And That's Final!

Exams are over, at last, and my first semester of law school is history, but a relaxing winter break is hardly in the cards for me.

To celebrate the end of exams, Chris and I went to Asheville for the weekend, dined at one of the restaurants on Biltmore Estate (The Bistro), and took a candle-light tour of Biltmore House. The food was excellent and it was fun to see the House in its full holiday finery, but I had car trouble on the trip. My car, Diego, decided to help me to develop an appreciation for irony and chose one of the coldest days of the year, in Asheville, in the snow even, to fry his water pump and overheat. He is now convalescing at the mechanic's while I get a work-out on the bus.

Right after all the family visits and festivities, I'll be consumed with packing and moving, since my roommate bought a new house a few weeks ago and will close the deal just before New Year. My cat, Cilantro, displeased with my scarcity around the house since I entered law school, has taken to urinating in a few choice spots around our current house. He can't do that in the new house, so as part of the move, he's going to Virginia to live with Jeff. I'm sure that I'll enjoy the brief visit with Jeff and his family, but I'll for sure miss Cilantro's rich personality and his antics. (Yes, it was just over a year ago that my other cat, Curry, passed away of complications from diabetes.)

On the brighter side, Chris has kitted out his condo with a doggie bed, kennel, and bowls in anticipation of my dog, Pepper, spending more time there. The ability to bring Pepper with me to Chris' along with Cilantro's move will give me a lot more flexibility with regard to traveling with Pepper and staying in Greensboro without feeling guilty about leaving her behind and imposing on my roommate to look after her.

I'm keeping my spirits up during all of this with feeling good about exams (grades in February), thinking about how much worse some of these scenarios could have turned out, and looking forward to my trip to Spain this summer!

Let's wrap things up with a random thought... Is it any wonder that two-thirds of personal bankruptcies in the United States are because of medical bills? My grandpa had heart surgery to replace a valve a few months ago and the bills have started to roll in. The first one was an eye-popper. For two weeks of hospitalization, two days of which were in intensive care, the bill was $110,000. Where I live, that's a modest house! Yes, his insurance will pay much of that, but can you imagine his reaction if he didn't have insurance? I dare say that his heart surgery would have been for naught at that point.

¡Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo! :J

Black's Friday

If I were more conscientious, I'd probably write in my blog more often. Then again, since I'm in law school, if I were more conscientious, I might have put my blog on hiatus while classes were in session. As with most anything, both perspectives are equally valid and could be convincingly argued by a skilled orator (or oratrix). Classes ended yesterday, I handed in the last project for my skills classes today, and the two-week final exam period for my substantive law classes begins Monday!

I have learned much cool vocabulary in my first semester of law school, some of which I will endeavor to incorporate in a more or less puckish way into my daily patois, including the following.

vexatious delay:

Black's Law Dictionary (8th edition, 2004) defines this as "An insurance company's unjustifiable refusal to satisfy an insurance claim, esp. based on a mere suspicion but no hard facts that the claim is ill-founded." I define this as spiteful dawdling.

prolixity (n.):

Black's defines this as "The unnecessary and superfluous stating of facts and arguments in pleading or evidence." I define it as argumentative, redundant, and irrelevant. The adjective form is prolix, which sounds like a medication for sexual dysfunction or a mechanical aid for such a condition.

frolic:

Black's calls this an employee's significant deviation from the employer's business for personal reasons; a frolic is outside the scope of employment, and thus the employer is not vicariously liable for the employee's actions.

detour:

Blacks' says that this is an employee's minor deviation from the employer's business for personal reasons; because a detour falls within the scope of employment, the employer is still vicariously liable for the employee's actions.

frolic and detour:

going off-course to do something unrelated to the original errand

So, in an effort to avoid the vexatious delay of my studies, I shall avoid prolixity and defer any frolic and detour until after my exams conclude on 13 December. :J

Fall Break

Oh, merde! I forgot that I have a blog!

No, I didn't really forget, but sometimes it would seem that way. The truth is that a combination of school and what many bloggers suffer (call it burnout, block, or what have you) have conspired to both prevent me from writing and keep me unmotivated to write.

I will note that law school is going well. It is certainly challenging, but I feel that I have a hold on things. (We'll see if that feeling lasts past Thanksgiving or, for that matter, very far into November.) There is endless reading, but it's not like reading a novel or even reading a college textbook, it's like reading a refrigerator warranty, a credit card agreement, or a mortgage promissory note. It's dense, detailed, and, quite often, dull. To continue the alliteration, it requires a good dose of diligence, too. I often get a page or two into my nightly reading and begin to think about how dry it is and how much of it yet lies ahead. My mind drifts and suddenly it's two pages later and I can't recall a word from from those two pages, so I have to go back to what I do remember and pick it up there. Right on cue, my brain drifts at the same point as if triggered to do so by a particular word (no doubt a Latin word). I repeat the process, staying alert for the trigger word, and force myself past the blockade.

Not all of the reading is dull. Earlier this week, I knew that things were going to be interesting when a case began, "An unfortunate combination of gasoline, matches, and a seven-year-old boy resulted in the lawsuit which underlies this appeal." (Peterson v. Taylor, 316 NW 2d 869, Iowa 1982). Then there was the case that even my case book referred to as "The Nitroglycerin Case" (Parrot v. Wells-Fargo, 82 US 524, 21 L Ed 206, 1872). Ahh, if only all of life were as blazingly gratifying as torts class!

Fortunately, fall break gave me a reprieve from school earlier this week and I was able to enjoy a bit of life as I once knew it. Chris and I rented a cabin in Grayson County, Virginia, and spent a weekend on the side of a mountain, 20 miles from the nearest grocery store, in the middle of the pasture of a sanctuary farm for rescued animals. Rugby Creek Farm is home to horses, goats, dogs, cats, chickens, donkeys, and guinea hens that have been rescued from a variety of sad situations. Cabin rentals help to fund their full-time animal rescue operation, which recently achieved 501(c)3 non-profit status. We toured the farm and met all of the animals, enjoyed a short but scenic hike in Grayson Highlands State Park, and attended a molasses festival at the Mount Rogers Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. I also seized the opportunity to do something that I've not had the time to do since I've been in school -- I cooked! Bringing some ingredients from home and gathering more provisions from the Food City in Independence (where the local newspaper is called The Declaration), I made a pot of vegetarian chili on Saturday evening. See photos from the weekend in my Flickr.

We returned home on Sunday evening. I had grand plans to catch up and get ahead by reading supplements and getting my outlines in order, but so much stuff that I've put off during school (filing, laundry, software updates, etc) stood up and demanded attention and it was all that I could do on Tuesday evening to finish my reading for Wednesday. Ugh.

I'm already looking forward to the summer and how I'm going to fill my time without school. I'd like to get an internship in a law office or working for a judge for part of the summer, but I'm making plans to go to Madrid for another part of the summer to work on my language skills. I've applied to UNCG's program in Madrid (which focuses on language and culture) and am looking at William and Mary's program (which focuses on European law).

For now, I'm paddling along until Christmas, by which time I'll be looking festive with my red eyes and green complexion. :J

I Heart Papaw

Papaw's surgery went well on Friday. The doctor did replace one of his valves, but decided against also performing a bypass; this, after removing the vein from his leg and cleaning it in preparation for attaching it around a partial blockage of one of his cardiac arteries. That decision gave me pause -- I mean, the doctor's already in there and at Papaw's age, it's not like the doctor will likely ever go back in there! I learned, however, that doing the bypass carries with it the risk of dislodging calcium deposits in the artery that could travel and lodge themselves elsewhere and potentially block the flow of blood to a crucial area. This combined with the fact that other arteries had taken on some of the job of the partially-blocked artery tipped the risk-benefit analysis against doing the bypass.

