Sitting in the airport...

And feeling really rather bored. This part of LAX doesn't have much of anything. But at least they have outlets! I flew out of Flagstaff at 7am, and now I have a four hour layover. Oh joy. Just thought I'd share, since I don't have much else to do...

The Year of the Toaster!

2010 is going to be the Year of the Toaster! According to Jen, in 2010 Cuba will lift the ban on toasters, and therefore the Brave Little Toaster will be her mascot on the river. It's also going to involve a hell of a celebration at New Years somewhere in the world, because Jen will have completed her river run and I will be a lawyer! Here's to the Year of the Toaster!

HAHAHAHA!

So I got this story from another law student in Arizona:

Why You Should Never Try to Steal a Law Student's Laptop
by Dan Reilly, posted Nov 14th 2008 at 2:41PM

A thief learned the mistake of trying to steal a law student's laptop last week after after becoming a punching bag for an Arizona State student he tried to rip off. Armed with a baseball bat, the intruder, Gabriel Saucedo, allegedly climbed through an open window into Alex Botsios' apartment, waking the student and threatening to smash his head in. Botsios was willing to let Saucedo take his wallet and guitars. Then the robber made the mistake that ultimately landed him in the hospital -- he went for the laptop. According to Botsios, he said "Dude, no -- please, no! I have all my case notes...that's four months of work!" Saucedo, obviously underestimating the fury of an overstressed, overworked first-year, was unsympathetic. That's when Botsios could take no more.Wrestling Saucdeo to the floor, Botsios separated the bat from the thief and repeatedly punched him in the face. When it was all over, police had to get Saucedo stitched up before charging him with armed robbery and kidnapping, while Botsios only suffered some scrapes and a bruised knuckle. Most importantly, at least to the student, is that his laptop, which he called "his baby," escaped unharmed. Next time, Saucedo might want to try robbing a third-year student, as they're generally more docile. [From: KTAR.com]

I couldn't stop laughing at this! I think this is how every law student would react... The thought of being without my laptop is terrifying!

Brainwashed by Lawschool

It's official... (Well, I think it has been for a long time, but I was recently reminded of it yet again.) I have been brainwashed by law school. I saw the following posting on the fabulously addictive Perez Hilton site (yes, I will admit that I can't seem to stay away): "A "spirited" Kate Hudson got "very friendly" with a female model at the opening of the newly refurbished Fontainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach on Friday night." And what was the first thing that popped into my head in response? "Wait, the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami...Isn't that the hotel that was having some feud with a neighboring hotel over access to natural sunlight that led to a court case we read about in property last year?" And I wasn't even paying that much attention in property! Oh, and what's even more disturbing? I just looked at my profile pic again, and it's the church that has an easement for natural light, so the giant building next to it had to be mirrored so as to not interfere with the natural light. Another story from property class... So was the choice of that picture just coincidence, or the first subconscious manifestation of the brainwashing?

I Hate Bluebooking

It is such an obnoxious thing to do. I would have thought being on the cite-checking team for the project last year would get me used to it, but it didn't. It only made me never want to open the Bluebook again. Is it weird that for me, the worst part of a research project is formatting the citations? I should probably stop procrastinating by whining about it and just get it done. Boo.

Ummm...What?

Okay, seriously, what is wrong with country music? I just heard Brad Paisley's song 'Ticks' (not really by choice, it was on Dancing with the Stars), and I can't believe he wrote a song about ticks. As in the blood sucking bugs. The refrain is "I want to check you for ticks". WTF??? Because that's charming... I think that might even be worse than "She thinks my tractor's sexy". At least that doesn't involve blood sucking parasites. Eww. Yet another reason to stay far away from country music. There's something wrong with those people. I've heard some corny pick up lines before, but that is by far the worst...

One of those...

So working for any extended period of time with victims requires a developing a certain type of callousness. I don't mean the kind that makes you an insensitive, cynical jerk (though there are trace elements of that, usually only when it comes to the perps or the minor dramas of every day life), but the kind required to keep you from losing your mind when you are daily listening to the horrors your clients live with day after day. I've been pretty good about this, being able to separate my work from my emotions when it's time to go home. I've been so good at detaching that I've been accused of being cold-hearted by more than one person (colleagues and friends, never a client), even referred to as an Ice Queen. But every now and then, something breaks through. One client's story will strike me in such a way that it cannot be ignored, that I cannot simply detach and leave it behind. In my three or so years of doing this work, it's only happened about a half dozen times. But today was one of those times. While certainly not the most violent of the cases I've dealt with, it was so shocking, the abuse of such a sort that left me reeling to read the report. That someone could be so heartless, so cruel, is difficult to comprehend. Seeing her shear terror is horrifying. I know that this is one I will not forget. And I don't even have my same support system to talk it out with. Having such close friends in your coworkers is essential in this kind of work, and I'm realizing now just how lucky I was in the staff I was once a part of. Whenever one of us had a tough call, we would always talk it out with each other, even if it meant calling them early Saturday morning and waking them up because you just got in from three back to back calls and need to debrief. Though I know that I can still call Jen and Betty, it's just not quite the same as having someone with the same investment as the people in the same office. And I don't mean to say that my current co-workers aren't fabulous, it's just not the same level of connection because we do not spend as much time together, each being in the office only a day and a half of the week. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this happened today, as it is my last day at the clinic, and it would be absurd to think I could make it through my entire time there without running into one of those...