I know that I haven't posted much lately, but law school has been keeping me busy. It's much more like a full-time job than undergrad ever was. I leave my apartment in the morning and don't come home from the library until late evening. I'm not complaining, mind you. I'm having a lot of fun with my new crew.
Anyway, I've been planning on making a "first two weeks of law school in review" post for awhile now. I don't have class until 11 tomorrow, so maybe I'll work on that in the morning. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Studio 4, Apartment 106
So I've finally decorated my apartment enough that I feel comfortable showing it off here. All images can be viewed full-size with a clicky:
The entrance to the apartment. Note my Imelda Marcos-like hat collection. One can never have too many hats, I say. And these are just my baseball caps. My other hats are still at home to be brought up. I can't go to law school without a fedora, after all.
A close up of the entrance area. The table came with the place, but I'm not sure exactly what to do with it. Perhaps I could put more knick-knacks, but that may be too cluttery. For now, I've settled for the Ikea lamp and my digital picture frame (nice picture, Jack).
The view from the door. Instead of a table, the bar on the left serves as the eating surface. Not ideal, but I guess I don't really need a full dining table since I'm only one person (emo noise). At least the place came with stools. Now if I just had room for a small bar...
The kitchen. I don't know what I can really say about it, besides the fact that I didn't clean it before I took this photo. Yes, I'm that much of a neat freak. Take note, ladies. This should surely improve my market value in that regard. ;)
The candle on the counter should tell you what you already know: I'm Mexican.
Close-up view of the previous shot.
The living room area. The fan is a necessity since it's been incredibly hot (at least for the Bay Area) since I've been here. The high this weekend is supposed to be 100 degrees F. The Lakers banner is a placeholder--I except to put up an Angels 2008 Western Division Champions pennant once October rolls around. Calm down, Phil and Brandon, the Lakers banner stays, it just moves down the wall.
I was unsure whether to give Jack and Bobby their own wall and place them behind the couch. Seems like a waste of space, and I guess a California wall isn't too bad. Note my bass guitar behind the couch.
Speaking of the couch, if I had one complaint about the room, it's the fact that the couch situation is a bit awkward. The desk the room came with is pretty large, almost abnormally so. The desk actually sticks out into the space just in front of the right side of the couch. What's worse is I can't move the couch any more towards the kitchen without denying myself any room to sit at the bar behind it. Oh well.
My desk, with the requisite computer (set to Facebook, as always), TV, and PS2 (for The Show!) You can see my $741 law textbooks on the first shelf, along with the three most important books I own: Baseball Prospectus 2008, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster, and the Bible. Note how large the desk is. It makes the ones in Governor's Corner look like the Dennis Kuciniches of desks. I also have my subwoofer and my printer underneath the desk (though only the subwoofer is really visible in this picture).
The always-present American flag behind my bed. I always keep that flag with me, no matter if I'm living at home or at school.
Yes, that's a spare mattress under my bed. That's actually the mattress the came with the room, but I was snotty enough to want to use my own mattress (one must sleep in comfort, after all). I should probably ask Housing to pick that up (mental note).
ALSO, THE LEAF IS BACK, MUTHAFUCKAS!
As you can see there's plenty of closet space, which I guess is wasted on me since I don't have too many clothes. One interesting quirk: the dresser is actually bolted to the closet floor. I had no intentions of moving it, but I find it pretty funny anyway. Were they afraid that someone was going to steal the dressers? I guess one inconvenience: because the dresser is stuck in the middle, you have minimal closet floor space alongside it. A better compromise would have been to put the dresser to one side of the closet to allow maximum roomage.
The bathroom. I know, so exciting. I plan on making the bathroom England-themed by filling it with mementos from my quarter abroad at Oxford. Unfortunately, I failed to think of this genius design idea while I was still at home, so I only have a handful of things to put on the walls. The Underground map and the Union Jack will have to do for now.
The toilet, presented without further comment.
