We Ride Bikes

NoLa

A few years ago, I flew to New Orleans for a concert. Counting Crows were playing Jazz & Heritage Festival, and we were flying in the morning of the concert. I flew into Louis B. Armstrong Airport at about 6:00 am. We arrived at the hotel so early in the morning that we couldn't check in, so the bellman took our bags and we walked out into the city. We walked down Canal Street over to Carondelet (I just love that name) and into the Quarter.

It was a Friday morning and as we walked over to Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets we could see the Quarter getting ready for the day. There were trucks making deliveries, and people hosing off the streets and sidewalks. Everyone on the street was working or on their way there--it was such a great time to be there because, even though it happens everyday, no one ever gets to see the city like that. I remember sitting there, savoring the flavors of the air, the atmosphere, the coffee, and the food, and I fell in love. It was just such an incredible city.

We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon just walking around the city. Later, we went out to the park where the concert was, and there were so many stages for different kinds of music and the food booths were longer than a football field...they even had vegetarian gumbo--and it was good! We listened to blues, gospel and every kind of jazz you can imagine. Counting Crows were great, as usual, but it was such a small part of the festival. They brought us there, but they weren't what kept us there.

Funnily enough, my first night in New Orleans, and I was in the hotel room by 11:00 pm. It had been such a long day, that we couldn't bear going out. So we went to the hotel, ordered some delivery from some restaurant and it was delicious. We were in New Orleans for a couple of more days, and I've made it back a couple of time since and it is always a great time. But that day was probably one of my top 5 days of all time.

Laugh if you want to, but one of my favorite quotes from the West Wing is:

"...the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master [the] moment when it does arise...every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless."

I know that New Orleans will be back. And I will go back. I don't know that it will ever be the same, but it will be back.

To help:

Where to donate from Federal Emergency Managment Agency.
American Red Cross

Today when I was reading the coverage on Hurricane Katrina, I found this Letter to the Editor of the Oregonian:

    The hurricane and floods in the Gulf states are another wakeup call from God to the United States. Each warning gets more intense. How many more wakeup calls do we need before this nation turns back to the God of our forefathers?
    The liberals are trying to remove everything godly from our nation: prayer in schools and other public arenas, the Ten Commandments from public places. They allow immorality of every type to be promoted. It is time we pray for revival in this nation, which was founded on all things we are gradually losing. Wake up, America! Jan L. Southeast Portland

Speechless.

Quick Update.

The first couple of days are over, and I am halfway through with my third day. I have spent the past few of days trying to temper my excitement and set a workable pace. Nothing too strenuous, I normally shoot for average. I'm not an overachiever, I usually just want to get through and stay below the radar. Having said that, I am really enjoying most, if not all, of my classes. How about a quick rundown because...well, because this is my blog and I can do what I want...

Contracts: I was dreading this class, just the idea of learning about contracts struck me as boring. I have been to this class twice, and had lots of reading, and really enjoyed it. It looks like, at this point at least, it is going to be an interesting class.

Civil Procedure: This class is still up in the air. I will keep you informed, the readings are dry, but the potential is there to be interesting, I think.

Constitutional Law: This was the one I am was looking forward to most, and so far this professor seems like he may be one of my favorites. The only readings this week were the Constitution, and a short history of it, which is what I love anyway. Hopefully, this class will live up to my own hype.

Legal Analysis & Writing: I have high hopes for this class. I love writing, even if it's not grammatically correct, appropriate or even interesting, and I think this class will be great to learn how to read, understand, reasearch and write as a lawyer. I am excited about learning how to do it, and hopefully do it well.

Property: I tried reading for the first day's class, and I thought I was going to die of boredom. The cases were dry and verbose. For the most part I could understand them, but they were just SO dense--so I was dreading showing up for class. Then I heard horror stories about our professor, so I was ready to hate this class with a fire I reserve for people that do mean things to my sister. But once I got to class the professor did an amazing job of making it clear, and understandable. Once he described the nature of property law it all made sense. The readings seemed to fall into place and I got it.

And actually the schedule is working out great as well. Each morning I get up, have some coffee, maybe read the paper or watch some news on tv. Then I walk the 5-10 minute walk to the shuttle stop and head to school. I usually have atleast a half hour before my class starts, so I can review the reading or read the bulletin boards or whatever. I go to class until noon, eat lunch and study until my next class, usually at 3. Then I take the shuttle home, and study off and on until bed time. I am trying to do as much as I can during the week, so that I don't have a tremendous amount for the weekends. The Legal Analysis & Writing class is going to take a lot of time outside of class; we have a research assignment due in a couple of weeks already. Still pretty excited, but like I said I am trying to keep that under control so I don't burn too hot too fast.

