Pleasantly Surprised (and Appalled by Politics)

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by law school and the people. When I did research on law schools a few years back and then more recently when I decided to take the LSAT, there were horror stories of people hiding books in the library so that assignments couldn’t be completed (along with similar stories).  Competition was fierce (and cutthroat) and that sabotage of a type occurred frequently.  However, none of that has happened here.  People have been so friendly. Just this morning, the Delta and SBA Reps handed out goodie bags for everyone in our section.  Others have done other things over the course of the semester.  The professors have been great too.  I really like that they stress being prepared for class and thinking through questions, instead of necessarily getting the right answer or the specific answer they’re looking for.  I’ve also been surprised at just how much I’m enjoying it on the whole. There are, of course, things that haven’t been so much fun, but on the whole it’s been good.

On another topic, I’m appalled by Wisconsinites right now.  Most specifically, I’m appalled by how easily Wisconsinites are being led astray this year.  I’ve been paying attention to Russ Feingold’s race, even though I’m living in Illinois now.  The idea that Feingold’s in serious trouble goes to show how pervasive the Tea Party movement is.  But the Tea Party candidate in Wisconsin is also a good example of the Tea Party’s lack of substance.  I’ve always been of the opinion that if you don’t like the ideas in place, present a new idea. But if you don’t have any new ideas, then shut up.  Ron Johnson, Feingold’s opponent is simply saying he’ll repeal the Health Care Bill and wants to get rid of unemployment benefits.  That’s all well and good, but without them what are you going to do to solve the problems they were meant to solve?  With all the media attention on Tea Party candidates, I’ve yet to hear any of them actually present new ideas to solve our problems.  All they’ve said is that they don’t like what the Democrats did. Some of the candidates are even saying some of the problems don’t exist.  Sorry, but ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away; in fact most of the time it makes it worse.  For me, when I look at candidates, I’m looking at what ideas they’re presenting – what they’re going to do if elected.  Essentially, I want to know what I’m getting into when I vote to put a particular candidate into office.

When Ron Johnson has been asked what he would do if elected, he’s declined to answer.  He’s muddled his way through the question every single time he’s been asked it. That has led every major newspaper in Wisconsin to endorse Feingold.  For those unfamiliar with Ron Johnson, he’s a millionaire business man who owns a plastics factory in central Wisconsin.  He’s shipping well-paying jobs to other states where it’s cheaper.  He’s done that in a state already hurt by NAFTA before all the job losses in this recession.  Johnson supports tax cuts for the wealthy – a group of people who can more afford to save their money.  The unemployment benefits he opposes actually help those who most need them. Those benefits get spent on necessities and thus go back into the economy. If nothing else, we’ve learned since Reagan that trickle down economics doesn’t really work.  In that sense, giving tax breaks to the wealthy doesn’t make much sense.  Johnson critiques the stimulus bill.  No matter how you look at it, many many experts have said that without it, we’d have headed into another depression.  Johnson says this election isn’t about details.  Clearly people are agreeing with him, since if they actually looked at the details Feingold would kicking his butt.  Johnson’s answer that this election isn’t about details was in response to question about what we should do about the nation’s 107,000 homeless veterans.  Details-schmetails: the Ron Johnson campaign.

Feingold is also not afraid to work with Republics on issues, nor is he afraid to break party ranks if doing so would be in Wisconsin’s best interest. In the past, Feingold worked with John McCain on campaign finance reform (which has subsequently been overruled by the Supreme Court, leading to some new issues in this election).  More recently, he’s been working with McCain and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) on eliminating earmarks and with Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsins) on a bill to create a federal line-item veto.  Feingold also voted against the TARP bill and has pushed to use excess TARP funds to pay down the deficit.  Feingold also was the lone vote against the Patriot Act, concerned about the privacy and constitutional concerns.  Republicans, on the other hand, don’t seem willing to break ranks.   The Republican party leadership seems to aggressively enforce conformity amongst its members in Congress.  Doesn’t seem to me like that’s the best thing for Wisconsin.

Thanks to that Supreme Court decision mentioned above, there are several groups attacking Feingold.  One of those groups, SpeechNow.org is funded by millionaires hiding behind that group.   This is a good article on it: Millionaire Insiders Hide Behind Group.

Finally a third good article on Feingold’s campaign. Citizen Russ. It’s just so hard for me to believe that Wisconsinites, a group known for being mavericks themselves (just like their current Senator) could fall so hard for the empty Tea Party rhetoric.

Brrr!

That huge storm system that’s plagued us with high winds over the last two days has finally moved away.  Things are still a little breezy, but nothing like we’ve seen over the last 48 hours.  However, on it’s way out, it ushered in some very cold air – coldest we’ve seen all season. Today our high is just 46, but we’ve also got a wind out of the north at 10-20mph, gusting to 30 mph. When I got up at 8:45 (alarm actually went off at 8, but I laid in bed until 8:45), I checked the temp outside. It was 40 degrees and felt like 32 degrees with the wind at 17mph. Brr!  By the time I left my apartment at 11:45 to walk to the bus stop, it was only 43 degrees and felt like 35 degrees.  Brrr!  It’s now nearly 1:30 and we’re still at just 43 degrees and it still feels like 35 degrees.  We’re about 8-10 degrees below normal for both today and tonight. Our low tonight is 26 degrees, but given that our skies are going to clear out, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if we get colder than that.  But we’ll be back to 50 degrees tomorrow and up to 60 degrees (and sunshine!) on Saturday.  Things drop off a bit and we spend next week in the 50’s – which is pretty normal for the end of October/beginning of November.  Within about two weeks, we should see our first nighttime snowflakes.  By Thanksgiving (or just thereafter) we should see our first daylight flakes (or half-frozen crap).  Usually in December we’ll see a couple 1-3 inch snowfall events.  But our big snowfalls and the bulk of our snow totals come in January/February/March.  However this is a La Nina year, which means anything that can happen usually does happen when it comes to winter. Let me explain. Winter of 2000-2001 was a La Nina year.  By the time December was over, we had 4+ feet of snow on the ground.  All of it fell in December.  Several major snowstorms.  Of course, we had next to no snow the rest of the winter. Winter of 2007-2008 was another La Nina winter.  Prior to that winter, the snowfall record was 76 inches and change.  The normal snowfall was about 45-48 inches.  That winter, we ended up with just over 100 inches of snow!  Winter of 2008-2009 was another La Nina winter.  That winter, we ended up with 77 inches of snow.  So here in the Midwest, La Nina tends to wreak havoc on winters.  The biggest thing that happens is that the Gulf of Mexico seems to be open for business. Typically (but not always) for us to get large snowfall amounts, the storms have to tap into gulf moisture.  So this could definitely be an interesting winter.

