Thanks for all the fish

[To: management]
[Re: Resignation]

For the last few months, I've been attending the U of M law school full time during the day and working here part time at night. Although I have been able to maintain my studies this far, as the finals season approaches I am concerned that this schedule is too demanding for me to maintain both priorities to the level that is demanded. So, as of the end of the month, I will be leaving my position as a Field Inventory Systems Coordinator here in Richfield.

I want to take the opportunity to give fair notice and to thank you for the chance to work with D1 for the last three years. Plainly, the logistics department is in excellent hands; Gary and Bob are two of the most dedicated men I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I also want to specifically thank Sharon, who accomodated my schedule and was extremely flexible. I wish all of you well and will check in from time to time to stay in touch.

Again, thanks for all that you have done for me and I wish you and DecisionOne well.

It's over!! Hooray! As of two weeks from today, I will be free of the Dank Basement forever. Now, if only I can get a real live job for next summer. Prospective employers, do not be shy about hiring me for the 1L summer. I will be the best darned 1L worker you've ever seen.

Random thoughts

I think trying cases of accused terrorists before military tribunals is a bad idea. If we claim to have the best government on earth, we ought to back it up by showing that our legal system operates within the context of a rule of law and not concentrating the powers of executive and judicial authorities in the same arm of government. Note that this proposal only affects non-US citizens to attempt to avoid the due process issue.

My sister Valerie, who writes a very earnest blog, wrote this excellent piece on why parades are no fun if you are in a marching band. It's worth a look.

Hello visitors

As seen on Law dot com? Great. Now I feel pressure to actually write good stuff. Move along, nothing to see here.

The update: in retrospect I was far too charitable to Legislation last time. Although Legal Writing (also known as Lawyering at other schools) is extremely boring, tedious, and nightmarish in the additional work it forces us to do, at least it has an obvious necessary purpose that should excuse it from the bottom of the list. No, Legislation is the worst class in law school thus far, and I can think of a few reasons this is true.

First, the textbook was written by Frickey and Eskridge, and these are two men who are not bashful about self promotion. Every other footnote in the book is "See article X by Frickey" or "an excellent synopsis of this issue was done by Eskridge in some law review." Coupled with the fact that Frickey himself was a professor at the U of M for awhile, it all leads me to a sick feeling of nepotistic self promotion that isn't terribly conducive to learning the subject through a balanced approach.

Second, the professor is in his second year teaching and I get the idea this is the lousiest class to teach of them all. I bet the other professors gets made fun of in the professor's lounge every day. "Hey, (professor)! How's that Ph.D. in economics helping you with that Legislation class?" He certainly doesn't give the air of excitement to his treatment of the materials. This isn't to denigrate his intellect; on the contrary, I have the perception that he's absolutely brilliant.

Third, when viewed against the other classes, Legislation seems positively dull.

Lastly, Legislation the class sucks because the element of predictiveness is just not there with legislation. We've spent a bunch of time on what I term "canon fodder," the analysis of statutes through various maxims that should guide interpretation. The only problem is that these canons are inconsistent in coverage and application. Where other areas of the law give me the impression that there is an element of predictibility and limitation of scope, legislative law tends to lead me to the opposite conclusion.

(note for Mom and other non-law school types; "Law" does not mean "a law." Law is typically broken into four sources; Constitution plus treaties, common law, legislation, and administrative regulations)

shhh...

Don't tell my coworkers, but I'm quitting my job as of the 30th of November. It will mean I can study like mad for finals, which begin the second week in December and go for two weeks. In other personal news, the birthday of Hobbsblog is this Saturday. I will be posting links to my favorite columns from the year. As I was poking around my archives, I noticed that I've never bothered to republish my archives, which means each month is in the template style of the page as it existed when I originally wrote it. I think that's cool.

Sunday is the one year anniversary of the death of Jerry Stiffler, my father in law. I was working on the blog when Mag and I got the phone call that changed our lives. I've been thinking of him more and more as we just celebrated our anniversary and now we're approaching that day again. This has been a hell of a year, hasn't it...?

Hello, I must be going

I haven't been here in a while. The cynical among us would probably think that I got discouraged because the Sooners lost to Nebraska. On the contrary, I thought it was a really good game and does nothing to hurt our chances for the national championship. The rematch should be awesome, assuming we can get there.
No, it's law school again. The latest culprit has been our office memo, due in about seven hours. I have just finished it, and I am happy about that. I'll let you know how I did next week. So far every class has been fun and exciting, with the exception of Legislation. I thought that would be my favorite course, but it has remained far at the bottom of my list thus far. To date, my

TOP FIVE LAW SCHOOL COURSES.

1. Torts
2. Contracts
3. Civil Procedure
(tie)5. Legislation
5. Legal Writing
Speaking of school, I should go back to reading now. On your way out please consider checking back at my Archives, since I used to do better work. The one year birthday of Hobbsblog is coming up soon (a week? I'll check). Don't think I'm not doing something interesting to commemorate it.

The most shameful act in sports history?

The answer is... contraction.

Finally, web pages of attorneys I have known.
Anil Gollahalli (Norman High, class of '93. We were, along with Marc Young, the LD forces of NHS. Nice picture!)
Leah Castella (Lewis & Clark, class of '95. 3rd speaker at CEDA nationals of the same year. Robbed in quarterfinals. I know because I was there.)
Erich Paetsch (Lewis & Clark, class of '95. The picture doesn't make me COMPLETELY burst out laughing...)