Catchy Title Goes Here

FireFox Sucks

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:27:00 +0000

As you can tell from the title of the post and the lovely graphic above (from http://firefoxsuck.blogspot.com/) I am of the strict opinion FireFox sucks. I recently decided to give the browser a try as many people swear by it claiming it is the most amazing thing since sliced bread. So, I downloaded it yesterday. No complaints for the first day, felt it ran everything the same as IE, couldn't really notice a difference. So today I email myself a paper I had been working on for a class. Went to the law school, opened up my email, downloaded my paper, saved it continuously throughout the day, and then went out to dinner and came home.

I had finished my paper before I went to dinner so I could have a nice relaxing evening doing some editing and watching TV. I get home, turn on my laptop, and....no paper. None whatsoever. I go to the folder I had set FireFox to download items to, nothing there. Apparently, when I told the program to save the document to my computer, FireFox, in its ultimate wisdom, decided that I really didn't want to do that. Not only was my paper not there, but every other thing I had downloaded from the program was missing as well.

Now, I guess according to FireFox, I have invented an entirely new thing: SAVING A FILE FROM THE INTERNET. To them, I must be the new Al Gore. You figure that when a person says download a file and then save to X folder, it would occur. This is something that Microsoft's IE has been doing correctly, every single time, since their first version. Now here's the silly thing. In the event that you accidently don't choose a different folder to save your document to, IE will save it to a temp folder that lasts for a long period of time. I guess FireFox thought that having a backup for saving files was not a good thing. Wow, what a bunch of idiots.

I'm sure anyone who actually reads this blog will know that I used to be an IT professional. But there might be a person or two, and if they are a die hard FireFox user, they will post snarky comments, let me explain. I used to document recovery for a living. From the misnamed file, to the corrupted file needed for the board meeting in 20 mins, I would get those back every single time. I know almost all the tricks to get stuff back, and I probably even made a few up over the years. So when I say a document that I spent 8 hours working on, and constantly saving, is gone, it's f*cking gone.

In conclusion, f*ck FireFox and a word to the wise if you are considering using that POS program.

Hello Again

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. The semester is at the end right now and I'm in "reading week" for finals. Meaning, oh shit, I have to do all that reading I slacked off on if I want a slim chance of passing. Good times.

For the most part, finals don't seem like they will be too bad this semester. The registrar was kind and they are fairly evenly spaced out. Plus, they are all open book so for the past week or so I've been creating outlines. As I'm writing these, I've been rocking out to some old(er) music from my life. Right now, I've got some Ozma on and Weazer may not be too far away. Since I'm not able to enjoy the beautiful weather in DC, guess I'll have to be satisfied with some ole classics.

Back to work for me, have fun all you non-almost-lawyers out there.

Life is a . . . Rollercoaster?

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:50:00 +0000

Ah, the ups and downs of life. Law school, for the past few weeks, has been the most challenging so far. The work hasn't been harder, per se, but the workload has been crazy. First, I participated in the Moot Court qualifier for my school (more on this later), which involved researching and writing an appellate brief. Second, we received our assignment and record for the appellate brief for our Legal Writing class. Third, Con Law assigned 70 pages of reading the day I was on call (and I hadn't been called on yet). Finally, the Moot Court Oral arguments were last weekend.

Starting with the ups first, I made the Moot Court team for my law school! The work, luckily, wasn't too difficult for the competition since they picked an easy problem for us to research, but it was still way too time consuming. Probably spent 15-20 hours writing the brief and another 10-20 preparing for oral arguments. The last part wasn't too bad because I was practicing with a (now) good buddy of mine. We laughed, we cried, we kicked each others asses, but most importantly, we both made the team. Getting drinks with the rest of the team this week so it will be nice to meet everyone who is on it.

Next, the downs. Legal Writing and Con Law are kicking my ass with the workload right now. Luckily, I'm not on call for a few weeks in Con Law, but our final Legal Writing brief is due in 3. I spent 17 hours on campus yesterday writing the assignment and only got a few hours sleep. This, of course, is on top of our Journal's Short Write-on Competition. That will be a fun Spring Break.