I have quite a bit to take care of over the next several days. Tonight I have to go home and study for my Civ Pro midterm that’s tomorrow. It’s all multiple choice and it’s open book. It also doesn’t count, but I want an idea of where I truly stand in the class.  So tomorrow we have the midterm and then we’re going to take about 50 minutes to go over it.  Following that, I need to work on BLR Assignment 4.  I doubt I’ll get it all done tomorrow afternoon if I want to ride the bus back to my apartment. If that’s the case, then I’ll drive over on Saturday morning/early afternoon and finish it then.  I am hoping though to get it done tomorrow.  I also have to do my research for Memo 2 and put together my list of cases that I’ll use for it.  We have to turn in a list of cases we’re going to use on Monday morning.  So that means a lot of my weekend will be devoted to research.  I also have to take care of all the normal weekend homework to prepare for Monday.  In addition to that, I’ve also have to figure out when I’ll read Contracts for Wednesday, since I’ve got another pdoc appointment on Tuesday afternoon.

It also wouldn’t hurt if I did some laundry this weekend and picked up my apartment. It’s a bit of a mess.  The bathroom floors, along with the kitchen floor, could also do with a mopping.  Not sure when I’ll get to it though. Oh well.

More Weather and news :)

So last night they let our High Wind Warning expire and stuck us under a wind advisory for the day today, from something like 10am to 7pm. However, about 4am this morning, they elected to upgrade that to a high wind warning again. It’s from 7am to 7pm.  Unofficially, as of 9am this morning the highest wind gust we’ve had is 52mph (and that was yesterday). They’re actually expecting the winds to be greater than yesterday, especially around noon today.  That’s because as the low moves away from us, we’ll also have cold air advection (whatever that means), in addition to the backside of the low.  Apparently the two together should increase our wind speed some.  In either case, it’s definitely fall. High today is 59 and we might actually hit that as an actual temperature but thanks to the wind, it won’t feel anywhere near that warm today.  Surprisingly enough, there are still a fair number of leaves on the trees yet.  Of course, there are trees that won’t lose their leaves until spring, but of the ones that should have fallen, a fair number are still on the trees.  There’s still lots of leaves on the ground however.  Tomorrow, our high is only in the mid 40’s, with a north wind at 15-20mph with gusts to 30mph.  It’s going to be pretty chilly tomorrow.  Rather than putting my winter coat back together, I’m going to wear a turtleneck and sweatshirt combined with the fleece section of my winter coat.  My winter coat is a Columbia jacket that has an inner fleece lining and an outer windbreaker. The two zip together (and attach using snaps in a few other places) to create a nice warm winter coat. It’s also great for spring and fall because I can take it apart and use each section as needed. However, it’s a bit of a pain to put it back together and take it apart, so I do my best to only take it apart and put it back together once a year.  Since we’ll be back up in the 50’s and 60’s next week, I’m better of finding other ways to deal with the cold.  One thing I’ll definitely have to do is turn on my heat (which I did prior to leaving my apartment this morning). We only got into the mid 40’s last night, but my apartment got down to 66 degrees. Our low tonight is 35, high tomorrow is 48, low tomorrow night is 29. But then things start to moderate a little.  However, for the next week, our overnight lows are all under 40 and we won’t get warm enough to keep my apartment warm without the heat (plus, I’m partially underground, which doesn’t help. I’ll take it though, because it makes life easier in the summer!).

In other news, I’ve set up a study session with a new friend for finals.  Shannon and I were both in the classroom early this morning and got to talking about classes, and especially Contracts.  The Contracts final scares both of us, so we’re going to study for Contracts especially.  We’re also going to go over Civil Procedure, and perhaps compare notes/outlines for Torts and Crim Law. The current plan is to study at my apartment at noon on November 29th. In terms of our schedule for Thanksgiving and thereafter, our last day of regular class is the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. My current plan (barring inclement weather) is to drive up to my parents after my last class that Tuesday (I won’t have writing, so I’ll get out of class about 2). Following that weekend, we have a three day reading period followed by finals.  So I’ll drive back Monday morning, likely leaving my parents’ house about 8am.  Shannon and I are going to get together at my apartment at noon. That way, we don’t have to worry about being quiet and we can eat and drink (unlike at the law library).  In terms of our final exam schedule, we have Torts on Thursday Dec. 2nd, Crim Law on Monday the 6th, Contracts on Friday the 10th, and Civil Procedure on Tuesday the 14th.  So we’ll go through Contracts and Civil Procedure especially, using the two 1L outline books we have (I’ve got one from Kaplan, she has one from Barbri). I’ve also got a book of the casebriefs for Civil Procedure (very helpful when I’m completely lost!).  Plus, I’ve got Parness’s book coming, so that should help Civil Procedure as well.  Overall, things are going well :)

Good News and the Weather

This entry was going to be headlined by the weather (more on that in a minute) but over the last 24 hours, I’ve gotten some great news. First, I got back Memo 1 late yesterday afternoon.  I ended up with a 10.5/12.  All I did was look at the score. I did see lots of red ink, but I don’t have the heart yet to go through all that red ink.  I will prior to starting on Memo 2, if not in the next few days.  I’m happy though with a 10.5.  It was good practice for formulating legal arguments and for dealing with legal citations in a writing situation. The legal citation practice especially was good, since legal citations are a serious pain in the butt.  It was a B paper, something I’m pleased with.  I decided early on that I wasn’t interested in killing myself just to get the A.  It’s VERY difficult to get A’s in law school to start with, and still not the easiest thing in the world to get a B.  My goal is to have a 3.0 GPA.  While it’ll take hard work, it’s definitely do-able.

The other piece of really good news deals with my Torts mid-term from Oct 1st.  A few notes about the midterm before I tell you my score.  First, while my professor did grade the midterms, they don’t count towards our grade in class.  Our only grade in class is the final exam.  Second, the exam was 10 multiple choice questions followed by a fact pattern. As part of that fact pattern, we were given a series of events, with one of the actors coming to our firm as a client.  We had to evaluate the possible intentional tort claims he can file and the ones that may be filed against him.  Third, rather than going into specific letter grades, she gave us numbers.  4 = A, A-, B+, or B……..3 = B- or C+…....2 = C, C-, or D…..1 = F.  Going into the exam, I wanted to get a 4.  When I left the exam, I figured I’d gotten a 3.  It wasn’t terribly difficult, but I felt I ran out of time. As it turned out, I found more torts to argue about than the professor was intending, and found the ones she wanted me to find.  I also successfully pointed out enough of the ones she wanted in addition to the defenses to them. I also got 9/10 on the multiple choice section. Given that, I got a 4 on the exam!!! “ :)  I’m exactly where I want to be, at least with regards to intentional torts. That makes me feel better about the final, since negligence will be a bit of a pain.  There’s a LOT that goes into a negligence claim in the courts.  Having a good grasp on intentional torts means I can review them and be good to go.  I think intentional torts on the whole are easier to deal with. Granted, there are several intentional torts and several defenses to them, but the case for each tort and each defense is pretty straightforward.  The same cannot be said of a negligence claim.  In a negligence claim,the plaintiff has to prove five things, and there is a multitude of ways to prove each of those five things.   So we have to remember (and understand) the five things, the different ways to prove each of them since there’s no telling what the fact pattern will be and which method of proof we’ll need to use), damages, defenses based on Plaintiff’s conduct, and malpractice tort law.  So given those two grades, I’m in a pretty good mood today.

