Bag of Crap

The things people will buy amaze me. When I saw that Woot.com had sold over $100k worth of this it just amazed me. Here is the ad in total:

Bag O’ Crap XXI

Wait, wait, why are you clicking that button? Don't click! You don't want this junk. Seriously, clicking that I WANT ONE button is a one-way ticket to disappointment and shame. You'll cram a few useless clumps of consumer flotsam into your life, be out like eight bucks, and for what? For what? What is the sound of one hand crapping?
If you must proceed, CHECK THIS OUT. Somebody misunderstands this concept every time, so please READ THE BIG PRINT:

1. WHEN YOU ORDER THIS ITEM, YOU’RE ORDERING ONE (1) BAG WITH up to THREE (3) PIECES OF CRAP IN IT.
2. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SELECTING THE QUANTITY: THREE WHEN YOU ORDER.
3. YOU WILL WASTE FREIGHT IF YOU ORDER FEWER THAN THREE. And you’ll get less crap. Wait, why is that bad again? Do you people really need more crap?

You’re only getting one bag, no matter what. The order quantity you select is the number of crappy items we’ll put in your bag. Select THREE. Later, you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of taunting the surprisingly large number of less observant Wooters who ordered less than THREE.
As usual, we promise nothing about the quality or the desirability of these bags or their contents, except to promise that their quality will be low and their desirability will be non-existent. The best quantity you could possibly order would be ZERO.

THE HOLY CRAP COMMANDMENTS v2.0:

I. Thou shalt expect nothing beyond one bag of some kind and your chosen quantity of crappy items (which should be THREE).
II. Thou shalt not whine and complain when some people’s crap turns out to be nicer than yours.
III. Thou shalt take a moment to consider whether you might be better off just not buying this crap.
IV. Thou shalt not order just one crap and blame it on anything but your own inattention.
V. To paraphrase Stephen Stills, shalt thou not get the crap you want, want the crap you get.
The crap will be shipped via SmartPost, the crappiest shipping method available to us.

"Holiday" Weekend?

Aside from the geese making all sorts of racket as they catch up on a summers worth of conversation as they fly over my house at night on their way south, I really do like this time of year. There is still sunlight out when I get home from work. If you're not from a northern climate you can't understand how depressing it is to have the sun rise after you go to work and set before you get into your car at night. I also like the fact that I can wear cute fall sweaters without roasting under the office heaters which will be turned on in a couple of weeks. I always find it strange that they blast me with AC all summer and roast me with the heaters all winter. Why can't they turn the thermostat to 70 and leave it alone! There is no need for 75 in winter and 65 in summer. Said sweaters are also not yet covered up by heavier parkas and other layers. This is the perfect in between time when I can actually enjoy my cute fall clothes. They are much better than summer clothes, which always fit me wrong. I'd much rather wear a cashmere sweater and cute khakis than skirts and tank tops.

But Labor Day really does signal the beginning of the end for me. I better enjoy it while I can because by this time next month all of the leaves will have fallen and there will be snow on the ground. Don't believe me? I'll post pictures. Speaking of labor day, why does the phrase 3-day-weekend suddenly inspire people to get projects done? More than likely they will only work hard 1 out of the 3 days and they could just do that on a normal weekend. Oh well, I may as well join them and have weekend plans. I'm not doing any labor day shopping as I don't really need anything and no matter how good a deal it is it's not a good deal if I don't need it.

1. I am putting all of the left-over garage sale items on Craigslist, Freecycle, or donating them
2. I will take two full LSATs, one timed and one untimed
3. I will submit the stack of health care stuff to insurance and finally get reimbursed
4. I will try and clean the house, find more stuff to get rid of and repeat #1
5. I will spend at least one out of the three days out of doors, because by this time next month there will be snow on the ground and I should enjoy it while I can
6. I will attempt to kick hubby's but fencing, or at least maintain respectable form

Do Magazines Count?

I complained a couple of days back about Americans not reading enough. If I don't count anything other than traditionally bound books I still read about a book a month or more, but if you add in magazines its probably far higher. Lately though, hubby has been eyeing my ever-growing periodicals stack with suspicion, and I don’t blame him. How did someone whose life so fully revolves around the Web end up with so many subscriptions to print magazines? Well, I guess the real answer is I am only paying for two of them (the rest were free from airline miles or surveys I took) and I can't turn down free stuff. The other thing being that until recently I wouldn't cut pages out of magazines, instead saving the entire glossy for a one page article I liked. Kind of falls in line with my phobia of highlighting in textbooks.