And lastly, I'll end on another high note. After Moot Court competition last weekend it was a friends birthday so we went out to a couple bars in D.C. and ended up closing out a pretty cool one (MCCXXIII). By the end of that night (morning?) I had been up for 22 hours and was beat; but totally worth the good time with friends!

Writer's Block

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:11:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but it seems like whenever I have free time to update my blog, I can't think of anything to write about. Yet, the second I'm swamped with work, etc., I have a million ideas. Reminds me of Serendipity from Dogma who was a muse when she was an angel but is now a stripper on Earth. Explaining her lack of success, "That's the cosmic joke. I can give out a zillion and nine ideas a second, but I can't keep any for myself." Then, of course, we have Silent Bob's only line of the film, "No ticket," which is just a classic. Watching that movie at my alma mater was always a guilty pleasure.

Since I have nothing interesting to stay, I'll leave you with stolen material from Eavesdrop DC:

Two law students
Student 1: I hate her she's so rude to me
Student 2: You should totally kill her
Student 1: But seriously I can't stand her
Student 2: Just kill her, if you kill her that means you don't have a soul
Student 1: *perplexed* And that's a good thing?
Student 2: Of course, if you don't have a soul your grades will go up at least 10 pts per class. It may be your best shot to get into the top 10 percent.

Ahh, that feels good

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the new subdomain! As was mentioned on the old one, I decided to move to a more anonymous site for a variety of reasons. Plus, who doesn't like change?

Hmm, witty comments are escaping me right now, probably due to all the cold medications I'm on. Caught something this weekend and am trying like the devil to snuff it out quick. So, in lieu of my comments, I will will leave you with a comic that had me cracking up all day: http://xkcd.com/325/

Almost Torture

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:50:00 +0000

Arriving at class this morning, I saw something that would be tantamount to torture if it happened to us the U.S. No, it wasn't waterboarding (which the A.G. refuses to acknowledge as clearly illegal). This would be much worse. According to CNN, an Internet failure has affected much of Asia, the Middle East, north Africa.

Poor people of those nations. How will the Chinese continue to hack into the DOD? How will YouTube continue to rake in profits from advertising? But, more importantly, how will Asian law students make it through classes today?

If we were to lose the internet for a while, I'm not quite sure how we would survive. I sit towards the back in of all of my classes and this affords me a view of all of my classmates computer screens, for better or worse. And, while I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone this, class notes are not the primary items on people's screens. Based upon my observations, here are the top six things I see:

Google: Mail, Chat, Search Engine, etc.
Facebook
ESPN/SI
CNN
Perez Hilton
Blogs

OK, I guess I should finish this post up since my class is about to end. . .

More Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Memo is due this week, so to tide you over here are some recent and not so recent quotes:
Students:

"Why weren't you stoned to death as a child?"
A: "What were we talking about before sex?"
B: "Brazilian Waxes."
A: "Before that...Oh yeah, property!"
"Send me dirty emails tomorrow in class, it's the only way I'll survive."
A: "What does that word mean?" [Referring to word played in Scrabulous]
B: "I don't know."
A: "Did you look it up?"
B: "Yes, it's not in the dictionary."

Professors:

"I was gonna say you can deliver it orally, but that would come out dirty."
"Fine, I'm just going to fail all of you."
"If we lived in a dictatorship, or at least a cheerocracy, this would be so much easier."
"OK, now why don't we actually do class."
"The courts do it to themselves."

Back, Part Three: Return of the (almost) Lawyer

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:36:00 +0000

If I still have your attention, welcome to the third (and final) installment of long awaited blog update. With the topic of finals being over, it's time to move on to a more cheery subject: stare decisis in the face of split-decision court opinions following judicial turnover. Just kidding, that's what I was reading for Crim Law, or was it Con Law? Anyway, it's a safe bet to assume the class ended with the word "law" in the title. Unless it was Property.

