Narkoleptomania

Liars!!

2006-11-07T02:14:00.000-05:00

All those 2Ls who promised me I'd have so much more free time than I did my 1L year?? Liars! Every last one of them!

Interviews, Callbacks, Catching up on missed classes, seminars, offer dinners, "friendly" emails from alums at law firms where you interviewed, dodging recruitment coordinators, how's a person to handle it all?!

2006-01-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, refreshed! I'm still on vacation and it's a beautiful thing, marred only by the knowledge that grades will be available in less than a week. *shudder* Of course I'd take that over having finals after Christmas break a la Josh and Trevor.

School begins in a week and a half, and maybe, just maybe I should begin my 1L summer job search. After taking a year off applying for stuff like school, here I am, back to square one where the likelihood of infinite rejection letters loom menacingly in the very near future. I do, however, have a back-up plan, if no job shows itself I'll bundle myself off to summer school in some distant land and pretend to be productive while earning some credits and/or filling possible gaps in my resume.

What're all my fellow 1Ls up to for the summer I wonder...?

!

2005-12-20T22:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays Everybody. I had my last final today and I'm not sticking around a second longer than I have to. See you all next year.

2005-12-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

Torts? what Torts? I'm done with Torts...possibly for life.

Yeah baby.

2005-12-10T10:36:00.000-05:00

One exam down...and while I'm certainly a tad (read: a LOT) sleep-deprived I feel safe saying it wasn't nearly as painful as I expected -- of course, that's not to say it was good but still. I'm alive...3 more to go before I can get the hell out of here for a month.

Oh, one of the most important things I learned about keeping your sanity before and after the exam is to ensure you have either earplugs or music pumping to drown out all the nervous chatter which manifests itself in pure obnoxiousness.

OK...off to the library...more studying to do.

G'Luck on your exams everybody!

Ouch, that hurts

2005-11-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

Wow.

I've had the most unbelievably riduculous few weeks.

This has to be what people mean when they say don't go to law school. Everything had to be done and it took twice as long.

And now...finals...

The Worst Week Ever

2005-10-31T19:35:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday, without fail for the past few weeks I've said to my suitemate, this is going to be the worst week ever. Every Sunday she agrees. I'd like to take it all back, because I know now without fail that this week...will be the worst week EVER.

I've got make-ups for not one, not two, but t-h-r-e-e classes this week. And they're all in the morning, for instance, on Thursday I have a Con Law class at 8:15, 8:15AM people. That's just plain cruel. and it's not the only Con Law class for the day. On Friday I've got 2 Civ Pros plus a Torts make-up, plus my regular classes, oh yeah my memo's due on Friday too.

Uh huh..this week...is definitely the worst week ever, no question about it.

2005-10-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

Never really thought I'd say this but...man I'm glad I'm not going to Harvard right now...Over at Josh's place it's...snowing. Already! Just the thought of snow right now makes me scared.

The Wordpress Phenomenon

2005-10-26T20:40:00.000-04:00

OK so a while ago I signed up for an invite to a wordpress blog and now I've got it. I'm not that hip in blog speak, but...should I switch over? What does this whole wordpress thing mean, I admit it I just signed up b/c everybody in the blogosphere seemed to be in love with it, but now I apparently need to decide if I want a wordpress blog within a week or my invite goes to waste...so...any wordpressers out there? What's the big deal? Is it better than blogger? Will I be happier? Will it boost me over the curve and onto a journal here at Narkoleptik U? Whatd'ya think?

Whew!

2005-10-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

So we had our practice exams today, which is why I've been absent for the past few days (I'm really going to have to manage my time better so I can post regularly, other people seem to be able to do it - of course maybe they're just smarter, more organised than I am). I figured it'd be best to actual know something to get the most out of the exam even though it wasn't graded. I have to say, it was as bad as it could be. I had Torts, thank God. By the way, anybody who has a good grasp of proximate causation, feel free to break it down to me...in 50 words or less. Supposedly, it's really only going to click after we read Palsgraf but for now...I'm scared.

Does everybody use Secure Exam? Mine totally required two reboots of my computer before it got going today, I was convinced I'd have had to write it in a blue book, I haven't written anything longer than my signature in years...it wouldn't have been pretty. A couple other people I know of had their computers freeze during the exam...which our procter was more than happy to tell us didn't mean we'd get extra time, it meant we'd stop typing get a blue book and keep writing right where we left off. Good times.

2005-10-18T21:39:00.000-04:00

It's mid-October and already we're installing exam software. Are these people going out of their way to scare me?

In that vein however, I've tested my laptop for compatibility with SecureExam, I've been vouched for so theoretically I'm good to go. Of course the instructions said after installing SecureExam I shouldn't install or install any software...however I've been having some browser issues that sparked a flurry of installing and uninstalling but still I'm hoping for the best. Also I mess around on my computer a lot, can I really go two months w/o installing any programmes? Can anyone?

When the wind blows

2005-10-17T12:39:00.000-04:00

Hey all, sorry for the lack of posting, my weekend in NYC turned out to be a tad longer but I'm back now...and happy about it...yeah (no really, that was sincere...really).

NYC was great, or as great as it could be considering that it rained every day for hours on end, which is fine typically because I love the rain but all it did was remind me that when this rain is over the snow's gonna be coming in a few weeks. A bloke who was an undergrad at Narkoleptik U actually told me the other day that he's surprised it hasn't snowed yet. S-c-a-r-y.

I've already mentioned the construction that's been going on practically outside my window on the dorm. Now the good thing about construction is that on weekends and when they're gone home there should be silence right? WRONG. Whatever they're doing outside my window needs to be covered up by lots and lots of tarp. They however, haven't secured said tarp well and oh yeah, have I mentioned it's been really really windy here for the past few days? Yup, you guessed it, as long as the wind blows I have the joyous sound of tarp flapping in the wind to keep me company. Good stuff. No, no, Great stuff.

Uh huh, Yeah

2005-10-07T11:35:00.000-04:00

Aight peoples, I've handed in my memo...in duplicate and now I'm free so what any self-respecting person would do once they've got a monkey off their back [no idea if that's the right metaphor]...go to the CITY of course!!! I'm heading to NYC for the weekend. Watch out y'all. That crazy person you see who's just happy to be in civilisation again, and who clearly hasn't had some quality fun in 6 weeks? Yeah that's me, holla if you see me.

PEACE!!!

P.S. I'm really more excited about this than I should be, but bear with me, I deserve it.

Riddle me this...

2005-10-06T14:30:00.000-04:00

Question: What's worse than construction workers on scaffolding right outside your window using things that make loud noises when you have your legal memo due tomorrow?

Answer: Construction workers who listen to loud country music (and sing along) and communicate on their Nextel walkie-talkie phones WHILE using things that make loud noises while you have your legal memo due tomorrow.

Guilty Conscience

2005-10-01T23:16:00.000-04:00

I had a great dinner tonight - Thai - one of my favorite kinds of food. The thing is the service was B-A-D. So we did what any annoyed person did, we left a small tip. I feel a tad guilty just b/c I'm generally a generous tipper, but not that guilty when I think about the service. I just wish I could tell them that the only reason they got a small tip was because of the service, not b/c we're cheap tippers. So, I think bills should come with a little box for comments, or a little multiple choice section, kinda like this:

Choose one of the following reasons for your tip amount:

A. The food was horrible, you're on the way to the pharmacy to pick up some pepto-bismal (sp?)
B. The food was horrible and on your way to the pharmacy you'd like to run over your waiter
C. The food was great, but you really can't afford to tip more, you'll be back when you get a real job.
D. The food was great, but the service sucked
E. The food was OK and the service was OK

and so on...

I think it'd be great for HR purposes and I'd definitely circle a letter if I wasn't too tipsy.

Bright Lights

2005-09-30T02:42:00.000-04:00

It's about 2:45am, but I think I just got an epiphany about my legal memo. I really do believe I've seen the light so what do I do? Do I write the memo? Nope. I blog about it.

2005-09-29T17:37:00.000-04:00

It always amazes me when people come into the library - a relatively quiet area, I think - then proceed to make the loudest noises possible while they arrange themselves by dropping their casebooks from what appears to be a height of three or four feet unto their desks, then they boot their laptops which has its volume turned on high and then, just when you think the shuffling's died down, their cell-phone goes off once, they appear to turn the ringer off, then 3 minutes later it goes off again, this time on vibrate but it seems that they put their phone in a bag containing at least 200 marbles which causes it to make an endearing racket, then of course it takes them 4 rings to locate the phone, and this time they have to answer, only we're in the basement so reception sucks...so what do they do? They scream at the top of their voice telling the other person that they can't hear them and they're in the library and can the person hold on until they get outside and call them back.

Of course they could have just silenced the ringer and gone outside to call them back...but, of course, they don't.

Amazing.

Martha, Martha, Martha

2005-09-28T22:42:00.000-04:00

I've gotta disagree w/ divine angst on this one.

I actually think Jim's what makes the show watching a fair amount of the time. He's so blatantly obnoxious and conniving [you have to admit he has a point, get rid of the competition early in the game so you have a better chance of winning] that it makes for good TV...or for TV that I'm willing to waste an hour watching when I've got Civ Pro reading to do anyway.

