Past the Point of No Return

I have officially lost it. After spending twelve hours on campus last Friday (which included a 3 hour final and a 3 hour review session), I needed a break. Jay and I decided to rent the movie "Elf," which we had never seen and we both thoroughly enjoyed.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie (and I'm not giving anything away--I hate when movie plots are ruined!), the main character, named Buddy, grows up among elves at the North Pole and he travels to New York City to find his long lost father. While he is there, he chops down a tree from Central Park (which is a felony) to use as a Christmas tree.

Well, as I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep after watching the movie, I started thinking about ways I could get Buddy off for chopping down the tree. My thoughts drifted from the insanity defense to whether the court would hold Buddy to an objective standard (whether a reasonable person would know not to chop down a tree) or a subjective one (since Buddy grew up thinking he was an elf and didn't know any better). Why am I thinking about this stuff when I don't have to?!?!

My End of the Semester Project...

This is my first post on the Blog because I have been so busy with school work, that I have not had time to post anything. But, in order to prove to you all that I am learning new and useful things in the MPA program, I have decided to post the introduction to my end of the semester project for my decision analysis class. It is a problem scenario that I had to come up with on my own.

Sunny Acres Retirement Community

The management at Sunny Acres Retirement Community, in an effort be more competitive in the market, has decided to build a new clubhouse for their guests and patrons. When completed, the spacious new building will be the centerpiece of the retirement community as a gathering place for playing bingo, doing the hokey-pokey, and watching TV at an outrageously high volume.
In the past, the custodians complained about a lack of convenient restroom facilities for the Community's patrons (with infamously weak bladders) and have voiced their desire to have more available bathrooms in the new clubhouse.
You are about to meet with the building's architect and discuss the floor plan for the clubhouse. After some sensitive data collection, you have found that the bladder threshold of the average "guest" is 90 seconds. Now, it is up to you and Excel's "solver" function to help the architect come up with a floor plan that will satisfy the needs of both the custodians and the patrons and keep the floors dry.

Semester Quote Board

As yesterday was my last day of classes of my first semester of law school, I thought I'd look back at some of the highlights from the last few months:

Prof. Floyd to Nate: "Not only did you read the wrong case, but you misread it!"

John on being a 1L around finals: "It is kind of like having a terminal disease—everyone seems to treat you a little differently, you have good days and bad days, and you’re not quite sure when the suffering is going to end.”

Prof. Gordon: "Submit your questions for our review session beforehand. I've found it goes a lot easier when I have a chance to look things up. Because--how are you supposed to know all this stuff?!?!" (followed by evil laugh)

Mitch on why people applaud on the last day of class: "Because too many people have seen ‘Dead Poets Society.’"

Christy on capital punishment for innocent people: "I would realize that I'd be taking one for the team."

Mitch on a proposed motto for law school: "Learning the law through ridiculous exceptions."

Prof. Gordon quoting Ralph Nader on the Socratic Method: "It's freedom to roam in an intellectual cage."

(Thanks to John and Erin for their contributions to the quote board.)

Welcome

Hello family and friends,

Since Jay and I have such interesting and exciting lives (consisting of: sleep, study, repeat), I thought we'd keep you all updated via this high-graphic, full-color web log. I wouldn't expect too much blog activity during the next few weeks, however, as I endure the right of passage that is "first-year law school finals." Jay, on the other hand, doesn't have stressful finals--he has group projects (which I would argue are worse because group dynamics can be trixy).

My current favorite way to avoid studying is by doing Christmas-y things. Jay and I bought our first Christmas tree last weekend (the 12 inch, a-la Charlie Brown tree we've had the past few years doesn't count), and we had it up and decorated that same night. It goes against everything Jay believes in to have an artificial tree, but being the poor students that we are, we went for the economical choice of an artificial tree. We compromised by buying some pine-scented potpourri. Here's a picture from our cute "Christmas room" as Jay calls it. Enjoy!