One More Thing

It's 10:37. Do you know what I've gotten done in the past 3 hours? NOTHING. Oh my goodness.

Well, I did play a couple of games of Tradewinds on Shockwave.com, finish a few crosswords, and update my blog. That's something right?

Oh no, old ways are coming back... Cannot procrastinate any longer!

Will now read Crim Pro for an hour, go to bed, then wake up to work out and just plain work tomorrow morning.

Try This!

Badger Badger Badger

Bonjour Monsieur Warning: Not suitable for work or children

Look What I Just Learned!

Isn't this cool?

My Alma Mater...

was the National Football Champion, is ranked 1/3 in baseball, won the National Indoor Track Meet, is in the Woman's Elite Eight, and ranked number 2 in the 2004 football poll.

Spring Break

Spring Break has come and gone... way to quickly. BF and I went to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC for a few days. Those days, though, were smack dab in the middle of the break. We left on Monday and returned very late Wednesday night. That didn't leave much time for the relaxing/homeworking I was planning on.

Before I left, I did major organization revisions to my appellate brief. I knew I had to get something done in those two days before we left. The hardest thing was just sitting down to do it. Spring break was here, and I needed a break. I didn't finish the revision completely, but I got most of it done. I did try to bring it with me on the trip, just in case. (What was I thinking?)

The trip was great. We got along fine, even though we don't know how to agree on a map yet. Seattle was great. I got to sit on a troll, drink a local brew, and look at a store full of crap. Vancouver was also great, except for that part where we walked through the really scary drug part of town. I was offered drugs twice! Sorry, but I just find that a little too forward... Just call me old-fashioned. In Chinatown, we saw many stores with either live large seafood or dried unidentifiable stuff. Near one of the stores, two women were screaming at each other. They looked like two shop owners. We couldn't understand what they were screaming about, but we could hear it for a few blocks. Everyone else in the neighborhood came out and watched with keen interest. A few were on their cell phones relaying the event. It was weird, so we just walked past it. The last day we were in Vancouver, we went to a really kooky restaurant called The Tomahawk Restaurant. BF ate the Yukon Breakfast, aka heart-attack on a plate. I simply had hashbrowns and French toast. It was all great though. We even walked out with free microwave popcorn on the cob and headresses (ala Burger King crowns).

When I got back, I was left with an incomplete revision of my brief, no outlines, and tons of homework. It's Sunday afternoon. I'm almost done with my revisions. Actually I revised it all on paper; I just need to type them up. I have half of my outlines done. Two left, but one of the two is 31 pages of notes. Ugh. I have to sift through all those notes to make a concise outline. I've finished about half my homework. I don't really have to do anymore homework, though. I have everything done until Tuesday, but I think I would rather do homework than outline.

Finals start April 22. I wish we had another week of spring break.

More Responsibilities

Last week I ran for an SBA position... technically. Actually the week before, I put my name in a folder under secretary and no one else put theirs.

Student Bar Association is the student government for the law school. Our law school is pretty small, so we have only a president, internal VP, external VP, secretary, treasurer, and a few board positions. Undergraduate had all of this for each college (like engineering, arts and science, mass communication, etc.) as well as the overall campus-wide positions. We actually ran on tickets with pushcards, slogans, uniform signs, stickers, buttons, and an occasional T-shirt. We were a school of 30,000+, though. Being that big, though, allowed for some pretty fair campaigning.

We had a commissioner of elections and obvious election codes. All the votes were tallied at the end of the day with an announcement ceremony that night. All of the results (including the number and percentage of votes) were announced and published in the paper the next morning.

Why am I telling you all this, you may ask? Because our small law school had a presidential candidate collecting votes, it took three days to count up the votes, and a measly email only announcing the names of the winners was sent out one afternoon. I'm thinking it's time for some election reform. Nothing massive on the scale of my undergraduate. I just think any candidate should not be collecting votes. Scantrons could tally the votes quickly. People should know the campaign rules before, not after, they break them. Everyone should know how close the race actually was.

I'm secretary of this whole thing. I think I might try to get this done (even though the president might not approve of it because he was the one collecting votes).

We'll just have to see how activist I'm feeling next year.

...

I've just discovered how much I love ...

I feel... the need... to... use... them... a...l...l... t...h...e... t...i...m...e...

...

...

...especially when talking to someone on a messenging program...

...

I just needed to share my love...

Don't Make Me Come in There...

I flexed my female muscles today, and I'm quite proud. Yesterday, I brought my car to the dealership for its 55,000 mile inspection. After an hour (I was told the work would be done in 45 minutes), the service manager came to tell me that I needed $515 dollars worth of brake work, including replacing the rotors. I told him he could tell my dad that and proceeded to call my dad right there. The two spoke on the phone, and the service manager soon returned the phone to me. My dad decided to forgo the massive brake job and check on it himself when he got into town.