Prior to getting back the Torts grade, this entry was going to be headlined by the weather.  For those living under a rock for the last 24 hours, the Midwest is dealing with a massive windstorm at the moment.  It’s very large and very strong for a storm system completely over land and that developed over land.  I live in Northern Illinois, between Rockford and Chicago.  On Sunday afternoon, the National Weather service placed us under a High Wind Watch for Tuesday & Wednesday, essentially saying high winds were on the way. At that point, they figured sustained winds of 20-40mph with gusts 55+mph.   Very very early Monday morning, that was upgraded to a High Wind Warning, in effect from 7am CDT Tuesday through 7pm CDT Wednesday.  To give you an idea of how often these kinds of things happen around here – this is my first time under a high wind warning and I’ve been paying close attention to the weather for 10+ years.  This particular storm is setting all kinds of records for minimum pressure, so it truly hasn’t been seen on this scale for a long time.  In any case, the thought was that winds would start to pick up Monday afternoon, the trailing cold front would race through during the early morning hours on Tuesday (accompanied by thunderstorms), the winds would then go crazy, slow down overnight on Tuesday, and then pick up again as we ended up on the back side of the system.  Initially, we were under a high wind warning even during Tuesday night because winds would pick back up to warning criteria on Wednesday. However, they’ve since cut back our warning – it now ends at 8pm cdt tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up under a wind advisory tomorrow.  Needless to say, it’s fairly windy at the moment.  However, the other main event with this system was the severe weather. By October, severe weather just doesn’t happen around here – we simply don’t get warm and humid enough for it.  And regardless of the time of year, it’s pretty rare to get severe weather overnight because storms here need the fuel that the sun and heat of the day provide.  However, this storm system is so powerful that it made up for those deficiencies.  As a result, I was getting ready to get off my computer after Castle ended last night and imagine my surprise when the National Weather Service sticks us under a Tornado Watch through 6am.  I was definitely grateful then for my weather radio. One of my fears was always that a tornado would come in the middle of the night and I wouldn’t wake up. The weather radio took care of that, since it definitely wakes me up at night.  The storms came through early this morning and thankfully didn’t produce tornadoes where I live, or even a severe thunderstorm warning. However, just as it left me it started producing tornadoes left and right. Crazy weather, that’s for sure!

I got my check from inboxdollars.com yesterday in the mail.  So I’m headed over to the bank in the student center after I’m done here to cash it.  I don’t have much reading to take care of tonight, so that’s good.  After I get done with the reading, I have to head upstairs to the Marshall Gallery, as some of the Delta orders came in. My mom and I ordered long-sleeved t-shirts a few weeks ago that have my college’s logo on them along with College of Law.  Then I’m riding the bus home. After that I need to head to Walgreens for a few things.  After that, it’s back home to deal with Civil Procedure.  Won’t that be fun?? Yuck!

Couple Things

First, it was nice to see OpenDiary back up earlier this morning. However it appears to be down at the moment.  Second, and most importantly (plus connected to OD), I’ve decided to take on a rather large project.  Over the years, I’ve written journal entries in multiple places on the web.  I’ve decided to start transferring them all to ldsjournal so I can have them printed and bound into books.  It’s not going to be quick for a multitude of reasons.  First, there’s a lot of entries, going back multiple years in multiple sites.  I’ve got to try and find all the websites (if possible).  I know there are some where that’s no longer possible. Second, I’ve already discovered when I copy/paste from OpenDiary to ldsjournal, the formatting goes all funky on me.  So not only do I have to find all those entries, I also have to reformat all of them. The biggest formatting problem seems to be with line breaks.  For whatever reason, there seems to be an artificial line break well before necessary, so I have to fix those.  So its not fast. But it’s something I need to do. 

Speaking of journal entries, I need to be better about writing everyday in the first place.  No sense going to all this trouble if I’m not also going to start writing everyday again.  Of course, in addition to writing everyday, I need to start doing the other things needed to build my faith. 

I’m happy to say that on the whole, things are going well for me right now. I moved into my apartment on Saturday, July 31st.  I’m currently into my 12th week living here and it feels like home (as I mentioned in my last entry).  I’m loving school, I really like the ward, I LOVE my apartment.  Things are pretty busy around here – I’m not lacking for deadlines but I’m definitely enjoying what I’m learning.  Interestingly enough, I’m also enjoying the Socratic Method.  Back in Jan 2008, I started thinking about law school and actually bought a book to study for the LSAT. In the end, I didn’t take the LSAT at that time. I read some books about law school and the more I read, the more law school scared me, especially the Socratic Method.  But now that I’m immersed in law school and experiencing the Socratic Method, I like it.  I see the differences between say, my Civil Procedure class where my professor pretty much just lectures and my other substantive classes, where the professors go through the cases and use the Socratic method.  It’s much easier to get the information out of the cases and understand where things are going when the Socratic method is used, as opposed to lecture.  That might also be why I had some issues with my undergrad law classes.  In those classes, the professors just lectured on the cases.  Lecturing on cases makes it hard to truly understand the cases.  I understand now why they use the Socratic Method in law school.  It seems so scary going in, but so long as you’re prepared and willing to use critical thinking skills, it’s okay.

The weekend (plus Monday)

Yes, it’s Tuesday and I’m just now getting around to writing about my weekend at home.  Suffice it to say it was a busy weekend at home and yesterday was just as busy.  As an overview, the weekend was terrific. It was just what I needed.  I’ll go through each day’s activities and thoughts, and then I’ve got some general thoughts from the weekend, and then I’ll go through yesterday.

Friday:

I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to Friday morning.  Part of that was because I lounged around for awhile watching The Today Show when I should have been doing other things.  The biggest thing I didn’t do was fold laundry (as a side note, the vast majority of that laundry is still unfolded!)  On Thursday I had created a list of things I needed to pack for the weekend so that made actually packing on Friday morning relatively painless.  I had to use a rather large suitcase.  A few years back, my parents got suitcase sets for each of me and my brothers. My particular set has a middle suitcase that fits airline requirements. That suitcase then fits into a larger one.  The set also includes a small (read: very small) duffle bag. The following link is pretty close to what I have. Luggage Set (opens in a new window).  Given that I essentially had to take home three changes of clothes (since I needed church clothes and I didn’t want to wear them back to Dekalb), plus general toiletries, a hair dryer for Sunday, extra textbook stuff for studying, and other miscellaneous items, the small duffle wasn’t going to work. As it turned out, it was a good thing I took the suitcase instead of the duffle (see more on that later). I packed the suitcase and packed up my bookbag, stuck both in my car, and drove to class.  Torts went well and didn’t drag too much.  However, Civil Procedure dragged more than usual. It almost always does, but given how excited I was about the weekend I really dragged. I skedaddled after Civ Pro and to my locker and out to my car :). I finally got out of Dekalb about 2:15ish after getting gas, a drink, and a snack.  My dad had wanted me to call when I was leaving Dekalb so he and my mom would know what time to meet me at Friday’s.  Unfortunately when I called my dad, I woke him up.  The drive up wasn’t bad.  There were times where there was fairly heavy traffic but overall it wasn’t bad. It was, however, a good thing my parents didn’t meet me at my grandparents’ instead.  Near the exit for Deerfield, going south on I-90 there was an accident. When I passed it, there was only one car there, but there was also several cop cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck.  As a result, traffic was down to one lane and that backed up traffic for at least five miles!

