much of that I need to pour over in minute detail!
Coversation
This is how you know you spend too much time thinking nothing but law.
Conversation today in the Library:
Me: “Dude I need a blue ink pen. Where are all those blue ink pens the financial aid people left up here at the desk?”
Librarian: “Everybody got them. They are all gone.”
Me: ‘Dude, I need a blue ink pen!”
Librarian: ‘I guess you are S.O.L.”
(pause)
Me: “What does the statute of limitations have to do with blue ink pens?”
Conversation today in the Library:
Me: “Dude I need a blue ink pen. Where are all those blue ink pens the financial aid people left up here at the desk?”
Librarian: “Everybody got them. They are all gone.”
Me: ‘Dude, I need a blue ink pen!”
Librarian: ‘I guess you are S.O.L.”
(pause)
Me: “What does the statute of limitations have to do with blue ink pens?”
Monday, April 23, 2007
A-Day
A-Day game at over capacity crowd.
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout!
92,138-plus! – And for a scrimmage game at that!
I didn’t get to go this year. I was studying.
Check out the story here at Sports Illustrated's web site.
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout!
92,138-plus! – And for a scrimmage game at that!
I didn’t get to go this year. I was studying.
Check out the story here at Sports Illustrated's web site.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Underdog
I wrote a blog on Adriana Dominguez (a third-year student at Brooklyn Law School).
http://lawofthegump.blogspot.com/2007/04/juris-imprudence.html It was a story that I had seen on Fox news while in the break room at the law school eating lunch. It was picked up by several news outlets and was a topic of conversation among law students around the country for several days. It seemed like a good topic to write about for a law school blog. I mean come on! Sex, lies, and videotape, what more you want? I followed it up with a couple of more blogs on ethics.
I have a counter at the bottom of my page. It is nothing miraculous or extraordianary. It is a regular old free counter that is available to almost any web page. But even with this free counter, I am still able to see what domain (server such as charter, AOL, etc.) my readers come from; how long they looked at my page; and what refered them to me. If it was a google search, it even gives the search terms. If it scares you think that someone can get that much info for free then you should really be scared to think what you could get if you actually paid for a service.
Anyway, I was really surprised when my web site hits shot up the day that I wrote the blog. Over 30 times the average of my normal number of visits.
So I backtracked a few visitors that had actually spent some time reading my blog. I was curious to see how someone from across the country would find my blog.
I was surprised by how much specific things in my blogs had been googled (Such as Barrister’s Ball or other law school specific topics). I was really surprised at how many people were just looking for naked pics of Andrea Dominguez. But what really blew me away was the fact that there are discussion boards out there that linked my blog to their discussion.
This led me to discover that there are several web sites that have my blog listed for users to find easily. For instance I am ranked in the top 4 law school blogs from http://www.jd2b.com/ . That was really neat. Thanks guys.
But the blog also got some bad attention.
It got my link pulled from several other less conservative viewpointed law school blogger sites (A favor that was soon returned - thanks for the support guys).
I also noticed that I had become the topic of actual entire threads of some discussion boards (mainly regarding the Andrea Dominguez story) (and not from the site listed above – I won't give the other sites the time they rightly don’t deserve).
Instead of reading the multiple times that I refer to the article as being from New York Daily News web site, some of these people actually thought that I had written the entire story on my own. They trashed me for spreading the info. They dogged my school as lower tier and undeserving of their respect. I was supposedly trying to “sound smart”. And at one point I was even called a %#@*&^ #@%
Huh?
One point that I have to bring up is this: If you are on a law school discussion board talking about trying to get into law school, maybe you should actually get into one before you bash everything not labeled ivy league. As a matter of fact junior law school wanabees should just hope to get in any school that will take them. And then refrain from comments like the ones made until they actually survive just one semester.
Those who can do. Those who can’t – just talk about it.
As for my school, I have this to say:
I take great pride in the fact that the people who fail out of Jones and go elsewhere to law school have generally done quite well. We are recently ABA accredited. Because of that, our standards are very strict. Our scales are as tough as they come. Our policies leave no room for less then perfect standards of honor or sacrifice. I don’t blame the faculty and school for policies that other schools see as incumberances. We are the under dogs who are currently snarling, thrashing, gnawing, and climbing our way past the naysayer and elitists.
Any sports team is surprised when they are defeated by the underdog opponent.
Why? Because they underestimated the opponent. Because they were so filled with their own bloated vision of themselves that they did not see a worthy oponent before them. At which time they were summarily served their own asses on a plate.
I have friends who are extremely bothered by the lack of respect that we get in relation to longer established law schools (schools that we thougoughly trounced in recent moot court competitions). It doesn’t bother me.
I am from a small town. We had small sports teams. We were always, undermanned, undersized, slower, and underrated. Time and again we beat oppponents who were bigger, faster, had more depth as well as natural ability, and always ranked above us.
Why did we beat these teams? Because we were more determined, more disciplined, and trained harder. Most of all we had no overly grand ideas of our own abilities. We knew that to win we had to want it more than the other guys did and we had to work harder than they did. Simple as that. I have never played anything on a level playing field. It is always an uphill battle for one side or the other. Usually for my side.
You can all me bad names, kick my dog, or spit on the flag. But don’t ever underestimate me (or my law school). Trust me on this one. Otherwise when you come up against us, your are going to get your feelings hurt and your ego bruised. I have been the underdog all my life. I have learned to deal with that. It just means I have to work harder than others do to get the same respect. I don’t have a problem with that. But people desperately need to understan that if they underestimate the people from this school, they WILL get thier asses handed to them in court.
In the words of Forest Gump:
“That is all I have to say about that.”
http://lawofthegump.blogspot.com/2007/04/juris-imprudence.html It was a story that I had seen on Fox news while in the break room at the law school eating lunch. It was picked up by several news outlets and was a topic of conversation among law students around the country for several days. It seemed like a good topic to write about for a law school blog. I mean come on! Sex, lies, and videotape, what more you want? I followed it up with a couple of more blogs on ethics.
I have a counter at the bottom of my page. It is nothing miraculous or extraordianary. It is a regular old free counter that is available to almost any web page. But even with this free counter, I am still able to see what domain (server such as charter, AOL, etc.) my readers come from; how long they looked at my page; and what refered them to me. If it was a google search, it even gives the search terms. If it scares you think that someone can get that much info for free then you should really be scared to think what you could get if you actually paid for a service.
Anyway, I was really surprised when my web site hits shot up the day that I wrote the blog. Over 30 times the average of my normal number of visits.
So I backtracked a few visitors that had actually spent some time reading my blog. I was curious to see how someone from across the country would find my blog.
I was surprised by how much specific things in my blogs had been googled (Such as Barrister’s Ball or other law school specific topics). I was really surprised at how many people were just looking for naked pics of Andrea Dominguez. But what really blew me away was the fact that there are discussion boards out there that linked my blog to their discussion.
This led me to discover that there are several web sites that have my blog listed for users to find easily. For instance I am ranked in the top 4 law school blogs from http://www.jd2b.com/ . That was really neat. Thanks guys.
But the blog also got some bad attention.
It got my link pulled from several other less conservative viewpointed law school blogger sites (A favor that was soon returned - thanks for the support guys).
I also noticed that I had become the topic of actual entire threads of some discussion boards (mainly regarding the Andrea Dominguez story) (and not from the site listed above – I won't give the other sites the time they rightly don’t deserve).
Instead of reading the multiple times that I refer to the article as being from New York Daily News web site, some of these people actually thought that I had written the entire story on my own. They trashed me for spreading the info. They dogged my school as lower tier and undeserving of their respect. I was supposedly trying to “sound smart”. And at one point I was even called a %#@*&^ #@%
Huh?
One point that I have to bring up is this: If you are on a law school discussion board talking about trying to get into law school, maybe you should actually get into one before you bash everything not labeled ivy league. As a matter of fact junior law school wanabees should just hope to get in any school that will take them. And then refrain from comments like the ones made until they actually survive just one semester.
Those who can do. Those who can’t – just talk about it.
As for my school, I have this to say:
I take great pride in the fact that the people who fail out of Jones and go elsewhere to law school have generally done quite well. We are recently ABA accredited. Because of that, our standards are very strict. Our scales are as tough as they come. Our policies leave no room for less then perfect standards of honor or sacrifice. I don’t blame the faculty and school for policies that other schools see as incumberances. We are the under dogs who are currently snarling, thrashing, gnawing, and climbing our way past the naysayer and elitists.
Any sports team is surprised when they are defeated by the underdog opponent.
Why? Because they underestimated the opponent. Because they were so filled with their own bloated vision of themselves that they did not see a worthy oponent before them. At which time they were summarily served their own asses on a plate.
I have friends who are extremely bothered by the lack of respect that we get in relation to longer established law schools (schools that we thougoughly trounced in recent moot court competitions). It doesn’t bother me.
I am from a small town. We had small sports teams. We were always, undermanned, undersized, slower, and underrated. Time and again we beat oppponents who were bigger, faster, had more depth as well as natural ability, and always ranked above us.
Why did we beat these teams? Because we were more determined, more disciplined, and trained harder. Most of all we had no overly grand ideas of our own abilities. We knew that to win we had to want it more than the other guys did and we had to work harder than they did. Simple as that. I have never played anything on a level playing field. It is always an uphill battle for one side or the other. Usually for my side.
