Disney Madness

I receive a weekly Disney newsletter; sad I know. Anyway, the newsletter keeps mentioning a Virtual Magic Kingdom game that you can play for free online. It has the Magic Kingdom map but it doesn't have all of the rides and it has some things, like the Matterhorn, that the MK doesn't have. The Matterhorn is a ride in Disney Land.

In the game, you create a character and then you play games and walk around and chat with other people to earn credits and to buy things to put into your virtual room. Oh, you can also look for a take pictures of hidden Mickeys. (these are mickey shaped heads carved into the ground or a bush or a rock or something like that. It warned me that this game was for 8-14 year olds but I downloaded it anyway. They were right. It is pretty childish. I could see how it could be fun for a kid and they could interact with other people online in a safe environment. If you have kids you might want to check it out at Disney's VMK. Or, if you don't have kids but you are a Disney freak or you get really bored you might want to check it out too. It is still under construction so not all of the park has been created but it's interesting to wander around in. I think I'll go back to reading a book or playing the Sims though.

Note: there is something wrong with the link but you can click on the link and at the top of the page it takes you to, you can go to VMK.

Scissors, and nail files and keys, Oh my!

Airport security has been heightened in the last few years and I'm sure many of us have witnessed inconsistencies and even some abuse of power among the different airport security agents but recently a couple of TSA agents in Dallas went a little to far. A man had his car key confiscated because they thought it fit the description of a switchblade. If you are familiar with Volkswagen or Audi keys then you know what I'm talking about. The key is contained in the car remote which is used to remotely lock and unlock the car. The key pops out of the side of the remote with the press of a button. Although this is a switchblade like action the key itself is flat and common house keys are more pointy and dangerous than this car key.

This whole incident bothers me not just because this ranks with one of the dumbest things I've heard of but because I have a Volkswagen and I don't want my key taken away at an airport. I have no other option for a key to my car. Although there is a valet key, which looks like a more common car key, it will only operate the engine. You cannot use it to lock or unlock the trunk. Furthermore the combo remote/switchblade car key is very expensive to replace because they have to reprogram a microchip in the key in order to converse with your car. The key is more than just a thing which fits into a lock, it must submit the correct computer code or the engine won't turn on. This is an added theft deterrent but it also makes for a very expensive key replacement, around $250.00. Volkswagen/Audi had better make some public statements that they are deeply disturbed by this incident and are currently in conference with the TSA to inform them of the safety of their keys. I hope the guy who had his key taken away is suing the TSA to reimburse him for the cost of getting his key replaced. Oh, the stupidity!!

If you have some ridiculous airport security tales feel free to post your comments.

PB & J

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are better when someone else makes them....or maybe I'm just making it wrong.....

All Bark and No Quiet Make Jenni Go Crazy

Brad used to have noisy upstairs neighbors. They sounded like elephants and Penny would bark and bark at them. Eventually, she got used to the noise and quieted down. Well the elephants moved out and a couple with a dog moved in. The dog's name is Charlie and Penny and Charlie met the other day. Charlie seems like a nice dog but he is a lousy neighbor. Charlie barks and barks and Penny barks and barks back.

At first it was cute. I joked that it was like 101 Dalmations and they must be having a conversation. Three days later and it's not funny anymore. Penny barked from about 7pm to 10pm. I tried everything to get her to stop. I took her on a long walk, I distracted her with toys, I distracted her with rawhide, I sat with her and grabbed her muzzle every time she barked. I gave up, I called Brad and told him I was going crazy. Brad got off of second shift at 11pm and with the new Brad distraction, the dog finally stopped barking. In fact she is eating right now and it's hard to bark and eat at the same time. Worf had the same problem on Star Trek yesterday, "I am a Klingon Warrior, I am a Starfleet Officer, I have piloted starships through Dominion minefields and I can't get this baby to stop crying." After the different phases of dementia that the dog had sent me to tonight, I warned Brad that if we have kids they will have to have their vocal cords removed. I knew I should have gotten that African dog that can't bark....

