I almost didn't blog today........

I had a fairly hectic day......right okay - so I had only one class. But - I helped some friends move to the very friendly neighborhood of Friendship - and I was mesmerized by hurricane coverage......I wonder if FEMA needs anyone with a nicotine habit and a J.D.?

Bush is such Trash

Wow, Bush is such a man of the people - he's cutting his 5-week vacation short by two days in order to oversee the relief efforts in the South.......but he's going to leave tomorrow. So let's get this straight, a catastrophic storm strikes Monday morning, early Tuesday morning New Orleans' flood protection system fails, Tuesday afternoon transportation infrastructure across the region crumbles.....but Bush isn't going back to work until tomorrow. Fuck that - Clinton would have been in the White House Monday night, as any responsible president should be - especially when you have a major U.S. city uninhabitable with absolutely no social services and anarchy running rampant in the streets.

LOCAL NEWS!

I HATE THE LOCAL NEWS. I'm watching one of the local stations, and they are so ridiculous. The actually said something to the effect of "Katrina has been devastating in the south, but more importantly, where is it now and how will it affect this area" - you have got to be kidding me - New Orleans is underwater, bridges have collapsed, two million people have no power, drinking water is contaminated, martial law has been declared and Pittsburghers apparently are more concerned about whether to bring an umbrella to work tomorrow - how about some priorities here people!

Back to school

I have to head back to school in order not to miss out on a 'plum interview spot' for OCI.......

Shadyside, Part II

Another great Shadyside day, I took the bus to Walnut Street from school - I needed some coffee. Again, it was raining, but Jon Brion kept me in good spirits while walking with the weather. I grabbed a latte and headed to my neighborhood bakery to grab some bread (and a blueberry cream cheese croissant - and I wonder why I can't fit into half my clothes...). The place is called Prantl's and it's awesome and cheap - so everyone should go there - the employee's are superfriendly.

Though on the walk home my bag was beginning to feel awfully heavy - stupid law books - why they gotta weigh 10 pounds a piece?

OCI

I've just been informed that I've been selected to interview for a Pittsburgh law firm for a summer job next summer. Of course it could just be Slacker fucking with me again. But should this information be verified - I'm totally excited, because I really want to stay here over the summer this year.

Music Update

My good friends, Throck & Slacker, made me some mixed CD's a few days ago, with a little blog prodding speeding the process along - they were both fun melanges of 'interesting' music. At first, as I am with everything, I was a little skeptical - but now I'm obsessed - they're fantastic mixes. I'm particularly loving The Clarks, Citizen Cope, Belle & Sebastian & The Arcade Fire. I'm totally buying more from these bands.

See, silly recording industry - mixed CD's help your stupid sales - b/c trust me, I'm a self-avowed music loser who would have never found these bands on my own.

Pleasant Surprise

The most fantastic thing happened to me today. I was waiting for the bus, as usual, after school. I was listening to music, paying no attention to anyone.......when all of the sudden I hear someone say "Andy!" - now, nobody has called me Andy since High School - seriously, nobody. I looked up and low and behold it was the person I could appropriately call my 'longest friend' - I went to elementary, middle & high school with this girl and she is possibly the nicest sweetest human being in the history of the world - oh yeah, and her Mom is super-sweet too!

Of course, as things go, people fall out of touch....and the last time I talked to her, she was working in D.C. at a job she loved (she went to GWU for undergrad) - but of course this was about a year or so ago. So imagine my surprise to look up and find her walking toward me in the great city of Pittsburgh. It turns out that she left her job on Friday and rushed to Pittsburgh to start a graduate program at the School of Public Health, which is practically across the street from the Law School. And the best part is that she lives in my neighborhood - like five blocks away. So we exchanged the perfunctory contact information and we're getting together this week.

See, Pittsburgh has done this to me twice now (at the beginning of each academic year) - last year I ran into one of my high school best friends at law school orientation - she was then a 2L.......I think Pittsburgh is trying to keep me here by bringing me such awesome people.

So Jen - Welcome to Steel City - it's awesome & the people here are fabulous!

Electronic Communication

As I was graduating High School - the whole Instant Messenger thing was getting big. When I got to college I tried several times to make use of this 'important' development in personal communication. But everytime I was 'IM-ing' someone - I would get totally annoyed and call them after 30 seconds - the whole thing seemed so inefficient to me.

Flash forward to law school - I just realized that an extremely large portion of my human interaction/communication takes place without any tangible contact with the other person, no sight/voice/sound. I now text message people, e-mail constantly, blog, and just realized that I carried on a mini-conversation in the comments section of a blog post.

