Hey, why not two entries in a week! Put my article up on SCS just now, looks decent but not my usual ramble. This one is more like last season's articles, and I do not know if that is good or not. All I know is I am PUMPED for the Iowa game. Cannot wait for Saturday.
I really wrote to speak of my day. This was a bad day, despite no reading and getting to start my day with tennis. First Kirkland and Ellis calls, says they are SO SORRY because they sent the wrong letter to me and I actually do not have a callback. As if that unprofessional behavior did not get it going (and that is really what got in my craw as the day went on), the other phone calls of the day set it off. Fish from Dallas called back, and it turned out to be a good call as they are meeting October 10 to make final decisions so I will know for sure in 2 weeks. It is nice to know finally when that will be, but still I wait for my first offer. Then Leydig (my callback for Friday) FINALLY got a fourth attorney for me to interview with Friday and confirmed my interview at 5 PM today. I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow at 11 AM and I get confirmation of the interview at 5 PM the day before I leave. Considering they had 3 and a half weeks from when we tenatively scheduled the callback...I find their conduct unacceptable. You cannot make someone wait until the day before they have to leave to set up the interview! I mean I am happy I have a callback, but they are behind Brinks and Fish based solely on how they have acted thus far. And so much for not making last minute travel plans...I do not have a hotel reservation for tomorrow night. Well I am pissed, but I'll call them tomorrow morning and they better answer the phone so we can work this all out before we hit the road.
I do not know what pisses me off more: Kirkland being unprofessional or Leydig being such a pain. If only I had an offer...
On the bright side it was bowling night, and we were bowling against Applebaum's team. Aaron has been talking trash all week and so have we. The team theme this week (we're crazy) was Holy Rollers so Daniel and Brodie dressed up in suits and acted like crazy southern baptist preachers. I had on my Halloween costume, Roman Catholic Cardinal. Abbie totally should have dressed like a rabbi, but she did have the MFR shirt on. Well anyways Aaron and I were focused on beating each other individually as the best players on the team...and he beat me by 2 first game 162-160...more painful was our team losing by 2 pins as well. 1-6 on the season. Then game two I took off my outfit so we had two baptist preachers and the more subdued members of the team in MFR shirts...well we got revenge for game 1. I bowled a little worse (but still beat Aaron 146-143 and the one pin win over two games means I've got bragging rights) but Abbie totally carried the team getting her first ever turkey of her life and 7 marks in 7 frames (2-9) to go get a 187. GO ABBIE! 96 pins over average, and like I said she carried the team as won the second by a dominating 97 pins and the series by 95. We are only 3-6, but we are bowling so much better. I do not know if Abbie can keep it up (or me, having the third or fourth highest AVG in the league)...but Daniel has been consistent and Brodie has been bad so he could easily carry us the rest of the way. Bowling totally turned the day around, and I get to keep my 153 average another week.
One final thought: Is it scary I bowl better in a cardinal dress where I have to bowl with backwards spin than when I bowl a normal game in normal clothes? Yeah I thought so too.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
Two more weeks...
It is only two more weeks until fall break at school, and wow has the time flown by. I am kind of in a rut as far as classes go (less motivation to read, even less motivation to pay attention in my boring classes...but at least Morgan and E. Lee have good classes to look forward to). I doubt I'll do any catching up over that week, but maybe things will get turned in the right direction as I hope to have 2-3 callbacks scheduled that week and finish those off so that I do not have to bother with those anymore. If I could just get an offer from Fish... :-)
My callback with Brinks Hofer in Chicago went well, until today. I'll explain later. Anyways, the interviews were only 20 minutes long so they were a little too rushed for my tastes, but I did get to see 7 attorneys and the recruiting coordinators. The firm is growing slowly (like every other firm in america) and is currently at about 140 attorneys. Everyone I talked to has a balance of patent litigation and patent prosecution work. I like that aspect, and the tougher interviews were the last two because these guys worked in the power and/or nuclear industires before going to law school (and so grilled me on my NE classes which was a change). The lunch was very nice at a place I currently cannot afford, but when the firm buys you steak you eat steak. I also like how they had 2 first year associates who just started 3 weeks ago take me to lunch, as they know the summer program and could answer all of my pressing realistic questions. Of course both of these people were ND undergraduates and UM law students. Go figure...and we start talking about why The Ohio State University insists upon the "THE" at the beginning of their name. LOL. I got payback over dinner when I asked them, "so since you graduated from both universities how did you like the UM-ND game?" Both visibly cringed, so obviously I struck a blow into the Irish hearts...oh well. They said a week and a half to get back with me, and I have a suspicion this is legitimate. So I should hear from F&R by no later than next week and Brinks said then as well. Now you ask how did it go bad today? Well I was rushing to class and grabbed the reimbursement letter (form and original receipts for food and taxicab fares the firm pays for while you are there) out of my backpack and threw it in the US mail drop box at school. As I let it go I notice there is no stamp on the damn thing. Great. So I rush off to class after checking the pickup times (10 AM each day) and figure I'll come back after class and dig it out (the mailbox is not easy to reach into but with a newspaper you can reach the mail in there). So after class I go check the mailbox and it is empty. I call the USPS and they say it will be delivered with a postage due stamp on it...so I left a phone message with the recruiting coordinator apologizing in advance for my brainiac moment. It's probably no big deal, but I do not want to throw the job away on something silly like that.