Lots of reading, more later.

A long (but good) day

First day was fine. I survived. If I can just keep up with the readings I will be fine.

Not a lot today, but I would like to direct some folks over to this blog because I am interested in reading some of those comments. I have been wondering about this for years. It is the story of my life, and the bane of my existence. Okay, that was a little melodramatic, but still it is interesting nonetheless.

And I am trying to get you to visit her site, because she was the blogger assigned to send me a CD, and it's good, though I have only gotten one listen through. Hopefully the CD that I sent to Ms. Angst will get to her okay. (If you are reading this, I left your CD with my sister and she mailed it from Dallas. I can't seem to find the song list, so...uh...sorry)

I hope everyone has a great week, I have a feeling that I may be blogging a little bit less for a while. Going to bed, another long day tomorrow.

On the count of three...

Okay I am going to get a little cheesey on you so feel free to just skip this post, and go back to reading The Superficial or PostSecret if you want to, I won't be offended.

Tomorrow (or today, by the time most of you read this) I am starting my first day of law school. I realize that there are three years of reading, writing and who knows what else to come. But there is something so rewarding in the idea that when I was a kid I remember saying, "I want to be a lawyer when I grow up" and now I am actually on my way to doing that. Before today, even in orientation, it seemed like something that other people did, not me.

Another thing I remember about being a kid was thinking that good things didn't happen to me. I remember telling my mom that big events--huge, life changing events--happened for other kids who were smarter, richer, whiter, cuter, taller...anything. And sometimes I still feel like that kid, and that this is all a big scam, and someone is going to catch on that I don't belong here.

Then it dawns on me that maybe, just maybe these things don't actually happen to me. What if I make them happen? What if I actually am an active participant in my life, and not some passive entity that life happens to? It's taken me so long to recognize that I actually did this. I may not have studied as exhaustively for the LSAT as some, but I took it. I may not have applied as early as I should have, but I got them all in by the deadlines. And so now, I sit here, where I've worked so hard to get to, and I have the privilege to do exactly what I've wanted to do since I was a kid--learn the law.

I know there are going to be times over the next three years, that I will be wishing I had just listened to the more practical voices in my head and gotten a steady job straight out of college. I know that I am going to have moments where it will feel like it's never going to end. I also know that there will be times when I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

It's funny. For as long as I can remember, when I had to do something that I was unsure of, or afraid of, or even just a little bit nervous about I would make myself count to three. I guess I felt like once I started counting I couldn't back down, when I reached two, I would stop thinking about it, and three was just a formality.

But I still can't believe that I'm here...

One year.

As of today, I have been blogging for one year. It's not a huge feat, but I was reading some of the old posts and just checking out stuff, and I enjoy the fact that I have been able to keep this going for so long.

I just can't believe how much has happened over the past year, and how much I've truly gained from this process. If you'd like to read how it all started you can go through the archives, or you can just click here. I know I've said it before but it really took a while to get the hang of this (though sometimes I feel like I still haven't quite gotten it). I like being a part of a "community." I like that I can ask for advice or for input and there are people out there to answer. Sometimes I like just getting things off of my chest, and I appreciate that there are people out there who actually read it.

So, thanks. Now I have cases to read and pages to brief.

Wait, scratch that, reverse it.

 

Just a typical Saturday night, for a dork like me...

I have completed all of my readings for day 1, and almost all of the readings for day 2. I have also finished the memo, and the "personal statement" we were to complete for Legal Analysis and Writing. I don't think I have ever been so prepared so far in advance. It's crazy. Tomorrow, Ashley is back from Seattle and we are going up to the library to do some reading. I have found the best study room. It's not really a secret or anything, but it's just awesome, it has huge windows that look out into the trees. It really feels like a treehouse. I will post pics soon.

Last night at the Goodfoot we drank with some of the other 1L's. Everyone that I talked to was really great. I actually ended up talking to some soon to be med students if only to get away from the law talk. I figure I will have more than my share of that soon enough.

It's 10:45 on a Saturday night, and I am going to finally watch some television and finish laundry. Aren't you jealous?

This little piggy stayed home...

I had planned to go to Seattle today and post a ton of pictures and the whole bit, but just couldn't justify going with no money and so much reading to do. So I am taking today to get adjusted to buckling down and studying. So check back tomorrow, but it probably won't be as exciting as I was hoping.

