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November 2009
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November 30th, 2009

Squirrel expletives

There is nothing unusual about my dog chasing a squirrel up a tree, but this squirrel didn’t see Harley until he was about 2 feet away and flipped-the-heck-out.

angry squirrel

The squirrel darted up the tree and glared. Harley just stared up at it like, “is it that serious?”

angry squirrel

The squirrel then began making this weird bird-like noise:

Probably squirrel expletives.

Harley listens better when he’s not leashed – I’ve called him off squirrels and cats.

The one big problem we have is geese. Everytime I walk Harley around Calhoun I have to pull the leash with both hands to keep him off the geese.

I think it’s because they are big, loud, and don’t go away – they just loom around like “I’m here! Try me! I taste like chicken!”

Continue reading “Squirrel expletives” »

November 29th, 2009

Glass, bleach, and the mouse

Harley was excited to see me after work today. I let him out of the kennel and his tail launched a candle from a coffee table. Glass shards rained over the living room, and I was unamused.

I re-kenneled the dog and cleaned up the mess. I then let Harley out and he followed me to kitchen, to throw away the shards.

Harley’s tail caused more chaos in the kitchen when he knocked over a bottle of bleach. I shoved the dog out the kitchen and tried to control the chlorox typhoon. I stripped my clothes1 and cleaned the mess wearing boxers and white flipflops.

I mopped the kitchen and then decided to clean the cabinet under the sink. I first removed the 40lb bag of dog food, not noticing the little hole nibbled in the corner, and then reached for a blue IKEA bag.2 I lifted the bag AND A MOUSE FLEW OUT OF IT!

I screamed, then roared. The mouse landed in the corner and somersaulted behind the stove.

I was livid. This mouse was going down and it was on like donkey kong!

What was followed was 30 minutes of me attempting to trap the mouse while not slipping on the bleach-soaked floor… all in boxers and flipflops.  All that was missing was the Tom and Jerry sound effects.

I eventually gave up, but luckily, I bought poison mouse food blocks on tonight’s Wal-Mart trip. Anything remotely edible in my kitchen is now in a glass or plastic container. The poison is out. This mouse is going down. I just hope I don’t have to smell rotting mouse in the morning…


1 I have too many bleach spots on clothes not to do this.
2 The supposedly green bags… the only problem is I NEVER remember to bring the bag and end up buying a new one every trip…

November 28th, 2009

MacGyver and the art of ass busting.

It is easy to fall into a funk during finals.

Joel and I had a conversation about law school on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner. It was a familiar whine-fest and the gist was:

“It’s funny how law schools don’t tell prospective students how irrelevant “prestige” is or how shitty our employment prospects are. This is something you realize halfway through, when you’re stuck.”

I felt like a student who found out his online technical college wasn’t accredited. This was an expensive waste of time. Shitty-shitty-bang-bang, wah-wah-wah. The whining and apathy probably wasn’t easy to listen to, but luckily Joel couldn’t figure out a good way to kick me out of the car at the nearest bus stop.

I try to take the dog on at least one 5 mile walk every day during the few hours of winter daylight. These extended walks are perfect for thinking things through. During today’s walk I reminded myself of why I chose to go to UMN and not a free school:

  1. Prestige does matter. The arbitrary rankings create a very real pecking order and stigmatize students from poorly ranked schools. When I run into a student who goes to Bumble Law School I am reminded of the sweeping sense of inferiority I felt as an undergrad at the University of Miami. The most important part of being at a (relatively) prestigious school is not wondering “what if?”
  2. The cliché is misstated, but the gist true. You can’t really do anything with a law degree, but the most important thing that is taught in law school is the art of ass busting.1 My job prospects as a BA in English and History only involved an espresso machine or a price scanner. I may still end up working with espresso machines or price scanners, but the difference is the work ethic and professionalism I have acquired in law school will allow me to advance quickly in whatever company I end up in. 2

The ass busting skill is the most vital one to develop in law school. Most of the other stuff is superficial and unspeakably irrelevant in the real world.