I will be so happy when I get that first offer. I know with 7 callbacks now I'll get one, but it will feel better to have one nonetheless. It seems like the job market is opening up for all my friends now, as most of us are getting callbacks and waiting for offers (except for Jon, but his PHD in bioscience gives him a huge leg up on the rest of us, even us patent lawyers). It finally seems realistic that by November 1, most of us will know our summer plans and probable futures.
Met with my adjunct today about my app ad paper, as the next draft is due already next week. Craziness will ensue, but he's a really nice fellow and we had a good chat. He ran away from his family by moving to a Boston law firm with no ties to the area, so he was encouraging about my wanting Texas and Chicago. I also told him while I was stuck in OHare coming back from the interview for 4 hours, a lady traveling to Cedar Rapids IA (my hometown) sat down beside me and we chatted about Iowa. She was from Seattle, and had kids get assigned by the racial tiebreaker in my app ad supreme court case. Small world huh...getting to speak with one of the parents I am advocating for was a unique opportunity. It doesn't help the paper, but Pierce (my adjunct) thought it was neat, and said "you know in life, there are no accidents." How true.
I forgot my combination for my locker at school. Not that I use it anymore, but I used it over the summer and did not use it for 4 weeks, now I cannot figure out the damn thing. I wrote it down in my planner last year to remember it, but I cannot find that either. Eh, not a big deal but I keep going back every few days and trying new combinations. Hmmm...
In life there are no mistakes. What a strange concept, but so believeable. Having Kelley as a third wheel at junior prom (obviously led to marriage)...moving to the border between high school districts (allowed me better opportunities in Marietta)...getting rejected by my dream school MIT (probably changed my life plan entirely)...well I am sure we all have moments that seem like they mean less than they actually do in the long run. Well I don't blog about philosophical issues, so back to something more concrete.
The undergraduates are back. In force. All 22,000 or more of them. It gives campus a nice lively feel and I'm not that far removed to love all that goes on when they come back, but my fellow law students don't like it much and this year I can agree a little. I much preferred my parking possibilities before they came back, the first week is hell because you cannot walk down high street without having some stupid young'un run into you, and no longer can you grab lunch somewhere not busy. Law school is just another planet, as I suspect you ask most OSU undergrads where the law school is located and they probably would not know.
This weekend the PSU-OSU game was great, and looking forward to the Iowa trip this weekend after my Chicago callback. It will be the only time in a while I'll see the siblings as well. Hopefully I'll be a happy Buckeye fan for the drive home Sunday, but we shall see. This will be the biggest game in Iowa City in two decades probably, so should be an electric atmosphere.
Sunday was fun, as the new Magic set came out. They have the normal big set which brings back a lot of old mechanics such as flanking and flashback and buyback, but the big news was a subset of cards (121 bonus cards, 1 in each booster pack) are reprints of old cards with purple expansion set symbols and printed in the old cardface. It was nice to open up a pack and get a Mystic Snake, another with a Lightning Angel, another with a Grinning Totem...so the nostalgia theme looks awesome. Shep and I playe din the 2HG on Sunday, 44 teams of which only about 5 could be considered true threats and only 2 other teams with players as good as us. We get paired round 1 against one of the good teams and lose because both our decks get stuck on mana issues. We win two rounds against awful competition before losing again due to my deck and more mana issues (you'd think with a 10-8 split of mana I'd get both...). We decided to stay in and smashed the last two opponents, but got 10th on tiebreakers (6 percentage points behind the tied 8th and 9th place teams). It's a shame, and more of a shame is they ran out of pre-release cards so we did not get a promo. Considering that was the only thing I wanted...that kind of sucks. I quit competitive Magic and they bring out arguably the best two blocks in 5 years including one with nothing but nostalgia. Damn them. Extended and 2HG seasons in 2007 should be fun.
One more thing, guess I saved the best for last. At the tournament Tom let me know I'm going to be his best man in March. That is such an honor, and I feel like it is so undeserved even though we lived together 2 of the last 3 years, and he was my best man. You know how I said there are no accidents in life...well I ran this little thing called Marietta Magic League my senior year of high school, and the best player (the only player better than I) in the area and the only guy who finished better than me in the overall standings was Tom. We became friends thorugh Magic and because I started the league and he saw the ads for the tournaments...and now we are each other's best man six years later. Funny how this world works.
Going to be two more bachelor parties next year, one I'm planning and one someone else is planning for Burton. I can only hope I do as good of a job as Tom did for me this year. Well enough for now...
