URGENT ALERT! Target at the Quarry has Run Out of Peeps!

LA came back from the quarry empty handed! Time is running out! I hope Debi checked the commissary, even though I told her not to! If these Peeps don't turn up soon, I'll get stuck using the knock-off Fourth of July Peeps. In times of crisis, we all need to come together. Please, everybody, keep your eyes peeled for the last few boxes that might be lingering on the shelves of your local grocer...

Prisoner of Conscience Rafael Cancel Miranda to Speak Friday Night

Hi friends, I'm planning to go to this talk tomorrow night at William Mitchell. Shoot me an email if you want to come with me! It's a free event.

Independence Is a Necessity!

Rafael Cancel Miranda

sponsored by Wm Mitchell Latino Law Students Association

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Puerto Rican food provided

A national hero and internationally revered political voice for the oppressed, "Don Rafa" has dedicated his entire life to the liberation of Puerto Rico. He served 25 years in U.S. prisons for his role in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence from US colonialism and the last 25 years furthering that struggle, linking it in solidarity with the working people of Cuban revolution, the working people of Venezuela, and liberation movements globally.

Author Considers Petition to Remove Self-Censorship

I'll admit that after I decided to stop posting rants about the shenanigans of the republican contingent in my class, I feared that my blog would degenerate into meaningless jabber about what I'm shopping for on ebay and what I had for dinner last night. I'm just trying to be professionally responsible here. But I'm not sure I can hold it in anymore, and Geoff has been petitioning me to remove the self censor. So I'm going to dip my foot back in the water and rant a little bit about Princess 2. As you know, I'm not really one to talk smack about people, I pretty much just like people and don't want to waste my time griping. But Princess 2 is a real piece of work, and has earned my disgust for many reasons, not the least of which is that she has the audacity to scoff "under her breath" at people's opinions during class. Which is very interesting, because she is second only to Snipey in ridiculous, unreasonable right-wing diatribes. I need to bring a damn camcorder to class to record this crap. It's so amusing. We've been studying intermediate judicial scrutiny and sex discrimination in Con Law this week. She's been advocating for the position that, basically, women are not equal to men and thus certain opportunities should naturally be excluded from us because they are physically impossible, etc. WTF? Who says that? First, how does a woman go against her own people like that? Second, speak for yourself, Princess. Third, oh nevermind. I think she and Ann Coulter are lesbians with each other.

Con Law Prof Insists on Calling on the Same People Over and Over and Over Again; Student: "It's Friggin' Ridiculous"

I can't even flippin' believe it. Got called on AGAIN in Con Law today! Summra hasn't even been called on once. UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH. This time, I thought I performed admirably enough. But seriously, WTF? Why doesn't he move to another area of the room?

Author has Better Things to do than Shop on Ebay...Really!

I can't help it. Sometimes, my friends don't update their blogs fast enough, and I've read all the news, and so when I give myself a little study break, I have no choice (NONE!) but to surf on ebay and Craig's List. I buy very few things online, but ever since the armoire situation (which is continuing by the way--thank you to those of you who have provided me with leads, but I still haven't found one) I've been a craig's list junkie. The other day I found this pink wool Jackie-O-esque suit in my closet that I bought in Boston about five years ago and have never worn. Why? I don't know. What a travesty. So I pulled it out and wore it yesterday and felt pretty cool. Also I decided I needed more suits like that. Since I don't have a current ebay account, I made Shad bid on two more suits. Well I just found out that this one has exceeded my maximum bid ($25) and I'm pretty sad. Check it out, it's pretty darn cool. It's okay, I'll be okay.... I did win the other one.

I thought maybe I would make David (the other clerk in my office) a Peeps garland for a going-away gift. He's leaving after school to work for the UNHCR in Washington DC. So, so lucky. Someone was giving away three boxes of Peeps on Craig's list. I emailed him, but he said they had been claimed within one hour. I don't know if stores are still carrying Peeps, even on clearance. Does anyone have some? Stale is good, they'll string together better that way. Just let me know if you have any leads.

Student Accepted into Family Law Clinic

I found out today that I was accepted into the family law clinic for fall semester. This is super sweet! It will be a huge time commitment, but it means I'll be certified as a student attorney in the fall, and will be able to represent people in court. Mostly the clinic helps low-income women, often victims of domestic abuse (sounds like they do a lot of TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders)). Summra got accepted in the family law clinic, too. I am pretty certain I DON'T want to be a family lawyer (there are a lot of messy situations I just don't want to get involved in), but there is a lot of interplay between family and immigration law and it will be helpful to have knowledge of both.

Student Indulges Self in Gratuitous Whining Session

I can't even believe Spring Break is over. Curses to our profs for giving us big assignments over break. I was doing homework almost every day. I would much rather have been super busy during regular school so I could chill out a bit. Also, I finished up the argument for that 8th Circuit brief; I'd been slaving away on that all week and this weekend. (Though I still have to do the dreaded table of authorities, yech). There is some feeling of accomplishment in that, but still. *Sigh* Thanks for listening.

