Halloween is for suckers....

Yeah I can admit it... that's 100% pure bitterness talking. I like Halloween. October 31st was the Celtic New Year and the last day of summer. The darkness that falls between evening on October 31st and morning on November 1st was considered a time when all laws of space and time were suspended and the spirits of those recently departed could return to earth and possess the souls of the living. People would extinguish their fires and dress up in different costumes, roaming the neighborhood being destructive and loud in order to frighten away the spirits. Just to be on the safe side, those suspected of being possessed were burned at the stake. Yeah, because you can never be too cautious.

So why the bitterness? Well, Halloween is usually one my favorite days. I carve pumpkins and turnips (which are hard to carve because they're solid) while drinking lots of wine and watching Halloween and Halloween H2O. Because of that no drinking new years resolution that seemed like a really good idea at the time, the wine is conspicuously absent from this year's celebration. Oh, and there's no celebration, because I've got a couple of important deadlines this week. So yeah, there's a little bitterness creeping in. It's okay though, I'll make up for it next year with lots of partying and craziness. In the meantime, have a Happy Halloween and eat lots of candy...

This is my friend Matt, who was recently invited to a party in the woods somewhere in rural Illinois. Because he was sitting around a campfire in the middle of nowhere he thought of the Blair Witch Project and took this picture. So this is the closest thing I have to a Halloween picture (you know, because the Blair Witch Project was scary and so is Halloween). Enjoy suckas...

76 things I like...

1. Pizza. Especially with pepperoni, feta, bacon, and extra cheese
2. When people go out of their way to make someone feel included
3. The last minute or two of a really long run
4. Summer. The hotter the better…
5. Finishing my last final of the term
6. Finishing my last final ever. I haven’t done this but I know I’ll like it
7. The holidays
8. Goldie Hawn
9. Cheese except for gorgonzola and other horrible tasting varieties
10. Skiing. I haven’t tried snowboarding yet… maybe this year
11. Llamas
12. Strawberry flavored Nestle Quick
13. Rosa Parks
14. Using my blog to procrastinate
15. When a plan comes together
16. Taxation. This would be the course, not the practice…
17. Halloween (the day)
18. Halloween (the movies… I, II, and H2O)
19. Grey’s Anatomy
20. Disco
21. People who are spiritual without being preachy, hypocritical, or ignorant
22. Motown, R&B, soul, and funk
23. Interesting people who blog. Click here, here, and here...
    
24. White chocolate
25. Traveling
26. Finishing an assignment before the due date. It almost never happens
27. Retro Boogie Dance Party. I can’t help it…
28. One big snowstorm per year
29. Hiking… but there has to be a good destination
30. Zelda (Nintendo)
31. Jimmy Fallon
32. Lost
33. Vancouver
34. Drew Barrymore
35. Old pictures
36. Working hard at the gym
37. Back to the Future (all three)
38. Rose flavored ice cream. Seriously, it’s great
39. Ghandi
40. Ferrets
41. Mexico
42. Winning
43. Sleeping in
44. The desert
45. Getting paid
46. Milkshakes, especially vanilla
47. Taking pictures
48. Dodge Chargers
49. Daylight savings time
50. Indoor tanning… it’s scary but it feels good
51. Rainy, windy storms with thunder and lightening
52. Eddie Cibrian
53. Taco Bell
54. North American history
55. Classic Arcade games… think Pac Man, Frogger, Dig Dug…
56. Empathy
57. California
58. Crash (2005): Seriously, rent it, it’s great. Read about it here
    
59. Getting into bed when I’m really tired
60. Dill pickles
61. My laptop
62. All you can eat Sushi
63. Young and the Restless
64. Cold water when I’m really thirsty
65. Amusement parks and all the rides
66. Waking up and realizing I’ve still got another couple hours before I have to get up
67. Chevy SSR trucks
68. Aviator sunglasses
    
69. Hot tubs
70. Weekend Update (SNL)
    
71. Monopoly
72. Quick internet connections
73. Afternoon naps
74. Road trips
75. Molly Shannon
76. My iPod

Eight weeks down... five to go

Really? Only five weeks? This year's going by a lot faster than last year. Which is both good and scary. The end is sneaking up on me... and what do I still have to do? Here it is:

1. Sports law class presentation
2. Sports law term paper
3. Negotiation term paper
4. Charter term paper
5. IP final
6. Taxation final

The list is a bit shorter this week. The sports law presentation is Tuesday and after that it's all about term papers for 30 days or so... and I'm betting the charter paper will extend well into December.