My callback with Brinks Hofer in Chicago went well, until today. I'll explain later. Anyways, the interviews were only 20 minutes long so they were a little too rushed for my tastes, but I did get to see 7 attorneys and the recruiting coordinators. The firm is growing slowly (like every other firm in america) and is currently at about 140 attorneys. Everyone I talked to has a balance of patent litigation and patent prosecution work. I like that aspect, and the tougher interviews were the last two because these guys worked in the power and/or nuclear industires before going to law school (and so grilled me on my NE classes which was a change). The lunch was very nice at a place I currently cannot afford, but when the firm buys you steak you eat steak. I also like how they had 2 first year associates who just started 3 weeks ago take me to lunch, as they know the summer program and could answer all of my pressing realistic questions. Of course both of these people were ND undergraduates and UM law students. Go figure...and we start talking about why The Ohio State University insists upon the "THE" at the beginning of their name. LOL. I got payback over dinner when I asked them, "so since you graduated from both universities how did you like the UM-ND game?" Both visibly cringed, so obviously I struck a blow into the Irish hearts...oh well. They said a week and a half to get back with me, and I have a suspicion this is legitimate. So I should hear from F&R by no later than next week and Brinks said then as well. Now you ask how did it go bad today? Well I was rushing to class and grabbed the reimbursement letter (form and original receipts for food and taxicab fares the firm pays for while you are there) out of my backpack and threw it in the US mail drop box at school. As I let it go I notice there is no stamp on the damn thing. Great. So I rush off to class after checking the pickup times (10 AM each day) and figure I'll come back after class and dig it out (the mailbox is not easy to reach into but with a newspaper you can reach the mail in there). So after class I go check the mailbox and it is empty. I call the USPS and they say it will be delivered with a postage due stamp on it...so I left a phone message with the recruiting coordinator apologizing in advance for my brainiac moment. It's probably no big deal, but I do not want to throw the job away on something silly like that.
I will be so happy when I get that first offer. I know with 7 callbacks now I'll get one, but it will feel better to have one nonetheless. It seems like the job market is opening up for all my friends now, as most of us are getting callbacks and waiting for offers (except for Jon, but his PHD in bioscience gives him a huge leg up on the rest of us, even us patent lawyers). It finally seems realistic that by November 1, most of us will know our summer plans and probable futures.
Met with my adjunct today about my app ad paper, as the next draft is due already next week. Craziness will ensue, but he's a really nice fellow and we had a good chat. He ran away from his family by moving to a Boston law firm with no ties to the area, so he was encouraging about my wanting Texas and Chicago. I also told him while I was stuck in OHare coming back from the interview for 4 hours, a lady traveling to Cedar Rapids IA (my hometown) sat down beside me and we chatted about Iowa. She was from Seattle, and had kids get assigned by the racial tiebreaker in my app ad supreme court case. Small world huh...getting to speak with one of the parents I am advocating for was a unique opportunity. It doesn't help the paper, but Pierce (my adjunct) thought it was neat, and said "you know in life, there are no accidents." How true.
I forgot my combination for my locker at school. Not that I use it anymore, but I used it over the summer and did not use it for 4 weeks, now I cannot figure out the damn thing. I wrote it down in my planner last year to remember it, but I cannot find that either. Eh, not a big deal but I keep going back every few days and trying new combinations. Hmmm...
In life there are no mistakes. What a strange concept, but so believeable. Having Kelley as a third wheel at junior prom (obviously led to marriage)...moving to the border between high school districts (allowed me better opportunities in Marietta)...getting rejected by my dream school MIT (probably changed my life plan entirely)...well I am sure we all have moments that seem like they mean less than they actually do in the long run. Well I don't blog about philosophical issues, so back to something more concrete.
The undergraduates are back. In force. All 22,000 or more of them. It gives campus a nice lively feel and I'm not that far removed to love all that goes on when they come back, but my fellow law students don't like it much and this year I can agree a little. I much preferred my parking possibilities before they came back, the first week is hell because you cannot walk down high street without having some stupid young'un run into you, and no longer can you grab lunch somewhere not busy. Law school is just another planet, as I suspect you ask most OSU undergrads where the law school is located and they probably would not know.
This weekend the PSU-OSU game was great, and looking forward to the Iowa trip this weekend after my Chicago callback. It will be the only time in a while I'll see the siblings as well. Hopefully I'll be a happy Buckeye fan for the drive home Sunday, but we shall see. This will be the biggest game in Iowa City in two decades probably, so should be an electric atmosphere.