You can all me bad names, kick my dog, or spit on the flag. But don’t ever underestimate me (or my law school). Trust me on this one. Otherwise when you come up against us, your are going to get your feelings hurt and your ego bruised. I have been the underdog all my life. I have learned to deal with that. It just means I have to work harder than others do to get the same respect. I don’t have a problem with that. But people desperately need to understan that if they underestimate the people from this school, they WILL get thier asses handed to them in court.
In the words of Forest Gump:
“That is all I have to say about that.”
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Icarus
Just a cool story that I thought you would enjoy.
There once was a man named Larry Walters. Now Larry had a dream. Larry wanted to fly. Larry had always dreamed of flying but was unable to become a pilot in the Air Force due to bad eyesight.
Years before, he had seen several weather balloons in an army surplus store and got the idea that it would be great if he could just float away on a baloon. In July of 1982 he bought and rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair. He sat down in the chair with a bag full of sandwiches, something to drink, and a BB gun.
He reached down and cut the line that held the chair on the ground. The chair (with Larry in it) shot into the sky.
Larry planned to use the BB gun to shoot a balloon or two if he got too high or wanted to come back down. So Larry just floated around and enjoyed himself. He was flying!!
There once was a man named Larry Walters. Now Larry had a dream. Larry wanted to fly. Larry had always dreamed of flying but was unable to become a pilot in the Air Force due to bad eyesight.
Years before, he had seen several weather balloons in an army surplus store and got the idea that it would be great if he could just float away on a baloon. In July of 1982 he bought and rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair. He sat down in the chair with a bag full of sandwiches, something to drink, and a BB gun.He reached down and cut the line that held the chair on the ground. The chair (with Larry in it) shot into the sky.
Larry planned to use the BB gun to shoot a balloon or two if he got too high or wanted to come back down. So Larry just floated around and enjoyed himself. He was flying!!Not only was he flying, he was flying at about 16,000 feet!!
He eventually drifted down after shooting a few balloons with his BB gun. He was arrested and fined by the FAA for operating a"civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate"
When a reporter asked him why he had did it, he responded "A man can't just sit around."
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Taxes
Taxes are due
I know I know already.
I got my W2 way back at the end of January. Which I promptly filed away with a mental note to do my taxes as soon as possible. Those of you that know me know that mental notes are useless to me (as my brain promptly takes the yellow post it of information and wads it up and throws it away).
More observant or organized people may use a technical term for my filing system such as “pile”. But it works the same way. I put it into a pile with other mail that needs to have something done to it. (For instance mail back a portion of the mail with a check for useful things such as my cell phone bill).
It should be mentioned at this point that a short while back I noticed a squeaky sound occasionally to my brakes. At the end of the week it turned into a full grown roar. Several shops I called were busy and asked to drive on it a little longer and to bring it in Monday so that the brake rotors could be totally ruined and they could charge me a lot more money to repair the brakes. No problem.
Back to the taxes
I noticed a while back (yesterday) that it may be a good time to do my taxes seeing as how the deadline is the first of the week. Now most of you with real jobs reading this might be shocked because you have long since filed your taxes and received your return from the IRS. This is not as big a priority to me because I am in law school and my return is; well… let’s just call it minimal. I did my own taxes by hand this year because buying tax software (or lord forbid taking my taxes to H&R block) would have eaten up the measly portion that I am to receive back from the government.
Long gone are the days of deductions, tax credits, itemizations, employment expenses, etc. I filed the EZ form because it will be EZ for the IRS to see that they have a fair chunk of my money. My only job (and W2) was the law school library and I own practically nothing. Taxes done.
After work (Where I filled out my taxes. – Hey, what am I going to do there but fill out tax forms and study?) I went to the post office to mail my taxes. (Brakes screeching like a really bad American Idol contestant). Rain is pouring down. I make it inside after shielding my precious taxes under my shirt because “The Man don’t like no soggy forms”
I put my quarters in the machine to get stamps. No dice. No stamps. Oh, they have stamps in the machine. The machine just won’t let me have any of the stamps. After committing what may have been a federal offense on the post office machine, it finally spit my quarters back out.
So I drive across town to another post office. (Brakes screeching all the way) This post office got hit by a tornado a while back and there is still plywood and plastic sheeting up everywhere. (Walking into the post office makes you feel like you are walking back stage of a local theatrical production where Buddy, the local handyman, has pieced together all the props with duct tape, bubble gum and spit.) I make it onto the post office while keeping “The Man’s” paperwork warm and dry under my shirt.
I walk into the post office and what do I see? Well looky there. It is the new stamp machine with a brand new out of order sign on it. How nice.
Since this is ONLY the second post office that I have been to I asked a nice looking little old lady if she knew where another post office might be. I was on a post office tour. I figured that I might as well see all of them.
Little did I know that the little old lady was simply waiting for another tornado to hit the post office so that she could be interviewed by the local news crews and say things like “Wooeee, it was loud! Sounded like a freight train! We barely got all the dogs and hogs out from under the trailer before she got blowed away! We sure are lucky. The good lord was just watching out for us.”
She wasn’t any help.
I was able to fool some technological marvel of science on the other side of the post office into selling me some stamps so that The Man can look at his clean dry paper and see how much money he took from me this year. Finally I had stamps. I put plenty of extra postage on it so that “The Man” would be proud of me. (And I had no idea how much postage to actually put on the oversized envelopes.)
As the envelopes slide into the slot I notice that the The Man’s paperwork may be a little soggy. I know this because just as the envelopes slid into the slot I saw that some of the ink that used to be the zip code was sliding down the envelope. Thankfully, (due to my incredibly quick thought and amazing hand speed) I was able to reach for the envelopes and push then into the slot just as I mouthed a profanity.
Not to worry. The IRS is the government. The post office is the government. You could tape 37 cents in coins to the outside of a old coffee tin labeled “In care of IRS” and they would get it. The Man has people everywhere. And they take care of The Mans business.
I can’t wait to get back my return. I think I am going to use it to buy some bubblegum, or ask somebody if they want to go in halfsies on a candy bar, or maybe just save it up for stamps for next year.
I know I know already.
I got my W2 way back at the end of January. Which I promptly filed away with a mental note to do my taxes as soon as possible. Those of you that know me know that mental notes are useless to me (as my brain promptly takes the yellow post it of information and wads it up and throws it away).
More observant or organized people may use a technical term for my filing system such as “pile”. But it works the same way. I put it into a pile with other mail that needs to have something done to it. (For instance mail back a portion of the mail with a check for useful things such as my cell phone bill).
It should be mentioned at this point that a short while back I noticed a squeaky sound occasionally to my brakes. At the end of the week it turned into a full grown roar. Several shops I called were busy and asked to drive on it a little longer and to bring it in Monday so that the brake rotors could be totally ruined and they could charge me a lot more money to repair the brakes. No problem.
Back to the taxes
I noticed a while back (yesterday) that it may be a good time to do my taxes seeing as how the deadline is the first of the week. Now most of you with real jobs reading this might be shocked because you have long since filed your taxes and received your return from the IRS. This is not as big a priority to me because I am in law school and my return is; well… let’s just call it minimal. I did my own taxes by hand this year because buying tax software (or lord forbid taking my taxes to H&R block) would have eaten up the measly portion that I am to receive back from the government.
Long gone are the days of deductions, tax credits, itemizations, employment expenses, etc. I filed the EZ form because it will be EZ for the IRS to see that they have a fair chunk of my money. My only job (and W2) was the law school library and I own practically nothing. Taxes done.
After work (Where I filled out my taxes. – Hey, what am I going to do there but fill out tax forms and study?) I went to the post office to mail my taxes. (Brakes screeching like a really bad American Idol contestant). Rain is pouring down. I make it inside after shielding my precious taxes under my shirt because “The Man don’t like no soggy forms”
I put my quarters in the machine to get stamps. No dice. No stamps. Oh, they have stamps in the machine. The machine just won’t let me have any of the stamps. After committing what may have been a federal offense on the post office machine, it finally spit my quarters back out.
So I drive across town to another post office. (Brakes screeching all the way) This post office got hit by a tornado a while back and there is still plywood and plastic sheeting up everywhere. (Walking into the post office makes you feel like you are walking back stage of a local theatrical production where Buddy, the local handyman, has pieced together all the props with duct tape, bubble gum and spit.) I make it onto the post office while keeping “The Man’s” paperwork warm and dry under my shirt.
I walk into the post office and what do I see? Well looky there. It is the new stamp machine with a brand new out of order sign on it. How nice.
Since this is ONLY the second post office that I have been to I asked a nice looking little old lady if she knew where another post office might be. I was on a post office tour. I figured that I might as well see all of them.
Little did I know that the little old lady was simply waiting for another tornado to hit the post office so that she could be interviewed by the local news crews and say things like “Wooeee, it was loud! Sounded like a freight train! We barely got all the dogs and hogs out from under the trailer before she got blowed away! We sure are lucky. The good lord was just watching out for us.”
She wasn’t any help.
I was able to fool some technological marvel of science on the other side of the post office into selling me some stamps so that The Man can look at his clean dry paper and see how much money he took from me this year. Finally I had stamps. I put plenty of extra postage on it so that “The Man” would be proud of me. (And I had no idea how much postage to actually put on the oversized envelopes.)