The nice thing about meeting my parents at Friday’s for an early dinner is that instead of a two hour drive, it’s only about 1 hour 45 minutes to the restaurant.  I pulled into the restaurant right about 4pm and my dad followed a few minutes later.  It was great to see him.  I hadn’t seen him (or my mom) since the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. I sat in his truck with him a few minutes while we waited for my mom to show up.  It was good to just sit there and talk to him.  It was also wonderful just how excited he was to see me.  Same went for my mom when she arrived a few minutes later.  It was just great to see them.  We talked through dinner as well, and I was informed that I needed to stop by my grandparents’ on my way back on Sunday.  I learned my dad had gone through the Minneapolis airport that morning on his way back from Princeton.   The key thing  is that there’s a chocolate store in the Minneapolis airport where my dad picks up chocolate for my grandmother.  So I was given strict instructions that I was going to be my grandmother’s chocolate mule on Sunday.  Afterwards, I had to make a quick trip across the street to OfficeMax for a 3-hole punch. I also got some more yellow highlighters (I’m going through them quickly with the amount of highlighting I do), plus the punch, and a staple remover. That night I saw my room as my parents have changed it.  My room used to have dark blue carpeting (think jewel tone blue) and very very very light blue walls.  It now has gorgeous wood flooring.  However, it’s also got a dark green wall.  My room has a cut out as a result of the stairs and the front entry way.  The two parts of that wall that face into the room have both been painted dark green (around a dark jewel tone green). The rest of the walls appear to be a very very very very light green (or maybe it’s white, I wasn’t paying that close attention).  I like the floors, but not so fond of the green. My parents and I did a lot of talking, at least until my mom left for her piano lesson.  My dad and I were then down on the first floor, playing with the dogs and watching the baseball game (and a football game, I think). It was great to play with the dogs on the floor and just be home. 

Given that my old room doesn’t currently have a bed (but will later this week I guess), I took over Jason’s room for the weekend since his room is the only one of the kids’ with a bed still in it.  His bed’s not terrible, but I hate his pillows.  When I’m home for Christmas, I’m absolutely bringing my pillows home.  I just didn’t see the point of hauling them for a weekend.  All in all, I slept pretty good Friday night.

Saturday:

Saturday too was a good day.  Waffles and bacon were on tap for breakfast and my dad was in fine form.  He was feisty and in a good mood.  The last several years it’s always been fun to watch my parents pick at each other like that :) Even though I got up at 8, it was 10 am before I got started on studying for my crim law midterm on Monday. I spent the day creating an outline (along with Sunday night).  It went well, mostly.   I also got a chance to talk to Stephen on the phone when he called home.  I again played with the dogs, especially Sammie.  I definitely missed the dogs. While it was a quiet day, it was also great. At one point, my parents and I (along with Sammie) were up in my old room.  My mom mentioned that I had left two hoodies in the closet when I left in August.  This is where the suitcase came in handy.  Since I had the room, I could easily take both of them back with me. My one request for food over the weekend was homemade mac ‘n cheese.  So for dinner Saturday night, we had homemade macaroni and cheese, along with homemade fried chicken.  It was an awesome dinner :). After dinner, my dad was getting some ice cream when he dropped a rather large scoop on the floor.  Sammie happened to be standing next to him when it happened and my dad tried to keep her away with his foot.  However, she wasn’t having any of that. My dad thought his toes might be toast when she went for the ice cream. She did get it, and fast apparently. She had issues with eating it though and it took her several minutes to actually get it down.  It was rather funny to tell you the truth.  My dad and I then watched the OSU-Wisconsin  game on ESPN. My mom also watched bits and pieces of it while she made cookies for the Linger Longer the following day. She also made brownies, some of which I would take back with me and some of which my dad would take with him (anything left after that would get tossed).  For anyone living under a rock the last several days, the game was awesome. If you didn’t watch it, you really should go to www.espn3.com and watch it.  You can watch replays of games that were on ESPN or ABC networks.  As a badger fan, it was such great fun to watch, even on tv.  It was even better to watch it with my dad.  After the game, I did some more work on my Crim Law outline.  It was nearly midnight before I finally turned out the light in Jason’s room. 

Sunday

Sunday was another great day. This time around, I woke up about 7:20, though the alarm was set for 8. I have to get up by then so I can take my ADD meds and still sleep that night.  Vyvanse tends to last between 12 and 14 hours, so I have to be aware of what time I’m taking it in the morning and what time I have to go to bed that night.  Breakfast was pancakes and bacon.  In addition to breakfast, I also read articles galore on the Badger win over OSU.  Lots of fun stuff to read and I didn’t even get to all of it before I had to take a shower and get ready for church.  As it turned out, my mom and I were running a little later than we wanted but it turned out okay.  It was great to talk to Brianna for a few minutes before church started. Elsie is a cutie!  Being back in the ward really brought home to me how small my ward in Dekalb is.  I got a chance to say hi to Sister Nelson prior to Sacrament meeting starting and got a hug as well.  Apparently my mom has been helping Brianna out since the baby came.  Since Brianna’s husband is the bishop, she’s otherwise on her own during Sacrament meeting with four small kids (the oldest is 7 I think now).  So instead of sitting off to the side like she used to, Brianna now sits with my mom.  There are a few reasons for that.  First, with four small kids plus Brianna, one of the smaller pews just doesn’t work anymore.  Second, sitting with my mom (or any adult really) allows Brianna to go out to feed the baby while still having someone sit with the kids.  It allows Brianna to deal with the baby and not worry about the other kids.  The songs sung were awesome and it was great to hear such a full sound. I’ve really missed that here in Dekalb.  The meeting was terrific as well. It brought back memories of last year’s Single Adult Thanksgiving activity. At that time, the Stake Presidency was fairly new – they’d only been called earlier in the month.  President Nelson had been in our ward that day and convinced me to attend the activity with he and his wife.  There was dinner, then a short meeting, then dessert.  At the meeting, each member of the Stake Presidency spoke.  I love listening to all three of them.  Going back to Ward Conference this last weekend, they each spoke again.  The songs sung were terrific as well, especially standing for Called to  Serve.  It’s one of my favorites, especially since I learned it by heart last year while I was in Primary.