Today I'm cold. Really really cold. I didn't put on enough clothes this morning and by the time I got to class I was freezing. This is how cold I was: After charter I went over to the SUB and bought one of those ridiculously high priced UBC hooded sweatshirts. I always kinda figured I'd buy one before I graduated from UBC so now I guess I can cross that off my list of things to do. Hmmm... maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better for spending 70 bucks because I didn't wear a real jacket. Either way... I'm warm now.

And I finished the list of 76 things I like. Finally. Like I said, that list was a lot harder than the list of things I didn't like. I think it's because I didn't want to fill up the whole list with music, tv shows, and food so I tried to think of other things. Anyway I'll post it this afternoon in my IP class.

Which I should be doing some reading for instead of blogging. So on that note....

The freeway of pain...

Just when I think I have nothing to complain about, opportunity presents itself. I had taxation till 9 last night and then drove out to Abbotsford to spend the night. At that time of day the drive should only take a little over an hour and for the most part it was good. But then it happened. Just passed the Aldergrove 264th exit, which is only 15 minutes from my parents' place, traffic came to a stop. Construction. Stupid, annoying, horrible, irritating construction. I sat there, on the freeway, 15 minutes from my destination, for one hour. Finally I saw one of those little gravel connector things between the westbound and eastbound lanes so I turned around. As I drove back towards the 264 exit I wondered how far I had come in that hour so I timed it: It look one minute and 30 seconds to get back to the exit. Luckily I know the backroads. It was a little out of the way but I was able to make it to Abbotsford in 20 minutes. When I got there I went through the drive thru because doing anything besides eating and going to sleep was out of the question. The lady told me that a girl who'd just come through said she'd been stuck on the freeway for an hour and a half. So it was good I escaped when I did.

A big blogging gap...

It's been one of those weeks and with everything going on I haven't had time to bitch about it all. But now I've found a couple of spare minutes so here it comes...

My week took a turn for the unexpected on Monday morning. My brother, who with his wife and kids had been staying at my parents' place while they're away, phoned and told me that they weren't staying there anymore. So... to make a long boring story short and boring... an hour later I was on the freeway heading for Abbotsford and I'll be staying at my parents' place till they get home on Thursday. Which really isn't that bad. Well, not that bad except for the 55 mile drive to class. But hey, it's only for a couple days and I figure I owe my parents for a couple things over the years. And the dog needed some company. And maybe I did too...

So yeah, staying at my parents' place has reminded me how much I hate... no.... that's not the word I want... how much I detest commuting. Yesterday morning I had to wait for twenty minutes to get onto the Port Mann Bridge, which I was ready for because it always takes a long time to get onto that stupid bridge. After the bridge though, I thought I'd get all the way into the city without any more backups. Wrong. Traffic came to a stop again after the bridge and crawled along for about fifteen minutes until we came upon a car stalled on the road with its hood up. In the fast lane. Okay, now I might be wrong about this, and I don't know the details of how he came to find himself stranded there in the fast lane. But I have to wonder why, when the car started to lose power, he didn't either maneuver himself onto the right side of the road or the left side, because there was a big shoulder in both places. Granted if he went to the right he'd have to cross a regular freeway lane and that might be dangerous if he was stalling. But the HOV lane is almost completely vancant, so why did he just gradually come to a stop right there in the middle of the fast lane?! Maybe traffic was already backed up so he wasn't moving when it happened? The backup seemed to be because of him though because the second we got past him everybody sped way up. I guess we'll never know. And I guess I don't care that much now that it's over. But at the time I was... somewhat emotional.

And I was late for my meeting. But not that late. So we met, and then I ate, and then I studied in the library for the afernoon before going to sports law. I was going to write a blog entry there, but there aren't extra power outlets in that room and the presentation group for the day was using four of them for A/V equipment and their laptops. I was still going to write a blog entry on battery power because it lasts for about ninety minutes (which sucks), but then the professor came in and sat right beside me, which pretty much killed any lingering thoughts of blog entries.

