This week has been insane. I started my job on Monday, after much confusion (mostly my own). I think it'll be good. I'm still trying to figure out all the office protocol; hopefully they don't fire me before I figure it out!
This year I'm on the moot court board. Because I'm on the board, I can't do any of the competitions at the school. I was pretty bummed out about that because I am a complete nerd and was most excited about 2L year because it means we get to do moot court. However, we do have travel teams. So a couple of weeks ago I tried out for the trial team. We had to do a 5-8 minute closing argument on a one page fact pattern. It kind of felt like auditioning for a play, only I had to write my own monologue. Anyway, it was totally terrifying, but I'm glad I tried out. All the judges were really nice, which makes things better. I found out this week that I made the team!! Yay!!! I am so excited. The competition is in March, and it's Boston. That's basically all I know about it. We're supposed to be meeting up in a couple of weeks to talk things over, so I'll know more soon. In any event, I am really very exceedingly excited. And I don't care how nerdy that is.
In other news, last Sunday I went to a pentecostal church. It was quite an experience; I rather enjoyed myself. I don't think I'll be joining anytime soon, but I'm glad I got to go. They sang this fun kind of pop gospel number for like twenty minutes (seriously). I thought that was super cool. I got to sing as loud as I wanted and sway to the music. It was great.
It was a really interesting experience though. My only churchy experiences are Mormons and Catholics, so it was interesting to experience the more, uh, exuberant style of preaching. Some of it I really loved. And it was cool to see how different people expressed their feeling the spirit in different ways. Some people got down and prayed, some people swayed, some people called out; it was really a very eclectic crowd. I also road an Albany City bus for the first time. It was pretty much like every other cities bus system.
So, in sum, I am enjoying work but have no idea what I'm doing, I'm very excited about being on the moot court team but have no idea what I'm doing, and I went to a church where no one knew what they were doing. Are you seeing a trend here? Sigh. I wonder if I'll ever know what I'm doing?
On a more hopeful note, it's been a crazy, sometimes frustrating, semester thus far, but I've been given some pretty amazing opportunities too. I have a job, I have an internship, I made the moot court team, and they haven't kicked me out of my classes yet (which is always a relief). Also, I've just realized I'm obsessed with semi-colons, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway, all things considered it's been an adventurous week and a pretty damn good one too. I hope all of you have also had a pretty damn good week and that you are enjoying the fall weather! My apartment is a total disaster, so I must now go and clean.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Second shelf is mine. That's where I keep my rootbeers and my double-thick Oreo cookies. Nobody touches the second shelf but me.
Woo! This week has been one giant shitshow. And it's not over yet. :( Any warm fuzzies sent my way would be much appreciated!
The week was going fairly well until Tuesday night when my computer decided to snap in half. Literally. The screen un-attached itself from the keyboard. So... that seemed like it wasn't supposed to happen. The computer itself works fine, so I figured I could just take it to Best Buy and they could screw it back together or something. Apparently they don't carry Dell parts. So the geek squad fellow recommended some computer store in Latham, so I went there. The guy told me it probably was fixable but it was going to cost, best case scenario, like $300. Oh, and he also informed me I probably wouldn't get my computer back, if they could fix it, for a week and a half. I'm a damn law student. I basically don't exist without my computer. Sigh. Plus, I needed a new battery for my computer (you're supposed to replace them every 2 years. It's been 3...) and one of the USB ports is broken, so you know, kill me now.
Anyway, my dear parental units offered to help me purchase a new computer as it seemed to be the more sensible route (someday when I'm 82 and finally have my student loans paid off, I'll send them on like a dream vacation or something). So I bought the new computer (and an external hard drive. Now if my computer has to be parted from me for more than a few hours, I can plug in my hard drive in a different computer and all will be well) and took it home to try and figure out how to transfer all my shit over. I have a lot of shit, but, with the help of a friend, I think I managed to get it all transferred over. Phew!
Thus far my new lil computer seems to be working pretty well. At any rate, the screen is still attached...
In other news, I got a job! Yay!! I'm very excited about it. I should be able to start on Monday, which is even better. It's quite the story how I managed to get the job (Dean Salkin is going to get twinkled, I'm pretty sure), but the important thing is that I got it. I even have my first project, and I'm pretty excited about it. It should be an interesting job which is always good. I got to meet a few of the people in the office on Friday, and everyone was really nice and friendly, so I think it'll be a good place to work.