Ugh! 2.0

2005-09-27T00:14:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all for the well/good wishes. My cold seems to have morphed into a super-cold on steroids and is gaining strength from each additional hour of rainfall that we have here at Nark U., oh yeah, it's been falling since Saturday night...

I have this feeling that I'm going to get called on in Con Law soon, I don't know if it's this week, but I sense impending doom. We're actually doing the Equal Protection Clause so I figure I should be able to mutter something remotely coherent even if I don't know what's going on. If all else fails I can throw out a controversial comment which will prod the gunners into action and then slip into obscurity while they battle it out for the rest of the class having forgotten, or not caring, who started it.

On a completely unrelated note, what's up with the people who wear flip-flops in the rain? How is that not gross...?

OK, cough medicine time.

Ugh!

2005-09-23T23:59:00.000-04:00

I've got it...yes IT! The damn cold that's been going around the law school all week. I saw it coming and I started taking my vitamins Iclearly too late) and washing my hands til they bled and still...STILL I've got the damn cold. This has to be one of the biggest downsides about being "in the law building" - it's all the same people breathing the same air. It's uncanny how many of people got sick this week. Nobody was impervious, the profs got it, the staff got it and of course I think every single person in my class at some point had the sniffles. And today, it was me. Dammit.

OK, I'm going to go cough my lungs out.

Not Good

2005-09-22T23:31:00.000-04:00

My lawyering memo outline is due tomorrow and I just spent the last two hours watching The Apprentice and ER -- which by the way had a really bad premiere.

OK...I've gotta go write...

P.S. Donald Trump has a really bad fake tan going, I'm thinking, Dude, you live in NY, you're a business man, it's OK to be pale, the fake tan is not necessary. Of course the time I spend thinking about this could be spent on my memo...

2005-09-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

Is it just me or if Blogger needs to be down for maintenance they could choose a completely better time...like not just about the time when I've done my Con Law reading and have a great and semi-intelligent idea for a post.

Oh forget it, brainstorm's passed.

Maybe next time....

P.S. it was going to be a really cool post too...I just feel it...

Thought for the day

2005-09-21T00:13:00.000-04:00

Today I received an email from a school inviting me to join in on a web-chat and notifying me off a fee waiver if I should feel inclined to apply because based on my LSAT score they think I'd be a good candidate. Now I'm pretty sure LSAC has removed me or done whatever it is they do to their databases at the end of the applying season so I can only assume that this school's had me on their list for a year. Can't say I'm all that attracted to law schools who're trying to fill up their classes based on old mailing lists -- but that's because now I can afford to be choosy.

The schools inopportune email got me to thinking [I do that every other week or so] about just how far I've come in a year. Last year this time I was filling out law school apps and reading and re-reading my statements for typos and was all in all a nervous wreck, worried that my GPA was high enough and that my LSAT wasn't high enough or that I wasn't an interest ing enough person to be accepted to law school and I'd be stuck handing out lunch-special fliers on the corner of 54th and Lexington.

Flash foward one year: I'm in law school, a pretty good one, bitching about all the reading I've got to do, worrying about not making an ass of myself if I get called on, rolling my eyes at the gunners, and wondering if I'll ever find the time to know all I need to know and have a life at the same time. All this, in 365 days or less, I've just gotta say....ain't life grand?

Holla!

2005-09-14T18:39:00.000-04:00

I got the shout-out today in Contracts..."Ms. Narkoleptik...could you explain..." All in all I don't think I did that badly, and at least I got it out of the way. Also while answering I was less nervous than I thought I would have been, it comes from seeing that everybody makes a fool of themselves at least once and it's no big deal, you just accept it and move on...I do love it when the gunners make fools of themselves though. Love. It.

That said, I rue the day when I get called on in Civ Pro, that class is just not cool, I'm thinking I may have to find a way to swallow [literally] the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure before I manage to keep up. Man I hate that book. Hate. It.

Anti-Cool

2005-09-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

What’s up with assigning 20 pages of reading and spending 75 minutes discussing 1.5 of those 20 pages and telling us, most of the assigned reading was just fluff because the real reading for the class was too short? Not cool, not cool at all.

Clue me in

2005-09-11T18:51:00.000-04:00

What's the big deal with Firefox?

For months I've been hearing people tout firefox and a few days ago after hearing yet another snort of derision when a person found out I didn't use firefox I decided to give in and see what the hype was all about.

I've yet to see it, first off to get the browser to work anywhere like my usual browser - Maxthon - I had to download a billion extensions, some of which clashed and required that I troubleshoot and disable and generally waste a lot of time getting everybody to play nice. After all that I'm just like...this is way too much work and still I don't like it as much as Maxthon.

So back to my original question...what's the big deal with Firefox again?

My new thing is...

2005-09-10T22:43:00.000-04:00

...MS One Note. For days I've been seeing folks in my classes with this spiffy program and been wondering about it, I finally found out that it's MS One Note, I downloaded it last night and other than the fact that it's cute, I think I dig it. I don't have a tablet pc but I think it'll work pretty great.

I've had a problem really conceptualizing my notes since I began school, they're in various word documents and I've been wondering how I'd manage to put them together so my slightly neurotic self would be satisfied later down in the semester. So far, I love it and...did I mention it was cute? I don't think I've figured out all the good stuff it can do yet though so if anybody has any tips, lemme have 'em!

OK, back to Contracts...fun stuff.

Financial Responsibility

2005-09-07T20:17:00.000-04:00

No doubt one of my favorite things about law school so far is all the free food I've gotten.

Kinda reminds me of college. Then, I was just greedy.

Now I think...it's one way to make that loan money stretch a little farther...

I'm taking a break...

2005-08-27T21:44:00.000-04:00

And where better to take a break than here on my blog, the blog that I haven't posted anything on in ages. What can I say folks, I've been "orienting" myself to the next three years of my life. Shaking hands, asking names, and chatting it up with people who, as much as I'd love to, I know I won't remember their names in a couple minutes. Don't blame me though, I really think it's just sensory overload. It's just not possible to remember all these people, however nice they are.

I will say though that I've met some really great people who're fun to hang out with and who share my philosophy that law school shouldn't suck up the next 3 years of our lives entirely and I've met some seriously stressed out people who - before classes even started - were forming study groups. Now, there's "on top of shit" and there's just "intense/nuts". As of now, I'm neither but I'm striving towards the former.

I've only had three of my five classes thus far (Monday will fix that) and I'm not ashamed to say that Civ Pro is trying its hardest to make me it's bitch. I'm fighting though, no class will make me it's bitch after only two and a half hours. Maybe a couple weeks but not two hours. Oh...this was fun, at a little gathering with some 2Ls and 3Ls I discovered that I supposedly have at least two of the hardest profs. They're great in class but their exams are...and I quote: "off the chain". More on that in a few months.

OK, I'm gonna go do some Torts or something. Saturday night and I'm going to do work...you know I'm in law school.

Damn!

2005-08-22T00:39:00.000-04:00

I literally just spent $750 on approximately 40 lbs of books. Unbelievable. Oh how Visa must love me right now.

I think I'm going to try to get started on my reading, I've heard rumors that 10 pages will take approximately 2 hours and I really don't want to be pulling all nighters the first week of class. I have grand plans of being productive and on top of things - plans I've never really managed to pull off at any other point in my life but I'm thinking now would be a good time to start. I've heard of people treating law school like a regular job with only occasional overtime so when they leave school for the day they can actually have some semblance of a life. I want that. I need that.

So yah, on that note, I'm gonna go read...

2005-08-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

Another interesting fact about my dorm is that it happens to be one street over from the college frat houses and there's a shortcut right behind it (where my room faces) leading to the frat houses.

So yah, one thing I've learned this week is that I will not be studying in my room - at least on Thursday through Sunday nights.

Now I know I'm back...

2005-08-16T09:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I must admit that over the past couple of years since I left college I haven't had the pleasure of being woken up by a fire drill or a fire alarm gone awry.

Clearly that's a matter that Narkoleptik U felt compelled to address my second night sleeping in the dorms.

The Question of the Day is...

2005-08-15T18:44:00.000-04:00

Why on my first day of classes did I have to be the Socratic bitch? Anybody? No? I'll tell you why, it's cuz I've got some seriously weird luck.

Seriously though, I've had it happen to me, I've survived (barely) so for all the rest of you out there dreading it, I can tell you now...if Narkoleptik can do it...you sure as hell can.

The only downside to this whole thing is that because of all the blog and message board reading I've done, I've come upon very few surprises so far. I

I've got the nice prof, the bad ass socratic prof, the gunner and the guy who has an alternate opinion on everything and of course those three questions:
1. What's your name?
2. Where are you from?
3. What undergrad did you go do.

Oh and yeah...the shitload of work to do from the get go. Two briefs due tomorrow (that will be collected) and already I'm thinking I may not have time to go drinking tonight cuz I've gotta go read the cases...

Oh yeah...the nerd is in.

WooHoo!!!

2005-08-14T21:28:00.000-04:00

Folks...whaddup?!?!

