The Key Is Choosing The Battles You Need To Fight.

You Are 34% Selfish

In general, you are a very giving person who treats others very well. But at times, you insist on getting your way - when it matters most to you.

How Selfish Are You?

Note To All: AT&T DSL Sucks!!!

This morning seems to be the first time in 4 days that my DSL connection is stable. Wednesday and Thursday I rarely had any service at all. Friday I fougth with the diagnostic routine more often than I had real service. THIS IS WHY I HAVEN'T POSTED ANYTHING LATELY! For those wanting my lastest adventures I'm sorry.

I want to get much accomplished today so no blog posts for you folks. I'm doing the Orchids In Bloom show this morning before it rains. Rainy days are good for my cleaning days and I will clean a lot around here.

Hump Day Is So Violating.

Not the worst day ever in my life, but definately a day I should have stayed in bed.

12:00 am: Can't fall asleep at all. Turn on the stereo for some background noise.

5:45 am: Alarm goes off. I've been tossing and turning for who knows how long now.

6:45 am: DSL not connecting to the internet. No way to see if I have any mail or throw a blog post up.

7:05 am: Put the travel mug full of coffee on top to open the car door. Travel mug falls to the ground and spills all over my khaki pants.

7:20 am: Didn't change the pants, but once the coffee dried you didn't see a stain. Discover I'm teaching Freshmen Algebra. Oh shoot me now please and put me out of my misery. As a group, freshmen are the worst. Totally immature. Algebra is a bad class to teach. No one likes to learn algebra and there is no way to make it interesting.

7:45 am: The students appearantly had their sugar quota for the week today and are bouncing off the walls. Had to yell at them in the middle of taking attendance just so I could finish it. Not a good sign of things to come.

1:30 pm: This particular class has been good so I allow a "reward" for the students who asked to use the computer. They may use the computer as long as they aren't shopping, looking at videos, playing games, etc. Somehow the two students I granted permission to suddenly has seven people around the monitors and they're watching basketball highlights and playing SuperNES games.

2:00 pm: Last class of the day and I want the Taser Of Learning to be used. Class never shuts up even though they're taking a quiz. Some decided to play their ringtones one of which is a girl screaming. While I can tell the noise is coming from a general direction it isn't enough proof for me to confront any particular student. Did I mention cell phones are supposed to be turned off? What do freshmen who can't drive need a cell phone for anyway? Sadly I can't write up an entire group nor can I strip search the scum to find the cell phones. Big Loud Black Girl calls me a racist for singleing her out when she's turned around and trying to work with people on the quiz. Have I mentioned the huge racial rifts I've been dealing with for 6 months? Many black students scream racism when a white member of the faculty is simply trying to enforce classroom decorum. Honey I don't care that you're black. I care that you're cheating on the quiz! However I have 3 strikes in her eyes: I'm OLD (adult), MALE, and WHITE; therefore, I'm evil. The only reason I didn't get a chance to write her up is because someone farted on the other side of the room and freaked out everyone. Why are children so overdramatic about everything?

2:50 pm: Class dismissed! 20 minutes later I've finished writing the class notes.

3:20 pm: The parents decided to drop in at my place. So much for relaxing or sending out some resumes. Have a letter acknowledging receipt of my resume. How about a letter asking me to come in for an interview folks?!?!

4:10 pm: Parents take me out to dinner. I don't want dinner at 4 o'clock!

5:30 pm: I'm dropped off at my place. DSL connection is still down. So much for emailing the 3 resumes I prepared on my breaks. DSL self-diagnostic locks up.

6:20 pm: Head downtown to hit the one free wi-fi hotspot I know of. I know other hotspots like Borders or Starbucks, but you have to pay for those. I sit in the Starbucks on Monument Circle hoping to pick up the free connection off the Columbia Club, but never connect. I have to wait for my laptop to charge up so I can move around the Circle. I see my old boss from an internship. Maybe if I can talk to her I'll get a job lead? As I pack up my laptop she leaves the Starbucks and I lose her.

