The day after the elections, the conservatives realize that they took a whipping that will not likely fade from memory soon. Across America, the day after elections, the loosing party pulls back, licks their wounds, and tries to figure out why they lost, and what to do now. I had done the math. I knew the race was lost for McCain when he didn’t pull off Ohio or Pennsylvania. There were no surprises here.
The economy was in shambles thanks to oil price fluctuations that fueled a hike on all prices and the rest of the economy was left to figure out what to do. Eventually it has begun to subside, but the recent memory of hardship struck a blow to the current conservative leadership in which American simply told the government that they were not happy with what was happening.
It is really not surprising that Barack Obama won the presidential election. Historically we see a shift when one party has a president in office for two terms. We kind of like swapping them out every once in a while. Plus, with a black person being the first major party candidate going into an election, you could kind of figure that it was going to be that way.
I wonder what happens now to the race baiters that have made their living for so long telling minorities that there is no hope. I kind of hope they are out of a job. That would be a true victory for America.
Conservatism didn’t suffer a wholesale defeat. All of the elections were relatively close and gay marriage bans won across the board, even in California.
We will have a chance to see what the democrats will do with their power. I am thankful that there was no super majority in congress. Frankly I disagree with some of the shenanigans that I see democrats trying to pull. Same goes for the republicans sometimes. Quite frankly, I don’t trust any of them. But at least they wont have a wholesale ability to shove unwanted legislation down America’s throat. I think the legislative branch is at its best when it is divided. That way real important legislation makes it through and the crap does not. Most of it anyway.
Obama scares me somehow. I just don’t know how to explain it. But sometimes you just have to trust your gut instinct. I don’t like his muslim ties. I worry about his pro-Palestine stance. I worry about his anti- Israeli stance. I don’t like his liberal agenda. I don’t care for his slick presentations. I am bothered by his foreign relatives living in huts while he becomes the most powerful man in the world. I am bothered by his aunt (who attended his swearing in ceremony into the legislature) who now lives in a big city slum. I am bothered by his wife who his campaign kept well hid because she was making too many verbal gaffs. Too many things worry me about this man and his plans for “change”. I have friends who swear up and down that Obama fits the profile for the antichrist. I don’t know if that is true. But if there is a rapture, I wont be writing this blog anymore. I will watching this all play out from somewhere else.
Did I want McCain to win? Yea, sure. But he wasn’t my first choice. When McCain ran the first time, he was not what you would call a conservative republican dream candidate. 4 years later the republican thought he was just conservative enough to pull it off. Even if McCain had won, the true conservatives wouldn’t have been happy, but they would find it tolerable. As for the other republicans that ran, Mit Romney was just as scary to me as Obama so I hope he doesn’t run again in 4 years.
I am so glad that the election is over. I am sick of the public ass kissing that Obama received from the bulk of the media. I feel that America was swayed by the political leanings of their news commentators. Things will soon change for Obama. The media loves to throw rocks at those in power. The honeymoon wont last long. Obama got away with some fairly flimsy excuses and exaggerated promises during the election. Soon the media will have to start doing its job in order to keep readers and viewers interested. Some tough questions will be asked of Obama soon. And soon those who saw Obama as the answer to their housing, economy, and financial woes will be disillusioned with the empty promises and realize that there is no simple answer, and the president’s agenda has little to do with their prosperity.
Oil has already started to spiral down. The economy will inevitably recover. Obama will get some credit for this. But eventually he too will be faced with some tough times for which he, like all presidents, will take the blame. Sure, it was time for some change in our political offices. I just wonder if America has made the right one. I am not happy with the results of this election. But I seldom am. I will survive whatever stupid decisions are made in Washington. I just hope that my country does not suffer for the one that they made.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Electoral College Tie
So there is this election thing going on today…
And it is a tight race.
All arguments about shady practices by either side aside, what happens if it is an extremely close race.
“How close?” you ask.
Well, there are 538 electoral college votes. Although they say that it is not statistically likely to happen (Last look said the likelihood was about 3.2%). There is a chance of the votes being split in the electoral college at 269 to 269.
What happens then?
When we were little and we would have a tie in game it was called "sister kisser". "It is like kissing your sister. It dont count."
Everybody hates a tie. There is no winner. We, as Americans love a winner, and dispise loosing.
So what does happen if there is a tie in the electoral college?
The 12th amendment provides for the procedure.
In the event of a tie, the House of Representatives would vote for a president and the Senate would pick the vice president when Congress reconvenes in January.
What about this scenario:
The newly elected House, seated in January, is unable to muster a majority to choose a president after a 269-269 tie, but the Senate, which is expected to be controlled by Democrats, picks Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. from the Democratic ticket. If the House is still deadlocked at noon on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, Mr. Biden becomes acting president.
OR:
Neither the House nor the Senate fulfills its constitutional duty to select the president and the vice president by Jan. 20, so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, becomes acting president until the whole mess is sorted out.
OR:
What if an electoral college elector casts a faithless vote (votes for the other guy)?
24 States have laws to punish faithless electors. That means that 26 states do not. This is unlikely because the electors are usually closely related to their party. Unlikely and not probable, but possible.
Things to think about…
And it is a tight race.
All arguments about shady practices by either side aside, what happens if it is an extremely close race.
“How close?” you ask.
Well, there are 538 electoral college votes. Although they say that it is not statistically likely to happen (Last look said the likelihood was about 3.2%). There is a chance of the votes being split in the electoral college at 269 to 269.
What happens then?
When we were little and we would have a tie in game it was called "sister kisser". "It is like kissing your sister. It dont count."
Everybody hates a tie. There is no winner. We, as Americans love a winner, and dispise loosing.
So what does happen if there is a tie in the electoral college?
The 12th amendment provides for the procedure.
In the event of a tie, the House of Representatives would vote for a president and the Senate would pick the vice president when Congress reconvenes in January.
What about this scenario:
The newly elected House, seated in January, is unable to muster a majority to choose a president after a 269-269 tie, but the Senate, which is expected to be controlled by Democrats, picks Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. from the Democratic ticket. If the House is still deadlocked at noon on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, Mr. Biden becomes acting president.
OR:
Neither the House nor the Senate fulfills its constitutional duty to select the president and the vice president by Jan. 20, so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, becomes acting president until the whole mess is sorted out.
OR:
What if an electoral college elector casts a faithless vote (votes for the other guy)?
24 States have laws to punish faithless electors. That means that 26 states do not. This is unlikely because the electors are usually closely related to their party. Unlikely and not probable, but possible.
Things to think about…
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Barbri
We have began studying for the bar exam in February.
There is a saying among law students in regards to the bar exam. It goes something like this: “Do it once. Do it right. Never do it again.”
I’ve heard more bar prep horror stories than I care to recall. Much worse than anything in law school. And I have more than one friend who has taken the bar more than once. I don’t want to take chances with bar prep. So we are taking Barbri’s bar prep courses. Everything that is on the bar you don’t learn in law school. You have to pick up the extra material in a bar prep course before taking the bar. Barbri currently has the lock on being the most comprehensive Bar prep course on the market. Most people swear that Barbri is essential.
Barbri begins in January. Barbri fees are due by December first in order to avoid a $75 dollar late fee. Our combined bar prep fee is around $5000 just to take Barbri. We opted out of taking PMBR just because of the cost even though we both have about $100 already paid into PMBR.
Bar prep is a big cost, and with my lack of a job, Crystal’s job almost pays for our current bills. Six grand for Barbri means that we have to get a bar prep loan. Great. Just great. But with me already owing six figures, what is the difference of a few thousand more. Our law schools loans are currently in a hold position (in deference or hold or whatever they call it nowdays) until a little while after the bar. At that time we will need to look into consolidation loans and repayment. It is not that far off. But we really cant afford to worry about that right now.
We have inherited a good bit of bar prep material from friends and are currently using that along with our law school materials and some early bird Barbri courses taken earlier this year to start prepping early. We will need it. The amount of material is amazing. It is a task unlike any I have ever approached. Some of it I will be learning anew. Some of it I will be relearning. They say it is approachable if you break it down into sections and have a study plan. Ok, that’s a good idea. Only one problem, I have no idea where to start. I have no idea of how to allocate time and on what subjects I need to concentrate the most. I will have to do a little research and figure it all out. In the mean time, I am still looking for a job, worrying about bills, starting to study, wondering where I need to concentrate, and wondering where I will be when bar results come out at the end of next May.
And in the mean time, I will continue to write on this blog. Hopefully it will keep me focused and you mildly entertained.
There is a saying among law students in regards to the bar exam. It goes something like this: “Do it once. Do it right. Never do it again.”
I’ve heard more bar prep horror stories than I care to recall. Much worse than anything in law school. And I have more than one friend who has taken the bar more than once. I don’t want to take chances with bar prep. So we are taking Barbri’s bar prep courses. Everything that is on the bar you don’t learn in law school. You have to pick up the extra material in a bar prep course before taking the bar. Barbri currently has the lock on being the most comprehensive Bar prep course on the market. Most people swear that Barbri is essential.
Barbri begins in January. Barbri fees are due by December first in order to avoid a $75 dollar late fee. Our combined bar prep fee is around $5000 just to take Barbri. We opted out of taking PMBR just because of the cost even though we both have about $100 already paid into PMBR.
Bar prep is a big cost, and with my lack of a job, Crystal’s job almost pays for our current bills. Six grand for Barbri means that we have to get a bar prep loan. Great. Just great. But with me already owing six figures, what is the difference of a few thousand more. Our law schools loans are currently in a hold position (in deference or hold or whatever they call it nowdays) until a little while after the bar. At that time we will need to look into consolidation loans and repayment. It is not that far off. But we really cant afford to worry about that right now.
We have inherited a good bit of bar prep material from friends and are currently using that along with our law school materials and some early bird Barbri courses taken earlier this year to start prepping early. We will need it. The amount of material is amazing. It is a task unlike any I have ever approached. Some of it I will be learning anew. Some of it I will be relearning. They say it is approachable if you break it down into sections and have a study plan. Ok, that’s a good idea. Only one problem, I have no idea where to start. I have no idea of how to allocate time and on what subjects I need to concentrate the most. I will have to do a little research and figure it all out. In the mean time, I am still looking for a job, worrying about bills, starting to study, wondering where I need to concentrate, and wondering where I will be when bar results come out at the end of next May.