On the up-side--Only 4 more weeks of regular classes! Then 2 weeks of finals! Then 1 week of Law Journal write-on! Then I'm free for a few months! I have a long list of projects for the summer, I can't wait to jump into them. Jooliedoolie is going to teach me how to do mosaic tile! And I picked up two more chairs at the side of the road yesterday, I'm going to reupholster them.

Woman Claims Allegations of Kitten Abuse "Unfounded" and "Unfair"

I've been getting some heat for the "cat-locked-in-the-drawer" incident, so I better take a moment to clear some things up. For those of you who heard the news from my husband, it is entirely untrue that I knowingly entrapped our kitty in a dresser drawer overnight. I will admit that I am partially responsible for the incident, but it is entirely unwitting. You see, some people in my household have gotten into the habit of leaving cupboard doors and dresser drawers open ALL THE TIME. My complaints about the situation have led nowhere so I've gotten into the habit of just sighing and shutting them. On Saturday, Shad's underwear drawer was open in the hallway, so I shut it. A few hours later, I heard Car scratching at something, loudly and persistently, so I got up, but I couldn't find her. The scratching stopped when I got up. This happened two more times, and each time I couldn't place the sound, nor could I find her. Then it stopped. I fell asleep. A few hours later, I awoke to hear Shad searching relentlessly through the house for Car, banging on the furnace pipes, etc. He was convinced that she had gotten into the furnace and started taking it apart. We looked for her for a long time. There were no noises or anything. Shad fell asleep downstairs, so he could hear her if she started scratching in the furnace pipes. In the morning, I heard a muffled meowing. I followed the sound to the hallway and pulled out the bottom drawer. Nothing. I pulled out the middle drawer, and Car popped out. She was totally fine and docile, didn't bite me or anything. She didn't even pee in the drawer. So you see, no harm done, and hopefully some people in our family have learned lessons about leaving drawers open? Oh, and as previously mentioned, it did effectively keep her out of the tree for about 12 hours.

Blogger Takes Silly Online Quiz, Posts Results Like She's 'Sposed To

You Are Belle!

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your apperance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Cat Repeatedly Caught Roosting in Upper Branches of New House Plant

We got a "mass cane" for our living room. I'm not sure if it's a house plant, or a house tree? It's huge, with the pot and everything it's about seven feet tall. It's a groovy-looking tree, basically three trunks, each 3-5 feet tall, with palm-like branches on top. Car can't stand it. She can't stay out of the damn tree. She's getting dirt all over and is killing it. We've only had it a week, and it already looks like crap. We're bad plant people to begin with, but Car is not helping the situation at all. We keep a spray bottle nearby and try to blast her when we see her getting near it, but that only works when we're standing there guarding it. Any suggestions?

"Fun Shop" Gives Kia Favorable Prognosis

I mentioned my brake situation to my friend Kris, who writes about cars for the Star Tribune and is a top-notch problem-solver. Kris invited me to take Kia to his friend's house in St. Paul. This friend put a professional car lift in his garage, and on Friday nights, a bunch of middle-aged guys come over to drink beer, watch whatever game is on, and work on cars. They call it "Fun Shop." We put Kia up on the lift and took the tires off and looked at everything and poked around for about an hour. They said the brakes look great, and suggested there was a weather-induced problem. We drove it around and the sound was gone. Who knows what that was all about? I was glad to have them look at it for the price of about 12 beers.

After Fun Shop, we had a super time at Mike & Emily's annual Reuben Sandwich day party. I didn't have a reuben sandwich, but I did load up on chocolate cake. They moved into a cute house in South Minneapolis with a groovy dance party basement.

Author Scores Groovy Patio Chairs; Seeks Advice to Remove Unseemly Rust

I picked up some free patio chairs tonight--saw them on Craigs list. They're black wrought iron and kind of rusty. Maybe they're not wrought iron. Maybe they're just a rusty regular iron. I don't know the difference. Anyway, I'm going to make some new cushions (on the "to do" list when school lets out) for our new garden (also on the "to do" list) in our newly-landscaped backyard (also on the "to do" list). Does anyone know if I can just paint over the rust? Is there some product I can use to bring them to their original, pre-rusty splendor? If you have any tips, please advise.

Also, if anyone needs a new armchair and wants to do an alley run, I saw one in the alley behind 37th Ave & Majors in Robbinsdale. It's little, cute, and good condition. The fabric looked good, but might be a fun reupholstering project. There was also a kitchen chair that would need to be reupholstered, w/rusty steel legs, a piece of crap bookshelf that was falling apart, and some cans of paint.

Moderately Successful Self-Advocacy Leads to Effective Resolution of Library Fine Issue

I talked her down to 30 bucks. I was shooting for 20, but she wasn't having it. I have to say, it feels great to have that taken care of, and now I don't have to avoid the library anymore. A weight has been lifted. Which is more than my dear husband can say.

