Favorite Holiday of ALL

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm pretty sad I can't be at home today (especially cuz it means I don't get to heckle my sister's bf, Mr. San Francisco, who is with my family in Denver today *shakes fist*), but Lynn and I are making the best of it by hosting our very first Thanksgiving ever. Pix to follow I'm sure, but first the things I'm grateful for...

Old Pets and New:




Pretty Falls at Notre Dame:



Getting to be a Maid of Honor:



My South Bend Family, Sisters, and All-Time Hero:






Gainful Employment:




Baby Dinkeneh:
He's not even here yet and already he makes law school infinitely more tolerable

Remember that Time.

Hey. Remember that time I almost burnt down the apartment and gave Hank smoke inhalation because I left cookies baking in the oven for over 2 hours while Lynn and I went to the movie?

Oh wait. That was tonight.

Not to steal Christina's thunder by posting a silly youtube clip the same day as their referral announcement, but this was just too accurate to pass up.

Law School Musical

Congratulations, Chris & Christina!

Last night my friends Chris and Christina finally got the call that they've been anticipating for 7 months - they have a baby!!!!! Little Dinkeneh Timesgen, born October 3, 2007, who is such a little guy that at four weeks he only weighs 5 lbs 6 oz. We could not be more thrilled for the both of them who have been waiting on this call for months and months. These last few weeks especially have been rough because they were told that they should expect the call in 4-6 months and the 6-month mark came at the beginning of October. But now they have pages and pages of information on their little guy - he doesn't laugh yet, but squeals and he can track people visually for all 90 degrees - and just have to wait for the Ethiopian courts to finalize the adoptions. They should be traveling in 12 weeks to pick him up, just enough time for us to blow off finals and the rest of life to shop for little boy boots and pajamas and coats and... well you get the picture. The best part of adopting parents is that as soon as they got the call, despite Christina being 7-months "expecting", we all got to drink champagne!

I would post a picture, except for privacy reasons, they can't official do that until they have his birth certificate. But this little man is tiny! and the picture they have of him shows him in a 3-year old girl's sweatshirt which he is practically swimming in. It's totally precious.

OH, and because everyone knows how competitive I am - I started a pool for everyone to bet on what gender baby it would be, what age at referral, and how many babies there would be (Chris and Christina were open to twins). The prize was that the winner gets to be the first babysitter, and with a guess of 1 baby boy age 4 months, I won! (and no, I didn't cheat ;>) SOOOO excited!

Congrats again, Christina!!!!

Pix are from the weekend way back in January when they announced to everyone that they were going to adopt. I was out of town (blast!), but being there the night they got their referral totally made up for that.


Chris, dad-to-be, is the one in the gray and blue jacket.


Christina, mom-to-be, is in the gray sweatshirt with pink scarf.


Chris and Christina in the new nursery, shortly after telling us.


Tim came, but poor Emily was stuck in the library doing Law Review stuff. So we had to go track her down by running around the library hollering "EMILY!"


Chris and Tim, pouring champagne.

Roommates and Honorary Roommates

on Halloween

I HAVE A JOB!

I made it official: This summer I'm going to work at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom. I'm 50% ridiculously excited because I had a great interview there and 50% terrified because of Skadden's reputation. The funniest part of the story is that "Skadden" meant nothing to me until I started telling people I want to work there and then everyone filled me in on their reputation.... they pay you a shit-ton so they can work you an even bigger shit-ton. Oh well, what doesn't kill ya... right?

Which Gilmore Girls Character Are You?
	You are part Lorelai. You are energetic, perky, and witty, but sometimes your unique sense of humor can confuse people. You are well-liked by all, but you have trouble with commitment.
	You are part Rory. You pride yourself on your moral fortitude. You are a bit of a prude and bookworm, but you have honesty and a quiet humor on your side.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Newest videos on Lwala

For those of you who haven't heard the story, Milton and his brother, Fred, are friends of mine from Dartmouth who now both attend Vanderbilt Med School. When we were all in undergrad, both their parents died of AIDS complications. Consequently, the two have spent all of their spare time and breaks from school trying to build, staff, and supply a health care clinic in their home village of Lwala, Kenya. They are two of the most inspirational brothers you could hope to meet and I thought I'd just update you on their work.



Documentary in Process, Hope for Lwala



News Show on Milty & Fred's Clinic.

Newest update: the Lwala Clinic birthed its first babies (twins) this fall!

Best. Wedding. EVER!

I will post more pix as soon as I have them, but Paige's wedding was literally the best wedding I have ever been to.



**Update**
View photos here.

Not Quite Hank

But close!

Molly would give Hank a giant run for his money in the competition for my cutest roommate of all time. Not quite for sure who'd win that one.

I'm a shameless quiz stealer.

HSUS MySpace Page | Take the Quiz!

Thanks, Big Colle!

Christina Tagged Me

So I do believe that means I have to fill out her blog quiz. Here goes...

