Went to help Lorraine with planning and preparing to turn the "extra room" into a nursery. Oh, the themes one could choose... Trains, horses, frogs, ducks, yellow, blue, green... Where does one start? Well, usually by cleaning out the closet. Where does all that stuff we all seem to own come from? The wrapping paper we can never find when we need it (so we always buy a new roll), the craft materials we haven't touched in years but bought with such good intentions, the old linens and clothes that we really have no need for (and would probably want new even if we did) but are still perfectly good and too nice to get rid of... It's possible that an overabundance of closets in houses will be the downfall of our civilization because of all the extra stuff they breed.

Parents got a digital SLR camera for Christmas and Mom and I went to Lake Morton to play with it yesterday. We found some winter visitors who grudgingly posed for us.

Yesterday I went with my bro and sis-in-law to see the sonogram of the new french fry. And... it's a baby! That's all we know for now, though the nurse knows more. It has fingers and toes and all the necessary bits in between, just really tiny. We watched it yawn and grab its feet and generally look annoyed and wishing to sleep. Due date's May 8. Stay tuned!

Back home in sunny Florida. People say it's cold, and I'll grant them that the dampness makes it a bit chilly, but it's definitely on a different scale--no wrapping up like an Eskimo every time you leave your house. Yesterday was upper 60' (not to brag).

I missed my Public Radio station. I must say, WUSF is one of the finer NPR stations. The one in South Bend seems to do a lot of interviews with local folks, which would be cool if they had some expertise on their topic, or even something interesting to say. But they don't, so it's not really. The station in Greenville had Polka Hour. Need we say more?

If you're not already on law overload (I am), this is mildly interesting. Several states have passed laws known as Make My Day laws that expand a homeowner's right to protect himself using force within his own home. Republicans with guns love it, but other folks are concerned it will encourage trigger-happy rednecks. Looks like they may have reason to be concerned according to this story. Smells a little like jury nullification.

Temperature has finally reached freezing. First time since November. Now all the snow can melt and re-freeze on the sidewalks making them hazardous to walk on. Winter is so much fun!

Okay, this is just funny. You environmental law geeks will enjoy this. An environmental law makes it impossible for this Brazilian city to expand its cemetaries, so its mayor forbid its citizens to die. So is that a capital crime...?

I stole this from Brendan's blog: Year in review. It was too good not to share. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this link do not necessarily reflect the views of this poster. The poster's views are well known; should any questions arise, they should be directed to her secretary/public liaison.

Heh. I'm sure I'll love Professor Garnett for his amazingly hard final exams some day. Right now I just want to quit school and open a Starbucks.

ACLU is suing Polk County. History: Last Christmas some zealous Sunday School class put up a nativity scene on the county building lawn in the middle of the night after being denied permission. This, of course, sparked some protests by offended parties who had nothing better to do, and so this year apparently the county is designating a "free speech zone" where people can put up whatever they want -- within the guidelines. What I can't figure out is why the ACLU thinks Polk County, Florida is worth all the attention. tbobdole: "I honestly wonder if these people just have nothing to do... They should get a dog or an xbox or something."

Two more:

I am beginning to suspect I am quickly losing capability of socializing with normal people. All my jokes involve latin phrases and doctrines of interpretation or reasonable-person standards or jury instructions.

Please note the new-ish link to the right to Brendansphere. Brendan's a fellow NDLS student whose blog is much cooler than mine. The site is almost always good for something controversial, or at least interesting, and he posts frequently. He has an interest in meteorology, specifically hurricanes, that borders on the unhealthy, and during the Katrina stuff gained an amazingly (and newsworthy) wide readership. Pay him a visit sometime.

Two items:

Civil Procedure exam: Check. Three more to go.

Jubilant Sykes. You gotta hear this. Seriously, if you're in the South Bend area and you don't take advantage of the amazing concerts they bring to DeBartelo, you've got to get on the ball. Tonight I heard Jubilant live for the second time, and I still think he has the most inexpressibly powerful voice I've ever heard. Yes, he does deep and rich, but it's the soft high stuff that really gives me chills. At least get a CD, folks - this man needs to be heard.

Radio folks this morning said we got nine inches last night. Wow.

Okay, stupid weather question of the day from your local Floridian...

Why don't you have lightning during snow storms? I've never heard of a thunder-snow-storm. Is it because they don't happen, or because it's really long and tedious to say? Does electricity just not jump around as well in the cold? Forgive me; I'm just used to electricity and precipitation going together. All this quietness during storms is weirding me out.

Here, I'll toss a bone. Article on CNN legal analysis that prompted some discussion: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20051206.html

Has all the good elements: defamation, First Amendment free speech, society's view of homosexuality, oh, and Tom Cruise. What else could you want?

Pardon the slow posting these days. All that stuff you hear about law school finals time being all-engrossing is half-true. Somehow I have managed to neglect all my normal necessary activities, like stocking the fridge, cleaning the apartment, and doing laundry, but that's not really because I'm studying all the time. I think it's more because I'm worrying about studying all the time. Makes a person restless. Well, maybe the laundry part is because it's cold outside and I have no great desire to haul my laundry across the apartment complex in the blowing snow (which is coming down pretty heavily at the moment). But I'm running out of socks, so I might just have to buckle down and do it. Nah, I've got a sink. I can hand wash a couple pairs. It's finals time, after all.

Mark your calenders: Next spring the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra plays with The Chieftains at DeBartolo on March 2 and at Carnegie Hall on March 17. We got the music tonight, and it should be fun. There's a corruption of a Mozart horn concerto in the program, so I get to solo! Don't miss it...

Some pretty trees that live in between.

Where I go to sleep at night (no, silly, not the car, the apartments behind it).

This is where I live.

My criminal law professor is teaching with a Starbucks cup, size grande, in his hands. I am torn between admiration and wanting some.

The outside temperature has not been above freezing since last Wednesday and it is not predicted to until next Saturday. It is currently 8 degrees, wind chill of minus 4. It's not even officially winter yet. Why do people live in climates like this?

It's that time of year again... When we fall asleep making lists of things we have to do when we wake up, when we schedule out our bathroom breaks so we have as much available time to study as possible, and when our professors feel like it's time to double the reading load so as to cram in all the stuff we didn't get to during the first 15 sixteenths of the semester. In that light, I think it's a good time to take out a moment and remember some things that make us smile. Here, I'll go first...

The soft, crunchy-squeaky sound snow makes when you step on it.
My new pink watch. The band is plastic, like those watches we used to have as little kids.
Stupid inside jokes with friends.
The way classmates I don't really know and never talk to in the law building always smile and say hi like we're members of a conspiracy when I see them anywhere outside the law building.

Now your turn.

And this was how I spent much of Thanksgiving... cradling not a niece but a laptop, working on that take-home final for Legal Writing. Somehow just not as cute, but such is life. I expect my niece (or nephew - I'm not picky) to be much cuter than a Gateway. You listening out there, bro and sis-in-law?