Still ...

... no update on the transfer. I know ... aren't you go crazy with anticipation, just like me? It's awful.

I've been feeling pretty yucky - Jason is super sick and I think my body is trying to fight it. Haven't done much the last two days. ALTHOUGH, I'm pretty excited about wearing the pants that my sister brought back from Thailand for me (I think they're called Fisherman's Pants). I feel so exotic in them. Very exciting. They look like this:

... but where these ones are grey, mine are purple, and where they're black, mine have a pretty purple patterned kind of fabric. You fold these pants and tie them, and they are super slick, comfy, and make you feel very skinny. Wearing them today made me think about a law classmate of mine who notoriously hates capri pants. Ahahahahaha. He'd hate these pants, even with the cool exotic flavour.

The hard part was finding shoes to go with. I feel naturally drawn to wearing them with flip-flops, but flip-flops unfortch aren't work appropriate. Went with some black slip-on kind of shoes ... but still seems off. Hmmm ... maybe the goal for the summer (in addition to all my other goals) can be to find the perfect Fisherman's pants shoes.

Work has been pretty busy today and yesterday, which is nice for me, but frustrating for all the people having computer problems.

I'm craving beach time in Penticton. Is that weird? Mmmm ... beach.

I Woke Up Coughing Last Night

So ... needless to say I'm not impressed with today. Hopefully the lungs won't quit on me at soccer tonight. To top it off, I decided that today is the day that I'm giving up coffee. Not necessarily for good, but for long enough that the dependency is gone. I do enjoy it, but I don't enjoy being it's slave.

Just checked U of C website, still no news with regards to the transfer.

In my quest for legal blogs/legal news sites that are going to be my frequent hits, I've come across these to try out:

e-legal, David Canton's Blog
Canadian Privacy Law Blog, David T.S. Fraser's Blog
The Estate House, Blog of The Estate House Law Firm in Edmonton
The Court, Osgoode Hall Law School Initiative to Debate/Discuss the SCC
Michael Geist, Canada's Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law @ U of Ottawa
Precedent: The New Rules of Law and Style (I think I'm in love with this site)
Rob Hyndman, Business and Technology Lawyer
Slaw, co-operative blog about Canadian legal research and IT (I think I love this one too)
U of T Faculty of Law Faculty Blog

Looks like a few that I already know I'll keep going back to, but I'll try the rest out and see if they're worthy a coveted spot on my sidebar. Also - I actually do visit my sidebar links at least once a week - it's true. I try to keep the updated, too.

PS.

Found a neat site, added it to the sidebar:

http://www.lawtimesnews.com/

Interesting ...

Last semester I completed an online survey for a research paper, and I finally had time to read it (the student author was gracious enough to send me a copy). "The Ethical Values of Law Students: A Comparison of Students at Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Saskatchewan's College of Law" by Joshua J.A. Henderson is a compelling read.

Among other things, Henderson explores where students fall on a continuum between viewing "law as a profession" vs. "law as a business". Hopefully when I practice law, I'll fall more on the "law as a profession" side of the spectrum.

Definitely something that I'd love to do further reading on.

I did go for making the roast last night, and had all of my siblings over for supper. They didn't seem to keel over from the cooking, so I must have done something right (although I did have to endure Joe comparing my roast to my Mom's ... ).

My sleep on the mattress was much better last night, but I fear that Jason still isn't sure about it.

AND ... I've only checked U of C twice today (still no answer). I know. Neurotic. But ... I'm trying to reign it in. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

It Doesn't Make Sense ...

... that even after I washed my Huskie Hoodie, it still smells like campfire. I hope it really is campfire remnants, and not some kind of burning toast smell ... we all know what that means (yikes). Speaking of which, all of the Canadian "Part of Our Heritage" commercials can be browsed and viewed at this site: www.histori.ca. Do you have a favourite?

It seems ridiculous that two people can create so much laundry. I spent a lot of time yesterday doing laundry. I guess part of the reason is that I finally unpacked all of my Saskatoon clothes, and Jason and I had clothes from the May long weekend that weren't necessarily unwearable except for the campfire smoke smell, so into the wash they went. Oh well. It'll be nice to start this week with a closet full of clean clothes and a bedroom floor empty of dirty ones.

Makes me realize that Jason and I really need to do a purge. It's time to go through our closet together, and really be tough about deciding to get rid of things that we don't wear. Why is that always so hard?

I've been keeping the neuroticism under control over the weekend, and haven't checked into the U of C to see about my transfer (which isn't really that big of an achievement, since they don't work on weekends and nothing would change anyway, but I need to pat myself on the back where I can when it comes to keeping the crazy under control).

We got to sleep on our new mattress last night ... and it's actually pretty tough to say if we love it or not. We're both kind of sick right now (we blame our nephews ... everytime we see those kidlings, we come home and get sick ... just kidding, we don't really blame them ...), so we were both pretty uncomfortable. Hopefully we'll get a good sense of it in the next little while.

Got to play WOW yesterday, which was pretty fun. I'm thinking about throwing a roast and some potatoes into the slow cooker for supper tonight. Sounds like a good idea ... just need to get down to the kitchen to do it. Mmmm ... slowcooker roast ....

Ah Breakfast ...

... my favourite meal of the day. I got to meet two friends for breakfast this morning, and catch up with them over eggs and toast. It was glorious, and my favourite way to start a weekend. Made me realize how much I missed everyone while I was gone. SNIFF!

Washed my car, since we're going to try and sell it ... AND ... our new mattress was delivered today (not a moment too soon ... woke up with a real crick in my neck). I can't wait to give it a whirl tonight.

Luckily it looks like my flowers made it through the snowy weather, and since it's so beautiful today it looks like Jason and I are going to forego the housework and go for a rollerblade by the river.

Sigh.

I'm so happy here at home.

If only the ever-present worry in my head about the transfer to U of C would go away. It's really the only cloud on my horizon. Well ... that and trying to adjust to being at home again ... I underestimated how hard it would be to re-integrate into a life that I've been away from for 8 months. BUT ... that cloud is really more of a wisp now ... I'm almost through that one.

I'm also looking for a good legal news site to check into once in awhile. I want something easily scan-able ... let me know if anyone has one that they like (oh - CANADIAN too).

Captain Jack and Neurotic Lisa

Le sigh. Captain Jack Sparrow. How I love thee. Saw Pirates of the Caribbean last night ... was so good. SOO GOOD!

Takes me back to my post last July when I saw the last Pirates movie. I'm just as in love with Captain Sparrow now as I was then ... good thing he's a fictional character, or I may be in trouble with the Hubster.

LOVED Keith Richards in it. Didn't have a huge role, but he was really the ULTIMATE pirate. Dark, mysterious, sulky and sullen.

Also ... I thought I'd give you all a taste of my neuroticism. About a billion times a day I'm logging into "myUofC" to check the status of my transfer application. This is what it looks like ...

So ... as you can see ... it's complete. I'm hoping that I'll log in eventually and see a green check mark instead of the circle ... but the more I think about it ... if I see anything else, I may have a heart attack. A mini one, but it would definitely mark as precursor to a break-down. Well ... maybe not a break-down, but some real disappointment.

Instead, maybe I should just google some nice pics of Captain Jack. That could be just the diversion that I need.

PS.

I added my cousin Jaycee and her BF Jason's trip website to my sidebar. Check it out!

Wow.

Check out the view from my window this morning:









Unbelievable. I woke up to snow. At least it isn't accumulating on the street, and it wasn't too snowy when I walked in to work, but it is so heavy that I guess there are split/fallen trees all over, and I made sure I didn't walk under any trees since they were dropping snow globs by the handful on unsuspecting heads. I covered my little flowerpots on the deck last night, and brought them in close to the house ... hopefully they'll be OK.

And ... as promised ... pics of this past weekends shed building extravaganza:





I told you ... it's a gorgeous, totally luxe shed. Awesome work boyz.

Last night Jason and I bought a new mattress. We went to Sleep Country, and the service was pretty good. It's a much softer mattress, so we'll have to make use of the 60-day guarantee if we just can't take it. I'm so excited ... we get it delivered this weekend. Goodbye old IKEA mattress that sags in the middle!!!

PS.

My U of C transfer file is complete. They got my U of S transcripts yesterday ... and I have confirmation that everything is in. That's relief #1 (actually ... relief #1.5 ... since relief #1 was getting my marks back and seeing that they're decent). Now ... waiting hopefully to achieve relief #2 (i.e. THE TRANSFER). It's a waiting game to hear now. I'll be running home everyday checking the mailbox like a crazy woman. Fingers crossed for me ... everyone out there. I thought about having to pack up to go back to Saskatoon in the fall, and I almost cried. I'm just starting to get used to being around the hubster again!!!