Last night it was pretty stormy on the drive back to the valley. I mean, it wasn't Gulf Coast stormy or anything like that, but the wind was blowing and there was a lot of rain coming down. As I sat there in my parents' Caravan listening to the Bee Gees on the radio I started thinking about the amount of work I still have to do this term. I had a group presentation in negotiation today and I used the drive home last night to plan it out. Which was great because it took me two hours to get there (thanks to a couple of downed trees). Also Darren was coming over to watch TV and eat, and Ali was coming over to do laundry, so I knew I wouldn't get any studying done last night.

And I didn't. What I did do was go to Walmart with Darren and buy up a bunch of Halloween candy for my negotiation class. There's only fourteen people in the class and chocolate, I figured, is a good bribe. After that we watched TV and sat around talking when Ali got there. Well, Ali and I talked... Darren passed out in the chair, then on the sofa, then on the other sofa, and finally went to bed. I think he's got a sleeping disorder. But Ali and I had a good time, and she brought Gen over too. They're going to Mexico (Ali and Gen) next Wednesday and they're not coming back till Christmas Day. Lucky. I would give anything to be on my way to Mexico till Christmas. Well, maybe not everything, but I'd give lots. So after she left around midnight I finally went to bed. I had to get up early so I didn't get enough sleep. But... somehow... I rolled out of bed and left for class this morning...

Which I didn't make it to because I didn't give myself enough time to get there. One thing I have to work on is giving myself enough time to get places. I had to stop at my place, which is only 15 minutes from UBC, to pick up my tax law textbook, and I figured that because I was already missing class I might as well just have a nap. So... an hour and a half later I left my place and finally made it to school.

Today, so far, hasn't been a major problem. My presentation in negotiation went well, but I forgot to hand out the chocolate. Too bad... now it's sitting in my bag and it wants me to eat it. It's calling out to me. But I'm strong. No I'm not. I'll probably eat it. Which I shouldn't be doing because last night was kind of a disaster as far as food goes. Darren and I "accidentally" bought too much candy at Walmart and were forced to eat it. Then for dinner I had hotdogs because I was just too tired and lazy to make anything else. Fat free hotdogs, but still...

And I haven't been to the gym this week at all. I hate having that particular brand of guilt hanging over my head when I'm trying to get everything else done, but I knew when I decided to stay in Abbotsford this week that going to the gym was probably out of the question. But there's always next week right? My parents will be home tomorrow and then life will get back to normal, or as close to normal as it gets.

I don't think I complained enough in this entry. I started out with big plans for complaining about a lot of different things but it didn't really happen. Well, it is what it is. Anyway, here's some random crap I wanted to throw out there:

The list of 76 things I like is in progress. I'm finding this one harder. Is that a bad sign? Invasion, a new show Wednesday nights on ABC, is really good. I want to go somewhere hot. I think the more handouts you accept from someone, the less entitled you should feel to complain about them. I saw a clip of Acid House in negotiation today so now I want to rent it.

Seven weeks down... six to go

So. Six weeks left. That's somewhat alarming. I'm not saying I've left everything until the end, but I think I've left almost everything until the end. This is what I've got in order of dueness:

1. Sports law handout preperation
2. Negotiation case analysis
3. Negotiation class presentation
4. Sports law class presentation
5. Sports law term paper
6. Negotiation term paper
7. Charter term paper
8. IP final
9. Taxation final

Nine things. One through four will be finished by November 1st. Five, six, and seven are by far the most time consuming and they will have to be finished entirely within the month of November. The IP final will be brutal because I haven't done a lot of the reading for that class. The good news is that it's on December 9th, which is the end of the first week of exam period. I've got a whole week with nothing to do but study for that one final. Taxation will be okay. I've kept up with the readings and the final isn't until December 21st, which is the last day of exam period. So that means that I have from December 9 to December 21st to study. Granted, the taxation final will be pretty hard, but with that amount of prep time i should be okay. Right? Um... rigtht? Anyway, November's going to suck pretty bad.

I think I've finally figured out my wireless problems and it only took me a year and a month. A couple weeks ago I tried repairing the network bridge when I couldn't get online and... it worked. I haven't had a problem since... when I can't get online I just do the same repair and everything's fine. I didn't know if I should blog about this for fear of attracting my computer's attention to the fix. I mean... obviously it knows I'm not having wireless problems anymore but if it sees how happy I am about it then it might try to disable the damn bridge. But computer, if you don't wreck this for me I promise that I won't throw you against a wall or out a window for at least the foreseeable future. Seriously though, it's not that I'm paranoid. I'm just a little paranoid that my computer's out to get me.