Jobs I've Had
* Dartmouth Day Care
* Rockefeller Center (student intern assisting with their Civil Skills Training program)
* Child Advocates (summer internship in Indy)
* Skadden Arps (dare I jinx myself? They tell me my offer can't be taken away so I'm trying out the sound of saying I work for Skadden)

Places I've Lived
* Missouri Valley, IA
* Hanover, NH
* Denver, CO
* South Bend, IN

Food I Love
* Chocolate Ice Cream with Gummy Bears
* Left-over Macaroni & Cheese
* Chicken Parmesan
* Miss Kitty's Chicken and Dumplings

Websites I Visit
* Westlaw
* Christina's Blog
* Facebook
* Photo Database

Places I'd Rather Be
* Wendy's Wedding in Missouri Valley this Weekend with my Fam
* Wherever Courtney Is
* Hanover, NH
* In the Lap of Luxury

Movies I Love
* Love Actually
* Rent
* Anything Rogers and Hammerstein (any musical, for that matter)
* Keeping the Faith

TV Shows I Watch
* Grey's Anatomy
* Gilmore Girls (on DVD & ABC Family since it was cancelled)
* Law and Order SVU
* Engaged and Underage

Friends I'm Tagging
* Big Colle
* Lauren Cady (who still refuses to tell me where her blog is)
* Kristin
* Mr. San Francisco (whom I'm currently mad at cuz he got spend the weekend with my family and I didn't. does he even have a blog? no clue.)

Duel at Dartmouth

What are you doing tonight?

Hank the Tank

And just a few new photos of Hank the Tank when we took him for his first walk outside:

Hank the Tank goes for a walk!


Except it took him a long while to get warmed up to the great outdoors


In hindsight, a bunny on a leash is kind of a funny concept


He never did get used to the leash, but he did warm up to the grass

I don't like living in a country....

(offensively liberal post. you've been warned)

....where someone can be told they should just go die of cancer cuz this government doesn't like how they got here.

And it just goes to show...

That apparently law firms like contentious people: I got the call back at Law Firm D. Go figure.

It was bound to happen sometime

I finally did it. I had an offensively liberal moment during one of my interviews and totally pissed off my interviewer.

Scene: Conference Room in the Law School
Characters: Me and Young Partner with Law Firm D (for Denver)

YP: So, I see you majored in Comparative Politics. What is that?
M: Oh, it's a subset of the government major at Dartmouth. Basically, I ended up majoring in it because I was taking a lot of survey Latin America courses with a professor I liked that all fit into that concentration of the major.
YP: Yeah. But what is it? Like, do you compare other forms of government in Latin America to American government and to each other?
M: Yes. Basically that's pretty accurate.
YP: So. What's the best form of government?
M: Uhhhhh.... weeeeell..... [insert awkward laugh]
YP: [leans forward in his chair to make himself more intimidating] This is the point at which you say democracy.
M: Weeeeell.... I would say democracy, but I've gotta stick with my gut here and say that I just don't think it works everywhere. Especially in Latin America where you have a history of a lot of grass roots resistance to it.
YP: [shocked and angry] Well. I would say something. But we're not supposed to get into this sort of substance in our interviews.
M: [mentally crossing this firm off my list of firms I hope to get a callback at]

This guy went on to later stick my resume in front of me, point at my highlighted GPA, and say: "so. With these grades, why aren't you on law review?" I was like: "READ my flipping resume. I'm on a journal! If I'm not on law review, clearly it's because law review didn't want me. Thanks for bringing that up again. Ass."

Or, at least that was what I was like in my head. Out loud I think I lamely drew his attention to my list of activities and said I couldn't really account for why law review didn't want me, but clearly I had done the writing competition and so they rejected me and not the other way around.

No callback for Bagel at Law Firm D. Oh well.

Horoscope v. Reality

So classes have been in swing for three weeks now, and I thought I'd give a quick run down on my life. (Yes, I'm a vapid narcissist, I know, but maybe somebody out there is interested. ;) And if not, then you shouldn't be reading blogs anyway - cuz they are clearly the haven of card-carrying vapid narcissists.) But to make things more interesting, I thought I'd take my horoscope and comment on how accurately it does/does not mesh with Bagel-reality.

Something small catches your eye on Monday or Tuesday and gets you thinking about friends or family. It's a good time to repair relationships that have been unraveling for a while.
I think I call this the Hank the Tank shout out. He's tiny and ever since he came around, Courtney seems to pop up more and more, as well as rando other law school friends who we rarely see at our place. We didn't do anything all weekend but play with the bunny, which was very rewarding until we realized how poorly Hank is taking to litter training. Definitely got peed on this weekend all over my shoulders.

Watch out for a rebound later in the week, though, as unintended consequences pile up and require extra attention. You can handle them as long as you set aside the time.
Word on the street is that 2L year is the bitch of a year as far as being really, really busy. And so far, that's pretty dead on. In the first 3 weeks, I've had 4 different training sessions for my law journal, 13 on campus interviews with 3 left to go before callbacks start, classes and whatnot. I'm already behind in reading, but I think that's mostly cuz I'm still trying to stick to the anal-retentive 1L reading practices which are just barely feasible anymore. So this weekend is catchup time!

The weekend brings good emotional energy, but you may encounter opportunities that are too good to be true. Be wary and trust your intuition to guide you in the right direction.
No clue what this means, but it sounds like this weekend I might have to resort to my tried and trued "I am not a whore!" mantra.

I don't know who's to blame...

...but we may have a problem of impulsive shopping when we're stressed.


Meet Hank the Tank! The newest roommate in 2 Fischer 2C!

Cuz I love dumb quizes.

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

First day of classes.

I feel icky.

it's TACOS!!!!!