As the envelopes slide into the slot I notice that the The Man’s paperwork may be a little soggy. I know this because just as the envelopes slid into the slot I saw that some of the ink that used to be the zip code was sliding down the envelope. Thankfully, (due to my incredibly quick thought and amazing hand speed) I was able to reach for the envelopes and push then into the slot just as I mouthed a profanity.
Not to worry. The IRS is the government. The post office is the government. You could tape 37 cents in coins to the outside of a old coffee tin labeled “In care of IRS” and they would get it. The Man has people everywhere. And they take care of The Mans business.
I can’t wait to get back my return. I think I am going to use it to buy some bubblegum, or ask somebody if they want to go in halfsies on a candy bar, or maybe just save it up for stamps for next year.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Last post on Ethics
I promise that this is the last post for a while on ethics.
Here is another perfect example of how a lack personal ethics shows up in a person’s professional life. This time it is not a lawyer or law student.
No other comments.
From http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
Joe Francis, the "Girls Gone Wild" founder, was indicted today on federal tax evasion charges for illegally deducting more than $20 million in phony business expenses from his 2002 and 2003 corporate tax returns. According to a two count indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada, Francis, 34, sought to conceal income through the use of offshore companies and nominees. At one point, he transferred $15 million from one offshore bank account to a California brokerage account in the name of a Cayman Islands corporation he controlled. If convicted of the federal charges, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000. Francis was arrested yesterday on an unrelated federal warrant stemming from a civil lawsuit brought against him by seven underage women who were filmed by "Girls Gone Wild" cameramen in Florida in 2003.
Here is another perfect example of how a lack personal ethics shows up in a person’s professional life. This time it is not a lawyer or law student.
No other comments.
From http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
Joe Francis, the "Girls Gone Wild" founder, was indicted today on federal tax evasion charges for illegally deducting more than $20 million in phony business expenses from his 2002 and 2003 corporate tax returns. According to a two count indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada, Francis, 34, sought to conceal income through the use of offshore companies and nominees. At one point, he transferred $15 million from one offshore bank account to a California brokerage account in the name of a Cayman Islands corporation he controlled. If convicted of the federal charges, he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000. Francis was arrested yesterday on an unrelated federal warrant stemming from a civil lawsuit brought against him by seven underage women who were filmed by "Girls Gone Wild" cameramen in Florida in 2003.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Prosecutorial misconduct
The post goes hand in hand with yesterday’s post on Adriana Dominguez (a third-year student at Brooklyn Law School whose own ethical missteps may cost her more than she planned).
Prosecutorial misconduct
Guilty?: Rouge prosecutor D.A. Mike Nifong; False rape accuser Crystal Gail Norman
Innocent: Duke players
Not caught up on the story? Here are the facts and timeline.
Mike Nifong faces ethics charges for prosecutorial misconduct by misleading the media and public in an effort to gain notoriety in a big case and ensure his re-election. He now stands as an example of what happens when a member of the bar lacks the ethics and higher standard to which we hold our selves and our peers.
March 13, 2006 — Duke University lacrosse players throw a party at an off-campus house, hiring two strippers.
March 14 — One of the dancers tells Durham, N.C., police she was forced into a bathroom by three men and beaten, raped and sodomized.
March 23 — Forty-six of 47 team members comply with judge's order to provide DNA. The sole black member is not tested, because the accuser said her attackers were white.
March 28 — Duke suspends lacrosse team from play.
March 29 — District Attorney Mike Nifong calls members of the team "a bunch of hooligans."
April 4 — The accuser identifies her attackers in a photo lineup.
April 5 — Lacrosse coach Mike Pressler resigns. Duke President Richard Brodhead cancels the rest of the season.
April 10 — Defense attorneys announce DNA tests fail to connect any of the players to the accuser.
April 17 — Grand jury indicts Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on rape and other charges.
April 25 — Granville County authorities confirm the accuser told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men when she was 14. None of the men was charged.
May 15 — Grand jury indicts team co-captain David Evans on rape charges. He calls the allegations "fantastic lies."
June 5 — Duke president says team can resume play in 2007 under close monitoring.
Nov. 7 — Nifong wins election to continue as district attorney.
Dec. 15 — Director of a DNA lab testifies that, in an agreement with Nifong, he omitted from a report that genetic material from several men — none of them team members — was found in accuser's underwear and body.
Dec. 22 — Nifong drops the rape charges, saying the woman is no longer certain whether she was penetrated. The players still face charges of kidnapping and sexual offense.
Dec. 28 — North Carolina bar files ethics charges against Nifong, accusing him of making misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes. (He is also later accused of withholding evidence and lying to the court.)
Jan. 3, 2007 — Duke invites Seligmann and Finnerty to return to school. (They have not returned.) The accuser gives birth. Both sides later say she was not impregnated at the party.
Jan. 12 — Nifong asks to withdraw from case because of ethics charges.
Jan. 13 — North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper takes over the case.
Apr. 11 – Duke players announced innocent of charges
What happens now? I certainly hope that Mike Nifong is afforded what he attempted to deny the Duke players; due process, equal access to evidence, and an ethical prosecutor.
The biggest question that this all raises is what if these guys did NOT have the recorces to combat a rouge prosecutor? The answer is simple. They each would be serving 30 years for something they did not do.
Prosecutorial misconduct? Probably so. Do personal ethics affect your performance as a lawyer? Absolutely!
And if Nifong is guilty of this misconduct, how far does it go? Are there innocent people in jail (or worse - facing the death penalty) right now because of his actions? This my friends is why we hold our selves to a higher standard, because we are the defenders of the weak, the balance on the stong, and the protectors of the blessings of liberty.
Someone said they didnt get the cartoon. The lady standing there is lady liberty. Does that help?
Prosecutorial misconduct
Guilty?: Rouge prosecutor D.A. Mike Nifong; False rape accuser Crystal Gail Norman
Innocent: Duke players
Not caught up on the story? Here are the facts and timeline.
Mike Nifong faces ethics charges for prosecutorial misconduct by misleading the media and public in an effort to gain notoriety in a big case and ensure his re-election. He now stands as an example of what happens when a member of the bar lacks the ethics and higher standard to which we hold our selves and our peers.
March 13, 2006 — Duke University lacrosse players throw a party at an off-campus house, hiring two strippers.
March 14 — One of the dancers tells Durham, N.C., police she was forced into a bathroom by three men and beaten, raped and sodomized.
March 23 — Forty-six of 47 team members comply with judge's order to provide DNA. The sole black member is not tested, because the accuser said her attackers were white.
March 28 — Duke suspends lacrosse team from play.
March 29 — District Attorney Mike Nifong calls members of the team "a bunch of hooligans."
April 4 — The accuser identifies her attackers in a photo lineup.
April 5 — Lacrosse coach Mike Pressler resigns. Duke President Richard Brodhead cancels the rest of the season.
April 10 — Defense attorneys announce DNA tests fail to connect any of the players to the accuser.
April 17 — Grand jury indicts Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on rape and other charges.
April 25 — Granville County authorities confirm the accuser told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men when she was 14. None of the men was charged.
May 15 — Grand jury indicts team co-captain David Evans on rape charges. He calls the allegations "fantastic lies."
June 5 — Duke president says team can resume play in 2007 under close monitoring.
Nov. 7 — Nifong wins election to continue as district attorney.
Dec. 15 — Director of a DNA lab testifies that, in an agreement with Nifong, he omitted from a report that genetic material from several men — none of them team members — was found in accuser's underwear and body.
Dec. 22 — Nifong drops the rape charges, saying the woman is no longer certain whether she was penetrated. The players still face charges of kidnapping and sexual offense.
Dec. 28 — North Carolina bar files ethics charges against Nifong, accusing him of making misleading and inflammatory comments to the media about the athletes. (He is also later accused of withholding evidence and lying to the court.)
Jan. 3, 2007 — Duke invites Seligmann and Finnerty to return to school. (They have not returned.) The accuser gives birth. Both sides later say she was not impregnated at the party.
Jan. 12 — Nifong asks to withdraw from case because of ethics charges.
Jan. 13 — North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper takes over the case.
Apr. 11 – Duke players announced innocent of charges
What happens now? I certainly hope that Mike Nifong is afforded what he attempted to deny the Duke players; due process, equal access to evidence, and an ethical prosecutor.
The biggest question that this all raises is what if these guys did NOT have the recorces to combat a rouge prosecutor? The answer is simple. They each would be serving 30 years for something they did not do.
Prosecutorial misconduct? Probably so. Do personal ethics affect your performance as a lawyer? Absolutely!
And if Nifong is guilty of this misconduct, how far does it go? Are there innocent people in jail (or worse - facing the death penalty) right now because of his actions? This my friends is why we hold our selves to a higher standard, because we are the defenders of the weak, the balance on the stong, and the protectors of the blessings of liberty.
Someone said they didnt get the cartoon. The lady standing there is lady liberty. Does that help?
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Juris-imprudence
Holy torts! Law student in erotic vid
From nydailynews.com
A Brooklyn law student who shed her briefs for a Playboy TV series may have to kiss off her career after the sexy video made its way into e-mail in-boxes all over the city.