After Sacrament meeting, I got a chance to say hi to several people before the second short meeting began, including President Nelson.  The short meeting for the adults was just a question-answer session. Not much that I want to relay here, but it was good.  After that meeting was the Linger Longer.  This I loved, as I got the chance to say hi and catch up a bit with multiple people.  I talked with Brianna for a bit, which was great.  I love her to pieces :)  The other people I really got a chance to talk with were President and Sister Nelson.  After my mom and Sister Nelson got food (I got mine while I was talking with Brianna), we sat down at one of the tables where President Nelson joined us a little later.  Sister Nelson asked lots of questions about the area, about school, about my apartment, and about the ward.  I also got to speak with President Nelson during this time as well.  My mom and I ended up staying until just after 1pm.  Once we got home, I said hi to the dogs then went upstairs to change and pack all my stuff, including the things I was taking back with me that I’d missed in July and August.  I then went back downstairs with my suitcase and did a little more work on my outline while watching the Bears game with my dad. Mostly though I just played online.  As the Bears game ended, my mom packed up some brownies for me.  I also went down to the basement to look for some of the DVD’s I’d missed in July and August.  When my parents changed the family room back in January, everything that had been in the bookcase got packed in boxes and put in the pool room.  I knew in July that I hadn’t gone through all the boxes.  So before I left on Sunday, there was a box hidden underneath the pool table that I knew I hadn’t  gone through in July.  In that box were the DVDs I was missing, plus Season 3 of Criminal Minds.  Also in the box were Seasons 1 & 2 of SeaQuest that my mom and I had gotten for Christmas together from my dad.  With my mother’s permission, I took those back with me.  By the time I pulled out of the driveway, it was about 3:20ish.

The drive back was pretty good and it was nice to break it up with the stop at my grandparents’ house. I got there around 4:35ish and left about 5:15.  I pulled up in front of my apartment right about 6pm.  I called both my parents and my grandparents to let them know I was home safe and sound then hauled my stuff back into my apartment.  Luckily enough, I snagged a parking spot right in front of my building front door.  I didn’t do too much once I got home. I put some stuff away and finished my outline for Crim Law, then printed it out.

Some overall thoughts on the weekend.  First, I was surprised at just what it meant to be “home” for the weekend.   I seem to be having some issues with that word.  On one hand, I definitely think of my apartment as home.  On the other hand, I kept referring to the weekend as “going home for the weekend.” Sometimes I would catch myself and change it to “going to my parents’ for the weekend.”  However, in a very real sense, that house will always be home I think.  Even though my apartment’s “home” now, that house also felt like “home” the moment I walked in.  It was also a little strange to drive through the streets of Madison and the short drive from Madison to DeForest after spending so much time driving through Dekalb and the surrounding area for the last 10 weeks.  Second, I realized that when my parents say I can always come home, they really mean it.  I always knew they meant it, but this weekend I really felt it. It was so obvious that my parents were grateful to have me home, even for a weekend.  I don’t think I ever realized that before, even when I was up at NMU or when my brothers would come home on break from Cornell. Third, many of my favorite people in the world are in the Sun Prairie Ward in the Madison, Wisconsin Stake (or have been in that ward at one time).  As much as I loved the ward in Taiwan and the ward when we lived in Loves Park and then Rockton, the Sun Prairie Ward is my favorite.  I’m not quite sure what it is about that ward, but there’s a feeling there that I’ve felt nowhere else. Fourth, I was reminded just how much the people of that ward care about me, even though I’m no longer there.  When I was studying for the LSAT and then applying to law schools, and then waiting on decisions, everyone wanted to know how it was going.  Everyone was wishing me luck and hoping I got into where I wanted to go.  There was so much support from the ward, even from those I didn’t know as well.  And now, people apparently ask my mom how I’m doing. When I was there on Sunday, everyone was so excited to see me and ask how things were going.  And the questions didn’t just come from those I knew well – they came from everyone that had known me before I left (there have been some new faces that moved in since I left).

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and exactly what I needed to get through the next 5 1/2 weeks or so until the end of the semester. That’s right – there’s this week plus 4 more full weeks, plus 2 days left of the semester.  That takes us into Thanksgiving week. Following Thanksgiving, we have a 3 day reading period, followed by final exams.  At Thanksgiving, I’ll go home either that Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning, and then drive back Monday morning.  As I told my parents, there’s no sense dealing with the nasty holiday traffic on Sunday afternoon when I don’t have to.

As for Monday, it was definitely busy.  I had the Crim Law midterm, which for my room didn’t actually start until 10:45, as there was some mix-up with the number of copies needed.  I did type the exam, and I think that’s the route I’m going to take for all of the exams.  It did seem to go better than the Torts midterm a few weeks ago. So I’ll have to install software on my computer prior to finals.  Apparently the software isn’t ready yet though (or at least it wasn’t in time for our midterm yesterday). So after my four classes let out, I had quite a bit of reading to do, between Contracts, Criminal Law, and Torts. It was 5:45 before I left the library, and that was without having dealt with Torts.  In any case, it was a lot of work last night.

There’s a fair amount of work to be done over the next week as well.  Tonight I’ve got Contracts and Civil Procedure to take care of.  During my three hour break tomorrow, I’ve got to take care of the rest of the Torts reading assignment (we only had to read the first two cases of it for today). Thankfully I don’t have to read the next Crim Law assignment, since we didn’t get to it today.  After Civil Procedure, I need to spend the afternoon on the BLR assignment and get it completely done, regardless of how long it takes me.  Realistically, it should only take a couple hours at most. Thursday brings Torts and Crim Law, followed by preparing for Torts and Civil Procedure on Friday.  Friday’s got Torts and Civil Procedure and making sure I turn in the BLR assignment by 9am (though I’ll likely turn it in after I finish it on Wednesday).  Friday + the weekend has Contracts, Criminal Law, BLR lecture, and Legal Writing to deal with, in addition to writing up the Client Letter (up to two pages, single spaced based upon Memo 1 and due by 8:50AM on Monday). I’ve also got a midterm a week from this Friday and have to have a citation list for Memo 2 done by Nov 1st (which means doing the research for Memo 2 between now and then!) That doesn’t include the day to day reading and briefing that I have to do on a daily basis.  But as busy as I am, I’m having fun.