8:00 pm: My wireless card detects various networks on the Circle, but I can't connect to any of them. So much for sending out these resumes.

9:30 pm: Arrive home. Suddenly the DSL connection is happy.

The sad thing is I know the day could have been far worse.

The Wisdom Of Denny Crane Denise Bauer

"Brad no wonder you're the world's worst kisser. Drop the Homeland Security and let the girl's tongue in."

The sex on the floor conversation I can't even remember because I was laughing too hard.

"You're kissing me now. Remember she's just the guest star." Ironic given the paralegal what's her name is also a guest star.

Denny Crane has it wrong. The line isn't, "Let's shoot all the therapists." You shoot all the lawyers! Get enough of the higher up ones and enough people will move up in rank to allow the new ones to have a job. Such a job creation program would fit our Machiavellian nature much better.

Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It...

is to provide me with topics to write about. I have plenty of ideas, but I want to see what you think. When you participate (and sometimes you do) it becomes much more fun for me.

What Did I Miss On The West Wing?

*deep sigh*

Once again I keep forgeting The West Wing has moved to Sunday nights. While watching The Replacements (great funny movie) I missed one of the last episodes. Can someone please fill me on on whatever happened? Who's the Veep-Elect? Are Josh and Donna still an item? I guess C.J. Craig and Danny have been having a good time lately too. Is this the season where everyone finally hooks up?

I swear I'm checking out the Season 7 DVDs when they come out. I've missed a ton of the shows.

Where's Stanley?

FIRST I would like to thank Blogger for not being able to publish this morning. I typed this up for you and it refused to publish. At least Blogger saved the post so I didn't have to bother to retype it.

I should mention this for the biggest hockey loving fan on the Gulf Coast I know. I'm watching Meet The Press yesteday and I see Tim Russert standing up next to...is that the Stanley Cup??? What's the Stanley Cup doing on Meet The Press? Russert stands up holding a Buffalo Sabres jersey with his name on the back.

I don't watch hockey, but the NHL has a good sense of humor about their trophy. The Stanley Cup shows up in the oddest places. It beat watching Teddy "Please call me Edward" Kennedy quacking about gasoline prices earlier. Quack, quack, quack.

Will The Lazy And Stupid Learn This Lesson?

The Board is on a rules enforcement kick these past 6 months or so. The monthly newsletter always has the reminder for people to not bring out their garbage cans until Sunday night and to take the cans back to their units on Monday night. Simple in theory, but so difficult in reality. For some reason the past few weeks had some garbage cans out all week. The "unsightly" cans are an "eyesore" according to every newsletter. I'll agree to that.

However, someone (I'm assuming a board member) decided to take the unsightly garbage cans out of our parking lot and place them behind the fence in front of my front door. Is the board hiding the eyesore cans from the illiterate lazy people who can't be bothered to bring their cans back on Monday night? Will those people wander out with full bags of trash on Monday and wonder where to shove them? Nah I'm sure those people will just put their trashbags on the asphalt.

I get to open my front door and windows to six trash cans and a rusty propane tank every day now. A rusty propane tank that has been out for at least six weeks now. HELLO, do you not realize the trash company won't pick up a potential explosive? That is why they've ignored your rusty propane tank for six weeks now.

Here's an idea: the cans have our addresses on them. Why not knock on the person's front door and ask, "Excuse me, but go get your trash can out of the parking lot now!" I honestly fear for our society when we can't follow the simple rules. Don't even get me started on people unable to follow the directions on the recyling bin. The recycling bins next to the bathrooms and locker room were clearly marked paper, metal, or plastic. People couldn't even get that right.

Go Save The Planet Today.

Today is Earth Day. If you're out of the area I'm sure you can find local events. If you're in the area our celebration is at the American Legion Mall downtown (grassy field mall, not shopping mall). Learn how to reduse, reuse, and recycle. Give you old cell phone to charity. Learn about programs that will save our wild lands. Listen to music and eat good food if nothing else. Free to get in and free to park on the public streets. I love cheap stuff too.