Adriana Dominguez - a third-year student at Brooklyn Law School - happily strips naked, gets spanked and holds gavels up to her bare breasts in the provocative clip.
"I wanted to do something a little crazy before I graduate and do become a lawyer ... do something kind of out of character," Dominguez said with a grin as she posed for photographer Andrew Einhorn inside his friend's DUMBO apartment.
"Lawyers can be boring," the 24-year-old later added. But no one will ever call Dominguez buttoned-up. The brainy blond with Ivy League credentials was looking for a lark last July when she answered a Craigslist ad for women to appear in the Playboy TV series "Naked Happy Girls." The episode, called "Rock Star and the Lawyer," aired in January - and was barely noticed.
But in the past three weeks, a 45-second clip spread on the Internet among students and some faculty at almost every New York law school. "I did not expect it to become so widespread," Dominguez told the Daily News in an e-mail yesterday. "I do not know how it was leaked."
The University of Pennsylvania graduate appeared embarrassed and anxious when The News spotted her coming out of a meeting with a top dean. "We don't want this to ruin the career of a young lawyer," said law school spokeswoman Linda Harvey.
When she made the erotic video, Dominguez, a California native, seemed unfazed by the idea that it could wreck her future. "I'm not that shy, so it wouldn't bother me if, say, the opposing counsel has seen these pictures of me. I wouldn't care," she told Einhorn after he asked her if she had any concerns. "When we shot, she knew what might happen down the road if these pictures might get shown to people in her field," Einhorn told The News.
"But she had this self-confidence to not let that bother her. I don't think that she felt that this would be negative in any way to her career," he said.
The sexy stunt could have dire consequences for the would-be lawyer. If she applies for the New York State Bar this year, Dominguez could face tough questions from the Committee on Character and Fitness, which examines the personal character of future lawyers. "It may have an effect. It's a possibility in the worst-case scenario that the person does not get admitted," a committee representative said. And potential employers are sure to discover Dominguez's striptease with a quick Internet search.
Except for her naughty past, Dominguez has plenty to recommend her: she had a fall internship with the domestic violence unit of the Brooklyn district attorney's office and served as treasurer of her law school's Legal Association of Activist Women. Her fellow students at Brooklyn Law, who have dubbed Dominguez "Porn Star," said she should have been smart enough to know better. "It's a striptease. A bit trashy," said one young woman on campus. "I look at her differently. She's definitely smart. It was just a bad decision." 
"I do not know how it was leaked." - LEAKED! LEAKED! It was on cable TV softcore porn! It was on the internet already. How could it be leaked? It was there waiting to be found. Her having it linked to her AIM might have helped a little dont you think?
As lawyers we are paid for our judgment. We are held to a higher ethical standard. Are ethics a gray area? The ABA doesn’t seem to think so.
The bottom line is that this girl will probably get some grief from the NY state bar committee on character and fitness. But the real question is this: If you pay a lawyer for her judgment, aren’t you supposed to be able to trust that judgment?
And as for the comment made by the young lady on her campus, “She's definitely smart. It was just a bad decision."
In NY, “Smart” apparently means something to do with how well you can answer test questions, and absolutely nothing to do with common sense.
HOLY CRAP!!!! HOLD THE PRESS – This snippets below were found below the article in reader comments.
“Oh, and by the way, this is just the tip of the iceberg on this young lady. Her posing nude is the least of what she does. Almost a year ago to the day, friend of mine, had a bachelor's party in a Manhattan hotel. His brother arranged for 3 strippers. One of them was the subject of today's article.” “Anyways, after she participated, with her alleged cousin and another girl who was the supervisor....in a 3 way lesbian activity...did nude lapdances..so on and so forth she goes into the other room and then reappears and asks if there were any lawyers there. She then produces her Brooklyn Law School ID and starts asking about which bar preparation course she should take, Barbri or Pieper. The whole lawschool thing put a cold damper on the event.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/04/10/2007-04-10_its_jurisimprudence-2.html
You have to register to be able to see all the comments. Only the last few are posted bellow the article.
Uhhhhhhh. I don't think "whore, stripper, and porn star" are quite what the ABA had in mind when they advocated "public interest work".
By the way - Don't feel too bad for Ms. Dominguez. She has now hired a publicist.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Sleep strategy for finals
My Sleep strategy for finals:
Get some!
A brain is like a sponge needs time to rest and process the information that you pour into it. Just so much is going to fit in there at any one time without spilling a bunch.
I spent my first day and a half in finals prep mode. I came home and finished dinner by 7pm. I talked on the phone for just a few minutes, and passed out for 2 hours.
Sleep is so important during finals prep. It gets precious towards the end, when time is running short. I have to remember that it can’t be sacrificed, especially the few days before finals. I have to come in rested AND prepared if I expect to do well.
The rest of my strategy:
To borrow a line from “Cool Hand Luke”, I have to get my “mind right”. This means I have to actually sit down and psych myself into understanding the weight and importance of what is now happening. In other words – I will scare myself into “wanting” to study.
Get plenty of rest (see above)
Take care of my self
Take my vitamins (Flintstones don’t get it – I’m a grown man. I need the good stuff)
Eat right (it is so easy to not do this during finals)
No alcohol (goodbye you sweetly brewed, delicately aromatic, nectar of the gods)
Keep my personal life free from strife and drama
(Attention Dramaters: If you have some Drama to disperse, do it now while I have time to deal with it. If you spring it on me right before or during finals. You will deal with an unholy wrath that will consume your very soul. Don’t do it! I know you want to. You folks always do. Don’t even think about it!)
Remember what is important (School, health, personal life).
Concentrate on what is important
Pour it on for the next 4 Weeks
Good luck to you all.
It is time to Strap in, Buck up, and hold on.
Get some!
A brain is like a sponge needs time to rest and process the information that you pour into it. Just so much is going to fit in there at any one time without spilling a bunch.
I spent my first day and a half in finals prep mode. I came home and finished dinner by 7pm. I talked on the phone for just a few minutes, and passed out for 2 hours.
Sleep is so important during finals prep. It gets precious towards the end, when time is running short. I have to remember that it can’t be sacrificed, especially the few days before finals. I have to come in rested AND prepared if I expect to do well.
The rest of my strategy:
To borrow a line from “Cool Hand Luke”, I have to get my “mind right”. This means I have to actually sit down and psych myself into understanding the weight and importance of what is now happening. In other words – I will scare myself into “wanting” to study.
Get plenty of rest (see above)
Take care of my self
Take my vitamins (Flintstones don’t get it – I’m a grown man. I need the good stuff)
Eat right (it is so easy to not do this during finals)
No alcohol (goodbye you sweetly brewed, delicately aromatic, nectar of the gods)
Keep my personal life free from strife and drama
(Attention Dramaters: If you have some Drama to disperse, do it now while I have time to deal with it. If you spring it on me right before or during finals. You will deal with an unholy wrath that will consume your very soul. Don’t do it! I know you want to. You folks always do. Don’t even think about it!)
Remember what is important (School, health, personal life).
Concentrate on what is important
Pour it on for the next 4 Weeks
Good luck to you all.
It is time to Strap in, Buck up, and hold on.
Law school firearm policy
Actual official law school email:
"Please be advised that Faulkner University has a no firearms and weapons policy. A student cannot carry any firearm or dangerous weapon on their person or in their vehicles while on campus. Punishment for violating this policy could result in dismissal from school."
Was this email sent to discourage potential gangbangers from popping caps at each other?
Nope – it was 2 country boys looking at a new shotgun in the parking lot.
You can take the kid out of the country, but…
Country as a turnip green. That is me. And yes, it was a very nice shotgun.
"Please be advised that Faulkner University has a no firearms and weapons policy. A student cannot carry any firearm or dangerous weapon on their person or in their vehicles while on campus. Punishment for violating this policy could result in dismissal from school."
Was this email sent to discourage potential gangbangers from popping caps at each other?
Nope – it was 2 country boys looking at a new shotgun in the parking lot.
You can take the kid out of the country, but…
Country as a turnip green. That is me. And yes, it was a very nice shotgun.
Beard
Because in law school you don’t actually have to go to a job and look presentable all the time, I stopped shaving a grew a beard. I was kind of going for a Unibomber look. Not the hooded artist rendering,
but the full “I just got busted making bombs in my shed up in the woods - now I am wearing an orange jumpsuit” Unibomber beard.
Tonight I shaved it off.
But first I shaved it into big Elvis looking sideburns, then a child molesterish looking goatee that looked stupid. Then I shaved it into a sure enough looking molestash with the edges coming way down, then a little bitty mustache, then took it all off.
It is kind of like playing with soap bubbles in the tub when you were a kid. Too bad girls can’t do that. It is fun.
Wait a minute. On second thought, I am kind of glad that girls can’t do that.
but the full “I just got busted making bombs in my shed up in the woods - now I am wearing an orange jumpsuit” Unibomber beard.
Tonight I shaved it off.
But first I shaved it into big Elvis looking sideburns, then a child molesterish looking goatee that looked stupid. Then I shaved it into a sure enough looking molestash with the edges coming way down, then a little bitty mustache, then took it all off.
It is kind of like playing with soap bubbles in the tub when you were a kid. Too bad girls can’t do that. It is fun.