I Was So Lucky This Morning

The rain held off long enough for me to walk from where I park to work. I was worried, because I couldn't find my umbrella this morning, and my new haircut isn't so good with the drowned rat look (not to mention how professional it looks to have mascara running down your face).

Anyhoo - I was grabbing a coffee at the hospital cafeteria this morning when I realized how much I miss our Tim Horton's runs at U of S. So good ... so cheap ... so nice in the morning/early afternoon/evening/whenever we needed a perk. Sigh.

I got a membership form for LEAF yesterday (Women's Legal Education and Action Fund), so I have to send that in so I can join up and hopefully get involved. There isn't a Calgary branch ... but maybe that's something I can help fix in the future.

It's so funny how sometimes I'm surprised by certain things about myself. For instance, last night I wasn't feeling great (awww ... I know ... I know, thanks for the sympathy), so I logged onto my computer and did some work on a website for a friend that's getting married next year. What surprised me was how much I loved it. I always forget that the reason I actually did do an undergrad in computer science was because I do like the creative side of programming (not that I was "programming" in Flash, but I was getting a little more advanced than I had been before ... I've been trying to expand my Flash knowledge). When I went to bed afterwards I got that same feeling that I used to get when I was working on an exciting assignment where my brain just kept going a million miles a minute.

Sigh.

Fun. I like dabbling in websites on a volunteer basis - since I feel like that way there isn't the same demand on me ... pressure ... stress ... I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE OF IT ... whew ... sorry ... flashback to school and Saskatoon ... I'm OK now.

AND ... the plan to wean myself from coffee isn't going as well as I had hoped. I was blaming school on the need for caffeine ... but it looks like I need it for work too. Humph.

I'm off to read more about Flash now ... I want to see if I can create some super funky menus where I move buttons around on mouse clicks. Hmmmm ....

May Long Weekend - Always Bliss

I'm not ready to continue my summary of law school yet - so stay tuned for that.

As for my long weekend, Jason and I went to Buck Lake where my in-laws have a spot. It was rather rainy and somewhat chilly, so the outdoor fun was somewhat limited ... but they did raise a shed in 2 1/2 days. I'll attach pictures later, since the shed that was built almost deserves to be classified as a piece of art, if not a thing of beauty.

I got to read much of Fried Green Tomatoes by Fanny Flagg (I'm so excited because I just got a Calgary public library card ... I intend to use the cr@p out of it by the end of the summer), sit by the campfire, make/eat s'mores, play with my nephews, and play Wii. It was super relaxing, and even sleeping in a tent was kind of fun.

I signed up an ultimate Frisbee team for the summer, and I'm so excited (and thinking of Leah and John). I've never played before, so it should be pretty interesting. I think I'm going to try and catch a game in the league that's playing now (spring), so I can get a feel for what it's all about.

Still haven't heard about my transfer to U of C yet ... and I'm dying! It's killing me to have to wait. It's all I think about (besides chocolate, and s'mores ... since this weekend ... my mother-in-law bought those chocolate covered digestive cookies which we s'more-ed up ... OH MAN were they ever heavenly).

Hopefully the rain holds off for soccer tonight. I need everyone out there to send Calgary sunny vibes. Starting ..... NOW!

Wow.

One call I got at work today was about how to share custom e-mail groups with another person in Outlook.

Hilarious that it took me so long to answer. Needless to say, the user had a different version of Outlook than I did, and it was about a billion times easier to do on her workstation (basically, consisted of some copying and pasting).

Wow.

Being on the hardware side of support (as opposed to the software side that my experience is in), I find I've finally wrapped my head around the fact that most calls can be fixed by (as my co-worker put it today) the three R's; reboot, re-install, re-image. I always think that the problem is going to be more complex than just a re-start ... and sometimes it is, but more often than not ... it isn't.

Just a lesson for everyone out there ... reboot your computer first ... you just may feel like a computer genius if that alone fixes your problem.