So this week started off a little like wishing I was dead, but it's turning out much better. I got a job, and life is good. However, I did fall ridiculously behind on my work (by ridiculously I mean like insanely ridiculously. I had to start a 3rd to do list yesterday because my other 2 were getting to long. 3 to do lists!! Sigh) due to the death of my computer, so I must now go slave away (on my 3 to do lists) in an attempt to get caught up. I hope all of you are well with happy healthy computers and only 1 to do list!
One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.
Happy October! I can't believe how fast this semester is going. Before I know it, finals will be here, and then I will get to go home!! Yay. :)
I've had a couple of very lawyer-y experiences the last few days. A couple of weeks ago I got an email saying there was a group putting together an effort to offer pro bono legal services to the victims of Hurricane Irene. I decided that would be a good way to be useful to society, so I've been trying to help out. This last Wednesday I was able to go out and help do intake and that sort of thing. It was interesting. For one thing, it was raining. I don't think it will ever stop raining here! The people that were there while I was there were, for the most part, quiet. Filled out the forms and then waited silently for an attorney to be available. I had an opportunity to read through some of the information packets that are given to Hurricane victims. Ridiculous. The hoops these people have to jump through just to get a real human being on the phone is unconscionable. Seriously, I struggle to understand how, as a society, we think it's ok to let these people languish. FEMA is woefully underfunded. I think currently the max these people can get from FEMA, assuming they can even get that far, is like $30,000. That is definitely better than nothing, but if your house has floated down the river, $30,000 won't build you a new one. One woman, who was lucky enough to have her house not float down the river, needed to have the floors in her house replaced. Her house had flooded and the floors were beyond repair. FEMA gave her $272. And because FEMA helped her, the insurance company won't.
And the insurance companies are even worse. That woman probably got more money from FEMA than her insurance company would have given her, if she had insurance. The older I get, the more I think insurance is just a giant ponzi scheme. You pay in your whole life and then when you need it they don't want to give you the money. Ass holes.
So, anyway, I'm glad I'm getting the opportunity to help a bit. I'm basically useless at this point because I don't know very much, but every little bit of help counts I guess. And I think it's really cool that there are attorneys willing to take a day or two off to come and help these people. We're not all bad, you know.
I did notice something I thought was interesting though. There were two attorneys working that day. Both times they came in and were introduced to me, they went straight to me (the woman in the suit) before even acknowledging the client (who wasn't wearing a suit). It made me very uncomfortable. I was grateful to meet these two attorneys, but it seemed strange to me that their first priority was to meet the law student rather than to meet the person there for much needed legal advice. I may have just perceived the entire thing wrong, but I still thought it was interesting, and it still made me a little uncomfortable.
In any event, they're doing a lot of good for these people, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to help!
I've had a couple of very lawyer-y experiences the last few days. A couple of weeks ago I got an email saying there was a group putting together an effort to offer pro bono legal services to the victims of Hurricane Irene. I decided that would be a good way to be useful to society, so I've been trying to help out. This last Wednesday I was able to go out and help do intake and that sort of thing. It was interesting. For one thing, it was raining. I don't think it will ever stop raining here! The people that were there while I was there were, for the most part, quiet. Filled out the forms and then waited silently for an attorney to be available. I had an opportunity to read through some of the information packets that are given to Hurricane victims. Ridiculous. The hoops these people have to jump through just to get a real human being on the phone is unconscionable. Seriously, I struggle to understand how, as a society, we think it's ok to let these people languish. FEMA is woefully underfunded. I think currently the max these people can get from FEMA, assuming they can even get that far, is like $30,000. That is definitely better than nothing, but if your house has floated down the river, $30,000 won't build you a new one. One woman, who was lucky enough to have her house not float down the river, needed to have the floors in her house replaced. Her house had flooded and the floors were beyond repair. FEMA gave her $272. And because FEMA helped her, the insurance company won't.
And the insurance companies are even worse. That woman probably got more money from FEMA than her insurance company would have given her, if she had insurance. The older I get, the more I think insurance is just a giant ponzi scheme. You pay in your whole life and then when you need it they don't want to give you the money. Ass holes.
So, anyway, I'm glad I'm getting the opportunity to help a bit. I'm basically useless at this point because I don't know very much, but every little bit of help counts I guess. And I think it's really cool that there are attorneys willing to take a day or two off to come and help these people. We're not all bad, you know.
I did notice something I thought was interesting though. There were two attorneys working that day. Both times they came in and were introduced to me, they went straight to me (the woman in the suit) before even acknowledging the client (who wasn't wearing a suit). It made me very uncomfortable. I was grateful to meet these two attorneys, but it seemed strange to me that their first priority was to meet the law student rather than to meet the person there for much needed legal advice. I may have just perceived the entire thing wrong, but I still thought it was interesting, and it still made me a little uncomfortable.