And in the mean time, I will continue to write on this blog. Hopefully it will keep me focused and you mildly entertained.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
To kill a mockingbird - or just make him move away
Recently I picked back up Harper Lee’s “To kill a Mockingbird”. The book is the quintessential southern gothic and I highly recomend it if you have not read it.
In the book Harper Lee said that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. I understand the juxtaposition of the death of the mockingbird and the death of innocence in the book and all that. But I disagree with the point that a mockingbird won’t harm anything. Mockingbirds are like little heathen gang members.
Jerry, the only mockingbird that I ever knew personally, lived in a tree not far from my front door. He was a terrible and aggressive creature. Maybe it had eggs or little ones in the nest in the tree. But every time I would walk outside the front door, it would screech and dive bomb me until I was out of site. Our poor cat lived in fear of the front door.
Jerry would swoop down and flog the cat, pin him down low and then come in for another flogging swoop. The cat ran for cover in a drain pipe and the mockingbird guarded it until the poor cat had to make his way down the pipe a half block away. The cat eventually made it out the other end and snuck back to the side door where he was let in. From that day on, he would sit in the front window an gnash his teeth at the bird through the glass but lived in immortal fear of going out the front door. I named the bird “Jerry” because he was constantly harassing the little tomcat.
Mockingbirds can imitate just like a parrot. I would go outside and take the cordless phone with me. I would lay the phone down as I worked in the yard. If it rang I didn’t have to run back inside to answer it. All I had to do was pick it up and press “talk”. Eventually, Jerry learned to imitate the sound of the phone. He was actually quite adept at it. He sounded exactly like my telephone. This was funny at first. But a little known fact is that mockingbirds are prolific singers and will make noise all day and sometimes all night. Thus the phone rang whether it was ringing or not at all hours. I eventually had to buy a phone with a different ringer to be able to tell the difference.
Jerry was like a little Frank Sinatra. He sang all the time. Especially on the weekends when your head is under the covers hiding from the early morning sunlight. Jerry also loved to sit on the power line running to my house. The power line cut across the drive way. So Jerry used it as his own private little lavatory. The thing more annoying that being dive bombed was the bombs that he left on my car.
Jerry had to go.
I toyed with the idea of a BB gun but was afraid that if I missed the neighbors would have a cracked window. He seemed to disappear whenever I brought out the BB gun anyway. So I bought a plastic owl and hung him in the tree next to Jerry. I enjoyed watching Jerry dive bomb the owl and make his yellow eyes jiggle. Eventually Jerry got accustomed to the plastic owl and one morning I noticed that Jerry had switched his lavatory to the limb just above the plastic owl. Either it got too cold and Jerry move south or he decided that his bird poop covered plastic barn owl neighbor had driven down his property value to the point that he needed to move. Either way, good riddance Mr. Mockingbird. Harper Lee was full of crap.
In the book Harper Lee said that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. I understand the juxtaposition of the death of the mockingbird and the death of innocence in the book and all that. But I disagree with the point that a mockingbird won’t harm anything. Mockingbirds are like little heathen gang members.
Jerry, the only mockingbird that I ever knew personally, lived in a tree not far from my front door. He was a terrible and aggressive creature. Maybe it had eggs or little ones in the nest in the tree. But every time I would walk outside the front door, it would screech and dive bomb me until I was out of site. Our poor cat lived in fear of the front door.
Jerry would swoop down and flog the cat, pin him down low and then come in for another flogging swoop. The cat ran for cover in a drain pipe and the mockingbird guarded it until the poor cat had to make his way down the pipe a half block away. The cat eventually made it out the other end and snuck back to the side door where he was let in. From that day on, he would sit in the front window an gnash his teeth at the bird through the glass but lived in immortal fear of going out the front door. I named the bird “Jerry” because he was constantly harassing the little tomcat.
Mockingbirds can imitate just like a parrot. I would go outside and take the cordless phone with me. I would lay the phone down as I worked in the yard. If it rang I didn’t have to run back inside to answer it. All I had to do was pick it up and press “talk”. Eventually, Jerry learned to imitate the sound of the phone. He was actually quite adept at it. He sounded exactly like my telephone. This was funny at first. But a little known fact is that mockingbirds are prolific singers and will make noise all day and sometimes all night. Thus the phone rang whether it was ringing or not at all hours. I eventually had to buy a phone with a different ringer to be able to tell the difference.
Jerry was like a little Frank Sinatra. He sang all the time. Especially on the weekends when your head is under the covers hiding from the early morning sunlight. Jerry also loved to sit on the power line running to my house. The power line cut across the drive way. So Jerry used it as his own private little lavatory. The thing more annoying that being dive bombed was the bombs that he left on my car.
Jerry had to go.
I toyed with the idea of a BB gun but was afraid that if I missed the neighbors would have a cracked window. He seemed to disappear whenever I brought out the BB gun anyway. So I bought a plastic owl and hung him in the tree next to Jerry. I enjoyed watching Jerry dive bomb the owl and make his yellow eyes jiggle. Eventually Jerry got accustomed to the plastic owl and one morning I noticed that Jerry had switched his lavatory to the limb just above the plastic owl. Either it got too cold and Jerry move south or he decided that his bird poop covered plastic barn owl neighbor had driven down his property value to the point that he needed to move. Either way, good riddance Mr. Mockingbird. Harper Lee was full of crap.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Trick or Treat - You choose
I cant stand trick or treaters.
I know, I know. It is a kids holiday. I am supposed to love giving away free candy to kids dressed as fairies and spidermans.
But I don’t.
Years ago I lived in a nice neighborhood that was known to have lots of treaters and we got hit pretty heavy. People would come from miles around so they could put their kids out at one end of the street and pick them up on the other with their bags full of goodies.
Some time in the evening I had to run to the store, so I put a bowl out with candy and a sign that said “take one”. I was gone 5 minutes. The bowl was empty. I had been robbed!
Every year it is the same. A few kids I know show up in the cute outfit so that the parents can show them off and then a bunch of kids I don’t know show up with an open bag begging for candy. Some of them don’t even have costumes. I wish I had a rotten apple to give those no costume kids. I remember Charlie Brown getting a rock in his sack. That is funny. But I know the little hoodlums would just throw it at my house.
Don’t get me wrong. I was a little fat kid who knew how to work Halloween for all it was worth. We hit every house within distance and hit the relatives twice. I had two bags. One bag stayed in the car and one bag went with you to the house. Once I got goodies I emptied them into the one in the car and then went to the next set of houses with only a piece or two in the bag. When they answer the door you give big happy “Trick or Treat!” or if you knew them very well the proverbial “Trick or Treat – Smell my feet – Give me something good to eat!” The people answering the door would load you down because they felt sorry for you after seeing all the other kids with full bags. I guess they thought we had got a late start. But you got more candy with an empty bag. I shared the secret with my siblings the next year and bada bing bada bang bada boom – it was a dandy candy explosion.
That year I had a Halloween haul so big that I still had candy hid under the bed at Easter (another free candy for kids holiday). I donated it all to my sister. She ate candy till she was sick. But she was smart and kept quiet about why she was sick. The next day she did it again. My parents took her to the doctor. They thought it might be a bad Easter egg. But she didn’t squeal on me. We were tight like that. We also learned a valuable lesson about moderation and something called an “expiration date”.
Having worked the system with such gusto for so long, I guess I got old and cynical early. But my plan this year is to put an EMPTY bowl out on the porch with a sign in it that says “TAKE ONE”.
Trick or Treat?
This year I choose "Trick".
I know, I know. It is a kids holiday. I am supposed to love giving away free candy to kids dressed as fairies and spidermans.
But I don’t.
Years ago I lived in a nice neighborhood that was known to have lots of treaters and we got hit pretty heavy. People would come from miles around so they could put their kids out at one end of the street and pick them up on the other with their bags full of goodies.
Some time in the evening I had to run to the store, so I put a bowl out with candy and a sign that said “take one”. I was gone 5 minutes. The bowl was empty. I had been robbed!
Every year it is the same. A few kids I know show up in the cute outfit so that the parents can show them off and then a bunch of kids I don’t know show up with an open bag begging for candy. Some of them don’t even have costumes. I wish I had a rotten apple to give those no costume kids. I remember Charlie Brown getting a rock in his sack. That is funny. But I know the little hoodlums would just throw it at my house.
Don’t get me wrong. I was a little fat kid who knew how to work Halloween for all it was worth. We hit every house within distance and hit the relatives twice. I had two bags. One bag stayed in the car and one bag went with you to the house. Once I got goodies I emptied them into the one in the car and then went to the next set of houses with only a piece or two in the bag. When they answer the door you give big happy “Trick or Treat!” or if you knew them very well the proverbial “Trick or Treat – Smell my feet – Give me something good to eat!” The people answering the door would load you down because they felt sorry for you after seeing all the other kids with full bags. I guess they thought we had got a late start. But you got more candy with an empty bag. I shared the secret with my siblings the next year and bada bing bada bang bada boom – it was a dandy candy explosion.
That year I had a Halloween haul so big that I still had candy hid under the bed at Easter (another free candy for kids holiday). I donated it all to my sister. She ate candy till she was sick. But she was smart and kept quiet about why she was sick. The next day she did it again. My parents took her to the doctor. They thought it might be a bad Easter egg. But she didn’t squeal on me. We were tight like that. We also learned a valuable lesson about moderation and something called an “expiration date”.
Having worked the system with such gusto for so long, I guess I got old and cynical early. But my plan this year is to put an EMPTY bowl out on the porch with a sign in it that says “TAKE ONE”.
Trick or Treat?
This year I choose "Trick".
Friday, October 17, 2008
Worst job interview ever
I am looking for a job.
I moved to Georgia shortly before I graduated in August. Because I missed the July bar by about 3 weeks, I have to wait on the February bar next year.
Ok, so I am not a lawyer yet and am looking for work in a law office. A couple of things were really promising, but fell through at the last minutes. I have resorted to going door to door to door at law offices submitting my resume. Which I believe is usually put into the circular file beside the receptionist / gatekeeper’s desk (trashcan) because she doesn’t want anyone invading her precious space.
Ok, so at this point I just need a freaking job. NOW!!!
I got a reply from some unknown job that I had sent a resume in for at some point. This just goes to show you that the internet is not always your friend.