Dinner with my parents

My dad sent me an email this morning. When I get into Madison, my parents and I are going to head to an early dinner at Friday’s.  I have to give my dad a call when I get on the road, so they know approximately when to meet me at Friday’s.  So that’s first on the agenda for the weekend.  After dinner, I also need to head across the street to OfficeMax and get a three-hole punch.   Not sure what else we’re going to do Friday night.  I mean, we’ll probably play a game of aggravation, but that may be it.  I haven’t decided if I’m going to do any studying on Friday night. I might or I might not.  Saturday I’m definitely going to be studying, likely up in Jason’s room at his desk (which makes sense, given that I’m sleeping in his room and the kitchen table minus the leaf isn’t big enough for me to spread out and have anyone else sit there. Plus, the old dining room table is now Stephen’s and is out in Seattle). Saturday I’ll be up around 8ish and spend most of the day studying.  I need to create my outline for Criminal Law and figure out a research plan for Memo 2.  I may also do a little outlining for Civil Procedure. As I’ve mentioned before, Saturday night at 6 is the Badger game which my dad and I will watch on the 60 inch HDTV (I think it’s plasma but it might be LCD, I don’t remember) in the family room.  Sunday morning I’ll again get up around 8 and get ready for church.  Church starts at 10, will end around noon and then there’s a Linger Longer.  My mom and I will stay for awhile and then head home.  I’ll change and pack and then head back to Dekalb.  My goal is to be back in Dekalb by between 5 and 6. Busy but fun weekend and I’m REALLY looking forward to it.  Lots to do between now and when I leave for class tomorrow morning, since I won’t be returning to my apartment until Sunday.

Still Busy :)

Memo 1 has been turned in, but I’m still crazy busy.  To rewind the last several days.  After class on Friday, I took care of my Contracts reading.  Once I got home, I took care of some housekeeping things, mostly laundry.  I did my whites :)  (Of course, they’re still waiting to be folded and put away!). I was going to do some writing for my memo, but never got around to it.  Saturday there was a home football game.  Given that I knew I had to get some work done, I got some provisions and headed down to the student center for the day. The student center has some booths that have electrical outlets, so it’s a nice place to sit awhile if you can get one of them.  So I spent the day there working on my paper.  I didn’t get it all the way done. I had planned to come home and take care of the dishes that had piled up, in addition to the rest of my laundry.  However I didn’t get around to it.  By the time I went to bed on Saturday night, I had just a few more paragraphs to do.  I didn’t sleep so well Saturday night, but I got up anyway on Sunday and took care of a few things prior to church.  Church was good :)  I had some interesting thoughts during church on Sunday, which I’ll get into in a minute.  After church, I came home, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. Then I took my dark clothes (two loads again – the washers are fairly small) over to the laundry :)  I made my usual Sunday phone call home, and worked on my paper.  I finished the actual writing of the memo about 9pm – ish. However, we had a firm page limit for the memo – 6 pages (plus the cover page).  We could go over onto the 7th page by a line or two but that was it.  For whatever reason, Word uses a different font/font size in addition to 1.5 spacing.  I still haven’t figured out how to change the default settings and get them to stick. So when I fixed the settings, my paper was 7 1/2 pages.  Which meant I had to cut a page and a half of material.  The biggest problem with the paper was that one of the factors we had to analyze had 7 parts. So first we had to articulate the 7 part rule, and then analyze each of the seven factors.  Definitely not small paragraphs. But it’s done.

Yesterday, we got the initial information for our next memo, due November 15th.  This one we will be doing all of our own research on, unlike the first memo (where we were given three cases to rely on).  On November 1st, we have to give our professor a list of cases we’re going to rely on (but that list isn’t set in stone. If we get to writing and find we need more cases, or that one doesn’t quite fit after all, it’s not a problem). But that means getting most of the research done by the 1st.  However, thankfully, our first three assignments for Basic Legal Research have purposely been on the topic for Memo 2.  So we really have a head start on the research already.  While I’m home, I’m going to go over the fact pattern given, in addition to our previous research assignments, and come up with a research plan.  Realistically, I can expect to look at 30-40 cases in order to pick 8-10 that I’m actually going to use.  While we don’t have any of the technical requirements yet, my writing professor said we can expect it to be 10-12 pages.  It looks like OneNote will again be very useful to me, as I keep a research trail and keep track of what cases I’ve looked at (ones that worked and ones that didn’t), in addition to keeping full text of the cases I am going to use.  The more I use OneNote, the more I like it.

In other good news, our BLR quiz that needed to be taken by Wednesday afternoon now has a deadline of Friday afternoon.  I’ll likely still take it in the next day or so but it’s nice to have to freak out about it.  Also, my Crim Law professor changed our readings for this week, and told us specifically that one topic will not be on the mid-term next week.  It’s mostly because he’s not sure just how far we’ll cover.

It looks like I’ll be able to take care of my Contracts reading for next Monday tonight. My goal was to avoid taking my Contracts casebook home with me over the weekend, which meant finding the time this week to do the reading. I might still bring home my smaller PCL book and take care of that reading for next Wednesday.  But the biggest reason I can take care of the Contracts reading tonight is that I don’t have my writing workshop this afternoon.  That’s in addition to an already light reading schedule on Tuesday nights.  After class, I’m going to take care of both Contracts and Civil Procedure.  For Contracts, to take care of Wednesday’s and Monday’s reading, I need to read and brief pgs 305-322 in the casebook, skim 323-328 in the casebook, and read pgs 106-119 in PCL (Perspectives on Contract Law). For Civil Procedure, I have to read and brief pgs 175-186 in the casebook. I’ll also take home my Crim Law casebook and start reading for Thursday’s assignment in addition to working on the outline and studying for the mid-term next week.  I might actually have time to watch an episode of White Collar tonight :) I’ve still got the last two eps to watch.  Looking at Hulu, apparently the second to last episode is going to expire soon, so I definitely need to watch it tonight.

Going back to Sunday, I learned some new information and had a couple of insights that I know are a result of the Spirit.  First, I now know why the ward was split a year or so ago (prior to then, the Dekalb and Sycamore wards were one ward).  Apparently it was seen that the area would grow significantly in the next few years and that that was the time to split the ward.  I don’t remember the exact wording, but several people mentioned believing in the promise that the area would see significant growth in the next few years.  I started thinking that perhaps that’s part of why the Lord wants me here.  Of course, that got me thinking that if I’m going to help with the Lord’s work, of if perhaps the man I’ll marry is part of that growth, then I need to get my life in order.  Really, regardless of the reason I need to get my life in order.  Later in Relief Society, that idea came to me again.  The lesson was on Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  One question in the lesson was “What relationships do you see between our faith and our actions?”  It made me think of school, and in particular law school (and having gotten cold-called earlier in the week).  I mentioned this as well as a comment.  Doing the things we have to do to increase our faith (reading our scriptures, prayer, fasting, etc) is a lot like preparing for class and school in general.  Just like if we’re not prepared for class, if we aren’t doing what we should be, we won’t increase our faith.  If we’re not prepared for class, then we don’t really get anything out of it – the same is true with faith. Going beyond regular classes, it’s even more like law school.  In law school, professors cold call on people, so you have to be prepared and mostly it’s more about being prepared than always having the exact right answer. The same is true in our own lives.  The Lord cold calls on all of us – they’re called trials and tribulations.  The Lord doesn’t ask for volunteers for trials (and I doubt anyone would), He just cold calls people.  Just like in class, if we’re prepared we’ll get through it and it’s not about having the exact right answer.  It made me realize that while I’m preparing for my law school classes, I’m not preparing like I should for life.  If the Lord were to call on me, I don’t think I’m prepared.  It’s time to start changing that.  I can’t change that all at once, but I can make progress and do my best there.

