Tex Dutile

Quotes from my favorite law school prof: (of criminal law)


"The first controversial issue about M’Naughten, and quite probably the most crucial, is how the hell do you spell it?!?!"
"It was later supplemented by the irresistible impulse test which was interestingly defined as an impulse that was irresistible."


Happy Thanksgiving Break

While my mom is the queen of making comments that just make no sense whatsoever, my dad is the king of the uber offensive jokes. Case in point from his visit this weekend:

"The ACLU?!?! Really? They're just a bunch of commie, pinko, f*gs." (*I die of shame*)

"The last time Dartmouth won a game, Bagel was still a virgin." (Given that this comment was issued in front of not only my family, but Sean as well, I decided I would kill my father at the earliest opportunity.)

And they were more, lots more. Three of which I started to type and then realized they were just too inappropriate. But, I survived, and my liberal morals and values are still in tact.

*Gulp!*

First final is tomorrow.

Granted, it's for Legal Research - the dumbest class ever, and only one credit hour, but I'm used to Dartmouth where every class is weighted the same, so I'm having a hard time accepting that I can take a final exam for one class less seriously than for another and it won't affect my GPA.

Also, this site made me homesick for Hanover.

I'm a godmommy!!!

Hooray, I have a godson!

Carter William Ebbers
7 lbs 1 oz and 18 1/2 inches long


No pix yet, but wait till I get to NE for Thanksgiving!

Ben Folds Concert = AMAZING!

Miss Kitty = EQUALLY AMAZING!

I've got to say, my mom is the funniest IM buddy ever. She sent me an IM saying "goodday my daughter" and that was the only message she sent me that didn't include 7 million sentences in one. For example, "goodday my daughter" was followed by "Hey I have bills to pay and other stuff, ND is playing AirForce this weekend in Colo Want to go?? Okay, See ya then, and I haven't seen bob all week" which was followed by a kissing text smiley that I'm pretty sure was a mistake. Bob is my mom's pseudo bf. And by pseudo bf, I mean he has a crush on her and she constantly refers to him as "bald, fat, and a liar" (although I think she added the last bit only after he called her 'hot').

I wouldn't trade my mom for anything in the world.

Ben Folds is Tonight!

Holy Crap! SO excited!



and in other news, last night was the first night I fell asleep without having to deal with my anxiety. A big step for me. Today: conquer anxiety. Tomorrow: conquer law school. The day after that: conquer the world.

Election Night + Alcohol + Party + Hottub = Bad Idea. REAL bad idea. Mind you, I'm posting this at 5:55 am.... I just got home and I have class in three hours.


fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Abortion & Supreme Court

I don't know if anyone is interested in this other than me, but this Wednesday attorneys will argue a case on partial birth abortion. The case involves a federal law banning partial birth abortions - the EXACT same statute was passed in Nebraska and struck down in a previous Supreme Court case, Stenberg v. Carhart. This federal statute was passed as a direct challenge to that decision and is the first Supreme Court case dealing with abortion under the new justices. Of course, the decision won't be published for a while and this Wednesday is just the day that oral arguments are made. But nonetheless, at the end of the day, the arguments will be posted here under the case of Carhart v. Gonzales.

Mark my words, nothing good will come out of this case.

North Carolina Game

Lots of fun. Lots of hats. Lots of "rum deals."



(click on the pic for more pix)

And I lose.

Today in torts we dealt with issues of liability and duty owed in civil cases to unborn fetuses. For example, if X injures Y and she is pregnant with a fetus, later born and named Z - is X liable to Z if Z was injured?

I made the argument that it was logically acceptable to hold people responsible for injuries caused to viable fetuses and not to those fetuses who were previable. Mistake. BIG mistake. It was called a legal fallacy, a logical inconsistency only argued so that aboriton would be legal, completely incosistent and arbitrary, etc. In fact, it was argued that b/c the viability argument I put forth was based on whether the baby was capable of independent funcitoning or was completely dependent on the mother for life that I would then take away the legal rights of disabled or handicapped people.

I was the only one who made the argument. The other liberals who I know exist somewhere in that class of 100 are just a bunch of spineless jellyfish. Jason, to console me after class, promised to update me as soon as the "megan hamilton is a baby killer" facebook group goes up.

Nov.1 & Dec.1

Gulp. Yesterday was November 1st. The official American Bar Association sanctioned day where before which the Career Services Office isn't allowed to have any contact with us and must turn their head to the wall when they walk by us in the hall and and after which our law school anxieties and tensions multiply exponentially as we are hit with an onslaught of material on finding a summer job. I've gotten hit with 6 emails in the past 24 hours, one open house yesterday and resume feedback, one orientation session today, another set of emails from Job Search engines, and a direct one-on-one counseling session next week.

