Yes, I’m still alive :)

I really should have known that NoJoMo wouldn’t happen. I knew NaNoWriMo wasn’t going to happen, but I still had hopes for NoJoMo. It’s been a busy last several days, to say the least.  Looking back, it appears my last entry is from Thursday morning. So I’ll recap since then :).  Torts went well enough, though I got cold-called on for the first time.  After class on Thursday, I went upstairs to the Marshall Gallery and read through cases while I waited for the PILS raffle to start (Public Interest Law Society). Once it got too loud, I started playing on my laptop instead.  I didn’t win any of the prizes, but that’s okay. The money went to a good cause (goes to stipends for those law students here who end up in public service internships over the summer – since many of them don’t pay). I left about 4:45 and it was already pretty dark. I have to say, that’s fairly depressing. Sun goes down about 4:30 and by 4:50ish it’s nearly all the way dark.  At home, I spent the night going over cases and figuring out which ones I was going to use and which parts of which cases I wanted to use. In doing so, I discovered I needed to find a better case for one of my elements so I had to do a little more research.

Not much to tell about Friday.  I left for class really early, hoping to convince myself to study Friday morning before classes but it didn’t work. I had hoped it would help, since I definitely don’t do much on Thursday and Friday mornings before classes.  Classes went well enough overall.  After classes, I sat downstairs near the vending machines and took care of Contracts and Criminal Law for Monday.  Took a little longer than I wanted to, but that’s alright.  I got home and started dealing with the memo.  I finished figuring out where I wanted to go with it and got the memo set up.  I say set up,  because we had to format it a certain way and have certain sections labeled (facts, question presented,short answer,discussion). Sticking the labels in my word document before writing the sections ensured I wouldn’t forget any of them. In class that week, our professor had gone through and helped us figure out what paragraphs we needed for the discussion section and how to write the question and short answer sections. She suggested we write the question presented section first to make sure we knew the issue.  After that, she suggested we write the discussion section, since it was the bulk of the points. It was the analysis section and would take up most of the 11 pages we’d need to write. Within that section, she suggested starting with the overall thesis paragraph, then start with the first element and write the rule paragraph for the element. For each element, we would have a rule paragraph, 2-3 case discussion paragraphs, an argument paragraph, a counter-argument paragraph, and a rebuttal/conclusion paragraph. Following the discussion of all elements is a 1-2 sentence overall conclusion. My professor suggested that we start with the first element and write the rule, argument, counter argument, and rebuttal/conclusion paragraphs first and then go back and write the case discussions for that element. The reason it’s best to write them out of order is that the case discussion paragraphs consist of the facts from the major cases you use in the arguments.  It’s easier to write the case discussion paragraphs once you know what facts you need in the argument paragraphs. In some cases, the rule paragraph can be combined with the first case discussion paragraph for that element (if the rule doesn’t need much explanation). Then after finishing the first element, to go on to the next two elements which would be discussed together.

Our particular issue had 4 elements that needed to be proved in order for our “client” to be successful. Two of the elements however had typically been lumped together by the courts in their discussions. As a result, we had three sections within the analysis. One of the elements was a pain to deal with. The two combined were fairly easy (and also intertwined with the first element). The final element was a piece of cake and is without a doubt in our “client’s” favor. Of course, that made it’s counter-argument hard to write and thus fairly small. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but our topic was undue influence in wills. The last issue is whether the beneficiary under the will was involved in procuring the will in their favor and just how involved they were.  I won’t go into the rule, but in our fact pattern, the beneficiary was WAY too involved. 

I spent nearly all of Saturday writing my paper. However, I did bring up ESPN3.com to listen to the Badger game (and I admit, I did watch some of it).  On that topic, with the exception of the idiot pass in the 4th quarter, I don’t have a problem with the score. The bootleg was from a quarterback so far down on the depth chart, he doesn’t end up in the stats sheet as a QB! Beyond that, at some point Indiana just has to make a stop.  They have many scholarship players and play in a major conference. Their first string defense should be able to stop 3rd and 4th stringers on an opposing offense.  Indiana’s defense was so awful I think I could have scored a touchdown!  There’s also a great blog post on Death to the BCS about why the BCS is flawed and uses this game as evidence. It’s an interesting article (it was re-tweeted by ESPN_BigTen on Twitter). You can get it here. All of that aside, the Badgers are clicking on all cylinders right now.  Several weeks ago, I was a little concerned with the Michigan game this coming weekend.  At this point, I’m no longer so concerned – even if Clay doesn’t play.  Several weeks ago, I’d have said Wisconsin was in no way the best 1-loss team in the country – wouldn’t have even been an argument. However I think they just might be.  I also think the Badgers could truly beat TCU or Boise State in a BCS game.  There aren’t many defenses that can handle the Badgers right now and while the defense isn’t anywhere near as good, they are fairly solid (of course, it’s rather hard to be as good as the offense these days). One thing that helps the defense is that as part of their practice routine, they go up against the Badger offense :)

Going back to the paper, I got through about 1/3 of the analysis before I realized I was going about it wrong. So I stopped, took a breath, and started doing some very basic outlining. I took the other two sections of my analysis and broke them up into the rule, argument, and counter argument paragraphs. I also separated the cases I was using into each rule I was using them for, since I was confusing myself. Then, I wrote out the points I was using from the different cases and the points from our “client” I was using for each of the paragraphs. That definitely helped. By the time I went to bed at 10, I’d gotten that done along with most of the discussion for the 2nd of the 3 elements in addition to the question presented section.  I got up at 8 on Sunday morning, hopped in the shower, and then dealt with my hair before having breakfast and getting back to work.  I did some reading through of what I’d written and got a handle on where I was in terms of information and page limit (since our 11 pages was a firm limit).  By the time I got ready for church, I had finished the 2nd element and had a handle on the third element.