Sunday was fun, as the new Magic set came out. They have the normal big set which brings back a lot of old mechanics such as flanking and flashback and buyback, but the big news was a subset of cards (121 bonus cards, 1 in each booster pack) are reprints of old cards with purple expansion set symbols and printed in the old cardface. It was nice to open up a pack and get a Mystic Snake, another with a Lightning Angel, another with a Grinning Totem...so the nostalgia theme looks awesome. Shep and I playe din the 2HG on Sunday, 44 teams of which only about 5 could be considered true threats and only 2 other teams with players as good as us. We get paired round 1 against one of the good teams and lose because both our decks get stuck on mana issues. We win two rounds against awful competition before losing again due to my deck and more mana issues (you'd think with a 10-8 split of mana I'd get both...). We decided to stay in and smashed the last two opponents, but got 10th on tiebreakers (6 percentage points behind the tied 8th and 9th place teams). It's a shame, and more of a shame is they ran out of pre-release cards so we did not get a promo. Considering that was the only thing I wanted...that kind of sucks. I quit competitive Magic and they bring out arguably the best two blocks in 5 years including one with nothing but nostalgia. Damn them. Extended and 2HG seasons in 2007 should be fun.
One more thing, guess I saved the best for last. At the tournament Tom let me know I'm going to be his best man in March. That is such an honor, and I feel like it is so undeserved even though we lived together 2 of the last 3 years, and he was my best man. You know how I said there are no accidents in life...well I ran this little thing called Marietta Magic League my senior year of high school, and the best player (the only player better than I) in the area and the only guy who finished better than me in the overall standings was Tom. We became friends thorugh Magic and because I started the league and he saw the ads for the tournaments...and now we are each other's best man six years later. Funny how this world works.
Going to be two more bachelor parties next year, one I'm planning and one someone else is planning for Burton. I can only hope I do as good of a job as Tom did for me this year. Well enough for now...
Monday, September 18, 2006
Day 1 of the Workout
Well hard to belive it has been 10 days since I blogged, but then I think about last week and it is easy to see. We went home the weekend of the 9th and went to Kelley's mom's place to watch Texas get whooped on the big screen. That was a sweet game, if a little boring. Nice payback for them ending our long streak of home victories the year before. I was tempted (with the trip to Texas being officially cancelled and airfare to use within the next year) to go ahead and book airfare for Phoenix Arizona for the national title game...but we will wait. Like rational fans who know there are 9 games left on the schedule. Anyways, the only other thing of note last weekend was Shep coming over to help me move the behemoth of a TV into the Tracker we were borrowing from Zach while he's in Texas and Kelley's car was in the shop. The thing must weigh over 300 pounds and has no handholds at all (a slippery box basically). But we got the TV up to Columbus and Kelley and I very slowly got i where it needed to be downstairs. Thanks thanks thanks to the grandparents moving, as we could not afford a big TV but God do football games and Xbox games and TV in general looks great on that big thing. Now the guys have something to watch on poker night too.
Speaking of TV's, been working with a local paralegal (why do all the people I deal with on Craigslist end up being attorneys, lawstudents, or paralegals?) to get her big TV for $35 before she moves to San Diego in 3-4 weeks. Well she finally got in touch with me after 2 weeks of phone tag and said she would sell it to us but not until the week she leaves in about a month, but she will off it for $10. Hey, I have no problem waiting :-)
School was busy as could be last week. I barely kept up with things and let a couple readings go which I will not go back and do since the professors basically went over the reading in class. But my first draft of App Ad is done and I think I've done pretty well. I go meet with my adjunct (the guy who grades it) on next Monday and then I will throw together the second draft for the following week. I might even work on it a little this week, but don't count on it since App Ad is at the bottom of my list until a draft is due. So that kept me busy.
Somehow wrote an article by deadline Wednesday, but did it during patent class. Of course I think it's my best article of the year and I have pretty good patent notes...maybe I should multitask all the time. OK maybe just in Shipman's class, where I am now of course. I do not need 2 days to go over a problem I did in a little under an hour...but whatever. I did not get everything 100% right, but I'm doing pretty well. Speaking of SCS, have no idea what to write about this week...but I've got more important things before deadline on Wednesday.
Last Wednesday I had my App Ad paper turned in the night before the night it was due, but that was just because I was so busy. Interviews in the morning and early afternoon, classes 2-5:30, dinner at Dean Rogers' house at 6-8:15, and rush to first week of bowling. Dean Rogers has a very nice house, but really who is surprised there? I realize now that IPLS has the most insignificant meetings and agenda of pretty much all the Moritz student organizations, but can you fault us? Get the people info about patent law and copyight law, the patent bar, and encourage them to go to the Patent interview fair (which got 2 of the 4 IPLS board members jobs by the looks of it assuming one of my 4 callbacks works out), and call it a year. Not too hard.