Indeed, down the rabbit hole I have gone......but I wonder, did electronic communication get more efficient or has the use of this communication reached such critical mass in our society, that not using it leaves you behind?

Decisions, Decisions

Oh how I hate decisions.....

I'm pondering what to do with my life/3rd year in law school......

The original plan was to spend my 3rd year abroad, pursuing International Law & Economics - which as it turns out is really lame - Seriously, all the texts are written by Judge Posner - fuck the Chicago School.

Then I thought - hmmm....let's look for something 'do-good-y' like international human rights - but there are no good programs in any good countries. And by good countries, I mean Western European countries that I could stomach living in for a year.

Now I'm looking at two programs....Int'l Trade in Amsterdam and European Business Law in Aix-en-Provence. I would be fine living in either place, but here are my reservations.

Int'l Trade
1) There are a lot of things that I don't like about the WTO, I mean it's not like I'm a Seattle protester, but still - I think we really need to focus on fairer global trade - sweat-shops and child labor are never okay (despite Mugato's thoughts to the contrary)
2) I think that 'the job' would largely be helping corporations get around good policy (like anti-dumping, etc.) which would be totally soulless and something I couldn't do
3) The demand for these people exists in only a few major cities in the world

European Business Law
1) I largely hate 'business'
2) I'm never going to get a job in Europe as a lawyer - especially France - I would have to work for an American company in Europe - or be an American liaison
3) Small job market again, but probably better than 'public' international law

The bottom line is that I want to work abroad - and I just don't know which is the best way to get a job that would put me in Paris.

But then there is this other, slightly aging, side of me that loves Pittsburgh, for its smallness & cost of living - not to mention the fab people - that side of me kind of wants to just stay here - finish at Pitt, get a job and start my life. I don't want to be in my mid-thirties and still be 'deciding' which direction to take my life - for the first time ever in my life I'd like some roots - and Pittsburgh is as good a place as any.

Feed your inner Carrie

Sex and the City rocks. And I'm fairly certain that nearly everyone who has watched Carrie Bradshaw sitting at home plugging away on her computer (working on her column), has sort of wanted to be her. I mean the girl's got it made, she gets laid all the time, has hysterical friends, lives in New York, and works about 5 hours a week. And her source of income: bitching about her bad dates and her fucked up relationships to the New York Metropolitan area.

Of course, the beauty of blogging is that you too can be Carrie Bradshaw.....right except, without the sex, city, friends and workload. But you can totally enjoy the relative anonymity of an audience of three and bitch about your bad dates and fucked up relationships. So why not? ......and just to indulge the cliche, do it with a cosmo.

Evidence.....

I just finished my first non-intro Evidence assignment - I'm totally excited to learn how to drop objections, Jack McCoy-style!

I hate banks

I called Key Bank - to see where my loan money was, because it needs to be here NOW! I waited on hold, then they hung up on me. I called back and apparently they are upgrading their computer system, so I'm to "try" back tomorrow.

You know I was just thinking, that if I were an academic lender I would totally upgrade my computer systems at the beginning of an academic year - WTF, do that shit over the summer!

Sorostitute Encounter

I was waiting for the bus today, in the rain, earbuds in, cigarette lit - when this total sorostitute* literally pushes me to get my attention, a push remniscent of the Jerry & Elaine "Get Out" - not kidding. So I take out my earphones and the following conversation ensued.

Me: "May I help you?" (annoyed look on my face)

Sorostitute: "Yeah, does the EBO stop here?" (total valley girl intonation, and totally not getting my annoyance)

Me: "Yes." (attempt to reinsert earbuds)

Sorostitute: "Are you sure?" (attempting to be jovial - even though she clearly doesn't know what jovial means)

Me: "Yes." (sternly followed by another attempt to reinsert earbuds)

Sorostitute: "Are you positive, cuz I really don't want to miss my bus?"

Me: "Yes, now is it okay if I resume listening to my music?" (I'm ready to smack a bitch)

Sorostitute: "Fine" (annoyed with me)

WTF - If you don't believe me, check a fucking bus schedule - Christ - I'm not a spokesman for the fucking Port Authority - and she smelled like some Cucumber/Fruit concoction purchased from a tacky lotion store frequented by high school girls.

*The sorostitute was wearing the mandatory low rise jeans (beltline at same latitude as labia), short tank-top (so we could all enjoy her pooch), and had a tongue ring (not the normal kind, but one of those with a ring attached to the barbell - so that no one in the world wouldn't notice how unique and interesting she is). And to complete the look, she was carrying around an IQ of 73.