Courtney comes back to school today, and I couldn't be more excited. She's bringing Shane, fresh out of boot camp, and staying with me & lynn till sunday. And then classes start Monday (boo!), so school is finally getting back into swing. I was more excited to start back before I got here I think, because in Lynn's words: "I'm BACK! .....and it's still South Bend." But in honor of the end of the summer, I figured I'd do a new school year inventory ala Bridget Jones...

*My Life* (most recent update: August, 2007)
* Weight: haha, no.
* Current Hangovers: 1
* Current Boyfriends: 0 (you know the prospects have been bad when my current mantra is "I am not a whore!")
* Number of wii's in my apartment: 1 (AMAZING!)
* Number of job offers for next summer: 0, but dear god, with the millions of interviews going on, hopefully I'm not a total lost cause
* Jesus statutes within a 1 mile radius of me right now: at least 4
* Number of home football games this fall: 7, and I'm always looking for guests to come stay and go with us! (ahem, Chelle)
* Number of times being a bridesmaid: soon to be 1 (not often enough to get the "always a bridesmaid," thank god)
* Number of pages I'm supposed to be reading for class on Monday and am avoiding by posting silly blog entries: boo! too many to think about. why'd you have to go and spoil my fun?

You know you've been in your apartment by yourself too long when....

How many people out there have seen the free hugs video? It has to be like everyone and their mother by now. Well, my friend Christina recently went to Seattle and saw the Free Hugs guy, so she posted the youtube clip on her blog for people who didn't know what she was talking about.

I myself have seen this clip at least 5 or 6 times, but for some reason I started playing it again this morning and the darned thing made me cry! This is a sure sign that (a) the rain needs to stop, (b) the sun needs to come out, (c) lynn needs to come home so I'm no longer alone, and (d) I'm a certifiable nutjob. But just in case you haven't seen the clip, here it is:

From serious bachelorette to serious law student

Paige's party was a hit. It was small, which suited us just fine, and aside from me getting sicker than a dog by the end, it was a good time had by all. The drive home Sunday was rough.... really rough. I barely got out the door - at eleven o'clock Sunday morning, Paige and I were still sprawled moaning on her parent's living room floor while her mom walked around us laughing at us and her 18 month old nephew tried to get us to play with him. Then, half way home, I had to stop and take a nap cuz I felt lousy. But eventually I made it, and I am VERY happen to be home. Now I'm into serious potential lawyer mode. The rest of the week I'm busy trying to get interviews at Denver law firms before I head back to Notre Dame. Wish me luck - I'll need it.

The Bride-to-Be with my fondue set that was a hit!

Paige opening her gift - I went with lingerie in the end b/c it was easiest to find; she loved it!

Time for a new poll!

This weekend is Paige's bachelorette party and surprise, surprise, I still haven't gotten her a gift. In addition to my normal tardiness, this time I'm also delayed by the fact that this is my first bachelorette party ever AND i have to host it. So any suggestions you can give me are greatly appreciated.

But as for the gift, normal lingerie seems fine, but I feel weird picking stuff out for her. I don't think I would know her style in that area at all. So I considered getting her a gift certificate but then that seems kind of lame so my only other consideration is like a kama sutra book or something fun like that. HELP!

finally, see below... this is the one gift i have completed so far (i made it) and it goes perfectly with the giant pink boa i bought her. now i just need a fake veil or tiarra and that part of the evening will be finished at least.



The words aren't really on there backwards, I just used my webcam to take the pix and it works more like a mirror than a camera

Reason # 154,673 why I love Dartmouth

This poor tour group!

(p.s. the intro is a little silly, but the actual video is worth it!)

Down with Mr. SF!

Dear Mr. San Francisco (or as I like to call you, Woody):

Did you ever read Pride & Prejudice? Well, me neither, but I think I heard somewhere that they have 5 daughters in that book and they are ALL about marrying off the oldest one so that the younger ones can get started. I think that's a bunch of cock and bull, except for the part where the oldest daughter of the 5 needs to get off her duff and get to work popping out babies. (also, ask Big Colle to tell you the story about how my Dad cracked a joke about marrying her off like in Pride & Prejudice when he met her Mt. Holyoke professors... who knew WAY more about her dating habits than he did) Therefore, if you want to have any staying power, and if my vote has any of the power that I lie and say it does, then you best not be making such glib comments about not wanting babies. This will not go over well at the council table when you come up for a vote, I assure you.

Sincerely, All My Best, Yours Truly, etc.

Bagel

Miss Kitty goes to the club

I'm going home to Denver next weekend for 2 weels to interview at law firms for next summer, and as part of that, I'm also setting up informational meetings with alumni lawyers of Notre Dame and Dartmouth, basically just trying to get anyone and everyone who'll meet me to have lunch. One such alumni, who I found through the Dartmouth Lawyer's Association just agreed to meet with me today and suggested we have lunch at the Denver Country Club.

Well, I called Miss Kitty before I confirmed with him to see if she knew where the Denver Country Club is. "No, I don't," she told me. "But I'm sure we can find it." She paused for a minute and then said"...Can I come too? I'll sit in the corner and not make a peep."

My mother, ladies and gentlemen, who FULLY intends to live vicariously through me when I'm a lawyer.

And now for the softer side of life...