This week marks the first week back for all of us soon to be lawyers at my school [well, when I wrote the post it was the end of the first week, we are now in week two]. The first week is always nice, there are the few days before classes start where everyone gets together for drinks, our classes are usually shortened since they are just introductions, the professors don't cold call anyone, and you get to buy office supplies. The last one is probably my favorite part of school; nothing beats a good, new three-ring binder or opening a fresh pack of Post-It tabs. Maybe it's just me? With the abundance of laptop use in school though, there really aren't that many school supplies to buy. I bought a gaggle of highlighters at the beginning of the year, which there are still a few left of, but I was able to buy the binders and tabs today. Hell yes to buy 2 get 1 sale at Office Depot!

With new supplies, however, comes the inevitable books you have to purchase. At this point, we are all so far in debt the hundreds we have to spend on them really doesn't sink in. What does, however, is the enormous size of them. My Constitutional Law book, for instance, is over 1,800 pages. No, that's not a typo. The table of contents is almost longer than my senior thesis. The book is also over twice as thick as some of my other casebooks. Now I do have a few jokes compiled about that, but I'm going to take the high road here.

I also get to reiterate the foresight (and awesomeness) of my blog in this post. As you probably (don't) remember in my post entitled "Back," my blog became a (if not the) premier dating site on the Internet. Well, it has happened again and two more of my readers are dating. Librarian girlfriend, as referenced in "Trust Me...," and I are together. Yes, I can be the writer and a reader of my blog. I do proofread it...on occasion. So, my fellow readers, if you have a cute guy/girl you want to get with, but nothing is happening, turn them on to my blog and wonders could happen.

P.S. While writing this, I came up two more jokes about the size of my Con Law book.

Back, Part Deux

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Now, on to my excuses for not blogging for over a month. Ya see, in law school, they have these crazy things they call "finals." I firmly believe that the word is a giant misnomer. Finals, the word implies (and is defined) as the culmination of something, with closure and a sense of accomplishment or completion. Baloney. The only thing "final" about "finals" is the nail in the coffin housing the remainder of your soul and social life. There is no sense of completion even after you've taken the final. All you have is this nagging fear of how poorly you did, which does not go away anytime soon as law professors have as long as they want before they return your grades. With some of mine, there is a good chance I'll be a few days away from retirement and I'll get a phone call telling me I failed Contracts, causing the firm to fire me moment before I get my gold watch.

This past semester I had twelve hours of tests in a two week period. During the two week period, plus the reading week they gave us, my schedule went something along the lines of: wake-up, load backpack, get coffee, walk to library, study, get more coffee, study, eat lunch, study some more, buy coffee, study, study while eating dinner with other people studying, walk home, study, sleep for a few hours, repeat. Every third"ish" day, substitute the first cup of coffee for a shower. Let me tell you, if you are contemplating law school, save yourself the trouble and just lock yourself in a small closet with bright lights and speed metal blaring for a few days straight. You'll have the same experience, at least the mental anguish part.

While I may kid, finals are a hellish time and the stories of people leaving a test crying are true. So far I don't know anyone who dropped out, but my classes are pretty big and they switched a bunch of night students to the day sections so it will take a few weeks to notice who's not there, especially the quiet ones. I actually had a guy who was in my small group for Torts drop out midway through the semester and it was only when we were trying to pawn some work off on to him did we find out he had left school three weeks prior. I just thought he sat behind a pillar in the class and I couldn't see him.

If I sat down and counted, I'm quite sure there were some days in which I spent over twelve hours sitting the library going over case briefs, class notes and outlines. Which leads to my suggestion of tanning bulbs in the libraries. My section, and I think most in the law school would agree, is probably one of the better looking ones. Our girls dress up and look put together for class, our guys are tall and mysterious, and then of course, there's me. But, during our second exam, you would have thought our room was taken over by a crowd of zombies who climbed up the ugly tree looking for brains to eat after wading through the ugly lake to get there. Luckily most had showered, at least the people who sat next to me, but other than that it was not a sight to behold.