That said, he has a point. I realized that having an entire 3 cubic feet of magazines in my living room is a bit much. Then I discovered during our garage sale that he had sneakily ferreted an entire book box worth of these glossies out to the garage and was hoping to ditch them before I noticed. I am now going through and finally cutting out pages of exercises that I want to add to my workout binder and clipping recipes and cute clothes. As a result I feel productive having gone through quite a lot of junk, wasteful at the amount of trees that met their death on the way to my PO Box, out of shape thanks to all of the great workouts I could be but am not doing and hungry as a result of all of the aforementioned recipes I've clipped. Little by little I'm getting rid of reams of glossy paper and I solemnly vow that I will only subscribe to magazines that I would pay for had they not been free.

10 Till Dinner (4)

Turkey burgers cooked on a George Forman with melted cheddar cheese, tomato fresh out of the garden and fresh picked lettuce. Total cooking time, including preheating George Foreman is about 10 minutes. Add to that some store-bought potato salad, some baked beans that you cook in the microwave and between two people you can easily do barbecue in under 10 minutes.

Of course, in my household no meal is complete without something sweet. I am usually content with a large mug of tea and an ounce of dark chocolate. I justify the measly 60 calories easily by telling myself about all of the anti-oxidant goodness that I'll be getting out of it. I can even justify this time wise as making tea takes no time at all and I know that I'll need both tea and chocolate in law school for comfort and caffeine sanity.

But every once in awhile I get in a baking mood. My latest one resulted in not just one, but two cakes, one chocolate and one white, both with dark chocolate frosting. One was consumed at our post garage sale barbecue by hubby's guy friends on Sunday and the other is stored safely in my freezer awaiting a suitable social occasion to instantly have impressive looking dessert. With a ready to go dessert of perfectly moist wonderful white cake topped with homemade dark fudge frosting, why do I suddenly feel the cream cheese in my fridge calling to me saying, "You have all the ingredients for chocolate-crusted, ganache-coated cheesecake with cubes of brownies inside. It was so good last time you made it and even though you swore you wouldn't make it again until hubby's birthday, as it is just too caloricially sinful, there will be lots of other people around to help you eat it, so you don't have to feel bad."? *sigh* I won't have time for this type of cooking law school, so I better take advantage of time while I have it.

LSAT Registration

Registration...done. Money...gone. Ouch! This better be worth it!

LSAT Timing...Again

I took my weekend LSAT yesterday, forcing myself to finish each section and not let questions go unanswered, guessing on the toughies and moving on. My reading and games scores that I was so worried about went up! Bad news was that I kept up that pace finishing 5 minutes early on each logical reasoning section and was too brain dead to go back to all of my starred questions that I wasn't sure about. Sure enough, I got them wrong, making my score of 158 pretty similar to my score of slowly but steadily answering and running out of time on two sections. So, I need to keep the pace up on reading and logic games and go back to taking my time on logical reasoning, using ALL of my time to check my answers on the toughies in those sections. Hopefully when I do that I will have a net score increase. I will attempt to do another practice test tonight keeping that in mind and if my score improves I'll be registering for the test by the deadline of, ack...tomorrow!

Touche to the Tushy

I'm sore, I'm bruised and I haven't felt better in a long time. Last night hubby and I finally dug out our fencing gear after a long year of laziness and hauled ourselves down to the local fencing salle. Off and on since senior year of high-school I've fenced. When I met hubby I made him take ballroom dance and fencing, he made me take Aikido. He can still jump over 4 people and roll to a perfect fighting stance while I dropped Aikido after a few weeks, neither of us can dance very well, but we can both fence decently. I rediscovered a lot of muscles that I forgot that I had and realized that I need to retrain my reflexes or get used to bruises, but it was a blast. Some couples have marriage counseling, we have fencing. You aren't supposed to talk when fencing according to the ettiquette, but a lot get's communicated anyway through grunts yells, exhulted screams, etc. I would highly recommend it for both exercise and a way to relieve stress. We'll definitely have to keep this up this year. Although, people at work think hubby beats me now because I've begun showing up with mysterious bruises on my arms. Oh well.

Why Fence?

Fencing is a fun sociable alternative to the gym.

Energetic all over body work out.

New fencers are always very welcome.

Compete as an individual fencer or in a team.

Innovative sport with three exciting disciplines.

No experience necessary to get started.

Great stress buster.