I visited Papaw in the hospital on Sunday and found that he continues to recover quickly. He was predictably feeble and a bit foggy because of his pain medication, but considering that he'll soon be 84 years old and had just had this chest sawed open two days before, he's doing darn well! I'm very thankful for that, because I heart my Papaw! :J

Life Happens

Yep, life goes on, even when you've built a fort of Aspen case books around yourself. I found out yesterday that Papaw will have open-heart surgery tomorrow (Fri, 21 Sep) to replace a faulty valve. I knew from a doctor visit that he had several weeks ago that the procedure was inevitable, but found out just yesterday that the blackouts that he's been having are a result of this faulty valve and that the next blackout could be his last. So, he and Mamaw are headed to Charlotte today for pre-operative tests. He'll likely be in the hospital for a week and could have another week in a rehabilitation center after that. Though it's a major event, I'm not unduly concerned about the procedure itself; it's the recovery that concerns me. I'm afraid that Papaw will go stir-crazy not being able to move about freely and that the added responsibility of intensely caring for someone will wear on Mamaw. I hope that their financial situation and their pride will allow them to hire a home health-care worker.

It's been almost a month since my last blog entry. Some topics have crossed my mind, but I've not had time to develop my thoughts on them or commit them to writing. I miss my daily walks around UNCG; I occasionally walk around downtown, but it's not as enjoyable. There are many conservative people around me, but I have found that most of them are quite cool; "conservative" seems to have different implications for my many classmates who are 12-14 years younger than me. When I've visited UNCG, I've experienced something akin to culture shock at observing how people dress on that campus (hip, trendy, casual) compared to how folks dress at Elon Law (stylish, dressy, casually/comfortably conservative). Those are just a few of the things that have been crossing my mind lately (besides elements of intent, personal jurisdiction, bargain for consideration, and adverse possession). :J

WWAFD?

Forget those trite WWJD bumper stickers and bracelets. Here's a contemporary example of ethical behavior and fairness with which many of us could more easily identify -- Atticus Finch, one of the main characters in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. So, the next time that an ethical dilemma confronts you, just ask yourself...

"What would Atticus Finch do?"

:J

Here's your sign.

The more astute among you might have noticed that I've been curiously inactive here and on Flickr since I entered law school. It's true; I've been incredibly busy and, though things have happened on which I'd like to comment, I just haven't had time to write anything.

The title here is a tip-o-the-tuque to Bill Engvall, but has nothing to do with common stupidity. Often, when at an important crossroads in our lives, we might ask God for a sign of what action we should take or for affirmation that we're on the right path. Though I'm unsure of what God was signaling, a sign came through LOUDLY and CLEARLY two Sundays ago.

Chris and I went to church at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro and sat near the back (Though American rather than Southern, it's still a Baptist church.), next to the aisle. A few minutes into the service, as we were settling in for the sermon, I heard a VERY loud crash and a womon's scream. I don't think that I realized what happened because I don't remember jumping or being startled; I think that I had one of those moments where your hearing goes out for just a split second and you miss a syllable of a conversation. I noticed what looked like bird's feathers drifting down from the ceiling into the aisle next to me, looked down to see the little, grey bits covering the men in the aisle across from me, and then looked on the floor to see the vent diffuser from the ceiling now lying on the floor. This 3-feet-across hunk of metal had somehow become dislodged from the vent and dropped 25 feet to the floor in the middle of worship! What's more, it had missed me by about 6 feet and the gentlemen across from me (who were now covered by bits of insulation and compacted dust) by only 2-3 feet!

Everyone in the sanctuary just sat quietly for a couple of minutes, stunned, wondering what to do. The Pastor paused, conferred with the worship leader, then announced that we were moving worship to the smaller chapel. We made our way out of the sanctuary, filed the much smaller chapel, and finished our worship. (Ironically and, perhaps, foolishly, I sat directly beneath a brass and glass chandelier in the chapel.) I shared this event with several church-going friends and discussed the shared experience with a staff member at school who also attends church there, but mostly got on with the week and just enjoyed the shock value in telling the story.

Chris and I returned to College Park this past Sunday and, upon entering the sanctuary, looked up to see what had become of the gravitationally-challenged diffuser. It had been reinstalled in its proper place. During worship, the pastor reassured us by sharing the news that a professional had reinstalled the diffuser and checked the others to ensure that they were secure in their spots.

The funniest part of all this happened during the offering this past Sunday. As the ushers approached the altar in preparation to collect the offering, we noticed that they were wearing hard hats, which they then used instead of collection plates to collect the offering! Ha! A congregation with a wry sense of humor--I could make it my church home! :J

Bollywood Balderdash

This weekend was Chris' birthday and in his honor, some friends came over on Saturday for a cook-out. After eating burgers, hot dogs, cake, and ice cream, we ended up playing Beyond Balderdash. The original Balderdash involves coming up with definitions for unusual words and tricking your opponents into picking the wrong one (hopefully your own), while trying to figure out for yourself which is the correct definition. Beyond Balderdash find the players bluffing movie plots and the significance of dates, abbreviations, and then names of famous people. Among the terms for which we made up explanations were two movie titles for which we came up with a group of plots that were so creative that I had to share them here.

New Pastures

1. A businesswoman from Los Angeles moves to the country to make a new life after losing her husband in an earthquake.
2. Documentary about triple-crown winners after retirement.
3. Czechoslovakian production with subtitles about three jailbirds who get into trouble when they arrive in their hometown.
4. Cutting-edge research scientists attempt to publicize a cure for the Hanta virus in the face of government opposition.
5. Aliens, dissatisfied with life in outer space, disguise themselves and take up residence in rural Iowa.

The Mysterious Mr Wong

1. A small production about a Chinese immigrant cooking homeless people from the streets of New York in Chinatown.
2. Foreign comedy about a case of mistaken identity between a jewel thief and a dentist.
3. Bela Lugosi stars as a Chinese crook trying to capture twelve coins that will make him powerful.
4. The last Charlie Chan novel committed to film, noted for a cameo appearance by Vincent Price.
5. Hong Kong police seek a mafia figure.

What a hoot! This was a fun game, one that I look forward to playing again, perhaps with some of my new law school classmates! You'll have to cut me some slack on the title of this entry; I couldn't think of any other B word related to cinema with which to achieve alliteration with Balderdash. By the way, in both cases, the third plot outline is the true one. :J

Whitewater, take me away!

Shorty entry tonight.

Roomie Leslie heard about a man-made white-water facility in Charlotte, so on Saturday, several of us headed down to the US National Whitewater Center. Chris; my cousin, Jenny; two of Leslie's work friends, both named Debbie; and I piled into a rubber boat with helmets and flotation vests with a guide and two other tourists and spent two hours on rapids in classes 2-4. It was awesome! I was quite anxious about the whole affair, not knowing what to expect and wondering what I'd do if I went overboard. Fortunately, the facility gave us a good run-down of basic paddling techniques and safety procedures, so I felt fairly well prepared before I got in the boat. Our boat did tip twice, but my feet stayed wedged fast under the inflated cross-braces, so I stayed in, though the womon in front of me went for a dip. Our biggest mishap was arriving a few minutes late for our appointed time and having to wait for 90 minutes until they could squeeze us in. If you go, DO make a reservation and DO check-in at the training pavilions early! Leslie; Christopher; and another of Leslie's work friends, also named Debbie (I'm beginning to think that all of Leslie's work friends are named Debbie, even the guys.) went flat-water kayaking due to Christopher's age. Debbie's boyfriend elected to bring his bike and he enjoyed the several miles of trails that meander around the facility. We'd entertained notions of stopping at Northlake Mall or Concord Mills on the way home, but we were so beat that we headed directly home, stopping only after we arrived in Kernersville for a yummy dinner at Don Juan's.

Law school orientation starts Thursday, just 3.5 days from now. I'm excited, but I'm also a bit bummed because I've scarcely made a dent in the list of projects that I wanted to work on between leaving work and starting school. I'm going to Rockingham to visit Mamaw and Papaw for a few days this week, but I'd also like to visit Mum if only I had a bit more time. If I were to be realistic about it, I could lay out until Christmas and still not get everything done! You'll recall that I have to wear a suit to the first two days of orientation (the first day for photos and the second day to look presentable for big-wigs). Well, I had a look at the forecast for Thursday and it's calling for a high temperature of ONE HUNDRED degrees F (38 C)! Yikes! I guess it's all in a day's work. Er... :J

Last Hurrah

Just before my final days at work this past Monday and Tuesday (30 and 31 July), Chris and I headed out of town for a brief get-away. We had wanted to go to New York and see Fantasia Barrino play Miss Celie in the Broadway version of The Color Purple, but that trip fell apart as we studied our respective budgets. We scaled back our plans and decided on a couple of road trips instead of one big, fantastic voyage.

So, last Friday, Chris and I piled into the car and headed north to Lynchburg. Chris lived in Lynchburg for a few years and I had visited Lynchburg often over the previous several years, as it's the hometown of my ex, Jeff, and his family sstill lives there. Upon arrival in Lynchburg, I met Jeff's mom to exchange some of his and my possessions that had gotten shuffled in the moves. I brought her some of her favorite candy treats and Chris and I both enjoyed chatting with her. We then met a friend of Chris' for lunch at a Lynchburg-style Chinese buffet (complete with all of the normal, Americanized Chinese fare, plus french fries, pigs in blankets, pizza, cheese and seafood tartlets, and an array of dishes made by combining the same six ingredients in different proportions; kinda like Taco Bell, but "Chinese" instead of "Mexican"). As much as I deride it, I enjoy an occasional dose of Lynchburg-style Chinese food. After Lunch, I paid homage to tradition by hitting the J.Crew outlet (J.Crew is based in Lynchburg and this is a real outlet attached to the warehouse!) and the outlet of the Old Virginia Candle Factory, which is always a good place to find Christmas and birthday gifts.

I'd planned a surprise for Chris on Saturday, who organized and surprised me with several adventures when I visited him in the Philippines. (I'd have no idea where I was going and end up on a donkey headed up a volcano or on a plane to Fantasy Island.) We were planning to go to church at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh on Sunday and I wanted to find a hotel near Raleigh so that we wouldn't miss church like we did the last time that we tried to attend Pullen when we ended up too hungover to go! So, I was poking around on Google Earth to find a nice hotel with a spa and spotted the Carnivore Preservation Trust, an animal rescue facility near Pittsboro that has tigers, leopards, ocelots, servals, jaguars, and other carnivorous cats and keystone species. It sounded like fun, so I made a reservation and we ended up enjoying an educational, 90-minute tour of the facility and introduction to several of their eighty resident animals. We watched tigers feast on whole chickens, saw a male tiger spray (Think garden hose.), and enjoyed the antics of a deceptively comical kinkajou.

Leslie, my roommate, had gone to the Raleigh-Durham airport to pick up her nephew and her sister, so we met them and had dinner at Southpoint mall in Durham after screening Knocked Up on our own. After dinner, we headed to Raleigh. I gave up on finding a hotel with a spa in my price range, so I just got us a room at the Holiday Inn next to Pullen so that we'd have minimal excuses for missing church the next morning. We did roll out of bed and attend church, where we were treated to a Taizé-style worship service (the main feature of which are musical chants in-between the components of worship) that also incorporated vignettes of prayerful dance.

After church, we visited some of Chris' friends, Andy and Megan, who'd recently become parents. Another friend, Brooks, who knows all of us one way or another (I met him at Wake Forest Baptist Church.) and who happens to now be the youth minister at Pullen, also joined us and we spent a lovely afternoon catching up and taking turns holding the baby. Andy is a software developer, Brooks used to work as a Macintosh technician, and I was until just recently a database administrator, so it was predestined that the three of us would end up geeking out for a while. Sure enough, we headed up to the Andy's study to "ooh" and "ahh" over the Commodore 64 that he'd recently purchased on eBay to relive a bit of his youth. I mistakenly identified it as a Commodore 128 until he pointd out that it was a 64 in its second-generation case. He'd kitted it out with a monochrome monitor, two disk drives, and a HUGE mouse that plugged into the joystick port. He demonstrated the GEOS software that he'd installed that put a Macintosh-style GUI on the Commodore. I mentioned that I had a TI-99/4A and we went on for awhile about the TI's superior graphics and sound, the Commodore's greater popularity, and the deficiencies of the two (TI's curious implementation of BASIC and convoluted code interpretation, Commodore's crippled serial bus that made access to disk data slow). All we lacked was the tape on our glasses, the goose-honking laughter, and our tri-Lam sweatshirts! We visited for a long time and ended up going for dinner immediately after leaving Andy and Megan's house. I was able to talk Chris into going to one of my favorite restaurants, Sweet Tomatoes, whose nearest location is in Raleigh. Yum!

The weekend gave way to a short work-week, since Tuesday was my last day at work before beginning law school next week. I tied up some loose ends and snuck out, wanting to avoid any long goodbyes. My law school text books have begun arriving and information about orientation has been arriving steadily. I have recently learned that I must wear a suit for my first two days! I might as well get used to it, since gone are the days of wearing camp shirts, cargo shorts, and hiking sandals to work. Silk ties, starched shirts, and wool suits will soon replace them. I might just have to rebel a bit and wear seersucker or olive drab and, to be sure, my faithful bow-ties shall make frequent appearances! Feh. Trust me to rebel by being über-traditional! :J

It hasn't yet registered, though I have.

I received in the mail last week my class schedule for my first semester of law school and it looks crazy! It includes six classes that represent fairly standard 1L fare: Civil Procedure, Contracts, Property, Torts, Legal Writing and Research, and Issues in Lawyering and Leadership. This adds up to 15 credit hours, quite a heavy load for graduate-level work! (Fifteen hours was my normal load in undergrad and most graduate students would tell you that 9 hours is normal and 12 hours is pushing it.) On the bright side, only four of my classes have final exams and they're spread out over a two-week period. The craziest thing about the schedule is how the classes are "arranged". Some meet on Tuesday and Thursday; one meets Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; one meets only on Monday; one meets on Wednesday and Friday; another meets at different times on Wednesday and Friday. This bit of paper will be well-worn by the time I get the hang of that schedule.

With my list of courses in hand, I went shopping for books today, comparing prices and trying to balance cost with the condition of used textbooks. I ended up buying from amazon.com and independent sellers on half.com and amazon.com and spent a total of $479, including shipping. I fell confident that I saved a bit over buying used texts from the campus shop and probably would've spent about $1,000 had I purchased all new texts.

Along with my class schedule came other information explaining that our first couple of days would be half-days filled with normal registration and orientation activities: ID cards, parking registration, gym passes, locker assignments, laptop computer wireless configuration, etc. Notably, I'll have to wear a suit on my first day for my a portrait that will appear in a jobs placement booklet. The following full days will include more orientation, a skills and personality assessment (DISC profile, Myers-Briggs inventory), a tour of the main campus, a reception a the University President's house, a service project, and three days of "boot camp" meant to "introduce students to the rigors of law school and the differences between legal education and undergraduate learning."

An interesting side-note to the above mention of personality assessments is that I took the Myers-Briggs inventory in undergrad and turned out as ENFP; when I took it a few years later, I turned out ISTJ. Upon reading the linked descriptions of these personality types, I see little relevant to my own personality in the ENFP type, but the ISTJ type reads like the report of a private investigator that has followed me for the past ten years!

Besides preparations for a new beginning in school, I'm also winding things down at work by finishing projects, documenting my procedures, answering colleagues' questions, and exchanging goodbyes with co-workers that I've know as long as 18 years! I've also had more than one party thrown in my honor, which featured amazing food (sushi, hummus, shrimp, scallops, smoked salmon, salsa, bean dip, brownies, cookies -- all of my favorites!), good drink (Yuengling), and brief speakers. My colleagues in ERIT chipped-in and gave me an iPod as a going-away gift, which was a wonderful surprise!

One of my colleagues asked me what I'd miss most about working in the Libraries and in ERIT. I glibly gave a few obvious answers: the free health insurance, the regular hours, seeing the same folks every day. Honestly, though, I don't know that I'm able to say what I'll miss. Having been where I am for so long and having work become such a part of me and me of it, I don't know that I can distinguish enough between the people, places, and activities of work and those of other parts of my life to think about missing them. It's as if someone were to ask you what you'd miss about breathing air or living with gravity. I'm going into something so different and exciting that I imagine that my new environment and experiences will handily fill many of the voids left behind my current routines. :J

What's in a name?