And I promised to post a wedding picture, so...

Here it is. Left to right: My mom, my brother Steve, my new sister in law Lea, my grandma, and my dad. The wedding wasn't actually in Prague but I don't know where it was and Prague was the closest big city. So let's just say Prague. And it looks like double congratulations are in order because Lea is going to have a baby in about six months. She's about twelve weeks along. I've been doing the math in my head and it seems like something doesn't add up right but I've never been that great at counting backwards in my head so I'm probably just doing the math wrong. But seriously, congratulations are in order and here's hoping for a happy marriage and pregnancy. And Steve is happy that another little conservative voice will be added to the world. All I can say to that is kids don't always think what their parents want them to. With any luck they think what their uncle Darren wants them to. But living 4,725 miles away I guess that's not a likely prospect.

Last weekend I spent a couple nights with my good friend Ali. We've been friends since we were teenagers (which really wasn't that long ago right??). Ali is staying out in Maple Ridge right now getting ready to go to Mexico for a couple months with her daughter Gen. We ate some really good fattening pizza and stayed up till 4am talking about pretty much everything. And I brought the camera...

Here's Ali and Gen having a crazy little dance party in the living room. I might have been involved in that crazy little dance party a little bit.

Gen's the best picture taker ever and she took this shot of Ali and I. Okay It might not be the best picture of me but at least Ali looks nice.

This picture cracks me up. I look like Ms. Swan from Mad TV.... "yeah I tell you every-ting!" It's too ridiculous to use for anything but at least I can post it here...

Anyway Gen was such a good picture taker that I got her to follow me around on Sunday morning and take pictures of me. She took about 85. I'm always the one taking the pictures so I end up with no pictures of myself... every so often I get someone to take a bunch all at once. I delete most of them, keep a couple good ones, and then I don't have to worry about not being in any pictures for a while.

Alright, well I'm in IP and I should get back to listening. Or start listening. There's a list of 76 things I like coming... I'll probably have it up on Sunday but right now it's hard to say. Time will tell...

Later

75 things I don't like...

1. The word “anyhoo” (meaning anyhow)
2. Walking through a spider web; spider or no spider
3. Dog’s that jump up and get my clothes dirty
4. Potlucks
5. Drivers and pedestrians who get in my way when I’m on my bike
6. Cyclists and pedestrians who get in my way when I’m driving
7. Drivers and cyclists who get in my way when I’m walking
8. Still being drunk the next morning
9. Olives (black or green)
10. People in apartments who play music like they don’t have neighbors for miles
11. People who park in my parking spot
12. Narrow minded people who can’t think outside of their narrow experiences or consider new ideas or beliefs
13. People with no empathy
14. Still being drunk the next afternoon
15. The word “tickety boo” (meaning things are going well). Click here. It's not really that common...
    
16. Students who monopolize class time because they love the sound of their own voices
17. Professors who let students monopolize class time
18. Cat or dog hair anywhere except attached to a cat or dog
19. On campus laptop wireless problems
20. The taste of glutamine
21. War
22. The sappy bittersweet humor in some Robin Williams movies
23. Most forms of organized religion
24. The fact that MTV doesn’t play any music videos
25. Ankle and knee pain after running
26. Rude inconsiderate people at the gym
27. The loud fan on my laptop
28. Feeling guilty about not studying whenever I’m not studying
29. Bad customer service
30. People who are rude to people working in stores
31. Guys who make fun of guys by saying they do something like a girl. What’s wrong with doing something like a girl?
32. Girls who make fun of guys by saying they do something like a girl. WTF?!
33. Catching all the red lights
34. Renting a DVD that doesn’t work properly
35. Ostriches
36. People who drive slow in the passing lane
37. The word “wonderbar” (meaning wonderful)
38. Night classes
39. Pushy people on the bus or Skytrain
40. When my iPod cord gets caught on something and pulls the ear buds out of my ears
41. Kenny G
42. Taking out the garbage
43. Lord of the Dance
44. Overcrowded gyms
45. Running out of time on exams. It happens a lot
46. Paying to see a bad movie
47. When it snows for a little while and then rains
48. Computer viruses
49. Non standard meats
50. Trying to have a conversation with someone in a loud restaurant or bar
51. Having to ask someone to repeat the same thing more than once because I can’t hear them
52. Taking the Greyhound anywhere
53. The price of software
54. Bridge lineups. Especially north shore bridge lineups
55. The price of iPod accessories
56. Gorgonzola cheese
57. The fact that this decade doesn’t have a name
58. Future Shop. Grrrr…
59. Michael Bolton
60. That movie with Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage where he’s an angel
61. A sink full of dishes
62. The allergies I get in May and June
63. Winter except for skiing and the occasional snowstorm
64. Cliffhangers
65. Hypocrisy (see entry 23)
66. Losing my keys
67. Over analyzing the things people say and do
68. When the Skytrain stops in the middle of nowhere fifty million feet above the ground for no apparent reason
69. Any Halloween movie without Jamie Lee Curtis
70. Radio stations that play more commercials than music
71. Microwaves that are really really dirty inside
72. The fat content in all my favorite foods
73. Being late for class
74. Mail in rebates
75. The sound of the drill at the dentist