*From Salle Paul Website

Law Firms for Women

I have a feeling some of these firms will be seeing applications from me. I'm not a mother now, but I hope to be one in the future and I would never pursue a career that I thought would eliminate that option. That is why I was heartened to see that this month, August 2007, Working Mother published its first list of "Best Law Firms for Women." I was kind of surprised to see two or three of them on the list, but I'm glad to see that their reputations aren't as tough in all possible lights.

THE 2007 WORKING MOTHER & FLEX-TIME LAWYERS BEST LAW FIRMS FOR WOMEN

Alston & Bird (Atlanta, GA)
Armstrong Teasdale (St. Louis, MO)
Arnold & Porter (Washington, DC)
Baker & Daniels (Indianapolis, IN)
Baker & McKenzie (Chicago, IL)
Bingham McCutchen (Boston, MA)
Blackwell Sanders (Kansas City, MO)
Bryan Cave (St. Louis, MO)
Chapman and Cutler (Chicago, IL)
Covington & Burling (Washington, DC)
Cravath, Swaine & Moore (New York, NY)
Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
Dickstein Shapiro (Washington, DC)
DLA Piper US (New York, NY)
Dorsey & Whitney (Minneapolis, MN)
Duane Morris (Philadelphia, PA)
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott (Pittsburgh, PA)
Farella Braun + Martel (San Francisco, CA)
Foley & Lardner (Milwaukee, WI)
Folger Levin & Kahn (San Francisco, CA)
Gibbons P.C. (Newark, NJ)
Heller Ehrman (San Francisco, CA)
Hogan & Hartson (Washington, DC)
Holland & Knight (New York, NY)
Howrey (Washington, DC)
Hunton & Williams (Richmond, VA)
Ice Miller (Indianapolis, IN)
Katten Muchin Rosenman (Chicago, IL)
King & Spalding (Atlanta, GA)
Kirkland & Ellis (Chicago, IL)
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis (Pittsburgh, PA)
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel (New York, NY)
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (Los Angeles, CA)
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw (Chicago, IL)
McDermott Will & Emery (Chicago, IL)
McGuireWoods (Richmond, VA)
Miller & Chevalier Chartered (Washington, DC)
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo (Boston, MA)
Morrison & Foerster (San Francisco, CA)
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (New York, NY)
Patton Boggs (Washington, DC)
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (New York, NY)
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (New York, NY)
Reed Smith (Pittsburgh, PA)
Sidley Austin (Chicago, IL)
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (New York, NY)
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (Chicago, IL)
White & Case (New York, NY)
WilmerHale (Washington, DC)
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice (Winston-Salem, NC)

Read this!

One in four Americans read NO books last year!

That's just plain sad and a real indictment against our society that we aren't challenging our minds. Think of all the literature that you had to read in school. Should this process stop merely because you aren't being forced to read. Sure, you probably didn't like all of it, but now you get to choose what you read.

LSAT Tips (2)

This weekend was spent in a combination of recipe experimentation, house cleaning and LSAT preparation. I took a complete LSAT, timed by my proctor hubby (much better than the real thing) and scored a 162. I didn't get to 12 questions. I went back and did them after I was done with the test, go them all right and scored a 171. So yeah, my timing is bad. At least I know that in the last 7 months my score hasn't really decreased since I took the real thing. However, if I'm going to go through this thing again, I better be practicing at a higher score than last time around. As Ann Levine says on her blog, a score of 5-8 points off of your practice tests is probably right for you. I agree with her, and I am working towards bringing my practice scores higher.

LSAT Tip #4 - When studying and practicing for the LSAT, it's really important to keep track of your pace. Practicing finishing faster than what you will be allowed on test day might even give you time to go back to those tough questions. Which brings me to:

LSAT Tip #5 - All LSAT questions are not created equal. Some are actually harder than others. Missing 5 questions at the end of the test that you didn't have time for is worse than skipping one tough question and getting those 5 right with the extra time. You need to learn to resist the temptation to stick with a "tough" question until you're sure your response is correct. I am used to working through a test. I can get the questions right most of the time if I just keep working through them, but that will get me a lower score ultimately. It's a timed test for a reason.

LSAT Tip #6 - Sometimes questions are just that simple. Don't read too much into it if you think that the first answer is right. You're instincts are pretty good and if you've been right on your practice tests, they are probably worth trusting. Don't let the actual test paralyze you into over-analyzing, wasting time or changing a right answer to a wrong one after reading the question 2-3 times.