Cause for concern?

I was greeted with a bit of a surprise in my Evidence class today. The professor, who I was excited to have again, was not there - apparently for a medical reason. Of course the faculty member filling-in gave no details, but I'm hoping that he's okay - because he is such a kick-ass guy and I was really looking forward to his class.

Don't get me wrong the faculty sub is really cool too, I had him for Legal Writing last year, he's such a random guy - you never really know whether he's joking around with you or if he actually thinks that you're mildly disabled. But entertaining nonetheless. He decided that he would only call on 'old friends' in class today. So Greg and I had our respective turns to sound like idiots, meanwhile Throck is sitting next to me, telling me "You guys are sucking at this" - wow, thanks for the moral support - awesome. Eh, all in a days work.

Regardless - I'm hoping that my professor is fine - because he's a really cool guy and I was looking forward to having him again this year.

Welcome Back, 2L

I love going back to school, it's one of those things that I never actually 'want' to do - especially the night before, but then I walk through the doors of the building and I'm good to go. It's so exciting - you get to meet new professors, learn new things, meet new people (this isn't so appealing to me, because I already know all the really cool people, and who needs any more 'acquaintances'). Yippee Hooray!

Also, I really like being a 2L, I know my way around the building, I know a lot of people, I know how to open my locker (well, I'm getting there) and there's none of that gut-wretching anxiety associated with being a 1L on the first day of law school. Granted, being a 1L was fun, but not until after a couple weeks had gone by. I got called on in class today - I totally had no idea what I was talking about - but I didn't even think about vomiting - that's progress.

Another interesting note - I think that I noticed a marked increase in the percentage of students using Macs......

Neighborhood Crisis

So I just had dinner with a friend of mine, and I saw his new apartment. He, like all thinking people, is calling Friendship home - in just a few short days. The place is great - it's huge: 3 bedrooms w/ laundry facilities & a Front and Back Porch - it is seriously twice the size of my humble abode. But wait there's a catch - we will both be paying the same rent. Yes that's right - you can get an apartment twice as big for the same money just a few short blocks away.

Naturally, I'm super-happy for him, but I must say that I'm a little jealous (as I am whenever a friend finds a great place) and now I'm rethinking the brilliance of my decision to renew my lease. Alas, what's done is done, and it's not like I could break my lease and move (the penalties are outrageous), besides that would be a huge hassle - I would probably have to hire movers.

Am I a Music Loser?

I was just listening to some great mixed CD's prepared for me by two kick-ass people. To make a long story short, nearly all the music contained thereon was unfamiliar to me, which is good - the purpose of the mixed CD is to broaden musical taste, but I fear that I'm not really actively looking for good music outside of mainstream 'poppy' shit.

I had a conversation Friday night with someone who was talking about how one of the things that he doesn't like about Pittsburgh, is that the local music scene is sub-par - I shook my head agreeably - but I have no idea what's going on outside of the iTunes Top Ten list. So my September Resolution is to get educated about local and underground music, oh yeah, and to continue my legal education....priorities, priorities.

Yippee Hooray for Energy Policy

Okay, one more fantastic cartoon.

ID Cartoon

This is really quite funny.

Externship Writing Requirement: A Final Thought

I really hope that these finely crafted 40 pages are politely inserted into a file folder and then a filing cabinet without being read. I just glanced over them and seriously we are talking schizophrenic heroin-addict quality writing here. I have so many side-comments that it is incredibly difficult to deduce any rhyme or reason to my thoughts. Oh yeah, and I have random, insignificant personal information included - like where I went to lunch and when I got sleepy sitting in front of the courtroom. Not to mention a few random quotes from A Brave New World.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm totally going to submit this to a journal for publication.

A funny thing happened on the way to....

Yeah - that title doesn't work at all.

This is the most hysterical thing ever. Actually I don't know why I'm posting a link here - it seriously is not going to generate any additional traffic - because only three people read this......hmmm

Alan Greenspan

I saw a headline today that Alan Greenspan predicts housing bust.

This guy seriously needs to go, while disciplined and principled during the Clinton years, he's turned into a partisan douche under Bush - yeah those tax cuts were a great idea - sure huge deficits and seven trillion dollars in national debt is great for the long-term health of the economy. Yet people still afford him 'wise sage' status, which to me is baffling. He hasn't said anything 'new' for years. It seems to be the case that some really smart economists (Long Live Paul Krugman) will start talking about trends in the economy and what is likely to happen next.....then after enough really smart economists get on board, Greenspan proclaims that it shall be so. His statement on the housing boom was something to the effect of "surging housing prices cannot be sustained" - Thanks, that's great, terribly informative - and nothing that any college freshman hasn't learned in the Intro to Econ class.