Even after a fun-filled Saturday evening, Chris and I managed get up and go to church this morning. The plan was to return to Congregational UCC, where Chris and I went two weeks ago. We had even arranged to meet my roommate and a friend there. As we walked from the parking lot and across the street to the church, Chris lamented our last visit when we heard a call to action against the genocide in Darfur from a guest speaker instead of a sermon from the regular pastor (more useful in searching for a church home). Chris joked that we'd go elsewhere if we found a guest speaker on the program again!

We entered and found Leslie and Larry waiting for us. We greeted them and sat down, whereupon Leslie pointed to the bulletin and said, "it looks like they're having a guest speaker today!" Chris and I each let out a little groan. I looked at my watch and wondered aloud whether we'd have time to go anywhere else, since it was five minutes before 11 o'clock, but after scarcely 30 seconds of discussion, the four of us were up and out of the pew and heading down the street.

We zipped down Aycock St and made it into College Park Baptist Church in the nick of time. I was glad that we made the switch, as I very much enjoyed the sermon by their pastor, Michael Usey. Based on an interesting translation (The Message) of Acts 10:34-43, the sermon focused on sharing our faith in a way to which other people can relate. College Park is a quite progressive church full of intelligent congregants who are sensitive to the pluralistic nature of our society and who respect and celebrate differences. (As was evidenced in the children's sermon, which stressed that God made all of us, that God made us different from one another, and that God loves us as we are.) Pastor Michael allowed that many in such an audience might be hesitant to speak openly about their faith because of the way in which evangelism and much talk of faith and religion in general has been co-opted, politicized, and radicalized by right-wing politico-evangelicals. "Amen!" and "That's right." came agreement and echoes of frustration from the congregation.

Progressive, open-minded, and tolerant people of faith shouldn't shy away from talking about their beliefs out of fear of being identified with the political religiosity of the radical right. Rather, they should speak all the more openly and share their perspectives to bring to an end the notion that religious matters are the intellectual property of the radical right. Let's show the masses in the middle and each other that religion and evangelism aren't the political construct that the radical right has made them out to be over the past thirty-odd years! Let's show that genuine Christianity is also tolerance, understanding, compassion, loving one's neighbor, and the pursuit of peace!

From what I know of most religions, they all have the promotion of peace and love at their hearts, though they might arrive at those ends by different means. I have long believed that whether one calls one's god Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, Buddha, or simply God, it's the same god. (That's where I got the title for this entry.) The point isn't so much that one worship in the manner prescribed by any particular sect, but that one be in touch with the higher power that runs the universe. For me, that's the benevolent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God about which Jesus of Nazareth taught. This brings me back around to the main point of Pastor Michael's sermon and this blog entry -- that we are all children of God and that God loves all of us as we are, even when we fall short of the one in whose image we were each made -- God. :J

Hot Like Bea

A little levity amidst the summer torridness...

Go, go Golden Girls! :J

Renaissance Man

Though it came and went with little aplomb and no confetti, ticker-tape, or even a cake was involved, Monday, 2 July 2007 was one of the most significant days of my life. In about five minutes' time, I printed a letter that I'd previously composed, signed it, and handed it to my department manager. In this unceremonious way, I quit my job.

This is a big deal for anyone and I know of few people who would expect any sort of flourish of chads to accompany it (with the possible exception of Rip Taylor), but it was a huge deal for me. Where I currently work is the ONLY place that I have held a full-time job and I have been here full-time for fourteen years. In State Employee years, that's nearly half-way to retirement. Add to it the four years that I spent in this same building as a part-time student employee and the sum is half of my lifetime!

My colleague, Franklin, who is a year older than me, who began working full-time in the Library at the same age as I, and with whom I have worked in the same department for the past ten years, told me that it would feel strange for him to come to work without me there. I jokingly asked him what he'd do and suggested that he join me in my renaissance by going to medical school; he confessed that he had, indeed, briefly entertained such notions. (Maybe when everyone in his family who's currently in school finishes.)

Franklin might not know how he will feel to come to work and find my chair empty, but with what I look forward to, I imagine that it will feel wonderful! :J

A Sunday in Ordinary Time

I went to church today for the first time in several weeks, to Congregational UCC in Greensboro. Chris suggested visiting this church a couple of weeks ago and I've wanted to visit a UCC for quite a while, so we finally got our act together and went. The denomination's motto is "God is still speaking," with emphasis on the comma at the end of the phrase, ostensibly meaning that God's message is alive, dynamic, and relevant to our contemporary lives. UCC ran a series of television adverts a few years ago that stirred up a bit of controversy. One depicted various folks who didn't fit in (a punk-rocker youth, an African-American family, an immigrant man, a gay couple, a single mother, etc) being ejected from their seats in one church. Another portrayed bouncers denying entry to an exclusive night club to a similar crew of folks, while allowing in a stereotypical, white, affluent, family with opposite-gender parents. The climax of the commercials was the diverse bunch later being welcomed at a UCC.

I know several people that attend this church, as it's quite near my old neighborhood in Greensboro, but I didn't see many people that I knew well. I nevertheless felt very welcomed by the pastor's remarks and by the many friendly congregants that greeted me, though no one was pushy about getting me to wear a visitor's pin or to fill out a visitor's card. (I hate that.) Besides the friendliness of the congregation, two things stood out to me about this morning's service.

First, I noticed as we approached the church that a car was parked in the driveway just a few feet from the front door. There were hoses lying on the ground all around the car and people were buzzing about it like a pit crew. As we walked in the door, an usher handed us a bulletin and explained that this was their tire inflation clinic, one of their ministries as a "green" church.

The second thing that stood out was that, in the absence of the regular choir and music director, local celebrity musician Martha Bassett had come to do all of the music for the service. It turns out that Martha used to lead the children's choir at the church.

Not only was there a guest musician, but a guest speaker for the sermon, as well. Though the pastor, Reverend Julie Peeples was present, she yielded the pulpit to Tim Nonn, an activist and fellow minister who is on a 40-day train trip across the United States to raise awareness about the genocidal crisis in Darfur. The theme of his sermon was hope and how we could help to give some glimmer of hope to the many in Darfur that have been rendered hopeless.

Following church, Chris and I did a bit of shopping to further feather his new nest and had lunch at Wholly Guacamole. I returned home to tend to an auction that ended today and Chris came over for dinner later. Now, I'm off to bed and am looking forward to a new project and a short week at work! :J

Add to my resume? Under what heading?

I feel especially accomplished today, but it's not because I revamped my investment plan or washed all of the laundry and dishes. It's because, after several years of intermittently playing Minesweeper, I finally won at the advanced level! Woo-hoo! The feat only took me 45 minutes and 23 seconds. I only wished that I had achieved this months ago so that I could've made mention of it on my law school applications. :J

All the Ron

I received a note from my friend, Ron, in Nashville announcing that he'll be DJing tomorrow (Sat, 9 Jun) night at the Swan Ball, a big funds-raiser for Cheekwood Botanical Garden and a huge event on Nashville's social calendar. Ron is very excited about this, with just cause. Not only is he bringing dance music to one of the hoitiest of Nashville's hoity-toity events, he's also going to be experimenting with his new VJ set-up, which includes some experimental equipment that will let him more easily beat-mix videos in the way that DJs mix songs. (Not just DJing -- VJing!) It should be quite fab. Did I mention that Jay Leno and Earth, Wind, and Fire will be appearing at the Ball, too?

Check out Ron's, Cheekwood's, and Swan Ball's Web sites, linked above, and read the story about Ron in All the Rage, the weekly happenings rag published by The Tennessean (their equivalent of Winston-Salem's Relish).

So, Ron, will I soon have to adjust my bookmarks to point to vjron.com instead of djron.com? :J

---

Update: Since the 2007 Swan Ball has come and gone, Ron has posted some photos of the VJ booth at the event. Enjoy!