My analytical reasoning practice is going great. I'm always finishing on time or early and missing only 2-3 questions per section. My reading, yeah, not so hot. I didn't even get to the last reading. Or I did read it, but had no time for the questions. Not sure what to do about that. I also didn't get to the last game so even though I got all of the previous game questions right, I missed another 5 questions because I didn't get to that game. I did make sure to fill in all of my bubbles to get random points for unanswered questions (apparently D had no random chance in 12 unanswered questions, go figure), but I would really like to be finishing closer to time on these two sections. If anybody has any hints for speeding up, that would be appreciated.

Plastic Bags are Ugly Anyway

It's fashionable to be green if you have one of these cool bags from Envirosax. Each holds two regular plastic bags worth of groceries and can be used over and over again. Each person on Earth goes through 552 grocery and shopping bags per year. Imagine how many that is if you average it out only considering people that actually have access to those bags (dropping the folks in Djibouti, etc.). I couldn't believe that statistic so I did a little calculation. We grocery shop about every 2 weeks and bring home about 15 bags. That's 390 bags for grocery shopping. We also have another 5 bags a week probably on incidental stuff, "Oh I forgot the cream cheese, etc." That's another 260 bags for a total of 650 for two people or 325 each! Silly grocery store clerks would put 10 items in 8 bags if I let them, plus they double bag anything that includes a can. I always reuse my bags as trash bags in the bathroom or take them back to the grocery store for recycling by the food bank, but probably that means they are used a maximum of twice before they make it to the landfill. Unfortunately the world is now sold out of the iconic "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" bag and I'm not about to pay $60.00+ on Ebay to get one. If only the shipping was cheaper on these Envirosax I'd definitely pick up a set. They are so cute. I especially like the Flora series although the other styles are great too.

School Supply Lust

I walked into my local grocery store last night to get some digital photos developed and pick up ingredients for my chocolate marble brownie cheesecake. After dropping off the pictures to be processed I had turned my attention to the important task of gathering ingredients when I made the mistake of leaving the food section. I was confronted with my arch-nemesis of the Fall season...school supplies. I have no explanation why, but I love gazing at orderly rows of new unmarked binders, notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, crayons, organizers, tabbies, ah, the list goes on and on. This year was going to be my year to indulge. I was going to go on a rampage, setting up my law school office with highlighters, tabbies, maybe even a new laptop. Alas, with the decision to wait another year, I have no such justification to buy. I still have plenty of half full mechanical pencils, pens that aren't quite dry, highlighters in at least two colors and a laptop that is only slowly dying, not in dire need of replacement. I stood there with a look of wistful regret on my face in front of a row of spiral bound notebooks as my husband walked up to me: "Honey, the cream cheese is this way. Are you ok?" Yes, I'm ok, but I am lusting after these post-it notes. Tonight I will assuage my desire for school supplies with another forray into increasingly complicated cooking experiments. This Saturday it was a braided nut bread, last night it was fish curry, last week a chocolate cake and this week will be my first ever attempt at a cheesecake. I won't have time for dinners which take hours to cook or having people over for dessert just so I can try a new recipe once I'm in law school so I guess I should enjoy it while I can. Hubby's guy friends certainly aren't objecting to the constant outpouring of culinary hospitality from our house. Hmm...perhaps I could buy some recipe cards and a nice pen to transcribe our more successful attempts. I would be justified doing that...right?

Blawg Student Directory

Clever WoT has updated the law school student blog directory. I've found a lot of my favorite law school bloggers this way and I'm glad to see the major update. I'm still a 0L so I don't count yet. Hmm...something to aspire to.

Law School Reading

Starting to study for my Mass Media Law final. I am now more than familiar with the first amendment, prior restraint, libel, invasion of privacy, the freedom of information act, protection of news sources, copyright, and the regulation of obscene and other erotic material. Keeping it all straight though is proving to be another matter. Between now and the 17th I need to finish 382 pages of reading, at least 36 of which I need to finish tonight. *sigh* I guess this is good preparation for law school reading. I am finding it difficult to focus though. I end up glazing over and rereading paragraphs over and over without really absorbing things. Yesterday I was halfway through my reading when I startled back awake. It had been 20 minutes. As an undergraduate I didn't really read my textbooks cover-to-cover. I went to lectures, took notes, read the portions of the textbook relevant to the homework and copied a running list of equations onto my exam cheat sheet. For my non-engineering classes I pretty much hunted through the books, reading the parts rel event to the homework. The only thorough reading I did was in language classes or Russian literature classes. This whole law school studying is going to be tough. I'm going to have to learn a whole new way of studying. Does anybody have any suggestions for upping my reading retention or how to get more out of it?