Moving past the offensively liberal tone of the last post, I've got a new blog to share. My friend Christina from law school is in the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia with her husband, Chris. The two are going to be fantastic parents, and have been through quite the adventure trying to get their baby (or babies - their application states they're willing to take multiples). They have a blog where they chronicle their journeys and also have links to other blogs written by families adopting from Ethiopia.

This morning, with the help of Chris and Christina, I discovered Maia Papaya's blog, and I completely adore it. Check it out - she's precious.

And now for my desperate plea: SERIOUSLY, Hamilton girls! When is one of you going to get your act together and have a baby?!?!? I am not meant to be a mom yet, but you rat bastards are keeping me from what I see as being my life's destiny: Aunt Bagel.

Republican Fundraiser or Disgusting Inculcation of Militant Values?

On behalf of Big Colle, I am giving everyone an advance warning that this entry is bound to be one of my offensively liberal pieces. Reader, beware.

This morning I heard a piece on NPR about a Republican fundraiser in Manchester, NH. Excited & nostalgic though I was to hear the upcoming NH primary season metioned, I couldn't help but be appalled when I heard the focus of this fundraiser: a machine gun shoot. Apparently, for 25 bucks a person, you can shoot a machine gun that is standard military issue. Even kids get to join in the fun, which promoters (according to NPR) were touting as a "family event." Now, I'm no dummy; I know NPR is totally left-biased, so I decided to research the event more when I got to work to see if it was for real.

Contrary to what NPR made it sound like, this is not as part of the Republican presidential race but is just for the local Republican party. But still, I couldn't help but think of what an easy time I'd have turning this event into a really sick and twisted depiction of how brutal and militaristic our society is. Imagine, mom, dad, grandma and grandpa bringing out the kids for a fun day in the park where instead of swinging or playing with other children, they learn how to fire automatic weapons! I feel really sick just thinking about it. Gun control is not an issue I feel particularly passionate about, but this summer, I've seen some truly sick depictions of guns in everyday life (including the day that I was looking out the window of our house to see one of the neighbors tromping through our back yard carrying his pride and joy: a shotgun, to show the neighbors. We have a flipping baby in the house, and there were at least 3 kids in the surrounding yards all under the age of 5. I'm not particularly passionate about gun control but I AM passionate about keeping guns away from kids.

Then, to add to the brilliance of the whole event, there was this comment posted by a JUDGE about the event:

This will be a great event for the whole family. Gun's are what keeps this great country free. So I encourage all freedom loving Americans to attend this event. and I find it unfortunate that Chris Pappas does not my support my personal freedoms even though I support his.
- Hon. Robert A. Burns, Manchester NH

I'm sorry, but guns don't equal freedom. Guns equal FORCE. Freedom comes when you don't have to use guns to force your way of life or point of view on others. I'm not saying that guns aren't necessary at times, nor am I saying that we shouldn't be free to own guns, but seriously?!?!

jeesh!

aight, already. the poll is on the RIGHT. putzes.

The Bagel Poll

So blogspot has this sweet new feature! See left....

rainy days and mondays

It's raining this morning - definite bad omen. I spilled soda all down my pants this morning, forgot my keys in the office bathroom (could have been a BIG disaster, as i still have the enterprise key chain on there that lists the make/model, year, and color of my car), my favorite purple umbrella broke, and i'm downright exhausted. I got home from Chicago at midnight last night after my first meet and greet reception at Jenner & Block. All in all, I was very impressed - especially after talking to Tom, a rising 3L I know from Notre Dame who works there this summer. But bouncing back from my 8 hours of driving yesterday is proving a tad difficult. I might try and sneak out the back of the office soon and run to starbucks.

brrrrrr

so cold in the office today! i have a space heater less than a foot away from my legs in the middle of July - go figure.


saw harry potter last night, and was pretty disappointed. somewhere b/t the rushed plot (who thinks it's a good idea to turn the longest book in the series into the shortest film?) and the obnoxious teenage girls sitting next to me who repeatedly clapped loudly when they saw a scene they recognized from the book, laughed at very inappropriate moments and were very vocal and swoony over their love for ronald weasly, i decided that i'm going to rent this movie when it comes out on DVD, pretend i'd never seen it, and give it one more shot. although, I loved the characters of umbridge and luna and wished they'd been given more time to develop them b/c i thought the actresses were brilliant.

My late-night calls.

Two nights in a row at 10:30 pm and 10:32 pm someone from King of Prussia, PA has called me and not left a message. If this someone is you, I don't pick up unknown numbers, so (610) 337-9080, you either need to leave a message or find some other way to contact me.

On another note, this has lead to lots of curiosity on my part as to who my friend in King of Prussia is. I think if it were a telemarketer, they wouldn't call so late and at the exact same time both nights. It's not the dartmouth hater (who does live in PA but not that area) and I don't believe it's my only other (known) friend in PA. Wonder who it is?!?!

p.s.

finally google stopped listing this blog when people google my name and school, so i can rest easy and apply to firms without taking it down. or at least i think i'm safe...


...god help me if i get rejected because i'm offensively liberal. or offensively stupid.