I'm officially back. I'm at school, I've got internet and I've got time to blog (I think...we'll see). I'm in the process of moving into my dorm which is really close to the law school building so that's cool, I'm currently sampling their wireless internet which is extremely exciting after absolutely no internet access for months.

I've still gotta unpack though and I've got class at 10 in the morning so I'll do a more substantial post as soon as I can.

2005-07-27T10:49:00.000-04:00

2 weeks baby, 2 weeks....

I'll be back in 2 weeks....

YEAH!

Blah, blah, blah

2005-07-11T10:19:00.000-04:00

Hallo all - needless to say deepest apologies for my extended absence but it's been crazy busy, internet access still sucks and I've been nursing slight injuries from my newly found bicycle riding skills. I'm no Sui Generis but hope springs eternal.

Law school stuff's going along, I've got my housing assignment (I'm on campus) and I've got my email and network IDs and all that stuff. It's just beginning to really sink in that I'm really going to law school. Today when I rolled out of bed at a little before 12pm, I had to wonder again what the hell I'm getting myself into, from what I gather, I'll be unable to schedule my classes for 11am and later as I did in College. Scary. No, no, Very Scary.

Other news, hmm lets see...Hurricane Dennis was battering my lil' island for a while. I love to rain, really I do, the wind, or should I say the howling 250km/h winds I could do without though, then there's the lack of electricity...yeah seriously, not really a big fan of the hurricanes. We've (my family and I) have been really fortunate since our house has stood up to the threat but man, we're totally the lucky ones.

Next on my list, it's gotta be the shopping, I haven't done any, not one bit and I need everything. Pity shopping (for things not electronic) is right up there on my list of most hated things right below having a 24 hour toothache.

And in Other News...

2005-05-30T10:31:00.000-04:00

I’ve been approved for all relevant loans. It’s bittersweet really, I can now actually pay to go to law school, but now The Man owns my ass.

And no, I still have no internet access at home hence my adoption of other projects to distract myself; see previous post.

After I can officially be dubbed the greatest thing to cycling since Lance Armstrong (by next week or so) I’ll be tackling War and Peace and attempting to finish Les Miserablès. I’ve got a friend who refuses to credit me as an intellectual until I’ve completed those two works. Of course, this is the same friend who earlier told me that I’d never be trusted again once I told people I was going to be a lawyer. You know I mentioned that to discredit her but thinking about it…she may be right.

Oh well, we’ll see.

Finally!

2005-05-30T10:29:00.000-04:00

Well folks I’m happy to report that at the whopping age of 23 I, Narkoleptik, can finally, FINALLY ride a bicycle. Yes, yes, yes, *snicker* *snicker*. I’ve heard it all before, but now I say, no longer can I be the butt of jokes, no longer will I have to pretend I’d rather walk than ride. I tell you Year 23 brings a new and more versatile Narkoleptik! What can I say I just never learned and then when I learned to drive it seemed rather superfluous but having decided to teach myself last Saturday I have to admit it’s fun, wind whipping in your hair and all that, plus it really reinforced just how unfit I am.

That said, it took about three to four days to really get the hang of this balancing thing – a painful three to four days. Seriously….ouch. Then of course while riding today, confident of my mastery of my two wheeled vehicle, I sped my way to fresh cuts and scrapes, my first since Wednesday or so. O-u-c-h. Ah well, such is life, the only positive is that there was no one to witness my fall…no, no crash.

It's really not my fault...

2005-05-17T11:32:00.000-04:00

I was gonna write a long post, an interesting post, a damn good post. I swear it. But, here I am at the library using their computers and it's the only free one and it's got pop-up-itis. I swear I haven't seen so many pop ups since...well never. Haven't these people ever heard of pop-up blockers...ever? The most recent one to pop up was one from Adult Friend Finder...fortunately today I lucked out with a semi-private computer, you know, one where there's noone leaning over my shoulder reading my words.

Ah well, I'm still in the process of reading Planet Law School II (I've been doing some travelling, I read faster -- honest) which at this point resembles a hard copy of someone's Amazon.com's wishlist or summn. I haven't yet reached the point where I can judge if it's a great or even good book, I'm still being annoyed by the pages and pages of emphasis which Falcon always tells us is...[his emphasis]. Dude, I made it through college, hopefully I can glean the relevant parts of your book without you highlighting it all for me.

Ah well, there goes another pop up, I think it's time I go...

My Desertion...

2005-05-09T10:52:00.000-04:00

Sorry for my absence folks, my shitty internet connection just went a few miles past rock bottom (maybe the proprietors of my internet access are playing poker with Satan as I write) and is now even shittier and the costs have risen exponentially the bastards.

I'm investigating other alternatives which it turns out aren't that many but hopefully something will work out. In the interim my posting will probably be a bit spotty assuming things don't turn out for the better in the next week or so.

In other news, I'm officially 23. Good stuff...I think. A few years ago I was absolutely dying to turn 18 and then 21 but now those numbers just keep going up and I haven't really figured out the advantages to that quite yet. Ill keep you posted though if in the next few days I'm blessed with infinite wisdom or some other cool accoutrements of age.

I'm working my way through Planet Law School II, Ill post my thoughts when I make it a bit further. Suffice it to say, I'm on page 63 and not very impressed thus far and Falcon's use of bold and italics are quite annoying. I haven't really learnt anything earth-shattering except that law professors actively attempt to mislead law students by making the law as confusing as it can be.

Pet Peeve

2005-05-01T16:07:00.000-04:00

Why on earth would you have children and dress them exactly the same?? I swear I can't think of one good reason to dress your two kids the same exact way. Yes it may be easier to shop but it's not cute particularly when they're not twins (it's still not acceptable) but when one child is obviously older than the other.

Dammit man, don't do it.

7-6-5...

2005-04-30T15:10:00.000-04:00

Oh wow, I just realised that my birthday is in less than a week. I'll be a whopping 23.

This is the first time that I've not been counting down my birthday to the second, in fact had I not been looking at the calendar for something else entirely it may have passed me by.

How odd.

Hmm. Maybe this is what getting old feels like. I may soon have to begin lying about my age.

Dayum

2005-04-29T21:42:00.000-04:00

I really don't think much needs to be added:

A WEST NYACK, N.Y. MAN was found dead at his computer apparently the victim of trying to keep up with too many professional forums. Childress H. Wanamaker, 54, an account executive at a New York-based new media company, died of starvation according to the West Nyack coroner's office. Wanamaker's emaciated body was found by Loraine, his wife of 26 years, who told MediaPost she had been bringing her husband meals on plastic trays for weeks, but that he never took the time to eat them.

"He was glued to his computer 24/7," she said tearfully. "He was so afraid he was going to miss an opportunity to contribute a comment or start a discussion, that he just stopped eating." She added that Wanamaker's last words were "OK Picard, stick that in your pipe and smoke it..."

"He was glued to his computer 24/7," she said tearfully. "He was so afraid he was going to miss an opportunity to contribute a comment or start a discussion, that he just stopped eating."

In what must be a record, Wanamaker was linked into to over 15,250 other community members, many of whom he exchanged notes with daily. He also contributed to 375 blogs and was expected to start an online column about the impact of interactive communications on health, when he died.

Decisons, decisions

2005-04-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

In all the flurry of progressiveness among my fellow pre-law bloggers, I figured I'd get in on it - in a lazy way of course, I'm hard pressed to do many constructive things this far in advance of 1L. I've been thinking that I ought to get a smaller, definitely cheaper and more than likely second-hand laptop to bring to class. I probably saw less than one percent of 1Ls taking notes by hand in the classes I sat in on and as quaint as that was since I type much faster than I write it probably wouldn't be a good idea to attempt to join that esoteric minority.

I already have a laptop, a Dell 8600, which although it's served me faithfully through my legal and other (*ehem*) pursuits is a weighty beast and the thought of bringing it to class everyday makes me shudder and think of over-priced chiropractors. I've been looking here and there for refurbished small computers and I've seen some fairly good prospects but today I was generously informed by a friend that he has a line on really good sub-$500 IBM laptops. At first I was like, this sounds great, then I got to thinking, am I going to be involved in some escapade that will haunt me whenever I have to do a background check...?

2005-04-27T19:45:00.000-04:00

The key to my law school success is right here.

2005-04-27T18:40:00.000-04:00

I recently came across this blog (Opinionistas) and for the most part find it a pretty interesting and amusing read.

No Seriously...

2005-04-27T16:15:00.000-04:00

This has just gone too far:

In an apparent effort to lure teens with the power of plastic, Mastercard has launched a new line of debit cards complete with American Idol season two runner-up Clay Aiken's mug across the front.

Called MYplash cards (an acronym for my plastic cash), the cards offer parents a way to teach their children about the responsibilities that come with possessing a credit card. The cards, which cost about $28 to acquire ($16.95 for the card, $11.99 for the membership), need to be preloaded with funds (minimum $10 deposit required). Racking up debt is not a possibility, as card owners can only spent predetermined amounts of money.
Some fans in the Claymaniac.com forum were excited at the prospect of having yet another method of proving their devotion to the "Measure of a Man" singer.