Woman Eating Chili at Wendy's Bites into Human Finger

Hungry?

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5310271.html

Lotion Snafu Blurs Author's Vision

This morning, I was putting Oil of Olay on my face like I always do--I dab some on both cheeks, my forehead, and my chin, then I rub it around. Well, I GUESS I was going up to my forehead with a huge glob of the lotion but I TOTALLY missed, and I put it on my EYEBALL instead. It was really creepy looking! I was so shocked, I couldn't blink or anything, but at the same time, I was really interested so I stood there for a minute just looking at this big ol' dollop of lotion on my eyeball. Then I snapped back to reality and rushed into the bathroom to wash it off just like I learned in high school chemistry.

Resolution Forthcoming on Library Fine Issue

I've been dodging my library fine for months. See, after we got our piano, I was so excited that I went to the public library and checked out about 20 music books, along with my usual reading (this was back when I used to be able to read "novels"). Then school started, I got distracted, and I didn't really return the books. I knew that sooner or later, I'd have to deal with the issue. Well, now I'm dealing with a brake situation (rusted rotors or something?) on the ol' Kia, and a friend has offered to take a look at it. I called the library to see if they had any service manuals for my car, which they did, and happily offered to put it on reserve for me. The librarian called me back about five minutes later to tell me I wouldn't be able to check it out because I have $67 in fines! Argh! I'm going to put my lawyerly skills to work to see if I can negotiate the fine...twenty bucks should be sufficient, don't you think?

Y Member Disgusted by Lame Pilates Class

I stopped at the Y after work today to go to a Pilates class with Tonya. It was the most boring 1 hour ever. I didn't break one bead of sweat. I was disgusted. What a waste of time. There is a good Pilates class that I used to go to at 11:45, it's just a half hour, but I sweat a lot (sometimes through my shirt, even, YES!)--I can't go now because I am in class every day at that time. Anyway, this was my first trip back to the Y in a few weeks, and I really wanted to be sore. Dang.

Author Reports: Spring Break Not Very Break-Like

Yesterday I had to go to school at 7:30 to meet with my partner for this massive Crim Law project. Then I spent the whole day at work and stuck around after to do homework. I was at the office until midnight. At 10 p.m., I heard a ton of firetrucks outside, sirens and everything. Shortly after, the fire alarm started going off in my building. Ugh! I'm on the top floor of the building and really wasn't looking forward to climbing down 12 flights of stairs, so my initial reaction was to ignore it. After a minute of that, I considered how much it would suck to get trapped on the top floor of a burning building. So I grabbed my coat, and my phone, and my keys, and trudged down the steps. When I had made it down to the second floor, the sirens stopped. Now that was a big bummer, because since I had gone through all the work I was really hoping for some action. It's not fair that Toby's the only one in the house who gets to take a trip to the hospital. I wanted to get partially asphyxiated by smoke, get pulled out into the street and be resuscitated by a super hot paramedic. (er, just kidding, honey!) Anyway, it was a total drag, so I just took the elevator back up and returned to work. Car woke us up at 6 this morning with some really loud, weird, purr-scream sounds. I thought she must be in a fight with a wolverine (I'm sure she would win) so I shot out of bed and went in the kitchen and picked her up and she stopped. She let me pet her for a long time and she didn't scratch or bite or anything. Progress?

Minneapolis Couple Encourages Parents to Send Children to Live with Them; Parents Complain about "Lack of Perceived Value"

Poor Toby got hit by a car after stepping off the bus last night! He got to take a trip in an ambulance and everything.

Obviously, the driver didn't know that Toby is invincible. Next time, hopefully he'll direct his efforts elsewhere.

Minneapolis Couple Solicits Help of Friends and Family to Find Perfect Armoire

With our new tenant in the guest bedroom, Shad's clothes have been displaced, forced into entry closet. Will paint and/or refinish--the cheaper the better. Let us know if you have any leads!

Vacationing Student Gets Crafty

Okay, so last night I reupholstered the footstool. Toby helped. I think it looks groovy. Car thinks she's a princess. She thinks the footstool is her new throne.



Then Toby and I made dinner. We rubbed down some fish with olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice, and grilled it. Then we whipped out my new broiler pan and baked sugar snap peas with olive oil, shallots, and thyme. We made some rice and homemade guacamole, too. But the best part was the poached pears we made for dessert. They were pretty fussy and took almost two hours to perfect. We served them over a red wine reduction and spun carmelized sugar around them.

Local Woman Scores Big Time

LA and I went to Unique Thrift today. We spent about 2 hours there. I LOADED up. I got three suits, including two super nice Laura Ashley suits, a broiler pan, lots of super great books, rainbow shoelaces, and a footstool. Among other things. It was one of the best thrifting trips ever. I'll post a photo of the footstool when I'm done reupholstering it. We had lunch at Psycho Suzie's and ate food that was super bad for us. But we passed on the cheese curds (thanks for the tip, Julie).