1L Cooking - 10 Till Dinner (3)

Linguine with Shrimp and Pesto

Boil 12 oz linguine, reserving 1 cup cooking water before draining. Meanwhile toast 1⁄4 cup pine nuts in large nonstick skillet over medium heat; remove. Heat 1 tsp oil in same skillet. Add 1 lb large peeled shrimp and 1⁄2 tsp ground cumin; sauté over medium-high heat 2 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through. Add 2 diced large plum tomatoes, a 6-oz tub refrigerated basil pesto and 1⁄4 cup chopped parsley; toss until hot. Remove from heat. Toss with drained pasta and reserved cooking water as needed. Serve with grated Parmesan.

I promise the next post will not be pasta based. But really, pasta dishes are quick!

I'm Schroeder

Another quiz procrastinationWhich Peanuts Character Are You?

You are Schroeder. You are brilliant, ambitious, and brooding; you tackle tasks with extreme focus. People don't always interest you as much as other pursuits, though, so you can come off as aloof. Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Why Didn't a Law Firm Think of This?

On one hand you have Google who's Buses Help Its Workers Beat the Rush - New York Times. This helps save the environment, shorten commute times and destress workers. On the other hand you have Facebook, the social networking site, who instead of making it easier for employees to live far from work makes it easier for them to live nearby by offering a $600 monthly housing subsidy for those who live within a mile of the company’s Palo Alto headquarters. Apparently this incentive is enough that it's actually driving rent prices near Facebook headquarters up as workers try to live nearby. Perhaps the company was thinking they were helping to save the environment by encouraging employees to walk to work.

Now why didn't a law firm think of this? They can say they are caring about the environment when really what they are thinking is that having all of your employees live nearby will make them more available to you/clients. Of course if a law firm did this it would have to pay more per month than $600.00.

My Latte Talks?

Ack, Bexy is feeding my quiz addiction. Not sure I'm never moody, but the rest seems accurate. Hmm...I've been at work 30 minutes and I'm already taking quizzes. Maybe I need some coffee to help me focus.

What Your Latte Says About You

When it comes to what you like, you have your own unique tastes. And people don't really understand them. You are a very serious person. You don't have time for silly antics. Intense and energetic, you aren't completely happy unless you are bouncing off the walls. You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it. You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree. You are dramatic and intense, but you are never moody.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Looks Like My Weight Will Be Changing Soon

I agree with Anastasia. I wouldn't trust a quiz that doesn't involve inputting your height and age before determining your ideal weight. Perhaps I would have a lower ideal weight if I hadn't admitted to eating dessert most days.

You Should Weigh 155

If you weigh less than this, you either have a fast metabolism or are about to gain weight. If you weigh more than this, you may be losing a few pounds soon!

How Much Do You Weigh?

L.J.T. in Love

Having been married for 3 years now I haven't had a chance to practice my love style in a new relationship for awhile, but it seems to be fairly accurate considering we were engaged before we'd even gone out on our first official date.

You Are 73% Passionate, 27% Compassionate

You are very passionate, especially when it comes to love. In fact, it's sometimes difficult for you to tell between love and lust. You jump in head first, and figure things out later... usually when it's all over!

Is Your Love Style Passionate or Compassionate?

Where Should I Live?

American Cities That Best Fit You:

65% San Francisco 55% San Diego 55% Seattle 55% Washington, DC 50% Austin

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Strange Quiz

You scored as Friedrich Nietzsche, Well you're an egotistical maniac, and you are so very iconoclastic that you probably are currently lost in a post-modern Jupiter, I mean jungle of self-definition. Don't let it get you down though, someday, through a willful onslaught of reinterpretation of dated forms and ideas, you will strike on something that passes as remotely new, and people WILL be into it on the basis of how hip it is alone. Also, the average espresso drinker looks up to you. Friedrich Nietzsche 92% Dante Alighieri 67% Miyamoto Musashi 67% Jesus Christ 67% C.G. Jung 58% Sigmund Freud 42% O.J. Simpson 42% Stephen Hawking 42% Steven Morrissey 33% Mother Teresa 33% Adolf Hitler 25% Elvis Presley 17% Charles Manson 8% Hugh Hefner 8% What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You? created with QuizFarm.com

Found through Anastasia. This quiz asks some strange question and I'm not sure that I like the options of people.