I am MacGyver, and I attend a school of MacGyvers.

macgyver

This is exactly why this is going to be a stress-free finals season – it’s not about the grade, but about working hard and learning the material. The point is not being able to make a rocket out of a ballpoint pen and a paper clip better than the next guy, but to be able to make the rocket out of the ballpoint pen. Once we get outside of the McGuiver academy we can use our skills in the real world, and good things will happen.3


1 Work hard, smart, and crushing the competition with a smile. One of the best ways to teach people to work hard is to find the smartest students and grade them on a curve. Even the C student in that situation knows how to bust his (or her) ass, and will be fine in the real world. This is why the vast majority of UMN students pass the bar, and go on to succeed in a variety of random career fields.
2 What is outrageous is that one of my orientation speakers told me this last year – she said that the point of law school is not the perfect grades, the journal position, or national ABA moot court team – the point is to learn how to work hard and graduate. I guess I just had to come to that conclusion myself…
3 Method vs. result… akin to the true athlete and the person who ruins their health for the temporary beach body.

November 27th, 2009

Caught out there

I was in the video bar of The Saloon when one of the bartenders approached me:

Bartender: “Don’t you go to the U?”
Me: “..yes…”
Bartender: “I saw your youtube video.”
Me: “My youtube video?”
Bartender: “Yes! About my friend who fell over the bar! It was hilarious, and I sent it to everybody.”
Me: “Eek!”

Hm. Cue it’s a small world after all. Here’s the offending video:


Facebook/RSS readers: click here if you cannot see the video.

November 26th, 2009

Pout

Harley practicing his pout:

Harley pouting

Harley pouting

Harley pouting

Continue reading “Pout” »

November 25th, 2009

Tomorrow, I clean my closets.

The goons are out in the neighborhood tonight.

Harley and I were a few blocks away from my apartment, turning a corner, when I heard a gunshot.

I stood still, watched the street, and had two thoughts:

  1. Shit. My closets are a mess! If I get shot again my mother is going to fly up, and get buried under an avalanche of laundry.
  2. I wonder if I will feel myself fall or if the light will just click off.

After a moment I cautiously continued down the street. Everything was quiet. We were halfway down the block when another shot came from behind the houses. Harley looked up at me like “this is some bullshit.”

And it was.

Once I got to the end of the block, a sketchy guy wearing all black flew around the corner. He clutched something in his coat pocket. I avoided eye contact and kept Harley in a short leash.

Sketch turned into the alleyway, and I made my way to a busier street.

Tomorrow, I clean my closets.

November 25th, 2009

The trash bin calls

Further evidence as to why I don’t text and drive – on the way to work today I almost smacked into an industrial sized trash bin that was rolling middle of the highway. It was on the top oart of a hill like an obstruction in Mario Kart.

I did a quick gasp/swerve combo and the person tailgating me did the same.

I then called 311 and got my daily dose of government inefficiency:

311 operator: “Minneapolis 311. How can we help?”
Me: “I’m driving eastbound on highway 62 and almost hit an industrial trash can rolling in the middle of the road. Could you send someone to remove it?”
311 operator: “You’ll have to call 911 for that and tell them to remove it.”
Me: “Okay.”

So I called 911.

911 operator: “911.”
Me: “Uh, hi. I was driving down eastbound highway 62 and almost hit an industrial trash can rolling in the middle of the road. Could you send someone to remove it?”
911 operator: “You’ll have to call highway patrol for that and tell them to remove it.”
Me: “Okay.”

So I was transferred to highway patrol, and about 10 miles away from the trash bin at this point.

Highway Patrol dispatcher: “Highway Patrol.”
Me: “Uh, hi. I was –“
911 operator (cutting in): “Yes we have an obstruction on highway 62 eastbound near 32nd Avenue.”
Me: “Huh?”
Highway Patrol dispatcher: “Before the overpass?”
Me (Wondering if I should be part of this convo): “Well, uh –”
911 operator: “Yes.”
Highway Patrol dispatcher: “What’s going on?”
Me: “Uh, I was driving down eastbound highway 62 and almost hit an industrial trash can rolling in the middle of the road.”
Highway Patrol dispatcher: “We’ll send someone right out!”
Me: “Thanks…”

November 25th, 2009

Firemen, Tax Law, and the Great wall of Turkey

This morning the dog woke me up shortly before 7am like “It’s poopy time! Take me out or suffer!”

We were walking down the street within three minutes because I still regret the last time I made him wait.