Turns out that was my only excuse for not blogging. Meh. Stay tuned for part three where if you read the blog while wearing 3D glasses you'll discover the meaning of life!

Trust me, I'm (almost) a Lawyer and (almost) a consistent blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Gather 'round yon folks and let me spin you a tale, or, as my old Civil Procedure professor would say as she explained the making of the Constitution to us, "once upon a time. . . ." It has been quite a while since I last blogged, don't worry, I have many excuses and some of them are legitimate, but first, let me catch you up on what has been going on.

First, an update to my last post. It turns out I did not need to hire a crotchety old man to guard the reindeer on my lawn. The "damn" kids apparently had their fun and committed no more high-jinx nor shenanigans on my lawn during the holiday season. I'm sure if it were my friends and I, we would have struck numerous more times, but kids these days have no determination or follow through. I personally blame the video games. The holiday season, however, did hold much good food, friends and family on the weeks I had off. Jetting out of D.C. a few days after my last final (and at an ungodly hour in the morning), I did something I had not done for a long time. Slept. On my way home alone I napped on the subway, bus and airplane. I then proceeded to fall asleep on the couch while watching cable, glorious high definition cable. As most of you know (I'm hoping I still have a reader or two left), I do not subscribe to cable television at my apartment here in D.C. I wish I could espouse some high moral reasons for doing so (although roomie and I both agreed our study habits were quite the better for it), it is mainly due to the fact Comcast gave us the run around during the first week we moved in. But with cable back at the parents manse, it was time for me to catch up on my TV. Turns out, however, that there was nothing on; damn writers strike. This did leave lots of time for football, though.

After catching up on my sleep, which I apparently was able to do in one day, I was back to my old habits of sleeping only four hours a day. That wasn't too bad since I was able to do something else quite glorious: read non-law books! I went through at least eight on them while on vacation and it was one of the most enjoyable things I've done in a while. As much as I love casebooks (read sarcasm), they really sap your energy to do anything else. One of my favorite authors, David Baldacci, had just come out with a new book so I was able to read that, and I got a few more Lawrence Sanders done. I'm not sure if he is writing anymore so I will be saddened when I get all of his done, but until then, he will keep me laughing and wondering what that crazy Archy McNally is going to do next. Librarian girlfriend, more on that later, also got me into Vince Flynn. As a Christmas present I was given the first book in his series and by the time I returned to D.C., I had finished a third of the series. One day on break I counted it out and it turns out I read 600 pages. Yikes!

Now, I don't want to give the impression that I am a complete book nerd (despite the fact that I am), but my reading was enabled by spending a week of the holiday on an undisclosed island in Caribbean. Six days of fun in the sun and I spent every possible moment lying on the beach trying to work out my library tan. P.S., libraries should install tanning bulbs instead of fluorescent. Not only would it attract more people, it would make those of us who spend our lives there look more healthy and vibrant! But I digress, and will probably come back to the point later, needless to say, the vacation was much needed and very relaxing.

Not to overwhelm anyone, I will cut this post off here. But stay tuned as there are many more adventures to be shared and enjoyed!

Damn Kids!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:03:00 +0000

Now that is officially after Thanksgiving, the Christmas decorations have come out. So for the past two days I have been helping my dad put up our outside decorations. They are not so elaborate that it actually takes two full days to light everything, but more so it takes takes two half-days to find them in the storage area, bring everything down, test all the lights, throw away the broken ones, find enough extension cords to power everything, and then head to the store to replace all the non-working items. Saturday was the day we finished putting everything up and I feel it looks quite good.

After dinner Saturday night, I went out to admire my (our) handiwork, and, lo and behold, the neighborhood kids had struck. Part of our decorations include two reindeer grazing off to the side of our front door. And each year, without fail, the kids come by and make it so one of the deer is mounting the other. In another day and time, I would find this funny, but not so anymore. It is a real pain in the ass to go out there, in the cold and dark, and remove the pitcher from the catcher. What impressed me most about this year, however, is the quickness in which they struck, it was almost ninja-like. We had just bought a new reindeer, apparently sitting in a box in a storage area causes all the lights to stop working, and within 3 hours (I kid you not) there was an act occurring on my front lawn conservatives would "tsk" at.

