sorrowmonkey

So, I've outlined my Elder Law Final (that was last week's exercise). In the last couple of days I've finished 5 of 7 questions for my business tax exam. I'm still about 25% done with my Trusts & Estates outline.

So, things continue to be busy here. I'm glad to be so far through my Bus Tax exam, I want to blast it out before it all falls out of my head. I think the Elder Law exam will be the next real struggle, and then it will be 50/50 T&E vs. the Admiralty paper. I haven't heard anything back on my inter-library loan request for the books for the paper, so I'm probably going to have to wing it. Apparently the librarian who handles it is going through some tough times, and it's not worth it to poke the badger.

If I can finish the Bus Tax exam tomorrow, I can hopefully crank out the Elder Law exam before mid-weekend. It's due on Monday, but I would like to take some time before the T&E review session on Monday to finish my outline and work on that paper.

Ah well. Off to bed.

So, the Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal has offerred to publish my student note next year. Titled A Testamentary Gift of a Felony: Avoiding Criminal Penalties From Estate Firearms, it goes over how federal and state law interacts in the context of testate and intestate transfers.

I've spent the entire year bleeding over the 53 pages. Apparently that has paid off in an offer of publication (contingent on another year of rewriting) and full membership in the journal. Shortly, we will find out who are going to be the editors in next year's volume. I'll admit, I am hopeful that I, and the other folks I think are responsible, will get the important positions.


The journal work has definitely killed me all year, but I guess this is the payoff now. Next year will still be a pile of work, but it is a huge difference between being a candidate and a member. Also, next year I'm only taking classes I really care about, and I'm not going to take classes that make for an icky schedule. It's just not worth it.

So, the summer term is seven weeks. This week is the fourth week. Today was the second class of the week. So, at this point, I am officially halfway through my law school career. After this semester I will have 46 credits of the 86 that I need to graduate.

I'm pretty stoked about that. I don't know if I'm going to get on law review or not (I'll find out this summer), but I am only 0.33 away from the minimum GPA to graduate cum laude. My GPA has been steadily going up, so if I keep doing at about the same as I have this year, I'll be in good shape, I think.

It's a long road, but the material is still interesting (mostly), and I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Why only support 9 levels of outlining?

I get burned by this again and again. I hardly think that it would be that much harder to support an arbitrary number of levels.

My criminal law exam has been rescheduled due to the inclement weather. I'm happy and sad. I really would have liked to have this one over with. I could have left way early, and then stayed until the plows did their work, and it would be done with.

Instead, I get to dread it for another week, and now I have back-to-back Evidence and Criminal Law exams. Ack. I guess I will put all the crim stuff away for a while, and get my butt in gear for evidence.

Damn damn damn.

So, for better or worse, Civil Procedure is over with. There were seven questions (which we knew ahead of time), and I think I did well on some and poorly on others. Hopefully it will all even out in the end. Once again I find myself thinking: well, as long as I pass...

The Contracts exam is on Wednesday, and I really think it will be easier. Contracts is more slippery (there aren't as many rules), and we didn't cover nearly as much material. Also, the exam isn't open book, so I don't feel pressured to spend as much time indexing the book and all of that. I'm going to try and stay focused until then, and then I can start getting back to real life again.

If we're going to go to Panteria, we're going to need a bed, and right now there is just a pile of lumber and hardware in the basement. I'm not real sure when that project is going to get worked on either. After the Contracts exam I have work (in Danbury) on Thursday, a company meeting in Blue Bell, PA on Friday, Ice's thing on Saturday, and we're away the next weekend too. Oh, and the week of the 14th of May, I have to work in Danbury all five days. At least the drive isn't as bad on CT-34.

It's weird. I've spent the last three months thinking, "as soon as school is done, I'll have time." Now school is winding up, and the rest of May looks much the same. Frak.

Friday was a debacle (again) at work, but I managed to leave there around 4 pm, so I was home by 7. I sat with zohra and baronessmartha for a while while I worked on my paper. There was delicious BBQ pork for dinner. Yum.

Saturday we got up and went to the farmer's market to pick up dairy products from our favorite dairy. Their cream, milk, butter, yogurt, etc is fantastic. Then I helped herd the girls off the event, and got to work. I managed to get all of the updates into the paper from the proofreading on Friday, and I added about two pages to the first argument section. I went through a bunch more cases, but then zohra got home.

I did a tiny bit of tidying up in expectation of our guests, and then went back to work. However, it wasn't too long until baronessmartha, Miss E, juliegw and da Bruce trickled in. I had a great time detoxing with everyone (even the crazy neighbors came over), and it really helped make up for missing the event.

This morning, we made bacon and pancakes for everyone (and lots of coffee). Then, zohra and I had to run up to the Hamden Fish and Game Protective Association for our new member orientation. That didn't take too long (here are the rules, here's the fun stuff we have planned, don't be an idiot, here are your badges and keys), but everyone had already left by the time we got back.

So, we wandered up to Lowe's to get a Lilac and _some_other_plant_, then it was lunch and nap time. After all that excitement, it clearly was time to get back to work. We watched Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey while eating dinner and proofreading. Station!

So I'm about 80% satisfied with the paper as it is now. I still feel like I'm a little short, but it's noticeably better than the last version. It's just stressful because the darn thing is 35% of my grade for that class.

An excellent creative use of civil procedure in the workplace: http://community.livejournal.com/1l_hell/33624.html

AND

The easiest way to make it through an extended Civil Procedure lecture:

http://community.livejournal.com/ctrlaltdelfeed/

All you knowledge junkies will rue the day you decided to read my journal!!!

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/AboutOCW/about-ocw.htm

So, the left-wing-nut who sits next me apparently got himself arrested over the break: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-inauguration-arrest-0105,0,5788141.story?coll=hc-headlines-home. He spent 13 hours in jail. So, I guess I don't get to brag about how bad my commute is, although at least I generate some economic benefit.