Student Gets out of Jail Free!

Classes are cancelled tomorrow! So I'm now officially on Spring Break. Truth be told, it won't be very break-like due to the fact that in addition to working at the office, I have a huge motion to work on for my writing class, as well as a mid-term project for Crim Law. I'm going to work on some of the Crim Law early tomorrow morning and spend the day hanging out with LA. Tomorrow night we're having a low-key night at home--Toby and I are making dinner, and then we're watching a movie.

I got yelled at for breaking what Shad called a "Cardinal Rule" of blogging. I took a quiz and I didn't post the results. I saw the quiz on Babblemur's site. It's the "What's your best religion" quiz or something like that. Well I'm too lazy to take the whole dang quiz again so I'll just tell you, the religions that were best for me were Buddhism & Islam (tie). (Summra was very proud.) (And in the future, I'll post quiz results, Jeeze.)

I spent the afternoon with my mentor. At my school, we have a mentor each year--we have to do stuff with them, 12 hours of "experiences." I have kind of a deadbeat mentor. I think he thinks it's a pain in his ass when he has to do stuff with me, which is a huge bummer because I know our mentor program has 150+ more mentors than they actually need, so if this guy doesn't care, he should probably just not sign up. I just started logging my mentor "experiences" with Greg, so I'll get my hours in without the deadbeat.

Ugly Juice Quotes Favorite Author in Honor of St. Patrick's Day

“Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.”
–Oscar Wilde

Minneapolis Woman Launches Campaign to End Apostrophe Abuse

Yesterday David (the other clerk) and I were at the office fairly late and we saw a resume that the hiring partner had left at the reception desk. I instantly saw two misplaced apostrophes on the resume. Are you kidding me? Sure, I've been known to get pretty worked up about apostrophe abuse in general (actually, I think Zander coined the term "ApostroNazi" to describe my disposition toward misused apostrophes) but I don't expect people to be perfect. I make grammar mistakes, too. But come on. You can't have grammar problems on your resume. Here's the best part--one of the misused apostrophes was in a sentence describing her work editing a publication. I nearly died laughing. David and I took out a red pen and corrected all the grammar errors.

Apostophe abuse drives me crazy. I can handle it on the small scale--e-mail, blogs, simple correspondence. It makes me itch a little bit, but no big deal. But it makes me wild when I pass a restaurant with a neon sign advertising Margarita's, or--this recently happened--a cake decorated to say Congratulation's. Seriously. Start paying attention and I promise you will encounter several instances of apostrophe abuse every day.

Okay, so you're thinking I'm a big jerk for marking up the resume. But this woman was applying for a job where you have to have the utmost attention to detail. As I see it, the attorney's job is to do all the brilliant work, and then the legal assistants have to polish it up and check the crappy little details (e.g. citations and grammar)--we look at it last before it goes out the door. If you can't pay close enough attention to make sure the simplest grammar details aren't fixed on your own resume, how could you be trusted to send decent correspondence to clients or the court? Call me a snob, I don't care.

Actually, as long as I'm already being a jerk, I might as well just go off on my holiday greeting card rant. Every year I cringe as the cards come in, riddled with apostrophe abuse. Don't feel bad, almost everyone does it. But we all learned about plurals and possessives in about third grade, and the rules still apply. People love to put apostrophe + s when they sign their names. There's no reason for it, people! It's wrong! You're not possessing anything! You're not a contraction! So just sign, "The Smiths"--ok? "The Smith's"= wrong. Actually, I blame the printers down at the photo lab. When people are getting their holiday photo cards printed up, the lab attendants are in the best position to spot this problem and advise repeated abusers accordingly. As I see it, they have a duty to intervene to prevent apostrophe abuse just like school teachers need to report child abuse. Okay, but I love the cards, please don't stop sending them and by the way I'm sorry I didn't get any cards sent this year.

Sarah just called to inform me that our mom bought DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION. Yes, that's right, the Japanese game you've seen at the arcade. The one where you have to move your feet on certain squares to the beat of hyper hip hop discotech whatever. Apparently you can buy a mat to put on the floor and plug it into your TV and it's like having the game in your own home. Oh, my.

I'm going to take a look at my resume now and make sure it doesn't have any grammar mistakes.