I hope to see you there. It is open from 11am to 4pm.

I'll Agree With It Even Though I'm Not Familiar With The Word.

Blogger had a fit this morning so I couldn't post what I wrote last night. Have fun with the lateness of the post.

I've never read the article or the book, but I'll agree with the sentiment expressed by the results.

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 38%
Lifer: 31%
Mandarin: 64%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Friday Quotes

Blogger had a fit this morning so I couldn't post what I wrote last night. Have fun with the lateness of the post.

Face: [Face has just been rejected by a girl and he turns to see Murdock staring at him] What are you looking at?
H. M. Murdock: You. I've been watching you, and I'm worried.
Face: How so?
H. M. Murdock: Well, it's a bit disturbing to see the team's Love Doctor hit the ground and cry "Medic!"

B.A. Baracus: I thought you weren't crazy no more?
H. M. Murdock: Only on paper.

Col. Hannibal Smith: Hey kid, you're not that swift. I did some pretty squirly things in 'Nam, and lived to tell about them. You're like bread on a windowsill. Mine, when I want ya.

B.A. Baracus: You messed up, now I gotta mess you up. It's the law!

Transferring Skills From One Environment To The Other.

Today was a goofy half day at school due to Staff Development. Actually it was over two-thirds of a day, but who's counting. I ended up needing to teach one class for the entire day. Not only that, but it was the last class of the day. Ugh I really hate days like that.

The lesson for today in English class was writing a cover letter and resume. I consider myself an expert on this topic so the students were in luck. This was the second day for the assignment so they had parts of a letter written already. After lunch (the class was a split class with lunch in the middle) I put several bullet points on the board concerning cover letters and resumes. "Sell yourself to the employer" was a point under cover letters.

Girl Student: Wow that makes me sound like I'm some prostitute looking for a job.
Boy Student: I never thought a jobhunt was like being a ho.
Me: Eh, you're both kinda right in that you're hoing yourself out to potential employers with a good cover letter.

I adapt to my audience.

Score One For The Home Team!

I'm in the middle of a project. I'm always in the middle of a project, but this is one I've been slowly working on a for bit: getting together a decent list of references for job hunting. Normally I'm pretty good about detail work, but this is one detail that simply slipped. I've run into several ads that want a cover letter, resume, AND references. Whoops, I didn't get that far before.

I'm slowly getting permission from old coworkers to add them to my list, but I wanted one or two people from the legal/law school world that knew me fairly well. I had one professor in mind. I got out of school early and drove downtown. I managed to find my professor just before he had to leave for a presentation. He readily agreed to be a reference. EXCELLENT!

On my way out I ran into another old professor. We talked a bit about various things and he agreed to be another reference as well. EXCELLENT!

Get out of school early. Get two former professors to be references. Enjoy a wonderfully sunny and warm spring day. I think I burned all my good karma, but yesterday was a good day indeed.

Dyngus Day

Easter Monday in Poland. Okay I'm not Polish in any way, but the holiday has been introduced to me and I love a good kielbasa. Besides the Chatterbox was having kielbasa, beer, and jazz music so why not celebrate.

I got there first. I grabbed an outdoor table. The past few years I've developed a taste for al-fresco. Being an idiot I forgot my jacket, but they had those propane heaters that are 8 feet tall. I grabbed the table next to the warmth. I had a perfect view of our shattered, wind-damaged 37 story tower. They've really cleaned it up these past 2 weeks.

Pillar and Reichschancellor arrived...oh screw it I'm tired. It isn't that late, but it has been a very long and tiring day. The 2 beers aren't helping keep me awake either. Suffice it to say I had fun for once. Too little fun has been in my life lately.

How Can I Be Associated With THOSE Two People?

It seems my only function in life lately is to provide online quizes for Citations, LQ, and Stare Decisis to swipe. Have fun ladies. Ugh it is a Monday and I just don't feel like blogging at all today.

