Friday, June 24, 2005

Taking the farm

What were the Supremes thinking with yesterday's property rights decision?! Moreover, what were the typically non-rights-trampling Supremes thinking with their majority vote?!

I don't see this as a conservative issue or liberal issue. Whether you fall on the red side or blue side, this decision has the potential to have an huge impact on one of the basic foundations of this country - the right to own property. Jared at Stream of Consciousness has a good overview of the opinion and judicial breakdown.

Hooray for Justice O'Connor's dissent. Unfortunately, the other Justices seem to have lost their minds on this one.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Things that make you go hmmm....

I'm glad they found that little boy in the woods of Utah. I can't imagine what his parents must have been going through for four days. However, am I the only one wondering why the hell that kid hid from the people searching for him? This whole bit about how he was taught "not to talk to strangers" just doesn't fly with me. The kid is eleven years old, not five. One would think that his sense of thirst and the knowledge that he was obviously lost would over-ride some parental prohibition against talking to strangers. Then again, what do I know. I have no kids. And when I do have kids, they will be unlucky enough to have some kind of GPS tracker sewn into their clothing because I will be that kind of over-protective mother. If my dog-parenting skills are any indication of what my human-parenting skills will be, my kids will likely be loud and raucus and slightly spoiled, but smart and sweet and always on a leash. They will adore me because I am fun, but God help the rest of my family and random people in public if I don't find a husband/father who is a firm disciplinarian.

In other national news, the folks in Aruba arrested yet another suspect. This time, it is the Judge/father of the Van Der Sloot (I love that last name) boy. Apparently in Aruba, you get to arrest suspects first and then find the evidence to detain them. This guy is the seventh person arrested in the case, and yet there seems to be very little evidence (based on media reports, which I always consider untrustworthy). I am thinking that either Aruba has a very tight cap on evidentiary leaks to the media or their probable cause standards are pretty low, and my vote goes to low probable cause standards.

And finally, the Southern Baptists passed a resolution at their annual convention lifting their boycott of everything Disney. The baptists instituted the boycott of the Walt Disney Company in 1997, accusing the company of "violating moral righteousness and traditional family values" because the company decided to extend benefits to companions of gay and lesbian couples. Please. Believe what you want, worship how you want, but when you start depriving thousands of baptist kids from Micky Mouse because of your blatant intolerance and hate, you totally suck.

And in today's "Bar Review Revue," tax sucks about as bad as the southern baptist ban on Disney, especially estate and gift tax. Too much tax knowledge forced into my head this week makes me want to dumb myself down with Dr. Phil this afternoon. Maybe then I'll understand how the federal government can lay claim to nearly 50% of an estate.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I did NOT run off with the garbage man...

... although I sometimes wish I had.

I'm alive and well, although a bit bitchy these days. Sorry to have abandoned my post, and if you are still checking in here, you must be bored. Or faithful. Either way, I appreciate it.

Things have changed in my life lately, and I don't particularly care for this much change all at once. It makes me cranky. Between bar review, work and studying, I have little time for much else, including blogging. Gone are the days of the perpetual internet connection at the law school or surfing the net in the evenings between glasses of pinot grigio and reality TV programs. Thirty-six more days until the wretched bar exam is behind me and I can return to some sense of normal!

I'll try to drop a line here a bit more often until then. I'll try.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Monday, monday...

I am home studying this morning. I have assumed yesterday's position on my bed. The news is on in the background. It's sunny and hot - so humid here that you can smell the dirt, although the night was filled with violent storms, crashing thunder, and drenching rain. I woke up shortly after 3am and took Milo out, just after the storms passed. The air still had that funny storm electricity, and the deck was covered with debris. A few flashes of lightening still lit up the sky, but the rain had passed. I never did get back to sleep.

