Ice Cream and Cake

Today my blog is a year old.

I posted 283 times and had 23.4 visitors a day on average.

It's been a great ride; here's to another year of blogging.

Final Sassy Update

Sassy had her splint removed Friday after the vet took an X-ray and declared her as close-to-normal-as-she's-gonna-get. I'm sure there's a more appropriate medical word for that phrase, but that's the gist of it.

She's still lifting her leg up when she runs, but I hope that will change in a few weeks. After having her leg in a splint for almost two months, I imagine her leg is a little stiff and her muscles are a bit atrophied.

Right now it's thundering outside, so I imagine she's burrowed under our covers at home, waiting for it to pass. She never did like bad weather.

Where Are All The Normal Blogs?

Occasionally I'll search Blogger for new blogs, in hopes that I can find what appears to be a "normal" blog.

Usually my search is fruitless. I find dozens of foreign-language blogs, heaps of marketing blogs, and a smidgen of blogs that serve some very specific purpose (desktop themes, radio collecting, etc.) but very few Everyman type of blogs.

Other than a few people (fish comes to mind) I've not found a lot of blogs that I like to constantly check up on- in that vein, then, please feel free to post a link to your blog- if it's "normal."

Here's my definition of normal:

1. You describe everyday experiences with enough context so that someone reading it can understand what's going on.
2. You update semi-frequently.
3. It's in English. (sorry, I don't know enough of a foreign language to understand anything else.)
4. Hopefully, it's somewhat humorous.

In short, a blog that gives a glimpse into what life is like in whatever particular part of the world you're in. I think that's what the majority of bloggers are looking for- am I wrong?

The Longest Day

Law school, while not completely interrupting the updating on this blog, has certainly hindered it.

For example, here was my schedule on Monday:

4:00 AM: Wake up; get ready for the day
4:45-5:15 AM: Drive 30 minutes to campus
5:30-6:30 AM: Study and read
6:30-8:15 AM: Work at Library
8:30-9:20 AM: Torts Class
9:30-10:20 AM: Work at library
10:30-11:20 AM: Property Class
11:30-12:15 PM: Work at library
12:30-4:00 PM: Volunteer at MVLP
4:00-4:30 PM: Drive Home
4:30-5:00 Eat dinner
5:00-5:30 Drive back to city
5:30-8:30 Celebrate Dad's birthday
8:30-9:00 Drive Home and pass out.

That made me tired just typing it.

The funny thing is that I don't feel exhausted, as I did while I was teaching. Yet I'm doing a lot more. The only difference I can find in the two is that now I'm doing something I truly love.

That's a big difference, indeed.

Chocolate

As the whole world knows by now, Ray Nagin is newly infamous for his recent statement. I reproduce part of it below-

"I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," he said. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

Three things worry me concerning this quote: (a) it's racist and derogatory on its face, (b) no white mayor could make an analogous statement and keep his job under the face of public scrutiny, and (c) Nagin contends to know God's wishes.

A. The comment is racist and derogatory

It is hard for me to think of a quote that carries the same message and yet doesn't sound more racist. Let me try-

"I don't care what those rich white people are saying- this city will be chocolate at the end of the day. Majority African-American, I declare. God told me this Himself while eating a Hershey bar."

Close, but no cigar.

"Come back black people! We've lost our chocolate flavor! Too much vanilla ice cream on sale at the store, if you know what I mean. Right now the Devil is dancing with the white people Uptown! How do I know? 'Cause God is sad that the black people left, and when He's sad, the Devil's happy!"

That's better.

B. No White Mayor Could Make Analogous Statement and Stay in Office

Picture this if you will- an earthquake has destroyed much of Helena, Montana, and the mayor gets on camera (during a Columbus Day rally) and says the following:

"I don't care what those people on the reservation are saying- this city will be majority white bread at the end of the day. Majority Euro-American. It's simply what Jesus would want."

Enter the public backlash that would occur in the space provided- I've posted my answer below.





After being stoned by the NAACP, the hapless mayor is forced to resign, publicly apologize fourteen times in twelve different languages, and wear a sandwich-board on every street corner in the city that says, "I love all people." This footage, is, of course, played on CNN eighteen hours a day. The Senate passes a resolution condemning the man and he has to go into hiding after receiving several death threats. Later, when he is finally disemboweled, the murderer is acquitted and writes a lucrative book entitled, "How I Stopped Racism."