It was someone wanting to move from what she said was a very successful internet based business that she operated out of her home, to an actual business location and start selling products in a store. She told me all about it over the phone and it sounded very promising. Essentially she was looking for someone to get the business up and running while she handled the online portion and also looked into opening a second location right away. It all sounded very legitimate and the woman talked a good game.
So I went to meet her after hours so that we could discuss the job in person. I took Crystal, my wife, with me.
We met her at a store near her home and immediately things looked suspicious. She was not what you would call professional looking. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt because she had stated that was one of her problems and wanted a person with a professional demeanor to set up her operation. She pointed to some nearby store fronts that were currently in use and said that the owners were willing to remodel it for her and it would be ready in two weeks. (Gee, that is funny because there are already stores there. I don’t see them packing up boxes to move.) She said that she had a few other possible locations that she was looking at.
Anyway, we follow her to her home to take a look at what her plan is for the job. We get to her home and the second alarm bell goes off. It is not a nice place. But it has a garage and I figure that is probably where she does all of her shipping.
Wrong.
We follow her into a smoke filled house with children everywhere and I am alarmed. I look for a way out but it is too late. She dismisses it and says that this is the reason that she needs a more professional location from which to do business. At this point there is no turning back. We follow her to a room she calls her office and she unlocks the door. It is little more than a bedroom with a computer desk. And it isn’t nice.
At this point I am looking for a way out but I want to be nice about it. This lady is crazy and I don’t want to alarm her. Crystal is giving me wide eyed scared looks and I talk to the lady for a few minutes as she makes wild promises that she could not possible even dream of fulfilling. I told her it was something I would have to think about and made up an excuse to leave.
The woman was obviously crazy.
I tried not to spin the tires as we pulled away. Crystal is immediately on the phone to her mother telling her about the danger I had just put her baby daughter in. Crystal swears up and down that it was a meth lab house. I think the lady was just crazy. Either way, it was scary.
Heed these words if you are in law school.
Go to your career office and make them find you a job!!!!!!
Stay on them. They are there to find you a job. Make them work. Apply for everything. Until you pass the bar you are “persona non grata” everywhere. You will be over qualified because you will have a JD. You don’t qualify for most paralegal / legal assistant jobs because they want someone with paralegal / legal assistant experience and someone that will have longevity if they are hired. You cant practice as a lawyer until you have the bar results back. You will be in Nowhereville until then.
The economy is in the dumpster. No one is hiring. Even the staffing agencies don’t have positions. And if they do, you don’t qualify.
If you have a lawyer in the family, start pestering them now. Have a job waiting. If you don’t have that and you are moving out of state after graduation and if you have a while until you take the bar, welcome to my world.
It is hard not to become cynical when you hand over your resume to the squinty eyed receptionists who view you as an interloper onto their precious soil. They have established a very secure and powerful little nest. She will defend it with all her might. She will not easily open the doors that you need opened, and quite likely, she will be as helpful as an angry cobra loose in your house. Beware of the guardians of the gate. I know of at least one lawyer whom I know did not receive my resume after I gave it to the receptionist / gatekeeper.
I moved to Georgia shortly before I graduated in August. Because I missed the July bar by about 3 weeks, I have to wait on the February bar next year.
Ok, so I am not a lawyer yet and am looking for work in a law office. A couple of things were really promising, but fell through at the last minutes. I have resorted to going door to door to door at law offices submitting my resume. Which I believe is usually put into the circular file beside the receptionist / gatekeeper’s desk (trashcan) because she doesn’t want anyone invading her precious space.
Ok, so at this point I just need a freaking job. NOW!!!
I got a reply from some unknown job that I had sent a resume in for at some point. This just goes to show you that the internet is not always your friend.
It was someone wanting to move from what she said was a very successful internet based business that she operated out of her home, to an actual business location and start selling products in a store. She told me all about it over the phone and it sounded very promising. Essentially she was looking for someone to get the business up and running while she handled the online portion and also looked into opening a second location right away. It all sounded very legitimate and the woman talked a good game.
So I went to meet her after hours so that we could discuss the job in person. I took Crystal, my wife, with me.
We met her at a store near her home and immediately things looked suspicious. She was not what you would call professional looking. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt because she had stated that was one of her problems and wanted a person with a professional demeanor to set up her operation. She pointed to some nearby store fronts that were currently in use and said that the owners were willing to remodel it for her and it would be ready in two weeks. (Gee, that is funny because there are already stores there. I don’t see them packing up boxes to move.) She said that she had a few other possible locations that she was looking at.
Anyway, we follow her to her home to take a look at what her plan is for the job. We get to her home and the second alarm bell goes off. It is not a nice place. But it has a garage and I figure that is probably where she does all of her shipping.
Wrong.
We follow her into a smoke filled house with children everywhere and I am alarmed. I look for a way out but it is too late. She dismisses it and says that this is the reason that she needs a more professional location from which to do business. At this point there is no turning back. We follow her to a room she calls her office and she unlocks the door. It is little more than a bedroom with a computer desk. And it isn’t nice.
At this point I am looking for a way out but I want to be nice about it. This lady is crazy and I don’t want to alarm her. Crystal is giving me wide eyed scared looks and I talk to the lady for a few minutes as she makes wild promises that she could not possible even dream of fulfilling. I told her it was something I would have to think about and made up an excuse to leave.
The woman was obviously crazy.
I tried not to spin the tires as we pulled away. Crystal is immediately on the phone to her mother telling her about the danger I had just put her baby daughter in. Crystal swears up and down that it was a meth lab house. I think the lady was just crazy. Either way, it was scary.
Heed these words if you are in law school.
Go to your career office and make them find you a job!!!!!!
Stay on them. They are there to find you a job. Make them work. Apply for everything. Until you pass the bar you are “persona non grata” everywhere. You will be over qualified because you will have a JD. You don’t qualify for most paralegal / legal assistant jobs because they want someone with paralegal / legal assistant experience and someone that will have longevity if they are hired. You cant practice as a lawyer until you have the bar results back. You will be in Nowhereville until then.
The economy is in the dumpster. No one is hiring. Even the staffing agencies don’t have positions. And if they do, you don’t qualify.
If you have a lawyer in the family, start pestering them now. Have a job waiting. If you don’t have that and you are moving out of state after graduation and if you have a while until you take the bar, welcome to my world.
It is hard not to become cynical when you hand over your resume to the squinty eyed receptionists who view you as an interloper onto their precious soil. They have established a very secure and powerful little nest. She will defend it with all her might. She will not easily open the doors that you need opened, and quite likely, she will be as helpful as an angry cobra loose in your house. Beware of the guardians of the gate. I know of at least one lawyer whom I know did not receive my resume after I gave it to the receptionist / gatekeeper.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Smitfraud Fix
I got another virus today. This one was called “Total Secure 2009” and it was nasty.
The latest round of viruses, malware, spyware, adware, or pain the the rear ware, are known as smitfraud. I don’t know why.
I have some high end antivirus software from NOD 32 that got 77 files cleaned when I ran a scan but it still didn’t get rid of this nasty bugger.
Anyway, the way they work is that they pop up continuously saying that you need to use their new and trusty tool. You have to pay for the tool which is named something that appears to look like a legitimate anti virus program. The tool probably does no good or only clears you of the current program they invented for a year or so. Either way, hooligans will now have your credit card info.
No dice!
If you get one of these just look up “Smitfraud Fix” and download the free tool from one of the sites that have the link. Open your computer in safe mode and run the program. It will get it fixed in about 10 minutes.
I got mine here.
http://www.pchubs.com/blogs/totalsecure2009-removal-process-remove-total-secure-2009
Scroll down the page until you see the heading that reads “Automatically Remove TotalSecure 2009”
This is great considering that a similar piece of crap virus cost me all the info on our home computer only a month ago.
The latest round of viruses, malware, spyware, adware, or pain the the rear ware, are known as smitfraud. I don’t know why.
I have some high end antivirus software from NOD 32 that got 77 files cleaned when I ran a scan but it still didn’t get rid of this nasty bugger.
Anyway, the way they work is that they pop up continuously saying that you need to use their new and trusty tool. You have to pay for the tool which is named something that appears to look like a legitimate anti virus program. The tool probably does no good or only clears you of the current program they invented for a year or so. Either way, hooligans will now have your credit card info.
No dice!
If you get one of these just look up “Smitfraud Fix” and download the free tool from one of the sites that have the link. Open your computer in safe mode and run the program. It will get it fixed in about 10 minutes.
I got mine here.
http://www.pchubs.com/blogs/totalsecure2009-removal-process-remove-total-secure-2009
Scroll down the page until you see the heading that reads “Automatically Remove TotalSecure 2009”
This is great considering that a similar piece of crap virus cost me all the info on our home computer only a month ago.
Brian Nichols Trial
Brian Nichols; Public Defenders; Death Penalty; Funding death penalty cases
Brian Nichols killed 4 people when he escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, GA. The trial is an everyday headline in Georgia and occasionally in the national papers as well. The case has also caught the attention of every public defenders office across the nation.
The case has cost the public defenders office approximately 1.8 million dollars before it ever went to trial.
On March 11, 2005, Brian Nichols was on trial for rape when he allegedly overpowered a deputy, took her gun, and went into the Fulton County courtroom where his trial was being held. Nichols allegedly shot both the judge and a court reporter. Nichols is also charged with killing a sheriff's deputy outside the courthouse and a federal agent a few miles from the courthouse. Nichols's escape set into motion one of the largest manhunts in Georgia history; it ended after he allegedly took Ashley Smith hostage and she convinced him to turn himself in.
The factual accounts seem to be clear that Nichols killed several people and there are lots of witnesses. The day before the trial jail officials found homemade knives in each of his shoes, which indicates that the spree was premeditated. So why then is it costing so much to defend this man?
Nichols defense is that he is not guilty due to insanity. The money is going to pay for experts who will testify that he is indeed crazy. These will be negated by other experts on the DA’s side who will say that he is not crazy. Then the jury decides who had the best and most convincing experts.
In the end, Brian Nichols either gets the death penalty, is found not guilty (not likely), or is deemed so crazy that he is not fit to stand trial for his crimes and spends the rest of his life in some sort of jail / mental ward. And will cost Georgia taxpayers over 2 million dollars just to put on the trial.