I wonder about these online quizzes sometimes. What the hell do I have in common with BS and a genocidal maniac? OTOH he did understand how to use power.

EDIT: I just noticed the test designer used a dark font that has horrible contrast with my green background. Just highlight to see the text please. I would try to change the color of the text, but my attempts in the past have never worked out right. I'm all about the simple solution.

Your Inner Blood Type is Type A

You seem cool and collected, though a bit shy. You are highly driven and a perfectionist, but that's a side you keep to yourself. Creative and artistic, you are a very unique person who doesn't quite fit in. People accept you more than you realize, seeing you as trustworthy and loyal. You are most compatible with: A and AB Famous Type A's: Britney Spears and Hilter

What's Your Inner Blood Type?

We Don't Count The Times I Burned Something Right?

I am the Keeper Of The Flame. If it involved meat and an open flame I'm your cook. Veggies, not so much. I can do some ummm interesting things with pasta. Raman noodles are my friend.

What is this 'baking' some people speak of?

You Are a Learning Cook

You've got the makings of an excellent cook, and the desire to be one. But right now, you're just lacking the experience. You couldn't be a top chef yet, but you could be an apprentice.

Are You A Good Cook?

If I Ruled The World

IF I RULED THE WORLD
Tony Bennett
Words by Leslie Bricusse/Music by Cyril Ornadel

If I ruled the world, ev'ry day would be the first day of spring
Every heart would have a new song to sing
And we'd sing of the joy every morning would bring

If I ruled the world, ev'ry man would be as free as a bird,
Ev'ry voice would be a voice to be heard
Take my word we would treasure each day that occurred
My world would be a beautiful place
Where we would weave such wonderful dreams
My world would wear a smile on its face
Like the man in the moon has when the moon beams

If I ruled the world every man would say the world was his friend
There'd be happiness that no man coud end
No my friend, not if I ruled the world
Every head would be held up high
There'd be sunshine in everyone's sky
If the day ever dawned when I ruled the world

Root, Root, Root For The Home Team.

The weather has been warm and sunny this week. Tonight is the home opener at Victory Field. Tonight is also a 50% chance of thunderstorms. Sonofabitch!!! I'm still tempted to see a little white ball hit with a round stick.

Laundary and my own witness prep for the mock trial tomorrow vs. baseball. I'll pass peanuts and popcon and cracker jacks tonight, but I'm rounding up some people soon for a mental health day soon.

Friday Quotes

We've lived too long, seen too much. To live on, as we have, is to leave behind joy, love, and companionship because we know it to be transitory; of the moment. We know it will turn to ash. Only those whose lives are brief can believe that love, is eternal.
[pause]
You should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift your race has ever received.
- Lorien: Babylon 5

The first lesson a Watcher learns is to separate truth from illusion, because in the world of magics, it's the hardest thing to do. The truth is that Fred is gone. To pretend anything else would be a lie. And, since I don't actually intend to die tonight… I won't accept a lie.
- Wesley: Angel - Not Fade Away

Some days I feel like I'm both of these guys. Illusions are everywhere in our lives. We have them because we think it makes our lives easier. Yet which is better, the illusion or the shattered truth?

Sri Lanka Is The New Indiana.

The cows have moved on.

"For Buddhist monks and astrologers, when Sri Lanka permanently puts its clocks back thirty minutes at midnight on Friday, the island is putting itself back in sync with the stars and planets. "

Sri Lankan resident Arthur C. Clarke [yes the noted author], stated, "We should always be in line with the rest of the world," he told Reuters Television in his Colombo home. "Otherwise, it's an incredible inconvenience... I mean some silly politician saying we should be different from everybody else."

Sounds like The West Wing needs to head out there and make fun of them for an episode.

My Theme Song Kicks Ass!

One of the best songs evah!!!!