Now I need to hire an old Southern man to sit on my front porch with a shotgun to guard them since the courts have made it abundantly clear I cannot use a spring trap. Damn.

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:40:00 +0000

Well everyone, Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I hope your turkeys (or turduckens) were delicious and the fix-ins just as scrumptious as they look at Boston Market. The turkey-day with my family was quite nice. We don't have a lot of traditions or family in town, so each year is a little different. This year, we had one of my father's college friends and his wife over for dinner. Very nice people and while I didn't get to hear any crazy stories from his college days, it was still enjoyable. Since I didn't spend the last one with my family, it was especially nice to be back home.

The turkey and football were only for one day, however, well, the turkey is still looming. After a day of relaxing and doing nothing whatsoever, I am now back to doing work for law school. The atmosphere here isn't as conducive as I would like it to be however and I have a feeling I won't be getting as much done as I should be over this break.

Tacos

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:11:00 +0000

There are somethings in life you never thought you could get enough of until you make four pounds of them and have tons of left-overs. Yes my friends, I am referring to that awesome Tex-Mex creation of tacos. This weekend I had a quasi-dinner party, I say quasi because paper plates were used and there were more guests than chairs in my apartment, for some of my friends from law school. There was food and drink galore, and for the time being, I will be happy if I don't see another nacho for a long time. Too bad I have to eat a couple more pounds of it before I leave for Thanksgiving.

Dinner was quite nice as we started out with a five-layer dip I made from scratch (recipe stolen from my recollection of what Erin used to make for our parties in college), then my friend Dan made tempura, followed by meat and condiments, and ending with home made crumble ala Cecile. Every part of the meal was quite amazing, especially the tempura and crumble. I also made a tub of Sangria to go along with the meal. It was my first attempt, but everyone seemed to enjoy quite a bit so I'm glad I did it. Overall, I would all it a fun night with friends and there was even an appearance by CK, so she no longer can be called a total flake. Not much work got done this weekend per se, but I only have two classes this week before I leave. Never mind all the time I should have spent on my outlines.

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:11:00 +0000

Ah, Halloween. What an interesting holiday. One of the few days a year it is socially acceptable for men to dress in drag and no one questions them. While a cute dress/skirt was not my costume this year (I went as a monk), I'm sure there are quite a few people out there who did, and I'm sure a lot of them went to Dupont Circle.

The official holiday is still a few days away, obviously, but due to the copious amount of work I have, I will probably not be going out again until next weekend. I did, however, attend a party last night which was quite a bit of fun. The persons who hosted it went all out for the decorations. Every surface was covered in some sort of black or orange, and there were tons of flashing/blinking lights, which, if you know me, amuse me greatly.

While there were many great parts to the night, my second favorite was that a college buddy of mine showed up as Jesus and we did the "Buddy Christ" pose together, I can't wait to get that photo.

My Theory on Law School

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:33:00 +0000

As I commented before, there is a Facebook group entitled "Dear Law School: High School Called, They Want Their Drama Back." While I fully agree with this, I feel law school regresses you back even further. Below is my theory on law school developed on my third cup of coffee at 11 a.m. while GChatting:

Law school perpetually regresses you. When we first get here, we start out like we are back in college drinking and partying the first week few weeks. Then we transition back to high school/middle school with gossiping and talking behind people's backs. After a few months, we are toddlers wanting to curl and up cry in the corner, and by the time finals roll around, I'm sure diapers will be looking like a good idea so we don't have to break from studying when nature calls.

Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:40:00 +0000

While I have quite a bit of work I should be doing, figured I'd post a short list of some of my favorite quotes from law school so far. If they aren't funny to you, tough.