Bowling was fantastic. Brodie was late because Vorys was busy buying him dinner and sucking his proverbial nuts (class rank means a lot to them), so Kelley got to bowl the first game for him. She rolled a 116, Brodie shows up and rolls a 117 in the second game...who's going to know it was not him the first game lol? I got a 128 and then a 149, so right around my average for last year which was 140. Our averages for next year are cute, they take 20 pin steps (Me 138, Brodie 117, Abbie 97, Daniel 78). Isn't that cute? Well we lost 2 out of 3 because out two games were within 6 pins or so, while our opponents improved by about 160 pins between games (one guy rolled a 66 game one and a 167 game two, WTF). We are definitely taking the cake for strangest team to bowl against, and that suits us perfectly. Mens Fucking Rea, if you know what I mean.
Thursday I had my final OCI interview, and thank God. 35 first interviews from August 3 to September 14 was enough to make you sick of the little make conversation game. I got two more callbacks, so no more striking out in OCI! And they said I would be more prepared after learning the ropes in Chicago...hell I did so much better in Chicago. Anyways, Chicago Patent program is like this (4 YES, 4 NO, 5 DO NOT KNOW YET) with 2 callbacks done (Fish in Dallas and Maginot in Indianapolis) and 2 not done (Leydig in Chicago and Brinks in Chicago). The OCI stats are (1 YES from Louisville, 10 NO, 11 DO NOT KNOW YET). Woot.
Feels good to get the App Ad monkey and the interview monkey off my back. Of course I still have callbacks and getting offers to worry about, but the hard part is done in my opinion.
Friday was my birthday. Yay 23. Spent it at Mongolian BBQ getting free stir fry AND free dessert and then at Lodge Bar getting tons of free stuff and drink specials. Kind of lame because nobody came, but oh well. Good times.
Weekend was not all that interesting, but since Shipman ended class early I have to finish this up. Kelley and I started working out today by playing tennis and walking, hopefully we get in at least 30 minutes of walking/running or more than an hour of tennis every morning until we lose a little weight. Eating healthier too, but that's gradual. Yay Law School 1L 60 punds...gotta go away. So day 1 of the workout...just blogging to make sure I keep it up :-)
Oh and I got tickets to the Michigan State road game and we are going to the Iowa game as well in 2 weeks, so I have tickets to 6 straight Saturdays counting the 4 home games around those. I need to get rid of two of those games probably, so anyboyd need tickets? Should be fun roadtrips though.
Back to the grind, I'm next up to be called on in tax class so I better go get ready. Have a good week everyone (oh I forgot, JDR had a mixer on Thursday night that was decent and now we have ACC-Checks again this week due Thursday...hooray to fixing authors).
Speaking of TV's, been working with a local paralegal (why do all the people I deal with on Craigslist end up being attorneys, lawstudents, or paralegals?) to get her big TV for $35 before she moves to San Diego in 3-4 weeks. Well she finally got in touch with me after 2 weeks of phone tag and said she would sell it to us but not until the week she leaves in about a month, but she will off it for $10. Hey, I have no problem waiting :-)
School was busy as could be last week. I barely kept up with things and let a couple readings go which I will not go back and do since the professors basically went over the reading in class. But my first draft of App Ad is done and I think I've done pretty well. I go meet with my adjunct (the guy who grades it) on next Monday and then I will throw together the second draft for the following week. I might even work on it a little this week, but don't count on it since App Ad is at the bottom of my list until a draft is due. So that kept me busy.
Somehow wrote an article by deadline Wednesday, but did it during patent class. Of course I think it's my best article of the year and I have pretty good patent notes...maybe I should multitask all the time. OK maybe just in Shipman's class, where I am now of course. I do not need 2 days to go over a problem I did in a little under an hour...but whatever. I did not get everything 100% right, but I'm doing pretty well. Speaking of SCS, have no idea what to write about this week...but I've got more important things before deadline on Wednesday.
Last Wednesday I had my App Ad paper turned in the night before the night it was due, but that was just because I was so busy. Interviews in the morning and early afternoon, classes 2-5:30, dinner at Dean Rogers' house at 6-8:15, and rush to first week of bowling. Dean Rogers has a very nice house, but really who is surprised there? I realize now that IPLS has the most insignificant meetings and agenda of pretty much all the Moritz student organizations, but can you fault us? Get the people info about patent law and copyight law, the patent bar, and encourage them to go to the Patent interview fair (which got 2 of the 4 IPLS board members jobs by the looks of it assuming one of my 4 callbacks works out), and call it a year. Not too hard.
Bowling was fantastic. Brodie was late because Vorys was busy buying him dinner and sucking his proverbial nuts (class rank means a lot to them), so Kelley got to bowl the first game for him. She rolled a 116, Brodie shows up and rolls a 117 in the second game...who's going to know it was not him the first game lol? I got a 128 and then a 149, so right around my average for last year which was 140. Our averages for next year are cute, they take 20 pin steps (Me 138, Brodie 117, Abbie 97, Daniel 78). Isn't that cute? Well we lost 2 out of 3 because out two games were within 6 pins or so, while our opponents improved by about 160 pins between games (one guy rolled a 66 game one and a 167 game two, WTF). We are definitely taking the cake for strangest team to bowl against, and that suits us perfectly. Mens Fucking Rea, if you know what I mean.