Six weeks down... seven to go

We're finally finished the patents component in intellectual property and now we're on copyright. Copyright law is a little more interesting so far. But it's still the first lecture so there's plenty of time for it to get nice and boring. What is really exciting is taxation, but we didn't have taxation this week because... well... I'm not sure why, but we didn't have it.

I don't have a lot to say about my classes this week. I'm trying to keep up with the readings in my two exam courses (IP and taxation) and I'm attempting to start my research on the three courses that I have to produce papers for (charter, sports, and negotiation). Note the language I'm using here: trying, attempting... I'll keep ya posted. I have a sports law presentation coming up in two weeks, and a negotiation case study with a short class presentation to follow. All pretty minor, and when they're done I can start on the final projects...

My brother Steve got married today. I couldn't be there because the wedding was in Prague and I couldn't get away from school for that long. So happy wedding Steve and Lea. Congratulations and good luck. I'll come over to Britain and bring you a wedding present when school is finished next summer. By then my non drinking in 2005 new years' resolution (commonly known as Dry '05) will be over too so maybe we can celebrate with a couple drinks. But no beer for me. I've decided that if I ever do drink again, I'm not going to drink beer. I'm not sure why but it seems like the right thing to do. Anyway I'll post a wedding picture when I have one...

In other news, I'm making a list. It's not a happy list. It's a list of 75 things that drive me crazy. Because the list will have a decidedly negative tone, and I find balance to be important, the hate list will be followed by a happy list. Predictably, the happy list will contain things that make me happy, and there will be 76 of them. Why 76? Because then there will be slightly more positivity than negativity and that's a good thing. Stay tuned.

Finally, it's been a while since I've talked about TV and I have a few things to say. First, the Amazing Race Family Edition pretty much blows. Or sucks. Take your pick. There are too many people to keep track of, the roadblocks are watered down, and they haven't even left the country. One word: boring. Also, I'm tired of seeing religious family types pray to the powers above for help winning the challenges. Seriously. "Dear Jesus, I know people are dying all over and there's war and evil and disease everywhere, but please help me win this challenge so I can get a ton of beautiful money. I promise I'll give you some. Amen." Yeah, amen.

And then there's Survivor. This used to be my favorite reality show, but these days there seems to be a Survivor malaise setting in. It's all the same... the players are starting to look the same, the challenges are the same, the complaining is the same... It's taking me longer and longer to get to know the players because I can't seem to pay attention.... and then they mix up the tribes so I'm completely lost. Survivor isn't a bad show, but it needs something...

Lost: I'm starting to worry about Lost. It was so good.... now where's it going? Please, someone, tell me where it's going. Because sometimes it seems like they're making it up as they go. House: love it. Grey's Anatomy: love it. Apprentice Donald: love it. Apprentice Martha: it's okay. I know, I know, it's fashionable to hate Apprentice Martha Stewart but I really don't mind it. She's more tolerable than I thought she'd be, but I do have to say that her meeting room and reception area are a little bland.

Well that's about it... time to clean the bathroom...

Traffic circles in my head...

The city has installed some traffic circles on the quiet residential streets in my neighborhood. In theory, that's a good thing. They keep traffic moving and they give the old ladies in the neighborhood a place to plant some flowers. Okay, I don't know if the old ladies actually plant them in the traffic circle thingy, but I've seen them watering the flowers on more than one occasion. So yeah, on the surface it seems like a nice, harmonious, traffic circle world.