From Students:

"Study buddy."
"I only whore myself out, not my roomies."
"I've got two peppercorns for you!"
"After 7 hours, I'd just be tired."
"Throwing it up to Jesus."
"You white people all look alike."
"Do you think I can get into his pants?"
"I don't get morning wood, I get morning twig."

From Professors:

"Don't tase me, ho."
"On all fours is an important legal doctrine."
“Even though I just said it, and truth be told I wrote it in your book, I don’t think it's that clear.”
"F*** you, and yo momma."
"I can talk about yo momma as much as I want."
"Usually you can blame torts, but this one is all on civ pro."
Prof.: "You know this, we learned it on day one. What is the first thing you need to do?"
Student: "Sue."

Grinds My Gears III

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:39:00 +0000

You know what really grinds my gears, Macy's. Yes, the department store giant with the all too familiar red star as their logo. First, how could you actually pay someone to come up with that logo, any kindergartner draws that on their first day of class. While Scott Adams may have been commenting on the Lucent logo he created this particular comic, I feel it is equally applicable to the current situation: http://home.nyc.rr.com/dmcguire/logos.html#brown

Next on my list is their displays. I visited them this past weekend to pick up a tennis outfit for my tournament last Saturday. In case you're wondering, I placed in the top 25 (but, to be fair, I think only 20 people showed up) and I did look quite cute. As I got off at Metro Center and walked in to the store, the first thing I am greeted with is. . . Christmas. People, it was October 12th. October 12th! Now, as you may know, I am a huge fan of the holiday and make the most of the season. But I do it in moderation. Nothing comes out until after Thanksgiving and is promptly(ish) taken down right after New Year's. I'm fearful that if I had showed up the weekend prior the decorations would have been out on my birthday, and that is just not right. The other, simple glorious holidays of the fall are being ignored and may soon disappear in to nothing if Christmas displays are allowed out earlier and earlier. Where was the Columbus Day merchandise? I remember growing up in New England and attending CD parades and having the day off, this year, nothing.

And my lastly, the salespeople I had were quite horrible. Along with my tennis stuff, I also picked up a new shirt and sweater to compliment the nice, cold weather we are finally getting in DC. I pay for my stuff, which she neatly folds and places into the bag and then I go on my merry way. As I'm leaving, I set off the alarm at the entrance and patiently wait for someone to do my body cavity search. Instead, three chatty Kathy employees look at me and wave me along. When I finally get home, eager to wear my cool new sweater to a party that night, I find out that it still has the security tag on it. So now I must find time to trek all the way back to get it taken off. In spite, though, I will also return some things to make the chatty Kathy's do more work.

Thing's that don't grind my gears:

People getting trash bags thrown at them.
The roof of my building.
The metro staying open till 3am.
My buddy from Columbia Heights.

Week pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:26:00 +0000

A not so widely known fact about me is that I am a country music fan. The conversion to this wonderful genre, while quasi-recent in nature, has opened up a whole new nexus of music to me. The change started slowly. While driving to and fro work in DC (to the spot that I "paid" for), I was growing old of the top 40 which had not changed in the many years since I last went to high school. I can still remember jamming out to some of these still "popular" songs in my '95 Sebring (I miss you baby!) and the fact that I was still listening to them when I was now a professional upset me. As with all things that predicate change, however, the seeds were planted long ago.

At the beginning of college, I dated this girl who was quite the country music fan. I, having just left Nashville and faced with the obligatory question from every person I met if "I was big country fan," had quite an aversion to it. She, however, was not a fan of some of the finer animated TV shows that were on, so we struck a deal. For every three country songs I would listen to, she would watch one episode of "The Simpsons." For some odd reason that the universe cannot explain, such as why I can't remember the names of people I just met but know the 26 character hexcodes of some wireless encryption's, I remember the first song I listened to as part of the bargain, "Real Good Man" by Tim McGraw. As a Nashvillian I feel I should have been a fan of his prior since he lived down the street from me. Granted, everyone from my town lived down the street from some big star.