I was actually a little disappointed with the room when I first walked in--I thought it was too small, smaller than I actually thought it was going to be, and I didn't have high hopes to begin with. But after living in it for a week, putting my own personal touch on it and seeing some of the other studios, I've come around on the size issue. It's a pretty decent sized room for one person.
Anyway, I'm not yet done decorating. I need more stuff to put on the corkboard (forgot to put more pictures I have up with me, actually). I need to decide exactly what to do with a leaf. I want to put a wall clock where the "Si Se Puede!" sign is now above my bookshelf. I need a new desk chair. A small table by the couch would also be desirable. I also want to buy an "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" poster to replace the "Hard Day's Night" poster next to my bed.
If any of you have design ideas, let me know, especially those of you who have already lived in your own apartment. One more thing: if any of you have pictures that I can put on my picture frame, drop me a line and send them to me!
The entrance to the apartment. Note my Imelda Marcos-like hat collection. One can never have too many hats, I say. And these are just my baseball caps. My other hats are still at home to be brought up. I can't go to law school without a fedora, after all.
A close up of the entrance area. The table came with the place, but I'm not sure exactly what to do with it. Perhaps I could put more knick-knacks, but that may be too cluttery. For now, I've settled for the Ikea lamp and my digital picture frame (nice picture, Jack).
The view from the door. Instead of a table, the bar on the left serves as the eating surface. Not ideal, but I guess I don't really need a full dining table since I'm only one person (emo noise). At least the place came with stools. Now if I just had room for a small bar...
The kitchen. I don't know what I can really say about it, besides the fact that I didn't clean it before I took this photo. Yes, I'm that much of a neat freak. Take note, ladies. This should surely improve my market value in that regard. ;)The candle on the counter should tell you what you already know: I'm Mexican.
Close-up view of the previous shot.
The living room area. The fan is a necessity since it's been incredibly hot (at least for the Bay Area) since I've been here. The high this weekend is supposed to be 100 degrees F. The Lakers banner is a placeholder--I except to put up an Angels 2008 Western Division Champions pennant once October rolls around. Calm down, Phil and Brandon, the Lakers banner stays, it just moves down the wall.I was unsure whether to give Jack and Bobby their own wall and place them behind the couch. Seems like a waste of space, and I guess a California wall isn't too bad. Note my bass guitar behind the couch.
Speaking of the couch, if I had one complaint about the room, it's the fact that the couch situation is a bit awkward. The desk the room came with is pretty large, almost abnormally so. The desk actually sticks out into the space just in front of the right side of the couch. What's worse is I can't move the couch any more towards the kitchen without denying myself any room to sit at the bar behind it. Oh well.
My desk, with the requisite computer (set to Facebook, as always), TV, and PS2 (for The Show!) You can see my $741 law textbooks on the first shelf, along with the three most important books I own: Baseball Prospectus 2008, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster, and the Bible. Note how large the desk is. It makes the ones in Governor's Corner look like the Dennis Kuciniches of desks. I also have my subwoofer and my printer underneath the desk (though only the subwoofer is really visible in this picture).
The always-present American flag behind my bed. I always keep that flag with me, no matter if I'm living at home or at school.Yes, that's a spare mattress under my bed. That's actually the mattress the came with the room, but I was snotty enough to want to use my own mattress (one must sleep in comfort, after all). I should probably ask Housing to pick that up (mental note).
ALSO, THE LEAF IS BACK, MUTHAFUCKAS!
As you can see there's plenty of closet space, which I guess is wasted on me since I don't have too many clothes. One interesting quirk: the dresser is actually bolted to the closet floor. I had no intentions of moving it, but I find it pretty funny anyway. Were they afraid that someone was going to steal the dressers? I guess one inconvenience: because the dresser is stuck in the middle, you have minimal closet floor space alongside it. A better compromise would have been to put the dresser to one side of the closet to allow maximum roomage.
The bathroom. I know, so exciting. I plan on making the bathroom England-themed by filling it with mementos from my quarter abroad at Oxford. Unfortunately, I failed to think of this genius design idea while I was still at home, so I only have a handful of things to put on the walls. The Underground map and the Union Jack will have to do for now.