Peace Greenspan - you're a loser - you should have gone out on top, like the girls from Sex and the City.

Lesson for the Ladies (and Gentlemen)

So I have a brilliant and beautiful friend who I've been talking to a lot in the past two days. Why you ask? Because her boyfriend is a dick.

She just graduated from a professional school in May and has been turning down job offers all over the Commonwealth because her boyfriend asked her to move with him to the Empire State at the end of the summer. So rather than take one of the offers and begin her professional career, she has been living at home (as has the boyfriend), while he searches for jobs in New York.

Yesterday - he told her that "He didn't know if he could be with her anymore" - WTF - Right, so relationship begin and end all the time, but this is precisely why you shouldn't re-arrange your life around anything but a sure thing. And when it comes to relationships, they're almost never that certain.

Victory is Mine!

Last night I finished 40 pages of writing - talk about a triumph, 40 pages in one day - about a really boring summer.

I'm so glad I was proactive about this assignment, because now I can gracefully enjoy the rest of my summer...........wait a minute. Right so summer is over - Now I have to read International Business Transactions, what a treat.

I wonder if anyone that I know and love in the great city of Pittsburgh will want to get together for lunch or an afternoon bite?

A visual representation of my paper

This is a picture illustrating the quality of writing that I've done today.

I'd rather be blogging

But instead, I'm writing the last 6 1/2 pages of a hideous assignment that I should have done sometime in the past 3 weeks.

Externship Req.

Page 20 - this calls for a cigarette!

My Summer

Okay, so my summer job wasn't terribly fascinating - and it sure as hell is not getting more interesting the more I write about it. I really feel like I'm in fourth grade writing about how I went to DisneyWorld over the summer. Law School, Grade School...great divide, I think not.

Progress

Okay - I've got 10 pages, need to keep going - but 25% isn't too bad.

Ain't Procrastination Grand

So I just counted - and it looks as though if this blog were in the format req'd for my externship writing requirement - it would be 20-25 pages long - how I love time well spent.

Shadyside

I absolutely adore my neighborhood - it really is, in my opinion, the best place to live in Pittsburgh.

Today I am determined to start, and make substantial process, on my externship writing requirement. Of course this can't be done without a little errand running and a latte. So I threw on some jeans and caught a bus (which I intended to ride for 5 blocks......it's totally better than walking) in order to get down to Walnut Street. While riding the bus I began to ponder how much better Fifth Avenue would be if it were about 40 feet wider with a grass median and a tram line running in the center alas I overshot my stop by about 3 blocks by the time I came out of my daydream. Miraculously I didn't even care, though it was rather funny that my waiting for and riding the bus only saved me a net 2 blocks. Walking back to Walnut street it started to mist outside, which was actually really nice, it blended well with the music I was listening to (Eternal Sunshine - thanks Throck).

Okay - now here is why I love my neighborhood: Because it was misting outside, very overcast, and there were tons of people on the street. Some had umbrellas, some didn't, but Walnut street was bustling....people were walking to get lunch, to buy clothes, to go to the Shadyside market, everyone had a cup of coffee in their hand, there were vendors on the sidewalks and music being played from the local record store. It felt very 'small french town in Brittany'. It's the idyllic neighborhood experience - it's preserved here where unfortunately in so many other communities it has been destroyed by the sprawl.

So rock on Shadyside, coffee, music & cigarettes - despite the presence of corporate chain stores, a ped-oriented community still thrives.

Another Reason NOT to Live in Suburbia

I just got off the phone with my mother, she had quite a harrowing night - my brother, who's diabetic, had a whole "blood-sugar going low and I'm going into seizures-type of event" - which totally sucks. I mean my brother has been diabetic since he was in second grade, so this isn't the first time that my mother, or I, have dealt with this situation - but apparently last night was pretty bad. Now getting to the relevance of the title of this post. My mother, like any normal person seeing someone convulsing in their bed, immediately called 911 (that's right it's 9/11 times one). Bottom line - EMS took 15 minutes to respond and get to her house. That is absolute piss poor response time - if he were having a stroke or a heart-attack - he would have been totally fucked. So the moral of the story is that not only is sprawl isolationist, bad resource management, poorly planned and really heavy on transport costs.....but it could totally get you killed. Fuck sprawl, long live the city....where EMS can get to your home before the brain damage sets in.

Green Day

Okay so "Wake me up when September Ends" is an absolutely brilliant song - Mac Users, to iTunes....