Fast-forward to now, I don't know what anyone would have an adversion to this music. Aside from being different and original, it includes such wonderful songs as "(I'm so much cooler) Online," "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On," and my father's personal favorite, "Redneck Yacht Club." It also doesn't hurt that the best karaoke bars cater to the country music crowds, well at least the ones I attend.

Week

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:29:00 +0000

Well, the week from hell is finally over. Aside from having our first memo due, we also had another project for a "client" which included a couple huge handouts along with an extra two hour contracts class. Overall, I spent about an average of four hours a night sleeping this week. Quote Dilbert, "I think I've gone insane, but it's one of the good kinds." After so much work for one week I am truly ready to get back to a nice easy week where all we have to do is read and brief. Too bad we have more assignments due next week.

I usually attempt to make some sort of funny comment during my blog posts, but I am just too damn out of it to do so.

Vices and Charity

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 03:23:00 +0000

In restarting school, I felt it would be easy to fall back into my old vices. But, I must say, I am very proud of myself and haven't done that (except for most of them). Today, however, I broke down and succumbed to one of my old favorites. I know it is horrible, and I know it is bad for me, but gosh darn, I just couldn't stay away from those peanut butter and bannana sandwiches. Sloshing some good ole PB on both sides of the bread and slicing some fresh banana, and popping it in the toaster oven is probably the closest one can possibly get to heaven while still on Earth. "Elvis isn't dead, he just went home." - Men In Black

On a side note, I'd like to give a big kudos to the Sony Corporation. Aside from providing us with quality entertainment, and the laptop I write this blog on, they donated a PS3 to a kid who saved his father's life. Apparently the father has a stroke while driving his big rig and the kid took control and steered all to safety.

While Apple might have stolen the spotlight by giving all the early purchasers of the iPhone $100 back (store credit only, of course), it is nice to see a corporation do some good in the world, even if it was probably for the free publicity.

Grinds My Gears II

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:31:00 +0000

In order to emulate one of the coolest and most badass gentlemen I know, I am going to continue my "whenever I feel like it" installments of "You Know What Grinds My Gears." Hey buddy, imitation is most sincere form of flattery.

So you know what really grinds my gears, inordinately lucky people. I'm not talking about the guy who found $20 on the ground one time, but one's who's farts really do end up smelling like roses. Take this couple, for example: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20530196/ What form of karma exists on this planet that they were able to do this twice. I can remember exactly two things I've won in a raffle in my life: an alumni t-shirt from my alma mater; and an iPod dock from my current school. I feel that all of us (me first, of course) deserve to get a piece of the action. What do they do to be so lucky, I mean I always carry around my lucky driver's license (another story for another time), but so far to no avail. Hey Buddha, we need to have a talk.

Things that don't grind my gears:

1. karaoke bars
2. coffee
3. three day weekends

It's Just Not Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 03:12:00 +0000

One of the best things that happened during undergrad was when they opened the fitness center on campus effectively right next to my dorm. It was like a beacon of shame calling to me every day as I walked past it to get to my classes. Its siren song was so powerful that I quickly gave into its call and had a good workout schedule for over half of the week. The most effective nature of it was that I was required to walk right past going to and fro from my 9am class. Seeing all of those crazy people "sweating to the oldies" as I walked by with my first cup of coffee pushed me to start the routine of wearing my workout clothes to class and heading strait there from the gym; which I'm sure was much to the chagrin of my professor who thought I was lazy bum who couldn't get dressed for class (and I'm sure the spandex didn't help either).

Moving into my apartment after college, the "fitness center," and I use the term very loosely, was located all the way across the compound. Sure I could still see it from my balcony, but siren songs are apparently severely hampered by gravity and I never used the place save one or two times. My new apartment, when I moved, had a small but decently stocked weight room. I find heading to the gym a great way to breakup the endless hours of studying, and enjoy the use of it most days of the week. I head down there the other day, and low and behold, they have removed half of the equipment. The bench/squat machine was gone along with a lot of the free weights, so we are left with 4 cardio machines, two weight machines and one rack of bar bells.