Student Wishes She had Just Gone Home

Cruel irony! I stayed at the library the whole night reading Con Law & just got an email 2 minutes ago from the Prof., he's cancelling class tomorrow. BAH-HAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Prison Guard Imposes Arbitrary Rules on Library Inmates

I've been in the library reading Con Law. Decided to take a break to go downstairs and get some popcorn & pop (am pretending I'm at the movies). The library doors lock after 10 and you need to swipe your ID card to get back in. My ID card doesn't work, so I usually have to ask a security guard to let me in. Lots of people have this problem, I don't know what's wrong with the cards. What am I supposed to do? I didn't manufacuter the dang card. The door is right next to the security guard's desk, so I asked the guy to let me in. He said, "If your card doesn't work, it means you shouldn't be in there after hours." Is he serious? First, there's no distinction between students that can and cannot be in the library after 10. Plus, I'm holding the ID in my hand, with my photo, clearly proving that I'm a student here. I'm here all day, every day, I've seen and said hello to this guy 100 times. Anyway, what kind of riffraff would be trying to break into the library at 11:30 p.m.? His comment was so utterly absurd that I was speechless. Here he is, sitting at a computer, playing solitaire, five feet away from the door. He probably wouldn't even have to get up to let me in. He could just scoot his little roly-chair over. Did he really think I would be like, "Oh, okay, you're right. Guess I'll just go home. My laptop and jacket and purse and everything are up in the study room, but I guess I'll just get them tomorrow when I'm allowed back in." WTF? The whole thing just makes the library more prison-like than it already is.

Wanna-be Chef Thinks Enokidake "Just Fun to Say"

My friends, I must disclose that I have not been acting with candor. The truth is that Elissa told me about an ABA article she read about employers and professors searching blogs while screening job candidates. So I've been practicing self-censorship. It's painful, because I really want to tell you about the latest shenanigans of our republican contingent and the princesses. But must be professional and act with decorum even on my own private blog. Damn the man!

Do not fret, though, because Geoff is compiling a list of quotes. Maybe he'll let me publish it someday.

Yesterday, Julie threw a fabulous girly-girl clothes-swapping party. Everyone brought delicious food and fun times were had by all. It was fun to unload some of those things I was never going to wear again and pick up some new stuff. Not only was this a great opportunity for me to clean out my closet (clothes were getting wrinkled from being crammed together, yup, it's bad), but it was also an excuse to pull out my cookbooks! My plan was to make this groovy little appetizer with enokidake mushrooms--you wrap bacon around the stems like an obi, broil, and drizzle with lemon juice. They are the cutest little things you ever saw, look kind of like sea anemones. The trick is to find a place that sells the mushrooms. I had seen them at the Wedge before, so I went to go pick some up on Sunday, but they didn't have any. I was so bummed. I made a walnut bruscetta thing with chevre instead. After the swap, Elissa and I stopped back at my house and before she left we had to drool over the dessert books that were still scattered on the table. Mmmmm....I love to cook so much. If I had the time and the money I would host dinner every night of the week. *sigh* I begged LA to cook her fabulous curry for me again. I dream about it at night. So she's having us over for curry this weekend and I'm going to make a tofu cheesecake.

For anyone who's interested, our school's MJF (Minnesota Justice Foundation) chapter is hosting a silent action at the school Wednesday from 9-5:30. You are all welcome (and encouraged!) to stop by! There are several excellent and unique prizes. I stopped by CL this afternoon to talk to Michael, my old boss, and he gave me a $100 gift certificate. Amy is donating a super duper prize--custom designed, goco-printed stationery. Amy is one of the classiest peeps I know, and I might just have to bid on that prize myself... My uncle Matt is donating a free piano tuning, and Phil (Phil is one of the attorneys at my office, the guy who plucked me out of the coffee shop and offered me a job) offered to host six students for lunch at Sawatdee. Elissa did a great job as the fundraising chairperson finding unique experiences for the auction, like golf outings with professors, dinner with the dean, one of our profs is offering "Mystery Dinner Theater" in her home, etc. Neat.

Minneapolis Woman Hates Self for Failing to Renew ReadyMade Subscription

Horrors! I just went to the ReadyMade web site because I hadn't seen our bi-monthly issue yet. It's out, but we didn't get it! Did anyone else get it? I think I let our subscription run out!NOOOOooooo!!!! This is one of my only pieces of extracurricular reading material! My happy place! ...though, don't get me wrong, I THOROUGHLY ENJOY reading "Criminal Law: Cases and Materials" and "Property and Lawyering" etc.

Is anyone else worried about this? I had heard about this before, but seriously. Are we in the former Soviet Union? East Germany? etc.? Are people paying attention?

I was doing my blogger rounds and found some good links: Mike's Jackalope Ranch posted a link for the MN Repub Watch & LA posted this link for My Cat Hates You.

Has anyone looked into alternative energy sources in Minnesota? I got to thinking about this today when Winona LaDuke was talking about how Americans are energy "junkies" and about all coal that is below Native American land. Could Minnesota could take care of our own energy needs with ethanol and wind? Why aren't we building more wind turbines? I just haven't looked into this very much, so if anyone has time to inform, I'd appreciate it.

Go-Go Boots Collect Dust

The good news is that Toby (Shad's brother who just moved in w/us) applied for a job at Marshall Fields and has an interview on Monday. This is perfect because MF is obviously on my list of preferred places to get a discount. Also on the short-list is Chipotle, Starbucks and Caribou. I'm encouraging him to get two or three jobs so that I don't have to pay for coffee or burritos anymore. Plus it'll be a real boon to my clothes-buying racket, but might make it more difficult to sneak things into the house.