For a split second, I’d thought about not going. But I realized church was where I needed to be. Plus, I was going to be sustained :). Yes, I was extended a calling the Sunday my mom was here.  So this week, I was sustained as the Relief Society Chorister.  It’s perfect for me, since I love music, I’m enjoying relief society, but it doesn’t require a lot of work outside of church.  It will require a little, in terms of the practice hymn, but it’s definitely something my schedule can handle.  Between that and when I was set apart, I was reminded that the Lord knows each of us, and there are many things I need to be better about.

When I got home, it was back to the grindstone.  I got the discussion section done and then wrote the short answer section.  I then took a break and took care of some other things that needed doing. After that, I came back and wrote up the overall facts section. The overall facts section is really just restating the fact pattern we were given. My professor strongly suggested writing this section last, even though it would be the easiest to write.  I decided to write it last for two reasons. First, writing it last would ensure I didn’t include details I didn’t need and ensure I added the ones I did need (and wouldn’t have to go back and add more facts as I decided to use them.  Second, I could tailor the facts section easier than the others if I had space issues. As it turned out, I had a line and a half go onto the 12th page and all I had to do was rewrite a few things in the facts and that was that. It was done!  Such a relief too! When I turned it in on Monday morning, it was like a weight off my back.  It was really my last big thing prior to finals.  I mean, I’ve got the timed writing assignment on Friday of this week for my Legal Writing class, but there’s not really a whole lot of studying I can do for it.

Classes yesterday were good too, though we were all a little muddled in Contracts.  I’m surprised our professor didn’t figure it out (the others all know when memos are due, but he might since this is his first semester here).   As a class, we definitely had problems with what he called “softball” questions. The terrific thing about yesterday was that I was done with class at 11:45.  That’s because research ended last week and we didn’t have writing.  This week for writing we’re talking about the timed writing assignment and last week she let us vote whether we wanted to discuss it as one group in Monday class, or within the two small group sessions. Most of us voted for small group sessions (including everyone in the overall Section 2, since we wouldn’t have research right before.) I decided I didn’t want to have a large break between Criminal Law and Writing. Plus, on Tuesday I already would have to be at school through 1:50…not too big a deal simply to stay for the next class at 2.  By the end of the afternoon, I was VERY grateful I was able to have lunch and get started on homework early, as I wasn’t done until after 3pm! I shudder to think about how long I’d have been at it if I’d had all my classes.  I stayed at the law school to do all my reading instead of doing the last class at home because I decided I wasn’t taking any of it home.  After all the work on Memo 2, I decided once I got home, I wasn’t going to do anything connected to law school. I was going to (mostly) take a night off. Unfortunately I couldn’t completely take it off and leave at 11:45 like I wanted to, but what I did do was as close as I can come for awhile. I puttered for awhile, watched some tv, played online :). I also watched Castle, which was terrific.  It’s one of my top two or three favorite episodes of Castle.  Between the possible Alien type story line, them getting “kidnapped by aliens” and Castle’s dinner with Ashley’s parents (of course followed up by his parents joining the hiking trip)…it was terrific. If you’re not watching Castle, you really should. It’s on ABC at 10 eastern/9 central.

It’s now Tuesday and things are mostly going well so far today.  The class still seems a little hung over from Memo 2, but it’s gotten better as the day’s gone on.  I actually get to go home right after writing today, as I’ve taken care of Contracts already.  I’ll deal with Civil Procedure tomorrow during my large break (and I’ll also start its outline for finals). However, I am taking Torts home to work on its outline.  I want to play with the section of my outline of intentional torts and do an outline for negligence (which is rather complicated!).  But I should still have some time to myself tonight. I still have to watch the last two Bones episodes, mostly because I want to watch them before they disappear from Hulu. I won’t be watching this next week’s ep live because I’ll be going to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with many of the girls from my section.  Right now there are 12 of us confirmed going. 

Still a little hard to believe that next week I only have two days of class and that’s it for the regular semester. But then I’m home for several days.  I’ll be sleeping in my old room, but studying in my brother’s room since he’s got a big desk area.  As far as Christmas goes, I haven’t decided yet how long I’m going to stay. I’m thinking of driving up sometime on the 18th (that’s the Saturday before Christmas). My last final is the 14th but by the same token I like my apartment and this area.  I want to be home though before the ward Christmas program and I have to beat my brother home to claim my old room. My brother flies in on the 20th I think.  As far as how long I’ll stay, I haven’t decided yet. I’m certainly staying through probably the 2nd (just so I don’t have to deal with idiots on New Year’s Day). Given that the 2nd is a Sunday, I’ll probably drive back either the 3rd or 4th.  Regardless, I don’t actually start classes back up until the 17th or 18th.  However, all these dates will be subject to the weather (since this is the Midwest and snow’s a fact of life). Man has this semester gone by fast! I wonder if all of law school will go this fast…

Lots to do…

So Billy Budd thing has been turned in. All in all, I think Stephanie and I did well with the facts that we had to work with.  I read through it last night, and so did my dad and Philly (another friend of mine). There were a couple typos, but otherwise it was good.  Our professor allowed us to use single spacing, rather than double spacing. That’s good, since we used all of that two pages single spaced.  It’s not hard to see why he gave us a firm page limit of 2. There are so many criminal law issues/arguments that can be made from the fact pattern of Billy Budd.  So that’s done.