There is no doubt that there is something wrong with someone who kills several people.
Arguments against war, self defense aside, to willingly take a human life is so against our peaceful culture that any one who does it has to be some what different than the rest of us. The very idea that it is ok to kill someone not trying to harm you is so far removed from what we view as correct, that doing so means that the killer has something inherently wrong with them. The point being that ANYONE who willingly murders another is crazy enough that we don’t want them around. Whether this is temporary or not, the general public does not want murderers running around willy nilly taking lives on a whim. There is one solution. Remove this person from the general public so that he can not do harm.
There are two ways to do that. You can imprison him somewhere so that he does not have contact with the public and can’t commit murder. Or you take away what he has taken from others. Namely, his life. If he is dead, he cant go around killing folks. This also solves the nasty retribution killing problem by putting the state in charge of the death penalty so that it is not performed by lynch mobs.
We could spend a long debating that very subject, and it has and continues to be debated.
On one extreme you have the “eye for an eye” folks who support the death penalty any time someone take a life. On the other extreme you have the “No death penalty at all” folks. Everyone else falls somewhere in between. The voters of the state of Georgia have decided that they like the idea of the death penalty. So there is no argument to be made here. The death penalty was on the table as a valid option. The state of Georgia has decided they want to pursue the that option. The heinousness, callousness, premeditated and very public way in which the murders were done demand that elected official call for the most extreme punishment that is allowed by law.
So why all the hubbub?
Because the defense of this obviously guilty man will cost the taxpayers well over 2 million dollars.
Why does that matter? Isn’t everyone entitled to defend themselves and aren’t we supposed to give him the best possible defense and consider him innocent until we prove he is found guilty by a jury?
Yes?
But the defense of Brian Nichols has sapped the funds of the already strapped Georgia Public Defenders office to the point that they can not now carry on the adequate representation of all of their other clients (some of those are capital murder cases as well).
There are some arguments and questions here:
1. The death penalty is bad and this is just another reason why we shouldn’t have it.
2. The death penalty is a vital part of our justice system but when a life is at stake there should be no question about money. The state should just shoulder the burden of the cost of the defense and move on.
3. Even if the state should have to shoulder the burden of the cost of the defense, is everyone entitled to an “OJ style” multi-million dollar defense?
4. Should the state legislature set a limit on how much a death penalty defense case can use?
5. How much would it be?
6. Would that be constitutional?
7. Why isn’t anyone considering how much it costs the state to prosecute the case?
8. Doesn’t the state have an equally high cost for professional expert witnesses?
9. If anyone who murders someone else is crazy for doing it, how crazy do you have to be in order to avoid prosecution?
I myself have always subscribed to the notion of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It seems just, cruel but just. No one wants to be punished. The human mind rationalizes in order to survive. We can’t see ourselves as bad people because that would undermine our self worth to a point where we could not function. I am sure that crazy or sane that Brian Nichols has rationalized that what he did at the time was perfectly ok, or at least that even if it was not ok that he should not be punished for it.
The people of Georgia have indicated that they want blood for blood, and I’m ok with that.
Brian Nichols killed 4 people when he escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, GA. The trial is an everyday headline in Georgia and occasionally in the national papers as well. The case has also caught the attention of every public defenders office across the nation.
The case has cost the public defenders office approximately 1.8 million dollars before it ever went to trial.
On March 11, 2005, Brian Nichols was on trial for rape when he allegedly overpowered a deputy, took her gun, and went into the Fulton County courtroom where his trial was being held. Nichols allegedly shot both the judge and a court reporter. Nichols is also charged with killing a sheriff's deputy outside the courthouse and a federal agent a few miles from the courthouse. Nichols's escape set into motion one of the largest manhunts in Georgia history; it ended after he allegedly took Ashley Smith hostage and she convinced him to turn himself in.
The factual accounts seem to be clear that Nichols killed several people and there are lots of witnesses. The day before the trial jail officials found homemade knives in each of his shoes, which indicates that the spree was premeditated. So why then is it costing so much to defend this man?
Nichols defense is that he is not guilty due to insanity. The money is going to pay for experts who will testify that he is indeed crazy. These will be negated by other experts on the DA’s side who will say that he is not crazy. Then the jury decides who had the best and most convincing experts.
In the end, Brian Nichols either gets the death penalty, is found not guilty (not likely), or is deemed so crazy that he is not fit to stand trial for his crimes and spends the rest of his life in some sort of jail / mental ward. And will cost Georgia taxpayers over 2 million dollars just to put on the trial.
There is no doubt that there is something wrong with someone who kills several people.
Arguments against war, self defense aside, to willingly take a human life is so against our peaceful culture that any one who does it has to be some what different than the rest of us. The very idea that it is ok to kill someone not trying to harm you is so far removed from what we view as correct, that doing so means that the killer has something inherently wrong with them. The point being that ANYONE who willingly murders another is crazy enough that we don’t want them around. Whether this is temporary or not, the general public does not want murderers running around willy nilly taking lives on a whim. There is one solution. Remove this person from the general public so that he can not do harm.
There are two ways to do that. You can imprison him somewhere so that he does not have contact with the public and can’t commit murder. Or you take away what he has taken from others. Namely, his life. If he is dead, he cant go around killing folks. This also solves the nasty retribution killing problem by putting the state in charge of the death penalty so that it is not performed by lynch mobs.
We could spend a long debating that very subject, and it has and continues to be debated.
On one extreme you have the “eye for an eye” folks who support the death penalty any time someone take a life. On the other extreme you have the “No death penalty at all” folks. Everyone else falls somewhere in between. The voters of the state of Georgia have decided that they like the idea of the death penalty. So there is no argument to be made here. The death penalty was on the table as a valid option. The state of Georgia has decided they want to pursue the that option. The heinousness, callousness, premeditated and very public way in which the murders were done demand that elected official call for the most extreme punishment that is allowed by law.
So why all the hubbub?
Because the defense of this obviously guilty man will cost the taxpayers well over 2 million dollars.
Why does that matter? Isn’t everyone entitled to defend themselves and aren’t we supposed to give him the best possible defense and consider him innocent until we prove he is found guilty by a jury?
Yes?
But the defense of Brian Nichols has sapped the funds of the already strapped Georgia Public Defenders office to the point that they can not now carry on the adequate representation of all of their other clients (some of those are capital murder cases as well).
There are some arguments and questions here:
1. The death penalty is bad and this is just another reason why we shouldn’t have it.
2. The death penalty is a vital part of our justice system but when a life is at stake there should be no question about money. The state should just shoulder the burden of the cost of the defense and move on.
3. Even if the state should have to shoulder the burden of the cost of the defense, is everyone entitled to an “OJ style” multi-million dollar defense?
4. Should the state legislature set a limit on how much a death penalty defense case can use?
5. How much would it be?
6. Would that be constitutional?
7. Why isn’t anyone considering how much it costs the state to prosecute the case?
8. Doesn’t the state have an equally high cost for professional expert witnesses?
9. If anyone who murders someone else is crazy for doing it, how crazy do you have to be in order to avoid prosecution?
I myself have always subscribed to the notion of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It seems just, cruel but just. No one wants to be punished. The human mind rationalizes in order to survive. We can’t see ourselves as bad people because that would undermine our self worth to a point where we could not function. I am sure that crazy or sane that Brian Nichols has rationalized that what he did at the time was perfectly ok, or at least that even if it was not ok that he should not be punished for it.
The people of Georgia have indicated that they want blood for blood, and I’m ok with that.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Labradoodle
First there was “Desilu”, then “Benifer” and “Billary”, then “Tomkat”. The list goes on of famous couples.
A couple of weeks ago we got back (for the second time) a small poodle that we had given away. Give something away, if it comes back to you it is yours. Give it away again, and if it comes back to you, you are stuck with it.
Buddy is my wife Crystal’s dog from when she lived at home. He had been living at her parents house. She gave him away shortly before we got married. Something happened, we got him back, and then we gave him away again to a couple that worked on the farm. When they left, among other things, they also left Buddy. So we got him back and I guess he is here to stay. And that is fine. She loves hime and he loves her.
Only one little problem. We have a lab that is a little over a year old. A while back Crystal made the statement “I want a puppy.” I had always wanted a lab. So we got one. He is a mess. He has been at a professional trainer since May. He is now supposed to be able to pick up ducks that I shoot. As often as I get to go duck hunting, he may forget before he gets to do it again.
Anyway, Buddy got used to the house and us. Then Jake came home last night. He is MUCH bigger than he was when he left. He is like a big cow running around in the house. And Buddy doesn’t like it. Jake is big, bouncy, slobbery, chews up everything, but is totally harmless. Buddy is tiny, growly, and every since I took him to the barn and clipped him the other day, hairless. Buddy looks like a big naked ferret until his hair grows out.
They are learning to get along. Slowly!!
Buddy thinks of Jake as big nasty intruder. Jake thinks of Buddy as a stuffed toy.
It will eventually work itself out. Until then, stuff keeps falling mysteriously off shelves and Buddy growls at Jake continuously.
But like it or not, the Labrador retriever and toy poodle are going to have to learn how to get along. Like it or not, they are a couple.
Thus, in the current spirit of giving celebrity couples a name all their own. I have deemed these two “Labradoodle”.
A couple of weeks ago we got back (for the second time) a small poodle that we had given away. Give something away, if it comes back to you it is yours. Give it away again, and if it comes back to you, you are stuck with it.
Buddy is my wife Crystal’s dog from when she lived at home. He had been living at her parents house. She gave him away shortly before we got married. Something happened, we got him back, and then we gave him away again to a couple that worked on the farm. When they left, among other things, they also left Buddy. So we got him back and I guess he is here to stay. And that is fine. She loves hime and he loves her.
Only one little problem. We have a lab that is a little over a year old. A while back Crystal made the statement “I want a puppy.” I had always wanted a lab. So we got one. He is a mess. He has been at a professional trainer since May. He is now supposed to be able to pick up ducks that I shoot. As often as I get to go duck hunting, he may forget before he gets to do it again.
Anyway, Buddy got used to the house and us. Then Jake came home last night. He is MUCH bigger than he was when he left. He is like a big cow running around in the house. And Buddy doesn’t like it. Jake is big, bouncy, slobbery, chews up everything, but is totally harmless. Buddy is tiny, growly, and every since I took him to the barn and clipped him the other day, hairless. Buddy looks like a big naked ferret until his hair grows out.
