Activist. Vegan. Cyclist. Parent. (Almost) Criminal defense attorney.

One of those days...

I have so many things to write about, and have been wanting to write about them, but am in that stage where it's just not flowing. Tahoe was wonderful, I'll tell everyone about it soon.

I talked to the tattoo guy. I have a couple of things that I want to get done, and have priced them and will probably do one if not both in late January or February.

I read My War by Colby Buzzell--he was a blogger in Iraq. It was interesting, he seems like an interesting guy. It wasn't great, but I was expecting it to either be propaganda, or maybe an anti-war type of thing and it just...wasn't. When I finished it, I was kind of..."meh." If you're interested in what's going on in Iraq, or how it all works, or maybe even some insight into how it the war is/was reported it might be interesting. But let me loan it to you, or check it out from the library, don't buy it.

Tahoe

It's late, and I'm tired. I will write about this weekend later, but here are some pictures as a quick prelude (Click for larger).

Katy.

So now that I have time to do the things that I really love to do - like nothing - I thought I would share a blog with you that I think maybe worth your time. It's not much, its about three months worth of posts, but a friend of mine worked as a researcher for some travel guide and it's her blog from this past summer. I haven't read through it all, but if her posts are anything like she is, well then they'll be short, and hot insightful, charming, and funny.

Katy is super smart, and really funny. Not very many people can successfully write funny. She can, and does. (Getting emails from her while in class is dangerous business. I've laughed out loud in class more than a couple of times to something she's sent me.) We have a good time together, plus who doesn't love a girl who's "drink" includes Jim Beam? She dressed up as the Ricola Girl for Halloween - how awesome is that? SO awesome.

Katy's Let's Go Travel Guides Researcher Blog

More maintenance

A few things:

Why Law has moved. She is now at Charismatic Megafauna, please stop by, say hi, and show some love.

And I see you lurking...go and put yourself on the map - it's just polite. Who reads the Naive Optimist?

As you can see, I've changed the layout. When I made PowerPoint presentations for students with disabilities we had to be very careful what colors and techniques we used. A lot of them had vision disorders, and even though none of them read this blog, I keep them in mind when I change the colors and layout. I know there are some ugly web pages out there, and some blogs are annoyingly difficult to read, so I hope it this is reader-friendly enough.

Oh, and to the person who googled "Tristan Prettyman" and "Show me show me show me how you do that trick", it's called Just Like Heaven and it's a cover of a song originaly done by The Cure. It's a bootleg, and it's awesome, but I have a copy if you want. Email me.

Books.

Time for the 2nd Annual top 10 books of the year.(The Inaugural Top 10 Books took three days and can be found here, here, and here.) Granted, I didn't get a chance to read a whole lot for pleasure this year, especially the past few months. And working in St. Louis this summer and moving halfway across the country cut into my summer reading list as well. So some of the books on the list aren't GREAT, but they were better than Property by Jesse Dukeminier and James E. Krier. Real quickly before we get started, and so I don't repeat it 10 times, I highly recommend picking up any one or all of these books. So, in no particular order, here are the top 10 books I read this year:

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich - This book was just an interesting read. It's about a group of students from MIT who beat the house at blackjack. I'm still convinced I could've gotten a team together from UTD to do the same thing...

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls - I borrowed this book from Judith and I thought it was great. It got me across Texas, through New Mexico, and into Colorado. It was a great read, and she was right, I couldn't put it down.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - I saw Capote last week, and went straight out to the a bookstore and bought this book. It's good--it reads like every true crime book. The awesome part is they all read that way because of this book. He invented an entire genre.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Joe Trippi - I thought this book was pretty ambitious. Joe Trippi orchestrated the Dean for America campaign; including the internet revolution that fueled the campaign. I got caught up in the phenomenon as well, but the book mostly discussed the future of the internet. Trippi's assertion is that the internet is a more democratic medium than television and will, therefore, help return the power to the people.

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc - I borrowed this book from Judith too. She hasn't steered me wrong yet, and I am going to read the other book she recommended to me - which she did way before my brother, Kathryn or my parents, or Oprah did - as soon as I get it.

American Assassination by Four Arrows, James H., Ph.D. Fetzer - I checked this one out from the St. Louis Public Library. It might've been a little biased, but they make a pretty convincing argument that one of my heroes, Paul Wellstone, was assassinated. I love a good conspiracy theory and this one not only seems plausible, possible, and as far as I'm concerned - likely.

From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated History of Labor in the United States by Priscilla Murolo, A. B. Chitty, Joe Sacco - Pretty self explanatory, and it's not really that short--except it is when you consider the scope of the labor movement.

Long Goodbye by William Colby - This is not necessarily a great book--but it's a great story, and we (the entering class) read it at a time when the right-to-die issue was blowing up on a national stage--again.

Couldn't Keep it to Myself by Wally Lamb and the Women of the York Correctional Institution - His book, I Know This Much is True, is one of my favorites of all time. So a while back I picked up this book, and never got around to buying it. Well I finally did, and wasn't sorry. The stories are so sad, so heart-wrenching at times -- and so similar. In his foreword, Wally Lamb writes, "Their essays, then, are victories against voicelessness--miracles in print."

Love by Toni Morrison - Her writing is just beautiful. It's inspiring, moving, and makes me want to draw with pencil, that which she paints with words.

Today...

So I've been away. Exams and such. I know there are a lot of people taking exams right now, so I will just say very little. Difficult, but not overly so. If you prepare you'll be fine. It's just getting past the anxiety of taking it, once you've fought that battle, it's just a matter of saying the appropriate things, in the appropriate places.