In any event, they're doing a lot of good for these people, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to help!
Monday, September 19, 2011
He wore that finger trap for two years. Mother had to teach him to eat with his feet.
Larkfest has come and gone, once again and, as always, it was one big, messy adventure. I think there were more people there this year than last year. It felt like there were seventeen million people there! I guess that was good though, more entertainment.
I didn't get there until like 3:30, but luckily the party was still raging on. Considering there were seventeen million people there, I did not feel the desire to attempt to find a parking spot, so I walked. I managed to run into a friend on my way there, so we strolled through the crowds for a bit. I got to look at some of the booths, which was fun. Honestly, the booths aren't that cool. I didn't go all the way down the street, but I only saw one booth of photographs/paintings. Kind of disappointing. Mostly it's just jewelry and sunglasses. That's ok though because the crowd makes up for the lack of crafts.
Larkfest only has two rules: No glass bottles and no coolers. Doesn't seem to be asking to much. I saw a guy who managed to get around those rules, though. He had a cooler, but he had turned it into a stereo. Seriously, he was pulling the thing down the street playing music. It was ridiculous and also very creative. I never would've thought of that. There was also somebody walking around with an old school boombox playing 80's rap. There was a big dance party going on at the intersection of Chestnut and Lark.
One of my friends described it as a giant frat party. That pretty much sums it up. There were people dropping jello shots out of windows and all kinds of crazy things. I didn't get as many pictures as I did last year, but I did get one with a er... very friendly clown dude. He had this fake rat with him. He wouldn't talk to you, but he kept making squeaking noises while he flung the rat around (presumably that was supposed to be the rat running around). He was very strange, so, naturally, I took a picture with him.
Yay for Larkfest. :)
I didn't get there until like 3:30, but luckily the party was still raging on. Considering there were seventeen million people there, I did not feel the desire to attempt to find a parking spot, so I walked. I managed to run into a friend on my way there, so we strolled through the crowds for a bit. I got to look at some of the booths, which was fun. Honestly, the booths aren't that cool. I didn't go all the way down the street, but I only saw one booth of photographs/paintings. Kind of disappointing. Mostly it's just jewelry and sunglasses. That's ok though because the crowd makes up for the lack of crafts.
Larkfest only has two rules: No glass bottles and no coolers. Doesn't seem to be asking to much. I saw a guy who managed to get around those rules, though. He had a cooler, but he had turned it into a stereo. Seriously, he was pulling the thing down the street playing music. It was ridiculous and also very creative. I never would've thought of that. There was also somebody walking around with an old school boombox playing 80's rap. There was a big dance party going on at the intersection of Chestnut and Lark.
One of my friends described it as a giant frat party. That pretty much sums it up. There were people dropping jello shots out of windows and all kinds of crazy things. I didn't get as many pictures as I did last year, but I did get one with a er... very friendly clown dude. He had this fake rat with him. He wouldn't talk to you, but he kept making squeaking noises while he flung the rat around (presumably that was supposed to be the rat running around). He was very strange, so, naturally, I took a picture with him.
Yay for Larkfest. :)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Remember, forget it!
I got an email from my professor today. For Fact Investigation, we get to do a lot of "pretend-play". Yay... Anyway, this week I get to "pretend-play" giving a client interview. I have no bloody idea how to do a client interview, so... this will be an adventure.
Anyway, the email told us we weren't allowed to use any of the material in our book. Because the case is completely made up, all of the depositions, pleadings, witness statements, etc. are already in our book, giving us complete access to all of that information. However, my professor informed us that she wants these to be as real as possible (except for the whole "the entire class will be watching you" part), so we have to pretend like we don't already know the facts of the case. Right. I dunno, maybe this'll be an advantage. You know, they tell trial lawyers to never ask a question they don't already know the answer too, so there you have it. I'll already know the answer to all of my questions. Unless there's some curve ball in there I don't know about, which is likely. Law school would be way less interesting if they weren't always trying to trick you. Keeps you on your toes, you know...
Anyway, we'll see how my client interview goes. I'm nervous as hell but a little excited too. It'll be a new adventure, and I'm gonna have to learn how to do it eventually. Better sooner than later, I guess. Now if you'll excuse me, I must now go forget.