They are learning to get along. Slowly!!
Buddy thinks of Jake as big nasty intruder. Jake thinks of Buddy as a stuffed toy.
It will eventually work itself out. Until then, stuff keeps falling mysteriously off shelves and Buddy growls at Jake continuously.
But like it or not, the Labrador retriever and toy poodle are going to have to learn how to get along. Like it or not, they are a couple.
Thus, in the current spirit of giving celebrity couples a name all their own. I have deemed these two “Labradoodle”.
Friday, September 26, 2008
I Declare Shenanigan!!!
Beware of Career Network Scam!
Looking endlessly for a law office job I send out a lot of resumes and search every available job board every day.
But now I think I have found a scam. And I Declare Shenanigan!
The company is Career Network (AKA: Career Network, Inc.; AKA: CNI)
The company has several different web sites that are all essentially the same. They use different names at the top of the pages, but the data entry portion is the same and if you look closely in the about us and links there will be a mention of “CN”.
Some of the web site names used by CN are:
Employment Link
Great career paths
Thistle Careers
Iron Careers
Perfect Choice Careers
The Career Wizard
You look for Careers
Pop up Careers
Career Zoom
Power it Careers
There are probably many others as well.
A November 1, 2001 release from the FTC stated that “Career Network, Inc. (CNI), based in Crown Point, Indiana, and its principals, Walter Turulis and Kathleen Key, are permanently banned from promoting or selling any employment good or service.”
You can read more about this here:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/11/careernetwork.shtm
The case against CNI was filed in January 2001 as part of Project "Stamp Out Job Fraud," a joint effort between the FTC and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to stop the fraudulent sale of employment services.
But it appears that CNI is back in business. I have seen their direct advertisements on all the leading job boards but they are mainly backdoor attempts through job listings on sites like Craigslist.
Here is what I have put together so far.
A job ad is posted to which a person looking for a job responds. That person gets an email back asking them to fill out one of the above mentioned web site’s information page. During the application the applicant gives all his info and then has to choose not to receive text messages from CN.
(Weird huh? – This was a big tip off – You cant go forward in the process without giving out your cell phone number and who you have service with).
To close the application the job seeker must go through a series of pages in which they are asked if they want info on everything from online education to credit repair services. The job seeker must DE-select each “scam me, spam me, call me, and generally annoy me” boxes in order to not get the contacts. At the end of this process the job seeker is told he will be re-contacted within 24 hours. True to their word, the job seeker is contacted again and told that he or she is being considered for the position but that additional info is needed. A link is provided for the job seeker to give out his references information.
The unwitting job seeker has given out 3 to 5 people’s recent and correct name, address, phone number, and email address. All of these get confirmed as correct if the reference replies to the request for info on the job seeker from CN. Of course they are going to do this because it is the job seekers reference and the questions asked by CN are legitimate looking enough.
What does CN get?
Including the job seeker, CN now has 4 to 6 peoples correct and confirmed info to sell to direct mail and marketing. If the job seeker does not click off the correct places he gets hit with spam and calls and direct mail advertising.
And CN gets to market the job seekers info to companies as potential MLM (multi level marketing AKA: work at home and make millions) scam contacts.
Find out more about MLMs here:
http://www.quatloos.com/mlm/mlm.htm
What does the job seeker get?
Zip, Zilcho, Nada!
No one I have spoken with has obtained employment through the CN network of sites nor have I received any additional contact from the company after de-selecting all the “scam-me” boxes each time I entered info. I recently added my numbers to the Federal Govt.’s do not call registry. This may have helped me to not get blitzed by telemarketers. One blog I read from a job seeker stated that he had selected one of the contact me options and was immediately blitzed day and night by online education scams.
That link is here:
http://www.debthelp.tv/personaldebt/labels/advertisement.htm
I have seen several advertisements by CN for court clerk positions. It would seem to me that these are government jobs and directly contravene CN’s negotiated deal with the FTC.
Looking endlessly for a law office job I send out a lot of resumes and search every available job board every day.
But now I think I have found a scam. And I Declare Shenanigan!
The company is Career Network (AKA: Career Network, Inc.; AKA: CNI)
The company has several different web sites that are all essentially the same. They use different names at the top of the pages, but the data entry portion is the same and if you look closely in the about us and links there will be a mention of “CN”.
Some of the web site names used by CN are:
Employment Link
Great career paths
Thistle Careers
Iron Careers
Perfect Choice Careers
The Career Wizard
You look for Careers
Pop up Careers
Career Zoom
Power it Careers
There are probably many others as well.
A November 1, 2001 release from the FTC stated that “Career Network, Inc. (CNI), based in Crown Point, Indiana, and its principals, Walter Turulis and Kathleen Key, are permanently banned from promoting or selling any employment good or service.”
You can read more about this here:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/11/careernetwork.shtm
The case against CNI was filed in January 2001 as part of Project "Stamp Out Job Fraud," a joint effort between the FTC and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to stop the fraudulent sale of employment services.
But it appears that CNI is back in business. I have seen their direct advertisements on all the leading job boards but they are mainly backdoor attempts through job listings on sites like Craigslist.
Here is what I have put together so far.
A job ad is posted to which a person looking for a job responds. That person gets an email back asking them to fill out one of the above mentioned web site’s information page. During the application the applicant gives all his info and then has to choose not to receive text messages from CN.
(Weird huh? – This was a big tip off – You cant go forward in the process without giving out your cell phone number and who you have service with).
To close the application the job seeker must go through a series of pages in which they are asked if they want info on everything from online education to credit repair services. The job seeker must DE-select each “scam me, spam me, call me, and generally annoy me” boxes in order to not get the contacts. At the end of this process the job seeker is told he will be re-contacted within 24 hours. True to their word, the job seeker is contacted again and told that he or she is being considered for the position but that additional info is needed. A link is provided for the job seeker to give out his references information.
The unwitting job seeker has given out 3 to 5 people’s recent and correct name, address, phone number, and email address. All of these get confirmed as correct if the reference replies to the request for info on the job seeker from CN. Of course they are going to do this because it is the job seekers reference and the questions asked by CN are legitimate looking enough.
What does CN get?
Including the job seeker, CN now has 4 to 6 peoples correct and confirmed info to sell to direct mail and marketing. If the job seeker does not click off the correct places he gets hit with spam and calls and direct mail advertising.
And CN gets to market the job seekers info to companies as potential MLM (multi level marketing AKA: work at home and make millions) scam contacts.
Find out more about MLMs here:
http://www.quatloos.com/mlm/mlm.htm
What does the job seeker get?
Zip, Zilcho, Nada!
No one I have spoken with has obtained employment through the CN network of sites nor have I received any additional contact from the company after de-selecting all the “scam-me” boxes each time I entered info. I recently added my numbers to the Federal Govt.’s do not call registry. This may have helped me to not get blitzed by telemarketers. One blog I read from a job seeker stated that he had selected one of the contact me options and was immediately blitzed day and night by online education scams.
That link is here:
http://www.debthelp.tv/personaldebt/labels/advertisement.htm
I have seen several advertisements by CN for court clerk positions. It would seem to me that these are government jobs and directly contravene CN’s negotiated deal with the FTC.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A job and some paint
Job search:
I have not yet taken the bar and the bar exam is months away. Much less the fact that the results are not available for a couple of months after that and assuming you passed, you cant hang out a shingle to try to start making your own money as a lawyer until then. Nobody likes lawyers and nobody hires lawyers that are not lawyers yet.
There was one public defender job position that looked really great. But when I talked to the PD office today they said there was a “oodles” of resumes that came in for the job. My guess is that somewhere in those oodles there is an already licensed lawyer or two who just might knock me out of getting the job.
Then again there is the temporary (till Feb next year) judges secretary position that is open and I have high hopes for. It is a longshot, but still, it is a longshot with great pay.
Non-legal job search:
The guys from
http://barelylegalblog.blogspot.com/ had it absolutely correct when they discussed non-legal jobs straight out of law school. You would think that a doctorate level degree would open some doors. Nope! The harsh truth is this:
Don't fool yourself, you are absolutely an entry-level candidate
No, a J.D. does not mean it is easy to find a J.O.B. I'm not even qualified to be a substitute teacher because I missed the mandatory substitute teacher "training course".
I have redoubled my efforts. Ok, so I am it is more than that. I spend most of the day scouring the internet and sending out resumes. The only real prospect is one guy who wants me to sell insurance in downtown Atlanta. Oh, did I neglect to mention the fantastic commission structure that pays zilch. I have never even heard of the insurance company.
Why would I spend every waking moment doing this? Well, we have bills to pay and I need a job, but there was another tiny matter. There was a little fire. Ok, it wasn’t so little. I pretty much scorched half the kitchen and ruined the stove and microwave. Every one thinks I am an idiot for nearly burning down the house. It is not like this is a regular occurrence. I have been cooking since I was 11 years old and there has never been a similar incident. Well, there was one incident involving some fried hot dogs when I was 12. But that did not compare to this.
I was making dinner and my brother in law called. I walked out of the room to look something up for him and when I was done I thought I smelled something cooking. Well, I though I must have turned to stove on by accident. I walked around the corner expecting to see a hot stove eye and that be about it. Nope. That wasn’t it at all. I had left cooking oil in a pan on the eye. When I walked around the corner, the entire wall of the kitchen was in black smoke and flames were already reaching the ceiling. I tried not to panic and reached for the fire extinguisher. THERE WASN’T ONE! So maybe then I started to panic a little.
To make a long and painful story short: We had just finished putting out the fire and I was almost done barfing up the smoke I had inhaled when the fire trucks got there.
The microwave was melted and part of the stove is too. The cabinets are scorched and we have smoke damage. But other than that damage and the clean up, the house is ok. I’ll have to prime and repaint the kitchen, ceiling and walls.
I don’t really know how to sum it all up right now except to say this:
???
Ok, so I really don’t know how to say something to put it all in a neat little box for you. I don’t have anything positive to leave you with. I don’t have any nuggets of personal vindication. I don’t have any sunny outlooks.
I just need a job…. and some paint.