"Oh! That's really cool! I want one! But I might have to do some convicing [sic] to get one! I could use that my 17 birthday is in 3 months and it could be a very good present!" one poster enthused.

Are you kidding me?

Who Knew?

2005-04-26T14:02:00.000-04:00

I have two of the cutest dogs ever, lately though I've noticed they have odd tastes. They like mangoes. For the past few days they'll disappear for 10 or so minutes and come back with one or two mangoes which they proceed to peel and eat as if it's entirely normal. I didn't know dogs ate mangoes, I didn't know dogs could peel mangoes. I've got wierd dogs.

Photoshop Skills Needed...Badly.

2005-04-25T15:59:00.000-04:00

Here I was thinking that I was the only person having picture issues. Turns out I was wrong, Magic Cookie and Josh are all having picture issues. Magic Cooke got her make-up on and ended up with what I'm sure is a great pic, Josh is looking like "Smiley the Crackhead", I'd have to say...right now I'm looking like a drunk or high but definitely kinda loopy criminal, you know, like one of those robbers that holds up a bank and has their ID clipped on to her jacket or summn.

Damn, I need salvation.

Oh yeah...no, unlike Magic Cookie and Josh, I'm not going to Harvard.

Lit.

2005-04-24T13:15:00.000-04:00

To celebrate sending in my seat deposit, I went off and purchased a couple of these books about law school. I opted not to go for the ubiquitous One L which from what I've gathered is largely about this guys emotional drama or some such thing so I picked up Law School Confidential, Planet Law School II and Law School Insider.

I'm about half way through Law School Confidential and I have to say that I think it's a pretty good read. The book offers some helpful pointers and from my inexperienced eye seems pretty on point. I'd definitely recommend you pick it up if you're in the market for law school literature. It's also a freakishly easy read, or maybe I'm just saying that because I'm in the process of reading Les Miserables which, by the way, is off the chain even if it's a tad obese.

I'm looking forward to reading Planet Law School II if only to see what's inspired so many "passionate" comments on Lawschooldiscussion.org.

If anyone has any other suggestions for pre-law reading I'd love to hear them.

Never Ever? Ever Ever??

2005-04-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

A friend told me yesterday;

"You realise that now that you're going to be a lawyer, nobody will ever trust you again?"

Umm...no, I had actually not realised that.

Status: Negative

2005-04-22T18:59:00.000-04:00

A while back for some odd reason I subscribed to the Blogger Status feed in Bloglines. I swear the only thing this does is reinforce how much Blogger sucks. I've yet to see a day go by when some "unexpected outage" or "rerouting error" or other random issue isn't going on. Damn, Blogger, I know y'all free but get your act together man.

Sometimes knowledge is a such a bad thing...

The High Road

2005-04-21T14:10:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine asks one of the professors at Emory why they've fallen 10 points in the rankings this year. Does the professor even attempt to make up a graceful excuse?

Nope, dude's like, "Oh please, those rankings are bullshit."

Ahh, refined arguments from a trained lawyer, simply...poetic.

A Lil' Bit Country

2005-04-17T09:04:00.001-04:00

I'm still on the campus of my last law school visit which turns out to be the law school that I'll be attending. I'm pretty glad I liked it, no, no, what am I saying, I loved it. I could see my broke, over-worked ass here for the next three years. The people I met were crazy cool, from the other admitted students to the folks who attend. We sat in on a Crim Law class and then a few of us had drinks with the professor who seemed quite chill. The class itself was reassuring. It was interesting (I won't mention the pre law who totally fell asleep beside me) and not completely over my head, I actually understood where the professor was going and there didn't really seem to be any gunners in the glass nor were the people he picked on out of their depth. Yes he spent a half-hour or so with them but they seemed to handle it pretty well.

I did make the unusual sighting of one girl writing her notes, I was as surprised as I would have been if she'd started writing on a scroll. Nevertheless it was quite quaint.

What I saw of the campus itself was pretty great, it was really huge so I didn't see all of it and no one could think of any reasons to go on or even close to the undergrad campus, oddly enough neither could I, I feel so been there done that, feeling a little old too to tell you the truth. On my way in I meant some high school students who were in for the UG admitted students weekend which was also this weekend, really made me feel old thinking, "damn that was me 7 years ago".

Ah well folk, it's morning time, I'm going to pop my dentures in, wack my hip back into place and hobble on over to breakfast.

I'll be back on my island with my shitty internet connection soon so regular reading and posting will resume.

Changes

2005-04-11T10:35:00.000-04:00

If I did this right, I'll have changed my atom.xml feed to full feed. After messing around with my settings I realised I had it on partial feed. Since it annoys me to read most blogs out of bloglines (slow ass connection you understand), I figured it'd be good to offer the two other people that read my blog that option. :).

I finally wrote the check for my first tuition deposit. I haven't mailed it off yet but it's pretty exciting. I was forced to double check the due date on the deposit when I received an email from Case and Santa Clara today basically telling me that my offers had been rescinded because I'd missed the deadlines. I did a quick shiver because I had sworn that Case at least had an April 15 deadline. Ouch. At least Narkoleptik U has an April 15 deadline cuz I'd be on my way to the subway to get run over by a pissed off A train.

It feels kind of odd now, all the waiting is basically over, got into law school, got some of the money, waiting for housing somehow doesn't get my adrenaline pumping as much. Good stuff though, good stuff. I'm pretty glad it's all over. I'm also considering doing on-campus housing - at least for the first year, does that make me a super dork, it seems as if everyone's looking for apartments and other grown up options.

Quick Update

2005-04-05T13:10:00.000-04:00

My posting's been non-existent because I've been in NYC spending
ridiculous amounts of money the way you tend to do in New York.
Really, why can't you catch up with friends at the park (free) instead
of at a bar (bloodsuckers)? Oh well, I guess I'll never know the
answer to that one.

On Law School news, happily when I contacted my highest ranked school
today they had a great financial aid package for me. I'll have to take
some loans out but all in all I'll end up with less than 50K debt
after law school which is pretty great for me. Of course less is
always more but I was thinking I'd end up in the 100K debt range. I'm
so happy.

Also, in keeping with other bloggers, I think I'll keep the name of my
school on the DL for now, I may eventually change it but for now I'll
stick with the anonymity.

Taking the Good with the Bad

2005-03-22T23:44:00.000-05:00

The Good: I'm back in the NYC after a six month hiatus. I must admit, I missed it, I really did so it's great to be back. In terms of family and friends it's almost like I never left. As a result of my mercurial GPRS connection back on the island I've managed to keep up with all the happenings, still, that hasn't stopped me from hogging the phone and "catching up". It's a bit nippy out, but nothing I can't handle, I had a fun time jumping up and down waiting for my ride last night at the airport since I didn't have anything warm to wear. Fun. Also as a positive my dealings with immigration and customs were quite unremarkable - just the way I like it. Seriously...could those people be ANY more bored? The only people I've seen look more bored on their jobs are toll booth operators.

The bad: I'm still chillin' (I don't use that word lightly - it's bloody cold and a storm's on the way) without one of my two pieces of luggage courtesy of American Airlines. Great. I do so enjoy the fact that the one ever that I decided to check the bag with my toiletries, they decided to play hide a seek with it. Of course, I consider myself way more fortunate than the cheerleader from Miami who came to NYC on spring break and lost a bag with three caps for her brother. I can assume these caps were particularly valuable since she was moved to tears (really), I felt kinda sorry for her...well, to tell the truth, not really. Who checks a small plastic bag with 3 caps? A genius cheerleader that's who.

I spent most of today at home - waiting for the AA people to call and watching VH1s latest countdown - The 100 Most Shocking Moments of Rock (or something like that). I really have to wonder, how many things can one station countdown. I've never yet flipped to VH1 and not seem them counting down something, and all of these countdowns always have at least two or three of the same clips and at least one mention of Kurt Cobain in some way, shape or form.

Aight, I'm out until I manage to get the time to steal another internet connection. Might I mention that high speed internet after GPRS is fairl orgasmic...yes I did say orgasmic.

Back in a Flash

2005-03-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

Alas my dear readers:

I shall be off to the freezing weather of the East Coast tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what sort of internet connection I'll have initially while I'm there so posting will be sporadic at best - at least in the beginning. In the meantime however, my laptop will be my constant companion and I'll record interesting events such as my ~~strip search~~ gracious welcome by US officials at JFK and of course things of a law school nature.

Today I mentioned to my friend who's going to be picking me up at the airport how reluctant I was to be going back to the freezing weather, the following is a little snippet of the conversation:

Her: "Oh come on, don't worry about it, it's so warm now, Spring is totally here."
Me: "Really?? Warm?? Wow, that's grea...wait, warm like what?"
Her: "It was in the 50s yesterday, it was great, I only wore a fleece."

Folks, that ain't right. If you think 50s is warm, you're crazy. The last time we had a cold front in my little island under the sun...it was about 73 and everybody was flipping, expecting snow to fall any minute now. Now, that's warm.

White sand beaches, flip flops, sweat sans the gym...aaahhh, it's a beautiful thing, I'll miss it.

