Legal Quandary

Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I've just been busy. Oh - and I had a 24 hour bug Thursday/Friday which made life pretty miserable for a while. Also, I've been doing a lot more blogreading lately. Strangely, most of it has been actual law related stuff.

I had class until 6 tonight and got home a little while ago to man the give-out-candy station here at home while Mr. Q took the kids out. And you know what I've discovered?

Nobody Trick-or-Treats anymore.

I guess that either means there's better (read safer) stuff for kids to be doing, or kids just get so much candy without begging for it that it just isn't worth the effort to don the costume these days.

Good thing I've adopted the policy of only giving out the candy that I would enjoy eating. Which means there's plenty of Butterfingers, Almond Joys, Milky Way (regular and Midnight), Snickers, and Twix in my house to last a really long time.

Monday, October 24, 2005

In My Excitement Over the Whole Job Thing

I forgot that the 22nd was LQ's Blogiversary.

So...um, happy birthday to, me, I guess. Or something.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Full Moon(s)

EC and I made one of those last minute Sunday-night-because-I-absolutely-need-it-for-school-tomorrow-Mom! shopping trips tonight.

As we pulled into the parking lot, there was a guy wearing those stupidpants (you know - the ones that intentionally are cinched at mid-ass). He was leaning over to get something out of the backseat, and EC and I were treated to affronted with a more or less full view of his heiney. I guess he'd forgotten to wear the boxer shorts that are supposed to be visible over the top.

(By the way gentlemen - when are you going to put that stupid fad to rest? I realize that I am probably not your target audience, but trust me when I tell you that NO ONE really wants to see your underpants. Or even your lack of underpants. Particularly people accompanied by their 11 year daughter. /rant)

Later, as we were about to leave, I needed to powder my nose. The door to the restroom was open and the door faced the sinks and mirrors. As I walked into THE LADIES ROOM, I heard running water - and I don't mean like from a sink. A quick glance at one of the mirrors confirmed that there was, in fact, a man standing in one of the stalls and doing his thing. With the door to the stall wide open.

I turned around and confirmed that I had walked into the Ladies room (I had) and decided to just wait a moment. (He's a guy - how long could it take?) He came out a minute or two later and said "Whoops - I guess I was in the wrong one! I wondered where all the urinals were!" Gee - d'ya think?

I don't think I'm going back to that Target anytime soon.

How Come?

I just left a comment at someone else's site. She has the password comments feature turned on too.

And I was just wondering - how come the letters are always all wavy? Does it somehow make it harder for spammers to overcome?

Also, Denise mentioned that she was having problems leaving comments after I enabled that feature. Has anyone else had problems? If so - send me an email. Because you can't leave it in the comments.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

I've been doing a lot of multi-cultural eating lately. For example, a couple of weeks ago we had a Thai noodle soup on Friday, went out for Lebanese food on Saturday lunch, and then had friends over. We made Mexican and they brought these fantabulous Vietnamese sandwiches. It all went surprisingly well together.

This weekend I made crepes for dinner last night, Tom Yam Goong (Thai Hot & Sour Soup) for lunch today, and tomorrow I'm planning to bake pita bread and make falafel with tahini sauce.

Of course, the ingredients for some of these dishes aren't exactly available at the local Giant store. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find Kafir Lime leaves? (Bangkok 54 in Arlington is the only place I've found them - look in the freezer section.)

So, in the space of the last week, I've visited at least 3 separate "ethnic" groceries. One Thai (for lime leaves, lemongrass, and red curry), one Vietnamese (Chinese broccoli and shrimp), and one Lebanese (tahini). And I always feel like I'm the only round-eye they've ever seen wandering their aisles.

Aside from learning 3 new languages, does anyone know how to overcome this? Or do I just accept the fact that I'm a culinary oddity and deal with it?

Friday, October 21, 2005

Raise the Roof!

Remember how stressed I was last month? And the interview that I showed up extremely late for?

Well, Halloween came early and I found out this afternoon that I got the job!

Of course, there's the small matter of graduating and passing the bar, but still - what a relief!

Whe-woo! I'm off to celebrate with my kids by laying around on the couch and watching movies!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

I May Have Found

One slight advantage to the quarter system:

You have less time to get bored with your classes.

Even the classes that were "interesting" and "fun" at the start of the semester are beginning to drag right about now. I know I probably went through this with my other classes too, but just about the time things started really getting bad, it was time to take finals and be done. This year I've got to figure out some way to stay motivated for another 5 weeks. (You'd think the staggering amount of tuition would do it for me, but surprisingly - not so much.)

On the other hand - it is kinda cool having classes only 3 days a week.

If You Say So...

Your 1920's Name is:

Ione Queenie
What's Your 1920's Name?


As seen on Blogthings.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

LQ Endorses

The new corkscrew I bought the other day.

A while back I demonstrated why a good bottle opener is a necessity. I saw this one on sale while shopping for a new hand mixer, and finally gave in.

Of course, it's only a knockoff and not a *real* Rabbit bottle opener, but it's still pretty freaking awesome.

