Frequent Citations

Ye Gods

I have been helplessly, hopelessly tied to the news, watching the devastation unfold, watching the news turn worse and worse.

Having been involved in a peripheral way in other catastrophic emergency situations, I know that the physical damage to the area is deeper and more wide-spread and more expensive to repair than most people realize. The non-physical damage caused by this horror will be deeper and wider than the physical damage, with incalculable cost. There is no insurance for heartbreak.

BIGLAW Scoop

I found this via JD2B. Wow. Extremely interesting reading for anyone considering going into BIGLAW, and for those who enjoy quibbling over law school rankings.

Economics: Help!

The more they tell us that we don't need to know anything about economics before we start, the more worried I get. So please, dear readers, do you have any suggestions for books on economics? Think pre-introductory level. Remedial economics, if you will. I know nothing about economics except that I think it's somehow related to money. And math. And, according to Freakonomics, baby names in California. See, I still don't get that connection.

Anyway, yes, I did read Freakonomics. But it didn't explain the basic concepts of economics, and I'm sure there must be some. (Perhaps I should invest in a doll and some needles? Go on a field trip to Haiti?)

Can you believe my uncle is a professor of economics? ABD at University of Chicago, of all places? I'd love to take a class with him, but the commute to Paris would kill me. Also, he's now retired. So much for that idea.

In a shocking turn of events, I turned in my transcript a full day before the deadline! Yes! I did. Then I wandered through the bookstore, picked up a hat, and ogled the law books they had out already. I wish I knew which section I'm in, although I did get some ideas about the reading list for that law theory class.  And I got an idea of how much books are going to cost. I hope the rest of the student loans get approved soon.

As Apple Pie

Have you noticed how many good quizes come via Confessions of an Exhausted Mind? Yeah, well, here's another one:

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

There you go. In case you were worried. Thanks, Brian!

Cutie Pie Boy

Boy headed off for school today in jacket and tie: it's picture day. He looked so cute adorable handsome in a massive* and clean-cut sort of way. However, he has a thicker neck than his father so I'm going to have to get him his own dress shirts. Ugh.

Every once in a while a girl from our old town calls him, and they've gone out a couple of times. We laugh whenever we hear her voice because she sounds exactly like Minnie Mouse. Now, alas, he has his own cell phone so I doubt she'll be calling the house phone any more.

*Okay, "really a lot bigger than I am" is what I mean by "massive."

The Big Easy

It looks as though New Orleans once again escaped complete devastation. There's plenty of horrific damage, of course, but the city stands. Good for it. I shall have a drink in its honor.

However, my heart goes out to all the people in the south whose lives have been trashed by this storm. Mother Nature is nasty and brutal.

Update: Good lord. The city withstood the hurricane; I hope it can survive the flooding. I pray for the ones who evacuated and those who didn't, for the rescue workers and those needing rescue, and for the souls of those past rescuing.

College Tripping

For those of you (hi Mom!) who want more details of the trip to drop off GirlChild, here you go. For the rest of you, I'll try to come up with something mildly amusing later.

We got into CollegeTown hours before we could check in to the hotel, so we drove around the campus, got lunch at a funky little granola-bar type lunch place, drove around the town for a while,  and ogled the town's old buildings.

When we stopped at a Starbucks for a desperately needed caffeine fix, I realized that we were in the same building where David Boies has his firm. GirlChild patiently patted my arm and said, "Yes, Mother dear. It is terribly exciting to be in this building." A group of boringly dressed men carrying briefcases and looking a bit worn and rumpled walked by, "Look! My people!" Heh.

Obviously that was the high point of the trip. However, we went on to have dinner at a very nice steak house where the waiter had the audacity to suggest Bananas Foster for dessert, and then went to see "Must Love Dogs." Cute, but not Cusak's best movie ever.

Thursday we hit the college bookstore and got Girl Child's books (ow), then went on a massive shopping spree at Target for dorm room supplies, then we were Really Quite Bad at the nearby mall. Sunglasses, shoes... clothes...

After lugging our purchases back to the hotel we thought we'd walk to a restaurant somewhere, work up an appetite on the way. Well. This may not have been our best idea ever.

First we strolled down the main drag, then turned down another busy street with all the pubs and whatnot, then turned again down a more residential street thinking that we'd circle around toward the other side of the main drag. Only, the next street didn't go through. Nor the next.

It was starting to get late by now, and while the first people we passed were sitting on their stoops enjoying the evening air we were beginning to pass others who were, um, enjoying less legal things. Yeah. Then GirlChild suggested we cross the street to avoid being hit by items being thrown from second floor windows, as someone was being evicted. The sun was sinking, and still we were walking.  Eventually, nearly a mile from where we first turned, we found a  street going back to the main road.

We were fine, no one bothered us (although we got some funny looks), and we did finally get some dinner.

Friday, I dropped her off at school and flew away. *sniff* I did have a heck of a time getting my suitcase closed, with the new shoes and all, but I managed.

There you go, lots of gory details.

I'm Not Telling

I was catching up on my blog reading last night and took this quiz that Stag had posted.

Ha! I'm not telling you what my result was. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

Drugs, Sadness, and Home Again Home Again

You will all understand my joy and jubilation when I tell you that the lovely and fabulous Empire State is home to a Target fully stocked with my drug of choice! Yessssssssssssssssssss! I came home with, um, multiple boxes. I almost feel obliged to start a Meth lab now, but it would be so wasteful. Oh, and wrong. Yeah.

GirlChild and I bummed around worked industrially industriously for a couple of days shopping like madwomen for shoes and clothes and fun stuff for college getting her all ready for school and moving her into her dorm. Compared to most of the other piles of crap precious belongings of the other students, hers looked absolutely minimalistic. Still, she seems to have the essentials and we got her bed all set up nicely.

Speaking of dorm room decor, has anyone noticed the atrocious colors being foisted on college kids? What is with that?

After abandoning my first-born child to the tender mercies of a college in a far-away state, I flew home to a kitchen that had not been touched while I was gone, except perhaps to get a few more dishes dirty.

We're all going to die when I'm in school.

So, to recap: scored drugs! Yay! Left GirlChild at college - sigh. Came home to filthy kitchen.

There was also a really pleasant dinner out, some movies, an eviction, a few even less legal drugs, and other assorted adventures over the last couple of days, but they can all wait. Right now I'm going to go watch a movie with my son.

Addictions Du Jour

Friends don't get friends addicted to tv shows. Yeah, I'm looking at you. You and your FarScape and your Dead Like Me. You are BAD.

My other recent addiction is Craig's List. It is Too Much Fun. The things people list for sale, the outrageous descriptions, the possibility of scoring exactly what you want (Pottery Barn shelves) for way cheap (less than half of what they would cost new, and they're perfect!); it all sucks you in until 12 hours later you realize that your hand's spasming and you're awfully hungry... Okay, my addiction isn't that bad. But that list is almighty entertaining sometimes.