It's good to be back. It's been good to be back for almost a week now, but I have been neglecting my blog, as usual.
I have not gotten my room organized yet. Maybe because I'm in denial about how much stuff actually Has To Go.
I have interviewed for one (1) highly competitive job, which I'm chalking up to Good Interviewing Practice if likely no callback interview.
I have not ridden Diddy, as I managed to leave all my boots and even my tennis shoes in Abilene.
I have heard reports that Diddy is the darling of his new barn. No surprise there.
I have not bought my books, but I calculated they will cost me $1000, roughly.
I have seen many of my many friends, several of whom are entrenched in Law Journal/Review work week but still have made time to say hi, which I appreciate.
I have not gotten my hair cut, even though that has been on my to-do list since July.
I have attended Dean's Fellow training, and my second-to-last evening of lessons at Woodson Hill, and 1/2 price martini night at the Eldridge.
Now that I've compiled a list of "I have nots," maybe I will get on top of some of those tasks today.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
CKFF
Every year, Amanda and I turn out to support our wonderful Central Kansas Free Fair, and 2010 was no exception! In attendance were our four horses, whom many of you already know: Diva, Diddy, Tucker and Sprite.
Diddy is recovering nicely from his weeks of hunger in Lawrence but he still looks a little lean...that didn't stop him from getting first in his two-year-old geldings class, two and three-year-old western pleasure, and third in horsemanship!
Sprite was grand champion other breed! We are all very proud.
Tucker was robbed in halter...but did still get reserve paint gelding, and due to some unfortunate traffic in his western pleasure class, was lucky just to escape with his (and Amanda's) life! Amanda rallied and went on to win horsemanship.
Diva was slightly less of a diva than she was last year. There was minimal drama after the first night, which she spent desperately whinnying to her BFF Sprite. By the end of show day she was downright docile, and she was first in her class (of one), two-year-old mares.
Diddy is recovering nicely from his weeks of hunger in Lawrence but he still looks a little lean...that didn't stop him from getting first in his two-year-old geldings class, two and three-year-old western pleasure, and third in horsemanship!
Sprite was grand champion other breed! We are all very proud.
Tucker was robbed in halter...but did still get reserve paint gelding, and due to some unfortunate traffic in his western pleasure class, was lucky just to escape with his (and Amanda's) life! Amanda rallied and went on to win horsemanship.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
New Place
Right now I'm sitting on the sofa in my new living room, Joey's head on my leg, reflecting on how much stuff fit into my tiny two-room apartment.
The problem with stuff is that I feel that I need it. There are piles of things in my new bedroom right now so irrelevant to my daily life I can't even remember most of what's there, even though I spent all day trucking said piles the ten-or-so blocks from the old place to the new one. Yet when I put my hands on this stuff, this nonessential clutter, I can't bring myself to just bag it up and pitch it.
I might need those handwritten notes from Torts I when I study for the bar. Without my T-Rex Cafe glass, how will I remember my delight in the anamatronic dinosaurs? (I literally had to go look at some of the piles in order to remember these two particularly pointless items were there.)
I can totally sympathize with hoarders.
On a more cheerful note, the house is beautiful, my new roommate is great and even lets Joey sit on the furniture, and nearly all of my stuff is out of the old apartment, which is good because the guy is coming to clean the carpets Wednesday morning at 8:00, and I promised him there wouldn't be any junk in his way.
How labor intensive is cleaning an oven? My property manager reminded me that I'm to clean the oven if I expect my full deposit to be reimbursed, so I need to budget my time wisely tomorrow.
Once I emerge from the black hole of moving, Amanda and mom should be crossing the state line. And then I must immediately go to Columbia with a student for a horse show, but I have been telling myself Amanda might just come along. We've always loved sitting around and critiquing strangers' horsemanship.
The problem with stuff is that I feel that I need it. There are piles of things in my new bedroom right now so irrelevant to my daily life I can't even remember most of what's there, even though I spent all day trucking said piles the ten-or-so blocks from the old place to the new one. Yet when I put my hands on this stuff, this nonessential clutter, I can't bring myself to just bag it up and pitch it.
I might need those handwritten notes from Torts I when I study for the bar. Without my T-Rex Cafe glass, how will I remember my delight in the anamatronic dinosaurs? (I literally had to go look at some of the piles in order to remember these two particularly pointless items were there.)