I've procrastinated enough, I must go pack. Does anybody even know how annoying it is to look for your various AC adapters, USB cables and such, well knowing that you'll forget the most important one...?

2005-03-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

I heard from Cornell that they'd be making their financial aid awards within the next two weeks. Hopefully I'll get that info before I have to make my other decisions because no doubt finance will be a pivotal factor. I wonder though, is taking this long some devious tactic to keep us stressed until as late as possible and give us minimal time to make a decision.

I mean, I've got scholarship offers from schools since January, how is it that Cornell hasn't even started making financial aid decisions yet.

I won't even begin to bitch about the fact that I've yet to hear from UMich. Won't even go there.

2005-03-19T12:06:00.000-05:00

It's Saturday, I leave the country on Monday morning. I haven't started packing yet, in fact, I haven't finished unpacking from my last trip. My hatred for packing is surpassed only by my hatred for unpacking. I haven't sorted through my mail. In fact, to cut it short, I haven't done anything that would indicate that I'll have all my stuff together by Monday.

Somebody help me...I need a miracle...

Bad Thoughts

2005-03-18T15:43:00.000-05:00

I've been pretty messy about my law school mail - everything from invitations to apply to invitations to online chats is scattered in random piles through the house - and it just occurred to me that as deposit deadlines and other such matters approach I should go look for all my acceptance letters and at least make some note of when they're due. I had a horrible thought which prompted this organisational flurry, what if I assume that all my deposit deadlines are April 15 and I end up deciding not to go to School A because School B gives me more money and what if as I'm about to make that shift to School B I realise that School B's deadline was April 1. I mentioned it to a friend and she offered to escort me to the bridge from which I should jump because surely I would be deserving of such punishment.

That said, as soon as I'm one checking my email I'm going to start sifting through the mail, I'm not going to put it off any longer, as soon as I'm done...really...as soon as I am...

Tales from the Crypt

2005-03-17T11:03:00.000-05:00

I believe I mentioned I worked in BIGLAW for a while, it was a great experience. There are a lot of asses, no doubt about it, but there are enough people who aren't asses and who hate the asses to make it an overall positive experience. I learned a ton of stuff though and hey, why not share a few things I gathered there and amuse myself while doing so - good memories.

Before I go on, let me just say that I'm by no means an expert, nor do I speak for any cross-section of law firms. These are just things I observed and learned from...or was amused by...at my particular, nameless law firm.

OK...here goes...

Never spam the law firms, don't send your resume every two months or send it to 10 different partners thinking that at least one's going to go through. In most cases the partners don't open their mail and their secretary automatically filters resumes and cover letters to the Human Resources Department. The HR Department in most cases has a database that they enter very single resume they've ever received so before the resume gets to the HR Manager/Recruiter or whoever sifts through the resumes they are entered into this database and if you've already sent your resume in your name'll pop up and more often that not it's automatically rejected. They figure, if we rejected him last week, more than likely we'll reject him this week. In some cases applying more than once won't really count against you, if you applied as a 1L and the firm doesn't accept 1Ls they may give your resume another look. Other than that, pending unsual circumstances, once you got rejected you're gonna keep getting rejected. Also if you've just been sending too many resumes and not getting the hint they'll slightly change the wording to something like..."thank you for your repeated interest in our firm...". It's not a coincidence fellows, by that time you've just annoyed the hell out of them.The same goes if you have 10 headhunters sending out resumes for you. More often than not they'll send to the same firm and you'll just be one of those loser spammers. Also consider that this database is firm-wide so if the New York office rejected you, the folks in LA will be able to see that when the input your data, you may have a still shot since different offices have different criteria.

Don't kid yourself, BIGLAW is mostly about the prestige. Sure you'll find some people who didn't go to highly ranked schools but more often than not they either proved themselves at another firm before transferring or have some absolutely amazing experience. Also, sending it to a partner who went to a low ranked school and thinking that'll give you a heads up...not gonna work. See above. That said it really does depend on the climate of the firm, mine was 90% about the prestige.

Nepotism - Ah, it's great if you can get it but in BIGLAW it's real hard. Here's why, most law firms have at least two rounds, a pre-screen and a full round interview. If you know Partner Joe and he's got enough clout to get you an interview (and don't kid yourself, you have to have good credentials in the first place or else Partner Joe'll probably just lose your resume in the pile of papers on his desk cause come hiring meeting he doesn't want to look like the moron who's just trying to get his wife's hairdresser's son a job just because he can), if you make it pass the pre-screen (you'll probably see two people - recruiting manager and hiring partner or some such combination) you've still got the full round (you interview with 4-6 people) and if you don't impress enough of them to tip the scales your way, you're out of luck. How this normally works is the lawyers who interview you will write their impressions down/or input in the database mentioned in my first point. These impressions get taken into the hiring meeting where all the folk with the real clout actually decide your fate. The recruiting manager and the hiring partner will be there so you probably want them to like you more than the rest...I'm not saying nepotism is out of the question all together, it's just that unless you know somebody real big like a managing partner, there's no point. Knowing any random partner won't help you, most of them have never done an interview, you've gotta know one that's plays an important role in the hiring process. All you know are associates/counsel/junior partners? I'd say the most they can guarantee is that your resume will be reviewed with a little bit more care, it's certainly not going to guarantee you an interview.

Don't ever call. Really. Don't do it. It's most definitely "a don't call us, we'll call you kind of thing." If you call to check up on your resume, sure your name will probably stick in their heads but you're "that dude who thinks we don't have anything to do, seriously does he not know how many resumes we get every single day??" If you must call I suggest you get your headhunter or something to do it for you, they're paid to be annoying, it won't really reflect on you.

Oh man, I've seen this a ton of times. Don't ever send your writing sample with your resume unsolicited. Straight up. Noone's going to even glance at it. I kid you not. You also look like a complete and total moron. That stuff probably won't even make it past the secretary much less to the recruiting manager. I've seen people send documents over 50 pages long. It does not give a positive impression. Trust. Lets face it your resume and cover letter get seconds of attention, noone's going to read whatever boring article you had to write for a class or a journal to see if they want to meet you.

Oh, this has been said all over the place but I still see people do it. Man, chill with the mail merge. I swear I can't even count the number of cover letters that came with the wrong name/address/company name, I remember one cat sent his resume in with all of the inter-changeable information in bold, another dude did it in italics. If you manage to actually pull off the mail merge properly, don't make it obvious that you did a mail merge dude...Automatic rejection letter. Oh yeah, speaking of rejection letter, if they tell you how great your credentials were and how they regret not having a chance to meet with you, believe they told it to everybody. It's not an invitation to apply next week. They can use mail merge. And they do. Do you know how many resumes they get every single day??

Also, everything I just said, forget all of it if you've got fantastic credentials. If you were Editor in Chief of the law review, had a 4.0, Order of the Coif and clerked for the Supreme Court, seriously you've got to be a total ass to get rejected. No matter how bad your cover letter is and how much of a jerk you seem they'll still interview you because your record shows that you're brilliant and while they may not like you, there's tons of rainmakers at the firm that they don't like but who are brilliant and absolutely fantastic at their jobs. You've gotta pretend to at least respect them though - at least in the beginning interview, if they think you're too arrogant off the bat, it's not going to go well for you.

OK...I'm done typing now...next week, if I remember, post-interview comments made by interviewers.

Question of the Day

2005-03-16T16:12:00.000-05:00

How the hell do you switch from 85-90 degree weather to 0-25 degree weather without having some sort of stroke. The times I tried going for Christmas break in warm (read hot) climates and then returning to New England for Spring semester had really dire consequences. Missing class is no fun if you're actually sick and since I'm on extended vacation I hope to spend as few of those days as is possible laid up.

This time I'm going to be smart about it, I'm going to do online research. It's off to WebMD and Google I go.

P.S. If I had a pound or a dollar (Euro currency of course - it's worth more) for every invitation to an online chat at some law school, I wouldn't be worrying at all about financial aid.

Why oh Why

2005-03-15T11:40:00.000-05:00

Is this woman who happens to be sitting beside me in an internet cafe craning her neck around the separator to look at my screen? In fact, why oh why is she not the first person who's done it? I swear if I were at all dangerous, or even dangerous looking, I'd say something really mean, but as that's not the case, I'll settle for changing the angle of my computer monitor...

What do you say...

2005-03-14T12:47:00.000-05:00

to a good friend who's going through the law school application process and hasn't had any acceptances yet?

When?

2005-03-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

Aspiring lawyer posted today about the fact that all schools should make and send out their decisions by a certain date and have the same deposit deadlines. I couldn't agree more. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for one measly school to contact me and it's driving me mad. Worse it's a school that I know I'd go to in a heartbeat and I'd drop the other schools like hot potatoes (unless of course they offer me some fantastic financial aid - then I'd have to think about it.)

He's waiting for 11 schools. Absurd. When do they intend to let us know? How about now y'all, how about now?

Update: On further reading, I see Kristine over at Divine Angst has posted similar, yet more eloquent thoughts on the matter.

