Property review

All of you who went home early really missed out. We reviewed property after Con Law for over three hours. Three hours of standing at the podium, writing endlessly on the chalkboard and trying to come up with something to say on the fly. The upside is that we covered estates, future interest – the whole shebang. Unfortunately so many people missed it that I think I’m going to have to give the same friggin’ talk again on Tuesday / Thursday.

I had four more rejections today, one of which came from Indiana.

the summer

I’ve now officially given up hope for getting a summer job. Few firms hire 1Ls, fewer hire them from South Texas, and pretty much all of them stopped hiring in January. Now all I have left to do is decide if I’m going to spend the summer taking Income Tax, or playing Half Life 2. While it would be good to take tax early (it would let me start taking more tax electives and I would be in a class with out Patrick and JP), the thought of doing nothing but video games is intriguing.

I miss sleep

I hate this memo. I wake up everyday at five, get to school at 6 and work on it until class starts. After class, I go to the library and work on it. I go home, work on it and fall asleep at the keyboard.

I realize that no one gives a crap about my sleep/writing habits, but if you're on this site, you must be as bored as me.

In other news, my wife - who is recovering from a sprained neck - was asleep in bed last night when she starting yelling some nonsense. It turns out one of our cats ran across her face and scratched her nose (less than a centimeter from her eye). She then gets, despite these injuries, to work at Wal-Mart. Her life sucks worse than mine.

I really should be doing something

So I just now realized that I have a memo due soon, and by soon, I mean Thursday. On the one hand, it’s only five pages and the professor gave a closed list of sources; I guess he didn’t that he is teaching Research and Writing. On the other hand, it’s 20% of my grade, so I guess I should start working.

I hate actually having to do constructive things.

and they're off

I finished all of my applications/resume mailing. 80 by mail and 12 online. Now begins the waiting, then the throwing away of rejection letters.

Simmons & Fletcher

I saw a commercial this morning for Simmons & Fletcher. It was the standard personal injury firm ad, except it ended with "Christian trial lawyers." This bothers me in two ways. First of all, why do I give a rat's ass about the religion of my lawyer? Are they going to cite 2nd Corinthians before a judge? The next problem is that I don't like business that use God to sell their goods. I doubt Jesus cares if you buy dirt from "His Soils" on I-45 (the ad is complete with a picture of Christ with the crown of thorns, as though he was thinking "when I get back in three days, I'm going to but some nice dirt to start a garden". Another is a plumbing service with that Jesus-fish sign on it. How does one unclog a drain in a Christ-like manner? Will the plumber turn water into Drain-o?

I'm not telling people to be embarrassed about being religious, because that's a good thing. Just don't try to use faith in God to sell stuff; for God's sake, show some respect. That must be the first time I've used "for God's sake" in a literal sense.

Why to we let old people drive?

I saw on the news this morning that a Metro train hit a car. They interviewed the driver (a man in his late 60s) who said that "it's hard to see: it's gray, it blends in with the buildings...." Blends in? It's a friggin train. How do you not notice a train? One has to be profoundly stupid to have a wreck with train, and I doubt this guy is any exception.

Judgment at Nuremberg

Judgment at Nuremberg is a great movie. It is from 1961 starring Spencer Tracy and about the Nazi war crimes trials after World War II; the movie revolves around the trial of German judges who carried out the Nazi laws. It truly makes one think about the nature of law and the role of the judge.

I strongly suggest that every law student watch it; if anyone wants to borrow it, just ask.

googlewhack

I’m sad to say that I have a new pastime while the wife watches American Idol: googlewhack. One enters two word combinations into google until there is only one response. Particle Man, effective procrastination methods, 2004 particleman.og, at http://www.particleman.org/index.php?id=501. I tried for a while until I finally found something useful from civ pro; “Pennoyer spork” returned only one.

Hell has now frozen over

I realize that it’s bad to celebrate a person’s death, but I’m going to have to give a belated huzzah for old man Arafat’s passing. After four years of fighting and little fanfare before the announcement, Israel and Palestine have declared a cease fire. The fighting continued primarily during the tenures of Sharon and Arafat. Sharon was called a genocidal racist and the fighting was solely blamed on him. Arafat was called a visionary and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Amazingly enough, Sharon managed to work through a peace deal whereas the Palestinians couldn’t do anything while Yasser, the Osama of the 1970’s was still alive. It’s a shame the Mossad didn’t take care of him thirty years ago.

possibly the worst movie ever

The Mask 2: Son of the Mask, a movie about a young father whose wife goes away, leaving him alone with his baby and dog. He somehow find the mask (the same Jim Carey found in the first abomination of a movie) and it magically turns his dog and baby into poorly animated CG cartoons. It’s like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but this is even crappier. This movie has a legitimate chance of beating out such terrifyingly bad movies as Blade, Dude Where’s My Car? and Godzilla and the Terror of Mecha-Godzilla.

Though I’ll never see it, the trailer looks worse than Property class.

I hate Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is, at least in my opinion, is the most offensive day/festive period in the year. The day (which is now a week or three) is supposed to be in anticipation of Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent, the season before Easter, is the most solemn and holy part of the year for Roman Catholics. Somehow the holy period has been turned into an excuse for drunken debauchery; now I’m not opposed to drunken debauchery per se, I just don’t like using religious days as an excuse.

I would complain about the fact that so many partiers aren’t even Catholic, but I’m pretty sure the tradition started in Rome, so we’re to blame too. I just think celebrating the start of Lent by getting drunk and flashing people is like celebrating the Fourth of July by burning a flag and knocking off a liquor store.

I love the AP

The AP is reporting that an Islamic militant group is claiming to have an American GI hostage. A close examination of the picture casts doubt on this, as the soldier is still wearing his M-203 grenades on his vest and the gun pointed at his head is an American M4 SOPMOD that would never be used by an insurgent. The gun appears to be held by one hand (off camera) presumably on the pistol grip, though no hand is seen on the trigger assembly. The soldier's head and gun also appear to be made of plastic, and a soldier wearing the same uniform with the same load bearing vest and the same M4 are all found in the same GI Joe box. See, http://www.drudgereport.com/

I'm not sure which is worse, that the AP would fall for the story, or that some terrorist group is so desperate after the elections that they actually posted pictures of a captured doll on their website.