The bad news is that Li'l Chicago Gentleman's Taco has closed. I can't believe it. Gentleman's Taco served us well up here on the North Side for several years, specializing in 30 different kinds of tacos. There was for example, the "American Taco" (ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato); the "BBQ Taco" (ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato + BBQ sauce); the "Sweet & Sour Taco" (ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato + sweet & sour sauce); the "Beefy-Beef Taco" (all above + chopped up polish sausage) etc. Okay, these were no Chipotle tacos, but you could get a good size taco for about $1.69. Also he had yummy tamales. When he prepared the food he'd tell me stories about growing up in Chicago and talk about how tamales are as old as time. One time Shad tried to pay with a $20 bill & he didn't have change, so he said, ah, don't worry about it, you can pay me later. So the next time we went we paid him back and he was totally surprised. (This might be an indication of why he's gone out of business?) Maybe he's just moved...

In other news, you might notice that I am posting to my blog instead of at the disco party. This may be shocking because normally I will jump at any excuse to wear my shiny red go-go boots. I was also planning to wear a groovy silver dress and my lavender wig. Well, Shad's slaving away on a comic and normally I don't have a problem going by myself but I sat down at the dining room table to work on this brief for work and suddenly realized it's 10:30 pm. Jeeze. I'm going to leave to gogo boots in the closet and hopefully will get this stupid thing written, it's due Monday.

Zander left his laser-pointer at our house. We've been tormenting Car mercilessly. She just wants to catch that elusive red dot so badly!!! I've been training her to be an olympic jumper, so it's super fun to put the red dot high up on the wall and watch her jump up to try to catch it. She has mad ninja kitty jumping skills.

Angela and I went to the International Women's Day event at the U of M today, sponsored by Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. It was awesome. There were some wonderful, inspiring speakers, workshops and free lunch! Winona LaDuke spoke in the afternoon and was wonderful and also very funny. Zainab Salbi spoke in the morning and was awesome. She is the CEO of Women for Women International, an organization that helps women who are victims of war. Check out the web site, there are things you can do, like sponsor a woman in one of these war-torn countries and send her personal letters. One thing Ms. Salbi talked about is how in the fight for survival and the terror of being raped, the humiliation of being reduced to a number in refugee camps, the pain of losing everything, many of these women struggle with retaining their sense of self. This letter-writing thing is a neat way to do good from your own living room by connecting with these women, show them support and give them hope.

Student Goes Down in Flames, No Dignity Survives

I am so glad this week is almost over. It was, in a word, shitty. I decided the motion I wrote was terrible so I re-wrote the whole thing on Wednesday night. I got 45 minutes of sleep and then went to school on Thursday to turn it in and decided to go to class. (I hope my mom isn't reading, because I always assure her I'm getting 6-8 hours). Now, I'd been dodging the bullet all week and was very ripe to get called on. One would think that I'd have the sense to just skip class, sleep in, something. I didn't. I did, however skim the cases before class. So, of course, I get called on. This Prof. is really tough, and half the time you don't even know what he's asking. I know I wouldn't have understood the question even if I asked him to repeat it so I just decided to wing it. I looked down at my book and read the first thing I saw that was highlighted. I didn't even know what I read. He said, "Right. Why don't you go ahead and flesh that out for us?" Gulp. I mumbled some crap and then he graciously rephrased it to sound like the answer he wanted and I said "Yeah, that's right." That's what I meant to say, Uh-huh. Then he came back to ask me another question and I just could not wrap my head around it and stuttered for awhile before admitting that I just didn't really get the case. Yeah, it was bad. Sooooo embarassing. The worst was that no one jumped to my aid. Usually if someone is struggling, someone will raise their hand and volunteer an answer. You don't just sit there while your friend goes down in flames. Instead, Geoff looks back at me with a grin so huge I thought his face was going to break. I hope the grin meant, "You poor sorry sucker, we're all half-asleep too" and not "You are the biggest idiot I know".

Shad's little brother Toby moved in with us. It will be fun to have him around, we're both very excited he's here. Shad picked him up from the airport at 4pm yesterday and they hung out all night. Meanwhile, I went to bed at 7pm and did not wake up until 9 this morning. I got up for about 10 minutes to give Toby a hug and go back to bed.

I have a fun weekend planned. Tonight Amy and I are going to a fundraiser a friend of hers is having, a Spaghetti Feed at Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown. Tomorrow morning I'm picking up Angela (one of my nearest & dearest pals, she lives in DC) and we are going to the International Women's Day celebration at the U of M, there are a couple of great speakers there. Saturday night I'm going to a disco party, and Sunday Julie is having a clothes swap with a bunch of girlfriends. Fun times! Spring break is only one week away! Woo hoo!