What to do

I have this bracelet - I wore it tonight & I really like it. I found it not too long ago when I was cleaning.....not a crisis so far. Here is the catch, it was given to me by the evil Scott. I find myself conflicted - I haven't thought about/missed Scott in such a long time, but I'm drunk and this fucking $3.50 bracelet has me thinking......and missing. So do I get rid of the bracelet like everything else that reminded me of him (Thanks Lacuna!) or do I keep the bracelet that I like and just never wear it when alcohol may be involved.......hmmm.

Actually there is also another reason not to get rid of it - it is seriously the only thing that I haven't thrown out (or burned) from Scott. It's kind of scary to think of having no tangible tie to him left...........and it's totally a lucky bracelet.

Wow justification can be fun......and delusional.

Brand New 1L's

Tonight the SBA bought us beer and food. It's funny and rather telling that the only time the law school or anything associated with it is willing to buy food & booze is when parents are in town and when you're getting 'oriented' to the school. They should be buying this shit at the end of the semester when nobody has any loan money left and we're starving & trying to study for finals.

Regardless tonight we [all cool people at the Law School, Slacker excepted - he had a spousal obligation] made ourselves available to the incoming 1L's in order to show them how nice everyone is. Anyway - we met a couple people who were okay (James was a nice guy), but the rest seemed to be kind of douchey. I wish there had been a D.J. who at timed intervals had announced that it was time for the 2 & 3L's to switch out their 1L's for a new batch. There's only so much conversation to be had with a group of people that you aren't going to interact with academically for at least a year and whom you have no time to interact with socially. Switch 'em out and get the process moving.

Or...we could totally do it Survivor-style, and at 8:00 we [2 & 3L's] could eliminate half the group and cut off their free beer and send them home. Then do the same thing at 10:00 & midnight - until we have a manageable group of people that we wanted to hang out with.

Oh well - I'm sure the 3L's & recent grads felt the same about us.

......but we didn't have nearly as many sorostitutes - I mean seriously "Look at all the hookers!"

Full Circle

As people who've known me for a while are aware - the one-year mark is a very random, arbitrary and relevant marker when it comes to my life - what I'm doing, who I'm friends with, where I want to go. It also is generally the marker of when I feel totally at home in a new place. It just so happens that today has been the culmination of a multitude of anniversaries for me.

I've been in law school for a year - and I can't wait to go back - it is absolutely fantastic.

I've met some of the most amazing people ever and all the riff raff has totally been weeded out, so from here on out I'm totally dealing with life-longers

I still want to be a lawyer - though my confidence waivers occasionally - I still want to continue in this route - it seems like the best way to effect change in our society - and that is totally what I'm all about.

And one last point - that I'm only writing so that I can read it later.......

I'm sitting here listening to some random song on a Grant mix, and the lyrics seem to consist of only "smoke 'em if you got 'em" - I'm going to guess that is the name of the song. Regardless it's perfect background music.......I was just thinking how much more fantastic things are this year as opposed to last.

Generally I consider my home to be wherever I live, because my neither of my shady parents still live where I grew up......but alas, tonight...chilling in my apartment with Slacker & Throck - just laughing about the most random things and being ridiculous - acting totally afool - I totally felt at home in Pittsburgh - it was a great feeling....which compares to only a few other random benchmark moments that I've had in previous places that I've called my home. So here's to Pittsburgh, Slacker & Throck - y'all rock!!

Mixed CD's

So right - today was a jackpot in New Music - I got a new CD from Grant who inadvertently thought that my post about Mixed CD's was addressed to him, and Throck made me a big 42 song CD. Happy Days.......and surprisingly I like most of it.

Well Done!

Milton Revisited

Nevermind - my Pittsburgh friends suck - and they're mean to me.

Pitt Paradise

I'm totally in a Pitt Paradise - I just got wasted on free beer, now I'm eating chinese with two of my favorite Pittsburgh people - and the third is on the way. Rock on. I love Pittsburgh.

Oh yeah and I was getting beer with my good friend throckmorton and she totally dropped a 12-pack on here open sandal. Hysterical - Slap-stick in fact!

Student Activities Fair

The activities fair today was an interesting adventure.....

First of all the little corner of the lounge that I was in kicked ass - we were soo the cool corner - BLSA (Black Law Students Assoc.), PittLaw Womens, OUTLaw, PittLaw Democrats, ACLU (government in exile) & Environmental Law Council. All the good groups and none of the riff raff - No ChristLaw in our corner. So the people were superfun, but.....

