The Quiet Revolution

Sacto 9-1-1: Man, woman dead in midday drive-by shooting on Howe Avenue

2010-04-12T18:23:00.001-07:00

Sacto 9-1-1: Man, woman dead in midday drive-by shooting on Howe Avenue

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A Poem for Nancy Grace

2009-04-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

Blonde bob like the helmet of a superhero that made an indelible impression on her, as a child.
Although it's hard to imagine this wing-less helmetted, clear-eyed human Scales of Justice as anything like a child.
Righteous indignation congeals behind the eyes of this people's Cassandra, wrath roils off the tongue of this TVland cyclops of the missing, the murdered and the mute.
The female murderer is her prey: every gesture, sigh, smile, frown, word, sentence and mumbling मार्क्स her as guilty.
Witness Nancy Grace, more than merely judge, jury and executioner, but the levying officer on the defendant's very name,
For to be renamed "the Tot Mom" is the death even of Death.

Thursday in the Park with Charlie

2009-04-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

When I first got Charlie, I tried the Caesar Milan approach. Charlie never bought it. Instead, we have now settled into a comfortably neurotic relationship where I kiss my little cuddle-bunny's feet and Charlie luxuriates in the attention like a small tan and chocolate deity. It's just not that easy to take a deity for a walk. Like most princelings, Charlie prefers to be carried. He periodically stops, stubborn as a small mule and refuses to move on. The expression in his eyes is always one of outraged disgust, at being forced to walk along a dusty, dirty path in the park. Even his attempts to chase the squirrels are half-hearted, as if he knows a mere mortal is treating him like a dog, instead of the royalty he actually is. If only I could find a dog park where they have a red carpet. Sometimes I sense Charlie watching me as I drive, his eyes half-closed, no, not watching me. Contemplating me, in a quiet but slightly puzzled way. As if he wishes that he could share just one word of the wisdom he has in one wag of his little tail.

I'm unemployed and starting to hate my new boss!

2009-04-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Yip, looking for a job sucks. People say looking for a job is a job in itself, so if that's true, my new boss is starting to really bug me. Let me think. Moody? Check. Talks about her dog all the time? Check. Talks to the dog constantly in annoying doggie-talk... poopsie-woopsie, Mommy's just going out for a second, Mommy loves you little flumpakin. Slave-driver? Check. Annoyingly perfectionist? Check? Rewrites each cover letter 10 times before sending out? Check. Pay? Lousy. Actually, haven't seen a paycheck yet. Definitely time to write a strongly worded letter to management.

My dog has learned a new trick!

2009-04-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's a variation on an old trick. When I'm at my desk working, Charlie will sometimes roll over and look all cute - his way of saying, time to pet me! Except about a year ago he would do this, and then as soon as I got up, he would race off to get a toy and get me to play with him.

Now he has started doing the same thing with wanting to being let out! He will go to the sliding glass door of my apartment, and stand there pawing the glass like he usually does when he needs to use his toilet (in his case a large section of newspapers spread out on my balcony outside). Now he goes to the door, acts like he wants to go out, and as soon as I'm half-way across the room to let him out, he rushed off to grab a toy and runs up to me with his best I'm the cutest dog in the world expression! I must admit his ploy usually works.

Turnips are the new potatoes

2009-04-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I cooked with a Turnip for the first time. It should have made me feel like Old Mother Hubbard, but I was making the Minestrone soup recipe out of the new Weight Watchers cookbook. 3 points a serving, except mine would be less because I left out the potatoes. And the fabulous thing about turnips? They're like potatoes in texture, except they taste a little more oniony and they have about half the calories. Totally yum! Trust me, turnips are the new potatoes. Take that, Rachel Ray!

So I passed the California Bar Exam

2008-11-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this for all you out there who may at some future date be wondering if you passed. All I can say is, if I can, anyone can. I only completed half of the final performance test - there were 2 questions - each worth 50% of the grade of the last performance test, and I wrote a full answer for the first question and then exactly one sentence for the second one.

And I'm not good at MCQs - I only scored 53% on the Barbri practice test that they give you, but I did attend the lecture by that smart-alecky guy on how to approve one's score. Also, 3 weeks before the exam I spent a week in hospital for a serious medical condition and had to cope with daily physical therapy sessions for the next 3 weeks. So I missed the final week of BarBri classes. But I did drag my laptop and a duffel bag full of the barbri books with me to the hospital and just focused on the areas that I was weak on.

OK - here are some stats on me - I went to a first tier ABA law school; my undergrad GPA was 4.0, law school GPA a little over 3.0 - and of course I did Barbri. I studied intensely for about 6 hours each day during Barbri, but never kept up completely with the schedule - I did my best but Volume 2 of the MCQs and the essay questions went untouched. However, I did concentrate on the stuff I didn't know - using the Study Smart software for MCQs helps in this regard as you can get summaries of your scores broken down into specific subject matter areas - e.g., easements and CC&Rs. Then you can concentrate on that stuff.

Also, another tip: work hard, do what works for you and do take breaks. Have a day off once a week. Exercise, even if it's 20 minutes walking around the block. Get enough sleep. Apparently our brains actually organize information while we are sleeping, so lack of sleep will impede your efforts to stuff chunks of property or wills and trusts into your brain.

I must say though that I felt the rest of the written exam went very well - the other essays and PT went well - and I did complete all the MCQs, even though I felt like I was guessing on half.

So if you're in that dreadful post-bar phase of waiting for the results, have a little faith in yourself. And if you are preparing for the CA bar, don't get overwhelmed. Use common sense and you will be just fine.

It lives - trying to kill ideology

2008-11-14T01:13:00.000-08:00

I wish that politicians would forget about a conservative or liberal "ideology". Ideologies are of necessity preconceived notions and are ill-suited to fixing the mess we are in. Lets scrap all ideologies, Republican and Democrat; recognize them for the Frankensteinian monsters they are and just focus on what works, regardless of the ideological lable put on it.

I almost feel sorry for the Republicans in trying to return to the "ideals" of conservatism. They should free themselves from the cookie-cutter molds of low taxes and small government. The real question is what level of taxation are we willing to bear to fund our overseas adventures and social programs, parks, clean air and everything else. What kind of government actually works? Stop trying to get a Frankensteinian monster cobbled together out of ideology, religion, and plain ego from preventing us from creating a better country.