C. Nagin Apparently Thinks He Knows What God Wants

This one might be the most disturbing. Nagin validates his opinion by using a theocratic sense of authority. In what field of human endeavor does this work?

Mechanic: I think you got a faulty starter.
Customer: How do you know?
Mechanic: God told me.

Second point- not to be callous, but if Nagin has a direct line to God's inner thoughts, perhaps he would have picked up on the fact that the city of New Orleans would be flooded. He knows God's racial preference for New Orleans, but he failed to ask about the biggest natural disaster to ever hit his city. That makes perfect sense.

I can only think of one other wacko who makes the "I know what God wants and/or why He does certain things" argument and that man's name is Pat Robertson. When he makes a comment, you can almost hear the shameless glee in the reporters' voices while they report. Yet all you hear is respect when the newscasters mention Ray Nagin, even while he says the most asinine things. I swear, he could set himself on fire while singing "God hates white people." and the newscasters would just smile, play it once at 2:00 AM, and then talk about Pat Robertson for ten minutes.

All I'm asking for is some equality- is that too much to ask?

MVLP

Next week I officially begin volunteering with the Mississippi Volunteer Lawer Progam, which is a grant-based, pro bono service devoted to providing the indigent with legal advice and representation.

I'll work on the newsletter and review cases before shipping them off to attorneys.

I think it will help increase my experience in the field of law, do some good for those people who desperately need it, and create some contacts for me in the legal community.

Modified Business Plan

In a few weeks, I hope to begin my Adirondack Chair business. I'll start off small, selling a few on the weekend at flea markets or out of my front yard. Then I'll pump the profits back into the business, using them to make more chairs. It's very important to me that this business be profitable from the start- generally speaking, it's not a good idea to just throw money at a problem.

If it grows, I have a friend who can put up a website where people around the world can buy my chairs in ready-to-go kits. But that might be a ways off yet- we'll have to see.

My big epiphany came a few days ago- earlier I was wondering whether to paint the chairs a solid color or either paint designs on them- in effect, using the chairs as a canvas. Then I realized that there was a happy compromise- I could use different shades of wood stains to create simple silhouettes on the back of the chairs. This would enhance the marketability of the finished piece and yet still allow the beauty of the natural wood to be displayed.

Hopefully it'll work out in real life as well as I envision it in my head.

I Wish I'd Thought Of That...

A bloke from the United Kingdom was brainstorming one night in an effort to find a way to make money, and he came up with this.

For those who don't care to link, he created a site with a million pixels, and sold each pixel (in 100 pixel increments) for a dollar each. The last grouping sold on Ebay recently for over $38,000.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Final Grade

Well, my Criminal Law grade finally stumbled in and now my GPA is complete, at least until May. I could be happier (especially after Crim) but I could also be a LOT sadder.

What's amazing is the deflation one feels when their GPA drops- but in actuality, all of the grades were in existence at the same time. As my wife astutely points out, it is best to pretend you received your grades in increasing order. In most instances if this were the case, you would actually be happy about your overall GPA.

It's all about perspective.

I'm now officially a 1.5L

Luck You.

That's the two word sentence I accidentally penned at the end of my Civil Procedure Exam. Somehow, I either cut and pasted a word where it shouldn't have been, or I was just tired of thinking. I meant to type "Thank you."

Luckily, my teacher was a good sport about the whole thing.

Whew.

Note to self: Try to avoid veiled (yet unintended) profanity in next round of exams.

Fahrenheit 4-Cylinder

Over the last few weeks, the car my wife and I share has been acting strangely. Namely, it would get close to overheating in the morning, then cool down after the car sat and idled for a few minutes. This would happen even if the temperature outside was quite cold, so I knew something was wrong.

I checked the fluid levels every now and then and didn't see a problem, so I ruled out a leak. A quick search of the car's symptoms on the Internet showed the likely culprit to be one of two things- the thermostat was sticking or the water pump was going faulty.

A quick call to an auto parts store let me know that a thermostat costs $6.88 and a water pump costs almost twenty dollars. More importantly, a thermostat is relatively easy to replace, whereas the water pump would require a mechanic's expertise.

So I asked my dad to come out and replace the thermostat. It only entailed removing a radiator hose, taking out two bolts and pulling out the old one. Then you simply reversed the process and filled the radiator with clean antifreeze and water.

Knowing what I know now, I could have done it myself, but I don't have the large collection of tools that my Dad has. Having the right tool makes the whole process easier.