Thursday I had my final OCI interview, and thank God. 35 first interviews from August 3 to September 14 was enough to make you sick of the little make conversation game. I got two more callbacks, so no more striking out in OCI! And they said I would be more prepared after learning the ropes in Chicago...hell I did so much better in Chicago. Anyways, Chicago Patent program is like this (4 YES, 4 NO, 5 DO NOT KNOW YET) with 2 callbacks done (Fish in Dallas and Maginot in Indianapolis) and 2 not done (Leydig in Chicago and Brinks in Chicago). The OCI stats are (1 YES from Louisville, 10 NO, 11 DO NOT KNOW YET). Woot.
Feels good to get the App Ad monkey and the interview monkey off my back. Of course I still have callbacks and getting offers to worry about, but the hard part is done in my opinion.
Friday was my birthday. Yay 23. Spent it at Mongolian BBQ getting free stir fry AND free dessert and then at Lodge Bar getting tons of free stuff and drink specials. Kind of lame because nobody came, but oh well. Good times.
Weekend was not all that interesting, but since Shipman ended class early I have to finish this up. Kelley and I started working out today by playing tennis and walking, hopefully we get in at least 30 minutes of walking/running or more than an hour of tennis every morning until we lose a little weight. Eating healthier too, but that's gradual. Yay Law School 1L 60 punds...gotta go away. So day 1 of the workout...just blogging to make sure I keep it up :-)
Oh and I got tickets to the Michigan State road game and we are going to the Iowa game as well in 2 weeks, so I have tickets to 6 straight Saturdays counting the 4 home games around those. I need to get rid of two of those games probably, so anyboyd need tickets? Should be fun roadtrips though.
Back to the grind, I'm next up to be called on in tax class so I better go get ready. Have a good week everyone (oh I forgot, JDR had a mixer on Thursday night that was decent and now we have ACC-Checks again this week due Thursday...hooray to fixing authors).
Friday, September 08, 2006
Delaying App Ad a while longer
This has been an interesting week at school. Labor Day was pretty laid back for me which was kind of unexpected, but I finally bought insurance for myself from Progressive. Boo on paying for insurance while in school :-) I also painted all the new poker room chairs black, but it was late at night when I ran out of spray paint so I had no idea how well I had done them. Kelley reapolstered the cushions from ugly orange to a nice red pattern. The chairs are so comfy too. Anyways, forgot Miami and FSU were playing but found out the next day the game was not worth watching really.
Tuesday I left early to go to the BMV to get my new title since I now own my truck officially, a new registration with new plates, and a new driver's license since I intend to stay in this apartment till my license expires in 2008 (at which point I better be settled somewhere with a law firm job). Well I couldn't find a bank on the way there, so I figured I would suck it up and pay the ATM fees again at the BMV like we did when we got Kelley's new license after the wedding. Well this branch of the ol' BMV does not have an ATM, and the nearest one is half a mile down the road. When you only take cash, you should have an ATM. Anyways, I look at the fee schedule and get a ticket for the title office which I did not have to wait for at all...they tell me I need 6 dollars. It is 60 for a year registration and 20 for a new license, so I figure 100 would cover it. I run to the Shell station, get my money with stupid fee...and back to the BMV. I get a new ticket for the title office, and apparently they got rushed since I was 11th in line now instead of walking right up 20 minutes before. Ugh! So I wait patiently and finally get called up and get my new title. Now at least they transfer you over to the BMV people so you don't have to wait for 50 more people to go, so I go right up to the other desk. We get all the registration and license forms filled out and she says, "is there any way you could wait 10 days until your birthday to get the registration?" Ummm, since the registration on the truck runs out today (Sept. 5), I guess not. "Well I hate for you to pay a prorate for only 10 days." I asked her what the prorate was, and it was 30 dollars. What? 30 damn dollars because my birthday falls 10 days after my mom's. Nice. So now I do not have enough money and she holds the info while I go back out into the driving rainstorm (Ohio is lovely) and back to the Shell station to get charged another ATM fee. So counting ATM fees and the whole shebang, it cost me 130 dollars for a new license, title, and registration for 375 days. But now I have new plates and a new license plate cover I just had to have. I ended up skipping Shippy's class because the whole mess took over 2 hours, much longer than I had thought.
Wednesday I had to skip class again because of hectic interviews. The first of my regular OCI interviews was with a great Chicago firm (Fish and Richardson's top IP litigation competitor) and then I had to leave immediately to drive to Indianapolis for a callback. This firm (Maginot, Moore, and Beck) is a small 8 person firm much like the WV office I had a callback with last school year, so I knew how to play it. They like FR have a beautiful office in the tallest building in their city, and I spent my whole callback in their conference room with a view. I met all the partners and none of the associates, but the interviews went very well. I am a little suspicious that all I saw of the office was the lobby and the conference room, but maybe they did not want to clean off the desks or maybe they thought it more convenient for me to just stay in one place. Regardless I enjoyed the experience and will seriously consider an offer there if I get one around the end of September. Speaking of, we are 5-6 days away from when I am supposed to hear from F&R...I am on pins and needles since I think I will just cancel everything but the Brinks callback if I get an offer (which will simplify my schedule). Of course other than 3 OCI interviews next week, I have no other callbacks yet so no big deal.