No more freedom

Today was the last day of orientation, and I start classes on Monday.

Monday and Wednesday I have Contracts I, Legal Analysis and Writing, and Civil Procedure from 9:30 to 4:00. Tuesday and Thursday I have Constitutional Law and Property Law starting at 11:00 and going until about 5:00. I have pretty big breaks on both sets of days so I can either eat, study or even work the help desk at the computer lab. The cool thing is, there are no classes on Friday, but I am probably going to be working that day so I will actually have to get out of bed and be responsible. I would be working from 10:00-4:00 on Fridays--it's not the whole day, and I should be able to get some studying done...and it's money.

It's funny, I have been working for the help desk since Tuesday, and I have learned a lot about how to set up computers on the school's network, as a result, I have since become the person in the entering class to ask all computer questions. The even better part is that I can actually answer some of the questions correctly. "Some" being the operative word there.

This job has actually been really great for getting to know people. The best part is and this is all strictly professional stuff (we don't go digging for anything, merely stuff that is visible from doing normal operations) but it is interesting to get a window into people's lives. From their AIM screennames or their desktop picture, or even the icons on the desktop you can kind of catch a glimpse into everyone's life. Most often, desktop pictures are of families or places visiited. One girl today had this great black and white picture of her and her boyfriend laying on the beach kissing. It was like something out of From Here to Eternity.

Just interesting.

Okay, well some 1L's are getting together at some pub called the Good Foot, so Ash and I are heading up there for a frosty beverage or two.

I don't think I will be able to post until Sunday and be sure to check then, I promise it will be good.

Almost the first day...

Today was the first day of orientation. It was good. A lot of information, but good. If I let myself think about it, it seems a touch overwhelming. But nothing I can't handle.

My roommate are in different pods* which was a surprise, given that they assign them based on geographic location (for the most part). I think it will work out though. All of the classes are the same and some of the books, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

I met a lot of people and everyone seems really nice. I am sure I am beating a dead horse, but I am really excited. Okay, well there is actually homework to do, so I guess I will go and read brief the case.

More soon.

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*The entering class is divided into groups of like 24 students and these are called pods. Everyone has the same classes, but the pods all share the same professors and class times. For example, Ashley and I both have Constitutional Law I, but at different times and with different professors.

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Edited 26 Aug 2005: Today I found out that the pods are much smaller than I originally thought. Most of the pods I have discovered have about 24 students, this post has been edited accordingly.

Pictures.

With the help of my new co-worker, Rich, I was able to install a software so that I could import pictures from my digital camera. So here are some of the pictures I promised.

I took this picture of the road and my last West Texas sunset from the front seat of my sister's car on the way to Lubbock from Dallas. We were on the last stretch after you've turned off of the Interstate onto a smaller highway. There is just something about this picture that I love.

I've said some really ugly things about New Mexico, and when I look at this picture I wish I could take them all back. We saw the sunrise in Texas, but that morning, driving through the very northeastern corner of New Mexico was absolutely beautiful. It truly is the Land of Enchantment.

It rained for most of the drive through Colorado so my pictures were not as pretty as I would've hoped. I think this was just inside the Colorado border when we crossed in from New Mexico.

I've never seen a more beautiful sight than the velvety, rolling hills of Wyoming. It looks like you could reach out and touch them, and they would be so soft and cozy...but none of the pictures I took really captured the essence of the countryside. But we did see this rainbow so I posted it.

This picture was taken in Utah. No offense to anyone,  but after leaving Texas, seeing New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming, to me there just wasn't anything spectacular about Utah. It was nice. Salt Lake City seemed like a great place, but as far as the state, from what I saw...it was okay.

I want to say that this is Idaho, simply because I can't find any other picture that might be Idaho, but this may in fact be a picture of Washington, from the Oregon side of the Columbia river.

For my first full day in Oregon, Ashley and her mother took me to meet their friend Vicki who has a house on the coast. This is Ashley, my roommate, on the beach that day. For the record, she is the first person that I met online that I also met face to face.

Just to give you an even better idea of how cold and gloomy the weather was that day...
I think it's great.

I don't usually take pictures, but Ashley's mom suggested that they should take a picture of me to send home to my parents. This is me on my first full day in Oregon.

The same day I spent on the beach, my parents, my uncle, and my sister went to Multnomah Falls (the same that Ashley and I hiked). This is a picture of the falls that my dad took.