Student Perpetrates Ongoing Theme of Disaster: Is Black and Blue

Hey gang, I only have a second 'cuz I've got a ton of work tonight. I need to tell you about my embarrassing fashion faux pas today. I didn't turn on the light this morning when I got ready--it was really early and I didn't want to wake Shad. I wore my nicest black skirt-suit with black tights. I didn't notice until my second class of the day that my tights were actually navy blue. How embarassing and dorky. I'm playing it off like I'm just being trendy.

Paramedics Called for Intense Paper Cut

I have not had a paper cut this bad in quite some time. It is deep and has left a significant flap of skin and exposed flesh. I'll spare further details. I was reminded of the good old days when I worked at the law office AND the restaurant, and I would get paper cuts all day and then squeeze lemons and limes into drinks all night. Painful times, those.

Student Miraculously Dodges Bullet in Con Law

Still working on the pre-trial motion. It's due Thursday. I got a whole draft done over the weekend but there is much revision to do. Will be here late tonight and tomorrow night.

TOTALLY dodged the bullet in Con Law today--the stories you may have heard about law school are true--the profs just call out a student's name during class discussion and you had better be prepared with an answer to avoid extreme embarrassment...we had a prof last semester who actually lowered your final grade if you were unprepared when called on. A lot of people just skip class if they don't read to avoid the risk of being called on, but I usually just take the risk so I don't get even further behind. Well, I didn't do the massive amount of reading that was due for today and would have gone down in flames if called on. The prof was calling on people around me, I sunk lower and lower in my seat and somehow, miraculously, I avoided the bullet.

We hosted the rescheduled Amnesty event today with Prof. Erlinder. Lots of people showed up and I thought it was a great success.

Tomorrow am having lunch with Amy Klobuchar! Am so excited! One of our Deans hosts these "Trusted Advisor" luncheons and ten students are invited to have lunch with prominent lawyers in the community who are seen as good mentors/role models. We quickly signed up to see Klobuchar. Summra went to the last one, Judge Paul Anderson, and she said it was a very swank affair.

A few of us are going out for happy hour soon to celebrate Chaman's birthday at McCormick & Schmick's--they have really cheap food if you buy a drink. I'm sure my whole writing process will proceed beautifully after I've had a drink or two.

Woman Found Dead in Library, Asphyxiated by Soy Sauce Fumes

Shad and I picked up sushi for dinner and brought it back to the library. We played chess while we ate. Shad won, as usual. Now my study room is engulfed in the pervasiave aroma of soy sauce. Every breath tastes like it.

Dang, I'm going to get kicked out of the library soon. (Closes at 2 a.m.) I wish my energy kicked in at 7 a.m., rather than 10 p.m.

Student Zips Right Along on Pre-Trial Motion

It's been a good day. Shad abducted me from school this afternoon and we went out to enjoy the sunshine. Then he returned to the library with me and we were both very productive on our respective projects. I love writing motions. Also I've had plenty of coffee and am downright happy.

Student Shuns Beautiful Weather, Refuses to Leave Library

I'm settling into another long lonely day at the library. The weather is BEAUTIFUL outside. Maybe I'll go for a little walk later to get some coffee and enjoy the weather. However, have a lot of writing to do on a pre-trial motion. I like this part of my writing course (motions, briefs, memorandum of law) because this is the sort of thing I do at work. A major difference though is that at work I find a motion or brief that our office had already written and then I modify it--I rarely have had to write one from scratch. Shad said he might come in to work with me this weekend, so it might be less lonely. He's working on a short comic for an upcoming anthology.

We went to two great gallery openings this weekend. Friday night was Nate's show at the AZ gallery in St. Paul. He's a friend of Shad's and his art is very cool. He uses neat patterns, poppy colors, screen-prints, etc. And the gallery is right next to Tanpopo Noodle Shop. We had a wonderful meal at Tanpopo with Zander and Julie a few years ago, in its old location, and I've wanted to go back but didn't know where it moved to. (I know, I know, I could have looked it up on this thing called the "internet" but was too lazy). So anyway, if you're looking for a nice little outing, go to 308 Prince Street, St. Paul and see Nate's artwork, then eat at Tanpopo and maybe just for kicks, go to the Artist's Quarter and listen to some jazz. Listen to me, the St. Paul expert. Last night we went to Ox-Op to see the Burlesque show. Was packed and super cool.

Finally, if you're still with me, I want to tell you about a bill, HR 418, that has been submitted to the Senate for review. This bill gives the Department of Homeland Security greater authority to review people's immigration status and change it, raises proof standards for asylum applicants, requires proof of residency status to get a state ID or drivers' license, sets minimum standards for federal recognition of state drivers' licenses and IDs, creates a linking of state drivers' license and ID information systems and intensifies security at the Mexican and Canadian borders. HR 418 will not help prevent terrorism. The greater regulations make it harder for people who need asylum to qualify, grants the Department of Homeland Security too much power over everyone's residency status, would prevent the undocumented from having safe driving standards and make them harder to identify if unable to receive a state ID, and would make crossing the border into the US even more dangerous. As you know I get fired up about asylum and refugee issues and I think this is a travesty. The United States, as a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, has an obligation under international law to provide protection to refugees and asylum seekers. Yet we are making it more and more difficult for them to obtain protection from the US government. The passage of this bill would put the US in breach of its obligation to refugees (if it's not already, after IIRIRA, mentioned one or two posts ago) and makes a mockery of international law (not that that is anything new under this administration). I plan to write to our Senators (actually, have suggested putting together a letter-writing campaign for Amensty) and I hope that you will too.