In my hurry to get him outside I didn’t do any hair or teeth brushing, so the dog peed on poles as I tried to light the poles on fire with my morning dragon breath. It was like a blow-torch of funk.

7am is the best time to walk the dog because all of the school children are at the bus tops. The Somali girls are afraid of the dog but the Mexican boys love him.

We got to the end of the block when two huge fire trucks swung onto the street and stopped right in front of us. I was suddenly floodlit and I couldn’t decide whether to bust out with “RING THE ALARM” or not.

The firemen stepped out of the truck like “welcome to the gunshow” in such an annoyed, unhurried way that I could tell this was a response some old lady who fell and called the fire department through her life alert. Apparently my dragon breath didn’t lite anything on fire after all…

One hour later I was in Tax law. This week’s topic is like-kind exchanges and I was so unspeakably confused that I didn’t even know how to articulate my confusion.

I spent the last 10 minutes of class hunched over, flustered, and staring hopelessly at the problems the professor was whizzing through on the board. What the…

I have never felt so confused in law school. I was so flustered that I skipped Employment law, went home, and walked the dog. I was too disoriented to pay attention in employment law, so it will have to wait until after the break.

After today’s second dog walk, I went to the Mall of America. I have not been to the mall in a long time and had forgotten how ridiculous the mall is: blaring music, bitchy sales clerks, and ridiculous ads. I felt like Zoolander would pop around the corner any second and strike a pose.

I was at the mall because I needed to go to LensCrafters for a contact fitting. I lost my glasses this weekend at the Saloon, so I figured prescription contacts are a safer (and cheaper) alternative. On the way out of the mall, I smelled a Hollister store from five stores away and remembered that I was out of cologne.

Hollister seemed full of bored teenage employees until I actually needed a cashier. Nevermind that I didn’t just walk out of the store and actually hunted down a cashier down to purchase a $40 bottle of cologne He didn’t say a word to me and barely made eye contact, but I wasn’t going to lecture the 16 year old on good customer service because he obviously hated his job and not making commission.

So I was drenched in the Hollister cologne when I walked into work shortly thereafter. It was hard to get into the building today because the great wall of turkey blocked the building’s entryway.

My company gives out turkeys to its 7,000-odd employees. The frozen turkeys were in big white boxes that were trucked in and stacked on giant pallets. There was a solid 6 foot wall of turkey boxes which I had to walk around to get to work.

I picked up my turkey on the way home. It’s in the freezer now. I’ll figure THAT disaster later.

I was only home briefly to drop off the turkey before turning around and going to Innuendo for Trivia Night with Joel and Kurt. We came in second place to this overly intense group of regulars. The win of the night was coaxing Jake the Trivia Host to play the Halle Berry. Aye!

My only class tomorrow is Tax, and I hope it’s not as awful as today… unrealistic expectations?

November 24th, 2009

Little Havana Revisited

Our first apartment in Miami was on the north side of the Miami river. Although we technically lived in Allahpattah, we were directly across from Little Havana.

My mother moved to a different apartment building when I was in college, but she still lives on the river near East Little Havana, which is one of the most densely populated areas of Miami.

Little Havana feels like South America. Virtually everything is in Spanish. The streets are lined with mom-and-pop discount stores and botanicas. There are café con leche counters, chickens on the road, and the constant sound of reggaeton, salsa, and house music blaring from cars.

One thing about the chickens: there is a very active Santeria community in Little Havana, so on high holy days there was always a problem of headless chickens and goats strewn about the place after the animal sacrifices.

…and I never figured out what they did with the chicken’s heads.

Below are some pictures from last year’s winter trip to Miami. The pictures are of the Calle Ocho area and downtown Miami.  They were originally posted on facebook, but the gallery link has since expired. Facebook/RSS readers: click here to view the gallery. The images link to larger files.

November 23rd, 2009

Professor A’s motive

If my tax professor is anything, he is honest:

Professor A: I am forcing you guys to learn about like-kind exchanges for three reasons:

  1. I had to learn it, and if it was good enough for me, it’s good enough for you.
  2. It’s just torture, and I just enjoy seeing everyone squirm!
  3. I think it’s important, whether or not you take any other tax classes, to have some exposure to a tax-free transaction licensed and approved by the tax code.

Other Professor A posts: