Tidbits of Interest for the Day

Making computers think outside the box
at U of C News & Events

Is it bad that this makes me think of some kind of awesome dining room table on which I can eat, search the internet, watch my kid do virtual colouring, help my kid do homework, display virtual tablecloths?

Ah ... the fantasy.




Lawyers can't dump deadbeat clients, court rules
at the National Post
Supreme Court of Canada actual decision can be viewed here.

Top IP Boutiques

As per Canadian Lawyer Magazine:

The pick of the crop - part 1

Maybe one day on that list ... Hutchinson LLP? Mwoo ha ha ha ha.

In the interest of trying to read more about copyright law ...

... here's an article on SLAW:

Copyright reform bill this spring

SAHD Reports

Our evening routine consists of my Husband giving me the SAHD Report (or, the Stay-at-Home-Dad Report), outlining the various adventures and hijinks that he and the kidlet get up to throughout the day.

Today's report was heeeeelarious. I won't go into too many details, just to protect the privacy of our wee one, but there was a poop, a bath, and some screaming, all in the middle of dinner prep.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that one.

OH - and another gem from today's SAHD Report - Jason and the little Spud were at the library this morning, making their rounds as they normally do. The library was packed with all sorts of little ones. OUR little one set her sights on another little girl, probably a year or two her senior, went up to her and started tickling her tummy. The older girl was not impressed.

Mwoooo ha ha ha ha.

Our kid has no fear, and is definitely NOT shy. I love it.

I guess we'll have to start teaching her to SAY HELLO before you try and tickle someone - it's the polite thing to do.


On a CPLED note - I officially have passed 5/9 of the CEs. Woot woot! The 6th one is due on Thursday, and so I'm in serious crack-down mode. I'm so happy that I'm officially more than halfway done. After this CE is handed in on Thursday, I only have two more written CEs, one more in class CE, and then I'm FREE AS A BIRD (assuming I pass everything, of course).

I can't wait for the FREE AS A BIRD status. CPLED + WORK = very overwhelming, especially where there are no breaks from the week-to-week assignments. Perhaps it would be less so if I skipped some of the LEs, but I just don't have it in me. I can't imagine doing all of the work from scratch for a CE, too much stress for one week. Also - I usually do learn something from each assignment, so I guess that's a bonus too.

AND ... back to the CE writing.

Also -

- as I've been trying to meet my desk organization goal, I NOW am coveting a few of these items, mainly the Grassy Organizer, Desk Dots, and the Kikkerland Wood LED Clock.

How To: Enhance Your Desk
The Precedent

The LLB/JD Debate

So, my alma mater, the U of S, is considering changing the degree that they confer from an LLB to a JD. A survey has been sent to alumni, which you can view here:
http://www.usask.ca/law/documents/JDLLBLETTER-MailedFinal.pdf

I've canvassed those that I know in the legal community here, and it would seem that not many are too concerned with the difference between the two.

I can see, though, that it is the wave of the future, as it would seem that more Canadian law schools are making the switch.

I can also see the benefits that would follow with being able to travel and work abroad.

Interesting. If they do make the switch, will I opt to have my degree retroactively changed to a JD? Must consider.

Sometimes ...

... I just reach my wipe-out point. I'm pretty sure that this point typically gets reached at the end of each CE that I hand in, but I haven't really looked back to verify.

On Wednesday night last week, I fell asleep while putting my kid to bed at 7:30 ... got up at 11:00 to brush my teeth, then went back to bed.

This weekend I've been spending in recovery mode, which to me, consists of chick-flicks on the TV, PJs on my body, and a special kind of hibernation that involves recharging my batteries, chocolate, and cleaning my apartment.

As for my weekly goals, I did clean-up my blog side-bar, have not yet read up on fair use issues, I did finish my CE, have NOT yet made a dentist appointment, and have somewhat organized my desk.

NEW weekly goals:

• finish my LE for Thursday
• make a dentist appointment
• read up on fair use issues with copyright
• go running at least once (yup, am feeling the urge to run again, now that spring is almost upon us, and since I'm not pregnant/the mother of an infant)

I haven't added very many new ones, as far too many of the above are carry-overs. I want to wrap these ones up before I get too crazy ahead of myself.

AND NOW ... to get back to work on my LE. I've already got a good start on it, but I know that it will take a few hours of good solid work to get to where I feel like I've got a solid skeleton of an assignment.

OH - and happy pi day!

π

New Record

Ex-wife's award a Canadian record
Toronto woman to get $110,000 a month in spousal support
The Toronto Star

Internet and Jurisdiction

I have read a little bit about this in the past, but it never ceases to amaze me how truly global our world is.

Something that many internet users definitely do not understand, the long arm of the law is VEEEERRRRRRY long these days:

US Jurisdiction over Canadian Sites
Richard P.W. Stobbe from Brownlee's IPblog

Makes me think of this case too:
Dow Jones & Co. Inc. v. Gutnick

Just Checking In ...

... haven't had very much time to update like I want to, but had to drop in to share:

Court goes digital for first time
Edmonton Journal


So cool, and hopefully the beginning of a new era.

CE Dominates My Week

Today another CE is due. I'm almost finished it, just need a few details refined, and then I can submit my Wills CE. This is module 5 of 9. After this one, assuming I demonstrate competency (knock on wood), I'm more than halfway. Sigh. Sounds better than the 1/9 modules I reported back in November. Much, much better.

Exciting news for me - my kid STTN AGAIN last night. The first occurrence on Sunday night/Monday morning was glorious, but wasn't repeated again until LAST NIGHT! I think we're slowly developing a new pattern that may just make my life a little more rested. I'm so excited.