Speaking of Senators, did anyone see the photos of Norm Coleman's teeth?

Al Jazeera Reports Napalm Gas Used in Fallujah

Is it true? The Western media isn't reporting on the use of banned weapons (or, not that I've seen). Al Jazeera may be the Fox News of the middle east (who called it that? Geoff? Matt?), but we still have to pay attention to what they are saying. I'm even more ashamed than I already was. Speaking of being an ashamed American, did anyone notice how the NY Times has a report every now and then about the immigration of Americans into Canada? I've seen at least two reports since the election. Nice.

Internet Fame Is Cruel Mistress for Numa Numa Dancer

this video should put a smile on your face (if you don't have a dilly bar handy, that is). Story here.

FDA Approves Cure for Crankiness: Dilly Bars

Okay, I'm turning a corner. After a week or so of feeling sick, cranky and just generally "blah," I think I'm starting to feel better. I attribute this to a few factors. Two random acts of kindness toward me today: Misti bought me a dilly bar (YES!) and also a classmate discretely handed me a coughdrop when I was hacking up a lung during Con Law this morning. Also, I'm wearing a smashing pair of dangly earrings today that I bought at a teeny-bopper store in the mall last week when Sarah was here, and I'm wearing a suit and my shiny new shoes and did my hair up kinda fancy. I do this thing where if I need to psych myself up for a test or if I feel like crap, I dress up. It actually works!

So I've been working on putting together this fabulous presentation for our Amnesty International chapter, which was supposed to be today. Had the Lead Defense counsel for the International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda coming to speak in the atrium of the school (I've mentioned this a couple of times, I know, I was super excited). We had the stage and podium set up, tables, refreshments, etc. Well, I got a call from his assistant last night at around 6 p.m. and learned that he's still in Africa and had to cancel! Ugh! I had a pow-wow with my co-chairs and we tried to find a replacement (at such short notice, yikes) and then decided to cancel the whole event. It turned out to be not so bad. We ended up having to buy 40 cookies and bars from the caterers but otherwise were not charged for anything else. Since we're having a meeting tomorrow and don't have enough funding to buy lunch, I guess we'll just eat cookies instead and get all sugared up & be bouncing off the walls.

Shad invited me to be his date at two gallery openings this weekend. (I'm so lucky!) Friday is a show in St. Paul, Saturday is Ox-Op. I might also go to a benefit for Indonesian tsunami victims on Sunday night, put together by the local Indonesian community (we were invited by some of the Indonesian clients in our office), Greg and I had been talking about going but I was practicing saying "NO" to things today, so I said I didn't want to go but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm so pathetic, so bad at this "no" thing. Nancy Reagan=not proud. Aside from those things, I plan to hide out in the library for the weekend writing a pre-trial motion that's due next Thursday--it's a big chunk of my grade, so I suppose I should get started on it. I've been sitting on it for over a week already.

Two weeks 'til Spring Break!!!

Okay, I know this entry is getting long, but I have a few current events to comment on. So if you're already sick of hearing blather on about my life, you can stop now and don't torture yourself any futher. But if you're still reading, here's what I've got:

1. Smarty Jones' jockey was arrested by US immigration officials (He's a Canadian citizen). He had a felony conviction four years ago, which makes him deportable according to federal immigration law. Sounds like he's currently out on bail with removal hearing pending. Actually I don't really care, I just think it's interesting. I don't know exactly what he was arrested for--assault? I know we don't really want stabbers (or whatever he did) in our society. But these same laws (IIRIRA--which sadly was passed during Clinton's presidency) have also been used to deport people who've written bad checks or driven without a license. Do we really want to tear families apart over stuff like that? Oopsy-doopsy, ranting...

2. This kid's grandparents found a fictional story in his private journal about zombies overtaking a high school. They turned the story in and now he's being held on $5000 bail & charged with making terroristic threats. Are you kidding me? This country is so unbelievably caught up in a culture of fear. Lord help us all. I was thinking taht it must have been pretty crazy to live in the US during the 1910s-1920s...Can you imagine what it would have been like to be alive during prohibition? Talk about the highjacking of moral values by the red states. Yikes. Not to mention the white knights were in full force at that time, etc. I digress...

3. Supreme court ruled 5-4 that we can't execute juveniles. It was a super long opinion--read it here. Certainly a step in the right direction...I hope that in our lifetime we'll see our country adhere to the standards of decency in the rest of the world and abolish the death penalty altogether.