Stickin' it to the Crooks

The following letter is in response to a complaint that I filed after receiving an unsolicited, pre-recorded commercial telephone call. My phone numbers are on the national Do-Not-Call lists. Additionally, North Carolina law prohibits pre-recorded solicitations, use of automatic dialers, calls outside of certain hours, and blocking of the company's information from Caller ID.

The call in question was offering information about lowering my credit card interest rate and said at the end that I should press one number to be removed from the calling list or another number to speak to a customer service representative. When I pressed the one number to be removed, a message said that I had made an invalid selection. When I pressed the other number, I heard a few clicks before an agent answered and asked for me to confirm that I wished to lower my credit card interest rate. I replied that I was, instead, interested in knowing her name, her representative number, and the name of her company. This caught her off guard and led her to eventually hang up on me.

In filing the complaint, I provided the date and time of the call, a synopsis of the call, and the phone number that appeared on Caller ID. The complaint form is available online at the DOJ's Web site, nocallsnc.com, though you have to print it and complete it manually before mailing it. The Attorney General's office took care of the rest! Get 'em, Roy!

State of North Carolina
Department of Justice
9001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh NC 27699-9001

Roy Cooper, Attorney General

May 29, 2007

RE: File No. 0705197, Ervin

Dear Mr. Ervin:

This letter is in reference to the complaint you filed with the Attorney General's Office, Consumer Protection Division, alleging violation of North Carolina's Do Not Call law. Your written complaint helped the Attorney General determine to seek a settlement with Card Member Services, the company from which you received an unwelcome telephone solicitation. A more thorough, and possible long term, investigation is under way into this matter. Among the terms we will be asking for will include:

• Fully comply with North Carolina "Do Not Call" laws and related federal statutes;
• Ensure proper training of all the company's telemarketing representatives calling North Carolina residents;
• Maintain written records of Do Not Call complaints from North Carolina residents for a period of five years; and
• Pay civil penalties and related investigation costs.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Without concerned residents like you, it would not be possible to enforce North Carolina's Do Not Call law. In the future, should you encounter any business practices that you believe violate the law, telemarketing or otherwise, please contact us at 1-877-566-7226.

With kind regards, I am

Very truly yours,
David Fox
Telephone Privacy Protection Specialist
919-716-6000
[e-mail address omitted here]
noscamnc.gov

Kernersvegas

By now, I should've closed on and moved into my condo in Greensboro. Negotiations with the seller were quite brief and the inspection turned up little of concern. I knew when I made the offer that I was buying the most expensive unit in the community of about 200 condos, but I figured that it was worth it since there's steady demand for housing in that area and my unit would have a brand new kitchen, furnace, water heater, and even a gas stove for back-up heat. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.

Bad news came back with the appraisal, which valued the unit at about 5% less than what I'd agreed to pay. The seller, who was not using an agent, had made noises that he wasn't willing to lower the price since he'd accounted for his renovations and a buyer's agent's commission in the price. At the same time, the mortgage company wouldn't lend me all of the money that I'd need to buy the place. I had a few options before me if I really wanted the place. I could pay for another appraisal, but that seemed pointless. The appraisal looked reasonable enough to me and my realtor's research revealed it to be so; it even appeared that the appraiser had tried to help me out a bit by using comparables at the higher end of the scale and looking at a very similar community about a mile away (Whilden Place) where units sell at consistently higher prices. Other options involved even more money coming out of my pocket and none of them were at all appealing; some even seemed ethically questionable, though legal. I decided to let the condo go on the grounds that it didn't appraise and I couldn't get satisfactory financing. It took about a week of my realtor's arm-twisting and my own hand-wringing to convince the sellers to sign termination papers on the sales contract, but they finally did and I look forward to picking up a check for my earnest money before the weekend.

During this drama, Leslie, my friend with whom I was staying in Kernersville, made me a very good offer to rent space in her house. A bit of budget forecasting showed that this would be a very good move, even after accounting for the additional fuel and car maintenance costs, and would provide each of us with a built-in pet-sitter.

I've spent the past week settling into my new digs, the large bonus room above Leslie's garage. She installed ceiling fans and a closet system and I've been dragging things out from storage to make the place homey. I brought Cilly to his new home and he is acclimating well and becoming acquainted with his new canine cousin, Leslie's dog, Emma.

With the housing question answered, I turned my attention to other law school housekeeping matters -- applying for student loans and purchasing a laptop. The loan applications are in and I hope to hear something soon. I'd assumed that I'd buy a Dell laptop, but I don't care for the looks of their current line. I'd seen some nice Hewlett-Packard laptops at Costco, so I compared prices around town. Costco's prices were about the best around (bested by Sam's by a few pennies, but beating hp.com by a few hundred dollars). I was still nervous about shelling out so much money for a computer with an operating system that I'd never used (Windows Vista) from a manufacturer with whose products I had little experience, but Costco has a good return policy for computers, offers technical support, and extends the manufacturer's warranty on computers that it sells, so I finally settled on configuring a system myself on costco.com and expect it to arrive soon.

Meanwhile, Chris has been having his own housing drama, but I can hear the fat lady warming up so a climax seems to be drawing near; he'll move into his new condo this weekend.

Though I've heard the -vegas suffix applied with varying degrees of admiration and derision to many -villes (particularly Nashville, to become Nashvegas), Kernersvegas is a particularly apt moniker for Kernersville for me, since Leslie moved here about a year ago from Las Vegas AND the fact that I'm about to roll the dice in the crap-shoot of life in a quite fabulous way. :J

Lien on Me

In order to avoid any confusion whatsoever, I'm gonna spoil the story that I'm about to tell by disclosing up front that my friend and ex, Jeff, actually did nothing wrong. Rather, he and I were the victims of coincidence and someone else's sloppiness and, in fact, he was instrumental in helping to put things right.

The closing on the sale of my house was scheduled for this week, so my realtor and I had been working feverishly to put everything in place so that all would go off without a hitch. I had already spoken to him once or twice when he called at mid-morning this past Monday (14 May) and asked a question that I never wanted to hear.

"Are you aware that Jeff put a lien for $10,000 on your house? That'll have to be paid before we can close."

The words echoed in my head and the cacophony grew until I thought my brain would burst. I was completely blind-sided and had no idea what to say, much less what to do. I walked outside, mobile phone in hand, to call Jeff, but decided to detour to the restroom so that I wouldn't have to endure a full bladder while having what I expected to be a contentious conversation.

Before I could get back outside, John called again to share additional information that he'd learned. "It looks like it wasn't Jeff that put the lien on the house. Someone sued Jeff and won a judgment against him and put the lien on the house when his name was still on it." This shed a different light on the situation, but it didn't really make it any better.

I called my buyer's attorney and spoke at length to her paralegal. She mentioned the name of the company that placed the lien, but had few other details. There was no other information in the judgment against which to match Jeff's middle name, date of birth, or other identifiers. She casually mentioned that the judgment contained only his name (a very common name which he shared with The (late) Frugal Gourmet) and address. I asked about the address and when she read it to me, I didn't recognize it as one where Jeff had ever lived. I went to the Web site of our county tax office and found that Jeff and his wife at that address. In a later conversation, the paralegal asked me if Jeff had ever been married to a woman whose name I recognized from the tax records. "Absolutely not," I replied. She confirmed that this was a case of mistaken identity and said that we'd just need to get Jeff to sign an affidavit that this wasn't his obligation.

So, now I had to get a hold of Jeff. I sent him an e-mail message. I called his mobile phone. I called his office. He finally replied to a text message, saying that he was in a meeting and would call soon. When I spoke to him, he met my recounting of the story with shock and indignation equal to my own. He promised to contact the attorney and help me to clear up the situation as quickly as possible.

I called my realtor to update him on the situation and then called the attorney to tell her that she could expect Jeff's call, but she was already on the other line with him. When I went the next day to sign my half of the closing papers, the paralegal told me that they had received from Jeff everything that they needed to remedy the situation.