I can totally sympathize with hoarders.
On a more cheerful note, the house is beautiful, my new roommate is great and even lets Joey sit on the furniture, and nearly all of my stuff is out of the old apartment, which is good because the guy is coming to clean the carpets Wednesday morning at 8:00, and I promised him there wouldn't be any junk in his way.
How labor intensive is cleaning an oven? My property manager reminded me that I'm to clean the oven if I expect my full deposit to be reimbursed, so I need to budget my time wisely tomorrow.
Once I emerge from the black hole of moving, Amanda and mom should be crossing the state line. And then I must immediately go to Columbia with a student for a horse show, but I have been telling myself Amanda might just come along. We've always loved sitting around and critiquing strangers' horsemanship.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Defender Project
There have been questions, so here are some answers about the most exciting part of my summer, which has been my first Real Lawyering Experience - the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies!
Naturally I can't get too detailed, because as with any Real Lawyer work, the specifics of the cases I'm working on are Strictly Confidential. (Apparently I'm in a random capitalization kind of mood.)
However, I can go through the general way the Project works. Like all in-house clinics at KU, the Project is partially staffed by law student interns supervised by Real Lawyers. I may be biased, but I think the Project has the best Real Lawyers. There are four total, one who works with us on our direct appeals, which are basically long papers arguing why a client's sentence deserves to be overturned, or their case remanded back to the trial court for another go.
The other three Real Lawyers are individually assigned to supervise us in our other cases. "Other cases" are the ones where we aren't arguing that the law was misapplied in the lower court, but that our clients have "new" causes of action that haven't been brought up yet, or they need help with issues that have come up since they went to prison.
If you didn't get it from the clinic's title, all of our clients have been convicted and as far as I know they are all incarcerated. Which means I've been to the Topeka Correctional Facility and Leavenworth, worn a visitor badge, and listened to the automated doors lock behind me as I pass through security. There's a very specific kind of claustrophobia that goes on inside a prison, but those visits were interesting, too.
My classroom experience of criminal law is still fresh in my mind. I loved studying criminal law and I hoped I would love applying criminal law to specific cases. The challenge is an interesting one. When I read cases in class, I didn't have to take sides; I could sit back, cross my arms, and let the advocates try to convince me. Let's be serious, I probably won't ever have that luxury in my career. Most lawyers aren't lucky and accomplished enough to be judges. As someone's representative, you have to do your best not to take their side necessarily, but to look at the law and see how it can help them. You have to believe that no matter what they did, everyone has a right to have the law applied to them fairly, even if you're not sure they deserve it. A system that works fairly and objectively is the best protection for everyone, and believing in that system is what criminal defense lawyers must do.
Naturally I can't get too detailed, because as with any Real Lawyer work, the specifics of the cases I'm working on are Strictly Confidential. (Apparently I'm in a random capitalization kind of mood.)
However, I can go through the general way the Project works. Like all in-house clinics at KU, the Project is partially staffed by law student interns supervised by Real Lawyers. I may be biased, but I think the Project has the best Real Lawyers. There are four total, one who works with us on our direct appeals, which are basically long papers arguing why a client's sentence deserves to be overturned, or their case remanded back to the trial court for another go.
The other three Real Lawyers are individually assigned to supervise us in our other cases. "Other cases" are the ones where we aren't arguing that the law was misapplied in the lower court, but that our clients have "new" causes of action that haven't been brought up yet, or they need help with issues that have come up since they went to prison.
If you didn't get it from the clinic's title, all of our clients have been convicted and as far as I know they are all incarcerated. Which means I've been to the Topeka Correctional Facility and Leavenworth, worn a visitor badge, and listened to the automated doors lock behind me as I pass through security. There's a very specific kind of claustrophobia that goes on inside a prison, but those visits were interesting, too.