I have not yet taken the bar and the bar exam is months away. Much less the fact that the results are not available for a couple of months after that and assuming you passed, you cant hang out a shingle to try to start making your own money as a lawyer until then. Nobody likes lawyers and nobody hires lawyers that are not lawyers yet.
There was one public defender job position that looked really great. But when I talked to the PD office today they said there was a “oodles” of resumes that came in for the job. My guess is that somewhere in those oodles there is an already licensed lawyer or two who just might knock me out of getting the job.
Then again there is the temporary (till Feb next year) judges secretary position that is open and I have high hopes for. It is a longshot, but still, it is a longshot with great pay.
Non-legal job search:
The guys from
http://barelylegalblog.blogspot.com/ had it absolutely correct when they discussed non-legal jobs straight out of law school. You would think that a doctorate level degree would open some doors. Nope! The harsh truth is this:
Don't fool yourself, you are absolutely an entry-level candidate
No, a J.D. does not mean it is easy to find a J.O.B. I'm not even qualified to be a substitute teacher because I missed the mandatory substitute teacher "training course".
I have redoubled my efforts. Ok, so I am it is more than that. I spend most of the day scouring the internet and sending out resumes. The only real prospect is one guy who wants me to sell insurance in downtown Atlanta. Oh, did I neglect to mention the fantastic commission structure that pays zilch. I have never even heard of the insurance company.
Why would I spend every waking moment doing this? Well, we have bills to pay and I need a job, but there was another tiny matter. There was a little fire. Ok, it wasn’t so little. I pretty much scorched half the kitchen and ruined the stove and microwave. Every one thinks I am an idiot for nearly burning down the house. It is not like this is a regular occurrence. I have been cooking since I was 11 years old and there has never been a similar incident. Well, there was one incident involving some fried hot dogs when I was 12. But that did not compare to this.
I was making dinner and my brother in law called. I walked out of the room to look something up for him and when I was done I thought I smelled something cooking. Well, I though I must have turned to stove on by accident. I walked around the corner expecting to see a hot stove eye and that be about it. Nope. That wasn’t it at all. I had left cooking oil in a pan on the eye. When I walked around the corner, the entire wall of the kitchen was in black smoke and flames were already reaching the ceiling. I tried not to panic and reached for the fire extinguisher. THERE WASN’T ONE! So maybe then I started to panic a little.
To make a long and painful story short: We had just finished putting out the fire and I was almost done barfing up the smoke I had inhaled when the fire trucks got there.
The microwave was melted and part of the stove is too. The cabinets are scorched and we have smoke damage. But other than that damage and the clean up, the house is ok. I’ll have to prime and repaint the kitchen, ceiling and walls.
I don’t really know how to sum it all up right now except to say this:
???
Ok, so I really don’t know how to say something to put it all in a neat little box for you. I don’t have anything positive to leave you with. I don’t have any nuggets of personal vindication. I don’t have any sunny outlooks.
I just need a job…. and some paint.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Back home / Horse show / Diplomas
We just got back from the World Championship Horse show in Kentucky. The horse show is during the KY state fair which makes for some interesting problems but plenty to look at and do. We came home with one reserve championship (that is what people in the horse show world call second place – if you had any horse sense you would have know that – LOL I crack myself up sometimes – horse – sense – get it? – ok – not that funny)
Anyway, out of all that we showed we wound up with the one ribbon which is good because it is the world championship but bad because we expected to do better. We were gone for over a week. It is good to be at home again. It was fun, but I was tired of living out of a suitcase in a hotel. Try eating at a state fair everyday for a week and you will learn to appreciate a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
I am currently looking for a job in the legal community. Which is harder than it sounds for a law graduate who has not yet taken the bar exam. Most job search engines like yahoo or monster are of little help unless you have already passed the bar or live in a downtown metropolitan area. I am preparing to send out resumes by the pound and to emails by the dozens.
The school sent an email saying that our diplomas were ready. I drove down yesterday to pick them up. They are huge. We took them to get framed immediately. I chose a frame the size of a bed sheet with lots of matting. Crystal and her mom kind of frowned on it because it would have taken a whole steel reinforced wall to hold it up. I wound up with a more sensible size frame, it was only the size of pillow and will only require part of a regular wall to hold it up.
We got to pick up our diplomas early because the next graduation is not until the spring and after the bar exam results are back. I guess they wanted us to be able to hang something up on our office wall before then so that clients will actually believe that we went to law school.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Reciprocity
I learned about a nifty little thing called reciprocity yesterday. No, not the kind of reciprocity from one state bar to another, but the reciprocal relationship between two law school career services departments. It is not something that they like to talk about. But the information is readily available if you know that it is there.
Here is how it works:
You apply for reciprocity with another law school to get access to their job postings for grads. You do this if you are trying to get a job in a different area than where your law school is located. In return your law school gives access to one law student from the other school to your law school’s job bank. The access usually last for a few weeks at most.
There are two catches though.
1. Reciprocity is not available from August through December at most schools. This is because the schools are holding their on campus interviews during this time. The bad part is that this is when I am looking for a job. Oh well. I might go ahead and ask for reciprocity with a larger school here in Georgia if I still don’t have a job that I want in December.
2. The other catch is that the job postings are usually only available by going to the school. You don’t get to access them conveniently over the internet.
It is something to put on the back burner for now for me. But if you read this and know that you will be looking for a job away from your law school starting in the spring, you might can use the info to your benefit.
Here is how it works:
You apply for reciprocity with another law school to get access to their job postings for grads. You do this if you are trying to get a job in a different area than where your law school is located. In return your law school gives access to one law student from the other school to your law school’s job bank. The access usually last for a few weeks at most.
There are two catches though.
1. Reciprocity is not available from August through December at most schools. This is because the schools are holding their on campus interviews during this time. The bad part is that this is when I am looking for a job. Oh well. I might go ahead and ask for reciprocity with a larger school here in Georgia if I still don’t have a job that I want in December.
2. The other catch is that the job postings are usually only available by going to the school. You don’t get to access them conveniently over the internet.
It is something to put on the back burner for now for me. But if you read this and know that you will be looking for a job away from your law school starting in the spring, you might can use the info to your benefit.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Working on the blog
I have not messed with the settings of the blog for a while and not even looked at my links. I had signed up for “blogroll” but didn’t much like it. I had originally signed up for it because I thought that it would improve web hits. Whatever.
Anyway, I had a terrible time deleting one of my links. It was a blog that at one time was pretty good, but apparently the site got too many hits and the guy sold out his blog to be a porn and link site or something. He had to go. Abracadabra – Alakazam – Alaka-delted.
I decided to take a look at my other links and the guys at those links were not really posting anything worth reading. I had linked the barely legal blog but once again it has stopped being interesting and funny. It turned into nothing more than the guy complaining about how hard it is to find a job with a law degree if you don’t want to practice law. At one time, barely legal was the premier law school blog and was sued by some big porn company that had the same name. At its prime the blog got more hits in one day than most blogs get in a year. They were getting a lot of attention. Not just from the “blogosphere” but from legitimate news sites as well. He could have done something really cool with that or went on writing. Instead it turned into a whine festival. I mean seriously dude, go back to school or something. The rest of us have law school loans to pay for. I can’t afford not to work in the legal field.
So, he got the deleto annoying mosquito treatment as well.
After that I just decided to delete them all and start over.
Anyway, I had a terrible time deleting one of my links. It was a blog that at one time was pretty good, but apparently the site got too many hits and the guy sold out his blog to be a porn and link site or something. He had to go. Abracadabra – Alakazam – Alaka-delted.
I decided to take a look at my other links and the guys at those links were not really posting anything worth reading. I had linked the barely legal blog but once again it has stopped being interesting and funny. It turned into nothing more than the guy complaining about how hard it is to find a job with a law degree if you don’t want to practice law. At one time, barely legal was the premier law school blog and was sued by some big porn company that had the same name. At its prime the blog got more hits in one day than most blogs get in a year. They were getting a lot of attention. Not just from the “blogosphere” but from legitimate news sites as well. He could have done something really cool with that or went on writing. Instead it turned into a whine festival. I mean seriously dude, go back to school or something. The rest of us have law school loans to pay for. I can’t afford not to work in the legal field.
So, he got the deleto annoying mosquito treatment as well.
After that I just decided to delete them all and start over.
"FREE AT LAST. FREE AT LAST. GREAT GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE FREE AT LAST." - My First Week Out of Law School
So with the first week of no law school it seems amazingly similar to many of the weeks of law school. We are studying for the MPRE, the pre-bar exam ethics exam. The MPRE is this Friday. The test is multiple choice, 60 questions long, only 50 of which count, no one knows which 50 count, takes a little over 2 hours to take, and involves about 4 ½ hours of driving time to get there and back on Friday.
What else is going on:
We have about 2 weeks to get ready for the world Championship horse show in Louisville, KY. There is a lot of prep work that needs to be done before then. We need to be spending our evenings at the barn getting horses ready, but also need to spend plenty of time this week studying for the MPRE. So even though we are not in law school anymore, it is still haunting us. I spent most of the morning at the barn watching the farrier (the horse shoe guy) doing his job and running to the feed store for shavings to put down in the stalls. After seeing how much a barn operation takes to run, I think that most farmers would be well advised to get another job to pay for their farming hobby. The expenses are daily, and the profits are few and far between. This afternoon, I am on the internet looking for legal jobs and getting ready to start beating down doors putting out resumes. At this point it looks like I will have to take some sort of law clerky type position if I can find it or maybe just law office help for the time being. Bills don’t stop arriving just because you don’t have a job or a student loan.
Because the law school will not have another graduation until next May, we will be able to pick up our diplomas in a few weeks. The Diplomas, if they look like the ones they have used in the past, are about the size of a bed sheet and will cost an arm and a leg to frame. As much as I paid them, I hope the diploma is gold plated. Either way, that means that we have to make another 4 ½ hour trip to pick them up some time in the near future. I don’t really trust them to mail it. I am looking forward to staring at it for a while.