What a scare! Though it's cleared up now, I'm outraged that a lien could be placed on my property without my receiving any sort of notice. I plan to contact the state attorney general to file a complaint against the company that placed the lien, Unifund CCR Partners of Cincinnati, but I wonder what action could be taken beyond a black mark in some record somewhere, since I suffered no real damages other than an hour or two off of the end of my life and a scorch mark on the ceiling tile above my work cubicle. :J

Turning Blue

To say that the past couple of weeks have been a flurry would be the metaphorical equivalent of saying that Katrina was a bad thunderstorm. (I don't mean to make light of the profound effect that the hurricane had on an untold number of lives, but rather to illustrate a question of degree in an apt and effective manner.) As I prepared to move house, guerrilla packing and schlepping gave way this past Wednesday to an all-out assault that lasted for four days.

I took off last Wednesday (9 May) to pack and prepare to move on Saturday (12 May). My friend, Leslie, had lent me her large pick-up truck and I thought that two days would be ample time to move the few belongings that I had left. As I buzzed about sorting, organizing, and packing, the folly of my accomplishing this feat in two days became desperately and excruciatingly obvious. I called my boss on Thursday morning and begged off for the rest of the week. During those four days, I cried; I clawed at my face; I wailed and gnashed my teeth; I kvetched to and sought sympathy from my neighbors, my family, Chris (who was just finishing up a stay in Manila), Leslie, even Jeff, and anyone else who'd listen. In-between my machinations, I managed to convey eight (8) truckloads of stuff to a storage unit (and filled it nearly to bursting) while five (5) truckloads found their way into Leslie's garage. Everyone has been very supportive and I am indebted to my friend, Ken, and my neighbor, John, for lending their time and labor and vehicles to my cause and to my friend, Leslie, for lending me her truck and giving me space to store my things as well as my dog and myself.

About 90% of the dirty work is now finished. I'm camping out at Leslie's place in Kernersville and I am relaxing a bit ahead of Wednesday's (16 May) closing. I worked calmly today, closing and transferring utilities and planning my budget. I picked up Chris at the airport this afternoon and spent a few hours with him and his family in Salisbury. Tomorrow, I'll be up and at 'em early to swing back by my house and collect my cat, Cilly, and take him to Lucky's Pet Resort and Day Spa for several days. I'll have a day of work at the office on Monday, a final day of work on the house on Tuesday, and closing on Wednesday. [fingers crossed]

I viewed several condos in Greensboro's Sunset Hills community and finally made an offer on one that had been totally renovated, including being kitted out this year with a new kitchen with a dishwasher [drool]. The seller and I reached an agreement, signed the contract, and now the mortgage documents are working their way through and an inspection is on the calendar. I expect to close on 30 May, but hope to begin moving in around 23 May.

Things are moving along at a quick, but smooth pace. Meanwhile, I'm turning blue from holding my breath, hoping that things remain smooth. :J

Roller Coaster Week

The past week or so has been quite a roller coaster, chocked full of events.

Last Monday, I viewed a condominium that interested me in the Whilden Place community in Greensboro. It looked better on paper than in person, but its two bedrooms and attic enticed me with the thoughts of separate sleeping and studying areas and plenty of storage for all of my possessions. Later, I spent a pleasant evening with my neighbors on their front porch, enjoying conversation and camaraderie, not to mention a couple of beers and one of the cigars that I brought from Manila. I went home that evening in my altered state and laid down in the grass in my back yard at nearly midnight. Pepper ran over and licked my face. I looked up at the stars, which were finally visible after several cloudy days. I lifted my head and looked at the soft light filtering through the windows of my den and the ceiling fan turning slowly inside. Did I really want to leave this place, my home? Did I really want to move away from these people? Would it really be that impractical to find a roommate and continue commuting to Greensboro after beginning law school?

My house officially went on the market on Tuesday. I stayed at home on Tuesday and Wednesday to make the house ready for showings and engaged in a flurry of cleaning and repair projects, the most significant of which was painting the entire floor of my front porch. Pouring all of this energy into my house kept stirred-up my sentimentality for the place. As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, I'd taken my car to the dealership for routine service and received some shocking news at mid-morning -- in addition to the $550 or so just for the service interval, they'd found other problems (including the rear brakes) and the bill would be closer to $1,000! Yes, again. Yes, within a month of my last $1,000 repair bill. I took this as a sign and resumed making my house ready for the market with fresh vigor. On Wednesday, my handy-womon came over and worked for a few hours on miscellaneous projects and I met friends Travis and Tony for dinner at California Fresh Buffet, which is closing at the end of this month. (It's fitting that one of my favorite restaurants should close as I'm moving.) A handful of viewers and curious neighbors came through the house and I had pleasant conversations with each of them.

I did a few law-school-related things on Thursday, including attending a talk on copyright issues at work and the Thursday afternoon tea at Elon Law. Each Thursday, Elon Law hosts a social hour with a local judge as the guest of honor. That Thursday's judge was Katherine Eagles. Her husband, Bill Eagles, taught the civil liberties course that I audited this semester. He's enough of a character that I was interested to meet his wife and take advantage of the opportunity to schmooze with members of the Elon Law community, as it was becoming more apparent that I'd end up there. I did enjoy speaking to the Eagles, as well as several Elon Law faculty and students and members of the Greensboro legal community.

On Friday, Pepper and I hit the road for Beaufort SC (pronounced BYEW-fert, as opposed to Beaufort NC, pronounced BOW-fert) to visit Mum, who is living there part-time in her retirement. I stopped en route in Rockingham and had lunch with Mamaw and Papaw. I stopped by the Filipino grocery store before leaving Winston-Salem and surprised Mum and Mamaw with some ube (purple sweet potato) ice cream. I had a fine time in Beaufort and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, natural scenery, and seafood (soft-shell crabs -- yum!), though Mum embarrassed me at dinner one night by flirting a bit too strongly with our waiter, whom we later found out was all of 26 years old. The long drive down and back went by quickly thanks to being broken up with meal stops in Rockingham and stretch/fuel/pee breaks in Santee and Latta.

While I was in Beaufort, my Realtor called to report that he had received two written offers for my house! We agreed that, in the interest of fairness, we'd apprise the bidders of the situation and ask them to submit follow-up bids. We also came up with a plan to make an offer on the Whilden Place condo that I had viewed. He called back to report good and bad news -- both bidders had come back with slightly higher offers, but the Whilden Place condo had just gone under contract. I made a plan to view some other condos in the Sunset Hills community in Greensboro and reviewed the revised purchase offers. I accepted the offer from Norma, a neighbor who walks her dog past my house nearly every day and collects litter as she goes. I had shown her the house initially and she had returned with her Realtor. I just had a good feeling about Norma. My neighbors, who also know Norma, greeted me with elation when I returned home from signing the offer.

Also while I was in Beaufort, mail arrived from the law schools at UNC Chapel Hill and NCCU. NCCU admitted me, but UNC Chapel Hill put me on a waiting list. Besides my feeling that I had waited long enough for a decision from UNC Chapel Hill (4.5 months), they wrote that they might not reach a final decision until 24 August, almost two weeks after classes will have already begun at Elon Law. So, that was it. Decision made. Elon it is. The folks at Elon were courteous enough to give me a decision quickly (about six weeks), offered me a partial scholarship, have shown unwavering eagerness to have me join their community, and have been generally very on-the-ball with everything.

So, that's it! I've made my final decision about where to attend law school and after six days on the market, my house is under contract! Chris pointed out that the short time on the market and smooth negotiations were a further sign that selling my home is the right thing to do. Closing is set for 16 May and I have a lot of work ahead of me, both packing and finishing up projects with the house, so I'm gonna end this blog entry and get to it! :J

Law School News

On Thursday of last week (29 March), I arrived home to find in the mail a thin envelope from the law school at Wake Forest University. My heart sank before I even opened it, but I did open it and read the letter that said what I'd guessed that it said. The law school here in the town where I live did not choose to offer me a spot in this fall's entering class. That means that I'll need to sell my house and move to wherever I do end up going to school.