Your Theme Song is Back in Black by AC/DC

"Back in black, I hit the sack, I've been too long, I'm glad to be back" Things sometimes get really crazy for you, and sometimes you have to get away from all the chaos. But each time you stage your comeback, it's even better than the last!

What's Your Theme Song?

The Base Needs To Be There If You Want To Touch It.

"Touch base" is a silly saying if you think about it. Who had the first thought of saying that keeping in touch with someone for business purposes was "touching base?" Sounds vaguely pornographic IMHO.

Regardless of the terms origin I attempted to touch base with The Company I interviewed with last Tuesday. I got a message that stated no answering machine was hooked up to this phone line and if you want to talk to actual human beings I need to call on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

Okay I'll call Wednesday, but someone was there on Tuesday last week. This job hunt gets difficult in the most unexpected ways.

Confessions Burritos.

Guaranteed to make Robin hungry if she reads this before lunch again.

1. 1lb ground beef. Brown and drain fat.
2. Warm up some refried beans.
3. Warm up some hominy for the side dish.
4. Cut 2/3 of a orange pepper and let simmer in a bath of olive oil.
5. After draining fat, put burrito flavor packet and 1 cup of water onto the ground beef. Let simmer.
6. Get burrito wrap ready.
7. Put some cooked beef, bell pepper, refried beans, shredded cheese, and lettuce into the burrito wrap. Wrap it all up if possible.
8. Put the hominy on the side.
9. Commence eating. Yummy.

The entire process took about 45 minutes, but could go more quickly if I planned more ahead of time.

Yes I Am An Addict.

What numbnutted TV executive decided to move Veronica Mars opposite both The Unit (TV's #1 drama according to the Nielsen ratings) and House (one rampant Id and politically incorrect superego limping around with a medical degree)? While no longer competing against the juggernaut of American Idol, this isn't a better situation. I love all three shows and can't watch them at the same time obviously. Other people's TiVo is the only thing that will save me.

This reminds me of my first year in school. Nothing was on TV during Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, but Wednesday had my four favorite shows against each other in a 2 hour timeblock. Since I had cable (then) I simply recorded 2 shows and watched the other 2 live. Since I lack cable now recording over antenna isn't worth the effort. The picture quality is atrocious, trust me.

Oh well, other people's TiVo is my friend. FYI: I'll watch Veronica Mars live and catch the others later. If only the writers of The Unit will skip the "and the women who love them" part of the story and focus only on explosions and bullets I'll be happy.

About This Immigration Thing...

Why should I talk about immigration? Blogs can be a two-way medium. Tell me what you think about immigration reform.

Internet people: time for you to pull your share.

EDIT: No commentary at all from you. You people suck. One nice hot button topic de jur and nobody takes a crack at it. BAH!

Where Is My Refund?

Dear IRS,

I, a taxpayer, am owed a refund from your organization. I'll admit is isn't a very large refund in the grand scheme of things, but $300 or so isn't pocket change either. The TurboTax software says it you accepted my tax returns when I electronically transmitted them over 3 weeks ago. One reason I use TurboTax is because I get my refunds quicker that way. In years past you managed to get the refunds to me quickly. What is the hold up?

Please give me my refund soon.

Thanks,
Concerned Taxpayer.

Fry's Is A Big Tease.

Fry's is a big tease. She tempts me with those white case with silver accents, or maybe the silver case and white accents. Then another tempts me with her piano black case with a deep lacquer finish. I can no longer look at my 6 year old beige case the same way. All have huge 400+ watt power supplies with large quiet exhaust fans that whisper. I know they're silicone enhanced, but that stuff keeps the hard drives from vibrating as bad and the silence is gold so I forgive their enhancements. All have easy access panels requiring only my fingers to take off. They're all tease sluts really.