The toilet, presented without further comment.I was actually a little disappointed with the room when I first walked in--I thought it was too small, smaller than I actually thought it was going to be, and I didn't have high hopes to begin with. But after living in it for a week, putting my own personal touch on it and seeing some of the other studios, I've come around on the size issue. It's a pretty decent sized room for one person.
Anyway, I'm not yet done decorating. I need more stuff to put on the corkboard (forgot to put more pictures I have up with me, actually). I need to decide exactly what to do with a leaf. I want to put a wall clock where the "Si Se Puede!" sign is now above my bookshelf. I need a new desk chair. A small table by the couch would also be desirable. I also want to buy an "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" poster to replace the "Hard Day's Night" poster next to my bed.
If any of you have design ideas, let me know, especially those of you who have already lived in your own apartment. One more thing: if any of you have pictures that I can put on my picture frame, drop me a line and send them to me!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Were you in this campaign just for me?
A quick post for today: last night, Hillary Clinton gave a much-anticipated address to the Democratic National Convention. If you haven't seen it, here's the linkie:
Those of you who know me know that I've never had much affection for Hillary Clinton. I think she and her husband embody the permanent campaign that has laid waste to our politics. Bill was a decent president, and is often hailed as one of the great politicians of his generation. This assessment is largely true, but Bill's genius was in his tactical abilities rather than his strategic talents. His administration was incredibly adept at daily hand-to-hand combat with the Republicans, but lacking in its ability to piece together a coherent message that unified his presidency. It's not surprising that he was able to win reelection even while his party lost even more seats in the House two years after losing control of that body for the first time in decades.
Hillary has the same problem without many of Bill's positive attributes: the effusive charm, the innate talent for empathy, and gifts as a speaker. I think this explains why she lost the nomination to Obama: her campaign was incredibly proficient at negative campaigning, but she lacked the charisma to compensate. Like her husband, Hillary ran a tactics-first campaign that struggled from week to week to find a coherent message beyond the shininess of the Clinton brand.
That was my long-winded way of saying that I don't like Hillary. But back to the present.
Her convention address was certainly one of the best speeches I've seen her give. One of the little things I've noticed over the course of the past primary campaign was Hillary's evolution as a speaker. Initially Hillary was a bit wooden, a la Al Gore. She seemed to have no concept of gesturing, and her ability to vary her tone left something to be desired. Something I found especially grating was her inability to change her volume. She seemed to scream any line or phrase she wanted to emphasize. "That's why we need to send another Clinton to the White House" would become THAT'S WHY WE NEED TO SEND ANOTHER CLINTON TO THE WHITE HOUSE instead of "THAT'S why we NEED to send ANOTHER Clinton to the White HOUSE!" A good speech to watch as a reference is her speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
While she still lacks the seemingly easy passion of her husband and the polish of Barack Obama's almost preacher-like cadence, she's become a pretty capable speaker in her own right. She understands the usefulness of the silent beat. She is screaming less and less. Her speechwriting is even improving (whether or not this is a kudos for her or a speechwriter is another matter). Gone are lame catch phrases like I'M IN IT TO WIN IT! In are pretty good lines like "Were you in this campaign just for me?"
So all in all an impressive performance. Whether or not this is going to persuade the remaining Hillary holdouts to devote their energies to Obama, a question asked countless times by pundits over the past few weeks, I do not know. But at the very least, I have seen Hillary's speechifying abilities improved greatly, which I am sure will be useful to her later political endeavors.
Those of you who know me know that I've never had much affection for Hillary Clinton. I think she and her husband embody the permanent campaign that has laid waste to our politics. Bill was a decent president, and is often hailed as one of the great politicians of his generation. This assessment is largely true, but Bill's genius was in his tactical abilities rather than his strategic talents. His administration was incredibly adept at daily hand-to-hand combat with the Republicans, but lacking in its ability to piece together a coherent message that unified his presidency. It's not surprising that he was able to win reelection even while his party lost even more seats in the House two years after losing control of that body for the first time in decades.