I hate missing Shipman all week, that stinks. Labor Day, Stupid BMV, and Callback. I fell behind a bit in classes this week, but I'll stay on top of things I think. App Ad is getting largely ignored despite my macro draft being due in 5 days and JDR will have another acc-check next week to keep me busy. At least it sounds like we will not be going to Texas, so I will not have to BB and TMS while on vacation at least.
Speaking of Texas, my article previewing the big game went up this morning on southerncollegesports.com. I think my article is better than my co-workers who also wrote about the game, but if you want full coverage beyond ESPN check us out.
Held our first social event at the new apartment, and with the exception of a TV or two we are done decorating and bringing things in finally. We had my first of hopefully many poker nights this year last night. 11 people showed up, and it was like a couples atmosphere really since 4 couples were there (Chris and Connie from Cinci, Tom and Heather, Mike and Leah, and of course Kelley and myself). A couple law students did show up (Aaron and AK) and throw in Olwen and there's 11. It sucks Carl, Shep, and Villa had to cancel out but hopefully I run enough of these get togethers that missing one here and there will not feel so bad. The event went really well as we ordered in pizza and snacked on chips and alcohol all evening while watching the Steelers kick off the NFL season. Poker play was good, but I got canned in 10th place out of 11. Details of hands later on my poker blog. Aaron (the poor, poor law student) won the whole thing and Connie got second, with Kelley just missing the cash in third. I'm happy it was successful as hopefully we can do poker night and maybe even have people over for games of other kinds (Palabra, Settlers, Risk, the like) as well down the road. Fun times.
I just realized I am 7 days away from being 23. I'm getting old...just kidding. But I did get a coupon for a free meal at Mongolian BBQ for my birthday, so that's awesome.
GO BUCKS! BEAT TEXAS (for real this time please).
Tuesday I left early to go to the BMV to get my new title since I now own my truck officially, a new registration with new plates, and a new driver's license since I intend to stay in this apartment till my license expires in 2008 (at which point I better be settled somewhere with a law firm job). Well I couldn't find a bank on the way there, so I figured I would suck it up and pay the ATM fees again at the BMV like we did when we got Kelley's new license after the wedding. Well this branch of the ol' BMV does not have an ATM, and the nearest one is half a mile down the road. When you only take cash, you should have an ATM. Anyways, I look at the fee schedule and get a ticket for the title office which I did not have to wait for at all...they tell me I need 6 dollars. It is 60 for a year registration and 20 for a new license, so I figure 100 would cover it. I run to the Shell station, get my money with stupid fee...and back to the BMV. I get a new ticket for the title office, and apparently they got rushed since I was 11th in line now instead of walking right up 20 minutes before. Ugh! So I wait patiently and finally get called up and get my new title. Now at least they transfer you over to the BMV people so you don't have to wait for 50 more people to go, so I go right up to the other desk. We get all the registration and license forms filled out and she says, "is there any way you could wait 10 days until your birthday to get the registration?" Ummm, since the registration on the truck runs out today (Sept. 5), I guess not. "Well I hate for you to pay a prorate for only 10 days." I asked her what the prorate was, and it was 30 dollars. What? 30 damn dollars because my birthday falls 10 days after my mom's. Nice. So now I do not have enough money and she holds the info while I go back out into the driving rainstorm (Ohio is lovely) and back to the Shell station to get charged another ATM fee. So counting ATM fees and the whole shebang, it cost me 130 dollars for a new license, title, and registration for 375 days. But now I have new plates and a new license plate cover I just had to have. I ended up skipping Shippy's class because the whole mess took over 2 hours, much longer than I had thought.
Wednesday I had to skip class again because of hectic interviews. The first of my regular OCI interviews was with a great Chicago firm (Fish and Richardson's top IP litigation competitor) and then I had to leave immediately to drive to Indianapolis for a callback. This firm (Maginot, Moore, and Beck) is a small 8 person firm much like the WV office I had a callback with last school year, so I knew how to play it. They like FR have a beautiful office in the tallest building in their city, and I spent my whole callback in their conference room with a view. I met all the partners and none of the associates, but the interviews went very well. I am a little suspicious that all I saw of the office was the lobby and the conference room, but maybe they did not want to clean off the desks or maybe they thought it more convenient for me to just stay in one place. Regardless I enjoyed the experience and will seriously consider an offer there if I get one around the end of September. Speaking of, we are 5-6 days away from when I am supposed to hear from F&R...I am on pins and needles since I think I will just cancel everything but the Brinks callback if I get an offer (which will simplify my schedule). Of course other than 3 OCI interviews next week, I have no other callbacks yet so no big deal.
