Well, I looked at my other midterm I took recently - just as bad as the other one. It's a little bit distressing that my grades thus far (this semester) have been so bad. I was just telling a friend of mine that I'm pretty used to resting on my laurels. Example: last semester I divided my studying efforts into two groups - my two challenging classes, and the other three. I ended up with B+'s in the two I studied diligently for, and B-'s in the other three, for which I really didn't put much of an effort in.
So, what do I do now? Study extra hard for those two classes that I have thus far bombed. Problem is, I am already dividing my classes like I did last semester. I was going to study hard for two classes and try to get by for the other three (or maybe three and two - I really need to study for Evidence). But now I have to throw all my efforts at ALL my classes! Damn it!
So, why am I not depressed (at my grades and the fact that I have to actually study for all my finals)? Because teammate and I made it to the final four in the oral appellate competition. Last night we went up in front of two professors and a local attorney. They were wearing actual robes for the first time in the competition - interesting. The questions they asked were sort of weird - they took me by surprise, which is clearly a mistake on my part. One question, or series of questions, was so unexpected that they said afterwards that I missed a softball, or even a couple of softballs.
After we argue, they ask everyone to leave while the judges deliberate. They do, then we come back in so the judges can critique the competitors, and at the end of these comments they announce a winner. So last night, imagine our surprise when the bailiff came back in the room and told us to leave again! We did, and fairly quickly realized that it was a tie. So, they re-deliberated for another 4 or 5 minutes then asked us in again, and announced that we had (unanimously) won. I'm not sure what turned it for us; our opponents were really good.
So. What's going on with you, dear readers?
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
"...girls groups and church."
Sexism is bad. Misogyny is bad.
Our oral appellate competition, which I noted in the last post, continued on this week. We went Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and, good news, advanced to the round of eight. Go us! I have to say, my partner freaking rocks. I had to convince her to join me in this effort - towards the end of last semester, I put on my best persuasive face and convinced her to be my partner. I chose well.
Little did I know, however, what we would face on Tuesday, the second preliminary round. The 3-judge panel was pretty harsh. They asked difficult questions, and didn't let us get away with inadequate answers - and that's fine, they probably shouldn't. But they were also rather rude - kicking their feet back, and even passing notes during the presentation (and not a serious, "what do you think of this question" or "that was a good answer" type of note, either. It was a joke one judge told to the other - I'm not kidding).
Well, during our comments, the "chief justice", in the midst of complimenting my partner, said something that just made my jaw drop. After he said it, I even wrote "OMG" on my notes. It went, roughly, like this:
He went on:
I asked my partner about it afterwards. She was rather nonplussed - "yeah, I get that sometimes. I'll get those kind of comments no matter how good or bad I do." Jesus. That guy makes me want to apologize on behalf of men everywhere.* But I'm not gonna.
Funny thing, too - yesterday at work my boss was railing on some lawyer for something - I think it was how bad a lawyer he was, to the extent of malpractice - and it wasn't until about 5 minutes into this conversation that I realized it was the same guy from Tuesday night. Small world.
* One of my favorite quotes from my favorite novel: "Rape makes all men feel guilty by association." The World According to Garp, John Irving. (I'm pretty sure that's it - I couldn't verify online, and don't have a hard copy anymore [I believe strongly in giving books away]).
Also, if I may, could Mr. Irving please write another book soon? The last couple have been rather disappointing. I'm not asking for another Garp, or Owen Meany, but something that'll take me away from IP and Crim Pro for a couple hours...
Our oral appellate competition, which I noted in the last post, continued on this week. We went Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and, good news, advanced to the round of eight. Go us! I have to say, my partner freaking rocks. I had to convince her to join me in this effort - towards the end of last semester, I put on my best persuasive face and convinced her to be my partner. I chose well.
Little did I know, however, what we would face on Tuesday, the second preliminary round. The 3-judge panel was pretty harsh. They asked difficult questions, and didn't let us get away with inadequate answers - and that's fine, they probably shouldn't. But they were also rather rude - kicking their feet back, and even passing notes during the presentation (and not a serious, "what do you think of this question" or "that was a good answer" type of note, either. It was a joke one judge told to the other - I'm not kidding).
Well, during our comments, the "chief justice", in the midst of complimenting my partner, said something that just made my jaw drop. After he said it, I even wrote "OMG" on my notes. It went, roughly, like this:
You were quite good. You had excellent poise; you didn't seem nervous. You probably learned that from speaking at girls' groups and church...Huh? Did he just say what I think he said?