What else is going on:
We have about 2 weeks to get ready for the world Championship horse show in Louisville, KY. There is a lot of prep work that needs to be done before then. We need to be spending our evenings at the barn getting horses ready, but also need to spend plenty of time this week studying for the MPRE. So even though we are not in law school anymore, it is still haunting us. I spent most of the morning at the barn watching the farrier (the horse shoe guy) doing his job and running to the feed store for shavings to put down in the stalls. After seeing how much a barn operation takes to run, I think that most farmers would be well advised to get another job to pay for their farming hobby. The expenses are daily, and the profits are few and far between. This afternoon, I am on the internet looking for legal jobs and getting ready to start beating down doors putting out resumes. At this point it looks like I will have to take some sort of law clerky type position if I can find it or maybe just law office help for the time being. Bills don’t stop arriving just because you don’t have a job or a student loan.
Because the law school will not have another graduation until next May, we will be able to pick up our diplomas in a few weeks. The Diplomas, if they look like the ones they have used in the past, are about the size of a bed sheet and will cost an arm and a leg to frame. As much as I paid them, I hope the diploma is gold plated. Either way, that means that we have to make another 4 ½ hour trip to pick them up some time in the near future. I don’t really trust them to mail it. I am looking forward to staring at it for a while.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Final law school class
My last law school class ever was Thursday evening. The professor announced the students for whom this would be their last class and we got a round of applause from our fellow students. Then the class was over and we walked out. The end of law school seems almost anticlimactic. I thought it would feel like a huge weight would be lifted off my shoulders. It does not. I thought there would be a huge party where we all took a chance to breath and smile. No, we just packed up our books and went home. My last semester was a summer semester in which I had only an advanced legal research class and an externship. So, I didn’t have any tests this semester. It wasn’t the typical semester that I have been used to in law school. But now it is over. I have often thought about being done and even fantasized about it. But the reality of being done with school is so far away from a student (even in the last semester) that it doesn’t seem to be a reality worth considering until you are able to raise your head from the last test.
If you are reading this as a law student 1, 2, or 3L, or even a law student wanabe, I wish that I could tell you that it was a dramatic finale where I suddenly felt lifted to new heights. Actually, it was kind of a let down. Law school has been a place unlike any other. I don’t know of any other place where there are sustained levels of self induced stress that last as long as the ones at law school. Marine Corps boot camp was stressful, but at least there the stress came in spurts. Here at school the stress levels are high, last for unreasonably long times, and is the product of your own willingness to commit. And often, even when you give it everything that you have, you will feel that it wasn’t enough. Law school consumes your life. It allows for no other outside interferences or you will fail. Unlike older, more established institutions, Jones is newly accredited and because of being under the watchful eyes of the ABA, Jones adheres to strict grading and attendance policies. In core courses 5 to 15% of the class must receive a “D” or “F.” Unlike other schools, we regularly fail out 2 and 3Ls. I didn’t miss a single day until the end of my first year when I was sick.
Anyway, law school is over for me now. I am not depressed but have to admit that I am a little lost in what will lay ahead. I am currently looking for a job, but have few prospects.
My wife found a job quickly because she had been with the public defender’s office prior to going to school and was able to get a job there that will allow her to ease into a roll as a defender. Georgia allows 3rd year law students and graduates to practice under licensed attorneys in rolls such as DA or public defender. They have already given her a case. I am very proud of her.
I will return to the school for the MPRE and then not again until graduation. My school has fit to only hold one graduation a year. This is at the end of next May. By the time graduation rolls around I will hopefully be a licensed practicing attorney. It is 6 months until the next bar exam. Job prospects are not exactly jumping out at me right now. Not legal ones anyway.
The law school’s career placement office seems to be a joke to me. This is especially true if you want to practice outside the immediate area around the school, much less out of state. A bit of advice to the future law graduate is this: Don’t rely on the school to find you a job. Hit the streets early and often. Unless you have a family connection or are the very top of your class, paying legal jobs are hard to come by for a new law grad. There are a lot of us and very few positions. This is especially true if you have not yet taken the bar. The career office is a last resort if it is anything like ours, and I suspect that it is. Either way, don’t expect much from them but promises.
I don’t want to end this post on a negative note though. I am ecstatic to be done with law school. It seemed so far away up until the very end and even now seems to hold some anticipation for some reason, like I expect them to call and say, “Oh, by the way, we mis-calculated last semester’s exams. You failed.” Or there is some unpaid fee somewhere that they will find and not allow me to get my diploma. Speaking of diplomas: I have no idea if I will have to wait almost a year to get mine or if they will allow me to have it before graduation. Who knows. But for now I will keep looking for a job and try to keep you updated on what it feels like to be finally completed with law school.
If you are reading this as a law student 1, 2, or 3L, or even a law student wanabe, I wish that I could tell you that it was a dramatic finale where I suddenly felt lifted to new heights. Actually, it was kind of a let down. Law school has been a place unlike any other. I don’t know of any other place where there are sustained levels of self induced stress that last as long as the ones at law school. Marine Corps boot camp was stressful, but at least there the stress came in spurts. Here at school the stress levels are high, last for unreasonably long times, and is the product of your own willingness to commit. And often, even when you give it everything that you have, you will feel that it wasn’t enough. Law school consumes your life. It allows for no other outside interferences or you will fail. Unlike older, more established institutions, Jones is newly accredited and because of being under the watchful eyes of the ABA, Jones adheres to strict grading and attendance policies. In core courses 5 to 15% of the class must receive a “D” or “F.” Unlike other schools, we regularly fail out 2 and 3Ls. I didn’t miss a single day until the end of my first year when I was sick.
Anyway, law school is over for me now. I am not depressed but have to admit that I am a little lost in what will lay ahead. I am currently looking for a job, but have few prospects.
My wife found a job quickly because she had been with the public defender’s office prior to going to school and was able to get a job there that will allow her to ease into a roll as a defender. Georgia allows 3rd year law students and graduates to practice under licensed attorneys in rolls such as DA or public defender. They have already given her a case. I am very proud of her.
I will return to the school for the MPRE and then not again until graduation. My school has fit to only hold one graduation a year. This is at the end of next May. By the time graduation rolls around I will hopefully be a licensed practicing attorney. It is 6 months until the next bar exam. Job prospects are not exactly jumping out at me right now. Not legal ones anyway.
The law school’s career placement office seems to be a joke to me. This is especially true if you want to practice outside the immediate area around the school, much less out of state. A bit of advice to the future law graduate is this: Don’t rely on the school to find you a job. Hit the streets early and often. Unless you have a family connection or are the very top of your class, paying legal jobs are hard to come by for a new law grad. There are a lot of us and very few positions. This is especially true if you have not yet taken the bar. The career office is a last resort if it is anything like ours, and I suspect that it is. Either way, don’t expect much from them but promises.
I don’t want to end this post on a negative note though. I am ecstatic to be done with law school. It seemed so far away up until the very end and even now seems to hold some anticipation for some reason, like I expect them to call and say, “Oh, by the way, we mis-calculated last semester’s exams. You failed.” Or there is some unpaid fee somewhere that they will find and not allow me to get my diploma. Speaking of diplomas: I have no idea if I will have to wait almost a year to get mine or if they will allow me to have it before graduation. Who knows. But for now I will keep looking for a job and try to keep you updated on what it feels like to be finally completed with law school.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A day at the public defender's office
This week I sent a man to prison.
This man was my own client.
My client was a young man who stole some things from the place that he worked. Unfortunately for him this place was a well know store. The store has excellent quality video surveillance footage of the client and another man stealing almost $900 worth of items. This means that it is a felony. The fact that it was a felony and the fact that there was such excellent footage of him stealing the items meant that it was in the client’s best interest to negotiate a plea deal because if he went to trial the DA would ask for a much stiffer sentence and the judge would likely agree.
I understand that a defendant should not be punished because he exercised his right to a jury trial. But unfortunately this is not usually the case. The DA’s office will offer pleas to most (if not all) defendants to save the court the time and expense of holding a trial of someone who admits that they did the crime. The DA’s office will offer a lowered sentence for the person in exchange for admitting the wrongdoing and saving the taxpayers the time and expense of trial. If the defendant does not accept the plea, the lowered punishment is off the table and the DA’s office will ask for a much higher punishment. In essence, this punishes the defendant for seeking a jury trial if he is found guilty. But this is the norm across the country and I can certainly see the argument for this being the preferred way to handle plea deals.
The DA offered to give my client 6 years with 2 years to serve. I negotiated back and forth for most of the day between my client and the DA’s office. Eventually we reached an agreement for 5 years with 1 year to serve, restitution of the value of the stolen items, and my client has to stay out of the store. Banishment from this particular store is not a punishment that most judges in a small town take lightly. The judge asked the prosecutor where she expected the defendant to shop and she replied “Target”. The judge turned to the defendant and said “I certainly hope for your sake that we have a Target in this town by the time you get out of jail.”
At 4:25 in the afternoon I stood with the client as he plead guilty and the judge sentenced him to “5 to do 1”. Then I watched the client walk away with the sheriff on his way to prison.
This man was my own client.
My client was a young man who stole some things from the place that he worked. Unfortunately for him this place was a well know store. The store has excellent quality video surveillance footage of the client and another man stealing almost $900 worth of items. This means that it is a felony. The fact that it was a felony and the fact that there was such excellent footage of him stealing the items meant that it was in the client’s best interest to negotiate a plea deal because if he went to trial the DA would ask for a much stiffer sentence and the judge would likely agree.
I understand that a defendant should not be punished because he exercised his right to a jury trial. But unfortunately this is not usually the case. The DA’s office will offer pleas to most (if not all) defendants to save the court the time and expense of holding a trial of someone who admits that they did the crime. The DA’s office will offer a lowered sentence for the person in exchange for admitting the wrongdoing and saving the taxpayers the time and expense of trial. If the defendant does not accept the plea, the lowered punishment is off the table and the DA’s office will ask for a much higher punishment. In essence, this punishes the defendant for seeking a jury trial if he is found guilty. But this is the norm across the country and I can certainly see the argument for this being the preferred way to handle plea deals.
The DA offered to give my client 6 years with 2 years to serve. I negotiated back and forth for most of the day between my client and the DA’s office. Eventually we reached an agreement for 5 years with 1 year to serve, restitution of the value of the stolen items, and my client has to stay out of the store. Banishment from this particular store is not a punishment that most judges in a small town take lightly. The judge asked the prosecutor where she expected the defendant to shop and she replied “Target”. The judge turned to the defendant and said “I certainly hope for your sake that we have a Target in this town by the time you get out of jail.”