Sadly, it would have cost $80 or more at a mechanic's shop. So basically, my father saved me about $70 dollars. Which is $70 I really don't have to spend right now.

Moral of the story: if your car is having trouble keeping cool, replace the thermostat first. It's a quick repair and doesn't cost much- and even if it's not the problem, you've got a new one.

Yard Clippings

Jackson, Mississippi has recently passed an ordinance (either that, or they are finally enforcing it) that makes it a violation to leave a car parked in your front yard. Doing so is punishable with a fine- basically a traffic ticket.

Having just taken several law school courses, I'm drawn to the consitutionality of this measure.

Looking to property law, it is clear that a landowner has an unqualified right to use his land as long as he doesn't create a nuisance or endanger the public welfare. (Astute followers of the blog will remember that I used the latter reason to support bulldozing of the buildings in New Orleans.)

In a Supreme Court decision, the court determined that a neighbor erecting a toilet on a ten-foot pole is not a nuisance, but an aesthetic choice. Thus, it is clear that the court is willing to continue the precedent of only declaring something a nuisance in extreme circumstances, thereby validating the rights of landowners to use the land as they see fit. In no court in America would a judge hold that a car sitting on a lawn constitutes a nuisance.

Covenants are another matter, but a discussion concerning them is not pertinent here. The ordinance is city-wide and authoritative in its substance, not a communal or democratic agreement among landowners.

Likewise, parked cars that are locked pose no looming threat to the public welfare. If this were so, it would be illegal to park cars anywhere, not just on the yard. Moving a car to the grass does not enhance the danger of its existence one iota.

That said, it is clear why the ordinance was approved- the city council wants to increase property values and clean up the area. While these are certainly noble and laudable goals, they overreach in their power. As I've said before, the law can only force people to do that which is minimally good- it cannot exact (or demand) nobility from its constituents. We are still free (thank God) to make dumb, irrational decisions that hurt no one.

If I had a home in Jackson, I would be sorely tempted to pave the entire front yard, stripe it like a parking lot, and fill it with random cars. (The neighbors who are getting fined would be glad to use a space, I'm sure.) I doubt there's an ordinance that limits the size of a person's "driveway." If so, that would be unconstitutional as well. Then I'd line the front with American flags, completing the used parking lot decor. This, I'm fairly sure, would be entirely legal- but parking one car on the yard is not.

Where's the sense in that?

I hope someone with some money and time gets a ticket on purpose and then appeals the eventual decision to the Supreme Court on constitutional grounds. This is surely a violation of civil liberties.

If You Love Something...

The grade that disappeared a few days ago has (thankfully) returned in its old incarnation.

So I'm basically at the point I was at before Torts- a pretty good place, I think.

(Breaths a sigh of relief.)

This Is Ridiculous

MSNBC is running a cover story about how people are upset that the city is going to bulldoze over 5,000 houses on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River that were partially damaged by Hurricane Katrina. (By "partially destroyed," I mean basically unlivable structures that could very well cost more to repair than to rebuild.)

Homeowners in the area have basically three arguments to halt the bulldozing: 1) that destroying the area will push back the African-American population, 2) homeowners haven't had a chance to get their personal belongings, and 3) it's unconstitutional to bulldoze buildings without owner permission.

Argument #1 has no merit: bulldozing is an economic decision, not a racial one. It doesn't matter what color person owns the house- you're not going to spend $100,000 to fix a home that's worth maybe $80,000. It just doesn't make sense. In fact, Ray Nagin is the one supporting it- something tells me that he's not in the business of pushing African-Americans out of New Orleans.

Sidebar: I'm not so sure the homeowners understand how expensive it can be to bulldoze a house and haul off the debris. I'd imagine the price tag could easily run somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000 a house. Doing them all at once spares the homeowners the expense and actually would result in a lower overall cost, since it would all be done at once. At any rate, I don't want people complaining when they wave off the city's bulldozers and then decide a year later to raze the thing to the ground. In that case, they should have to foot the bill.

Argument #2 has some merit, but it's nothing that couldn't be solved by issuing a statement giving the homeowners until a certain date to grab their belongings. Of course now, thanks to MSNBC, every burglar and looter in the city has official notice that there's stuff sitting practically unguarded. I'm sure it won't stay there long.

