Odd

Oddest law school conversation to date: classmate comes in to the restroom and uses a urinal two over from mine, observing proper etiquette. As I'm washing my hands, he says hello while still at the urinal.

"Hey. I'd have struck up a conversation, but, you know," I said.

"I understand completely. A little awkward talking to me with my d**k in my hands."

Alrighty then.

Speaking of restrooms, I just left a retail store (far west of Hwy 100) and a store employee took a dump, then walked right out of the restroom without washing his hands. I reported him to the manager and, kudos to the store, he actually called security to get the employee off the sales floor.

A Painting at School

 A painting on the 3rd floor of the law school. 

Mixed Signals

Hmm. I'm beginning to think the Professor didn't like my work.

A Complaint

I want to publicly thank Marquette Law for not only taking outrageous amounts of my money each semester, but also for being nice enough to close the parking garage to students every time they schedule a poorly attended, barely noticed political debate. Because of this screwed up sense of priorities, and the resulting parking overflow on side streets, I had to park more than four blocks away and hike uphill with a 30 pound backpack on a surgically repaired hip . It was already a shi**y day, and now its a really *painful* shi**y day. #AngryGimp

The Lasso of Truth

 My Evidence Professor just brought up Wonder Woman and her Lasso of Truth. Neat fact: the creator of WW was one of the early inventors of lie detector machines. On the downside, the prof called it a Marvel comic. SMH

I don't think I agree

My evidence professor put forth an interesting idea today: character is not a moral or psychological construct, but a stereotype; a label assigned to us if we comply with the expectations of society.

That's a lot of $$ in 1976

I gave it to the last minute, but with the hip acting up for the last 36 hrs I called into work. I came within a hair's breadth of skipping Marquette too, but went, learned nothing that wasn't covered in the reading, and was worse for the wear. Now comes the inevitable guilt that accompanies a call-in. My mind is a strange place.

And get this: 

In 1976 my Professor was earning $75K/yr in practice, and left to teach at Marquette for $12K a year. Yikes.

Not My Best

An awful night at Marquette. I got caught daydreaming and flubbed one answer, then f'ed up the retaliatory follow up I should have seen coming. I looked like a gen-u-wine dummy. Plus, having earned her wrath, I imagine I'll be put on the spot by the Prof next class. #ShouldBeFun

Back to the Grind

 I started classes at Marquette yesterday, and went back to work. School went fine, work not so much. Spending 8 hours on an office chair older than some of my kids did the hip no favors. Yes, I was told I can get up and stretch if need be, but that doesn't quite do the trick. It's going to be an adventure - and to quote Louis L'amour, adventure is just another word for trouble.

My Grades

Finally got my grades from last semester. I got a B in Alternative Dispute Resolution, which is hooey, and a B+ in Constitutional Law 2. That puts my cumulative GPA at 3.0 for the first time in law school.

Finals = done

I've finished and submitted both of my take home finals for law school.They weren't due until the end of the week but with the surgery coming up I wanted them out of the way. My first semester as an L2 is now complete.

Con Law 2 Final

Con Law 2 Final.I finished the final in a little over an hour. I had 90 minutes left but after four long decades of this a) I know I'm a decently smart guy, and b) that any third read through will just have me doubting everything I've done. So, one down and two take home finals to go.

Finally

I just completed my first mock negotiation on behalf of a "client" who was prepared to sue after being a victim of sexual harassment at her university. All parties left satisfied, but we conceded too quick on a punative measure when my client suddenly and publicly gave up a negotiation point in favor of something I feel was of moderate importance, but was obviously the brass ring for her. A lot of fun. Good to be doing something more practical than Socratic Mumbo-Jumbo.

Gawd, this is embarrassing to write

Law school is sinking into daily life: On the phone today I asked someone for a clear yes/no answer, and got a rambling statement in its place. "I would move to strike that as unresponsive," I told him. "Let me ask again. . ."

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Actually, watching a YouTube reading of this in Legal Writing, as an example of how to craft a persuasive statement of facts. I read this to my nephew Jonah when he was an infant back in '94

Lincoln's Birthday

My law school class is celebrating Lincoln's birthday with treats, and I came up with a way to tie my contribution into Ole Abe. Can anyone (non classmate's) figure out the connection?

answer: Simpson's donuts; you know, from Springfield? 

School Resumes

The spring semester starts today. At this point I'm officially a quarter of of the way through law school.

Torts

I'm at Marquette awaiting my three hour Torts final, after starting the day with my father-in-law's funeral. Quite the day.

update: Torts is done. 2,676 words written on six total problem sets over three hours. I had time to re-read my work before I submitted it, and while I can't say it's full of the greatest legal arguments of all time, I sure do write purty.

What a Weekend

It's been a rough weekend of law school. First I plowed through 24 chapters of an online course that is required *within* a class I'm already taking this semester. Then at the end I had to take an online assessment and pass with a 90% or better; so far, I've failed to reach that after SEVEN exams, reaching as high as 89% and as low as 80%. I'm ready to toss my laptop out the window.

Core Grammar for Lawyers

I just completed a 96 question pre-test for "Core Grammar for Lawyers" an online course mandated by Marquette. I was warned it would be brutal, and it was. I scored only 73% overall, but placed in the nineties in what I'd call some traditional areas (stuff not involving the proper phrasing and punctuation of citations, etc). Anywho, I tested out of seven subject areas, so that'll ease my load a bit as the semester progresses.