Those motherboards with all the latest bells and whistles. Built-in Ethernet connection, built-in 6 - 8 channel soundchip, front mounted Firewire and USB 2.0 ports. I have to pull out my desk to reach my 2 rear mounted USB 1.0 ports. That reach around isn't fun. I love the motherboards that are friendly with AMD processors. AMD is so superior to Intel. Intel can blow me. I crave the processors with X2 technology. It has two brains so backgrounds tasks like running antivirus software won't slow me down. Intelligent temptress that are capable multitaskers are so hard to ignore. I know I'll need to get a large cooling fan with delicate copper fins to keep such white-hotness in a more comfortable temperature.

Hard to believe ample 300 GB hard drives are so common now. So spacious they can hold ever file I ever want to install or create. If I choose the right motherboard I could get two huge drives to have RAID. Why not protect all those files if you have the ability to.

This is some evil plot to take me away from my beige box of 6 years. I built you myself like I always do. For the most part we've had a good relationship, but we've had some stormy times. I need to backup my important files and reinstall Windows XP soon so maybe you'll behave better. For years the only thing I disliked was the speed of the internet, yet once I gave up the free dial-up from school and spent the cash on DSL that problem was fixed. The 384 MB of RAM seemed brainy enough. The 40 GB hard drive isn't half full yet. Your 800 MHz Athlon has served me well. Able to run any program I desired at least until now.

I know it isn't your fault. Software programmers see all the new hardware and become lazy. They write huge programs that test the limits of all that new found horsepower. Older machines eventually become less capable no matter how faithful they've been. One day I'll want to install Civilization IV or even that newer version of Axis & Allies or perhaps Hearts of Iron II that my friends rave about. I can't find my old copy of Axis & Allies. That is so annoying as I want to see if having England spend nothing in the first round and purchasing a aircraft carrier in the second round is good strategy. I have a copy of Civilization III that I haven't even installed yet. That would let me create worlds for months easily.

Yet it doesn't make sense to upgrade you my beige box. The money spent would be better invested in the newest hardware. It was easy to ignore your faults when I only see you, but Fry's showed me our relationship will come to an end sooner or later. I hate betrayal, but it is the nature of the beast. I like shiny new things. Don't think of me badly please.

Friday Quotes

I forgot the Friday quote, but I found another few good ones to steal.

[Lennier walks in and sees Marcas cleared out a bar, singlehandedly]
Lennier: I see they trained you well back home.
Marcus Cole: Well, they said I was carrying around a lot of repressed anger.
Lennier: And?
Marcus Cole: I'm not repressed anymore!

To make up for the lack of one last week I'll give you a second quote and cross genres.

Tony DiNozzo: Gibbs'll get in. He's got clearance that'll let him see the dead aliens buried in Area 51.
Caitlin Todd: Because he probably killed them.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Captain Kirk, & Ponch Can Do Your Advertisng

I know this sounds like the setup for a joke, but you really can get these guys to do advertising for your law firms. Can I set up my own firm just to have all three in one commercial? Who wouldn't want Napoleon Solo, James T. Kirk, and Officer Poncherello adverstising for them. Ponch needs a Harley to ride on for the shoot.

"Denny Crane. Denny Crane. Denny Crane."

No That Is My Other Blog.

Typed into a search engine: "confessions of an evil mind."

I'm hit number 4. *EVIL GRIN*

EDIT: In a true WTF moment this somehow brings people to my virtual front door: "man who disected cadavers and took note of his observation on his notebooks." W...T...F?!?! It came from a school corporation no less.

Sometimes It Is The Truth.

I'm not an SUV hater. If I had a need for one of the big beasts of burden I would gladly get one. I love satire though and Chevy should have known it would get a few of these ads in their contest. Chevy is holding/held a contest where people created ad content for their newly redesigned full size Tahoe.

I doubt any of these entries will be the winner.

*NOTE: likely safe for work. The music isn't very loud, but some of the text is profane.

Grease Gets You Going.

Did you know you could run a car off of cooking grease? The concept is known as Straight Vegetable Oil (if never used) or Waste Vegetable Oil (if used already for cooking purposes). The writers at Autoblog procured a VW Jetta TDI (diesel for you non-aficionados) recently converted to run on SVO. They drove the modified Jetta around to see what it was like. Conclusion: it ran like a normal diesel Jetta.