My classroom experience of criminal law is still fresh in my mind. I loved studying criminal law and I hoped I would love applying criminal law to specific cases. The challenge is an interesting one. When I read cases in class, I didn't have to take sides; I could sit back, cross my arms, and let the advocates try to convince me. Let's be serious, I probably won't ever have that luxury in my career. Most lawyers aren't lucky and accomplished enough to be judges. As someone's representative, you have to do your best not to take their side necessarily, but to look at the law and see how it can help them. You have to believe that no matter what they did, everyone has a right to have the law applied to them fairly, even if you're not sure they deserve it. A system that works fairly and objectively is the best protection for everyone, and believing in that system is what criminal defense lawyers must do.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Bye bye BA
With Business Associations I behind me, I feel a little less suffocated by my schedule. I haven't been as focused as I should be the past week; I kind of let myself off the hook last Monday-Friday so that I could totally focus on preparing for my exam, which wouldn't have been necessary if I had my priorities in order earlier in the summer.
Pictures coming of my beautiful truck, which has been as problematic as it is pretty. More detail on that later; it deserves its own post.
Diddy is a wonderful source of stress relief for me, and I've even been messing with Tucker about every other visit. He is so much fun to ride even when he's in terrible shape. I can wear him out in around 15 minutes, but they both look pretty good, sunburned noses notwithstanding.
I am in the process of consolidating my lessons into Tuesday night groups, which I think will be fun for the kids and a much more efficient use of my time. The barn has grown so much in terms of students and boarders since I arrived on the scene a year ago. When I started as the instructor in addition to Abby, it was a struggle to accumulate more than a few students. Now, the barn is hiring a third instructor because Abby and I are both at maximum lesson-giving capacity! It is fun to be around so many kids and different kinds of horses. Every time I go to the barn I leave a little more cheerful than I showed up. Seeing people enjoying their animals always has that effect on me.
My blogging homework for the next few days is one truck post and one Defender project post, so hold me to it, fans!
Pictures coming of my beautiful truck, which has been as problematic as it is pretty. More detail on that later; it deserves its own post.
Diddy is a wonderful source of stress relief for me, and I've even been messing with Tucker about every other visit. He is so much fun to ride even when he's in terrible shape. I can wear him out in around 15 minutes, but they both look pretty good, sunburned noses notwithstanding.
I am in the process of consolidating my lessons into Tuesday night groups, which I think will be fun for the kids and a much more efficient use of my time. The barn has grown so much in terms of students and boarders since I arrived on the scene a year ago. When I started as the instructor in addition to Abby, it was a struggle to accumulate more than a few students. Now, the barn is hiring a third instructor because Abby and I are both at maximum lesson-giving capacity! It is fun to be around so many kids and different kinds of horses. Every time I go to the barn I leave a little more cheerful than I showed up. Seeing people enjoying their animals always has that effect on me.
My blogging homework for the next few days is one truck post and one Defender project post, so hold me to it, fans!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Busy busy busy
Some people may thrive on chaos. I am not one of them. I thrive when my schedule affords me at least one evening in three I can spend on the couch with my dog, watching movies.
There have been no such evenings since my summer kicked into full gear.
These are the reasons why I'm too busy:
1. My students are wonderful riders and want to show off their skills at shows almost every weekend.
I can't really complain. I like watching them show, too, and coaching ain't free, so bills are getting paid.
2. My favorite professor asked me to be her research assistant.
Again, I can't complain, but 10-30 hours per week? Really, Rachel? You made that commitment?
3. Diddy is really fun to ride.
Even though I don't make it out there much, I am constantly lured by the availability of adorable Diddy who is such a pleasure to be around.
4. I miss my sister.
Because I am in serious Amanda withdrawal, I have to budget a couple hours per day for our 2-3 daily phone calls/voice message exchange.
5. The Defender Project. Enough said.
Luckily class is winding up this week, but the clinic portion of the Project goes all summer.
There have been no such evenings since my summer kicked into full gear.
These are the reasons why I'm too busy:
1. My students are wonderful riders and want to show off their skills at shows almost every weekend.
I can't really complain. I like watching them show, too, and coaching ain't free, so bills are getting paid.
2. My favorite professor asked me to be her research assistant.
Again, I can't complain, but 10-30 hours per week? Really, Rachel? You made that commitment?
3. Diddy is really fun to ride.
Even though I don't make it out there much, I am constantly lured by the availability of adorable Diddy who is such a pleasure to be around.
4. I miss my sister.
Because I am in serious Amanda withdrawal, I have to budget a couple hours per day for our 2-3 daily phone calls/voice message exchange.
5. The Defender Project. Enough said.
Luckily class is winding up this week, but the clinic portion of the Project goes all summer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)