On to bigger & better

This week I marked the half-way point of my summer job. Today I sent out my third, fourth, and fifth resume/cover letter bundle for a job for NEXT summer. If you haven't heard me go on about this before, (and if you have - bear with me) law school is like being on the most settled and definite of five-year tracks. This August and September I'm going to be interviewing with law firms for my jobs for next summer, and so long as I don't drastically screw things up, that's supposed to turn into my job after I graduate. Plus, it's pretty difficult to switch jobs your first few years out there, so it'll likely be my job for a good 3 or 4 years. The process is so settled that I would guess a good 60% of law students out there are doing the same thing (the others are still looking at public interest, government work, clerkships or the like). I'm not actually complaining - I like how definite it is, and if I can just get a good job in the next few months, then I'll be pretty settled for the next few years or so.

The problem is: WHERE THE FLIP DO I WANNA WORK?!?!?! Last year around this time, I decided that I really wanted to live in Boston. Not sure why, but every time I looked outside (mind you, with my feet planted firmly in Indiana), I felt like Boston was the place for me. The four years before that (the whole time I was at Dartmouth), I kept saying how the east coast wasn't for me, and I wanted to go back to the midwest to be near my family. And now a days, I really like the idea of getting a kick-ass apartment in Chicago. Plus, Mark is selling me on the idea of DC - where the winters are the least heinous of all my options. That's a big plus given that i've spent my last 5 years in the worst winter conditions possible in the continental US.

Location indecisiveness aside, there's also the pay/quality of life difference too. In Boston or DC, I'd likely be getting paid more, a LOT more. (Like on the order of 40K relative to Denver, and 60-75K relative to Omaha.) But life in a big firm is MUCH more easy to manage in Denver or Nebraska than it is on the east coast.

I guess what I'm saying is: does someone want to tell me where to go next summer? I'd greatly appreciate it! :)

Oh, and I used to debate the merits of Seattle, but now my stupid sister has a stupid boy who lives in stupid California. ALTHOUGH, word on the street is that he was debating a move to be closer to said stupid sister. Stupid Sister, care to comment?

My youngest roommie

This is Molly, my youngest roommate, after we discovered the fun features on my webcam... just thought I'd add a visual to go along with the previous post.

I don't know what's scarier

This morning Mollie (my latest roommate, age 18 months) and I were walking down a very big flight of stairs after blowdrying our hair. She tripped on her jeans and flew face down the stairs (we were at the very top) for about 2-3 stairs before I caught her, literally by the crotch of her pants. She cried for all of 1.5 minutes but it took me MUCH longer to recover. I think it'll be a while before we do stairs together again. An hour later I was sitting on the sofa playing websudoku and got the crap scared out of me again as 2 huge dogs came bounding in the house and went straight for my head. They're the newest visitors this week.... I'm hoping my allergies hold up.

Suffice it to say that today has seen too many surprises for me.

2 hour lunch! :)

The nice thing about juvenile court is that it doesn't resume until 1:30 in the afternoon - that means, if i finish my morning work in time for an early lunch (like around 11:30) and want to take the afternoon to observe in juvenile court (which my boss is okay with), then I have a 2 hour lunch! :)


So today, during my 2 hour lunch, I discovered what is quickly becoming my preferred law firm for my 2L job: not-so-heinous-firm
One of my biggest concerns this summer has been the fact that of all the firms doing On Campus Interviewing this fall, very few of them have practice areas I'm actually interested in and NONE are from Denver. So this one looks really promising although I could be in trouble b/c they seem to have a strong preference for people who go to Colorado schools, but here's hoping!

Question: does any law student out there know, if I'm applying by sending them a resume and cover letter on my own, what's the earliest I can/should do that?

And speaking of applying for jobs for next summer, since whenever you google my name and school, this blog comes up, i'm thinking of changing it up a little. Hopefully all I'll have to change is my profile to get this site to stop popping up in google, otherwise, I might have to take it down for a while or move it.

Today I'm done being a 1L!

That may sound weird to say now that it's 5 weeks after my last final and one week after I got all my grades, but this morning I finally mailed in my writing competition entry and this is the first time I've felt like my 1L year is finally over. Here's hoping I get on to a journal now - I don't know that the entry was good enough for Law Review, but I don't think it sucked.

Hooray, I'm officially a twol!

It pays to do your bailiff's homework!

So yesterday I spent most of the day observing (per usual) and in the afternoon I went to a trial that another intern, Jennifer, had been observing already for most of the day. Apparently, the bailiff in there had been bugging her, trying to get her to do his outline for him. The outline was for a speech that he had to deliver later that night for his communications class. She flat out refused, but later that afternoon when we ran into him another court room, I started asking questions about the outline and before I knew it he had his computer in my lap with his outline up and his speech up and had me working on it.

In reality, I didn't do much, I just read them both - he had already started the outline and was doing fine and the speech was entirely written. I was just curious. So I made a lame comment or two about how maybe he should stick this segment into that box on the outline (the outline was actually a template the professor had given them and he was expected to fill it in), and didn't actually do anything for him. (Which he blamed Jennifer for, entirely. He said that she was screwing everything up for him. ;>) The whole thing was just kinda entertaining and this morning when I ran into him, I asked him how it went.

It went well, apparently - he won the award for best speech in the class. So then we randomly started chatting about various other things and I mentioned how I went to the gas station this morning to get a soda b/c i'm exhausted! (haven't slept well for a couple of nights) It wasn't till I got into the gas station that I remembered that you can't bring liquids through security in juvenile court. So I was screwed.