I am working through practice questions from two primary MBE study books. In one - Emanuel's Strategies and Tactics for the MBE - the questions are tricky, but very do-able. I have consistently scored well on these practice questions. Also, I have found that the questions that have been passed out with a few bar review lectures are also, for the most part, do-able. They are not easy, but every single one doesn't blindside you with a trick answer. However, the dreaded red book - Multistate Workbook Volume I from PMBR - is killing me. Damnit. The questions are hard, demoralizing. I'm not scoring very well on these particular questions, but my guess is that they are probably more reflective of what I will face on the actual MBE. As irritating as PMBR was, I have found that it was very much more helpful than the MBE portion of my local bar review. I'm disappointed in that fact, but very glad I paid the extra bucks for PMBR. So, today I am tackling the red book.

Ann Curry is currently interviewing Angelina Jolie on the Today Show. I admire Angelina Jolie very much, both for her humanitarian work and strong personality. In response to whether tabloid rumors hurt her, Ms. Jolie replied, "No, it takes a lot to hurt me." Having gotten my feelings hurt a couple of times in the past week over rather trivial matters, that comment struck me. I really need to toughen up and adopt that mantra. On another note, watching Angelina talk is absolutely mesmerizing. That mouth is something else. I'm just sayin'.

Tonight I'm off to a baseball game with a couple of girlfriends and a fun local judge. A few months ago, we bid on and won the "dogs and suds" date with the judge at the law school's Women's Caucus auction. Good news for the judge - today is Monday dollar night, meaning all peanuts, popcorn, cracker jack and hot dogs are a dollar. Not good news for the judge - beer is not on sale. I love baseball games at Victory Field. Peanuts and cold beer should be a perfect ending to a long Monday with the red book.

Sunday, June 05, 2005

One of these things is not like the other one...

I have been neglecting the blogging - writing, reading and commenting. I wish I could say that I'd get back on track here, but I can't make any promises. I did, however, get my internet connected in my bedroom at the parents' yesterday so I can finally use my laptop again, and that should keep me more on top of things in the blogosphere.

I am currently sitting in the middle of my bed with bar review materials strewn about and Milo curled up at my pink slippered feet taking a snooze. I've been working through outlines and questions this morning, but I put aside the books when "The Pelican Brief" came on the TV a few minutes ago. I was hoping the movie might inspire me to study law so I might be able to eventually practice law, but so far, no such luck. It's a great movie, though, and I always thought it was one of Grisham's best novels.

Last night I attended a firm party at one of the partner's homes. The home was a magnificent place on a gorgeous lake. The house was absolutely beautiful. It was a perfect warm evening for a party, with elegant catering, fine wine flowing like water, citronella-scented air, and spins around the lake on the pontoon boat. I didn't feel much like going yesterday, and I came up with a wide array of creative excuses to get myself out of it. For the most part, I love to socialize, and I like this partner very much, but I honestly just wasn't in the mood to make nice with a bunch of other people's spouses last night. But I made myself go and actually had a good time overall, with only a couple moments of exception. One of the partners informed me (in front of several others) that he took and passed the bar exam with less than two weeks of prep. Apparently the firm he was clerking for at that time didn't allow for the luxury of time off to study. Thanks so much for the words of encouragement and understanding. And exactly how am I supposed to respond to that? Another partner asked how my final grades were coming out, and then outright asked about my graduating GPA. For the love of God, people.

Most attorneys I know love to tell war stories, mostly figurative stories of walking 2 miles to school uphill barefoot in the snow - how everything in "their day" was more difficult, but they made it through with flying colors. I hope someone slaps me silly if I ever start doing that ego bullshit. Anyhow, I bit my tongue last night for the most part, although I did point out to the two-week bar prep guy that I am the kind of person that prefers to be overly prepared rather than fly by my seat. He got my point and moved on to torment someone else.

Most facades are thin enough that I can see right through them, but I have to wonder if my own is thick enough. Ah, well. It was a lovely evening for a party, and the petit fours kicked ass.