The trick is the engine runs on diesel until the excess heat thins the grease enough to use as fuel. That only takes a few minutes. Then the driver switches to the extra fuel tank and runs off of the cooking oil. With a few minutes to go on your drive you switch back to diesel to purge the SVO out of the system. Otherwise when the grease cools it'll become solid and clog up the fuel intake system.

A very interesting article and a unique way of being less dependent on foreign oil. If you wanted to invest the time you can collect waste vegetable oil from restaurants and fuel your car for virtually free.

I don't see the use of SVO/WVO ever becoming mainstream, but for you few dedicated drivers out there I salute you. I wonder what the VegeJet's cholesterol rating is?

EDIT: Just to clarify SVO/WVO is not the same as biodiesel. SVO/WVO is quite literally cooking oil that you deep fry yummy food in. Some people will go to restarants to take the used grease out of the oil dumpsters. If you do that you have to filter the food particles out. The SVOWVO system involves a second fuel tank and some heat pipes from the radiator to warm up the grease into a liquid. That is why you start with regular fuel first and last. If you don't switch to diesel near the end of the trip the oil will cool down into a solid. It is impossible to inject a solid fuel into your engine.

Biodiesel is a diesel fuel derived from plant matter instead of petroleum. You can easily fill up your fuel tank with biodiesel instead of regualar petroleum derived diesel.

WARNING: none of this applies if your car runs on gasoline. NEVER EVER put diesel/biodiesel/vegetable oil into your gas tank. Your gasoline powered car will not run on that stuff.

Mexican Goodness

1. Thaw out a pound of frozen ground turkey. You can use ground beef, but I like the healthy benefits of turkey.
2. Brown the meat in pan.
3. Add hot taco powder (mild is fine to but I like to feel the burn) and 3/4 cup water.
4. Let simmer.
5. Warm up some soft tortilla shells or hard taco shells (whatever you have handy).
6. Pour shredded lettuce and whatever other veggies you like onto the shells. I had some orange peppers and a tomato to try, but I was lazy and didn't feel like cutting them up.
7. DON'T FORGET THE CHEESE!!!!
8. A liberal pouring of mild taco sauce. It slightly mutes the burn and adds some important lubrication to the entire meal.
9. Dump a few scoops of browned meat onto your shells and fold if required.

Note to self: find some sour cream for next time.

I Thought The Interview Went Well.

Can you imagine having a job interview the morning of September 11, 2001? I don't have to as that was the last time I had a real job interview. Due to extraordinary events it wasn't a great interview at the time. I'm guessing it has been 7 or 8 years since I had a good, solid job interview. Given my lack of recent experience I wasn't very nervous. I've been reading a book on the area of law the job covered. I wrote out some questions I wanted to ask during the interview. I double checked my resume so I was familiar with it. I did some research on the employer and the field of law. I left my place 15 minutes earlier than I needed to so I would be early. I felt decently prepared for an unknown experience.

I'm so glad I took the time to be as prepared as I was.

First, I want to note that everything I read in those 'So You Want To Be A Lawyer' books are written by people at the top of the class at HarvardStanfordYale. Their job hunting experiences are not the experiences of an average student/graduate. Someone should write a book about the experiences of an average student.

Second, about 90% of everything our career services office tells students/recent grads is geared towards the top third of the class. That third who goes through On-Campus Interviews to intern or be hired by large law firms or get the prestigious court clerkships. We shouldn't be mad at career services as the entire law school experience/system is geared towards certain experiences and expectations: the system. If you don't fit within the system then the system has problems dealing with you. Once again the job hunting experiences of those who graduate with honors are not the experiences of other students. The resulting advice I receive doesn't seem to fit me very well. Over the past 10 months every bit of information I've received from those who should know I modify or outright ignore.

I honestly expected to interview with 2 or 3 attorneys and be there for a few hours.