After class today, I have to read for Torts tomorrow.  I’ll do that, along with reading through cases for Memo 2.  I’m planning to stick around for the PILS raffle.  I bought 5 tickets for $20 a few weeks back. The two grand prizes are a 42” tv and a 16gb iPad. I’m hoping for the iPad, but there are other small prizes as well. You don’t actually have to be present to win, but since I’ve got plenty I can do at the law school while waiting for the raffle to start, it’s not a big deal.

Tonight’s project is to finish reading through the cases I’ve chosen for Memo 2. I’ve read all of them already just to see if they would fit for the assignment, but I haven’t done a close reading, looking for facts and legal rules to actually use in my argument.  Since I haven’t watched last week’s Bones ep yet, I won’t watch tonight’s either (especially since I still have to read and go through 12 or 13 more cases, and weed the overall 15 cases down to 8-10).  On Monday, I don’t have legal writing or legal research, so I’ll be done at 11:45. I’ll still have a fair amount of reading for Tuesday, but given the early release time, I’ll have plenty of time to take care of it plus still go home and watch the previous two episodes of Bones.  I also have to watch the last episode of White Collar. That shouldn’t be too big an issue.  After Memo 2 is turned in Monday morning, the only thing left prior to finals is the timed writing assignment for Legal Writing on Friday afternoon.  There are still readings for my substantive classes of course, but I can handle those.

Next week, I need to download and register ExamSoft so I can type my essay exams. I need to do it next week because I can use it for my Timed Writing Assignment for Legal Writing on Friday Nov 19th.  So I need to download it and get familiar with the program prior to Friday.  I think I will also start work on Civil Procedure and attempting to understand what’s going on.  I’ll start going through my professor’s book that I bought a few weeks back.

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just two weeks from today.  Seriously – where did the year go? Where did the semester go?  I can’t believe legal research is already over for the semester, legal writing is nearly over (week from tomorrow it’s over), and there are just 9 regular class days left of the semester (including today). 

As far as Thanksgiving goes, my current plan is to not drive to class on Tuesday the 23rd. My plan is to mostly pack on Monday night after classes, then pack the rest on Tuesday morning before class (the things that I need Monday night/Tuesday morning for example) and then head to class. I’m still debating whether I’ll drive to class or take the bus.  I’m tempted to take the bus and simply leave immediately after class. But on the other hand, I’m going to have textbooks that need to be hauled to my car since I’m taking all of my textbooks with me over Thanksgiving.  As I think about that now, I don’t think I have a choice but to drive, especially since I have Contracts, Criminal Law, and Torts (and thus three casebooks) that Tuesday.  So I guess I don’t have much choice. Driving it is. I’ll also be taking a slightly different route home so that I’m familiar with it should it snow later in the winter. While I won’t be dumb enough to drive up in a snowstorm, the first 35-40 minutes of my drive is in the country where it would be easy for the wind to blow the snow onto the road (and the roads likely aren’t plowed as often). When there’s no snow, it’s the fastest way, but once it snows I want a route that’s much more interstate driving. This other way is – it’s about five minutes from my apartment to the interstate, and well-travelled roads during that five minutes.

I told my mom I want to make sugar cookies while I’m up for Thanksgiving.  My dad and I are also likely going to see Harry Potter the Friday after Thanksgiving. My mom has to work but my dad doesn’t, plus my mom doesn’t have any interest in seeing it. However I’m going to be doing a lot of studying. Wednesday for sure will be spent mostly studying. I think I’ll have that day to myself, but I could be wrong.  I’ll do some on Thursday and Friday as well, but less than on Wednesday.  Saturday too will have a lot of studying.  We’ll see how far I get before deciding about Sunday.  Right now it looks like my aunt and uncle will not be coming up for Thanksgiving. Apparently my aunt has two free plane tickets that expire at the end of the year but she can’t convince my uncle to come up. I’m not sure why my aunt doesn’t just come up on her own if she wants to come, but whatever. My aunt though was trying to get the tickets extended.  If they don’t come, I’ll stay in my old room, but study in Jason’s room (since it’s still got his large desk in it).  I won’t be leaving until early Monday morning (latest I want to leave is about 8:30).  Since I don’t have class on Monday, I don’t see the point in dealing with the crazy holiday traffic on Sunday when I don’t have to.  I need to leave early because Shannon’s coming over at noon to study Civil Procedure and Contracts. Don’t know yet if we’ll get together again during the week. I suspect it will depend on how our study session goes on Monday.

So as you can see…lots going on!

A little surprised

I have to admit I’ve been a little surprised at how well law school has gone thus far.  I’d expected a few bumps in the road, but truly there haven’t been any.  There have been a few apartment bumps (first electric bill was $50 – and that was for having the a/c set at 77 for a week prior to actually living there and second was my heat not working properly though it works great now), but no academic bumps.  No true medication bumps either.  I’ve not had any need to pull anything even remotely resembling an all-nighter.  I know my professors started out easy on us and have ramped up in recent weeks, but even that really hasn’t fazed me.  I’m most definitely very busy right now, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. My torts and crim law midterms went very well. My Civ Pro midterm didn’t go anywhere near as bad as I thought it would, considering the difficulty of the class and having not studied the prof’s book yet.  Contracts is difficult, but I’m holding my head above water at this point.  Even writing and research have gone well, all things considered.  And when I was the guinea pig in both contracts and crim law on the same day, and crim law again the following day, I got through it. That first day after crim law, I went up to the prof to ask a few questions and he remarked that I’d done well.   And somehow amongst classmates I talk to regularly, I’ve begun to gain the reputation of being one of the smarter ones in the class. I’ve always been smart, but more within the upper third of the class, rather than the upper upper echelon of the class.