About Santa Clara

2005-03-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

After chatting with my friend at Santa Clara, I gleaned this info, though I'd post it since I know at least a couple people who're considering Santa Clara and of course there's Aspiring Lawyer who I don't know, but know of who's also considering Santa Clara.

Here we go:

Rent - Really expensive. Apparently $450-$550 for a room in a house with 3 or 4 others and upwards of $850 for a 1BR unfurnished.

Professors - The usual mix, some good some bad and the IP program shines above all. There's also a very high bar passage rate there. And as we all know, Santa Clara gets much props in Cali - outside the region the rep isn't that hot.

1L Opportunities - Are mostly volunteer but they exist so you should find something to do in the summer.

Upon Graduation - Salaries are in the usual over $100 000 range but the cost of living is really high, so it pretty much works out to $60 000-$70 000 in real dollars.

The Weather - Doesn't get much better than that. An estimated 20 days with rain throughout the whole winter and 5 or so below 50 degrees.

Stuff to do - You need a car, apparently Santa Clara is straight suburbia so you need to get to San Jose or San Francisco to get your party on.

Once a Day the Tables Will Turn...

2005-03-11T20:44:00.000-05:00

Well, well, well. I would appear that it's not only "Gen Y" lawyers who're disloyal. Seems as if the partners have no problem bailing out en masse.

Via the Volokh Conspiracy

Sweet Victory

2005-03-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd work on posting some of the knowledge I gleaned about the BIGLAW hiring process while working last year. I started to post and then got caught up in an email war with some SprintPCS representatives who have to be the most inefficient people EVER. Eleven emails later, I've managed to cancel my plan sans $150 penalty because I called them out on their unfair practices and promised to report them to the Better Business Bureau. It's amazing what some righteous indignation and a veiled (OK, not so veiled) threat can do to get these evil bloodsuckers to toe the line.

The timeline:

Late Fall, 2004 - I leave the US for a while and tell the morons to put my plan on the vacation plan. They say sure, no problem, hold a few minutes while we do it. OK Narkoleptik, it's done, you're good to go.

Sometime November, 2004 - I decide for no particular reason to check my PCS account online. I see they have me owing them for 2 months. I send them an email basically saying...dude...what the hell?!? They say, oh Narkoleptik, sorry for the mistake we'll fix it right quick.

Yesterday, 2005 - I again decide to check my PCS account online, wanted to make sure everything was OK so I could resurrect my cell service when I hit the states from the Vacation Plan. I see I'm in arrears for almost $200. I email them, they're like oh, we don't know what's going on here, we never put you on the vacation plan. Here's what we'll do, we'll put you on the plan this morning, oh and just so you know, when we put you on the plan you'll have begun another yearly contract with us.

I say, no way, you guys are way too stupid. Cancel the contract, I want nothing to do with you. They say, Oh Narkoleptik, we're so sorry but if we cancel your service you're going to have to pay $150 because you're on a contract with us until March 10, 2005 - remember we put you on one this morning? So that said, we highly advise you to stick with us.

I got pissed, although it wasn't evident in the series of emails that I sent them attempting to rectify the situation - I was trying to polite route. When that didn't work I had to get nasty, what do you know, being nasty gets results. I'm not free of Sprint sans cancellation fee. Praises be.

Now I gotta go get a new wireless carrier, I'm thinking the only option is Verizon? Everybody else seems to bitch about the other options like T-mobile and Cingular and what not.

Oh yeah, I know none of you really needed to know that, it's just that I feel so...free!

Fight to the death troops! Don't make those evil wireless carriers take advantage of you.

Star Wars Who?

2005-03-11T15:20:00.000-05:00

Based on these two posts, I've come across today alone and I've only read like 10 of the blogs on my roll thus far; I have to ask...am I the only one left whose never seen Star Wars and has absolutely no desire to?

There has to be one other person out there. Just one.

The Good Life

2005-03-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

Well apparently Colorado University is thinking of buying Ward Churchill out of his job.

Let me see:

Write a paper with controversial opinions.

Piss lots of people off.

Your employer threatens to fire you.

You threaten to sue employer if they fire you.

Employer then caves and pays you ridiculous amounts of money to leave the job.

You retire to your own island in the Caribbean.

People are still pissed off.

You can now say even more things to piss people off (in between sipping drinks on the beach of course).

Why?

Because the first time you did you got paid so much you never had to work again.

Sounds like a bloody good plan to me.

Good job Colorado University. Good job.

Somebody please tell me where I can get a gig like this.

The Deed Is Done

2005-03-09T13:12:00.000-05:00

Well my ticket to the States is booked. In a couple weeks (less actually), I'll have the consummate pleasure of leaving 84 degree days and 78 degree nights and entering the freezer that is NYC.

Now I gotta book cheap tickets to the law schools.

Anybody ever try booking tickets on a volatile gprs connection?

God help me.

The Secret Blog

2005-03-08T22:33:00.000-05:00

This article in the LA times that seems to have pissed off a few of the people who use Blogger. The article was lame, mos' def but the part that I found intriguing was a quote that said "The future of blogging is not about bloggers who want audiences of thousands. The majority will be those communicating with four others or so." That seems relatively farfetched to me, no doubt there are a number of password protected bloggers out there and bloggers that use other methods of stealth to keep themselves on the DL but I totally believe that there are way more anonymous and non-anonymous (I'm sure there's a better word but I can't think of it now) bloggers out there who totally want their blogs to be the hottest thing since...err...Google's IPO?

Seriously though, are there too many people out there who would love it if ten or twenty (to vastly exaggerate the number in the quote) read their blogs and no more? I gotta agree with Tony Pierce here, these people would probably choose email for their purposes.

So yeah, can any of you really say that when that statcounter passes twenty readers for the day you feel violated? You're like damn, I wish those surfers would just stay the hell off my blog! Anybody?

The Grapes of Wrath a la Mexico

2005-03-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

I'm currently reading (almost done actually) The Grapes of Wrath, it's really great and a surprisingly fast read. I say that because I've had the book for about four years and have never got around to reading more than 30 or so pages. I've had to start it over at least twice because I put it down for so long that I completely forgot how it began.

I decided to post on this because I found this article on MSNBC that completely and totally threw me back in the book. It's about how the adjustments in border security is having very little impact on the flow of illegal Mexican immigrants. Here's a quote from the article:

One of the men on the porch was Jesus Alonzo Camacho, 44. He and six friends had left home in Michoacan state, where they earn about $6 a day working in the fields. "We can't support ourselves at home; we need the money from the other side," Camacho said. His only plan was to slip across the border and walk north until he found someone to give him work. "Anyone," he said. "Anywhere."

Too many similarities to point out; I have few profound observations on Mexicans trying to get across the border other than obviously something else needs to be done since clearly current steps aren't working. They've also become an important cog in the wheel of US agriculture/industry so maybe it's time to come up with a more sophisticated plan than spotlights, dogs and helicopters, particularly since those can't even keep the criminals out.

Also, I'm considering getting in on this 50 Book Challenge bit, I wonder...does it work retroactively...?

Clearly I have too Much Time on my Hands.

2005-03-07T19:37:00.000-05:00

I have no idea who started this but it's been popping up all over on blogs I read so here goes:

Coke or Pepsi? Coke most definitely, in fact, I can't tell the last time I actually saw Pepsi.

Chunky or smooth peanut butter? I absolutely detest peanut butter. *Shudder*

White or wheat? Not a big fan of bread in general, I avoid it at all costs but if absolutely forced I'd go white.

Vanilla or chocolate ice cream? Chocolate baby, vanilla is just so...vanilla!

Perfect "after sex food"? Ice cream definitely, and chocolate if there's any...but always ice cream.

Butter or margarine? I really have no idea what the difference is, really - not a clue.

Coffee, tea, or neither? I avoid hot drinks at all costs (burns my tongue man, burns my tongue) but I can dig some iced coffee, and also some iced tea now that I think about it...I probably prefer the iced coffee a bit more though.

Sweet or dill pickles? Dill baby, dill.

Stupidest thing a boy told me that I believed? Dude...

What do you want to be when you grow up? Rich, slim and happy. I'm not kidding! I'd like to be a writer but I'll settle for being a lawyer right now :)

Generation Next

2005-03-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to keep my loyal readers (two or three?) from registering complete and utter dismay at the complete pointlessness of my last few posts, I will, as promised in an attempt to have a relevant post, throw in the Narkoleptomaniac view of the recent article in The National Law Journal about "Generation Y" lawyers being disloyal slackers. Commentary abounds in the blogosphere so I doubt I add anything new, however, I will come out and say it: while I hope to grab that "cushy" BIGLAW job, I'm probably going to end up being a "slacker".

Here's why:

While I may indeed accept the fact that I need to pull 16 hour days for a few years to get those law school loans off my head, trust that I don't pull those hours because of a deep love of monotonous paperwork or because the art work on the walls of the office so thrill me that I want to spend as much time as I can in the office. I do so because I want to pay off my student loans and because I like that I can have a meal somewhere other than White Castle after paying my loans and my rent. (Yes, the $500 cabbage soup entree sounds fabulous! May I have two?) I will, more than likely bail in a heartbeat if I'm offered a higher paying job or one with equal salary and less hours.