The only day that could be worse than Nov.1 is December 1st. The official American Bar Association sanctioned day where we can officially start talking to employers. And even thought that's the *first* day for contacting employers, according to my mentor, it might as well be the last too, because if you don't send your resumes out on that day exactly, then employers won't even look at you for summer associate jobs. You've got the dreaded 1Litis and the employers willing to risk their time, money, and energy on you are few and far between so you better do everything you can between Nov.1 and Dec.1 to be ready to send 1,000,000 resumes and cover letters out on Dec.1 or you'll be stuck volunteering your efforts this summer in a legal aide clinic. There are definitely worse fates in life, but law school is expensive and I for one am sick of being broke.

And in other news, today is the day we throw my civil procedure professor a birthday party in class. It's a 20 year tradition and I'm excited to not have to finish my reading. Instead, I'm spending the morning trying to find a job.

Trick or Treat!

This afternoon the graduate housing sponsored a trick or treat event for kids from the local homeless shelter. My favorite was the very first group who came through. When asked what they were, this was the response:

"I'm a ladybug!"
"I'm a firefighter!"
"I'm a giraffe!"
"I'm - I'm - I'M a mighty christian warrior!!!!!!"

The last kid had a tin foil crown on that said "Mighty Warrior for Jesus Christ" and won the the award for most creative innovator. Granted, there wasn't actually a competition, but I gave him the prize and snuck 5 pieces of candy into his bag.

This is me: (reincarnated as a baby panda of course)

Video

Ben Folds Tickets

This morning tickets went on sale. While waiting in line to purchase some, I was inspired to write a poem to post on a friend's Facebook wall. This sums up my feelings entirely:

Ben Folds, Ben Folds, how I love you.
So much so I don't know what to do.
Oh WAIT! I know, I'll get up at seven
and go wait in line - OO! That'd be heaven.

But wait! there are others who had that idea too
So many of them that it's literally a zoo.
There are hundreds and hundreds of girls and of boys
They whine and they grumble and they make too much noise.

I wish they would die, these people in line.
Cuz then I'd move up, and that'd be just fine.
But for now they're still breathing and I'm still stuck waiting.
Now my plot is so dire, it's Ben Folds that I'm hating.

From the dry erase board in Room 121

Written in the corner of a completely clean dry erase board in my first class of the day:

"These are the times that try mens' souls!!!!"

Indeed.

Bye, Bye Fall Break

Fall Break is officially over. How do I know? I've been cooped up in my room for hours today doing work. Over break, I heard the "how do you like law school" question a million and a half times. My answer was always the same: "I like it a lot. The work isn't that bad, I actually have more free time than at Dartmouth. Except it's so frickin' intense. Everything you do has a heightened sense of importance and added stress levels about it."

Case in point: I'm reading for my legal writing class, a chapter on how to write a breif for the court. The introduction reads as follows "The briefs you write will be vital to your clients... Your brief-writing will be important to you as well... So write as if your practice depends on it, because it does." Once again reminding us that everything we do this year will affect us forever. And while I understand this exaggerates the passage a tad, it's really one of the lighter examples I have.

Welcome back, anxiety.

Fall Break Pix

"It's Naughty-Boy-O'clock!"
-Nicolle, after receiving a savory text message from Mr. Sanfrancisco and while Michelle was talking to her drunk ex on the phone in the other room

Merry Christmas

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!

I'm SOOOOO excited - BEN FOLDS is coming to Notre Dame in November!

HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus, I'm going home today! Today is motherfucking christmas in motherfucking october!

Welcome to NDame on game day.

Went for a walk this morning for a break from work and to get some breakfast. The following things reminded me that it was game day at Notre Dame:

* No less than three people stopped me to ask where they could find Jesus. (Touchdown Jesus, that is)
* I don't care where you were on campus - even if the very farthest corners where no people dare to walk - you could hear the sound of bagpipes
* At 9:30 in the morning men wearing nothing but speedos propositioned me to buy their brats
* The woman who is at least 60 years old and works at the counter of the campus Burger King had died her gray hair green
* For every four men I passed, at least one of them was throwing, catching, or carrying a football.

A baby chipmunk ran into my foot today while I was walking into class. I was so shocked and felt so guilty, I didn't even notice all the worms I stepped on and smeared all over my shoes. It was ridiculously gross.

This morning was all about how nature and I are completely out of sync.