We Get Free Cable...Turns Out That's Not Always Good

My roommates are both gone till Sunday (so like, 5 or 6 days away from school - in the first month! I'd freak out...but then, we don't have grades, so....), so I have the apartment all to myself. It's been awesome. Even though I love them dearly, and I lived all of last year with anywhere between 5-8 roommates at a time, it's going to be super-helpful* if I can take advantage of the distraction-free* environment to work on my writing assignments this weekend.

*Note: It's very unlikely that any real work will be done if I'm in the apartment. It's too tempting to watch tv. I've watched approximately 6 hours of Law & Order in the past two days [that's part of my education, right?!?]. Plus 3 hours of the Golf Channel. And a couple hours of football. And Project Runway. And Top Design. Perhaps the only deterrent is that our couch isn't particularly comfortable after the first hour. Obviously, though, that hasn't stopped me yet.

Boo. Writing assignments. We have a 12-page memo to write by next Thursday for our small group class (con law), wherein we're supposed to make arguments based on a "closed-world" set of 9 cases that have been given to us by our professor. We have to submit a draft to be edited by our TAs before it's seen by the professor, so not particularly a be-all-end-all situation, but I think the consensus is that we don't want to look utterly stupid. We also have to write a complaint (in partners) for our procedure class. Also due Thursday. C'mon, professors...coordinate?

On the good side, this week has been nice (and will continue to be so) because a couple of my professors have canceled class. I can sleep in till basically whenever I want tomorrow and Monday. I should use that time to work on my writing assignments. I will likely just do laundry, and work on my non-law-school-job work. Oh well. One to 3 am is the most productive window of the day, right?

A few random things:

* Lexis/WestLaw free printing (only of law cases, but since that's all I read these days...) is amazing. It saved me from spending $130 on a contracts book. I actually like the red Lexis logo printed on all the pages. And the rewards programs for using their services seem sweet, since I'd be using them anyway. My law student self looks back on my high school debater self [which unabashedly flirted with debate guys that had Lexis passwords, in hopes of getting to use them] and says, "Whoa! My own Lexis password! I'm on top of the world!"

* Note from my apartment's management (seemingly directed at the undergrads that live in many of the other apartments), paraphrased:

"It has come to our attention that there has been drinking in the hallways. Parties are not allowed in the hallways, or on the steps, or in the parking lot. We'll evict you if you keep being loud. Thanks for being great tenants."

We love our management. Yeah, not long ago we were those obnoxious undergrads (and we try to avoid seeing ourselves as the grumpy grad students), but it's a little ridiculous to have thumping base radiating through our door at 4am. On a Monday night.

* You know you're back in school when you start planning for your school vacations. We have a week off in October (it's fly-back week for 2Ls doing firm interviews, and everyone else just gets a vacation), so I've been planning my escape this week. One small group is organizing a trip to Costa Rica. I have two trips planned for the bookend weekends - one to the Midwest, and the other to a city/state I haven't been out west.

* Things my schoolmates have written/done this week (I'm feeling more and more inadequate by the day...):

• WashPost op-ed on the financial crisis/bailout plan
• Reflection on David Foster Wallace [one of my favorite writers ever] in NY Mag
• Showing of a documentary about post-9/11 life in America

Comebacks and Back-Ups

Today ended as any good fall Monday should: Gossip Girl (Tivo-ed, and viewed in a room of ten women and three - yes, three - men...oddly, approximately the same gender breakdown was evident at last night's viewing of the season premier of Entourage) sandwiched between snippets of the season's first edition of Monday Night Football. [Blissfully, three of my professors have deigned it appropriate to regularly assign what seems to be comparatively minimal reading assignments, and I don't have the other class on Tuesdays...plus, after six hours in class today topped off with two hellish hours on the phone with the internet so-called "provider" that refuses to provide till SATURDAY -- even though we called to set up service two WEEKS ago -- I felt some relaxing was appropriate...]

Biggest news of the day comes from the NFL, as two of the off-season's top stories - one of which is quite close to my heart - played out. Tom Brady, the Pats' fearless leader in the face of a crushing Super Bowl defeat, is missing the rest of the season due to a knee injury suffered in yesterday's season opener. I can't say I'm *too* sorry for him, as he's got nurse Gisele to tend to his health...likely after extensive ACL surgery. His back-up did well enough on the radio show, so who knows how the rest of the season will play out? As a transplanted New Englander, I don't really care; as an already-allied fan of another storied team, I hope they lose every game.

Then, after Brett Favre led his new Jet pack [lowercase p] to victory yesterday, Aaron Rodgers turned in an impressive completion rate in his first win of his professional career, four years after becoming Brett's back-up. I couldn't be more proud of the guy - but he could use a good shave along with some training in talking to the press. Still, if you keep beating the Vikings (and Lions, and Bears, and...Cowboys?), you won't hear any complaints from Titletown, Aaron.

***

Brett's got a comeback that seems so far, so good. I can't say my own return to school has been so easygoing. I think I sort of forgot how to be a student. Planning my day [productively...naps may or may not count as productive, as the semester progresses] around huge breaks in class? Reading and underlining? These are skills that I haven't really needed much during the past year, and suddenly we're thrown to the wolves. (Wolves that mercifully don't dole out grades first semester, but still...) Other than a few days in chemistry freshman year, I can't remember the last time when I really had to try hard to keep up with the flow of arguments and information in class; here, though, I can't seem to let my attention drift to Gmail for even a few seconds without losing the professors' momentum. It's an exhilarating feeling, really, to be surrounded with people that know so much more about this stuff than I do, and to be able to listen to their ideas - at some point, though, I'll probably be asked to say something rather than to just sit and absorb.

Technologically, too, I need to get back on the cutting-edge wagon. My Google Calendar has suddenly been called onto the field, and its color-coded appointments and blocks of time are rapidly proliferating across the coming weeks. My adeptness with its integrative functions is growing...if only my internet signal wasn't (gasp!) stolen and (grr!) spotty...so I guess for now I'll also keep a paper copy back-up; there's something so satisfying about physically crossing off a task in a day planner that I don't think I'll ever be able to give up.

One additional accomplishment/recommendation: Got/get an external hard drive. I picked up this super-cute, super-simple one from SimpleTech, and Time Machine has it running flawlessly.

...don't lose all of the work that will seemingly get done once I get back into the swing of things: check.