Last night really was the night for her to STTN, too, as I was up past midnight working on this CE (for the 2nd night in a row). Grrr ... when will we get more hours in the day? I just need a couple more, then I'd be able to crank through these CEs AND get my required sleep. Ah well. A couple of puffy-eyed days never hurt anybody ... I try and tell myself that people PAY to make their faces look as puffy as mine today, and I got mine for FREE ... mwoo ha ha ha ha.

Also doesn't hurt that it's ROLL UP THE RIM TIME! Woot woot! Makes me miss the good ol' days when I worked in Admitting. I remember drinking coffee with Jen (because you have to finish the beverage before rolling the rim, or it's unlucky), and then going through our routine of saying "Rrrrrrroll up the Rrrrrrim to win!", rolling our "r"s of course, and then rolling our rims. Feels like I used to win so many prizes back in the good ol' days.

Makes me miss the Timmy's at U of S, too. So many Timmy runs, so many roll-up the rim wins and losses. Sigh.

I have to say, though, that so far Roll up the Rim has been OK for me. I've rolled two coffees myself, with no wins, but I bought a co-worker a coffee, and she gave me the free coffee that she won on it. YAY! SO ... so far, so good. Maybe it's time to re-engage the Roll up the Rim to Win routine, maybe it will bring me more luck!

As for goals of the week, I'm happy to report that I am so far still on track.

I DID clean up my blog side-bar. The links that are now displayed should all be active. I haven't added any new ones yet, as there are a few more sites that I now frequent regularly, but that will have to be another week's goal.

I'm ALMOST done my CE for this week, so that goal will be taken care of.

My desk is about halfway organized ... I'm getting there.

Have not yet called the dentist or read up on fair use issues. These things will have to wait until my CE is over (today at 4 PM).

SO ... not doing too badly, all in all.


By the way, is anybody else still stuck in January? February went by so fast, I'm in shock that it is already March. Seriously, light speed. I can't believe that we're fast approaching the 1 year mark from when I finished law school. Seems like only yesterday (cue the reminiscing appropriate background music) ...

... anyhoo - back to work on my CE!

A Golden Sunday/Monday

For more reasons than one.

Yay for Canada breaking the gold medal count record for winter Olympics:
Canada's golden Games at CTV's Website

Also - just want to put it out there - my kid STTN (that stands for Slept Through the Night). It's a pretty big deal. We never did any sleep training, as I never had a point in time where I could sacrifice a week's worth of sleep in order to better our sleep situation (what with being a law student and articling student and all). She really only ever woke up twice a night on average, and was quick to put back to sleep. Coping wasn't that difficult.

BUT LAST NIGHT ... she STTN. I'm in shock, awe, and delight. She woke up so happy, and so did I. It may just be a fluke, but if so it's a hopeful fluke, and one that I will revel in for today.

As for the "Two Views" article (page 26 at this link), it was a great read. Both authors clearly know what they're talking about, and lay out the issues in an easy to understand way.

Overall, though, I must say that I agree with Michael Geist on this one. I argued essentially the same thing (i.e. the requirement for a principle based policy that can accommodate faster-than-the-speed-of-light advances in technology) in the major paper that I wrote for my Intellectual Property class Conceptualization of Intellectual Property in a Post-Industrial Era; Protecting Virtual Property in MMOGs).

What I like about this point of view is that it really forces us to rationalize and defend our motives, goals, and ideas about intellectual property. So much easier to say than to actually do, but something that I think is important and necessary.

This leads to the only thing that bothers me about Barry Sookmar's view, the way that he lays out as fact that IP law encourages innovation. This is a contentious point in academic circles, debated at length in various papers. To state that it is fact, without further discussion as to why this is true, or why he believes it to be true, discredits his point of view for me (notwithstanding that this is a brief article, which doesn't get into anything in too much detail). He is stating the popular point of view, but I need back-up and discourse. I'm not saying that I don't think it's true, I think that it is true in some cases, but I do NOT believe that it is always true.

Not sure how I feel about the Fair Use issues, though. Haven't read that much about them. Now that it is March 1st, perhaps that should be one of my weekly goals.

As for last weeks goals:

• blog sidebar clean-up
• finish CPLED LE
• send out at least 2 resumes
• try not to spend TOOOOO much time online shoe shopping for new good ol' trusty shoes that I can blitz around down-town in (sigh, the shoe industry was really not for me for a few years there, but now its' coming back around to styles that I'm coveting ... what is a girl to do?)
• maintain my new "reformed absentee blogger" status
• watch as much of the Olympics coverage as I can

I haven't cleaned up my blog sidebar yet, so that's a rollover goal. I somewhat finished my CPLED LE, I did send out 2 resumes, I didn't ponder shoes too much, I have been faithfully blogging, and I definitely got in some Olympics couch time.

So ... this week, a new list of goals:

• clean up blog side-bar (top of list, as this is a roll-over)
  
• read up on Fair Use issues with copyright
• finish my CE for this week (and do a GOOD JOB ... heh heh heh, I suppose this technically SHOULD be my first priority)
  
• make a dentist appointment (hee - been putting this one off)
• organize my desk at work, and try and actually IMPLEMENT the work flow that I have kind of started to get going

That last goal refers to my ongoing files. I have two file stands that sit beside my desk, I'm trying to use one for files that are waiting for some event (i.e. a return of a phone-call, response by correspondance of some kind, etc.), and the other for files that I have been assigned to do something on, but which I haven't yet touched. Hopefully, I can grab a file from the NEW FILES rack, process it, then either get it to where it is supposed to be, or put it on my WAITING rack. Just need to clear off all the files sitting on my desk that have been piling up. Ack.