Anyway, the email told us we weren't allowed to use any of the material in our book. Because the case is completely made up, all of the depositions, pleadings, witness statements, etc. are already in our book, giving us complete access to all of that information. However, my professor informed us that she wants these to be as real as possible (except for the whole "the entire class will be watching you" part), so we have to pretend like we don't already know the facts of the case. Right. I dunno, maybe this'll be an advantage. You know, they tell trial lawyers to never ask a question they don't already know the answer too, so there you have it. I'll already know the answer to all of my questions. Unless there's some curve ball in there I don't know about, which is likely. Law school would be way less interesting if they weren't always trying to trick you. Keeps you on your toes, you know...
Anyway, we'll see how my client interview goes. I'm nervous as hell but a little excited too. It'll be a new adventure, and I'm gonna have to learn how to do it eventually. Better sooner than later, I guess. Now if you'll excuse me, I must now go forget.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
I gotta go Julia; we got cows.
As promised, my shitty pictures of Hurricane Irene. Enjoy. Or whatever.
Debris!
My lil supply of food. I had more in the fridge, but this was just in case my house blew up or something. I don't know.
Giant tree that fell down on Woodlawn (that's the street I live on) forthwith knocking out the power to everyone in the neighborhood . . .
. . . and uprooting the sidewalk.
Monday, August 29, 2011
My cat has been petrified! I want to see some punishment!
I'm alive!!!! I'm so happy! I survived Hurricane Irene (or Tropical Storm Irene, I guess; whatever you call her, I did not like her). It was an adventure, to be sure. Honestly, not as much of an adventure as I originally planned, but I feel ok about that.
The storm kind of got started on Saturday night; that's when it started to rain, anyway. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I tried to make sure I had everything in order, just in case the worst should happen (whatever the hell that means). Anyway, I was ready.
I had a hard time sleeping and woke up several times. Honestly, I was freaking out a little bit. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I've always felt like I could handle pretty much everything. You know, I'm a Brinkerhoff, we're pretty tough, and I can be fairly resourceful. Plus, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm certainly not the dullest. At any rate, the one thing I never felt like I could handle was a natural disaster. So, of course, here I am in the middle of a natural disaster. I bet mother nature had a good chuckle.
Anyway, when I finally managed to peek out from my covers it was about 9 in the morning. It was raining, but the wind wasn't too bad. My power was out which kind of sucked, but I still had running water. I had everything ready. I had my tub full of water just in case I ran out of running water (I read up on how to prepare oneself for a hurricane. I was ready dammit! He who is prepared shall not fear, right? What a bunch of bullshit. I was terrified.) Anyway, I opened up my blinds so I could see this awful natural disaster that I was certain was going to wipe me off the face of the planet. At least there weren't any sharks. It was kind of cool to see, actually. I got a few pictures, but I was kind of afraid to go outside, so they aren't very good pictures. Sorry. Next time there's a hurricane and/or tropical storm out here, feel free to come visit me and take a picture yourself.
Anyway, I kept checking the weather forecast on my phone and reading the news updates. Some power lady said we should all be prepared to be without power for days. Days, with an s. I hoped she was just being pessimistic. As it turns out, she was. My power came back on at around 1:30 or 2, and I promptly celebrated by taking a nap. It was a glorious little nap, and I slept with all of my lights on. Anyway, the power went out again at about 6, and that's when the wind really picked up, in my neck of the woods anyway. I didn't like it. I closed all of my windows so I couldn't hear it. Of course, I could still hear it, but it made me feel better.
Anyway, I busted out my little flashlights and tried to get some homework done. Called Nationalgrid, again, to tell them my power was out. They had an automated phone message thing. I kind of felt bad; I expect they were pretty busy. Apparently like 90,000 people were without power by 6 o'clock. Apparently some of them still are. Counting my blessings...
Anyway, in a fit of wishful thinking I decided to go downstairs and check my braker (I don't know how to spell that). I knew that the power was out because a tree came down on my street (yes, the whole tree. And it was a very big tree. It actually uprooted the sidewalk. It's still there, so no one is driving on woodlawn. It's been kind of quiet), but I hoped I could just switch the braker and my lights would come on again. So through the torrent of wind and rain I went down into my basement. It stunk. It kind of smelled like a mixture of insecticide and gasoline. So now I was all worried that I had a gas leak and my house was going to blow up. Wouldn't that just be my luck?
I called my dear Father who, I'm certain, wondered what I wanted him to do about it. He told me to call Nationalgrid. So I did. They showed up fairly quickly. Apparently what I was smelling was something horrid that had come up the drain when our basement flooded, but we did actually have a gas leak. So two guys from Nationalgrid stayed here until about midnight fixing our gas leak, and my landlords came today to fix the smell.
When I woke up this morning, my power was still out. Cursing Irene, I walked my ass up to the school library. I needed my computer to do my homework, and my laptop is old - the battery doesn't last very long. Anyway, whilst at the library I got a call saying the power had been restored. Yay!! All was right again in my world.