Yesterday afternoon, BF and I went to Les Schwab for a free brake inspection. BF and I walked around town a bit after dropping of the car, but very soon I received a call from a mechanic at Les Schwab who couldn't understand why I had my brakes inspected. After explaining about the dealership incident, he told me my brakes were fine, no rotor problem could have occurred yet, and it would only have cost $250 at most if there was one. I thanked him and picked up my car.

This morning I called the dealership to tell them about my Les Schwab experience and that I didn't appreciate being taken advantage of, simply because I was female. The customer service manager told me they do not recommend repairs based on sex (like they would admit to that), but on necessity (they why did everyone I tell about the incident balk at the idea of needing to replace my rotors at 55,000 miles?).

I'm proud I stood my ground. I refuse to be taken advantage of simply because I don't understand the mechanics of a car. I know I don't which is why I default to the nearest trustworthy male who can tell the mechanics to shove it.

The Military Calls My Name

As a young girl, I was inspired by my Air Force Barbie. She had a short 'do and a cool uniform. I wanted so desperately to joining the military, too. As I got older, I shifted back and forth between the Marines and the Air Force, even thinking long and hard about the military academy. I took a few steps in the direction of the Air Force Academy, but by the time I was a junior in high school, I had wavered so much that I was unable to get my stuff together in time to actually apply.

Fast forward four years. I was a junior in college. I was on a fast track to graduating as a computer engineer. All of a sudden, the military bug bit me again. I started looking into the ROTC program. In fact, I had even contacted the head of the Navy program. We talked for a bit. Since I hadn't started when I was a freshman, it would have been a little harder, but all I really needed to do was bulk up on a few military science courses and attend officer training camp (OTC as they called it) after I graduated, instead of the summer after sophomore year when most people do it. I was very close to signing those papers (and get a good bit of money from it as well), but I was deterred by the fact I was planning on going to engineering graduate school, and the Navy didn't fit well into that plan.

Little was I to know that a year later I would be pursuing the law school tract. Had I signed up with the Navy, I would be a lieutenant with law school paid for right now, but yet again, I was a little to late in deciding what I was going to do. Had I joined ROTC, I would be on my way to the Navy JAG corps in two more years, but I figured it was too late in college because I was about to graduate and there was no time to take the required courses.

Then I had to go and watch the wonderful HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers. OH MY GOD. This was one of the best things I have every seen in my life. EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS. I cannot watch good military movies right now, though, because all of a sudden, I feel the urge to join the military again. I know at this point it's not exactly what I want to do, but since it's been something I've wanted to do for such a long period of my life, a movie as romantic as Band of Brothers is enough to get me to want to join again.

I know the military is nothing like the military of WWII anymore, but that's the idea I keep of military in my head now. I know I would be working with people who are in the military for the wrong reasons, and now there are a bunch of mindless people who have nothing to do anymore.

But I can't help but think about what if I had gone to the military academy. Would I have been one of those girls who were raped and left anyway? What if I had joined ROTC? Would I still have gone to my current law school and met my current boyfriend? What if one of the suits in my closet was a dress uniform? But I know these questions can't be answered.

I know there are few if any Maj. Winters or Capt. Nixons. I know there are few enlisted men who fought like Lipton or Guarnere. I have to keep that in mind every time the military bug calls my name. I didn't join, and there must have been some reason. I'll just have to keep that in mind.

Law School Has Changed Me

Besides applying a "balancing test" to most decisions in my life or determining what a "reasonable person" would do in my position, this morning I was hit with how different law school has made me.

I wake up to NPR every morning. I leave it on until I leave. After my shower, I walked in on a report of hours upon hours of tapes from Supreme Court Justice Blackmun. I was transfixed. I then spent the next fifteen minutes intently listening to the report about the close call for Roe v. Wade. As I listened to the report, I reacted with amusement to Souter not being so conservative, with gratefulness of O'Connor's essential swing votes, and anger at Thomas's replacement of Marshall. That's when it hit me. I'm a law school nerd.

I Don't Understand Americans

I really don't get what is so appealing about Kerry. I look at him and see someone not very charismatic, someone who has been in Washington too long, and someone who I just don't connect with. I don't understand how almost every single primary (except S.C. for Edwards, O.K. for Clark, and Vt. for Dean) went for Kerry. What am I missing? Maybe I jumped on the Dean train to early (now they're asking for money to end the campaign... go figure), but I really felt a connection with him.

I even liked Edwards... to an extent. Actually, I thought he was attractive, and usually people go for that sort of thing. I'm not just being superficial. There have been tests to prove this fact.

Judge me if you will, but I'm sad now. I think I may just "throw away my vote" and vote for Nader. I regret not doing it last time. I'm just torn because I really want to get Bush out of office. I really don't see that happening now. Four more years... then I'll be a lawyer and can donate tons of money (well, a nice bit) to Hillary Clinton. She's one woman I would love to see president.