He went on:
You didn't roll your eyes or display some of the other mannerisms that some girls do. That was very good.I guess this could be considered the quintessential backhanded compliment. I was floored, absolutely stunned. I was raised by my mother and my sister, so I'm usually on the lookout for, and can spot pretty easily, sexist comments. But I guess when one rolls over you with all the subtlety of an 18-wheeler, there is some level of awe which I'm really not over yet.
I asked my partner about it afterwards. She was rather nonplussed - "yeah, I get that sometimes. I'll get those kind of comments no matter how good or bad I do." Jesus. That guy makes me want to apologize on behalf of men everywhere.* But I'm not gonna.
Funny thing, too - yesterday at work my boss was railing on some lawyer for something - I think it was how bad a lawyer he was, to the extent of malpractice - and it wasn't until about 5 minutes into this conversation that I realized it was the same guy from Tuesday night. Small world.
* One of my favorite quotes from my favorite novel: "Rape makes all men feel guilty by association." The World According to Garp, John Irving. (I'm pretty sure that's it - I couldn't verify online, and don't have a hard copy anymore [I believe strongly in giving books away]).
Also, if I may, could Mr. Irving please write another book soon? The last couple have been rather disappointing. I'm not asking for another Garp, or Owen Meany, but something that'll take me away from IP and Crim Pro for a couple hours...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
pwned...and not
Well, I received a rude awakening of sorts in class yesterday. We got our PR midterms back, and I got a...wait for it...D+!!! I was sort of in a daze. I guess I'm over it now, though I'm still a bit disappointed.
I make no claims that I'm the smartest or the most hardworking, not even in the top ten percent, though I am confident in saying I am above average, and my grades, up until now, have backed up that assertion. I've gone into finals underprepared before, and I've always landed on my feet - a B- has been my worst grade so far at school, which (for those of you not attending school right now) is about average. I'm not obsessed with grades - when after my first year I realized I wasn't a top 10% guy, I stopped stressing so much about results - I just want to keep my scholarship and stay on Law Review, which, after 3 semesters, should be fairly easy to accomplish.
But damn! A D+??? It's almost hard to fathom. At first I was all fired up to go to the prof's office hours and bitch and moan, but when he said no grades would be changed, I sort of resigned myself to this abomination. Or aberration - yeah, that's it. My only solace lies in the fact that this is only 20% of my final grade, so I'll just have to nail the final, and all should be good.
Later yesterday, we had our first round of our oral appellate competition (I'm still holding on to some sense of anonymity here - for future google searches - so I won't call it by its name [and commenters, please follow suit]); we won! Going into it, I wasn't terribly motivated either way; I really just didn't want to make an ass of myself, which, frankly, I'm not entirely sure I accomplished. But I suppose you can't argue with results.
(For those who don't go to school here, and care to know how this works, there's 2 preliminary rounds that everyone has to do - 1st arguing the side you wrote you brief on [petitioner or respondent], then the other side. After both rounds, everyone's scores from both rounds are totaled, and the top 16 or so advance to the next rounds, wherein it's win and advance, lose and go home. On can actually "lose" both of one's preliminary rounds and still theoretically advance, though that would probably be difficult - though I know one team last year lost one round and ended up advancing to the semifinals.
There are teams our there that more or less try to lose - I don't really blame them; this is hard, nerve-wracking, and you have to dress up.)
It was tough. I was preparing what I wanted to say, I was hoping I would get a lot of questions, as my outline seemed a little thin - we get 15 minutes (individually), and though I never did a dry run for timing, I didn't expect it to take that long. But damn, I was barely a minute in when the questions started coming, and coming, and coming, until, in my head, I was saying, "for christ's sake, let me get to the point!" I barely got to speak to the crux of the issue (my issue, anyway). Good times!
Second preliminary round is tonight, so wish me luck! And best to those of my classmates who are participating (I actually think the two classmates who read this aren't participating, but I could be wrong).
I make no claims that I'm the smartest or the most hardworking, not even in the top ten percent, though I am confident in saying I am above average, and my grades, up until now, have backed up that assertion. I've gone into finals underprepared before, and I've always landed on my feet - a B- has been my worst grade so far at school, which (for those of you not attending school right now) is about average. I'm not obsessed with grades - when after my first year I realized I wasn't a top 10% guy, I stopped stressing so much about results - I just want to keep my scholarship and stay on Law Review, which, after 3 semesters, should be fairly easy to accomplish.