So, all things considered Irene wasn't too terrible to us. There has been widespread flooding throughout the region, and there are still several flood warnings being issued. There are still people without power, and there are still giant trees blocking the roads, but for the most part Albany is recovering quite nicely. I'm really grateful for the power people who, I'm sure, are getting lots of overtime. I for one am appreciative that they are working so hard. I love electricity!
I was going to post my shitty pictures of Irene, but it's taking to long to load, and I am exceedingly tired. I'll post them tomorrow. Until then may you all be in sunshine only (maybe some shade).
The storm kind of got started on Saturday night; that's when it started to rain, anyway. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I tried to make sure I had everything in order, just in case the worst should happen (whatever the hell that means). Anyway, I was ready.
I had a hard time sleeping and woke up several times. Honestly, I was freaking out a little bit. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I've always felt like I could handle pretty much everything. You know, I'm a Brinkerhoff, we're pretty tough, and I can be fairly resourceful. Plus, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm certainly not the dullest. At any rate, the one thing I never felt like I could handle was a natural disaster. So, of course, here I am in the middle of a natural disaster. I bet mother nature had a good chuckle.
Anyway, when I finally managed to peek out from my covers it was about 9 in the morning. It was raining, but the wind wasn't too bad. My power was out which kind of sucked, but I still had running water. I had everything ready. I had my tub full of water just in case I ran out of running water (I read up on how to prepare oneself for a hurricane. I was ready dammit! He who is prepared shall not fear, right? What a bunch of bullshit. I was terrified.) Anyway, I opened up my blinds so I could see this awful natural disaster that I was certain was going to wipe me off the face of the planet. At least there weren't any sharks. It was kind of cool to see, actually. I got a few pictures, but I was kind of afraid to go outside, so they aren't very good pictures. Sorry. Next time there's a hurricane and/or tropical storm out here, feel free to come visit me and take a picture yourself.
Anyway, I kept checking the weather forecast on my phone and reading the news updates. Some power lady said we should all be prepared to be without power for days. Days, with an s. I hoped she was just being pessimistic. As it turns out, she was. My power came back on at around 1:30 or 2, and I promptly celebrated by taking a nap. It was a glorious little nap, and I slept with all of my lights on. Anyway, the power went out again at about 6, and that's when the wind really picked up, in my neck of the woods anyway. I didn't like it. I closed all of my windows so I couldn't hear it. Of course, I could still hear it, but it made me feel better.
Anyway, I busted out my little flashlights and tried to get some homework done. Called Nationalgrid, again, to tell them my power was out. They had an automated phone message thing. I kind of felt bad; I expect they were pretty busy. Apparently like 90,000 people were without power by 6 o'clock. Apparently some of them still are. Counting my blessings...
Anyway, in a fit of wishful thinking I decided to go downstairs and check my braker (I don't know how to spell that). I knew that the power was out because a tree came down on my street (yes, the whole tree. And it was a very big tree. It actually uprooted the sidewalk. It's still there, so no one is driving on woodlawn. It's been kind of quiet), but I hoped I could just switch the braker and my lights would come on again. So through the torrent of wind and rain I went down into my basement. It stunk. It kind of smelled like a mixture of insecticide and gasoline. So now I was all worried that I had a gas leak and my house was going to blow up. Wouldn't that just be my luck?
I called my dear Father who, I'm certain, wondered what I wanted him to do about it. He told me to call Nationalgrid. So I did. They showed up fairly quickly. Apparently what I was smelling was something horrid that had come up the drain when our basement flooded, but we did actually have a gas leak. So two guys from Nationalgrid stayed here until about midnight fixing our gas leak, and my landlords came today to fix the smell.
When I woke up this morning, my power was still out. Cursing Irene, I walked my ass up to the school library. I needed my computer to do my homework, and my laptop is old - the battery doesn't last very long. Anyway, whilst at the library I got a call saying the power had been restored. Yay!! All was right again in my world.
So, all things considered Irene wasn't too terrible to us. There has been widespread flooding throughout the region, and there are still several flood warnings being issued. There are still people without power, and there are still giant trees blocking the roads, but for the most part Albany is recovering quite nicely. I'm really grateful for the power people who, I'm sure, are getting lots of overtime. I for one am appreciative that they are working so hard. I love electricity!
I was going to post my shitty pictures of Irene, but it's taking to long to load, and I am exceedingly tired. I'll post them tomorrow. Until then may you all be in sunshine only (maybe some shade).
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