Red Light, Green Light

Last week I had to go to a state government office for my job. The agency has directions to their office online. We have some very clever people working for the state here in Georgia. Among other things the directions stated "go to the third red light and turn right on International Boulevard." Third red light? What if, after turning off of the interstate, all three stop lights were green or yellow? Or, what if only one of them was red, or two? Should I drive around the block and keep trying until the third light is red or should I just keep driving straight until I get to the third red light? I think they meant stop light. Or maybe the building moves according to the lights.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea whether they were green or red or purple when I drove through them because I parked in a parking garage about a block away and then got lost in the concrete jungle of Atlanta. Not too lost but lost just the same. I had to go back the next day and I was able to sort of figure out where I was. If I go back again I think I'll have it down. To give you an idea of how confusing it was, I went into a building on the "Mall" level, went up to the 10th floor, left, went down to the first floor, around a corner, past a guards desk, out a side entrance facing walls and no road, past a row of international flags, then up to the cross walk, across the street and into another building to the 8th floor. At this point I had no idea where I was. Luckily they had a very nice receptionist who gave me directions and I found my way back to the parking deck and out of the jungle.

New Furniture

Over Memorial Day weekend Brad and I decided to buy some new furniture. The couch had been ripped and chewed by the dog in her "beaver" puppy days and the back cushions had been smashed and lost their shape because Penny used to sit on the back of the couch to look out of the living room window in Richmond. Anyway, we didn't want to spend too much so we decided to get a Futon as that is the cheapest couch around, right? Well we went to a furniture store and bought a futon, it was actually a pretty neat couch, not quite a futon. It still converted to a bed but it had real cloth arms that folded down as well as the back. Brad was finishing the transaction with the futon and I decided to wander over to the "outlet" section of the store. We didn't look in the outlet section before because we were familiar with an outlet store in Richmond and the prices of their couches were still at least $500 or $600. I decide to look at a couple of the price tags and I found a couch and a loveseat for $300. Not $300 each but $300 total. $200 for the couch and $100 for the loveseat. And they are recliner sofas. "What," you might be asking, "is wrong with them?" Well they are outlet but those prices are crazy even for an outlet. I don't know how much they were really supposed to cost but they started out in the outlet at $500 and $400 but kept getting marked down. Now, you might be saying, "that's nice but you still haven't answered my question, what's wrong with them." Nothing, as far as we can tell, because we returned the futon (well we just had them refund the money as we had purchased the futon 10 minutes earlier) and we bought the couch and loveseat. Oh, and they're purple....So that might explain the price. They're dark purple so it's not that bad. They looked sillier in the store next to all of the tan and brown furniture. Brad doesn't really have any color in his apartment so they actually look nice. We'll take some pictures and add a link if possible. Penny really likes them. She's chewing her bone on the couch right now.

Tire update

The spare tire is still on the car... I will never doubt Brad's mechanic's skills again.... We did buy another tire but the auto shop was so busy we opted to put it on ourselves rather than wait hours and hours to have them put it on.

Read Me the One About the Revolutionary Mommy

I reached the rock bottom point of boredom yesterday. TV, movies and even computer games weren't interesting. When I got here a few weeks ago I asked Brad to get a library card because I had grand plans to read read read this summer. I haven't read anything. So this morning I decided to go to the library and borrow some books. I checked out The Trial by Franz Kafka, Bleak House by Charles Dickens and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I also attempted to check out Dante's Inferno but they only had some sort of Cliff's Notes version. And finally, I had been wanting to read a biography on Leon Trotsky so I checked the online catalog and this library had two. Unfortunately the first book was labeled "missing". But the second one looked promising so I set out on my search, call number in hand, but was unable to find the book. This was a little embarrassing since I used to work in a library that was about ten times the size of this library. I decided to look for help.

Me: (giving confused look to a woman dressed very casually with no name tag)

Librarian: Can I help you find something?

