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...