There's just one problem. People don't know how to use them. And an improperly used traffic circle is, well, a traffic circle that isn't being used properly. And that's a problem. I walk past three of them on my way to the gym and the things I see... people get into them and then decide to stop for cars that haven't actually come into the traffic circle yet. Other people drive right on in even when someone is already inside and heading for them. Basically nobody knows who has the right of way. And then there's my favorite... people who make a left turn and either don't know or don't care that they have to keep to the right... they just take a short cut by driving the wrong way into the circle.

I don't get why the city would install traffic circles without trying to somehow explain to people how to use them. Maybe it's not a big deal, although it's probably a little dangerous that so many people don't know what they're doing. But... around here... that seems to be a common theme with people in cars. In the time since I sold my truck I've been experiencing life as a pedestrian and cyclist... and let me tell ya... it's a scary world out there. But hey, it keeps things exciting...

And speaking of exciting, my friend Matt landed the role of Augustus Gloop in the Kennedy Center's production of Willy Wonka. They've been travelling around the mid west since the beginning of September and Matt is keeping it real by blogging his trip, which you can read about here. Way to go Matt!!!

This pic was taken on the Granville Street Bridge... it shows the marina in False Creek, the Burrard Bridge, and part of the west end... 

This is part of downtown and the Granville Street Bridge, which I have to walk over to get there... I took this picture from an off ramp about five minutes from my apartment. 

Thanks but get real...

Dear Unrealistic Applicant,

Thank you for applying to our firm. But seriously, what were you thinking?

Sincerely,

Every Firm You Applied To

Five weeks down... eight to go

It's Friday again, which is pretty amazing because it seems like the week just started. I have Mondays and Thursdayas off, so even though Wednesdays are long and Fridays are sort of long, it feels like I'm not here that much. Especially compared to last year.

So interview week in Vancouver starts on October 17th for summer jobs. That's a week from Monday. And I still don't have any interviews. Yep, I've kept the phone turned on, even in class (where I have it on vibrate) but no dice. I guess I'm not that surprised, because my first year grades were decidedly average and apparently all the big firms are looking for the top twenty percent. But still, I've got some good stuff on my resume and I only applied at places where I've established some kind of relationship with somebody who may have a say in whether or not I get hired. That's the law equivilant of only going to houses where you know people on Halloween. The potential for reward is a lot less in terms of sheer volume, but that is outweighed by the benefits. Trick or treaters are less likely to get poisoned, kidnapped, or to find a razor blade in their candy apple or rice krispie square. For me, I figured that it would spare me the senseless task of sending off a million applactions to 1) firms that wouldn't give me an interview because my grades were too low, or 2) firms that aren't in BC so I'd have to move and therefore wouldn't want to work at anyway.

I've asked the firms about grades and how important they really are. They are pretty upfront about it in saying that they're looking for top grades, but they also say that grades are a very very poor indicator of how an individual will ultimately do as a lawyer and as an employee within the firm. The reason they rely on grades so heavily, they say, is because they have to sort through two hundred applications and grades are the best and the easiest way to make in interview list. Okay, so fair enough. I figured that I'd apply at the three firms where I had a chance to get to know the hiring committee a bit and maybe that would at least get an interview, because I know they all liked me. But no luck. At least not yet anyway. We're still ten days away from interview week and anything can happen.

Not that I'm getting my hopes up at this late date. And besides, I don't know if I would actually hope to get a job at a big firm. I mean, I used to think I hoped I would, but everybody buys into that crap they feed us in first year about getting the best grades to get the best jobs at the best firms. The reality is that eighty something percent of lawyers don't work for big firms. And is that really what I want to do? They work a ton of hours. I've even heard of cots being set up in a special room at a certain downtown firm that I applied to. The money's great, but is that a good enough trade off for the missed hours, or even the missed years with family and friends? I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that if I got an interview I'd turn it town. I definitely wouldn't, and I'd probably accept any summer job they offered me. But at the same time I'm thinking about the big picture. We only live ... well.... who knows how many times we live, but I don't think I want to spend this life in an office downtown giving up my evenings and weekends to some big firm where ultimately I'm just another faceless part of the legal machine.

The other side to that is money. I don't need to be rich, but I do need something that'll help me pay off the student loan debt sometime in the near future. I'm probably going to owe over 100k and I want to buy a house and a car at some point before too long...