Dodgeball last night was pretty crazy. There were some dodgeballs flying at what seemed to be warp speeds, sometimes a little too close to my head for comfort. I'm feeling like dodgeball is great, but that one season will be enough for me. Don't need to add reconstructive nose surgery to my "to do" list this summer.

I'm feeling a little Martha-ish right now ... looks like some baking in my future ... possibly my immediate future!

Alrighty Then ... Law School 1L the Summary: Part 1
(as written for those yet to experience the bliss of law school)

I know ... I've been thinking about how to go about putting this all down for some time now. Hopefully this turns out more coherent than confusing, but I'll do my best.

So ... 1L. How to summarize in a useful and meaningful way. First of all, I want to address some of the questions that I had last summer that I couldn't seem to get answers to.

1. What's the workload really like?

For me, at the U of S, the workload was really quite manageable. Law school consists mostly of keeping up with your readings for each class, some assignments (we had four assignments throughout the entire year), and exams.

Readings: Assigned readings consist of mostly cases, but sometimes we were assigned current event clips, and journal articles. Readings were anywhere from 6 - 40 pages per class, they took me longer than the readings that I used to do in undergrad, but I only had class twice a week for each class ... so you had quite a bit of time between classes to get to the reading. Since I treated law school like a job I was at school at 8:00 (ish) every morning and did my readings then, and in between class. I rarely read at home, and I kept up with almost all my readings. I also took lunch in the law lounge with my buddies, and sometimes didn't even get to the readings between classes. The 2 hours in the morning really helped me stay on track.

Assignments: The four assignments that we had were

The Closed Memo (i.e. your research is handed to you). This is the first 1L assignment, and so some people really freak out. Basically, you have to read about 6 cases (which you'll have had practice doing already), and write a memo about them within a week. The memo is about 12 pages long double spaced. The best piece of advice that I have about this is to really use this as an opportunity to understand legal writing. It is different from other types of writing. Don't freak out, it isn't worth it. It is a little bit ridiculous to have a melt-down over an assignment worth so little, and where any kind of feedback that you get is really helpful. Also - don't leave it to the last minute. It may take you a bit longer than assignments you did in undergrad (not the theory, but the actual construction ... took me awhile to organize in a way that I liked).

The Open Memo (i.e. you do your own legal research). You'll have about 10 days or so to research and write a memo about a fact pattern. This, I found to be easier than the closed memo because I had a better idea about what was expected. I think I wrote a lot about it after I finished the assignment in November.

The Written Summary and Oral Advocacy (MOOT). This was a little terrifying, but didn't take nearly as long to prepare (although, I'm fairly comfortable with public speaking). Again, i think I wrote a lot about this after I finished the moot in January.

The ADR Assignment. A paper type of assignment, not like legal writing assignments, applying the alternate dispute resolution methods that we'd been learning about. This assignment was relatively quick compared to the others, I did most of mine leisurely over spring break.

Exams: I prepared like crazy. All exams were open book and worth so much of your mark, you really had to be prepared. Last minute cramming won't fly, and this is where staying up with your readings really helps out.

Summary: I didn't work while I went to law school, but I think I could have swung a part-time job, especially in first term. This would require extreme organization, but I think it could be managed. Part-time work would have to be evenings and weekends, though. There isn't much time during the day, as your classes span regular business hours (at U of S, anyway) from Monday to Friday.

2. What are the classes really like?

One things that is important about law classes is preparation. The profs don't lecture, really, and tell you what is what ... they discuss the cases from your assigned reading, and show you how the cases fit together to form a dynamic picture of the law. Discussion is key - and if you haven't read, there's not much to discuss. I got a lot more out of classes when I was prepared for them.

Should be a Good Summer

Still waiting to hear from U of C (oh puh-lease, puh-lease, puh-lease let me get a transfer).

Love my new job. I'm actually learning a lot, and I really like working on the hardware side of things. I get to answer the help desk line, and go visit people at their computers to help them make everything work. My co-workers are pretty awesome and helpful too - which makes a HUGE difference.

I found a nice secret little parking spot that's about a 10 minute walk from the hospital, so my mornings have been starting with nice saunters in the sunshine. I'm a happy camper.