Wait a minute. On second thought, I am kind of glad that girls can’t do that.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Law school debt and Myspace
Today I attended one of the two MANDATORY “law school debt workshops” that I am required to take prior to graduation. Apparently the Bar isn’t so happy about their members having to dip into client funds just to pay law school loans.
I went ahead and went to the one today because I could knock it out and only have one more to do before graduation (which is in the what seems like now unforeseeable future).
Anyway, we get into the mandatory meeting and it winds up being a freaking sales seminar with a guy trying to get us to consolidate out loans “right now” with company X.
The guy gave some tertiary information about loans in general and said that we are liable for them (duh).
If you are going to employ someone to council students on debt management a financial advisor might be a good choice. A representative of a loan corporation is not.
Loan consolidation guy did tell me one thing that was pretty funny.
Apparently loan companies go to great lengths to find clients. Lately they have taken to looking for their defaulting loan clients on where else: MYSPACE.
Hey look, I have a new friend request.
I went ahead and went to the one today because I could knock it out and only have one more to do before graduation (which is in the what seems like now unforeseeable future).
Anyway, we get into the mandatory meeting and it winds up being a freaking sales seminar with a guy trying to get us to consolidate out loans “right now” with company X.
The guy gave some tertiary information about loans in general and said that we are liable for them (duh).
If you are going to employ someone to council students on debt management a financial advisor might be a good choice. A representative of a loan corporation is not.
Loan consolidation guy did tell me one thing that was pretty funny.
Apparently loan companies go to great lengths to find clients. Lately they have taken to looking for their defaulting loan clients on where else: MYSPACE.
Hey look, I have a new friend request.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
1:30am
It has been about a week since I have written anything. (I apologize about that to my loyal readers). The only reason that I am still up at this hour is that I am worried about a friend that was supposed to contact me.
School
The first week back to school has been hectic. Monday started the countdown – 6 weeks till finals. I am not exactly looking forward to that grueling procedure. I’d rather have all my teeth pulled at once. But it is coming like a freight train and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The stress is about to kick in again. It is a little scary. My grades are not exactly stellar and I don’t have a lot of room to screw up.
Things around my apartment today
To the Asian lady down the corridor:
What the hell are you cooking with. It smells like rotting fish and curry boiling. Stop doing that.
To the little girls playing on the grass this after noon:
The dance you were doing was one that I had seen once on a rap video. It looked slutty then when done by a full grown woman. I did not enjoy seeing it done by a pre-teen fat kid. I realized society is going to hell when I realized your older sister was teaching it to you. I realized that your whole family will probably go to hell when I realized your mom was watching as well. Please stop doing that.
To the kids getting off the school bus:
Look both ways you freakin’ idiots. You nearly get run over every day. The law of averages is going to catch up with you. I don’t want to have to point out to my friends the greasy spot on the pavement that used to be you.
To the repair men that work at my apartments:
Stop dropping stuff in the parking lot when you leave (tacks, screws, nails, bolts, odd pieces of metal). If I get a flat then odds are that you will too (law of averages or revenge – you decide).
To the grounds crew guys at my apartment:
Why do you hire an idiot to run the leaf blower? Why does he go to work insanely early?
Stop doing that.
To the ducks in the pond outside my apartment:
People enjoy seeing you in the daytime. They do not enjoy being awakened by your loud nocturnal activity at 3am. Stop doing that.
To the ghetto thugs who have an apartment across the parking lot:
Just stop everything in general and move away.
It has been about a week since I have written anything. (I apologize about that to my loyal readers). The only reason that I am still up at this hour is that I am worried about a friend that was supposed to contact me.
School
The first week back to school has been hectic. Monday started the countdown – 6 weeks till finals. I am not exactly looking forward to that grueling procedure. I’d rather have all my teeth pulled at once. But it is coming like a freight train and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The stress is about to kick in again. It is a little scary. My grades are not exactly stellar and I don’t have a lot of room to screw up.
Things around my apartment today
To the Asian lady down the corridor:
What the hell are you cooking with. It smells like rotting fish and curry boiling. Stop doing that.
To the little girls playing on the grass this after noon:
The dance you were doing was one that I had seen once on a rap video. It looked slutty then when done by a full grown woman. I did not enjoy seeing it done by a pre-teen fat kid. I realized society is going to hell when I realized your older sister was teaching it to you. I realized that your whole family will probably go to hell when I realized your mom was watching as well. Please stop doing that.
To the kids getting off the school bus:
Look both ways you freakin’ idiots. You nearly get run over every day. The law of averages is going to catch up with you. I don’t want to have to point out to my friends the greasy spot on the pavement that used to be you.
To the repair men that work at my apartments:
Stop dropping stuff in the parking lot when you leave (tacks, screws, nails, bolts, odd pieces of metal). If I get a flat then odds are that you will too (law of averages or revenge – you decide).
To the grounds crew guys at my apartment:
Why do you hire an idiot to run the leaf blower? Why does he go to work insanely early?
Stop doing that.
To the ducks in the pond outside my apartment:
People enjoy seeing you in the daytime. They do not enjoy being awakened by your loud nocturnal activity at 3am. Stop doing that.
To the ghetto thugs who have an apartment across the parking lot:
Just stop everything in general and move away.
Monday, March 19, 2007
The Graveyard Run
This afternoon I decided to take break and go for a run (ok not really a run – a brisk walk – ok, ok it was a lumbering stroll – whatever, lets not get stuck on exercise terminology here) Anyway, her neighborhood is pretty busy and not really conducive to such activity. I rode around for a bit looking for a park but they were all near elementary schools and as I dont really want to be mistaken as a pedophile, I gave up and settled on a cemetery that looked semi deserted (I mean except for all the dead bodies).
A while after I started off I noticed a strange thing. This was not one of those normal cemeteries with headstones and monuments, but it was the kind where all the grave markers were low to the ground. It was the kind that you can drive over all of it with a lawn mower without bumping into anything. It was much too orderly and plain. A final resting place for the anal retentive so to speak.
I cut through a path and stopped when I noticed my name on a marker. Not my whole name of course, that would be TOO FREAKY. It was just my last name. But it got me to thinking. I decided something right then and there. I do not want to be buried in a place like this.
I want a great big monument at the top of a hill. Heck I may get rich and put some land in a trust to start my own. After all, foot per foot cemeteries are some of the most expensive land that you can buy. I couldn’t decide on an inscription for my large memorial that will be nestled between large oaks on top of the hill. But I did come up with my own obituary.
Here goes.
A nation in mourning
A shocked nation woke to the sad news that Jake (come on you didn’t expect me to give out my whole name – I’ve got too many stalkers as it is) was found dead Saturday at his palatial mansion.
Authorities claim that the 99 year old Mr. Jake was killed by his wife (several years his junior) early Saturday morning. Mrs. Jake claims that the death was a result self defense. Apparently the elderly but spry gentleman had overdosed on Viagra.
Mrs. Jake is currently recovering from exhaustion and being treated for depression. Doctors are confident that she will make a full recovery and will be able to walk again very soon.
The Jake estate is expected to be tied up in litigation for several years due to the vast sum of wealth that he had accumulated. Mr. Jake, a wealthy litigator, was renowned for his court room appeal and large judgments. Mr. Jake is most well known for causing the bankruptcy of Microsoft due to the large award that he attained for his client (who had rubbed a callus on her finger due to a “defective” track ball device that the company had manufactured).
City and state officials have called for all flags to be flown at half mast and for schools to be dismissed early.
Jake memorabilia has skyrocketed on eBay since his death. An ink pen that was once owned by Mr. Jake was sold yesterday for an undisclosed amount that was rumored to have surpassed the amount paid for Elvis Presley’s air plane. The Bic ink pen was out of ink and had a missing top.
The president is expected to call for a national day of mourning as dignitaries fly in for the funeral. Due to the large number expected visitors, the funeral has been moved from the local church to Legion Field Stadium this week.
A while after I started off I noticed a strange thing. This was not one of those normal cemeteries with headstones and monuments, but it was the kind where all the grave markers were low to the ground. It was the kind that you can drive over all of it with a lawn mower without bumping into anything. It was much too orderly and plain. A final resting place for the anal retentive so to speak.
I cut through a path and stopped when I noticed my name on a marker. Not my whole name of course, that would be TOO FREAKY. It was just my last name. But it got me to thinking. I decided something right then and there. I do not want to be buried in a place like this.
I want a great big monument at the top of a hill. Heck I may get rich and put some land in a trust to start my own. After all, foot per foot cemeteries are some of the most expensive land that you can buy. I couldn’t decide on an inscription for my large memorial that will be nestled between large oaks on top of the hill. But I did come up with my own obituary.
Here goes.
A nation in mourning
A shocked nation woke to the sad news that Jake (come on you didn’t expect me to give out my whole name – I’ve got too many stalkers as it is) was found dead Saturday at his palatial mansion.
Authorities claim that the 99 year old Mr. Jake was killed by his wife (several years his junior) early Saturday morning. Mrs. Jake claims that the death was a result self defense. Apparently the elderly but spry gentleman had overdosed on Viagra.
Mrs. Jake is currently recovering from exhaustion and being treated for depression. Doctors are confident that she will make a full recovery and will be able to walk again very soon.