Hillary has the same problem without many of Bill's positive attributes: the effusive charm, the innate talent for empathy, and gifts as a speaker. I think this explains why she lost the nomination to Obama: her campaign was incredibly proficient at negative campaigning, but she lacked the charisma to compensate. Like her husband, Hillary ran a tactics-first campaign that struggled from week to week to find a coherent message beyond the shininess of the Clinton brand.
That was my long-winded way of saying that I don't like Hillary. But back to the present.
Her convention address was certainly one of the best speeches I've seen her give. One of the little things I've noticed over the course of the past primary campaign was Hillary's evolution as a speaker. Initially Hillary was a bit wooden, a la Al Gore. She seemed to have no concept of gesturing, and her ability to vary her tone left something to be desired. Something I found especially grating was her inability to change her volume. She seemed to scream any line or phrase she wanted to emphasize. "That's why we need to send another Clinton to the White House" would become THAT'S WHY WE NEED TO SEND ANOTHER CLINTON TO THE WHITE HOUSE instead of "THAT'S why we NEED to send ANOTHER Clinton to the White HOUSE!" A good speech to watch as a reference is her speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
While she still lacks the seemingly easy passion of her husband and the polish of Barack Obama's almost preacher-like cadence, she's become a pretty capable speaker in her own right. She understands the usefulness of the silent beat. She is screaming less and less. Her speechwriting is even improving (whether or not this is a kudos for her or a speechwriter is another matter). Gone are lame catch phrases like I'M IN IT TO WIN IT! In are pretty good lines like "Were you in this campaign just for me?"
So all in all an impressive performance. Whether or not this is going to persuade the remaining Hillary holdouts to devote their energies to Obama, a question asked countless times by pundits over the past few weeks, I do not know. But at the very least, I have seen Hillary's speechifying abilities improved greatly, which I am sure will be useful to her later political endeavors.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Why lawyers make a lot of money, or why I should have been a painter
I spent a whole bunch of money yesterday. For the amount of cash culled from my bank account, you know what I could have gotten?
One of these, with enough cash left over to pay for three months worth of data service:
Two of these, and a few games to boot:
A guaranteed plane ticket to this idyllic destination:
Instead, what did I spend a small fortune on? Well, folks, it's these babies:
Yep, you're looking at $741 worth of law textbooks. I always knew that my textbook expenditures at SLS would dwarf anything I spent during undergrad, but the margin was more than I imagined. Before I got my reading list for my fall semester classes, I went to the bookstore on Saturday to try and scope out the law section to get a ballpark figure for the cost of books. I was surprised to see that most were reasonably priced, and by reasonably I mean less than $70. I shook my head, and mused that every law student I've heard complain about this problem was just exaggerating.
Reading list in hand, I went back to the bookstore on Monday to get my books before everyone
else did. Most people had yet to move in so I reasoned I had a shot of picking up the used books, which are sold at a decent discount. That pipe dream lasted long enough for me to find the first book on my list: Civil Procedure, Theory and Practice. $138. That's the upper limit of much I spent on textbooks per quarter back in the day. The used books were listed for much cheaper prices, but of course, none were available. After quickly scanning the rest of the books I had to buy, I estimated that the bottom line would be somewhere from $300 to $400.
Obviously my serious deficiency with numbers explains why I'm going to law school and not getting a Ph.D in math, because when the cashier read "seven hundred and forty one dollars," I remembered what it felt like to get shafted (figuratively of course). I suppose that I may keep these books for the rest of my lawyering days, that they could be handy reference guides for years to come. That doesn't make the cost any more palatable, though.
So, next time you wonder why lawyers make so much money, here is your answer: because it costs so much to become one. If lawyers made what service workers made, there'd be no reason to go to law school. There would be no lawyers. Some of you may think that would be an improvement, but ask yourself: who are you going to turn to next time you spill a scalding hot cup of McDonald's coffee on your lap? Are you going to sit there, take it, and apply ice to your genitals? No. You're going to lawsuit up, and take the Golden Arches to court. While your lawyer is before the judge explaining how the boiling coffee has done irreparable damage to your reproductive organs, and that this impairment has caused you great emotional turmoil, don't complain about how much you're paying him to represent you. Don't complain because he had to dole out a shitload of money just so he could get up there and represent your clumsy ass in the first place.
