OUT SAVING THE WORLD

Who wants some high quality Web-based e-mail?
The first six interested parties I like* who comment with their e-mail address will get an invitation to use Google's web e-mail beta.

OSTW: spreading the love since 2002.

The holidays start earlier every year
This weekend at my local Starbucks, an older, well-dressed gentleman's cell phone began to ring.

Problem: the ring was "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

Perhaps he purchased his phone during the holidays and is so technologically inept that he can't figure out how to change the ring? Or maybe he just really likes the holidays? But, dammit, it's AUGUST. We're not even into Halloween season yet (thank goodness, I hate that holiday.)

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 2:36 PM |

I hate Illinois almost more than Kansas right now
Gov. Blagojevich has come up with a real dinger here: doubling Illinois tolls for non-IPass users.

That means $1.00 to speed southbound through Rockford, $1.30 in the opposite direction.

IPass don't come cheap, either. $50 gets you in the club...that's a $10 deposit on the plastic brick that goes in your car with $40 prepaid tolls...or 17 round trips through Rockford.

Come on, Blago. You're a fellow Pepp Law alumnus. And a Democrat, no less! (Who knew Pepp let donkeys have diplomas?) Surely you can do better!!

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 7:05 PM |

How ironic it would be if Dan Y*ung was on the boat
Dave Matthews has shat upon us, literally.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 11:09 PM |

Question For My Style-Guide Friends
Now that OSTW's official home base is Los Angeles, do you think I need to provide either a Malibu or Malibu, Calif. dateline for posts made whilst at school? Thoughts...

Stuff I'm Stealing From Kara's Blog For Those Of You Who Don't Read It (But Should)
1. I hate kansas. I especially hate kansans who think they are superior, especially to Missouri. Man, I hate kansas.
1b. For more fun at the expense of kansas, visit the message boards at the afore-linked newspaper. Here's an excerpt of some kansans discussing the weather:
* I took meteorology at KU. The first lesson we were taught - don't ever believe weather predictions. It's just educated guessing based on computer models.
*Watch the western sky, smell and feel the air, note wind direction, then cue your experience.
*Or develop a chronic injury, or arthritis, and use the pain levels. My back works wonders as a weather tool.

2. One farting, rapping, kung-fu robot, please!

Starbucks Is A Chain Of Constant Sorrows
...has been playing pretty crappy music tonight, but now they're playing something off the "O Brother..." soundtrack. Way to redeem yourselves.

More Thoughts On Pie
I enjoy cherry pie. Also apple (and the Dutch variant), blueberry, peach, strawberry, key lime, and, the Pie that Binds Them All, pumpkin.

Even More Thoughts On Pie
To Chrissy, Kate Jo., Royer, et al: Remember "The Pot Pie Show"?

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 10:54 PM |

Law Makes Me Hungry
"Ollie's Barbecue is a family-owned restaurant...specializing in barbecued meats and homemade pies..." Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294 (1964).

Hello. Could I please get a job as a barbecue lawyer? Maybe I could arbitrate judging disputes from Kansas City Barbecue Society contests.

I also enjoy pie.

Search and Seizure
If you are male and decide to visit The Highlands nightclub in Hollywood, don't be surprised when the Faccio-sized bouncers give you the über-frisk. As in, "Hi, usually you have to pay to place your hands in my pants." Also, gum is not allowed on the premises. Seriously. They had a metal bucket full of confiscated gum. Do they not want to scrape gum off of everything, or are they afraid of some MacGyver-style explosives? I'm not sure.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 2:42 PM |

Investiture of the Dean
Via bartlebys.com:
"A ceremony by which an overlord transferred a fief to a vassal or by which, in ecclesiastical law, an elected cleric received the pastoral ring and staff (the symbols of spiritual office) signifying the transfer of the office. After the oath of fealty, the lord “invested” the vassal with the fief, usually by giving him some symbol of the land or office transferred."

Swell. Ken gets the ring of power and a staff while the peasants toil. How quaint.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 6:07 PM |

Two Days Shy of a Month
When I logged into Blogger, it said "Try posting more often, biyatch."

Correction: Those have been the nasty IMs and e-mails I've been getting from my loyal readers.

To the former residents of F-32, SFD, and Tra: sorry.

I Don't Want To Read "My Life"...
...but I fear I may bring my academic progress in danger if I bring that book anywhere near campus. I was catching up on some month-old Time magazine reading yesterday, and I felt weird sitting in the law school atrium reading Bill talk about how my new dean ruined his life.

Dean Sightings
To date: 1, in the library.

Kenighting
We get an entire day off of school for the "investiture of the Dean." WTF, mate? He's not the king, hell, he's only in charge of the law school. (Is "investiture" even a word?)

Rumor
Ashcroft will be coming to the law school sometime this semester. Scalia was here last year. Ken's my dean. It's a wonder I haven't been deported yet.

I'm Not As Cool as Jill...
...but I did manage to write on to the Pep. Dispute Resolution Journal. Say it with me...PDRJ me ASAP!

Come Home, Alumni
The girl and I will be in Columbia, Mo. for homecoming weekend, October 22-24. You should take time off of your "jobs" that "pay" you "money" and enjoy some cheap beer and Tiger football for a couple days. Heck, maybe the 'Berg will be back open by then. You want to be there for that.

Notes from the Brookfield-to-Los Angeles trek:
Illinois: We no longer have to pay 15 cents for the privilege of continuing south on I-39 from Rockford. Sure, the Rockton Road toll plaza has increased by 10 cents...but that's still 5 cents less I have to pay to Illinois to drive south.
Iowa: Seen somewhere between Des Moines and Council Bluffs, a new evolution of the "fake-Calvin-pissing-on-something" window decal: Uncle Sam unleashing a red, white, and blue pants fountain upon a cartoonish Saddam and bin Laden. The level of American political discourse rages onward...
Nebraska: Stupid unicameral legislature. But I realize only now that P.Diddy was in town--sorry for missing you. We could have hung out at Village Inn or whatever else Omahans (?) like to do.
Utah: The top-of-the-hour AM radio newscast included two stories on polygamy. Find that anywhere else!

Geography Challenged Anchor
I have lost all trust in CNN's Aaron Brown, after an on-air incident in which he could only remember three of the four Quad Cities. (Rock Island, Ill. escaped his memory until he looked it up during a commercial break.)

In case you missed it, he's the son of a mill worker
I covered a John Edwards rally in Milwaukee a few Saturdays ago. Pretty much identical to what he said at the DNC a week or so later: mill worker, optimism, mill worker, optimism, yada yada yada. Luckily for me, that day was a slow news day, so I sold a story to CBS which they used in one of the top-of-the-hours and put out on the Sunday morning feed.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 4:14 PM |