I hate missing Shipman all week, that stinks. Labor Day, Stupid BMV, and Callback. I fell behind a bit in classes this week, but I'll stay on top of things I think. App Ad is getting largely ignored despite my macro draft being due in 5 days and JDR will have another acc-check next week to keep me busy. At least it sounds like we will not be going to Texas, so I will not have to BB and TMS while on vacation at least.
Speaking of Texas, my article previewing the big game went up this morning on southerncollegesports.com. I think my article is better than my co-workers who also wrote about the game, but if you want full coverage beyond ESPN check us out.
Held our first social event at the new apartment, and with the exception of a TV or two we are done decorating and bringing things in finally. We had my first of hopefully many poker nights this year last night. 11 people showed up, and it was like a couples atmosphere really since 4 couples were there (Chris and Connie from Cinci, Tom and Heather, Mike and Leah, and of course Kelley and myself). A couple law students did show up (Aaron and AK) and throw in Olwen and there's 11. It sucks Carl, Shep, and Villa had to cancel out but hopefully I run enough of these get togethers that missing one here and there will not feel so bad. The event went really well as we ordered in pizza and snacked on chips and alcohol all evening while watching the Steelers kick off the NFL season. Poker play was good, but I got canned in 10th place out of 11. Details of hands later on my poker blog. Aaron (the poor, poor law student) won the whole thing and Connie got second, with Kelley just missing the cash in third. I'm happy it was successful as hopefully we can do poker night and maybe even have people over for games of other kinds (Palabra, Settlers, Risk, the like) as well down the road. Fun times.
I just realized I am 7 days away from being 23. I'm getting old...just kidding. But I did get a coupon for a free meal at Mongolian BBQ for my birthday, so that's awesome.
GO BUCKS! BEAT TEXAS (for real this time please).
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Texas Trip 1
Figured it was time for an update while I take a break and ignore my law school work till labor day. the Texas trip was FANTASTIC. I love the firm and think the city is pretty cool too. Fish and Richardson is not only the top IP firm in the country as far as cases go, but they are growing very fast and don't have hard walls between patent prosecution and patent litigation. The people I met with were all very nice and answered a lot of my tough questions. I just hope I showed them how seriously I want the job, since I know I can fit in and I know with my work ethic I can get the job done. I talked with their recruiting coordinator after the interviews (PS if you are ever in downtown Dallas and want some good Tex-Mex, go to Iron Cactus), and she said I should know one way or another about an offer or rejection by late the week of September 11. I'm going to be anxiously anticipating word. After visiting this firm, I still care about my other callback interviews but I would be STUNNED if I did not take an offer from FR. They are just too perfect of a fit for me.
I'm having my first poker party of the year this Thursday, and we got 2/3 of the furniture today from Kelley's grandparents we've been promised. We will have our new washer/dryer on thursday during the day probably, and we brought up her Dad's old poker table and chairs. So now counting the fold up table we can hold 12 people easily on two tables. That's good since all the 888 collective including Shep is coming and that fills it up without law school people who will surely show up. Should be a good time, and cannot wait to use my poker room for poker :-)
So Zach is in the medical ward of basic training all weekend thanks to a small kidney stone. Hooray. Unless he gets out early tomorrow he will miss a test and that will knock him off course to graduate on time, which means all those travel plans the whole family made for my birthday weekend to go see him graduate are probably bunk. So we'll get screwed by the airlines on every ticket to change them and if he graduates the next week I will have to miss it since I'll be in Chicago on a callback. Sigh.
Well catching up on 24 so we can start on 2 seasons of Lost I'd like to get through before Season 3 starts next month. App Ad is going to kill me with all this other stuff going on, but I will get it all done like always. I cannot wait for thursday.
I'm having my first poker party of the year this Thursday, and we got 2/3 of the furniture today from Kelley's grandparents we've been promised. We will have our new washer/dryer on thursday during the day probably, and we brought up her Dad's old poker table and chairs. So now counting the fold up table we can hold 12 people easily on two tables. That's good since all the 888 collective including Shep is coming and that fills it up without law school people who will surely show up. Should be a good time, and cannot wait to use my poker room for poker :-)
So Zach is in the medical ward of basic training all weekend thanks to a small kidney stone. Hooray. Unless he gets out early tomorrow he will miss a test and that will knock him off course to graduate on time, which means all those travel plans the whole family made for my birthday weekend to go see him graduate are probably bunk. So we'll get screwed by the airlines on every ticket to change them and if he graduates the next week I will have to miss it since I'll be in Chicago on a callback. Sigh.
Well catching up on 24 so we can start on 2 seasons of Lost I'd like to get through before Season 3 starts next month. App Ad is going to kill me with all this other stuff going on, but I will get it all done like always. I cannot wait for thursday.
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