The Jake estate is expected to be tied up in litigation for several years due to the vast sum of wealth that he had accumulated. Mr. Jake, a wealthy litigator, was renowned for his court room appeal and large judgments. Mr. Jake is most well known for causing the bankruptcy of Microsoft due to the large award that he attained for his client (who had rubbed a callus on her finger due to a “defective” track ball device that the company had manufactured).
City and state officials have called for all flags to be flown at half mast and for schools to be dismissed early.
Jake memorabilia has skyrocketed on eBay since his death. An ink pen that was once owned by Mr. Jake was sold yesterday for an undisclosed amount that was rumored to have surpassed the amount paid for Elvis Presley’s air plane. The Bic ink pen was out of ink and had a missing top.
The president is expected to call for a national day of mourning as dignitaries fly in for the funeral. Due to the large number expected visitors, the funeral has been moved from the local church to Legion Field Stadium this week.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
The Easter Bunny hates you
This weekend my sister was baby sitting for a little girl who is absolutely terrified of the easter bunny.
Terrified of the easter bunny?? How can you be terrified of the easter bunny? He is cute, loveable, and brings you chocolate (I never really understood why we hid eggs and ate chocolate to celebrate the resurection of Jesus. But hey, that is what we do.)
But how can a kid be terrified of the easter bunny??
-
Maybe this is why.
Terrified of the easter bunny?? How can you be terrified of the easter bunny? He is cute, loveable, and brings you chocolate (I never really understood why we hid eggs and ate chocolate to celebrate the resurection of Jesus. But hey, that is what we do.)
But how can a kid be terrified of the easter bunny??
-
Maybe this is why.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Drama
Anyone who knows me knows that I hate drama. I hate drama queens. I hate people who thrive on drama. I hate the people who thrive on causing other people drama. I hate dramatic readings. Heck, I even hate the name “Johnny Drama” from the show Entourage. I won’t be practicing family law because that would involve “my baby’s daddy” drama, which is the worst kind of Jerry Springer drama and only one step above “a clown touched me on my no-no spot at my 7th birthday party” drama.
But it seems like nothing I do at law school and nothing I see at law school is drama free.
You see, Jones is a small law school (about 100 incoming 1Ls) on a small campus. Law school is just one of those things that force you to be around people that you don’t like and situations that you would rather not be in. There is just so much time that has to be spent at the school that you have little choice but to just endure it - drama and all. Because it is so small, you know all the drama. And we have more than our share.
Anyway,
I can’t figure out how to explain the drama without going into infinite detail and thus reliving the drama all over again. So I will just say this:
There was a misunderstanding
That turned into a full out sorority bitch fest
And “Al Gore” style drama ensued.
And…
I may have said something that might institute more drama (that I was semi-sorry for saying)
Also I dropped out of running for an office in my law fraternity because my GPA was in the “questionable zone”. And that was more drama that I didn’t need.
My life is an open book people. You see me here and this is me. Drama free.
That last thing is totally BS – Drama follows me like a lost puppy.
Heck that is why you read this thing, because my drama is… well the crap is kind of funny. And it makes your drama seem… well, so much less like drama that it makes it ok. And while I may stretch the truth to make the story more appealing, I won’t lie to you.
Unless you bring up some useless drama -
At which point I will pretend that my phone is vibrating and that I have to answer it.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
The law week Heist (or - Tornadoes, blow darts, and pickpockets)
We have this thing at law school called law week.
All week long we have distinguished speakers come in and give a short lecture on their specialized topic and take questions. It is pretty cool because even if the speaker sucks, they still feed you lunch.
One of our speakers commented early on that she didn’t think that she had enough material to cover the entire half hour allotted.
Yea, whatever.
45 minutes AFTER her original half hour was up, we were still sitting there.
Politicians… Who knew?
Anyway, the rain was beating down and the entire area was under tornado watches / warnings. (Who really cares about the difference anymore except for old people and the guy who drones on endlessly on the local TV news. You have to listen to him because you can’t see his face due to the fact that the entire screen is covered with pictures of the “super doplar ten million jigawatt mega fantastic” local radar, storm warnings, severe weather warnings, tornado alerts, and logos.)
“This just in - Breaking coverage: It is raining.”
No kidding? I was wondering what all that wet stuff was blowing up against the window.
As the speech droned on…
School was canceled and closed for the rest of the day due to the weather.
I think the speaker thought that this meant that she had us captive until someone actually died from boredom.
The dean came to the side door and was making all kinds of hand signals to those of us that could see her.
Now, for some reason I don’t think the dean is all that fluent in sign language.
What she was trying to tell us was that school was closed, there was a tornado, and we needed to finish up, get out, and get somewhere safe.
But…
Through her extraordinary use of sign language (something akin to what the first settlers must have used with the Indians). I was able to decipher that she was thinking of washing a pot or perhaps making soup. Or perhaps she had been bitten by a dangerous insect. I couldn’t really tell. She could have used smoke signals and it would have been clearer.
What we finally figured out was that she was telling us to shut the speaker up even if we had to choke her out.
I think somebody in the back of the room was busy fashioning a blow dart knock out weapon out of ink pens and Tylenol.
The speaker got to the end of sentence and took a breath.
We all started clapping.
“Oh, my time must be up.” She said.
No kidding lady. I was thinking of sending a bill to your office for the time I wasted here and perhaps a tort claim for unlawful imprisonment. (Actually she wasn’t all that bad – just long winded).
So the whole big crowd grabs up their books and hurries out into the parking lot to get into their cars. They do this because a giant tornado is coming and it is of course safer to be on the road in a blinding rain than to sit quietly for another half hour till the thing blows over.
Here is the sucky part.
While we were trapped at the meeting upstairs we had left our books in the room downstairs because we were supposed to have a class right afterwards.
Two of my friends happened to leave their bags in the room. While we were in the meeting, some thief stole their wallets.
I’m not sure if the speaker was in on it or not. It might have been some kind of bait and switch delay tactic they had been practicing or something.
All week long we have distinguished speakers come in and give a short lecture on their specialized topic and take questions. It is pretty cool because even if the speaker sucks, they still feed you lunch.
One of our speakers commented early on that she didn’t think that she had enough material to cover the entire half hour allotted.
Yea, whatever.
45 minutes AFTER her original half hour was up, we were still sitting there.
Politicians… Who knew?
Anyway, the rain was beating down and the entire area was under tornado watches / warnings. (Who really cares about the difference anymore except for old people and the guy who drones on endlessly on the local TV news. You have to listen to him because you can’t see his face due to the fact that the entire screen is covered with pictures of the “super doplar ten million jigawatt mega fantastic” local radar, storm warnings, severe weather warnings, tornado alerts, and logos.)
“This just in - Breaking coverage: It is raining.”
No kidding? I was wondering what all that wet stuff was blowing up against the window.
As the speech droned on…
School was canceled and closed for the rest of the day due to the weather.
I think the speaker thought that this meant that she had us captive until someone actually died from boredom.
The dean came to the side door and was making all kinds of hand signals to those of us that could see her.
Now, for some reason I don’t think the dean is all that fluent in sign language.
What she was trying to tell us was that school was closed, there was a tornado, and we needed to finish up, get out, and get somewhere safe.
But…
Through her extraordinary use of sign language (something akin to what the first settlers must have used with the Indians). I was able to decipher that she was thinking of washing a pot or perhaps making soup. Or perhaps she had been bitten by a dangerous insect. I couldn’t really tell. She could have used smoke signals and it would have been clearer.
What we finally figured out was that she was telling us to shut the speaker up even if we had to choke her out.
I think somebody in the back of the room was busy fashioning a blow dart knock out weapon out of ink pens and Tylenol.
The speaker got to the end of sentence and took a breath.
We all started clapping.
“Oh, my time must be up.” She said.
No kidding lady. I was thinking of sending a bill to your office for the time I wasted here and perhaps a tort claim for unlawful imprisonment. (Actually she wasn’t all that bad – just long winded).
So the whole big crowd grabs up their books and hurries out into the parking lot to get into their cars. They do this because a giant tornado is coming and it is of course safer to be on the road in a blinding rain than to sit quietly for another half hour till the thing blows over.
Here is the sucky part.
While we were trapped at the meeting upstairs we had left our books in the room downstairs because we were supposed to have a class right afterwards.
Two of my friends happened to leave their bags in the room. While we were in the meeting, some thief stole their wallets.
I’m not sure if the speaker was in on it or not. It might have been some kind of bait and switch delay tactic they had been practicing or something.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
China, human rights, internet freedom, and the Great Wall of Filtering
This post may seem a bit strange to you.
After my last post I was checking my counter stats and noticed something funny. Suddenly I got a lot of hits from China. From sources like: CNC Group and Chinanet
Places like: Shandong province; Hunan province; Shanxi, to name a few.
Wow, I thought to myself. Are all of these people that interested in the American Civil Rights movement? I was wondering: Are these people “googling” civil rights information?
Or is it something more sinister?
Say maybe a government looking for information that they wish to block their citizens from viewing or having access to. The type of hits I received do not appear to be people reading the blog. The site visits are of too short a duration. (If you don’t already know – counter statistics can be quite detailed – go to the bottom of the page and click on the icon to see for yourself)
China is commonly criticized for violations of basic human rights. Under the guise of blocking pornography, China was widely known to have purchased Microsoft programs and to have made deals with other software, search engines and platforms that have been modified to filter out content that the Chinese government finds objectionable. According to http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china it appears that the set of sites blocked in China is by no means static: whoever maintains the lists is actively updating them, and certain general-interest high-profile sites whose content changes frequently appear to be blocked and unblocked as those changes are evaluated. I took a look a list of blocked sites. Trust me, they are not blocking porn.