But damn! A D+??? It's almost hard to fathom. At first I was all fired up to go to the prof's office hours and bitch and moan, but when he said no grades would be changed, I sort of resigned myself to this abomination. Or aberration - yeah, that's it. My only solace lies in the fact that this is only 20% of my final grade, so I'll just have to nail the final, and all should be good.
Later yesterday, we had our first round of our oral appellate competition (I'm still holding on to some sense of anonymity here - for future google searches - so I won't call it by its name [and commenters, please follow suit]); we won! Going into it, I wasn't terribly motivated either way; I really just didn't want to make an ass of myself, which, frankly, I'm not entirely sure I accomplished. But I suppose you can't argue with results.
(For those who don't go to school here, and care to know how this works, there's 2 preliminary rounds that everyone has to do - 1st arguing the side you wrote you brief on [petitioner or respondent], then the other side. After both rounds, everyone's scores from both rounds are totaled, and the top 16 or so advance to the next rounds, wherein it's win and advance, lose and go home. On can actually "lose" both of one's preliminary rounds and still theoretically advance, though that would probably be difficult - though I know one team last year lost one round and ended up advancing to the semifinals.
There are teams our there that more or less try to lose - I don't really blame them; this is hard, nerve-wracking, and you have to dress up.)
It was tough. I was preparing what I wanted to say, I was hoping I would get a lot of questions, as my outline seemed a little thin - we get 15 minutes (individually), and though I never did a dry run for timing, I didn't expect it to take that long. But damn, I was barely a minute in when the questions started coming, and coming, and coming, until, in my head, I was saying, "for christ's sake, let me get to the point!" I barely got to speak to the crux of the issue (my issue, anyway). Good times!
Second preliminary round is tonight, so wish me luck! And best to those of my classmates who are participating (I actually think the two classmates who read this aren't participating, but I could be wrong).
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Links to fun things
I'm usually not one to make a post just of links to other stuff (I'm sure there's a word for blogs like that, but I don't know it); I wanted this to be an original content-rich type of thingie, but sometimes I just can't help myself.
My friend - um, let's call her Jeanne, 'cause I can't remember if she uses her real name or not - recently attended Lebowski Fest in lovely Seattle and looks to have had a great time. Her awesome, awesome blog recounts her wonderful times here, here, here and here (she met the Dude, dude. The Dude).
Also tonight, I perused many of the blogs that were nominated for the 2007 Bloggies - some of my already favorites were nominated, such as BoingBoing, PostSecret (which won for best blog, and has in the past as well - if you don't read this on a weekly basis you are truly missing out), Gizmodo and Say No to Crack. I was surprised that not a peep was heard of What Would Tyler Durden Do?, as it is the only kind of celebrity news I can stomach; I guess there are others out there, too (see here and here, if you want - I know the latter is a favorite of Ms. Savage Cats, former classmate and still friend via the magic of the internets - and by the way, I meant no disrespect by that whole 'blogs who post links' thing earlier. You do it really well. Better than anyone I've ever met.).
If there's any sports fans amongst my reader (who I imagine I can count on two hands - maybe), I would highly recommend The Brushback - an Onion-like site that will make you laugh. I wish I could be more eloquent here, but give me a break, ok? It's funny.
And finally, a word from the grand old man of American poetry, Walt Whitman:
My friend - um, let's call her Jeanne, 'cause I can't remember if she uses her real name or not - recently attended Lebowski Fest in lovely Seattle and looks to have had a great time. Her awesome, awesome blog recounts her wonderful times here, here, here and here (she met the Dude, dude. The Dude).
Also tonight, I perused many of the blogs that were nominated for the 2007 Bloggies - some of my already favorites were nominated, such as BoingBoing, PostSecret (which won for best blog, and has in the past as well - if you don't read this on a weekly basis you are truly missing out), Gizmodo and Say No to Crack. I was surprised that not a peep was heard of What Would Tyler Durden Do?, as it is the only kind of celebrity news I can stomach; I guess there are others out there, too (see here and here, if you want - I know the latter is a favorite of Ms. Savage Cats, former classmate and still friend via the magic of the internets - and by the way, I meant no disrespect by that whole 'blogs who post links' thing earlier. You do it really well. Better than anyone I've ever met.).