Low and behold, apparently, in a back room that you need employee access (like the kind a bailiff has) to get to, the court reporters keep a big canteen of all sorts of food and drinks. JACKPOT! instant caffeine. I was soooo grateful, I might just spend the rest of my summer running around the court house seeing if there are any bailiffs who need their homework done for them. :)

I will never sleep again!

I just woke up from a nap to discover that I missed my sister Courtney's only call so far this summer. FLIP! New plan: I will never sleep again. She's at camp - so the only person who gets to use the phone less than she does is her bf who is in boot camp. I tried to call her back, but it's been so long since I've called her, I forgot her number on speed dial. and I got her voice mail anyway.

Week 2 of work is over, and I did a naughty thing and left work early today. The problem is my boss is out of town and there were all of 5 people in the office, none of whom could give me any work. Here's hoping they don't fire unpaid interns for leaving at 2:30 on Fridays...


This weekend will be very low-key for me. I'm locking myself in and finishing this darned writing competition entry. Which means I'll have very little human contact with other people because the family I live with is out of town. I see this as going very badly.... be prepared for some very dark, sad entries. I don't handle being alone very well.

(p.s. I realize this post is really long and rambling for the squat amount of interesting info it conveys. you're going to have to deal though, I'm a dull, self-involved person. ;>)

Why have a blog???

Yesterday morning, I found myself getting frustrated because I was bored and trying to read people's blogs, but none of my regular blogs had been updated in a while. I found myself muttering out loud: well, why have a blog if you aren't going to update???

Pot calling the kettle black. Obviously.

SOOO - the job has started, and while I've come close to posting a couple of really interesting stories on here many times, I stopped myself because I'm not actually sure how much information I'm allowed to share. But as for general observations, now I'm really glad I opted for this internship over the public defenders - from what i've seen of the PDs, I was not at all impressed. I even saw one case where an attorney came to represent his client (who was incarcerated at the time) in a termination proceeding (meaning that the state had filed to have his parental rights terminated forever) and the darned PD hadn't even contacted his client! I've found that a lot of them are so disheartened or jaded that they barely even represent their clients at all, let alone to the best of their abilities.

Meanwhile, this job is different than what I thought it would be in a lot of ways. For example, so much of what I've been doing is actually parent-focused. Basically, if there is a case for abuse or neglect and the children are removed from the home, then the focus switches to what services the state can provide the parents and have those parents completed them. There isn't a really wholistic evaluation of the problem or situation or causes or solutions as far as I can tell, just an evaluation of is this person mentally competent, and if so, what services should we make him/her do before he/she can get the kids back. But the services are really limited to services the state already provides (like substance abuse, parenting classes, domestic violence classes, etc.). So in court, usually we sit down for any given case and just discuss what services the parent has or has not completed, and typically, there isn't even an evaluation of what put the parents in the courtroom in the first place. So it's not a very thorough system in as much as it doesn't really address the problem as a whole and how to solve it or whether it's solved.

That said, I do enjoy watching the process. The job isn't as sad as I thought it might be - mostly our cases involve substance abuse on the part of the parents. Although there have been some really sad cases of molest where it's pretty certain that the kids are going right back to the home (and in one case this will be for the 3rd time) without anyone ever being charged with molestation or treated for that kind of a problem. My favorite part of the job so far is probably mediation - those occur when the state has initiated termination suits against the parents and the parents and the foster parents sit down to try and work out a guardianship or an adoptive agreement or whatnot, without the use of a judge or courts. My second favorite part of the job are the characters in the courtrooms cuz between the judges and the bailiffs, you never know what will be said. One judge got annoyed when a mother who gave birth to a crack baby asked why she can't have her baby back. She leans over the bench, looks her straight in the eye, and yells: BECAUSE YOU POISONED HER!!!! well put, I thought.

Let's see... not much else in my life. I might be getting a part time job at a country club soon though - keeping my fingers crossed. But for now I've rambled for so long that I should get back to work.

Long Term Rentals/Short Term Leases?

Had a great weekend in Omaha! Went to visit paige and lynn and get a bridesmaid dress (see pix below) and now I've got to get ready to leave again to go back to Indianapolis. Quick question: does anyone know of a cheap place to rent a car for 3 months or to sign a short term lease? Right now, all the rental car places are quoting me some 700 dollars a month and that's more than half my summer stipend, not even including gas. So I'm trying to figure out the car situation for the summer and I'd appreciate any and all advice!





This is my dress.... although it'll be in navy. Despite all the halter debate, I had to agree. It's the best style of dress for me. SOOOO excited for this wedding!

I just lost 2 cars, a house, and a trampoline.

1L year is done, I'm in Denver for two weeks, and I'm doing all I can to procrastinate on my writing competition entry.

Case in point: last night I spent 45 minutes gambling with Peggy, my 10-year-old cousin. The game? stack 10 dixie cups up into any sort of arrangement and then take down your arrangement and stack all the cups together faster than the other person. I was a rockstar at this game - if you know me, I very rarely lose to little kids because, truth be told, I'm a jerk. That said, last night I was thoroughly whooped in the highest stakes round we had all night. I had already won both Peggy's grandparents' cars, their house, and her trampoline. I had wagered it all in exchange for her little sister too, and then the unthinkable happened. She kicked my ass. Soundly. Kudos to her, but now I'm still without a car or a house or a trampoline and so life is not looking too bright today. Well, that, and this darned writing competition entry is calling. I'm only about a third of the way through the 253 pages of material we have to read. Yuck.