Interested in more? Check out here - http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/resources.html
For instance there is a topic that is still taboo in mainland China and an image that the entire world (minus a big chunk of China) has seen. A picture that many of us will never forget.
The Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989, where students, intellectuals, and urban workers protested against the government. Martial law was declared and troops moved in. The communist party claimed that there were only 23 civilian deaths. The CIA averaged that the number was around 400 to 800. And the Chinese red cross estimated that there were 2600 deaths.
Like Mark Twain said: “There are three types of lies: Lies; Damn lies; and statistics.”
In any event, at the very least, there were thousands that were injured. The Chinese authorities apparently don’t use riot gear and tear gas. They used tanks and bullets. It still works. But it is a little heavy handed. Don’t you think? The point is that this is old news to you and me, but rarely seen in China.
So here is my question? Especially after this post, am I persona non grata in China?
Am I blocked? Am I filtered? Have I been placed outside “The Great Wall”? Or have I fallen victim to my own conspiracy theory-ism?
If you have access to someone in China, have them Google this site and let me know.
After my last post I was checking my counter stats and noticed something funny. Suddenly I got a lot of hits from China. From sources like: CNC Group and Chinanet
Places like: Shandong province; Hunan province; Shanxi, to name a few.
Wow, I thought to myself. Are all of these people that interested in the American Civil Rights movement? I was wondering: Are these people “googling” civil rights information?
Or is it something more sinister?
Say maybe a government looking for information that they wish to block their citizens from viewing or having access to. The type of hits I received do not appear to be people reading the blog. The site visits are of too short a duration. (If you don’t already know – counter statistics can be quite detailed – go to the bottom of the page and click on the icon to see for yourself)
China is commonly criticized for violations of basic human rights. Under the guise of blocking pornography, China was widely known to have purchased Microsoft programs and to have made deals with other software, search engines and platforms that have been modified to filter out content that the Chinese government finds objectionable. According to http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china it appears that the set of sites blocked in China is by no means static: whoever maintains the lists is actively updating them, and certain general-interest high-profile sites whose content changes frequently appear to be blocked and unblocked as those changes are evaluated. I took a look a list of blocked sites. Trust me, they are not blocking porn.
Interested in more? Check out here - http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/resources.html
For instance there is a topic that is still taboo in mainland China and an image that the entire world (minus a big chunk of China) has seen. A picture that many of us will never forget.
The Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989, where students, intellectuals, and urban workers protested against the government. Martial law was declared and troops moved in. The communist party claimed that there were only 23 civilian deaths. The CIA averaged that the number was around 400 to 800. And the Chinese red cross estimated that there were 2600 deaths.
Like Mark Twain said: “There are three types of lies: Lies; Damn lies; and statistics.”
In any event, at the very least, there were thousands that were injured. The Chinese authorities apparently don’t use riot gear and tear gas. They used tanks and bullets. It still works. But it is a little heavy handed. Don’t you think? The point is that this is old news to you and me, but rarely seen in China.
So here is my question? Especially after this post, am I persona non grata in China?
Am I blocked? Am I filtered? Have I been placed outside “The Great Wall”? Or have I fallen victim to my own conspiracy theory-ism?
If you have access to someone in China, have them Google this site and let me know.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Sunday Bloody Sunday
This Sunday - 42 years ago
On March 7, 1965 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma. Discrimination and intimidation had prevented Selma's black population, roughly half of the city, from registering to vote. The marchers hoped to bring notice to the violations of their rights by marching to the state capitol in Montgomery.
They made it only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Alabama State troopers and the local Sheriff's Department, some mounted on horseback, awaited them. In the presence of the news media, they attacked the peaceful demonstrators with billy clubs, tear gas, and bull whips.
Brutal televised images of the attack, which presented people with horrifying images of people left bloodied and severely injured, roused support for the US civil rights movement.
Amelia Robinson was beaten and gassed nearly to death — her photo appeared on the front page of papers and newsmagazines around the world.
Food for thought.
I, as a white, southern, male, law student, in Montgomery, AL almost roll my eyes sometimes when we have at our school yet another civil rights speaker.
Being from a poor white family - attending a public school - paying my way through college with work, loans, and the GI Bill – paying my way through law school on loans - In an era where race related crimes are overwhelmingly not against black people by white people BUT AGAINST white people by black people -
Sometimes I wonder “What does this really all have to do with me?”
This did not happen in my life time. I didn’t profit from the subjugation or poor blacks. My family didn’t own a plantation. We never had slaves. We were dirt poor farmers and laborers.
Then again…
This all happened less than 50 miles from where I now sit. And while it may not have happened in my life time, it certainly happened in the lifetime of many people that I know.
We, as we struggle to become attorneys (and when we do become attorneys), must be aware and constantly vigilant that those in authority will use that authority (and abuse that authority) in ways that take away the very liberties and justice that we set out to secure and defend over 2 and a quarter centuries ago.
This is what we fight. This is what we stand against. This is what we are duty bound to defend against.
This, my friends, is why we learn the law:
To protect the blessings of liberty for all.
On March 7, 1965 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma. Discrimination and intimidation had prevented Selma's black population, roughly half of the city, from registering to vote. The marchers hoped to bring notice to the violations of their rights by marching to the state capitol in Montgomery.
They made it only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Alabama State troopers and the local Sheriff's Department, some mounted on horseback, awaited them. In the presence of the news media, they attacked the peaceful demonstrators with billy clubs, tear gas, and bull whips.
Brutal televised images of the attack, which presented people with horrifying images of people left bloodied and severely injured, roused support for the US civil rights movement.
Amelia Robinson was beaten and gassed nearly to death — her photo appeared on the front page of papers and newsmagazines around the world.
Food for thought.
I, as a white, southern, male, law student, in Montgomery, AL almost roll my eyes sometimes when we have at our school yet another civil rights speaker.
Being from a poor white family - attending a public school - paying my way through college with work, loans, and the GI Bill – paying my way through law school on loans - In an era where race related crimes are overwhelmingly not against black people by white people BUT AGAINST white people by black people -
Sometimes I wonder “What does this really all have to do with me?”
This did not happen in my life time. I didn’t profit from the subjugation or poor blacks. My family didn’t own a plantation. We never had slaves. We were dirt poor farmers and laborers.
Then again…
This all happened less than 50 miles from where I now sit. And while it may not have happened in my life time, it certainly happened in the lifetime of many people that I know.
We, as we struggle to become attorneys (and when we do become attorneys), must be aware and constantly vigilant that those in authority will use that authority (and abuse that authority) in ways that take away the very liberties and justice that we set out to secure and defend over 2 and a quarter centuries ago.
This is what we fight. This is what we stand against. This is what we are duty bound to defend against.
This, my friends, is why we learn the law:
To protect the blessings of liberty for all.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The Cat in the Hat turns 50
50 years ago today Theodore Seuss Geisel wrote one of the all time favorite children’s books.
Seuss was contacted by Houghton Mifflin because the current Dick and Jane books being used by schools were doing a poor job of educating and prompting children to read because they were…
Boring.
In a 1954 Life magazine article by the writer John Hersey the question was asked: Why can't Johnny read? Hersey concluded that the "Dick and Jane" readers that most schools used were just too boring. Hersey suggested that Dr. Seuss write a new reading primer for the nation's schoolchildren.
The editors of Houghton Mifflin sent Dr. Seuss a 200-word vocabulary list for 6 and 7 year olds. Dr. Seuss agreed to take on the task and figured that he would knock it out in a few days.
It took him a year and a half.
He read through the list and on the third try decided to find two words that rhymed and to make that his title. The two words were “cat” and “hat”.
236 words later we have one of the most timeless children’s classics to ever be created. It is a book that drove millions to read.
However, the book was never used in public schools because the school systems found it to be too “subversive”.
The cat in the hat was TOO SUBVERSIVE??????
That’s crazy as can be.
I do not agree with that
And that does not agree with me
Now, as Paul Harvey says, you know the rest of the story.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
The North Face
During a cold day this semester I was sitting quietly in class listening to the teacher and I caught my self doing something that I do quite often.
People watching
I watched the people in my class play with their face, or absent mindedly twirl their hair, or annoyingly click their pen, or stare in wonder waiting for something important to fall from the professor’s mouth so that they could furiously write it down. While doing this I noticed something odd about the row of students in front of me.
They are all dressed in the same black fleece jacket with the same white logo on the back shoulder “The North Face”. Not just one or two of them. The entire row minus one or two non-conformist. Looking around the room I noticed it was nearly the same.
The North face makes high performance mountaineering apparel and equipment.
Fleece jackets run from $80 and up $230 and the shells run about the same.
My whole life I have hung out with a pretty outdoorsy crowd. Apart from hunters, I have a number of friends that are into nature based high risk activities: Rock climbers, boulderers (like climbers but with less equipment and difficulty), long distance hikers, cavers (apparently they don’t like to be called “spelunkers” but you can recognize them by that black and yellow bat bumper sticker), whitewater enthusiasts, etc. You get the picture.