I only wish I could say the same for the Pinot Noir I opened last night.

This Sounds About Right

...of course, it's been so long that I really don't remember...

and that's sad.

You're a Wild Drunk

You can't get enough to drink. Seriously, you'll just go puke and start pounding them back again!
What Kind of Drunk Are You?

Dear Professor Jackass,

Let's just agree that you are brilliant. You obviously believe it, and I'm willing to play along.

But I'm just telling you that when a student comes up to you to ask a question after class, it's either because 1) they don't understand something, or 2) are really interested in the material and want to discuss it further. When you are dismissive and condescending, you actively discourage learning.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Hugs and Kisses

LQ

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

So Embarrassing!

And painful too!

I just fell down the stairs. Actually, I fell down the stairs about 15 minutes ago and have been in pain ever since.

What makes it embarrassing is that 1) I was on the phone with my mother-in-law when it happened, and 2) this is exactly the kind of thing I'm always lecturing EC about.

How can a bruised tailbone hurt so damned much?

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Another Annoying Professorial Quirk

Professor Environmental likes to refer to the Supreme Court as "the Supremes."

As in, "in 1954, the Supremes said [fill in holding here]" or, "LQ, what did the Supremes have to say about issue xyz?"

I find this a singularly annoying habit.

Also, I'm sorely tempted to answer his question with "You Can't Hurry Love."

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Has Anyone Else

Signed up for Google Talk?

If so - let me know.

Because it's really no fun if you don't have anyone to talk to.

Friday, October 14, 2005

I Say To-May-To...

How would you pronounce the following name? Patricia

Would you pronounce it Pa-Trish-a (how I would pronounce it) or Pa-Treesh-a (how Prof CT pronounces it)?

We had a hypo today in CT where Mark signed and delivered a note to Patricia, who in turn, delivered it to Teresa for value. How many times did we mention poor PaTreesha and her note? Lots.

The only other person I've heard pronounce it that way is my grandmother.

Jeesh. Almost more annoying than the Metro drivers who insist on pronouncing Judiciary as Judish-You-Ary.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Dumb as....a Really Big Dummy*

I took a mental/physical health day the other day. Meaning that I felt like ass and therefore did NOT drag myself to the Metro station by 8 A.M. in order to make it to Commercial Transactions by 9.

I had stayed up really late finishing up a short paper and hadn't done any of the reading anyway.

How was I to know that after spending half the semester on Article 9, we would plow through Bankruptcy in ONE CLASS??? (Looking at the syllabus would have been a good start, but whatever.)

How could I have missed the ONE CLASS on Bankruptcy? I've tried to read the material, but after an hour of reading, I didn't understand it anymore than I did before I started. Two people have been kind enough to share their notes, and I *still* don't get it. Prof CT has already said that material is "weighted" on the final according to how much time we spent on it in class, but still - I am completely clueless.

And Article 3 doesn't seem to be shaping up much better. *sigh*

* The title refers to an "Almost Live" skit about a "Simile School" for people whose similes suck. Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about? Almost Live was a Seattle show from the mid-1980's to late 1990's. I think it's where "Bill Nye the Science Guy" got his start. You should see him as "Speedwalker." It's very, um, revealing.

On the Road Again...

We just found out that we're probably moving again next summer - and I'm totally psyched!

This makes it REALLY hard to concentrate on the gajillion pages of Commercial Transactions reading I have to do before 9am tomorrow. After all - I have important matters to consider now. Like, which bar do I take? Do I even bother unpacking the boxes we haven't gotten to yet? And how will this impact my plans to go to Europe this summer?

Having Erasure playing in the background probably isn't helping matters either.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Do Any of You Find

That the longer you're in law school, the less capable you are of writing a *short* answer to anything?*

I used to struggle to meet minimum page requirements. Now I have a hard time keeping under maximum allowances and have to resort to strange abbreviations and playing with font sizes.

Note to all you 1Ls and lawyer wannabes - law school changes you permanently.

* Some of my friends might tell you that I was incapable of writing short answers in the first place. They lie.

Exemplary Behavior

Our Commercial Trans professor assigns us problems from his old exams from time to time. The idea is for us to use them as a chance to evaluate our grasp of the concepts. Plus, he uses each one as 5% toward our final grade in the class. Which typically works well for me, since I sort of suck at exam writing, but tend to do fairly well when I can invest some time and thought into my answer. There will still be a final, but at least I'm able to do some damage control up front.

So, 2 or 3 weeks ago, we turned in our first problem. A couple of days later, he handed back our answers, along with an "Exemplar" answer. The answers were stapled shut, so I read the exemplar on my way back to my seat. I chuckled to see that the exemplar started out word-for-word like my own answer. As I kept reading, I realized that it WAS my own answer. I've never had my work held out as a good example in law school before, so I was a little taken aback. I was even more taken aback when I realized that the prof had left my name on it. At TVPNU, we would never even turn anything in with our names on it - we always used exam numbers assigned by Academic Services.

Flash forward to last Friday. We're having our little study group session to talk about the second problem, and one girl starts in on how she "read the sample answer from last time, and *she* would never write something like that on an exam."