Me: I'm so used to the Library of Congress call numbers, I can't find this book.

Librarian: What's the number?

Me: (pointing at a call number on a piece of paper which reads J 921 Garza Hedd) It's a biography but I don't understand what this 'J' means.

(also, I though biographies were placed in the order of the subject not in the name of the author, which in this case was Hedda Garza)

Librarian: That 'J' means Juvenile. It's in the Children's Section. Let's have a look. (she turns and heads toward the back of the library)

Me: You have a children's book on Leon Trotsky?

Librarian: That's what the 'J' means.

Me: Interesting...

Librarian: We'll see...

As it turns out, the book is written to about a middle school level and didn't look all that bad. I almost checked it out but I wanted something with a little more substance. The Librarian also stated that biographies are cataloged by the subject's name not the author's name. So the call number would be J 921 Trotsky Leon or something like that.

Me: But, on your online catalog it says: Call Number: J 921 Garza Hedd?

Librarian: Yes, but biographies are actually cataloged under the subject's name. Confusing isn't it?

Me: Yeah.

Oh well, I have two weeks to read three books and that should be fine. The library is part of a larger network so my next trip to the library will be: Adventures in Interlibrary Loans.

Who Let the Air Out

Yesterday I had a flat tire. Well, I had a tire that was slowly losing air. So Brad put on the spare. We haven't had time to go buy a new tire so today I drove all over Atlanta on the spare. My car has a full-sized spare so I was able to do that. Have you ever played that trust game where you fall back and have someone else catch you. That's not trust. Trust is letting your husband change a tire on your car and then driving about 150 miles on it. Trust is believing that said tire will not spontaneously fall off and go rolling off ahead of the car like some kind of cartoon. It turned out great though. The tire's still on the car for now....

They love him, they really love him...

The Michael Jackson trial, which I am proud to say I haven't followed at all, is over. As of a few minutes ago the jury found Michael Jackson not guilty on all counts. Regardless of the verdict ambassadors were in attendance carrying tokens of their good will toward the entity that is Michael Jackson. Countries offering their support included France who sent a young man to wave a French flag on which was written, "France Loves You Michael." Not to be left out was Poland who delivered a young woman carrying a carefully constructed cardboard heart festooned with raised lettering on which was written, "Poland Loves You Mike." Not surprisingly Germany and Russia have remained silent on this matter while the United States offered it's support by supplying the twelve jurors in this case.

Upon reflection, it could be that the young man's name is France and the young woman's name is Poland and they were simply declaring their affection for the man named Michael, but I doubt it. No, no, in a controversy attracting international attention the real question is "Where's the love Turkey, where's the love?"

Attorney at Magic?

Have you ever wondered, "Attorney at Law, what other kind of attorney is there?" For the answer to that and other exciting questions check this out.

Crawfish Madness

On my way to work today I saw a sign that proclaimed, "Crawfish Madness." When I got inside my building there was a family with a girl in a wheelchair outside of the elevators. This is strange. There was a nurse with a mask explaining through which door she and the girl would be leaving the building. This is stranger, mostly because I don't think there is a hospital or doctor's office in this building. Perhaps the girl has "crawfish madness." I hope it's not contagious. Oh well, I was warned....

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Well, I finished my first year of law school. I passed all of my classes and as of a week ago, received my grades, which hopefully won't be reversed, and became a rising 2L. I am a 1L grunt no more and, as I think about it, will never be a freshman again. For the next two years I will be a cool upperclassman...well, at least I'll be an upperclassman. Anyway, I had no luck on the job front so a friend of mine offered to let me come work for him in his solo practice here in Atlanta.

After one grueling year of law school you start to wonder, "What the heck am I doing?" Particularly around exams you start to say things like, "What was I thinking, more exams? I had a perfectly good job that had no exams, some quizzes, but no exams, argghhh!" Well, tomorrow will be my 9th day on my summer job and I've decided that I like the law or at least I like what I'm doing and don't think that I've made a terrible decision with my life.