It all seems to be confirmation that my decision to attend law school was a good one and that’s comforting.

Melville (and Great News!)

I’m definitely not a fan of Herman Melville.  I’ve never had to read Moby Dick (something I’m VERY grateful for), but for criminal law, I’ve had to read Billy Budd.  First off, Melville’s writing style is a mess. He liked run-ons and way too much description.  Plus, he packs so much extraneous facts that have no relevance to the actual story that you need a shovel to dig through to the actual story.  From the commiserating we’ve all done between and before classes, I understand Moby Dick’s even worse.  Now you may be asking why we’re reading Billy Budd for Criminal Law.  Well, my professor’s using it as the fact pattern for us to write (with a partner) a two page appellate brief. However, this brief doesn’t actually count for anything, yet we have to do it.  It’s just that the top two pairs get the opportunity (if they want it) to do oral arguments on Monday Nov 22 after classes for extra points on the final (just two or three points). Since we all also have a 10-12 page paper due on Monday of next week and we’re way behind in Crim Law, we’re less than thrilled about having this brief due this week.  My partner and I are getting together after classes today to do ours.  I’ve decided to go through SparkNotes for it, since it was taking me forever to slog through Billy Budd and I was having to go to SparkNotes anyway just to understand what was going on.  For the important chapters, I’ll reference the book’s actual text but I’m not going to read it all.  I simply don’t have that kind of time.

Yesterday was my exam for Basic Legal Research. It wasn’t bad and I think I did well enough on it.  It’s just a one credit class, so if I truly bombed it, it’s not the end of the world.  With the quiz and first two assignments graded, I have a 92% in research.  I know I got a few wrong on the exam, but I don’t think I got too many wrong.  *Shrugs* we’ll see.   But one exam down, five still to go.  Next Monday night, I’m going to download and install ExamSoft.  I don’t want to play with it now, as I need to concentrate on Memo 2 and playing with a new program will definitely be a distraction.  I so don’t want to write Memo 2…the subject is a pain and I’m not terribly fond of writing papers. I can handle it, but I’m not terribly fond of it. Most Tuesday nights are low on homework (though not as low tonight, now that I think about it, since I’ll be staying after to work on the Billy Budd thing), I’m planning to print off all the cases I might be using and figure out what parts of which cases I’m going to use (plus, weed my 15 cases down to 8-10).  Today we have a question/answer session regarding the memo, and one question I’ve got is how many case discussion paragraphs we should have. Though she’s suggested not writing those until the end (which makes sense), we still need to know while writing the analysis because that will impact how many cases we use as factual comparisons/analogies. The other cases get used as simple citations and are explained parenthetically.

After my partner and I work on the brief, I need to do Contracts (though technically I could bring it home with me). I have to read both from the Casebook and from PCL (Perspectives on Contract Law).  During tomorrow’s three hour break, I’ll read Civil Procedure and start dealing with my argument for Memo 2.

Okay, finally got my Criminal Law midterm grade. This one was actually worth points – essentially 10 points and the final is worth 90 points.  I got a 9.2/10!  I’m seriously goggling!  The highest score was a 9.7.  I knew I’d hit the first question out of the park, but I really thought I'd bombed the second question.  Apparently not, given that score.  While I definitely won’t be resting on my laurels, it’s good to know my study methods worked and that I’m understanding the material (and how it applies to new fact patterns).  Things definitely seem to be going well in law school and my hard work seems to be paying off.  There’s certainly a lot of reading, and you have to be a good reader to get through it (not just because there’s a lot of it, but because it’s not easy reading).  Beyond that, a lot of the hard work is thinking work.  You have to be willing to think through the hard questions, because those are really the only kind that professors ask. There are some soft ball type questions early in the semester, but by the mid-point of your first semester, there are no more easy questions.  They ask hard questions and whether you’re the guinea pig or you volunteer, you’d best be prepared to back up your answer.  As a result, when you read cases, it’s not enough to just read and brief them.  You have to think about them, think about where they lead, think about what might happen if small changes were made, etc.  You have to think that way not only for class, but also for exams. Professors give you fact patterns and you have to apply the principles and concepts you learned to that fact pattern, come up with a conclusion, and then back it up.  Typically, the professors don’t care which position you take, so long as you can make a good argument for it.  The great grade on the mid-term almost makes up for the Melville mess!

This is painful

There’s a girl in my crim law class who was only marginally prepared today and the professor did a bit of hammering. It’s painful to listen to.  Seriously people – this is law school. Come to class prepared. And so many of the questions he’s asking are not rocket science (at least not for someone paying a little bit of attention in class and doing the readings).