Last Day as a 1L

And then next year, we will have caught the dreaded twol-itis (better pronounced toolitis). I haven't been able to sleep since 5:30 - I'm so ready for this year to be done!!!!

My new firm:

Life's Short

I think this is about the funniest ad I've ever seen.

Straight from the words of a goddess:

welcome to the cynical world of "if you don't work as hard as I
do, then shut the fuck up and leave me alone!"

-BC-

(p.s. laurencady, get off my back about never posting you high maintenance stalker. ;>)

Half-way there

2 exams down, 2 to go.

Honestly, damned if I know how I did. I wrote a ton, and thought I was getting stuff right, and I didn't panic because I didn't know anything, but in the end, I'm just not at all sure I got the right stuff. Civil Procedure was much better than Constitutional Law - I really felt confident about myself coming out of that exam until I had to hear 2 days of people complaining about how hard it was. Then I remembered the valuable lesson from last semester that I had just completely disregarded - do NOT talk to law students about how they did about an exam or how they feel about an upcoming exam. It'll only make you panic.

So now i'm in the library, about to start in on the dreaded property. This exam will either be ridiculously easy or ridiculously hard - I'm pretty sure there'll be no in between. But come this time Friday, I'll be done! YAY!

Plan for the Day.

8 - 12 : Cram like it's nobody's business for Civil Procedure final

12 - 12:30 : Feed ducks, and remember what I like about Notre Dame.

12:30 - 1:30 : Make my way over to the law school where I will try and find the one corner in the school that doesn't contain 1Ls and hide so they don't panic me.

1:30 - 4:30 : Civil Procedure Final *insert death march here*

4:30 - 5:30 : Dinner. Possibly more ducks and re-remembering what I like about Notre Dame.

6 - I Pass Out : Study. Not for sure what yet, but it'll be scintillating, I guarantee.

Goodbye 1L Classes.

Hello finals.


Yesterday was my last day of classes for my 1L year. Sort of anticlimatic, I must say. Although, once we remembered at 9 o'clock or so that we were done for the year with classes, we had to go to the grocery store and buy alcohol, coloring books, and back massagers.

All in all, I'm feeling much more confident about myself this finals period. Whereas last semester at 9 am on the first day of study period I still had 3 outlines to finish out of 4, this semester, I have 4 of 4 done. :) Not that the material is any easier, and I still hate property with a white-hot glowing passion, but it feels nice to only have review left to get through. Oh yeah, and taking the darned things....

I also found a place to live for the summer in Indianapolis. It's a house in the suburbs with a young couple and their 18-month old daughter (hooray!) and so now all that's left to do is find a short-term lease on a car and i'm ready to go. Oh, and I also bought my plane ticket home for mothers day - so after finals end I'll be in Denver for 2 weeks working on the Law Review/Law Journals writing competition, trying to lose the weight I've gained this semester (fat chance with my uncle John cooking!) and relaxing before I start my job the day after memorial day. All in all, this semester is winding down nicely. I say this of course, because I haven't quite yet started studying for my first final on friday. The step between finishing an outline and getting myself to review is a huge one as it turns out.

I'm a 4-eyes!

I finally did it - I joined the land of the diagnosed visually impaired. Chelle, I fully concede defeat. You are the last remaining Hamilton with 20/20. Trophy to follow....

Duck Rape, Classes, and the Stupid F'ing Supreme Court

Highlights from my day:

*Saw my first ever duck rape. Kid you not. Walking down south quad after dinner, we saw three male ducks gang rape a female duck. They were running all over the sidewalk, and I swear to God, the female one came running to me for protection. (Ask Lynn, she doesn't lie). So I do what any good duck lover would do - i chased the damn male ducks so they'd leave her alone. And let me tell you, ducks don't scare easily. finally i gave up and we saw the most traumatizing thing i've ever seen in my life. (and yes, i know this is the standard way with ducks, but you watch it just once and tell me if you aren't scarred for life.)

*Registered for classes. Despite all the drama and the whining I heard later, it was a pain-free process for me. I got all the classes I wanted and this fall I'll be taking Business Associations, Conflict of Laws, International Law, Law of Education, and Civil Rights Law. Basically we devised our schedule by combining the most liberal professors we could find with the best average GPAs. Why do I say we? Because Lynn and I have all five classes together, and Sean is in 4 of them. I foresee this going very badly - not because of the classes (i love all of our classes) but because I'm as competitive as they come.

*The Supreme Court. Don't get me started. Cuz I'll cry. I swear I will. If you don't know, read here.

No Ben & Jerry's for Me

Today is free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. And while we use to loooove free cone day at Dartmouth and wait in line for hours (usually in rain or snow), they don't have a Ben & Jerry's here in South Bend. So no free cone for me today. Everyone else should go celebrate free cone day in my honor though, at least those of you who live in a Ben and Jerry's town.

Guess who's a moron?

1 hour ago I was soooo proud of myself. I completed and filed my taxes all by myself. I even thought that I'd go ahead and mail them tonight to get them out of my hands even though they aren't due till tuesday. so i did. and i walked home holding my head high - cuz dork that I am, I think it's kind of cool that I filed my taxes for the first time all by myself. I know - gold star or a chest to pin it on, huh?


Point is, I get all the way home. Walk in the door, and go SHIT!





I forgot to sign the damn things.

