Computer Blue

Note: I wrote this entry shortly before Christmas, but waited until now (a month later) to post it so that revealing the details of my computer SNAFU during exams wouldn't violate my school's honor code, which requires anonymity in exam grading. :J

Exams actually got off to a quite exciting start. As I rebooted my computer to take my very first law school exam, Windows flaked out on me and I had to hand-write my exam! For some unknown reason, Windows Vista had suddenly decided that my license was no longer valid and locked me out of most functionality, generously allowing me into my Web browser where I could buy a new license for $215. After four hours on the phone with Costco and HP, a crying fit, several nights of fitful sleep, and worrying at least an hour or two off of the end of my life, I was no closer to a solution. With a functional browser, I was able to send my crucial documents to myself in e-mail and download them onto a flash drive via my desktop computer, which allowed me to continue studying at home and in the lab at school. I borrowed a computer from school for my second exam. I finally faced reality and hit the virtual reset button, restoring my hard drive to its factory condition. I took my other exams on my own computer, but spent two full days reinstalling all of my software and readjusting my configurations.

Through all of this trauma, Costco (which offers limited support for computers that it sells and whose staff was great) and HP were very helpful. I got bubkes from Miscrosoft, though. Even HP got from Microsoft the same run-around as I and I never spoke to anyone at Miscrosoft whom I felt could have helped me with my problem, if they understood what it was. To add insult to injury, I would have had to pay $59 to speak to anyone beyond the guy that could only take my credit card information in exchange for a new license key.

All's well now, but I wonder... when it comes time for me to buy a new computer, will I join the ranks of the millions of Mac users and housekeeper that declare, "I don't do Windows?" :J

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