The Company is fairly large if you look at their website. This is somewhat misleading as The Company has numerous offices that are semi-autonomous. The ones I ended up hearing about today are mostly 1, 2, or 3 attorney in an office. The one I interviewed at is fairly large with 3 attorneys, but one is going back to another office soon. In effect I was interviewing for a position in a small law office. Given the size of the building I was surprised so few people actually worked there.

The actual interview lasted 20 minutes. I felt it went well though. She explained how things worked and offered some info on The Company. I asked the questions I wrote down before I showed up and felt the answers were good. Aside from one tongue twister I never paused before answering her questions and I was truthful. Any time I mentioned a potential negative I tried to show a positive right away. "I may be inexperienced, but I'm willing to learn."

Towards the end she asked the dreaded salary question. You don't want to price yourself out of their range, but you don't know what their range is in the first place. I explained the salary ranges I found on the internet when I did salary research and notes that money + benefits should be viewed together (the benefits were okay in some ways, good in others). I'm flexible when it comes to salary. If I'm paid a reasonable amount I can accept it.

I'll send her a thank you note tomorrow and hope to hear back from The Company in a few weeks. Now if only the career services office would give advice I don't have to significantly modify. Sometimes I wonder if the job search would go better if I never ask them anything.

Did Anyone Else Think The Final Four Games Were Boring?

After all the great drama the tourney provided this year the Final Four was a bust I thought. Except for the first half between George Mason and Florida none of the games were close. The final game between Florida and UCLA I couldn't watch. Okay I was still reading my book for today's interview, but a 36-25 halftime score is ridiculous. I kept turning on the TV every now and then and kept watching UCLA fall farther behind.

With that said I hope all the Final Four fans had a good time in town, massive skyscraper destroying thunderstorms notwithstanding. Congrats to Florida. The Gators are king for a year.

Are We Sure These Guys Shouldn't File For Bankruptcy?

Courtesy of a local MBA student.

"GM posted a $10.6 billion dollar loss in 2005. To put that into context, GM lost $29 MILLION a DAY, or $1.21 Million an hour, or $20 thousand a minute."

To put that in perspective the $14 billion GM will get for selling a 51% stake in their finance arm, GMAC, will propel them for less than 18 months if things don't turn around. UAW and GM management are you listening?

Yes I Am Reading A For Dummies Book For My Interview Tomorrow.

Do not mock the power of the "For Dummies" series of books. DOS For Dummies started my computer career. I'm coming to discover [undisclosed area of law] is a rather esoteric area of law. As I'm an esoteric person this could work to my advantage.

I'm considering this book to be a plain English version of a bar prep session. Enough information to introduce you to basic concepts and terminology, but hardly an in-depth review of the subject. If I look like I know what I'm doing perhaps I'll get a second interview.

The Cows Will Be Defeated In 12 Hours.

In about 12 hours the majority of Indiana will observe Daylight Saving Time for the first time in over 30 years. Normally I try to respect other people's opinions, but if you were against the idea of DST just shut up.

Only in this state would the issue of observing DST be such a big deal. Based on the vigor and emotion displayed by people you would think Armageddon was coming if Hoosiers springed forward and fell back twice a year. The upper quarter of this state, the part in the Central Time Zone, has observed DST for years. Did they implode over the past 30 years? No, well maybe Gary did, but that is for completely different reasons. 47 other states and most of the industrialized world observe DST. They seem to adapt fine.

The fight against DST was an example of willful obtuseness and stubbornness and the fact it became intertwined with a separate debate on what time zone someone should be in. We ain't never done it before so why we gonna do it now!!! I'm convinced the most passionate DST-haters were the same people who have 12:00 blinking on their VCRs. Am I going to be groggy the next few days until my body adjusts? Sure. Will it take me 5 - 10 minutes to adjust all my clocks. Sure. Do I even like DST? To be honest no as I feel it is a bogus concept in the first place.

I say we try Daylight Saving Time for a year and see how we like it. That extra hour at night might come in handy.