And of course, I wrote the above yesterday, but didn’t get around to posting it.  Oh well. I’ll post it today :-P

Yes, I’m backdating this entry :-P

Yes, I admit I didn’t write yesterday due to my busy day.  Before I go into yesterday, let me go back to Saturday, following my last entry.  Badgers ended up winning their game. They came out in the second half raring to go and got three interceptions.  Following that, I got laundry started. Not long after, my mom arrived (having not called when she left my grandparents’).  She arrived about 3:30ish or so.  It was good to see her though.  We ended up leaving about 4 to head over to the student center and law school, after I’d put my laundry in the dryers (I did two loads).  I showed my mom where the bus picks me up then gave her a quick tour of the student center and the law school, which she liked :).  After that, we headed over to Lowe’s to get the plastic for my windows. We also got an extension cord and a draft protection thing for under my back door.  At that point, it was closing in on 5:15. Given that I needed to go home and still get some stuff done (and still do windows with my mom), we elected to head to the grocery store and get something for dinner there.  Got back to my apartment about 6,where I took care of my laundry (one load was dry, one wasn’t).  We got started with the window in the kitchen.  It was…difficult initially. Part-way through we took a break for dinner, and then finished that window. We finally got it, after fussing with it awhile.  However, I needed to get some stuff done. My mom did my bathroom window on her own (a fairly small window) and got the hang of it. We stuck in The Holiday and my mom watched that while I did some homework (reading Billy Budd and prepping to print cases for Memo 2). Ultimately I went to my room about 10:20, though it was near 11:30 by the time I turned out the light and went to bed.

Sunday morning I got up with my alarm at 8, and then turned back my clock :).  I laid in bed for a while, and finally got up for good about 8. My mom and I had pancakes for breakfast and then did two of my three remaining windows. We decided not to do the window in my study, since the desk is partly in front of the window and it would have been quite difficult to get the sticky tape along the outer edge of the window.  But my mom was right – it didn’t take too long to deal with the other two windows, even though they were quite large.  We also did my door draft thing for my back door. That has helped, though there’s still a draft coming in along the sides.  We put in Letters to Juliet before church, but didn’t finish it. Church was great too.  Sister Pitts remarked prior to Relief Society that she could tell I was excited to have my mom there, since I was grinning. All in all, it was really good to have her here for a night.

We got back to my apartment and my mom changed into jeans and I let her take Letters to Juliet so she could finish it.   I’ll bring it back with me at Thanksgiving.  She had me call my dad to tell him she was leaving and I talked to him for another 15 minutes or so to constitute my usual Sunday call. The rest of the day I took care of some things and did some studying (though not as much as I should have done). 

It’s interesting how excited I was to have my mom come down and come to church with me, even though I just saw her on Tuesday.   Maybe my memory’s faulty, but I don’t remember being this excited when my mom came up for a weekend when I was up at NMU (though I couldn’t wait to be done there).  It’s interesting how much I’ve come to value and be excited by seeing family just since I’ve been down here at school.  When we were driving back after church yesterday, my mom mentioned that she was proud of me for these steps I’ve taken.  She could also tell that I’m happy where I’m at.  I think she too could tell that this is where I’m supposed to be.

Making Sure I Write

Since my mom’s coming later this afternoon and staying through tomorrow afternoon, I realized I needed to write today’s journal entry now, rather than waiting until later today. Thus far, I’ve spent the morning cleaning up my apartment :-P.   I’ve still got a little more picking up to do, but not much.  I’m also going to do some laundry today, and then do my studying.  Right now I’m listening to the Badger-Purdue game online and unfortunately Purdue is currently winning. However that won’t last.  As hoped yesterday, I got my contracts and Crim Law reading done so I didn’t have to bring home any of my casebooks.  It’s always a good weekend when my casebooks all stay in my locker.  So between today and tomorrow, I need to read Billy Budd (about 100 pages), put together my BLR cheat sheet, and read through the cases for Memo 2 and start figuring out how I’ll structure my argument.

Other than my mom coming, there’s not much going on right now outside of classes.   (and eeek! Tolzien just got sacked – Come on O-Line! :( Badgers will have to punt again. Thus far, they’ve had a badly missed field goal, an interception and a sack while the defense has had its own issues with the spread – come on Badgers – don’t make all the crazy tie-breaker scenarios a moot point!) Something I haven’t mentioned. Last week I started having problems using WestLaw in firefox.  I tried using IE, but it didn’t like that either. So I switched to using Chrome.  It’s an interesting browser to say the least, but the more I use it, the more I like it. It’s fairly seamless and mostly easy to use. There are times I miss the easy menu bar, but those times are becoming fewer and farther between as I get used to where things are located.   And at this point, it’s 10-6 Purdue leading :(.

Hard to believe how fast this year has flown by.  It feels like just yesterday we were starting the new year.  Semester has also flown by.  So hard to believe. I think the last year went by faster than any other year has.

Only One Class Today :)

I like days where I have just one class. Today I don’t have Civil Procedure (and that’s even better reason to do a squee!). Given that, I just have Torts today (which I’m in right now and going back and forth between this entry and taking my notes) so I’ll be done with actual classes at 11:45.  After class, I’m going to sit down down in the common area on the first floor and take care of both my Contracts and Criminal Law homework. I wasn’t sure I was going to take care of both of them, but when I really took a look at what was necessary, it’s not a huge deal to take care of both.   For Contracts, I have to read and brief pgs 445-456 in our casebook, in addition to reading 154-171 in our other book (Perspectives on Contract Law), then for Criminal Law, I need to read and brief pgs 604-610, 613-614, and 616-619.  So that’s really not bad.  In addition to that, I need to run out this afternoon and get a copy of Billy Budd. We’re writing briefs on the criminality of Billy Budd’s conduct (using the story of Billy Budd as our fact pattern).  We’re actually writing them in partners, and my partner and I are getting together after classes on Tuesday to write ours (they’re due on Thursday of next week). The novella is apparently about 100 pages.  That really shouldn’t take more than a couple hours, especially since I don’t have to brief it. I also have to put together my cheat sheet for BLR, and get a handle on the caselaw for Memo 2.