So what to do? Well, taking all that stuff into consideration I've formulated my list of things to do before I'm 40 (nine years from now):

1. Finish second year
2. Spend summer between second and third year traveling around Europe
3. Finish third year
4. Get articling position with small firm
5. Buy car
6. Open own firm and bill $300,000 a year
7. Buy house

That's a good plan. Having my own firm will mean that I can work the hours I want. And after business expenses (including paying the salery of another lawyer) I should still be able to take home about $120,000.

Okay well I'm glad that's settled... ha... and I didn't think I was going to be productive between Charter and IP today. So now onto the weekly state of the classes address:

Sports law: Nothing much to say here. Wieler liked my research proposal, which I don't think I really had to do because he looked like he didn't know what I was talking about when I gave it to him. I need to start my research soon though.

Charter: I gave her my proposal, but I think it's to general. I need to focus on one particular niche more because I've heard that a couple people are doing hate speech and freedom of expression.

Taxation: I've been doing some extra reading for this class. Still my favorite.

Negotiation: One case analysis down, one case analysis, a class presentation, and a final research paper to go.

IP: This class starts in two hours. I should be doing the readings now. So on that note...

Boredom is the sport of the day...

I have to say it. I don't want to say it, but I have to: Sports law is useless. I've been sitting here for almost two hours with my eyes glazed over trying to pay attention and not doing well at all. Okay so you're probably wondering if maybe it's me who's useless and not sports law. But it's not my fault. Seriously. Today's topic is franchise relocation and league expansion. Like usual, there's a group at the front of the class "leading the class discussion." I put that phrase in quotations because they're not really leading anything at all. They came to class with a powerpoint presentation and a lot of issues to discuss, but they're not getting very far. Why? Because the prof and his friends (who have been called co-professors, panelists, etc.) do most if not all of the talking. Every once in a while... say every twenty minutes... they pause and look at the group, which then attempts to move on. The group talks for about.... maybe one minute... and then it goes back to the panel. Twice in the last two hours someone from the class has jumped in with a comment, but the panel doesn't seem to take a lot of notice....

Anyway, the result is that there are a whole lot of people in this classroom with vacant expressions. It would be better if the panel would stay on topic but they seem to veer off into... other things. It's hard not to like the prof though; he's a nice guy. It's just hard to maintain some focus...

Okay well speaking of focus I'm going to try and pay attention for the next 30 minutes. Well, 29 minutes actually...

Triumph and tragedy...

It's all done. The stupid part is that I tried to tell you that last night. I wrote an entry and when I hit "publish post" I got an error message. I knew there was no use, but I hit the back button. It returned me to the blog entry page, and the title was still there, but the text was gone. Stupid Blogger... so from now on I'm going to copy and paste to a word document before I publish. It's a good thing the post was relatively short...

Okay so I have a sports law topic: NCAA amateur athlete eligibility rules. And I have a negotiation topic: Illegal strikes and their impact on contract negotiations. The topics are a little more involved than that, but describing them would constitute cruel and unusual punishment on my reading audience. Coming to this site isn't supposed to be punishment, even though sometimes it might feel like it.

So next week is looking good. I've got everything finished that's due, with the execption of one little thesis statement for my Charter research that's already been approved. One thing the prof wasn't clear on though: Does she want me to cite the cases I'm basing my thesis on? Because if she does, that pretty much rules out making a wild claim and then finding the evidence to back up that claim after the fact. This request of hers was pretty informal and I know we don't have to cite sources on the research proposal itself. The answer to the question, or how I decide that it should be answered, will drastically alter the amount of time I spend on this. Citing cases on the proposal will take way too long, and I think my wild claim approach is better lawyer practice anyway. In practice we won't be able to choose our clients based on what cases will be easiest to win; we'll have to search for evidence to back up our clients' points of view based on the pre existing facts.

But... the real answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. I'm not going to do a lot of work tracking down cases at this early stage, but I should have some idea of where the law stands on the issue before I tell the prof what I think about it.

October is here...

Okay so it's October 1st and that means my research papers are now officially due next month. I need to get some stuff done today. Here's the list:

1. Write my first case study for negotiation.
2. Write my research proposal for negotiation.
3. Write my research proposal for sports law.

I also need to come up with a thesis for my Charter research but that won't get done today. I'll do it tomorrow when I do next week's IP and Taxation readings.

Okay. It's almost 1:30. I can get this done before 10pm right? Yeah, of course I can. My next post will be at 10 and it'll all be done.