One of these, with enough cash left over to pay for three months worth of data service:
Two of these, and a few games to boot:
A guaranteed plane ticket to this idyllic destination:
Instead, what did I spend a small fortune on? Well, folks, it's these babies:
Yep, you're looking at $741 worth of law textbooks. I always knew that my textbook expenditures at SLS would dwarf anything I spent during undergrad, but the margin was more than I imagined. Before I got my reading list for my fall semester classes, I went to the bookstore on Saturday to try and scope out the law section to get a ballpark figure for the cost of books. I was surprised to see that most were reasonably priced, and by reasonably I mean less than $70. I shook my head, and mused that every law student I've heard complain about this problem was just exaggerating.Reading list in hand, I went back to the bookstore on Monday to get my books before everyone
else did. Most people had yet to move in so I reasoned I had a shot of picking up the used books, which are sold at a decent discount. That pipe dream lasted long enough for me to find the first book on my list: Civil Procedure, Theory and Practice. $138. That's the upper limit of much I spent on textbooks per quarter back in the day. The used books were listed for much cheaper prices, but of course, none were available. After quickly scanning the rest of the books I had to buy, I estimated that the bottom line would be somewhere from $300 to $400.
Obviously my serious deficiency with numbers explains why I'm going to law school and not getting a Ph.D in math, because when the cashier read "seven hundred and forty one dollars," I remembered what it felt like to get shafted (figuratively of course). I suppose that I may keep these books for the rest of my lawyering days, that they could be handy reference guides for years to come. That doesn't make the cost any more palatable, though.
So, next time you wonder why lawyers make so much money, here is your answer: because it costs so much to become one. If lawyers made what service workers made, there'd be no reason to go to law school. There would be no lawyers. Some of you may think that would be an improvement, but ask yourself: who are you going to turn to next time you spill a scalding hot cup of McDonald's coffee on your lap? Are you going to sit there, take it, and apply ice to your genitals? No. You're going to lawsuit up, and take the Golden Arches to court. While your lawyer is before the judge explaining how the boiling coffee has done irreparable damage to your reproductive organs, and that this impairment has caused you great emotional turmoil, don't complain about how much you're paying him to represent you. Don't complain because he had to dole out a shitload of money just so he could get up there and represent your clumsy ass in the first place.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Schedules and Salads (but not necessarily in that order)
After a year of general bumitude, there is nothing more jarring then receiving an email from Stanford Law informing me that my class schedule for the fall semester had been published. The worst part was the tone of the message--whoever wrote it made it sound as if this were a happy occurrence. It was not. I've gotten used to a lifestyle where the biggest decision of my day was what I was going to eat for lunch. Compared to hours in the library, choosing between Ted's and Tommy's seems like a happy dilemma (though I'll admit a less healthy one than I'd like).
As is usual with Stanford, anything that can be done easily, well, isn't. They provided us with two sites: one listing our course numbers and date/time, and another with the corresponding course names and professors. Why they couldn't provide all of that information on one grid is frustrating, but all too expected. So after a few minutes of putting everything together on iCal, this is what I got (click to see it full-sized):
What makes the first semester of law school different than any of the other constituent parts is that all classes are mandatory. The idea is to force everyone to take survey courses in the core subjects of the law every lawyer should be familiar with. I suppose the first semester is the crucible in which they intend to take our legally untrained minds and shape us into lawyers-in-training. As you can see, the core classes are Criminal Law, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Torts, and Legal Writing and Research. Criminal (or Crim), with its "Law and Order" appeal, sounds like it could be fun, and I could see Civil Procedure as potentially interesting. As for Torts, well, I definitely don't want to pursue it as a career, but at least the cases will be fun to read (imagine reading accounts of the stupid things people do everyday, and you have a torts case...I've read one involving a circus elephant pooping on a woman in the stands and whether or not the circus was liable for the emotional damage she suffered as a result). I also get a perverse pleasure out of assigning blame to people for their negligence. It appeals to the J in my ENFJ personality.
