Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Worst Day Ever?

Last night around 6:30 I bought a chicken sandwich from 7/11. Yada, yada, yada, at 3:30 a.m. I was at the local 24 hour Giant picking up a bottle of pepto bismal. I chugged half the bottle before I was finally able to get an hour and a half of sleep. Upon waking I still felt like shit, and chugged the other half of the bottle, and feeling half dead, with a stomach still doing flip flops. Thankfully, for my second day of work, I was able to sit in a couple meetings where there was no way in hell I could be expected to understand what was going on. The pepto did its job and I was able to focus on not falling asleep.

Now, I am exhausted, still feel like shit because the pepto is working too well (probably should not have drunk the whole bottle), but the Bar is tantalizing me with promises of scores being released. At first I thought "late afternoon" would mean four-ish, but as late as six. It is now after six central time and have come to the realization that we are dealing with lawyers here. "Late afternoon" probably means "late after noon," such as 11:59 p.m. I'll give them a couple more hours. Then I need my sleep (though I will likely wake up around 2, feeling not so goodish).

Monday, September 29, 2008

Bar Scores

Word on the street is that IL Bar scores are going up tomorrow. The site is already crashing. Thankfully, what I read indicates that they are e-mailing the scores. Which is good.

We shall see. Today was my first day working as lawyer. Tomorrow, I may be bumped down to paralegalling. Exciting times.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Props, then the opposite of Props

I was driving around the other day and saw one of the most clever license plates I have ever seen. See, here in ol' Virginny, you can choose from an array of different license plates. They even have special plates for out of state universities, such as Ohio State and Penn State (but not my undergrad, you bastards). So anyway, the special plate I saw was this:




If I actually had photoshop or MS Paint skills, I would have just put in the actual words, but I do not, so, the letters on the plate were:

CANC3R

That gave me a good laugh. Then I tried to flick my cigarette onto the top of the car, but science got in the way.

At this point, I have never had more respect for a person I had never seen before, but then I saw the bumper stickers. The first said, "RON PAUL" and something about '08 presidential candidate. The second said "BARACK OBAMA" and something about being a legitimate '08 presidential candidate.

Way to be a single issue voter. I cannot imagine any more than two issues on which libertarians and democrats agree on. What a moron.

I have a lot to say about libertarians (mostly that they are idiots, but including how to make a libertarian look like an idiot), but I am enjoying my last four days before the eternal hellfire of work takes over my life.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Tranquil

It is about half past midnight. I have a Genesee Cream Ale in one hand and a cigarette in the other.* There is a full moon, with a nice crumbly swath of clouds slowly passing through its light, but failing at blocking any of the light. The rest of the sky is cloudless, with only the most persistent of the stars shining through the moon's glow. I am sitting on the second floor deck of a beach house staring out at the Atlantic. The waves, no more than fifty yards away, continually crash, slowly, imperceptibly receding unless you watch them for a few hours, continue their trek to low tide.

To me, this is what peace looks and sounds like.

I could sit right here for hours, but alas, I have to pick my sister and her husband up from the Philly airport tomorrow at 10.

That is ok though. I still have a week to grab hold of this ever elusive feeling.


*I am typing with my nose.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Contrails

Things are always happening. Things happen that we cannot control. Sometimes these are terrible things. Regardless, these things cause change and give you a chance to look at things differently, learn something you otherwise would not have.

On the seventh anniversary of 9/11, there is nothing I can write to help put things in perspective that has not been written about before.

Instead, consider this:

When all airplane traffic was grounded over the United States in the three days following 9/11, some people did not get the chance to stand around shocked. They were given a shot to determine the effect of contrails on the atmosphere.

These researchers reported that
When this is factored in, there is a possibility that [contrails] offset global warming, and this is what we are trying to determine now.


They also note that more studies are needed, and will have to rely on circumstantial evidence. But the importance of the direct evidence as a result of 9/11? Invaluable. Worth 3,000 American lives? Hell no, not even close. But life is happening all around us. I just need to remember to keep my eyes open.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

I'm A Dope, and I suck at Golf

My genius knows no bounds. I post a link on my old blog to the new blog and then do not post anything because I am fervently enjoying my last month of unemployment/student status until I become a working stiff for the next 30 years at the end of this month. The thing about driving all over the country and seeing old friends is that it leaves little time to write blog posts, mostly because it is hard to write intelligently when the spirits have made you cross-eyed.

So I will leave with a few meaningless thoughts from the past week to divert you from wondering why in the hell the Republicans are stupid enough to try to purge the inter-tubes of the the Sarah Palin Sports Highlight video.

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I truly suck at golf. I had not played in five years, but still. What a miserable experience. By hole 13 I just said fuck it, and exclusively used my 7, 8, and 9 irons (plus the putter) (and I could not hit the pitching wedge for shit) because that was the only to get the ball to go in the general direction I wanted it to go (though I was dead on accurate with the nine iron to the green from about 50 yards!). It was so bad that I think I am going to scrape some money together, buy a decent set of clubs (I used rentals when I played), and hit the driving as much as possible for the next year just because I cannot stand to suck that much at something

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I think this may be the busiest gas station in the United States.

View Larger Map
I went there four times in three days, at various times in the day and it was like something out the '70s. Well, maybe not that bad, but there was always a line to get gas. The first time I went in, I actually asked the clerk if it was always this busy. She answered in the affirmative. So, if you are ever in Rochester, watch out for that gas station.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame? Meh.

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My grandma, at 92, has finally reached the point where she really cannot take care of herself full-time. My mom asked me for thoughts on how to protect her assets while still getting all the appropriate health care. I gave her a couple of ideas, by my advice mostly consisted of talking to an attorney who is an expert in Elder Law. She did, and he helped out a lot (though my mom is now buried in a mountain of paperwork).

So for those recent law graduates who are struggling to land a job, look into Elder Law. Seriously. It is not sexy or highly profitable, but it is an area that is going to grow and grow. Get in on the ground floor. And, as an added benefit, you are actually going to do something that helps people. Good for all of you altruistic folks.