Argument #3 is the most interesting to me because it's a legal issue. The mayor contends that he can do so by issuing an edict declaring the houses an "imminent public danger." While that's stretching it a bit, it's constitutionally sound. The city has certain police powers to protect its citizens that trump individual rights. I can't speed because I might hurt others; likewise, I can't leave open refrigerators laying around my yard because children might climb in. It's totally forseeable that a child might get hurt exploring a house that has broken windows, a caved in floor, etc. The city has a right to condemn these buildings.

Oddly enough, it is the city council that's opposing the move. One of them reportedly stood in front of one of the homes, defying the bulldozers their destructive task. It appears that outlandish political maneuvers is par for the course in city councils. However, I understand why they do it- city council members are more closely connected to the citizens they represent- thus, even if they approve the measure, they have to pretend to agree with their constituents.

The only way New Orleans will ever rebuild is by clearing the rubble and setting a new foundation. It'll happen sooner or later- eventually, the homes will collapse on their own. I hate to be harsh, but let's help the process along.

What?!

One of my grades has disappeared from the website. Vanished. Poofed. Gone.

A quick glance at my email tells me that the professor who sent in the grades made a "computational error." In layman's terms, the grades are wrong in some way- we don't know how many are affected or to what extent they'll move.

I'm quite upset because I felt as though I did well in that class, and knowing my luck, now my grade will drop.

I understand that a person should get the grade they deserve, and I'll live with whatever the final result turns out to be. But it's particularly cruel to give someone something, thinking they've earned it, and then snatch it away.

Arghhhh.

Definition

Missed Tackle (n) : a situation that occurs whenever a football player fails to execute a timely physical stop of an opposing football player, allowing extra yards. See also college football.

2 More Grades In; 2 More Letters

Could have been worse, but not much better.

37 hours, 10 minutes, and a few seconds...

That's how long it's been since I had a cigarette.

Hot Times at Thermometer High

It's January 2nd, and in a few hours the temperature here will reach 77. That's a bit warm for the first month of the year. That's a bit warm for a March or April, to be honest.

That said, the weather is calm- if a bit windy- so I can't complain too much.

At least I'm not underwater in California or on fire in Texas.

But I still turn an anxious eye to the summer and wonder what kind of temperatures we'll see if it's this warm in the winter. If the pattern holds up, we might see some brush fires of our own before it's all said and done.

What a First Day.

On New Year's Eve, my wife and I celebrated with fireworks with my family. After midnight, everyone left and we sat on the couch for a few minutes to decompress before heading to bed.

I connected to the internet and was happily surfing online when I happened to glance out the front window and see a man walking up to the front door in a white T-shirt. I bolted, led my wife into the room, and grabbed the gun. At about that time I heard him knock on the door.

Keep in mind that all of this is happening at roughly 1:30 in the morning. We never have anyone come up, much less in the middle of the night. The closest house is some distance away, and the fact that our unknown visitor had not arrived in a car made it even more suspicious.

I decided to go to the door because I knew that he had seen me, and I didn't want him to wander off into the night, not knowing if he would ever return. (Like Jude Law from Cold Mountain, I don't want to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.)

Thus, I gave my wife the gun, locked her in the bedroom, and walked to the door. I cracked it first, with the chain, and asked him what he needed. I heard a slurred voice say that he had ran off the road a while back and needed to use the phone.

At this point it became clear that the fellow was drunk- I could see his bloodshot eyes through the crack in the door. Either that, or he was an Academy Award winning actor. I perhaps should have called the sheriff, but the last thing I wanted is a drunk holding a grudge over me.

So I passed him the phone, and shortly afterward went out on the deck to talk with him. He seemed like a nice guy, despite the fact that he was more than a bit tipsy. He told me he had fallen asleep at the wheel, and when he woke up he found the car smoking in a ditch. Then, based on where the car was found later, he had walked over a mile in pitch blackness to find our place. (Like I said, we live out in the middle of nowhere.)

To make a long story short, my wife's father ran out and followed me as I took him to Yazoo City. He offered to pay for the ride and was quite amicable throughout the whole affair. It still scared the hell out of me, however- precisely because you never know who might show up at your doorstep.

Afterwards, my wife and I have taken certain precautions. Namely, we've turned off the front porch light, which throws the whole property into relative darkness. Secondly, we've begun closing the large metal gate at the end of our yard. And finally, we've begun letting our two large, black dogs out at night. We think that doing so makes our home less attractive to those thinking about walking up. I don't mind helping people, but I don't want to put my wife or myself in danger, either.

I hope your first day of the new year was more relaxing than mine.