Finally, I’m REALLY looking forward to going home this weekend.  It looks now like there won’t be any wrenches in the works either.  Thursday night I’ll sync my OneNote notebooks, and then take my netbook with me to class on Friday and then home with me.  Friday morning I’ll also pack my suitcase for the weekend (which reminds me, I should make a list at some point of everything I need to take home with me).  I’ll stick my suitcase in my trunk Friday morning and then pay the five bucks to park in visitor parking.  Civil Procedure gets out at 1:50, at which point I’ll head to my locker to exchange Civil Procedure books for whatever I’m taking home with me. Before I leave Dekalb, I need to get gas and I’ll also get a drink and a snack for the two hour drive home.  Initially, the plan had been to meet my parents at my grandparents’ first for a visit, but apparently my grandmother is starting chemo again on Friday.  I’d forgotten that she’s been off for several months now.  So I’ll drive straight home and get in between 4 and 4:30.  It’s not too bad a drive, all things being equal.  Friday night I’ll likely play a game or two of aggravation with my parents and play with the dogs.  Don’t know yet if I’ll be sleeping in my old room or in Jason’s room.  My parents have repainted my old room, torn out the carpet, and put in wood flooring.  To my knowledge, they haven’t yet gotten a bed for it (something they’ll have to do before Christmas comes around).  Most of Saturday will be devoted to school work, but Saturday night I’ll be watching the Ohio State-Wisconsin game with my dad on ESPN.  Sunday is Ward Conference, something I’m excited about.  It means the Nelsons will definitely be in the ward so I’ll get to see them.  Given that it’s Ward Conference, it’ll only be about 2 hours, but there’s also a Linger Longer afterwards, so I’ll get to talk to lots of people :)  Given that church is two hours and not three, I’ll have time to stay at the Linger Longer a little while and still get on the road back to school by between 2:30 and 3.  It’ll be a busy weekend, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Lists

I’m in the process of creating three different lists that I’ll use over the next two weeks.  The first has been created.  It’s a listing of all my homework assignments and due dates for the next two weeks (at least the ones I know about!).  I’ve done that so I can take care of some assignments/portions of assignments on nights when things are light.  I normally just do a week at a time, but since I’m headed home next weekend and I have a BLR assignment due the week after I get back,(not to mention a paper due this Monday and a midterm on the 18th) I need to make sure I use my time wisely.  I also want to attempt having only Criminal Law to do when I’m at home with my parents.  I’m not sure how realistic that is at this point however.  The new BLR assignment was released this week and it’s fairly library intensive.  Initially it was due the Wednesday after I got back from my parents (the 20th), but it’s since been pushed back two days.  I think that’s probably because we’re not getting any guidance on online statutory research until the 20th…not really helpful for many of us.  My dad had suggested possibly working in the library Friday night and driving up Saturday morning.  It looks like that won’t be necessary.  The next question is whether I can get enough of my other work done to join my parents at my grandparents’ house on Friday night, as opposed to going straight to my parents’ and reading.  I’m definitely going to have Criminal Law work to do over that weekend.  I may or may not have Contracts homework.  There’s also the possibility of legal writing reading to deal with.  The question is how much of each of those I’ll have to do.  At the very least, I don’t want to take home two casebooks.  In any case, that’s the first list.

The second list is my list of things that have to be done before I leave for class next Friday and does not include any homework assignments.  It’s things like laundry, packing, syncing my OneNote Notebooks on Thursday night or Friday morning so that I can take my Netbook to class on Friday and thus also take my netbook home with me for the weekend.  I’ve started this list, but it’s not finished.

My last list is the list of what I have to pack for the weekend.  There’s the general clothes for two days, plus something to wear to church on Sunday. There’s also something to wear to bed, plus my medication.  I also need to remember my iPod and phone charger.  Also need to remember the hair dryer for Sunday morning.  There are things I’ve forgotten I’m sure, but I’ve got several days to make up the list.  The current plan is to pack Friday morning, put my suitcase in my car prior to class, and then drive to class and pay the $5 to park in visitor parking.  After Civil Procedure gets out, I’ll head to my car, then make sure I have gas, get a drink from a gas station and maybe a snack, and then drive up :)

*Yawn*

Yesterday was day one on the Zoloft.  About 2:30 pm yesterday I got really tired all of a sudden.  I managed to get through my studying for the day though.  Thankfully I didn’t have my writing workshop yesterday.   After Basic Legal Research I went up to the law library and read for Contracts.  After Contracts I finished my BLR assignment.  By 3:30, I was done and ready to head home, given that I was so tired.  I went home and did my grocery shopping. I also got my electric bill in the mail - $33.  Nice to see that’s going to be my average bill, rather than the $50+ that was my first bill after only a week in the apartment, when I wasn’t even there and all that was on was the a/c.  So definitely nice to see my electricity isn’t going to completely screw up my budget.

In terms of grocery shopping, I’ve definitely discovered the benefits to taking a list.  When I first moved into my apartment, I got a small whiteboard to put on my fridge (it came with magnets for the back).  That whiteboard is my grocery list during the week.  When I run out of something or notice I’m getting low, I’ll put it on that list.  Then when it’s time to go grocery shopping (typically I wait until there’s several items on the list, or something that I absolutely have to have) I’ll transfer the list to paper.  Then when I go to the store, I’ll take the paper with me along with a pen or pencil and cross off items as I get them.  Using a list means grocery shopping is quick, I get everything I need, and I get fewer things on a whim.  When I don’t use a list, grocery shopping can take awhile, I usually miss multiple items, and I get more things that I don’t need.

I also went home and did some studying for crim law, along with inputting my BLR answers from my paper copy to the electronic version and then submitted it.  Later today the next BLR assignment will be released.  I’ll take a peek at it and see how much of it is computer based and how much of it is library based.  I definitely want to get the library phase done before I head up to see my parents.  Depending on what needs to be done, I may do some of the computer phase while I’m at home that weekend.

Today I’m fairly tired as well.  Now that might be because the idiot I am, I didn’t go to bed on time last night.  It could also be because of the Zoloft, as drowsiness initially is one of the possible side effects.  It probably doesn’t help that my monthly friend showed up yesterday and I’m always a little more out of sorts while it’s around.  It’s also possible I could be getting a cold.  My singing voice has been out of sorts the last 2 weeks or so.