Facebook Stalker

So I know all I do these days is post youtube clips instead of actually writing anything substantive, but this one is my last one, I promise. ;)

Fun Clip...

...I believe this was on SNL, although not entirely sure. Compliments of the Dartmouth Hater:

My Humps

Busy weekend - Mark comes Friday and I go to Chicago on Sunday. The one good thing about going to a Catholic school is all the time you get off for Easter.

Backer on a Wednesday...

I came home early this morning from the Backer. That's clearly gotta be a sign my life is in shambles.


Oh. And I was sober. That's clearly gotta be a sign I'm just naturally that skeezy.

Vote for Fred & Milty!

Hey all, so I have a plea to make. My friends Fred & Milty are currently entered in a competition to raise funds for the clinic they built in their home village of Lwala, Kenya. All the competition involves is getting people to vote online for you - the first project to raise 20,000 votes gets $20,000. After about a week and a half of being in first place, Fred & Milty's project has slipped to third.

So, please, please, please! Just go check this website out. Take 5 seconds: Lwala
All it takes is one vote a day - i've been doing it for 2 weeks now and it takes me 5 seconds every morning when I wake up.

Fred & Milty are just about the most amazing guys you'll ever meet. They both went to Dartmouth with me, and while we were there, both their parents died of AIDS complications. Despite that, they brought their younger sister Grace to come to high school here in the states and their older sister Flo to go to nursing school. Currently, they are both at Vanderbilt Med School and in the summers and spare time, they somehow have managed to build their village a health care clinic that's going to open next month.

If you need anymore inspiration, read this blog: Abbie's Blog
It was written by a girl who traveled to Lwala to help them last summer and is the most inspiring blog I have found to date.


Fred, Milty, Grace, and Flo (L to R, top to bottom)...

Way to go, PH!

My constitutional law professor was on jeopardy tonight and won! This is about the most exciting news of my entire semester. this is the same professor who asks his class to tape veronica mars and gilmore girls when he's going to be out of town. go figure - he's a multi-faceted guy apparently. he's approaching tex dutile in the list of my favorites. now if it weren't for this damned heinous assignment he's given us....

See his "hometown howdy" here.

Towing Cars

This afternoon we were chilling on a bench in South Quad because we didn't want to be inside anymore. Up walks Lauren who just got back from driving her boyfriend to pick up his car - it got towed from her apartment this weekend. She was telling the story of how they had no clue it had been towed for *hours*, and her exact comment was: "his car was parked like RIGHT outside my apartment. You'd think we'd notice the f*cking car being towed away." It was an entertaining story to hear her tell, it was all the more entertaining because right as she delivers the line about the "f*cking car" Father Coughlin, the priest who teaches first-year ethics class, walked up behind us and told us hello.

And speaking of towing cars, apparently my mom's apartment complex noticed today that she had expired tags on her car (tsk, tsk, Miss Kitty - you're terrible at this) and took it upon themselves to have her car towed! Seriously! My only reaction is - who the heck do they think they are?!?! I mean, granted, I have personally yelled at my mom numerous times because she IS terrible at this stuff and I've was pulled over while driving on her expired tags a couple years ago. This is quite possibly the most absurd thing I've ever heard. It's not like they were trying to get back at my mom for other issues - she's never late on her rent, she's lived there for almost 3 years now, and the worst they have on her is that she got a ticket for parking in the handicapped spot once. And it's not as though she has more cars than she's allowed to have (she has one) or she has a non-functioning defunct car chilling in their lot. It's a nice subaru outback that she drives daily so they have no reason to think she just stuck a car in her lot and let it sit. Bah, I am outraged for her. Cuz you know me, I need a reason to get outraged - it's how I keep myself young and lively. ;)

"I can't live... if livin is without you!"

The power adapter to my laptop is on the fritz. I think some wires are kinked from wrapping the cord around too many times, and so it is being very temperamental and has given out on me several times in the last 24 hours. This is SO not the time for such antics, and so I'm stuck in the library computer lab, rotating between my laptop (when it decides it wants to work) and the lab computers.

Every time I get my laptop to work and start working on it again, I am reminded of how much I love my apple (stupid mo'foing power cord aside). All it takes for my extreme apple frustration and hatred to dissipate is 30 minutes on the dell lab computers. Functionality, speed, compatability and all of those other useful features essential to computers aside, my apple is just infinitely prettier, hands down. And that my friends, is all that matters to a vain, materialistic girl like me. ;)

*hides face*

Lynn is in 3 weddings this summer, starting in May. Lynn has decided to go tanning to get read for these weddings. Lynn invited me to go with her last night. Bagel is STUPID. Bagel forgets how poorly she tans. Bagel tells the attendant she wants 12 minutes. Bagel inwardly laughs at the look of shock the tanning attendant gives her. Bagel thinks: "HAHAHA! I spit on your time limits!" Bagel tans for 12 minutes.

Bagel wakes up this morning. Bagel thinks: "Damn! it's hot in this apartment." Bagel goes to get ready and looks at herself in the mirror. Bagel jumps (seriously) and gasps. Then Bagel collapses in a fit of giggles (hopefully not waking up the roommate).

Bagel looks like a fool! (seriously, my head is ridiculously red, except of course for the huge white circles under my eyes. where is angeles when I need someone to remind me what a giant moron I am before I do such moronic things?!?!)