WFU's decision did surprise and disappoint me, but I'm certainly not without options. Elon's new law school is already making a name for itself with its robust program and is forging strong and close ties with the Greensboro legal community. Campbell is well-known in North Carolina for its comprehensive lawyering skills and trial advocacy preparation, as well as its graduates' high passage rates on the bar exam.

Though I've not yet heard from the law schools at UNC Chapel Hill or NCCU, things do seem to be gelling around Elon for me. Just days after I received WFU's rejection, Elon notified me that they'd increased the amount of my scholarship. I also have a lead on a new condominium building in Greensboro that I could afford while in school and that would be an easy drive to Elon's law school in downtown. It doesn't hurt that Chris just bought a unit in that very building!

Another interesting turn of events happened today. Two work colleagues approached my desk with a man that I didn't recognize. He introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Mitchell Counts, Elon's law librarian." Wow! My colleague, Kathy, knew that I'd applied to Elon Law and wanted for me to meet Mitchell while he was visiting our library. Mitchell mentioned that he's on the admissions committee and had probably seen my application. I explained that I was the one that used the tasteless Mary Jo Kopechne and Ted Kennedy metaphor in my personal statement, to which he replied, "Oh, yes! I remember!" And that was the point! My personal statement had stood out from the pack! And they STILL let me in! So, I feel better and better about Elon Law every day and part of me wonders if the decisions from UNC Chapel Hill and NCCU will even matter by the time that they arrive.

I'm sad about selling my house, but I do realize that it's something that I need to do. I think that the time and money spent commuting between Winston-Salem and Greensboro would be far better spent otherwise while I'm in law school. This house was my home with Jeff, but for almost a year, I've come to love it as my home and mine alone. If I were to stay in my house while in law school, I'd have to get a roommate and that would drastically alter the dynamics. I might not want to do it, but I think that it's just best to sell my house and move on. :J

Getting Popped for Pop-Up Adverts

On 19 Oct 2004, Julie Amero was working as a substitute teacher at Kelly Middle School in Norwich CT. The regular classroom teacher had been there earlier that morning to log on to the computer for Julie, who didn't have her own account. Julie, a computer-phobe, scarcely needed the instructions that she was given to not log off of or shut down the computer; she didn't know how. Julie briefly left the room before class began; when she returned, the regular teacher was gone and the children were browsing the Web on the computer. Pop-up adverts featuring adult products had begun appearing. When Julie tried to close the pop-ups, more appeared. Julie did the only thing that she knew how to do to prevent the children from seeing the offensive adverts -- she turned the monitor aside and didn't allow the children to approach her desk and come within view of the computer.

Julie didn't know that adware had infected the computer days before she arrived on the job. Nor did she know that this had happened because the school had allowed its computer security contract to lapse over six months earlier and that the computer had not received an update of its security software in over three months. She DID know that she needed to get rid of the pop-up adverts, so she went for help during a break. No one would come back to the classroom with her to see about the problem and she was told to not worry about the situation. Nevertheless, Julie was worried.

Her concern was well-founded. Days later, she was arrested for child endangerment. Law enforcement examined the computer's hard drive and, predictably, found that the Web browser's history was full of URLs that led to pornographic and adult-oriented Web sites. The information that the prosecution presented did NOT reveal who was sitting in front of the computer when the Web sites were on-screen; browser histories do not log whether a user typed in a Web address or clicked a link to access a Web site or whether an automated script caused a Web page to appear on its own without any user intervention. Most incredibly, in its examination of the computer, the prosecution did not check whether the computer was infected with adware, the sort of software that would've caused unwanted pop-up adverts to appear. This is the technological equivalent of arresting someone who happened to be standing in the parking lot of a bank that had been robbed without examining the building for signs of forced entry or dusting for fingerprints!

Based partly on this evidence, Julie was convicted of four felony counts of risk of injury to a minor or impairing the morals of a child and faces sentencing on 26 April of up to forty (yes, 40, 4-0) years in prison.

I cannot find the words to describe this turn of events. Travesty, perversion of justice, sham, outrageous -- none of them seem to be the bon mot that captures the depth of outrage and disbelief that I feel. How could the prosecution have been so careless or so malicious? What were her defense attorneys thinking? How did the prosecution get away with what appears to be such a sloppy and incomplete investigation? I am reminded of Tom Robinson's trial in To Kill a Mockingbird and I have to wonder -- where is Julie's Atticus Finch? :J

References...

• Windows Secrets, 22 Feb 2007 - This is where I first learned of this case; includes some discussion of the botched investigation.
• Julie Amero in Wikipedia
• The Julie Amero Defese Fund Blog
Teacher Faces Jail Over Pornography on Class Computer, The New York Times, 14 Feb 2007 - Has a detailed synopsis of events.

Knoxed Out

First, forgive the pun. More on that in a second.

Second, I received yesterday a letter from the College of Law at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) in which they wrote that they were unable to offer to me a spot in this fall's entering class. Oh, well; c'est la vie.

UTK wasn't on my original short list of law schools, but they became a contender when I spoke with Karen Britton, the school's Director of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Career Services, at the law school expo at WFU back in November. My friend, Kim, did her PhD work in industrial psychology at UTK and was awarded a sweet assistantship during her time there that included a tuition waiver as well as a stipend, so I was interested to find out that the College of Law has a similar program. UTK's application fee is bargain-basement cheap (only $15!), so I figured that I had little to lose and much to gain.

When I opened my mailbox and found the very thin envelope, I did feel a bit of disappointment, but I'm far from crushed. If enrollment management at Tennessee's public universities works anything like it does at North Carolina's, then quotas mean that out-of-state students must have significantly better qualifications than in-state students for admission to the same programs. So, while my LSAT score was right around UTK's median, it's the average for all students and I suspect that the out-of-state median is quite a bit higher than the in-state median.

So, the title... yea. I wanted to come up with something fun based on the state song like I did when I received my decision letter from UVa. For that entry, I used the title of the former commonwealth song. Interestingly, Virginia currently has no official commonwealth song. By contrast, Tennessee has seven official state songs (appropriate since its capital is known as Music City), none of which lent themselves to a quick literary perversion. Zut alors ! :J

Our Rights

Earlier today, I happened across an opinion piece on the Web site of The Huntsville Item newspaper in Huntsville TX entitled Our country gives us the right to voice our views. I did read the article and found interesting and appropriate its discussion of common misconceptions of how judges must interpret and apply the law. (Indeed, a rant-worthy topic, but for another time. Don't get me started on the politically-biased misnomer "activist judges".)

However, it's the title of the article, rather than its content, that inspired me to write about a topic that has been on my mind lately and about which my thoughts have become more focused with my decision to study law -- our rights. Principally, I take issue with the article's glib statement that our country (our government, by semantic extension) gives us any right. It does not. We, as sentient beings, are bestowed with rights and burdened with their accompanying responsibilities at birth.

Some of our greatest rights are the freedom to hold and express opinions and beliefs (be they religious, political, or what have you) and the right to associate (or not) with others. Responsibilities in light of these rights include informing ourselves about ourselves and about the world around us, as well as acting in a way that doesn't infringe upon the rights of others.

I don't intend this essay to be a comprehensive treatise on the nature of law, civil society, free will, or the responsibilities and limits of government. I just wanted to shed some light on a distinction that I find important but that seems to go unnoticed. If a government convinces the people that it bestows rights, then the people are liable to be duped into believing that the government can take those rights away. It can't.

Freedoms bestowed by a government are called privileges, not rights. The government that grants privileges can also revoke them. No government can grant rights, but every government must recognize our rights and protect them if it desires legitimacy and the support and protection of the people. :J

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny -- Not

My letter from the law school at UVa did arrive today and it seems that I was not meant to be a Cavalier, as they wrote that they regrettably could not offer me a place in their Fall 2007 entering class.

And that's fine. I always knew that UVa was a far reach for me and figured that if any school rejected me, that'd be the one. Though the thought of attending one of the country's top ten law schools was an amazing prospect, I had begun to wonder during the past week whether UVa really would be the best place for me. The most obvious concern was the cost; my tuition as an out-of-commonwealth student would've been upwards of $35,000 per year, nearly twice the annual limit for federal student aid loans. A secondary consideration was the orientation of the curriculum at such an elite school. Would it be too theoretical for my tastes and needs? Would I be able to acquire the practical skills necessary to practice law? Of course, all of that is a moot point now.