Hat tip to "think like a woman. act like a man."

Check out Anastasia's posts on Choosing a Law School based on: Location, School Specifics, and Finances/Career Opportunities. I found her semi-fictional blawg on the ABA website. Good stuff. I like reading blawgs that are well written.

1L Cooking - 10 Till Dinner (2)

In my continued attempt to prove that eating a real meal while in law school is possible I've been building up my collection of 10 minute meals. Here's the latest:

Fettuccine with Vodka Sauce and Asparagus

Boil 12 oz fettuccine, adding 1 lb asparagus, cut bite-size, 5 minutes before pasta will be done and reserving 1 cup cooking water before draining. Meanwhile heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a chopped small onion; sauté 5 minutes until soft. Add 1 pt grape tomatoes, 1 cup vodka sauce, 1⁄2 tsp salt, and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook 1 minute or until tomatoes soften. Toss with drained pasta and asparagus, 2 Tbsp chopped parsley and reserved cooking water as needed. Serve with grated Parmesan.

I'm Alaska

You're Alaska!

You're big, bulky, and extremely wild. At the same time, you're rather
cold and standoffish, even a loner of sorts. Taming you may be one of the last great
quests of the people who do manage to find you or even seek you out. So many of them
just want to plunder you for what you have of value, but there are a few, the ones
who will stick with you, that truly value your rugged remoteness. As long as no one
is spilling stuff on you, you are truly beautiful.


Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

LSAT Angst

I remember you LSAT. I remember: how you consumed my life 205 minutes at a time, how your five sections blurred together and how the essay tested my will to stay and not just leave, how I hated proctors who clicked their pencils and chugged their sodas, scratched themselves and generally made annoying noises for all 205 minutes. I remember how it wasn't really 205 minutes. Despite the fact that 5*35+30=205. Instead you employed self absorbed proctors to drone at us and treat us like we were kindergartners who needed to be warned to take advantage of bathroom breaks, to not eat salty snacks during the break as they would make us thirst and that by no means would liquids be allowed other than during the break and that we shouldn't even have them then as they did not want us using the bathrooms. Instead of treating us like the adults we are and allowing us to plan our time according to our own pace you insisted on your proctor minions informing us every so often how little time remained by scratching the time remaining onto the chalkboard in a manner similar to a knife on a wet stone, slowly and with deliberate precision. Yes, LSAT, I hate you. Not because you tested me under timed conditions, something I have never enjoyed. Not because you forced me to learn how to do logic puzzles, a skill not necessary for 1L test taking. Not even because you charge me to take a test. I hate you because you force me to share a room with a bunch of people who, when placed under high stress or in the proctors cases high levels of boredom, make the most annoying fidgety noises which I just can't stand! Hubby has graciously volunteered to be in the room during all of my practice LSATs to help with timing and supply his usual amount of popping, cracking, scratching and fidgeting noises that he would normally get fussed at for making. He is looking forward to it. Um, yeah, I'm not. I want to go back to my study pattern of iPod + solitary confinement equals memory retention, but yeah, that didn't work so hot for me last time. Today is the beginning of my LSAT prep round two. Wish me luck. Hubby could probably use some too. He doesn't have anonymity protecting him and he's enjoying himself way too much. I have been very tempted to lob something at him.

ASU Money

Ironically, today I received a grant to attend ASU. Too late to attend, after withdrawing...stinks. The lady was apparently on vacation when I requested it and just now is checking her requests. Nice that she had money for me, shame I can't take it. I sent her an e-mail saying I look forward to applying next year. I really hope I didn't screw up. I gave up the best schedule ever and now money to boot. *sigh* I guess it wouldn't have done me too much good. I have to maintain a minimum GPA for the grant and with Hubby gearing up for deployed I wouldn't be focusing as much on school.

Saving for Law School $50 at a Time (2)

We got our electricity bill today. After one month of keeping our electronics on switched surge protectors and being mindful of turning off our lights when we aren't in the room, we have reduced our bill from $99 to $66. Everything else has stayed the same. The weather has been similar. We're doing the same amount of laundry and we're home about the same amount. So the only explanation we have for the 3kWh/day difference in our usage is the fact that we're actually mindfully using less. So now we have a 30% savings to the environment and our pocket book. If this keeps up I might be able to buy a book or two for law school next year on our electricity savings alone. Can't wait till the fuel oil bill comes to see if our thermostat adjustments have made any difference.