In addition to homework this weekend, I really REALLY need to pick up my apartment tonight. My mom’s coming tomorrow and spending the night. She’s also going to help me put up plastic on the windows to help with drafts.  I also need to do laundry (oh joy). Oh well.  Hard to believe though I just have two more weeks of regular class before the end of the semester.

In other news, it’s definitely chilly today. I *think* we got some flakes of snow overnight, but I could be wrong.  This morning though dawned clear and cold. Tomorrow morning will be even colder before we warm up through most of next week before another cold front moves through and sends our temps spiraling again. 

Another Cold One (Or Two)

Brrr is the name of the game through Saturday morning.  High today of 48, but given the cold north wind, (and as I type this, it’s drizzling too) it’s not going to feel that warm. When I left for class about 10:30, we were at 47 degrees, but with the wind, it felt like 41.  Right now, it’s 45, raining, and the wind is out of the northwest at 12 mph, gusting to 21 mph. Given that, the wind chill is 39. Tonight our overnight low is 30, with our high tomorrow just 40.  We’re also supposed to have a northwest wind at 15-20 mph tomorrow as well, leading the wind chill to be in the 30 degree range.  Additionally, tonight/tomorrow morning we could see our first flakes of snow or half-frozen crap.  It’s about the right time of year for that milestone.  Another month from now and we’ll be getting 1-3 inch snowfalls, but as I’ve said before, our big storms usually come in Jan-March. (I say that now, but it is a La Nina year and winters tend to be….interesting during La Nina years). Tomorrow night will definitely be a hard frost, with the temp getting down to 23. Thankfully though we do start to warm up Saturday, with our temps getting into the low 60’s by Monday. While that won’t break any records, it’s also not usual for us to see 60’s in November, even early in the month. 

We got some details on the Billy Budd assignment today.  It’s two pages, to be written with a partner and due a week from today.  My partner is Stephanie, someone I know, but don’t know well.  The two best pairs get the opportunity to do an oral argument for extra credit points on the final exam. So I need to get a copy of Billy Budd (I’ll likely go to Barnes & Noble after UPS later tonight) and get it read this weekend.  I’ve also got to put together my cheat sheet for BLR, and get a handle on my cases and arguments for Memo 2. I’ve also gotta do laundry, do dishes, pick up my apartment, and clean the bathrooms before my mom gets here Saturday afternoon. Busy busy busy!

And here I thought people were smart

I can only shake my head over the election results, especially in Wisconsin.  I honestly thought Wisconsinites were smarter than that.  Part of campaigning is telling people what you’d do if elected. How else can people know what they’re getting with you?  And yet, Wisconsin elected to the US Senate a man who refused to answer that question time and again during the campaign.  I just don’t get the Tea Party.  While I don’t like their policy positions, I can understand the Republican Party in general. In addition to not liking where Democrats stand, they generally have other ideas instead.  But this election was full of complaining about current situation and light on new (or even different) ideas on how to solve the underlying problems.  I’ve always felt if you don’t like the prevailing idea, that’s fine, but don’t just complain about it. Suggest a different idea to solve the problem. Complaining about the problem, or backtracking on the other idea without actually doing anything about the problem doesn’t solve anything.  And just watch – things aren’t going to get any better (since we’re about to have gridlock, and that’s certainly not going to solve any problems), and though that’s going to be the fault of Republicans, Obama’s going to take the rap for it.  Never mind that he kept us from another Depression.  Never mind that Republicans are the ones who got us into the mess in the first place.  Never mind that no big problem gets solved quickly.  And to think I actually had faith in the American electorate. My mistake.

On a different note, it was terrific to go home last night.  We actually got out of my last class about 15 minutes early, which allowed me to get a nice start. I got gas and a snack and drink at the 7-11 on my way out of town.  The drive was pretty easy as well up to Beloit.  I was actually 30 minutes early for my appointment, so I sat in my car for about 20 minutes, continuing to listen to Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb (another winner for her, by the way!). The appointment overall went well. We are tweaking with my medication again.  I’m on 60mg of Vyvanse with no headaches (woo hoo there) and now I’m on 100 mg of sertaline (generic Zoloft). I had been on 50 mg of Zoloft before.  We’ll see how it goes. My next appointment is December  1st at 11:30 am (regular classes are over by then). However, my doc did write me a scrip for Vyvanse for both November and December (just in case snow keeps me from keeping the Dec appointment.) She also let me know that if I have to cancel for weather, there’s no charge – even if I cancel with less than 24 hours notice. So that’s good news. Since there’s so many regulations with Vyvanse (it’s a schedule 2 drug…grr!), I had her use today’s date, since I didn’t want to take the time last night to stop at a pharmacy.