Disloyal? Perhaps.

Having worked at a firm though, I'm quite aware that the firm is no more loyal to its employees than they supposedly are to it. I've seen the spate of senior associates who flood the HR office with resumes because they were denied the partnership they were assured was in the bag. I also know that if God forbid an associate fails the bar, he's out the door. If an associate opts to take the "family friendly" route you advertise they are virtually assured of not making partner. I also know that you the senior partner stays at work until 9:00pm every night - having reached the zenith of your profession you still spend the same, if not more, hours in the office as the associate (note the distinction between spending the same hours in the office and actually working the same hours.) Is it because after so many years of being loyal to the job, you have no idea what to do outside of the office? If that's the case, that's really really sad. If it's not...dude...go home.

It's clear that according to today's standards, a loyal, motivated worker should have very little life outside of the office. I'm willing to pay my dues, but if, as I've said before, I can't make some sort of compromise between paying those dues and having even the semblance of normal life (read: not indentured servitude - I've heard it whispered that some lawyers make it work), then hell yeah, expect me to be disloyal. Hell, call me a slacker. I'm "Gen Y" after all, it's inherent. Isn't it?

Update: I was writing a response to Janine's comment on this post and then it got long so I decided to tack it on this post:

I haven't really thought this through so bear with me but...I'm beginning to think that a large part of this may have to do with the fact that more women are working outside the home and men are trying to become more than just the breadwinner and part-time family man. Back in the day men were probably more willing to leave the raising of a family to the women and spend all their time in the office - they were the breadwinners after all and so it was easy for them to remain loyal to work and family. Stay the extra hours and make the boss happy and bring the extra bucks home and make the wife happy.

Now, we have more women in the work force and more men trying to play active roles in their families which doesn't create such an easy dichotomy between work and family anymore. This then creates a shift from workplace loyalty to family loyalty in the sense that apparently it is difficult to be loyal to both. There are no clear-cut breadwinners any more since both significant others' often work and since there's no longer the guarantee that one parent will be a full-time parent (or pet caretaker, whatever), it turns out the job will get the supposed shaft since it's become only a source of income and a way to pass the time you'd rather be spending with family.

Whew

2005-03-06T16:48:00.000-05:00

OK, I think this is it. For now. I think.

If I decide I hate this template, I won't have the time to do anything about it for a while.

Ah well.

Also: I shall try to post something of consequence in the near future.

And then...

2005-03-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

to change it all back after 4 hours of messing with it because you liked the old template better.

Einstein watch out! Narkoleptik's on a roll tonight!

Pop Quiz

2005-03-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

Q: How dumb do you have to be to decide to change your blog template while using quite possibly the most unreliable gprs internet connection in the developing world?

A: The answer's just too obvious...and detrimental to my self-esteem.

2005-03-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

Stop over by Magic Cookie and check out her synopses of her visits to Columbia Day 1, Day 2 and NYU.

Warcry

2005-03-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

I remember reading an article a few weeks ago that argued that casualties of the US war in Iraq were greatly misleading because far more people were permanently maimed than were killed and there has been little coverage about the fact. This article I came across today focuses on brain damage sustained as a result of blasts.

To identify cases of TBI, doctors at Walter Reed screened every arriving service member wounded in an explosion, along with those hurt in Iraq or Afghanistan in a vehicle accident or fall, or by a gunshot wound to the face, neck or head. They found TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) in about 60% of the cases. The largest group was 21-year-olds. The wound may come to characterize this war, much the way illnesses from Agent Orange typified the Vietnam War, doctors say.

This fact combined with the fact that recruitment numbers have fallen significantly since the beginning of the war will no doubt have some serious implications for the miltary. Kevin over at The Yin Blog has a pretty amusing post about the Pentagon's reaction to this "startling" news about recruitment numbers.

I've been wondering what the Bush administration's next move is going to be in Iraq. There's little indication that peace is anywhere in the near future for the Iraqis, the suicide bombers are having a field day. Saddam has been ousted so Bush can't blame him, and the Iraqis have had their first democratic election so he can't argue that all they really need is self-government to put them on the right track. I'd really love to know what the plan is, you know Plan Q or so since all the others have failed.

2005-03-04T19:32:00.000-05:00

I received an acceptance email from Tulane today including a note in bold type telling me that my scholarship information will be included in the letter to be mailed out on Friday. Eh. I'm pretty sure I won't be going to Tulane but it's still good to get in.

In other news, Cornell sent an email saying they're the number one college hockey team. Great. The only hockey games I've ever seen were those incorporated in the movie The Might Ducks. Good to know though. I do wish I'd received some financial aid information though.

2005-03-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

Dark Goddess of Replevin gives us a taste of what happens when good email goes bad. (Sorry, it just came to me) Anyway apparently the Dean of Columbia Law School published an editorial in the New York Sun and decided to send a copy to the entire Columbia Law School Alumni list. Turns out that Columbia has some unfortunate email configuration issues that ensures that out of office auto-reply messages get sent to the entire list instead of just the sender. Pissed off alums started responded and well...it just got ugly.

"Among the hard-working graduates of CLS were several lucky souls who were on vacation and had turned on out-of-office autoreply messages. Now, I just located the original message and hit "reply" (without sending, mind you!) to see how a return email would be addressed. It appears that, if one uses "reply" and not "reply all" that responses should go only to the sender. For some reason, however, those autoreplies, once they went back to the dean, were forwarded to the list. As were all the responses by all the people who became increasingly shrill as they received more and more and more email in response to the initial demands for removal...Which is why I came home tonight and discovered sixty-plus law-school related emails in my home inbox."

This reminds me of quite a few embarrassing incidents at college when a person would hit reply to sender and the email would get sent to the entire listserver. Break-ups have happened that way, scandals have been disclosed that way...

Sad, sad sad.

Great Expectations

2005-03-04T10:51:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I read that this guy Jason Kottke was quitting his job to be a full time blogger. I wished him luck, wished I could do the same and assumed that I'd have been getting some premium content. I hadn't heard about his blog before all the fanfare about him going fulltime. So I read a few posts here and there and found them not unlike a lot of the tech-related blogs out there. I, however, assumed that since the guy would be doing this fulltime, I'd be getting some particularly interesting posts, premium content, even...better than the posts he'd been making before.

Boy was I wrong. I'm not saying it's a bad blog, I'm just saying it's the same blog it was before he went fulltime. I'm disappointed. Also...dude, you're supposedly a fulltime blogger...is one to two posts a day the best you can manage?

Genuine Wonderment

2005-03-03T11:53:00.000-05:00

You know, sometimes I wonder... I was reading this post on Althouse about wireless access in the classroom - apparently there's a debate about whether or not to limit it or something because it distracts students - and came across a comment via email from her son that mentioned that Cornell blocks wireless internet access in the classroom. I had this very real, medium-sized pang of disappointment almost as if this could count in my decision making process.

No, I'm not wondering anymore, I really must have lost my mind.

Alright Already!

2005-03-02T21:17:00.000-05:00

I have a couple decisions pending, well a few actually but two in particular (Santa Clara and Tulane), I don't really care about since I won't be attending but why, for instance, hasn't the University of Michigan written to tell me I'm rejected? Let's face it, I sent in my application from October...or was it September, anyway I know they got it because they said so. I know they received my information from the LSAC because they said so. As much as schools tell us that they look for the whole person and all that gooey stuff, I think it's all a lie. I'm pretty sure within five to 10 minutes of looking at an application they know whether the person has a chance of not. Why then have I not been informed of my rejection?

I know they've looked at my application, they must have, they've had it almost six months. I don't have any anomalies in my application that would cause them to need to spend longer than necessary (read: six months) going over my decision. Why then must the torture continue? I haven't even been waitlisted/deferred. Georgetown took twenty-nine (29) days from my submitting the application to my receiving a response. See: quick turnaround, I like that. I also like that I got in.

You know what, it's the post office. They're screwing me over, I'm sure it's them. Dammit.

Thanks

2005-03-02T12:21:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who chimed in via email, comment or their own posts in response to my post on LSAT prep. Your thoughts have been very helpful, I wish I'd been a part of the blog community back in my law school application days :).

2005-03-01T18:27:00.000-05:00

No doubt this will be discussed thoroughly in the blogosphere over the next few days but I feel compelled to throw in my two cents. It's great the the Supreme Court has outlawed the death penalty for juveniles. I'm no fan of the death penalty in general and I find that most supporters of death penalty frame their arguments primarily within emotional contexts since there's little hard evidence to show that the death penalty is at all effective in reducing crime. I sense that I may go into a long winded discussion of all this so let me just cut myself off and say that this is great news. Go SCOTUS, do your damn thing! (today, that is - there's a ton of other stuff I disagree with y'all on)

Are They Worth It?

2005-03-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

LSAT Prep Classes that is. An 0L-to-be friend of mine consulted me (yeah ME) for advice on the LSAT, basically he wanted to know if it would be a good idea to shell out between $1000-$1500 on a Prep Class.

I'm stumped.