You know what I do find annoying though, it's annoying when people ask, "You're in law school? What kind of law do you want to practice?" I don't know, I've had one year of law school and I don't know what I want to do. Up until last week I wasn't even sure if I liked law school or the law. (I've since figured out that I like the law; I don't like law school. I mean, who likes school anyway?) It's not that the question is inappropriate it's just that it makes me feel like I should have some kind of an answer and since I'm not sure what I want to do, it just makes me sort of worried that I don't. I know that I don't think I want to practice criminal law, so that's at least a quarter of an answer.

Later this month or early July I should be able to register for classes for next year. Ask me again after a year of electives.

There's no Funny in Law

For my first article I thought I would write about the painstaking task of choosing a blog name. I started with the obvious Jennifer’s Weblog and the current, but hopefully potentially irrelevant, Tales of a 2L. I thought I would find a “tial” to end Law School ___tial to become a clever pun on a popular book Law School Confidential but could only come up with referential.

So my next stop, the Law.com Dictionary website. A handy little website for people in search of legal definitions and for people who realized that Black’s Law Dictionary is on Westlaw and decided not to buy a legal dictionary but who quickly found themselves without a legal dictionary for their summer job. The best part about Law.com Dictionary is that you can look up words in the traditional: type word, hit enter, there’s the definition scenario or you use the handy reverse lookup and type in a word and the law dictionary will display all of the words which have your word in the definition. This search led me to inter vivos meaning among the living, privity meaning mutual interest between parties, diminished capacity and even Twinkie Defense. But the real winner I found was de minimis meaning of minimum importance. I thought this was a clever name because surely whatever my blog would become it would be of minimum importance to my readers, the world at large and perhaps even to myself. After reading all of these suggestions to my husband, twice, because he was too busy destroying the rebel alliance to pay attention to me, I settled on de minimis. Unfortunately, as I was completing the oh-so-easy directions to start this little blog, I found out that someone else had snatched up de minimis.

Now, there can’t be two blogs of minimum importance or at least my ego wouldn’t allow that so back to the drawing board or better yet the reverse definition search on Law.com Dictionary. I decided on a different approach; I type in “fun”. To my surprise I receive several hits. The first one, abatement, means, well it doesn’t matter what it means, as it turned out all of the hits referred to “fund” or “funds”. Darn those lawyers, always thinking of money. I move on, this time I try “funny”. There is no funny in law. This, in itself, is actually funny and may become the name of this blog. (I am typing this before I actually settle on a name so we’ll see.) I then try “laugh”. Again, to my surprise there are several hits. First hit, crime of passion, which, well, speaks for itself and includes among other things…wait for it….manslaughter. Which would lead to the funny but sick blog name of Who put the Laugh in Manslaughter. I don’t know if that is the beacon I want directing people to by blog; I march on. In the last 10 minutes my husband has offered, lawtastic, lawrific, law moron, and legalicious. Helpful man, now isn’t he? Let’s see….this will be the permanent name that will lure people to my blog and should be representative of its contents, but what to name it?

I gave up, then I slept on it and decided, this morning, to make up a word. Since minimis is taken and maximus implies more importance than my blog should receive, I settled on creating a word: middlemus. Well, apparently it’s not entirely made up because it appears to be a last name but other than that it has no definition. So, my blog will be de middlemus, which I’ve defined as “of medium importance” which is about where this blog should fall. Let's just hope I can keep this up to the medium standards I've set.

Welcome

Hey Everyone, welcome to my blog. Since I am notoriously bad at emailing I thought this would be a great way to stay in touch with everyone and you can read this at your leisure. If you have no idea who I am but have stumbled onto this blog and find it even just mildly interesting or amusing drop me a line and let me know.

A quick warning: for those of you unfamiliar with blogs, this will post in reverse order so if there is more than one post on the screen start from the bottom and read up. In other words, the most current post is first and the oldest post is last. I haven't figured out if there is a way to change this.