I don't really understand (now I'm going to stereotype here a little bit) most straight guys - of course my straight guy friends are awesome and they kick ass, but what is the deal with the tension/conflict/unconfortability between the stereotypical straight guy & the gay guy. Countless times today someone would approach the table and the following exchange would occur:

Straight Guy: "What's OUTLaw?"

Valiant OUTLaw Leader [read: me]: "It's the law school's gay rights group, but we're open to everyone so if this is something you'd be interested in, please join......Oh yeah - have a Starburst."

Straight Guy: [Uncomfortable Response] Oh, umm, I think I have enough groups for now.

WTF - what is the deal - we [gay people] don't want to sleep with you -- Hello -- you're wearing AXE cologne!

There were also a few sorostitute encounters as well - but they were all over them map and couldn't be reduced to a single generalization - thus making them inefficient to retell - plus I have to get to the bar.

Greatest Musical/Movie Ever

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is absolutely fantastic - I've seen it a dozen times and I absolutely adore it every time. And the music is spectacular. It's perfect for a rainy afternoon, or on a gorgeous day when you are trying to avoid writing your externship assignment.

Newsflash

I was just informed that "Greatest Day Ever" has been declared to be September 17th. Everyone please take note and adjust your calendars accordingly.

NetFlix

NetFlix - you disappoint me - I'm attempting to watch Lost in Translation - and I've totally missed the menthol cool karaoke stylings of Bill Murray due to some ridiculous DVD scratch. Bad NetFlix, Bad!

Can we say intervention

So I have this friend....he totally needs some help, like he just spent $50 on really shitty music.....I mean we're talking Gavin Degraw & Jason Mraz.

"I don't wanna be.......a douche"

A Home at the End of the World

Right - so this movie just doesn't get better - it sucks - and Colin Farrell may be one of the worst actors - ever! And the plot is so ridiculous - when has a baby ever solved a dysfunctional three-person relationship. Hello - like NEVER!

UPDATE:

Okay - actually the movie salvages a little credibility at the end - the baby doesn't solve all the problems, the mom and baby leave the other two douches and one of the guys gets AIDS - wow can we say 'gay' cliche.

Resolution

As fate would have it - I glanced at my bus schedule and there happened to be a bus coming through at exactly the right time - so I ran out my door to catch it and voila cigarettes would be mine. Of course now I am totally fucked for quitting tomorrow because now I have too many. C'est la vie.

In other news. The infestation has spread, from Oakland into Shadyside - the infestation of undergrads that is. My god, they're worse than cicadas - they're everywhere - in their skanky halter tops, their sorostitute skirts, and trashy AXE cologne. It's insanity.

Mental Debate

So - I'm low on cigarettes and I want to quit which is good, although I'm at an awkward cut-off, because I want to keep writing for my externship requirement and that will totally force me to consume more than the 4 cigarettes that I have. On the otherhand I could just suffer through, and I seriously don't want to take a fucking bus to go get cigarettes.

Also, I'm watching A Home at the End of the World - so far, not so good - Colin Farrell simply can not act......it's really quite sad.

Bill O'Reilly

Okay - I know Bill O'Reilly is trashy old news, but I was reading through Margaret Cho's blog and she has a great post about the sex scandal, from like, right after it happened. Anyway - it's good. And it's here.

I love Margaret Cho!

UPDATE!

Another fabulous site is here. Thanks Slacker.

Mixed CD's

Don't you hate it when someone tells you they are going to make a mixed CD and then a week later - you're still waiting. Yeah - I mean it's not like it's happened to me.....I was just thinking.

Today is a good day

Check this.

I woke up around noon, got crepes and coffee with an unnamed accomplice, made a poster for OUTLaw and in the mail my NetFlix movies and my New Yorker had arrived.

Good day.

Pittsburgh is Pretty

Seriously, my favorite piece of road to drive is the Parkway West as it enters and then exits the Fort Pitt tunnels. You totally get a fantastic view of the city. I took these two pictures while driving - so they aren't the best - but you get the idea.

Webpages

So I have a homepage through .Mac - which by the way is a fantastic service and worth the $100 a year that it costs (come on Grant - sign up!) Anyway - I basically just have a few photos online, but I updated it today for the first time in over a year - I'm kind of annoyed though b/c I spent about an hour working on it, when I totally should have been writing - and it looks like shit. Anyway - pointless rant - I probably won't touch it again for another year....

OUTLaw

So, OUTLaw is my school's GLBT organization.....catchy name, huh? Oh yeah, we're crafty out here in Pittsburgh.