I didn't take a Prep class and I did pretty well, I know people who took Prep classes and did better than I did and I also know a people who took Prep classes and did worse than I did. I ended up treading the middle ground and telling him to take a few tests and see how he does and then decide whether or not he thinks he may be able to swing it on his own or if he'll need Kaplan, Princeton, Powerscore or one of the myriad of LSAT Prep courses out there to help him out. As I type this I know I gave him pretty bad advice the only "redeeming" factor is that I did offer him a disclaimer and assure him that what I have to say on the matter should by no means be taken as gospel (a cop-out if ever there was one).

I ended up studying for the LSAT on my own for two reasons, one, I was broke at the time and shelling out $1300 for some Prep courses seemed just ridiculous - rent and food come first you know and two, after I totally bombed the first practice test I did and resolved to sign up for a course courtesy of Visa or American Express I found out that all the registration dates had passed and I'd missed at least two to three weeks of classes.

After being convinced that I was bound to get a 150, I pulled myself together hit Barnes and Noble and bought some practice tests, ordered some of the most recent ones from the LSAC, bought the Powerscore Logic Games Bible on Ebay (the games were kicking my ass) and spent the last few weeks before the LSAT taking practice tests when I had the time. That worked, I took the LSAT once and was happy enough with my score to not want to do it over again.

On the other hand, I have no idea if I'd have done even better had I gone to any of the classes but I sure as hell know that the classes can't be the be-all and end-all of LSAT Prep since people who take the classes often do poorly.

Hmm, I'd thought that after putting this down on paper...err...blog, I'd have come up with some better advice for him. Oh well. The one thing I can resolutely advise him against is using any of the Barrons' books, I'm not a big fan of Kaplan's books either but really Barrons just plain sucks. I do think practice is the key, whether you do it in a class or on your own, if you don't do as many of those practice tests as you possibly can (set a high bar though, don't do 3 and think that's all you can do), if you do fine in the practice tests odds are pending some catastrophe exam day you'll do fine in the LSAT.

2005-02-28T20:24:00.000-05:00

There's a discussion between Orin Kerr and David Bernstein over at The Volokh Conspiracy about the roll than rank should play when choosing a law school. Orin Kerr talks about the advantages of going to the highest ranked school you can get into and David Bernstein discusses the intangible factors that may motivate one to choose a lower ranked school over a higher ranked one. Of course, when talking about lower ranked schools they refer to schools ranked fairly high overall (e.g. George Mason v Georgetown or George Washington). It would take a pretty special argument to convince one that it would make tons of sense to choose a T4 school over a T14 school.

As prior posts have indicated I'm leaning towards Orin Kerr's argument that it's advisable to choose a higher ranked school but primarily because many of the influential factors mentioned by David Bernstein. I have no geographic preferences nor do I have to worry about familial requirements and such. Also...I'm a tiny bit of a prestige ho'.

Greedy, Greedy, Greedy...And Not Too Smart Either

2005-02-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

You give these people an inch, they want a mile. The ~~RIAA's~~ Apple has worn ~~us all~~ most of us down the the ITunes Music Store. 99 cents a song, OK, I can deal with that - I've never actually bought an mp3 from them, I like having complete control over my music...however I obtain it but the possibility exists that one day I may yet give in and purchase a song for 99 cents. I already use ITunes with my Ipod it's not that big a step. Maybe.

A fledgling number of the music buying/stealing population have decided to take advantage of legal means of obtaining their music and what do the money grubbers want to do? They want to increase prices.

I'm thinking it'll be a hot minute before a significant portion of the legal converts go back to their shady ways. Good move guys, real smart. And this in a world where movie studios plan to start selling $2.65 DVDs in China to combat illegal downloading - (I think this is an excellent idea by the way...also does this mean that the rest of the world will have to start doing bootleg like the Asians do bootleg before we'll get some decently priced media?).

2005-02-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

There's a great post by Adam Cohen in the New York Times today titled, "The Lawrence Summers Mess: Harvard Enters the Internet Age". Check it out, it also taps in a bit on Ambivalent Imbroglio's When Blogs do Good or Bad Series.

The more I read about the Summers debacle the more I think nothing much is going to come of all this. He may get a talking-to by the corporation and be forced to sign up for a couple classes on "How Not to Piss off our Alumni so They Refuse to Give us More Money" but I doubt anything more serious than that's going to happen.

Is This Typical?

2005-02-27T20:34:00.000-05:00

I caught up with a friend this weekend who goes to Santa Clara. The usual gripes about the grade curve and all that - loves the locale though - he mentioned that at the end of the year the bottom 12% of the 1L class will be asked to leave.

I had no idea this happened, I didn't know you could actually get kicked out of law school...pending well catastrophic circumstances. Also since once the bottom 12% go they'll simply be replaced by those right above them I'm not really clear on the point of the whole exercise.

So yeah, do all schools do this? I've never checked the Santa Clara website in detail but I stopped by when they sent me a fee waiver...and I read the catalogue...this little tidbit was definitely missing.

Parental Reaction to UPenn Diss

2005-02-26T13:05:00.000-05:00

"Aww, hon I'm sorry but really you've already got a billion acceptances, it was getting boring saying congrats all the time!"

So yah...application for new parental figure open.

Just kidding, that back-handed ego stroking actually made me feel a better as did the scrumptiously prepared meal shortly after.

Love you Mom.

Hmm...I've got one more rejection coming, I wonder what the reaction will be then.

Ding!

2005-02-25T16:49:00.000-05:00

Officially dissed by UPenn after being put on hold a while ago. Not unexpected but...Ouch.

Yeah Baby...Scrabble!

2005-02-25T11:43:00.000-05:00

I've wasted the better part of the past 2 days playing e-Scrabble. It's totally nerdy but so much fun if you like Scrabble. The only weird thing is that it's let me play words that are in no way actual words...as far as I know. Also disturbing is that I have quite a number of games going on with my friends who all work but who seem to have no trouble taking time off to play e-Scrabble. Getting fired for playing Scrabble online would just be too lame. It's a great waste of time. You should do it.

Just Trying to Help

2005-02-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

I recently posted on Paris Hilton getting hacked. Let me just say that after further investigation it turns out that she didn't actually get hacked - her password reminder question is "what's your pets name?" and her password unsurprisingly was "Tinkerbell" - the name of her dog. I'm sure the only problem the "hackers" had was figuring out whether or not the password was case sensitive.

Anyway for the tons of people who've happened upon the site looking for Lindsay Lohan's voicemail or her phone number...according to the online posts her phone number was 347-596-9990. I am sure, however, that she's changed it by now but since y'all came looking I thought I'd help you out. You can't say I didn't try.

Good luck with the celebrity stalking. And if you don't get her - don't worry - I'm sure Paris' new electronic gadget will be hacked by next week. You know I'm almost starting to feel sorry for her, it must suck having your life on display like that...but then I remember that she's filthy stinking rich and the money she spends grooming her ridiculous dog Tinkerbell could take care of my law school costs and surely she could spend 30 seconds coming up with a password that someone with a hat size IQ can't guess (unless, of course I'm overestimating her IQ). So yah, no dice.

---
P.S. Miami stop sending me junk mail. I don't want your DVD...not 3 days after I received your catalogue and application (DVD inside)...months after I applied. Stop it. It's not funny.

The Time Has Come...

2005-02-24T11:40:00.000-05:00

...for me to officially delete Anonymous Lawyer from my Bloglines subscription list and even my blog roll. It really pained me to find out that Jeremy Blachman wrote it, that killed most of the appeal. I thought I'd try to stick it out for a while to see if it could still entertain me...sadly no dice. The few posts that Jeremy has put up since the unveiling while as well written as all the others just left me cold. Man, this sucks. I really liked that blog!

I don't think I'll be stopping by anymore. :(

The Road to Email Hell...

2005-02-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

Seems to be paved with my good intentions of sharing my Gmail invites. I did a nice thing and sent off almost 100 Gmail invites to isnoop.net/gmail about a week or so ago. I guess my invites have just showed up in the spool and boy am I getting notifications from the Gmail Team of all these random people who've accepted my invitation - I've got about 40 or so in the past 3 or so hours.. The sad part is that I'm going to also have to delete them from my contact list.

Man people have some weird names and weird ways of combining them to form email addresses...of course this from a person who's chosen Narkoleptik as a moniker.

Kettle? You're black as hell.

The Key

2005-02-23T12:42:00.000-05:00

Notes from the Legal Underground just endorsed a programme called ResearchPro which sounds like a great database tool. It's practical purposes for law school seem great. That plus this LEEWS (Legal Essay Exam Writing System) thing that I read about on MarkLyon.org yesterday make law school seem like a snap. I feel like in two days I've unlocked the door to the Order of the Coif.

Seriously though, has anyone gone through LEEWS, is it helpful? Should I fork out my dough. Sure the website guarantees B's minimum (but is this because most schools are on a B-curve?) and supposedly allows you to compete for A's. I'd love to hear from somebody who actually did/does the system and their perspectives. The website sounds really convincing...in that infomercial way...the lose 100 lbs without getting off the couch kinda way.

Most of the testimonials are also from a few years ago too - but ultimately I'm highly skeptical of any system that can crack all law school exams. Aight, so holla at me if you know anything about this system.