The drive from Beloit back to my parents was another easy drive. It’s only about 50 minutes.  I stopped first though and voted at the library. There wasn’t a line, which was nice. Four years (or maybe it was six years) ago, there was only one polling place for the town and the line was rather nasty, even when I went in the middle of the day.  But now things are better with two polling places.  Plus, I got there about 6pm. So it took all of about five minutes, and then I headed to my parents’.  When I got there, DirecTv was still there. My parents are changing their package and set up with them.  With the overhaul of my old room (and I did get some pictures, so I’ll post them in the next few weeks – I had to use an old film camera!), my parents have put a tv in there along with a DVR (and I think a dvd player might be going in there too).  With the new DVR, my parents decided to go with the plan that allows someone to record something on one DVR, but be able to watch it on any DVR in the house.  Apparently someone at DirecTv screwed up the work order though so it didn’t get done last night and my dad was going to spend  some time on the phone with them today, chewing them out and making sure one of the two technicians that had already been to the house would be the one to go back, since they both already knew exactly what was needed (otherwise, someone new would need to spend the same hour the other two did figuring out what was needed).  When I pulled up, the front door was open, but the storm door was shut and through it my mom saw me pull up.  My visit was supposed to be a surprise to her, but apparently my dad spilled the beans earlier in the day.  My mom made me a grilled cheese, which was nice. I played with the dogs, then had dinner, followed by finishing assignment 4 for basic legal research while my dad flipped between MSNBC and Fixed (oops, Fox) News.  It was depressing to see the American electorate (and especially the Wisconsin electorate) get snowed by the  Tea Party.  Good to see Christine O’Donnel in Delaware lose, as she was a fool. This morning breakfast was a poptart, but it was great to see my parents and the dogs.

My mom is coming down this next weekend. She’s going to visit my grandparents first and then finish the drive down. She’ll call me when she leaves my grandparents’.  Oh, and I brought her College of Law long-sleeved t-shirt with me :). It’s cute.  It’ll be Thanksgiving though before I see my dad again.  I’m looking at driving up after class that Tuesday. Probably won’t drive to class like I do now when I’m headed north right after class. It’s not so time intensive, especially since I won’t have my 2 o’clock class that day. I’ll still leave the law school right away, but I’ll take the bus back to my apartment and then drive north from there. So right now, things are good :)

Going Home

That’s right – I’m headed home tonight.  I decided to go home tonight.  I’ve also decided to skip Contracts tomorrow. However, Shannon’s going to take notes for me.  I’m looking forward to going home for the night. And oh crap! I forgot my camera at home.  Maybe I’ll briefly stop at home at get it. Shouldn’t take very long and shouldn’t put me too far behind.  I’ll make sure I also don’t have to return to my locker following writing. I want to take pictures of my old room and the changes in it.  It’s definitely changed since I left in July. 

My crim law professor just came in a few minutes ago, apparently realizing he gave us quite a bit more reading than he intended.  Which meant we had about 15 more pages to read than we needed to.  Normally as a class that wouldn’t make us grumble too much. However, we had a lot of torts reading and a lot of contracts reading last night. Given what we knew after classes yesterday, we had about 70 pages to read.  Given that sometimes you have to reread sections, and brief all the cases (and there were a lot of cases), that’s easily 4 hours+ worth of work (also depending on how fast you read and how fast you can brief the cases).  But yeah…we were ready to mutiny when he came in and let us know that we read too much.  So now I'll wait and see how far ahead that got me.  We also weren’t happy with him to begin with – he told us at the beginning of the semester that we’d be writing an appellate argument based upon the facts in Billy Budd (by Herman Melville) but we’ve fallen so far behind and he hadn’t mentioned it that it seemed we weren’t going to do it. Plus, it doesn’t appear to actually be worth anything in our grade (the top couple of people do get to participate in oral arguments for extra credit on the final, however).  Given the timing of things, it appears it’s going to be due about the same time as Memo 2…joy! 

I bought the audiobooks for both Indulgence in Death and Happily Ever After (The Bride Quartet) this morning, in addition to the Kindle version of Happily Ever After. Both are written by Nora Roberts, though Indulgence in Death is under her pseudonym J.D. Robb.  With my check from inboxdollars last month, I bought iTunes gift cards (I don’t use my credit card on iTunes anymore after it got hacked this summer) so I could get one of those two audiobooks (whichever was available right away so I could listen to it on my drive today).  Since Happily Ever After wasn’t in iTunes this morning and Indulgence in Death was, it was a pretty easy decision.  A few weeks back, I sold some of my old textbooks back to Amazon for an Amazon gift card.  I also filled out a survey on law schools that netted me a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.  That, combined with the $4 and change I had left from the gift certificate from my dad last Christmas, I had an Amazon gift card balance of around $47.  Given that (and the fact that I have a free year of Amazon Prime –which gives me free two business day shipping), I bought Happily Ever After on unabridged MP3, along with the Kindle version in the meantime.  The MP3 should be here on Thursday, and the Kindle edition I already downloaded to my iPod.  I’m definitely looking forward to listening to Indulgence in Death later today.

NoJoMo Day 1

One of my favorites on OpenDiary is going to do this, so I thought I would as well. For those unfamiliar with it, the goal is to write one journal entry every day during the month of November.  I actually managed it last year, so I thought I’d try it again this year.  There are several things I’d like to get back into the habit of doing, and since writing everyday in my journal is one of them, this seemed like a good place to start.