So, one more piece of the puzzle is complete. Hopefully, letters from UNC Chapel Hill and Wake Forest U will arrive in my mail box shortly and I will have occasion to shout "Yahoo!" instead of "Wahoo!" :J

The Reality Check is in the Mail

A couple of months ago, after sending my application to the University of Virginia School of Law, I received an e-mail with information on how to log in to their AdmitWeb system to check the status of my application, which I did occasionally at first and more frequently of late. AdmitWeb faithfully reported as my documents and credentials arrived. For the last several weeks, I've glared at the last line as it mutely reported Decision Mailed: Not Yet.

This evening, I received an e-mail message reporting that the status of my application had changed. I let out a little gasp and virtually rushed on over, logged in, and fumbled a bit as I spun the mouse wheel and read the following.

As of 3/2/07, a decision has been made on your application for admission to the University of Virginia School of Law. To protect the confidentiality of your decision, we will not release decision information over the phone. If you have not received your decision within 10 days of this date, please feel free to call the Admissions Office so that we can verify your contact information. If this does not represent a final decision on your application for admission, you will be notified when further decisions are posted on the status monitor later this season.

The decision is on its way. It might just be a notice that I've been put on a waiting list, but it could very well be a no. Or a yes. Who knows? :J

Love is ...

My boyfriend, Chris, and I were talking recently about the pleasantries that people exchange when they part company. He expressed some discomfort that one person of our mutual acquaintance has taken to saying, "I love you" in such circumstances, though he had know this person for a relatively short amount of time and had spent little if any time with her one-on-one. It's important to note that there is no romantic interest between Chris and this person and other factors make the unlikelihood that they would be come so involved stratospheric.

I've found myself in similar circumstances. Friends whom I've known for a long time and whose company I greatly enjoy, even my stylist (who has become a personal friend), have taken up the habit of attaching an "I love you" to "goodbye". Hearing this proclamation from someone who isn't my inamorata or a member of my immediate family leaves me perplexed, at a loss for words, and unsure about how to respond. Should I just say "I love you" back to placate the person, though I'd feel dishonest? But, I might not love them; at least not in the way that I mean "I love you" when I say it to someone. Should I respond with a sincere, but maybe underwhelming, "Aww! Thank you!", that might hurt their feelings or offend them?

When friends tell me that they love me in the disarming way that I describe above, I believe that they mean that they are fond of me, that they enjoy my company, that they want for me to go on my way safely, and that they are generally concerned for my welfare. By contrast, when I say "I love you" to someone, I mean that they are an important and likely permanent part of my life; that I enjoy their company and palpably feel their absence when we're apart; that I'm concerned about their state of mind, body, and spirit to the point of empathy -- when they are sad, I'm sad, too, not for whatever reason has caused their sadness, but because their sadness itself makes me sad; likewise, I actively delight in their happiness. Furthermore, as Chris pointed out, "[love is not circumstantial]." His point was that events such as a garden-variety disagreement or even divorce don't stop genuine love. When he was married, his in-laws regularly proclaimed that they loved him, but after he divorced, their contempt for him was evident. "[I wouldn't say that they ever really loved me, at least not in the way that I mean it when I say it.]"

I have consciously avoided using the word "gratuitous" in describing the way that some friends use the phrase "I love you". Something so precious, healing, and uplifting could never be applied gratuitously or too liberally. I think that Chris and I just share an opinion of what it means to tell someone that you love them and it is a deep and profound meaning, indeed. :J

Campbell = Yes

I received today a letter from the Campbell Law admissions office extending to me an offer of admission for the Fall 2007 entering class! Yay!

Campbell Law is located in Buies Creek NC, 30 miles equidistant from Raleigh and Fayetteville. Their focus is educating lawyers for hometown practice in NC and they do their job very well -- their bar exam pass rate is regularly at the top of the scale, around 97% and 100% in some years. Campbell University is affiliated with the NC Southern Baptist State Convention; they established the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law in 1975. Their Alumni include Elaine Marshall, NC Secretary of State; Ann Marie Calabria, NC Court of Appeals; a friend of mine from undergrad; and the attorney that has handled personal litigation for my family.

I applied to Campbell Law on a lark because I had a fee waiver and Mamaw had pestered me to do so. What had I to lose? Very little. Shortly after I'd applied, I had a pleasant phone interview with James McLaughlin (professor of estate law) that went very well and, what do you know, I'm in! I'm pleased by this because, once again, it's affirming, but also because I now have options. Campbell's mission is in line with my goals, since I plan to remain and practice in North Carolina, and their high bar exam passage rate is certainly a point to their credit.

So, I'm two for two at this point with five schools yet to weigh in. Surely, word of my popularity will now spread and the other law schools will now be clamoring to my mailbox! :J

Life Update

Since completing my law school applications, I've spent a good bit of the past month gloriously vegetating at the computer, playing spider solitaire. (With four suits, nonetheless!) I figure that I deserve the break.

It's not all been fun and games, though. With applications out of the way, other projects have risen to the surface of the priority pool, but working on them has been a boon rather than something to bemoan. As I've made headway on projects at work and at home, my attitude and my outlook have improved. I had been quite frustrated at my slow progress in painting the trim in the master bedroom, so I finally inflicted the task on my handywomon for a few days. Thusly jump-started, I was able to tackle the rest of the project myself and have been gleefully taking down the blue tape that has lined the windows and doors for nearly six months. More home improvement projects await, of course, along with tax forms and law school financial aid applications. I'm also sitting-in on a civil liberties class, have visited a few law schools (UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, and Elon), and have been helping out someone who's recovering from surgery.

Mum and Mamaw visited a few days ago. Mum proudly showed off her new car and I got to drive it around a bit as we had lunch and shopped. Mamaw bought me a vacuum cleaner as an early birthday gift and my rugs have been singing her praises ever since.

So, I've saved the best bit for last. I received a large envelope from Elon Law a couple of weeks ago. I opened it with great anticipation and found inside a pack of forms with a cover letter congratulating me on my admission! Yay! While also validating, it means that I do have a choice of what path my life will take later this year and well beyond. :J

Law School Applications

It's done.

As best as I can tell, I've submitted all of the law school applications that I'm going to. I applied to most of the law schools in North Carolina, including Wake Forest U, UNC Chapel Hill, NC Central U, Elon U, and Campbell U. I did not apply to Duke U or to Charlotte School of Law. I applied to two out-of-state schools, UVa and UT Knoxville. It's quite an assortment, but most guides advise prospective law students to apply to a range of schools that includes "reaches" and "safeties". I won't get into detail at this point about my reasons for choosing these schools, except to say that I had application fee waivers for UVa and Campbell U. I seriously considered applying to Hofstra U, Notre Dame U, and U of South Carolina, but I decided against them for various reasons and I doubt that there will be any last-minute reconsiderations.

There are a couple of niggling things that I need to mail and a few questions on which I need to follow up, but the personal statements are written, the forms are complete, and the application fees are paid. Let me tell you, this business of applying to law schools is expensive! I've shelled out about $960 for application fees, an LSAT preparatory class and materials, the LSAT, the LSDAS (a centralized credentialing service), and LSAC credential reports to schools. The just over $300 that I paid for the LSAT preparatory class alone represents a staff discount that I received for taking the course at the university where I work. That was the cheapie Cambridge course, too, not the expensive Kaplan course, which costs well over $1,000 on its own!

Now, it's time to wait. I expect to begin receiving decisions in March. I don't know what the next several months will bring me. Will I have to sell my house? Will I have to get a roommate? Will I have to move to another town or another state? Big questions, to be sure. For now, I'm going to get back to working on my house, put a bit of my energy back into my personal relationships and my work, and do a bit of reading to get a leg up on law school.

I've bought the ticket. Now, I'm just waiting for the train to arrive! :J