Went to a friend's baby shower on Saturday, and had a great Mother's day with my MUM on Sunday. The fam went to Nakoda Lodge for brunch. We've been for brunch there before, and with a reservation we usually walk right in ... but on Sunday, with a 12:00 reservation, we were in line (in the rainy, cold, overcast weather) until 1:00. I'm not sure what was going on, whether they overbooked, or what the case was ... but it was chaos, and really unsatisfactory. We were seated in a back room where we missed out on the Aboriginal dancing display.

I've been hitting the gym, eating healthy, and I play soccer again tonight. Hopefully the blizzard pudge starts coming off like crazy!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I swear ... soon, soon I'll get back into the swing of blogging.

Things to Report:

I like my new job.
I'm back into playing soccer, I'm trying dodgeball for the first time, and I've been hitting the gym regularly ... all of which, in combination with trying to eat healthy, has left me rather exhausted lately.
We got our marks back for school, so my transcripts have been requested to be sent to the U of C ... the final step in my transfer application. The only stressful thing left right now is waiting to hear about the transfer. AURGH! Jason and I are in total stasis until we hear about whether I'm going back to Saskatoon in the fall (i.e. and whether he can come with me), or whether I get to stay at home. Sigh. Hopefully I find out sooner rather than later.

Wow, So I Know I Have a Lot of Catching Up to Do

So ... where to start.

Things I want to talk about:

1. Summarize various aspects of my first year of law school.
2. Outline my Oregon vacation.
3. Pat myself on the back for getting a SUMMER JOB today!!!

So ... we'll start with #3, since it's the easiest! I got a summer job today that I'll be starting next week. It's a summer student position in an Information Technology department with the Alberta Cancer Board ... kind of like my last job, but as a summer student I'll have less responsibility, and more grunt work (I'm assuming), and NO ON-CALL ... tra-la-la.

Now ... I think I'll discuss #2, since I think #1 will take more than one posting over the course of some time, as I ponder and deliberate about it all.

Oregon was great. We took our 1979 motorhome down there (drove almost 2000KM round trip). We went with my brother (and his bud), Jason's brother (and his wife and kids), and Jason's parents. There were two motorhomes, and a truck pulling a trailer with four quads and a dirtbike. I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera ... there was some awesome quadding on the dunes of Oregon. We stayed in Reedsport (Jackie - as per Wikipedia: "It was named for a local settler, Alfred W. Reed, who founded the city in 1912."), which is hailed as "the gateway to the dunes". My SIL (a pro photographer) got some neat shots of the quadding, and my brother took some shots with a film camera, so when I get some permission/scan some shots, I'll try and post some of those pics here.



The vacation was driving for three days down there (stayed in Cranbrook @ Mt. Baker campground in town, was a great one-night stop, and just outside of the Dalles in a State Campground ... was great for a one-night stop too), ATV-ing like crazy for four days, and then driving three days back (stayed in Boardman @ the Driftwood RV Resort, and Cranbrook).

I got a little bit of shopping in, but not as much as my feet would have liked (I did get three pairs of shoes though, you'd think my feet would be happy with that, but they're never happy ... they always want more shoes).

On the trip, pretty much all of us (except for my brother and his friend) got sick. I'm still recovering, and may have to make a trip to the Doc since my throat and ears are STILL SORE.

All in all, it was a good time. I even jumped my quad, and I got a pink ATV helmet, pink gloves, and a pink flag for my quad that says "Girls Kick Ass". It was pretty awesome watching the "hard-core" guys ride my quad with that flag flapping in the wind.

I even read two books, which is always the sign of a good vacation.

Sigh. I'm too tired now to even get into #1. Must save that for tomorrow and the days following. You readers will have to be satisfied with this for now. It is the first day since I got sick that I actually feel human again. Hopefully, the mend trend continues, and tomorrow I can take on even more.

AND NOW ... dinner and ANTM. WOO HOO!

I Was UnPlugged AND Plugged-Up at the Same Time

Oregon was great. Forgot my camera, so pics aren't plentiful. There were no wi-fi internet connections where we were staying, so I had no internet, and most of the time I had no cell phone connection (plus my battery died, and I didn't bring my charger). I was totally unplugged from my techno-communication, and then I got sick (hence, the title).

I'll write more, as I get through unpacking both the motorhome and my hatchback (which is still waiting to be unpacked from Saskatoon).

But ... sigh, sigh, sigh. Back in Calgary. Got to spend some QT with the Husband, and we're slowly adjusting to being around each other again.

Still looking for a job, though.