I *might* be going home tomorrow night.  I have another pdoc appointment tomorrow afternoon in Beloit. My dad (a little jokingly) suggested late last week that I go to my appointment, drive up to them, vote, and then stay the night with them, then drive back Wednesday morning.  I didn’t get around to registering to vote here. It’s been a pain, but I’m not yet technically a resident of Illinois.  I do like the idea of my dad’s suggestion, but whether I do it depends on a couple things. First is whether I get any last minute writing assignments today or tomorrow.  It’s not out of the realm of possibilities, given that it’s happened before. When they do, it tends to throw off my careful study plans.  Second is whether I want to skip Contracts on Wednesday morning. There is a friend I can get notes from however. The reason I’d debate skipping Contracts is that it starts at 9am. If I don’t want to skip Contracts, it would mean leaving my parents’ by no later than about 6:20am.  However, if I’m okay skipping Contracts, then I could leave about 7:30ish, not kill myself getting up early, and still get my study time before Civil Procedure. Additionally, it would be a surprise to my mom. My dad hasn’t told her I’m thinking about his suggestion (in fact, he didn’t even mention the suggestion to her!). So surprising her would be cool. If I do head up, I’ll bring her College of Law t-shirt with me.

We are making plans for my mom to come see me next weekend. She mentioned multiple times that she’d be willing (and I think wants) to attend church with me one Sunday. Given that she teaches most Sunday’s, the best option would be a Fast Sunday.  Next weekend is Fast Sunday.  In addition, we’ve also talked about putting plastic up on my windows to help with the drafts.  We weren’t sure when we’d do that. One thought was that my mom would follow me down when I drove back the Sunday after Thanksgiving. However, I’m not driving back until Monday since I don’t have class that day and I want to avoid the Sunday holiday traffic.  It occurred to me on Saturday that my mom could go to church this next weekend with me and then my dad suggested that my mom take this time to help with the plastic too.  My dad also suggested that my mom drive down on Saturday afternoon, help with the plastic, sleep on my couch, then attend church with me and then drive back.  I haven’t talked to my mom about that yet, but it sounds good. I was talking to my dad yesterday on the internet while my mom wasn’t feeling well (she apparently has a nasty cold).  I suggested to him that she try and get down here at a reasonable hour so I could show her around campus a bit (and still have time to do the windows). I mentioned that the law library closes at 8pm and that I could show her the law school, law library, and the student center.  My dad said she'd love that. So I think that’ll be on the schedule too.  The biggest reason that she’ll leave to head home right after dropping me off at church is that church down here ends at 3:30, and she still has to go to work the next day.

Next bit of news is that an old friend I had in Rockton, who I’ve remained friendly with may come down to visit me in a few weeks. She still lives in the Rockford area. She initially was going to attend the same school I’m at now, but another college closer to where she is gave her a lot more scholarship money so she decided on them instead.  We’ve been trying to plan a day for her to come pay me a visit and see the apartment as well. It looks like the Saturday before Thanksgiving is the best option at this point.  Besides that, we’re both pretty booked until finals are over – the 14th of December for both of us. But since she’s not crazy about driving in snow, she doesn’t really want to chance coming down between then and Christmas. She’s taking a look at her schedule and whether her boyfriend can watch their son that Saturday, and then she’s going to send me a facebook message.  It’d be great to see her.  That same weekend is Stake Conference down here.  I’m looking forward to that as well and I’m especially looking forward to seeing some of the people from when we lived in the Rockford Stake 10 1/2 years ago. If my friend does come on Saturday, then I’ll attend the Sunday morning session.  If she doesn’t, I’m not sure which session I’ll attend. I may simply see who will be at which session.

More news, as applies to Thanksgiving.  It’s possible that two of my mom’s siblings may be coming up for Thanksgiving – my Aunt Debbie and my Uncle Dave.  The last time I saw my Aunt Debbie was…May of 1996 and I don’t remember when the last time I saw my Uncle Dave was.  I did talk to him quite a bit my freshman year of college however, and he’s a little on the odd side.  He’s a college math professor and very smart, but definitely a little odd.  If they do come up, then my parents will have to get a tv into Stephen’s old bedroom sooner rather than later.  It would also mean I’d likely be relegated to Jason’s room over that break, instead of my old room. I’d like my old room, since it’ll have the queen sized bed, the glider chair, and the tv/satellite/dvr. But even if I don’t get my old room over Thanksgiving, I WILL get it over Christmas when the boys are home.

Finally, had a couple very lucid dreams over the weekend.  I’m not usually one who remembers their dreams the next morning, but I had several dreams over the weekend that really stuck with me.  The first was on Friday night and the highlight of it was that I was engaged and talking with one of my good friends from high school who now is married and lives in Minnesota and teaches music. I have no idea who I was engaged to, but I was seriously excited and content.  People around me though were a little surprised, my family in particular.  But at the same time, it felt…right.  The next two dreams were Saturday night. The first one was REALLY bizarre. I was something like a candy striper in a hospital, but everyone was crazy and things were going on at the hospital and I was racing to get out and they didn’t want to let me out.  It was just really strange.  My second dream that night though I was 9 months pregnant and going into labor. That too was strange, and the first time I recall having that kind of dream.  Makes me wonder though if marriage and family aren’t as far off as I once thought.  Interestingly enough, the messages on Sunday were on family and making course corrections if we’re not where we want to be, or not where we should be.  That really spoke to me, as I realize I’m not where I want to be.  There are many things I want/need to change and I know I’m definitely going to have to work at them.  So lots going on! And it looks like I’m going to have some kind of appellate paper due in Crim Law, based on Billy Budd (and due about the same time as Memo 2…seriously!) Gah! I’ll get through it.