There’s a home football game this weekend and I’ve got a fair amount to get done.  As a result, I’m hanging out in the student center for the day.  I’ll probably drive down about 9ish.  Over the weekend it’s free to park in visitor parking, so I don’t have to deal with that.  The student center has some booths where there’s both power outlets and ethernet jacks.  I’ll listen to the badger game at 11 while I do some miscellaneous things, and then actually work for awhile after the game.  I’ll probably stick around until 5 or 6, so allow for the stadium to clear out.  Thankfully, since the football game is early the lights should be out well before I head to bed.  I’ve got to write Memo 1 and get going on a Crim Law outline this weekend. I also have to do my usual work to prepare for Mondays Because I’ll be headed to the student center on Saturday, I’ll only take home that which I’m actually going to do on Friday night.  The rest of my books I’ll just get from my locker in the law school since the law school’s just across the street from the student center.

Interesting Day Yesterday

Or least it was an interesting morning.  About 20 minutes before Contracts ended yesterday, I got called on.  Couple things to keep in mind about law school and getting called on.  Professors in law school cold call on people.  Sometimes they’ll take volunteers, but typically to discuss a case or get a discussion started, they’ll cold-call on people.  Some professors use more volunteers than others.  For at least my substantive law professors, when you get cold called on, being prepared and showing you can think about the question is more important than having the right answer. I’ve heard rumors that that’s not the case with some of the professors in the other section, so I’m glad I’ve got the professors that I do.

Back to yesterday. Prior to yesterday, I’d made one or two comments voluntarily in my substantive law classes.  I’d talked several times in my legal writing class as well.  Up until yesterday, I’d never been cold  called in any of my substantive law classes.  That’s now changed.  About 20 minutes before the end of Contracts, I got called on.  When a professor cold calls on you like that, you tend to answer all of his/her questions for about 15 minutes or so.  Usually it starts with laying out a case, and then answering questions stemming from that case.  I was definitely nervous when he called on me.  However, I was prepared.  I’d read and briefed the case in question and actually understood it.  I thought I had, and based on the questions the professor asked, I realized I had understood most of it.  Professors tend to ask questions to help us go deeper into the case and also help us get a better understanding of how it fits with our other cases.  One thing about answering questions though is that it’s rather hard to take notes while you’re being asked questions. 

So I made it through Contracts.  By the end it wasn’t quite so scary.  I mentioned to a friend online between Contracts and Criminal Law that I hoped I wouldn’t be called on in Crim Law too, but that it had been known to happen to others…not very often but I had seen it happen.  Sure enough, it happened to me.  I got cold called on the last 15-20 minutes of Crim Law.  Again I was prepared though :)  Some harder questions here, mostly because there’s more ambiguity in Crim Law than Contracts.    I had a few questions after class and went to talk to the professor and he remarked I’d done well.  It’s helpful to realize that the way I’m briefing the cases is actually helping me understand the cases.  Several people during the rest of the day remarked that I’d done well, getting picked on by both professors (on Mondays, we’re all in the same classes for our first three classes, and then four class four we’re broken up and mixed with the other section for writing).  A few people remarked on it today too. 

Now that I’ve been under the gun, so to speak, it’s not quite so scary to speak up in class.  I realize I don’t have to have the right answer.  I can answer the professor’s questions realizing that even if the professor calls on me multiple times it’s okay.  Sometimes when a professor picks a volunteer, he’ll use that volunteer for a few related questions. 

In other news, I suspect the heat in my apartment doesn’t work right.  The last few days we’ve been down around freezing at night.   Saturday and Sunday we were in the mid 50’s for highs and yesterday we got up around 62 for a high. Given that, it was pretty obvious the temps outside were going to cool off my apartment at night, and not sufficiently warm it up during the day.  So I decided Sunday night to turn on the heat (Saturday was okay, since we hadn’t been as cold Friday night so the apartment wasn’t as cold on Saturday).  I got up yesterday morning to find it 63 degrees in my apartment, even though the thermostat was set to 70ish.  I turned up the thermostat to 73 for during the day yesterday in hopes of conclusively knowing for sure.  I got home about 7pm last night and it was 67 in my apartment.  I talked to my dad and he thought it was possible it may be due to the fan being to “On” instead of “auto” so I moved to to auto before bed and hoped for the best.  Nope.  Got up this morning and it was 67 in my apartment.  When I’ve had the heat on, it’s been blowing, it’s just not blowing hot air.  Given the current temps, it didn’t an emergency off-hours call to maintenance.  So instead I’ll give them a call during hours this week.  Starting with today, it’s warm enough that I won’t need the heat for at least another week. We’re getting back into the low 70’s for highs and lows in the upper 40’s, low 50’s.   At least I know now the heat’s not working right and can get it fixed while it’s not absolutely necessary instead of figuring it out in a couple weeks when my heat will be necessary. 

Things are definitely getting busy around here.  I’ve got a fair amount of Contracts reading to do tonight. I’ve also got to finish my legal research assignment in the library today.  Thankfully I don’t have my legal writing workshop today so I’ll use that time for the legal research assignment. In addition to turning in the current legal research assignment tomorrow, I’ll also get a new legal research assignment tomorrow.  I’ve also got Memo 1 due on Monday for legal writing.  I’ve also got a midterm for Crim Law on the 18th, and I’m headed home the 15-17th.   I’m trying to figure out how to schedule all of it, especially so that I only have to take Crim Law home with me over that weekend.  This Saturday I’m going to completely write my memo 1, and then edit it on Sunday.  Tomorrow I’ll take a look at the legal research assignment and see how best to break it up, and how much I really need to have done before I go home.  I also need to create an outline for crim law.  All of that has to be done while keeping up with the everyday assignments.  Busy busy busy!

Torts Mid-Term over :)

Yay!  Torts mid-term is over.  I’m doing my best not to rethink the exam.  It doesn’t actually count, and I’m not going to drive myself crazy over it.  She’s grading them 4; 3; 2; 1, with 4 being an A, A-, B+, or B.  A 3 will mean B- or C+, 2 will mean C, C-, or D and 1 will mean F.  I’m hoping that I scored a 4, but I think I’m likely an upper level 3.  Maybe if I’m lucky, it’s a lower level 4.  I’m fairly confident that it’s not a 2 or 1. 

Unfortunately, there are some people in my Crim Law class that would like our mid-term to be on Friday the 15th of October, given that that weekend is Homecoming and there are several events going on that weekend.  They’ve mentioned talking to Professor Falkoff about it, but I’m hoping they don’t, or that he decides not to move it from Monday the 18th.  Aside from wanting that time to study, I’m also planning to go home that weekend. Granted, having the exam on Friday would mean not having to study for it over the weekend, but it also means getting at least a 90 minute, if not 120 minute delay in getting home.  As it is now, it’s probably a little after 2pm by the time I’m on the road, figure a two hour drive home, and it’s after 4pm before I’m home.  Plus, not really crazy about taking an exam and immediately driving two hours.