If there's any sports fans amongst my reader (who I imagine I can count on two hands - maybe), I would highly recommend The Brushback - an Onion-like site that will make you laugh. I wish I could be more eloquent here, but give me a break, ok? It's funny.
And finally, a word from the grand old man of American poetry, Walt Whitman:
Just as much for us that sobbing dirge of Nature,
Just as much whence we come that blare of the cloud-trumpets,
We, capricious, brought hither we know not whence, spread out
before you,
You up there walking or sitting,
Whoever you are, we too lie in drifts at your feet.
As I Ebb'd With the Ocean of Life, 1860
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
More Vesting Paper ideas
I'm thinking of something to do with searches and seizures (warrantless and otherwise) of e-mails, message board discussions and the like. What is the reasonable expectation of privacy online? I know there's about 3.4 million articles on this subject, so I need to narrow my focus - but that's why I'm posting this.
I'm also thinking about (as previously mentioned) electronic property rights. I recently learned the reason software is sold as a license and not just as its own product - when you sell a patented product, you lose the ability to control its resale. Interesting, no? Ok, no, but it is to me. Also, on this theme, Microsoft's new DRM for Vista is pretty nasty. What rights does a licensee keep to do with their software what they want? And what level of oversight is appropriate, or even legal (ooooo, unconscionability!), for a licensor to reserve?
Is there any overlap there? Privacy? Didn't Palko and those incorporation cases talk a lot about privacy? And then, as I recall, Roe sort of eschewed* the privacy rationale. Plus neither of those cases involved the 4th Amendment...but I bet I can make an interesting paper here.
Keep those thoughts coming.
*how is this word pronounced? I'd always pronounced the sch part as a hard sound, as if it were spelled "eskewed," but recently I heard it pronounced as soft, which sounded funny to me. And not ha-ha funny, either.
I'm also thinking about (as previously mentioned) electronic property rights. I recently learned the reason software is sold as a license and not just as its own product - when you sell a patented product, you lose the ability to control its resale. Interesting, no? Ok, no, but it is to me. Also, on this theme, Microsoft's new DRM for Vista is pretty nasty. What rights does a licensee keep to do with their software what they want? And what level of oversight is appropriate, or even legal (ooooo, unconscionability!), for a licensor to reserve?
Is there any overlap there? Privacy? Didn't Palko and those incorporation cases talk a lot about privacy? And then, as I recall, Roe sort of eschewed* the privacy rationale. Plus neither of those cases involved the 4th Amendment...but I bet I can make an interesting paper here.
Keep those thoughts coming.
*how is this word pronounced? I'd always pronounced the sch part as a hard sound, as if it were spelled "eskewed," but recently I heard it pronounced as soft, which sounded funny to me. And not ha-ha funny, either.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Need Some Ideas
By January (ish) of next year I will have to turn in what's called a Vesting Paper for Law Review, and the nerd in me is already thinking about what to write. As I attend a less-than-stellar law school, and the city in which I hope to reside post-law school doesn't seem to give said law school any respect, I figured that being published may give me a leg up on some folks.
So, I'm looking for ideas. I know there's non-law students who read this (ok, I know of one [not you, Savage Cats, I still consider you a law student], but surely there must be another somewhere), but you can contribute as well. Are there any interesting issues out there?
I'm very much enjoying my IP class right now, and I have a lot of interest in Internet-related law, so I was thinking of writing something in that vein. Speaking of, this article was really interesting to me; it really exemplifies some of the concepts I find relevant and fascinating, and which I expect will be for a while.
So - help me brainstorm. I'll credit you in a footnote in my soon-to-be-famous diatribe on something or another.
So, I'm looking for ideas. I know there's non-law students who read this (ok, I know of one [not you, Savage Cats, I still consider you a law student], but surely there must be another somewhere), but you can contribute as well. Are there any interesting issues out there?
I'm very much enjoying my IP class right now, and I have a lot of interest in Internet-related law, so I was thinking of writing something in that vein. Speaking of, this article was really interesting to me; it really exemplifies some of the concepts I find relevant and fascinating, and which I expect will be for a while.
So - help me brainstorm. I'll credit you in a footnote in my soon-to-be-famous diatribe on something or another.
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