Two down, two to go. And remember C's get degrees...

I just got out of my Constitutional Law exam and I come to check my email. I have a love/hate relationship with Gmail. I like that Google's corporate motto is "Do no harm." I think that's a great sentiment for anyone to follow. I appreciate the convenience and user-friendliness of my Gmail. It's searchable, the conversation format is beyond helpful. The filters and its capacity are top-notch. I like that I can forward it to another email, and it will receive from other accounts - it can literally become the one email for all of your email accounts. This however leads to my first problem with it...Anything that can become so all encompassing is dangerous, if only a little bit. Gmail will soon become the next "Kleenex, "Saran Wrap, "Xerox" etc. It will be the next trademark that fails to be distinctive. We immediately know when someone says Kleenex they don't mean an actual Kleenex brand tissue, they simply mean a tissue. If someone asks you for a Xerox, you don't buy them the machine, you go and make them a photocopy (or tell them "to do it your damn self!"). Anyway, at the rate people are snapping up Gmail accounts and forwarding and such everyone will soon be saying, "I just need to check my Gmail," rather than "I just need to check my email." My other big concern is the privacy issues with both Google and Gmail. These have been covered all over the internet, newspapers, magazines and even a law review article or two ad nauseum. Suffice it to say, they know what you've searched and they know what your emails say. Supposedly no one is reading or searching through them, save computer programs to specificy the advertising to your "interests." Which brings me to why I'm writing this post today.

I go to check my gmail, and there above my emails in the advertising section that also scrolls convenient news headlines and my quotes of the day, is an advertisement for, Beelzebub, evil incarnate, the devil himself:

Union-Free Consultant - www.thekeenegroup.com - 99% Win Rate; Stop Union Organizing NLRB; Multi Lingual; Persuaders

The link takes you to a consultation firm whose sole purpose is undermining the most democratic organizations  in the world. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not an in any way saying that unions are the model of behavior and are perfect in all respects. I think there have been problems in the past, and there continues to be problems with unions. But at their core, they remain a pure and fundamental ideal. The problems come, when a lack of involvement by the membership fails to provide the checks and balances that leadership needs to stay the course in the members' interests'. I also know that these organizations exist and they are incredibly effective. They succeed in undermining unions and influencing union elections. But it's unsettling at best, and discouraging at worst to be presented with this filth when I just want to check my email. But that's what makes this country great, I guess.

You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free, then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. -President Andrew Shepard in The American President

Okay, I'm off to decompress before studying for my next few finals.

PDX

BlueOregon has a story via Gay Rights Watch, that Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams has a proposal that is expected to "sail through" whereby the city of Portland, will not award contracts to companies unless they provide equal benefits to everyone (i.e. "domestic partners").

Also Food Fight!, Scapegoat tattoo and others are sponsoring a benefit screening of Mel Brooks' History of the World Part I for the LIghthouse Farm Sanctuary on Wednesday, 21 December at 7:00 pm at the Hollywood Theatre. There is a suggested donation of $3, and all proceeds go to benefit the sanctuary. For a flyer: Download HistoryWorldAd.pdf

I love this city.

Untitled

It's about 8:00 am and I just got to school. I have to work and get some studying done, and there's a couple of review sessions I am going to get in on today. I was leaving my house today, in a rush as usual, and on my way I noticed something truly incredible.

I've seen the sunrise over the wind swept plains of West Texas and the Texas panhandle. I've watched day break over Lake Michigan. I've seen dawn come slowly across the flatlands of Kansas, and over the hills of Missouri. But never have I seen a sunrise more beautiful than this morning, behind a crystal clear view of Mt. Hood--the pinks and purples streaked across the sky. It was the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen.

Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it 
When I'm in the mood to lose my way
But let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
It brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's

From 3x5 by John Mayer

_______________________________________________________
(added at 10:30 a.m.) Note: I am not ripping everything from Jack Bog's Blog. Okay yesterday, I totally did, and I gave a shout out. Today is a complete coincidence.

Happy Xmas (War is over)

John Lennon & Yoko Ono, 1971

(Happy Xmas, Kyoko Happy Xmas, Julian)

So, this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas (War is over...)
For weak and for strong (If you want it...)
For rich and the poor ones (War is over...)
The world is so wrong (Now...)

And so happy Xmas (War is over...)
For black and for white (If you want it...)
For yellow and red ones (War is over...)
Let's stop all the fight (Now...)

A very merry Xmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas (War is over...)
And what have we done (If you want it...)
Another year over (War is over...)
A new one just begun (Now...)

And so happy Xmas (War is over...)
I hope you have fun (If you want it...)
The near and the dear one (War is over...)
The old and the young (Now...)

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Xmas

Today on NPR, I listened to a story talking about the longevity of Lennon's legacy. It's interesting to think that his music continues to be relevant, inspire artists, and affect us.

A shout out to Jack Bog's Blog.

What do law school dorks do when they are avoiding studying for finals:

Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure am I?

YOU ARE RULE 8(a)!

You are Rule 8, the most laid back of all the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. While your
forefather in the Federal Rules may have been a
stickler for details and particularity, you
have clearly rebelled by being pleasant and
easy-going. Rule 8 only requires that a
plaintiff provide a short and plain statement
of a claim on which a court can grant relief.
While there is much to be lauded in your
approach, your good nature sometimes gets you
in trouble, and you often have to rely on your
good friend, Rule 56, to bail you out.


Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Are You?
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