The point is that these people rely heavily on their gear. If it fails, they wind up hurt or at the very lest uncomfortable. The North face was a common brand in these circles because they made high quality expedition wear that was dependable. It was warm, kept you dry, and packed light. Used to be that if you saw a guy wearing a North Face jacket you knew he was into some outdoorsy stuff or at least he was wearing THAT guys jacket.
I don’t personally own a North face jacket of any kind. Not that I would not. I just don’t plan on trekking on any glaciers in the near future.
But now every body has one. Even the chick that doesn’t own a pair of tennis shoes, much less a pair of hiking boots, is wearing one. I dare say that none of these people are trekking to any remote part of the world within the near future or ever. But they are wearing that guy’s jacket. The name brand has become so diluted that it doesn’t mean what it once did. It is apparent that The North face has become (dare I say it) the “Members Only jacket” of the 2000’s and ranks right up there with Ferrari brand folding sunglasses.
Maybe there is some kind of “you can’t read a book by its cover” lesson that I am supposed to learn here. And that you can’t assume anything about a person by the way they look. But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you wear the uniform of something that you were not? It is kind of like a woman who is dressed like a hooker standing on the corner in a shady part of town who is deeply offended when someone offers her money for sex. The cops would be like “Geez, you are wearing a hooker’s uniform lady. What did you expect?”
It just seems out of place. But nobody says anything.
Kind of like the Toyota Pre-Runner –
It looks like a 4wd. It has big tires like a 4wd. It sits up high off the ground like a 4wd drive. It rides like a 4wd. It is JUST NOT a 4wd (which makes it the hermaphrodite of truck world so to speak).
Somehow I think if I walk up to any of those people and started a conversation about rappelling belay devices that they wouldn’t know what in the world I was talking about and think I was crazy.
“I’m sorry lady. But you ARE wearing a mountain climber’s uniform. What did you expect?”
People watching
I watched the people in my class play with their face, or absent mindedly twirl their hair, or annoyingly click their pen, or stare in wonder waiting for something important to fall from the professor’s mouth so that they could furiously write it down. While doing this I noticed something odd about the row of students in front of me.
They are all dressed in the same black fleece jacket with the same white logo on the back shoulder “The North Face”. Not just one or two of them. The entire row minus one or two non-conformist. Looking around the room I noticed it was nearly the same.
The North face makes high performance mountaineering apparel and equipment.
Fleece jackets run from $80 and up $230 and the shells run about the same.
My whole life I have hung out with a pretty outdoorsy crowd. Apart from hunters, I have a number of friends that are into nature based high risk activities: Rock climbers, boulderers (like climbers but with less equipment and difficulty), long distance hikers, cavers (apparently they don’t like to be called “spelunkers” but you can recognize them by that black and yellow bat bumper sticker), whitewater enthusiasts, etc. You get the picture.
The point is that these people rely heavily on their gear. If it fails, they wind up hurt or at the very lest uncomfortable. The North face was a common brand in these circles because they made high quality expedition wear that was dependable. It was warm, kept you dry, and packed light. Used to be that if you saw a guy wearing a North Face jacket you knew he was into some outdoorsy stuff or at least he was wearing THAT guys jacket.
I don’t personally own a North face jacket of any kind. Not that I would not. I just don’t plan on trekking on any glaciers in the near future.
But now every body has one. Even the chick that doesn’t own a pair of tennis shoes, much less a pair of hiking boots, is wearing one. I dare say that none of these people are trekking to any remote part of the world within the near future or ever. But they are wearing that guy’s jacket. The name brand has become so diluted that it doesn’t mean what it once did. It is apparent that The North face has become (dare I say it) the “Members Only jacket” of the 2000’s and ranks right up there with Ferrari brand folding sunglasses.
Maybe there is some kind of “you can’t read a book by its cover” lesson that I am supposed to learn here. And that you can’t assume anything about a person by the way they look. But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you wear the uniform of something that you were not? It is kind of like a woman who is dressed like a hooker standing on the corner in a shady part of town who is deeply offended when someone offers her money for sex. The cops would be like “Geez, you are wearing a hooker’s uniform lady. What did you expect?”
It just seems out of place. But nobody says anything.
Kind of like the Toyota Pre-Runner –
It looks like a 4wd. It has big tires like a 4wd. It sits up high off the ground like a 4wd drive. It rides like a 4wd. It is JUST NOT a 4wd (which makes it the hermaphrodite of truck world so to speak).
Somehow I think if I walk up to any of those people and started a conversation about rappelling belay devices that they wouldn’t know what in the world I was talking about and think I was crazy.
“I’m sorry lady. But you ARE wearing a mountain climber’s uniform. What did you expect?”
The Lost Valentine Post
I wrote this a while back at valentines day. I just found it. So here it is.
Dear prospective Valentine,
Since I am not actually celebrating the 14th of February as a holiday in the sense of Valentine’s Day I am unable to send you celebratory Valentine’s Day wishes.
I do however wish you a happy 14th of February, as I hope that you have a happy 15th, 16th, 17th, etc…
As I do not wish to celebrate the 14th of February for any other reason than it is another day to be alive, I am not of the mind to wish you any other thing than that your day is free from horror and disfiguring accidents.
While I do understand that you as a female may put more stock into this day than others, I am disappointed that you have bought into the notion of prepackaged romance and commercialized love. This is noted by the fact that the Greeting Card Association “estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines’ cards.” (Side Bar - Please note that any time you see a statistical average in the same sentence as the words “estimates” and “approximate” that the statistic is BS)
You should be aware that you will not receive from me a $150 bouquet of long stemmed roses that sell on any other day for $30. You will not receive from me the obligatory box of confection or a preprinted $8 sentiment on folded cardstock paper.
In an effort to do more of what seems to be required of relationships today, I have decided to be truthful. I don’t care about Valentine’s Day. It is a holiday that purports to celebrate love and relationships through commercial purchases (kind of like Christmas only without the family, food, celebration of the birth of Jesus or any of that meaningful stuff). In reality Valentines Day was a Roman fertility festival that was revived by Ester Howland to generate business for he father’s stationary store. The greeting card industry quickly adopted it in order to generate sales. (The flower and candy industry tagged along for the ride.)
The argument in the opposite (or to play devil’s advocate so to speak) is that the chick is the one who actually cares about Valentines Day. Because the girl cares about Valentines Day, the guy is obliged to also care about it because it means something to the girl and since the girl means something to the guy, he must then care about Valentines Day, participate in Valentines Day, and, squander money on soon forgotten trinkets of commercialized affection for Valentines Day.
All is fair in love and war.
So Riddle me this:
Can you tell me what a zone defense is?
Who took over Joe Kines position at Alabama? (Hint: it is not Nick Saban)
Can you recite any of the quotes from “Josey Wales” or “Full Metal Jacket”?
Do you know the difference in a pilsner and lager?
Your argument might be: “NO. I don’t know about that stuff. I don’t care about that stuff. That stuff is not important to me. Why does any of it matter?”
My point exactly.
Dear prospective Valentine,
Since I am not actually celebrating the 14th of February as a holiday in the sense of Valentine’s Day I am unable to send you celebratory Valentine’s Day wishes.
I do however wish you a happy 14th of February, as I hope that you have a happy 15th, 16th, 17th, etc…
As I do not wish to celebrate the 14th of February for any other reason than it is another day to be alive, I am not of the mind to wish you any other thing than that your day is free from horror and disfiguring accidents.
While I do understand that you as a female may put more stock into this day than others, I am disappointed that you have bought into the notion of prepackaged romance and commercialized love. This is noted by the fact that the Greeting Card Association “estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines’ cards.” (Side Bar - Please note that any time you see a statistical average in the same sentence as the words “estimates” and “approximate” that the statistic is BS)
You should be aware that you will not receive from me a $150 bouquet of long stemmed roses that sell on any other day for $30. You will not receive from me the obligatory box of confection or a preprinted $8 sentiment on folded cardstock paper.
In an effort to do more of what seems to be required of relationships today, I have decided to be truthful. I don’t care about Valentine’s Day. It is a holiday that purports to celebrate love and relationships through commercial purchases (kind of like Christmas only without the family, food, celebration of the birth of Jesus or any of that meaningful stuff). In reality Valentines Day was a Roman fertility festival that was revived by Ester Howland to generate business for he father’s stationary store. The greeting card industry quickly adopted it in order to generate sales. (The flower and candy industry tagged along for the ride.)
The argument in the opposite (or to play devil’s advocate so to speak) is that the chick is the one who actually cares about Valentines Day. Because the girl cares about Valentines Day, the guy is obliged to also care about it because it means something to the girl and since the girl means something to the guy, he must then care about Valentines Day, participate in Valentines Day, and, squander money on soon forgotten trinkets of commercialized affection for Valentines Day.
All is fair in love and war.
So Riddle me this:
Can you tell me what a zone defense is?
Who took over Joe Kines position at Alabama? (Hint: it is not Nick Saban)
Can you recite any of the quotes from “Josey Wales” or “Full Metal Jacket”?
Do you know the difference in a pilsner and lager?
Your argument might be: “NO. I don’t know about that stuff. I don’t care about that stuff. That stuff is not important to me. Why does any of it matter?”
My point exactly.
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