One of the cookie cutter, getting-to-know-you questions everyone asks one another at this embryonic stage of law school is, "What section are you in?" Like some high schools, there are certain sections of people who have the same schedule day in and day out. For whatever reason, your criminal law class determines which section you are assigned to. I have yet to meet anyone in my section, but I'm sure that'll change once more people move in. I'm in no rush--I'm sure I'll get to know those people pretty well anyway (I think it'd be impossible not to get to know one another after sharing five hours of class a day).
As for the difficulty of the schedule itself, I'm actually a bit relieved. I was convinced it would be much worse than this. I envisioned hours of lecture every day followed by even more hours reading at the law library. Shower, rinse, REMless nap, repeat. This isn't quite that bad. The good news is that there are no classes past 330 PM. Now, despite my propensity to avoid sleep, I actually prefer having classes in the morning so that I can get them over with, allowing me to veg out for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not looking forward to a 9:50 AM class (definitely the bad news) but at least the lunch break is pretty substantial, leaving more time than I had as an undergrad here. Apparently Stanford thinks that lunch should be long enough for you to either A) rush back to your dorm and eat fast enough to jet off to the next class or B) stand in line at UnionSquared for twenty minutes and scarf down your southwest chicken salad without tasting the rich yet tangy cilantro dressing.
Man, just mentioning that salad makes me hungry. Silly as it sounds, that salad was not a small part of my decision calculus between Stanford and Harvard. In college, the mere promise of that salad was enough to get me through the week. The song says everybody's working for the weekend, but not me. I was just trying to survive until Friday for the "dudes" lunch with my crew and the opportunity to enjoy that salad.
Speaking of which, Union Squared is open tomorrow. Is a southwest chicken salad in the cards? Or should I be frugal and have leftovers? Kinda funny--I'm at law school but without a meal plan, what to eat at lunch is still one of the most important decisions I make on a daily basis. Maybe this won't be as big a departure from the last fifteen months as I thought it'd be?
As is usual with Stanford, anything that can be done easily, well, isn't. They provided us with two sites: one listing our course numbers and date/time, and another with the corresponding course names and professors. Why they couldn't provide all of that information on one grid is frustrating, but all too expected. So after a few minutes of putting everything together on iCal, this is what I got (click to see it full-sized):
What makes the first semester of law school different than any of the other constituent parts is that all classes are mandatory. The idea is to force everyone to take survey courses in the core subjects of the law every lawyer should be familiar with. I suppose the first semester is the crucible in which they intend to take our legally untrained minds and shape us into lawyers-in-training. As you can see, the core classes are Criminal Law, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Torts, and Legal Writing and Research. Criminal (or Crim), with its "Law and Order" appeal, sounds like it could be fun, and I could see Civil Procedure as potentially interesting. As for Torts, well, I definitely don't want to pursue it as a career, but at least the cases will be fun to read (imagine reading accounts of the stupid things people do everyday, and you have a torts case...I've read one involving a circus elephant pooping on a woman in the stands and whether or not the circus was liable for the emotional damage she suffered as a result). I also get a perverse pleasure out of assigning blame to people for their negligence. It appeals to the J in my ENFJ personality.
One of the cookie cutter, getting-to-know-you questions everyone asks one another at this embryonic stage of law school is, "What section are you in?" Like some high schools, there are certain sections of people who have the same schedule day in and day out. For whatever reason, your criminal law class determines which section you are assigned to. I have yet to meet anyone in my section, but I'm sure that'll change once more people move in. I'm in no rush--I'm sure I'll get to know those people pretty well anyway (I think it'd be impossible not to get to know one another after sharing five hours of class a day).