At 4:25 in the afternoon I stood with the client as he plead guilty and the judge sentenced him to “5 to do 1”. Then I watched the client walk away with the sheriff on his way to prison.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
First Appearance
I stood with my first client in court today.It was a probable cause hearing. I was nervous and not quite sure what I should ask. I just tried hard to look competent and hope that I achieved at least that much. The judge called my clients name and the sheriff went to retrieve him. At that time, for the first time in my life, I moved from the gallery, through the bar, and into the hot seat. The sheriff ushered in a young man of no more than 17. He shuffled in and sat down next to me in his jail issued stripes, flip flops and cuffs. We had chose to waive the formal reading of the warrant. The judge swore in the police officer and the DA began asking questions. Then she deferred to me. I asked the arresting officer questions and then indicated to the judge that we had no further questions. The judge asked for anything else. The DA said “No.” and I asked for a reasonable bond. The judge found probable cause existed and denied bond. It was by no means a significant event for any one in that court room but me and my client. Being in leg and wrist cuffs, he was far less concerned with how he looked. I know that he wasn’t that concerned with getting a bond set either. His mother and father were in jail also. There wasn’t anyone to bond him out of jail even if they could have afforded to do so. The sheriff took my client away and I walked back across the barrier that had once separated me from the court.
summer classes / internship
My last 2 classes are an internship and an advanced legal research class. The internship class does have a classroom participation component (sort of) that is fulfilled by answering questions and keeping a journal online. I will post some of those journal entries here because it fits both needs. The other (advanced legal research) class is one that I wish that I could have taken prior to writing my rigorous writing assignment. But oh well...
My goals for the internship are mainly to complete the required number of hours in order to get course credit and to observe as much trial tactics and skills as possible. As a secondary goal (which grows into more of a leading goal as the days pass) I need to network and market myself into a job. I want to pick up as much information as possible about the effective practice of law while I am working at the public defender office however. I want to learn how the criminal moves through the system from his arrest until his ultimate freedom if he is eventually released entirely from the “system”. I hope to see how criminal defendants think in regards to their lawyer, and how much of the information that they tell is actually truthful and forthcoming. I want the opportunity, however small it is, to stand before the court as the representative of another person who needs that representation. I want to stand beside him with the compassion that “this is my client and I owe a duty to him to speak for him in his best interest” while detaching myself enough to actually do what is in his best interest. Most of all, I would like the opportunity to taste the success of whatever victory I can achieve for my client, however fleeting that victory may be.
My goals for the internship are mainly to complete the required number of hours in order to get course credit and to observe as much trial tactics and skills as possible. As a secondary goal (which grows into more of a leading goal as the days pass) I need to network and market myself into a job. I want to pick up as much information as possible about the effective practice of law while I am working at the public defender office however. I want to learn how the criminal moves through the system from his arrest until his ultimate freedom if he is eventually released entirely from the “system”. I hope to see how criminal defendants think in regards to their lawyer, and how much of the information that they tell is actually truthful and forthcoming. I want the opportunity, however small it is, to stand before the court as the representative of another person who needs that representation. I want to stand beside him with the compassion that “this is my client and I owe a duty to him to speak for him in his best interest” while detaching myself enough to actually do what is in his best interest. Most of all, I would like the opportunity to taste the success of whatever victory I can achieve for my client, however fleeting that victory may be.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Mexican Bike race
When I came into work this morning one of the lawyers showed me this.
Over the weekend a bike race in Mexico was interupted by a drunk driver (killing one and injuring 10). What a time to have your camera!
Over the weekend a bike race in Mexico was interupted by a drunk driver (killing one and injuring 10). What a time to have your camera!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Catch up
Alright,
So there has been a long time with little writing because of the extremely busy semester that I had. It was my last full term semester. I had 5 classes, 2 of which were practical skills classes, plus I was writing a rigorous paper (which the law school equivalent of a doctorial thesis). What little time I did have was usually spent traveling back and forth between Georgia and Montgomery.
But now here we are.
Lets catch you up.
1. We got married March 15th and then ran away to the Bahamas over spring break for a honeymoon. We stayed on one of the out islands (Abaco) and had a great time.
2. The semester sucked but it is now over.
3. During the semester I conducted a mock trial during my trial advocacy class against three other students. It went fairly well. I stayed on my feet despite some heavy hits and one low blow. (Their witness lied and kept out a key piece of evidence.)
4. I learned a hard lesson that you can either learn from me now or learn the hard way later. Here it is: When you take a trial ad. class, force the other party to either stipulate to every little thing that you could imagine would make the trial go awry. If they wont stipulate to it, they have a dirty trick planned. Plan to call as many witnesses as needed to get the evidence in and tell them that you plan to do so unless they relent with their little plan. Trial ad is meant to test your court room skills, not your backroom schemes.
5. Hard lesson number 2: Do not write your rigorous writing as an independent study. Take a class, get the grade and the coaching that comes with it. Writing an academic paper completely on your own with no guidance at all sucks!
6. I am now no longer have a permanent residence in the state of AL. Me moved immediately after finals were over. I turned in my apartment keys yesterday.
7. I am now interning / externing (whichever you want to call it) with the Public Defender office in GA. If I am not done with my hours by June 23rd , I will be participating in a murder trial with 3 defendants.
7. I finish with law school at the end of this summer. Currently I am taking one class (advanced legal research) and the internship. This is good because I will be done with my course requirements by July, but is not good because I now have to wait until Feb. to take the bar exam. This means that I wont get the bar results back until almost a year from now.
8. I need a job.
So there has been a long time with little writing because of the extremely busy semester that I had. It was my last full term semester. I had 5 classes, 2 of which were practical skills classes, plus I was writing a rigorous paper (which the law school equivalent of a doctorial thesis). What little time I did have was usually spent traveling back and forth between Georgia and Montgomery.
But now here we are.
Lets catch you up.
1. We got married March 15th and then ran away to the Bahamas over spring break for a honeymoon. We stayed on one of the out islands (Abaco) and had a great time.
2. The semester sucked but it is now over.
3. During the semester I conducted a mock trial during my trial advocacy class against three other students. It went fairly well. I stayed on my feet despite some heavy hits and one low blow. (Their witness lied and kept out a key piece of evidence.)
4. I learned a hard lesson that you can either learn from me now or learn the hard way later. Here it is: When you take a trial ad. class, force the other party to either stipulate to every little thing that you could imagine would make the trial go awry. If they wont stipulate to it, they have a dirty trick planned. Plan to call as many witnesses as needed to get the evidence in and tell them that you plan to do so unless they relent with their little plan. Trial ad is meant to test your court room skills, not your backroom schemes.
5. Hard lesson number 2: Do not write your rigorous writing as an independent study. Take a class, get the grade and the coaching that comes with it. Writing an academic paper completely on your own with no guidance at all sucks!
6. I am now no longer have a permanent residence in the state of AL. Me moved immediately after finals were over. I turned in my apartment keys yesterday.
7. I am now interning / externing (whichever you want to call it) with the Public Defender office in GA. If I am not done with my hours by June 23rd , I will be participating in a murder trial with 3 defendants.
7. I finish with law school at the end of this summer. Currently I am taking one class (advanced legal research) and the internship. This is good because I will be done with my course requirements by July, but is not good because I now have to wait until Feb. to take the bar exam. This means that I wont get the bar results back until almost a year from now.
8. I need a job.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
INCOMMUNICADO
MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008
WEDDING WENT GREAT
STOP
NOW ON BAHAMIAN OUT ISLAND OF TREASURE CAY
STOP
NO PHONE SERVICE VIA CELL PHONES
STOP
BORROWED HOTEL COMPUTER TO SEND MESSAGES
STOP
WILL BE INCOMMUNICADO UNTIL SATURDAY
STOP
WEDDING WENT GREAT
STOP
NOW ON BAHAMIAN OUT ISLAND OF TREASURE CAY
STOP
NO PHONE SERVICE VIA CELL PHONES
STOP
BORROWED HOTEL COMPUTER TO SEND MESSAGES
STOP
WILL BE INCOMMUNICADO UNTIL SATURDAY
STOP
Monday, January 14, 2008
Fixed???
We got Jake neutered over Christmas break because we thought that it would help with a lot of problems such as him humping and aggressiveness, etc… After discovering that there is a wide disparity in prices for getting the dog fixed we finally settled on a traveling vet clinic that was tied in with Tractor Supply Company. It was at least half the price of most of the vets that we called and about a quarter of the price of at least one vet.
Anyway, he had stitches that we couldn’t get wet for about two weeks. Which meant that Jake didn’t have to suffer through any baths but also that the didn’t get to go swimming (a favorite Labrador pup activity). So when the next door neighbor kids wanted to hold Jake’s leash the following ensued:
Me: “You can hold his leash but don’t let him get into the pond because he has stitches.”
Kid: “What is wrong with him?”
Me: “We got him fixed.”
Kid: “Yea, but what was wrong with him.”
Me: “We got him fixed.”
Kid: “Yea, duh, I know. Because he has stitches. But what was wrong with him.”
Me: Oooohhhh. Well we got him fixed so he cant have puppies.
Kid: “But he is a boy dog. He can’t have puppies anyway.”
Me: Blank stare.
Kid: “Moooooooooommmmmmm?!?!”
Anyway, he had stitches that we couldn’t get wet for about two weeks. Which meant that Jake didn’t have to suffer through any baths but also that the didn’t get to go swimming (a favorite Labrador pup activity). So when the next door neighbor kids wanted to hold Jake’s leash the following ensued:
Me: “You can hold his leash but don’t let him get into the pond because he has stitches.”
Kid: “What is wrong with him?”
Me: “We got him fixed.”
Kid: “Yea, but what was wrong with him.”
Me: “We got him fixed.”
Kid: “Yea, duh, I know. Because he has stitches. But what was wrong with him.”
Me: Oooohhhh. Well we got him fixed so he cant have puppies.
Kid: “But he is a boy dog. He can’t have puppies anyway.”
Me: Blank stare.
Kid: “Moooooooooommmmmmm?!?!”
Thursday, January 10, 2008
blogs
Because I have not had the time to write very much lately I have decided to simply type a few words as time permits in a word document as they occur to me and then finish them up when I have time and post most of them. So you may start seeing some bulk postings as I am able to finish blogs and post them.
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