Anyway, as mentioned previously I have to get ready for this student activities fair tomorrow.....hence, the poster-creation saga. But after spending several of my final precious summer hours on this project - I'm calling it quits - the poster is just going to have to be good enough and I've made little notecards to hand out tomorrow with the organization's contact info on them...so I think I've fulfilled my duty to a substantial degree, such that I can continue life guilt-free...at least in relation to this event.

Oh yeah, I also created an OUTLaw blog located here.

Poster-making 101

Okay - I suck at posters - here is my progress so far.

Summer Work

Over the summer I had an 'interesting' job at the Superior Court of Delaware. The majority of my time was spent working on one case & the opinion was issued last week. So now it is on Lexis - citation: 2005 Del. Super. LEXIS 285. It's kind of cool to see some of my words & reasoning in an opinion online. Okay less of my words, but a lot of my reasoning.....pretty nifty.

Back from the bar

I just got home from a docile, yet lovely evening in shadyside with two great guys (alas my female partner in crime couldn't join me - something about a pedicure and a Girls Gone Wild taping).

I love this time of year - well not really this time of year, but the time of year that the weather is reflecting right now - it is so nice. I adore long-sleeve shirt weather, when it is still just a touch chilly - it's fantastic. Anyway, such was the weather this evening, comfortably chill - sitting outside having drinks and conversation. Lovely!

Anyway - I've had a touch too much alcohol for a Wednesday and I am nursing a low-level headache.....Tylenol P.M. - here I come.

Trainspotting

Okay - I'm totally having a trainspotting moment - except that I'm not hooked on heroin - right! Anyway, I'm feeling very Ewan McGregor (though not as skinny as his cracked-out ass) I totally had an alcoholic lunch and now I'm getting excited about going out for drinks. This is totally how Ewan must have felt right before diving into that toilet to get his heroin suppositories.....okay this is nothing like trainspotting - but I love that movie and I love Ewan McGregor.

Whatever - I'm allowed to be a drunk, because come Monday - I'm not going to have time for anything.*

*Except thursday night bar review.

I have to make a poster

So, there is a student organization activities fair on Friday. And as the valiant leader of OUTlaw, I need to be there to solicit new 1L's to join - who will most likely just sign up but never show up - but such is life. But now I must make a poster for my table, so people know whether or not they want to come over and sign up - it doesn't much matter they [the 1L's] are all going to sign up for everything anyway - but again, such is life.

I have purchased this ridiculously large piece of posterboard, and now it is sitting in my apartment - and I can't for the life of me figure out what to do with it. I feel totally like a 5th grader with a science project to do and absolutely no vision - though this time, I'm totally not asking my mom for help. My gut instinct is to make something superquick in Photoshop and then e-mail it to Kinko's and have them blow it up to some beautiful color monstrosity that looks fab- but of course that will cost me like $80 and I'm ridiculously poor right now, so posterboard it is.

Hmm....and still after wasting all this time blogging I have no idea what I'm doing with it - oh well - I think it's time for a nap - beer makes me sleepy - I can sort this out later.

Mac Users of the World Unite

Note: when reading the title, it should be read in the same manner as one would read "Industrial Workers of the World Unite"

Seriously - Wobblies move over - The Apple Revolution is coming.

Apple is a glorious company - they make brilliant, beautiful & innovative products that say 'fuck off' to the skanky PC-world. The ease and elegance with which they operate and the fact that now they are compatible with the plastic Dell/Microsoft world means that it is only a matter of time before masses of people begin converting.

In the last two weeks alone, two of my best friends have joined the ranks of Steve Jobs - they now support the cause. I'll admit that I offered encouragement, but I can't take any credit - it all belongs to the Mac.

Macintosh.....it's better than democracy and it's shiny.

Lunch

This morning I enjoyed lazily feeding my newest addiction - NetFlix - so many movies to see/rate. After several hours, I finally managed to get into the shower and get ready to venture out in order to feed my other addiction - food/booze/friends.

Hemingway's is one of the least desirable bars in Pittsburgh, though I seem to end up there rather frequently - something about the cheap beer and relative proximity to the law school. Needless to say, a planned quick bite quickly turned into a very long lunch, complete with drinks.

In my mind, of course, our two hour lunch was something akin to lunches shared by Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall, et. al at a fantastic bistro (I have a borderline obsession with Sex & the City). But in reality it was much more focused on talking a little smack on some of our law school colleagues, stressing about classes (not I) and retelling a story that involved me almost getting into a bar fight (though in actuality I totally would have ducked under the bar) - of course there were allusions to sex (and the lack thereof) and men a la Sex & the City. So actually they're totally the same. The point is, actually - I've totally forgotten my point......did I mention that there were drinks at lunch. Anyway, my friends rock and they are a blast to hang out with.