As for the difficulty of the schedule itself, I'm actually a bit relieved. I was convinced it would be much worse than this. I envisioned hours of lecture every day followed by even more hours reading at the law library. Shower, rinse, REMless nap, repeat. This isn't quite that bad. The good news is that there are no classes past 330 PM. Now, despite my propensity to avoid sleep, I actually prefer having classes in the morning so that I can get them over with, allowing me to veg out for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not looking forward to a 9:50 AM class (definitely the bad news) but at least the lunch break is pretty substantial, leaving more time than I had as an undergrad here. Apparently Stanford thinks that lunch should be long enough for you to either A) rush back to your dorm and eat fast enough to jet off to the next class or B) stand in line at UnionSquared for twenty minutes and scarf down your southwest chicken salad without tasting the rich yet tangy cilantro dressing.
Man, just mentioning that salad makes me hungry. Silly as it sounds, that salad was not a small part of my decision calculus between Stanford and Harvard. In college, the mere promise of that salad was enough to get me through the week. The song says everybody's working for the weekend, but not me. I was just trying to survive until Friday for the "dudes" lunch with my crew and the opportunity to enjoy that salad.
Speaking of which, Union Squared is open tomorrow. Is a southwest chicken salad in the cards? Or should I be frugal and have leftovers? Kinda funny--I'm at law school but without a meal plan, what to eat at lunch is still one of the most important decisions I make on a daily basis. Maybe this won't be as big a departure from the last fifteen months as I thought it'd be?
Saturday, August 23, 2008
I'm back, and a preview of many bumper stickers:
What I think about the choice of Biden is irrelevant. I'm mostly unhappy that I didn't get a text message, as promised, announcing the pick. I signed up like everyone else, and was waiting with bated breath to hear that distinctive *ding* on my Crackberry. Imagine how jealous I was when everyone on Kos was bragging about getting their (3 AM, of course) text message. Oh well.
A few weeks ago, I told an Obama phone banker that I would give another $25 to the campaign, so this seemed as good a night as any other to fulfill that promise. While I intended to make a donation this month anyway, I wanted to give this poor guy on the phone a positive result. I've been on the other end of phone banking, and let me tell you, it makes your day to finally get on the horn with someone who willing to help out. As it is, you're lucky not to get hung up on at least twice per day.
I can imagine that the Obama-Biden '08 bumper stickers are going to be on sale and on a car bumper near you any moment now. My dad asked if I wanted a new sticker, but I told him that I'm keeping the sticker I already have on my car. I've had it there since Obama announced back in January 2007, and retaining it is my way of declaring, "I'm not a bandwagoner, I could tell this guy was gonna make it way back when."
That doesn't mean that I won't be purchasing an Obama-Biden yard sign, though...
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Edwards drops out
From MSNBC:
What's interesting is that, in case of a brokered convention, Edwards may retain considerable "king-making" power. Though he's suspending his campaign, he is still on the ballot in many states, and will still gain delegates through Super Tuesday and beyond. If we don't have a nominee by the time the party rolls into Denver, Edwards may have enough delegates to effectively choose who the nominee will be.
I'm going to Santa Ana to the Orange Country Obama for President office. More on that later.
Democrat John Edwards bowed out of the race for the White House on Wednesday, saying it was time to step aside “so that history can blaze its path” in a campaign now left to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.I'm not sure what sort of an impact this has on the race. Of course Barack Obama seems like the natural safe haven for erstwhile Edwards supporters, but I've read arguments and seen statistics that seem to suggest that isn't true. It's an oversimplification to say that the Edwards people will gravitate towards the other "change" candidate--Edwards constituency was much more complicated than that. Many of them are populist-minded middle class and upper class folks who will probably lean towards Obama, but the working class folk who were attracted to Edward's promise to fight for their interests have proven to be Hillary supporters in the previous four primaries. I think that, barring an endorsement either way, Edwards supporters will break about even for the remaining two Democratic candidates.
What's interesting is that, in case of a brokered convention, Edwards may retain considerable "king-making" power. Though he's suspending his campaign, he is still on the ballot in many states, and will still gain delegates through Super Tuesday and beyond. If we don't have a nominee by the time the party rolls into Denver, Edwards may have enough delegates to effectively choose who the nominee will be.
I'm going to Santa Ana to the Orange Country Obama for President office. More on that later.
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