I'm sure she was just referring to the fact that I cited extensively to various sections of Article 9 throughout, which *would* be challenging during a final, but still.

I'm nicknaming her Captain Oblivious.

Monday, October 10, 2005

I'm Offering up My Answers and Explanations*

To this good cause.

You should too.

Because it's funny.

* My Book. Not my own anwers and explanations on ConLaw. Because according to my 1L ConLaw grade, my own obviously weren't that great.

Happy Columbus Day!

This is the first year I've had Columbus Day off. TVPNU didn't recognize it. I don't think the public school district did either, so it was more or less like any other school day.

On the other hand, Host School does this thing called "Administrative Monday," which means they designate some other day of the week and just pretend it is Monday. I guess to make up for all the holidays that fall on Monday.

Tomorrow is our Administrative Monday - so instead of my lovely Tuesday all to myself, I have to go to school. Plus all the professors have loaded us up with extra reading and assignments "since we have a long weekend."

Why is it that law professors can't seem to grasp the idea that a holiday should be a break?

Thursday, October 06, 2005

One of the Little Known Drawbacks to Parenthood

When you get a song stuck in your head, just as often as not, it's the themesong to some children's show.

Like Thomas the Tank Engine.

I need help. Clearly.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Don't Try This at Home Boys and Girls

I made salsa the other night. 2 kinds of Farmer's Market tomatoes, jalepeno, sweet yellow and chilancho peppers, cilantro, a little lime juice and salt....mmmm.

The thing is, I seeded the peppers with my bare hands.

Which made removing my contacts that night *QUITE* an experience.

Seeing myself hop around the bathroom with one eye squinched shut and flowing tears would have been almost funny if it hadn't hurt so damned much.

Yay Sprint!

When we first moved, I called Sprint to add an international calling plan, since I knew I'd be calling Germany a lot.

Somehow the plan didn't get added, so when we opened our bill, Mr. Q almost had a heart attack. (I told you I called a lot - and at $3 per minute it adds up fast. Really fast.)

I called Customer Service, prepared to do battle with them about "reasonable expectations" and promises I "relied upon to my detriment." But all I had to do was explain what happened and they totally recalculated my bill, immediately reducing it by 93%.

Awesome.

Comments

Have been temporarily disabled thanks to all the damned spammers who have not knocked off their activity as I requested, but have, in fact, increased it.

My favorite being from "Bud Wiser" stating that "This is a wonderful site about herbalife weight loss, of course I have a similar page herbalife weight loss" [link to his lame site here. Which I will not do him the honor of linking to.] I have never written about herbalife. I will never write about herbalife. Mainly because I don't believe that herbal supplements are a substitute for good diet and exercise.

If anyone knows how I can get rid of these damned spammers, please email me. Does using Haloscan for comments help? Can I hire an exterminator?

Because really - all the fun of even having a blog lies in the possibility that I might strike a chord with someone and have them comment.

Update:
Comments are back, thanks to E.Spat's tip about Blogger's word verification feature. It might be a bit of a pain, but it makes me happier. Damned spammers. Ruining the internet for the rest of us. Rat bastards.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Dear "Smallman", "Jon", "Enlargement", and "8709",

If those are your real names, which I seriously doubt.

I don't know what I've done to earn your attention, but I wish you'd stop showering it upon me.

I know you say that you were "searching blogs, and came onto yours, and I like it. I kinda landed here on accident while searching for something esle, but nice blog...I got you bookmarked."*

Here's the thing. I don't believe you. In fact, I think you are all big fat liars.

Why do I think that? Well...hmmm...where to start. You all posted nearly identical messages within hours of one another claiming to have come upon my blog accidently. While flattery will normally get you everywhere, you might note that complements should have a ring of truth about them. Do yourselves a favor and at least coordinate amongst yourselves so that you're not copying each other. Also - one might reasonably assume that if you were truly "searching" blogs, the blogs you chose to "bookmark" might bear some relation to your own. To the best of my knowledge, I have made reference to diabetes (Smallman) exactly once in a rant against my ex-husband and the poor diet he inflicts on our child. I've mentioned hair removal techniques (Enlargement) only once - in the comments of someone else's blog. I've NEVER talked about Male Genitalia Enhancement (8709) nor have I ever mentioned birthday horoscopes (Jon). It's not what I do. And I wish you wouldn't either - or at least not on *my* blog.

Just as I do not maintain a telephone for the convenience of telemarketers, I don't write this blog for YOU to try to make money off of it by advertising your own site - which, judging by the names and some of the content, are of dubious value to anyone. Look, I said that I would be willing to entertain offers for my endorsement, so if you're willing to cough up some fees, fine.

Until then - knock it the fuck off.

Sincerely,

LQ

ps - if any of you are legit - please feel free to send me an email (address off the the left there...) and explain yourself. I'll give you equal time. Until then, consider me on your "Do Not Blog" list.

* nice spelling job. Dumbfuck. Also - as E.Spat so aptly points out - your name speaks volumes.