So to whomever out/up there who is conspiring against my quest to have the body of a Greek god; just return the weight equipment or the cute kitten gets it. Use your omniscience and see if I'm bluffing.

Frailty, thy name is Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:14:00 +0000

As a student (again), I feel obligated to have at least one posting about Facebook. We are all aware of its inherent advantages and disadvantages, but there are some things I strongly dislike about it. Well, there is actually only one. As a law student, I cannot choose, for my institution, to be listed as a law student, I must select "grad" student. I feel slightly offended by that. By not being able to choose law student, I must lump myself with the collective of all other graduate studies. And let's be honest with ourselves, some of you out there have to feel pretty guilty about those "graduate" degress you are getting.

Anyone who has ever seen a law student work, and then compared them to some other fields, knows what I am talking about. That's why when you ask one of us what we do, we don't say we are in grad school, we are in law school (at which point you should automatically buy us a drink for (a) us having to go through it, and (b) estopping us from finding an obscure loophole in the UCC to sue you for not buying us a drink).

On the plus side, Facebook does have a group entitled: "Dear Law School: High School Called, They Want Their Drama Back."

No Coffee, No Workee

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:27:00 +0000

To steal the theme of my buddies blog, you know what really grinds my gears...coffee makers. A week or so ago, my roomie and I went out to do some good ole fashion male bonding the day after we both moved in. A late night ensued, obviously, so the next morning when I awoke, prepared the coffee maker and hit the switch that transforms the water and coffee grounds into that beautiful nectar of life...and the damn thing would not turn on. After clicking the button another ten times, feeling as though I somehow misused the only button the machine, and checking to make sure the outlet worked, I was left with a giant paper weight on my counter. And no coffee.

Being a good addict, I then proceeded to Giant and then CVS to go buy one. Apparently, even though I live in really nice part of town, my CVS lacks two things: coffee makers and air conditioning. Trudging out to Best Buy one metro stop away, the only makers they had were $40+ dollars. Not exactly how much I was looking to spend on a machine. My journey continued to many other stores with the same results as CVS or Best Buy and ended with a trip to Target.com. The good store had a perfect one, with a clock and delay brewing function.

After waiting 5 days for them to process and ship the order, I received my brand new Mr. Coffee and was looking forward to that sweet first cup. I woke up early the next morning, open the thing up and, low and behold, there is no filter. Now I have not bought a coffee maker in a while (4+ years), but my last one came with a starter 5 pack to help you out. I don't feel that it is too much to expect one or two filters to start you with. I had looked at the description on the Web page to see what type of filter to buy, but there was none so I couldn't order them at the same time as the maker.

So as my journey began with a trip to Giant it ended in order to get my filters. After a week long wait, I must say that first pot tasted good, damn good.

One Down, Many More to Go

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 06:02:00 +0000

This Friday marked a wonderful time in my life; I finished my first week of law school. After the previous days of depressing weather, the gods above shined down upon us and delivered a thoroughly sunny day to end the week--never mind the 95% humidity. Also of particular note, my one and only class of the day ended 10 minutes early, which allowed me to get the jump on the Starbucks crowd and find a good seat in the library.

The first week was just as bad as all the stories I've heard. During my very first class I was called on and put through an hour long interrogation (or 5 minutes) about the case and sort of held my own. I volunteered in a few classes and feel like I only sounded like a complete moron 50% of the time. After class one day one very nice girl came up to me and even said I did a good job.

The past week, however, was nothing like the past month after I quit my job. Instead of carousing with friends every night, I spent most of the time studying. I even had to leave a bar on Wednesday with free beer in order to go study; and I only stayed at the bar on Thursday for ninety minutes. Friday, however, much made up for it as I met a very cool person and hung out with some other cool people at my apartment before we hit the town. They say it gets easier as the weeks go on, so I'll be looking to that. And also my trip up to Baltimore in a few weeks.