But the best part about lunch was that I got to know a brand new person, okay not actually a "brand new" person - she's not a baby, she's in her twenties - but new to me. Long story short - it was a superfun time (said with Elle Woods inflection) and I adore getting to know fun people. It's also super convenient that this new person is kick-ass because she is totally my fiancee's best friend. So Krista - "I treasure your new friendship".

Final thought for the evening

Is there any better sound than an ice cube rattling around a rocks glass?

Equal Opportunity Trashy Commercials

Being as though it is summer - my sleep schedule has been all sorts of fucked up. I haven't gotten out of bed before noon in like two weeks. Needless to say I'm watching a lot of bullshit TV at night.

During this time period advertising is super-cheap and only losers are up watching (myself excluded) so all the lame ass Date-Line commercials are on. "For only $.99 a minute you can meet local singles....call 1.800.blah.blah.blah" But, here in the great City of Pittsburgh these trashy services also target the gay and lesbian population. So I'm left with a feeling of ambivalence - I hate the commercials but I'm happy that they're reaching out to the GLBT population.

Appreciating Diversity in Trash. That's my motto.

E-mail Function

Who really needs to make use of this e-mail blog-posting function. Is
there anything that anyone needs to say so badly, that they have to
e-mail it rather than get on the web. So bizarre.

So far, so good

Okay, so - I'm really enjoying this whole blog thing right now, though slightly curious as to how long it will be before I tire of it.

NetFlix

Today I joined NetFlix, I can't believe I haven't done this sooner - it's totally an online utopia. I spent about 5 hours (summer rocks) putting movies in my queue and rating films that I had seen. It is so addicting.

Of course there is the added benefit of no longer supporting Blockbuster - they're totally fascist. Every time I go in there they make me sign up for a new membership - I have four membership cards in my collection of wallets. Ridiculous, and they never have any good movies - they have no gay and lesbian section, but fifty copies of Alexander - what a fucked up system.

Railtrip from Hell

I grew up in Harrisburg, the capital of this great commonwealth, where coincidently my father still lives. Over the week-end I drove to Harrisburg to see my dad and to have my car looked at (the fucking A/C is broken), alas my car won't be fixed for a number of days. So, in order to get back to the great city of Pittsburgh, polis of the western world, I took the train.

Now, I'm a big fan of rail travel and living along Amtrak's northeast corridor, before I moved to Pittsburgh, I enjoyed frequent and well-maintained train service. But, go a little bit west and expectations deteriorate precipitously. There is but one train daily that runs from Philly to Pittsburgh (the Harrisburg-Pittsburgh leg takes 5 1/2 hours, it's only 3ish hours by car) and the trains are a little bit ghetto. But, I'm tough - I can handle frayed seating, stained carpets and a sub-standard cafe car. The breaking point came when we arrived in the slum-town Altoona.

Pre-Altoona I was sitting in a quiet train car enjoying a dense, but interesting book......but then I heard it, the unmistakably shrill sound of an ill-behaved five year-old. I turned around and saw not one, not two, but four children and their two inattentive guardians moving toward the front of the car. And it just so happens that they decided to choose a block of seats right in front of me.

For a moment, as the trained departed, I was hopeful - silly Andrew. They started....screaming, jumping around, playing football, laughing, more screaming, more jumping (this time from seat to seat), smashing food into the floor. The next 2 hours were an absolute misery, I was only able to read about twenty pages, as my concentration was repeatedly broken by small children bumping into me. An absolute misery.

As a society we really need to devote some good public policy analysis to how to best transport ill-behaved children. I'm for the sedate and ship method. I think Fed-Ex could handle it.

Candice Bergen

So, I have an infatuation with Candice Bergen. I think she is absolutely fantastic. Something about a strong, brass-balled woman in a position of power, which is like....the only role she ever takes....I don't know she just rocks. I've been a fan since the late 80's when she kicked ass as Murphy Brown (always beating up on Republicans), and now she's back in prime time with a wonderful role on Boston Legal. She is totally the law firm partner I aspire to be, of course....as a guy.

Anyway, long live Candice Bergen, who by the way was also brilliant in a small recurring role in Sex & the City.

A beginning....

Generally I dislike the word 'blog', to me it sounds like some 19th century ailment, which today is cured with penicillin. But after a little encouragment from a friend and a nudge from my conformist subconscious I have decided to start one anyway.