Describing Law School

in less than 10 words:

overwhelming

stressfull

anxiety causing

too much work

draining

awesome.

Immigration Services in the 21st Century

My application for naturalization has progressed to the next phase: I received an invitation to the Naturalization Interview (yes, the one with the civics test that half of Americans wouldn’t pass…) The issue was that it was scheduled in my old home town some 280 miles away, instead of at the St Paul service center, about 23 miles away. This undoubtedly was due to the fact that I had moved after filing, and the application was processed at the other location. Processing at the smaller center that handles far fewer applications was actually to my benefit, because they are much faster, but now I have to either drive or reschedule at St Paul.

I was curious to find out how much longer I would have to wait, if I rescheduled, or if I’d be better off just driving the 280 x 2 miles to the interview. The invitation tells you the location of the office that you must appear at, and on the back side informs you that “You should contact the office listed on the reverse side of this notice if you have questions about the notice, or questions about the status of your application or petition. We recommend you call.” (emphasis theirs). A-ha! So I should call and ask, how much longer it would take to get an appointment at the St Paul office. Except there is no phone number listed for the office listed on the reverse side of the notice. No matter how hard I look.

So I call the 1-800 number for INS/USCIS/BCIS. The automated service doesn’t have an option that sounds correct to me, so I push some buttons and finally get a Customer Service Representative (CSR) on the line. To their credit I have to say that the phone service has improved significantly in the last 8 years. It took me less than 10 minutes (vs. 30-45 min in the past) to get a human on the phone, and before I said anything, she told me her name and CSR number. And she spoke v-e-r-y   c-l-e-a-r-l-y with no accent. The instructions were about as helpful as they’ve always been (she didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, and that isn’t on their website), but at least now I know who gave them, and I could understand every word. I told her what my concern was, and for an answer she read some text from a book or off her computer screen. Yes, I  knew the implications of failing to appear in person for your scheduled appointment, and no, I wasn’t going to miss it.

Me: so is there any way for you to find out, if rescheduling my interview at the St Paul center it would set me back considerably?

CSR: no, not really, there’s no way for me to find out. You’d have to wait for the next available appointment.

Me: well is there a phone number at that office that I could call?

CSR: no, they don’t have a telephone.

In Memoriam

My all time favorite blawg is gone.

I Don’t Wear Skinny Jeans entertained us for a year with anecdotes about the life of a NYU law student. I missed the last few posts and the farewell post, if there ever was one, when I got too busy. I was shocked to find that the blog wasn’t there anymore, when I tried to go read it last week. I do understand, though, that sometimes life gets in the way, and blogging has to take a back seat. Blogging serves many functions both for the blogger and the reader, and those functions may change over time, especially for the blogger. Life changes, too, and sometimes the two become incompatible, sometimes there’s no function left for the blogging or a particular blog to serve, except maybe entertainment value to the reader. But it’s the blogger’s blog, and it’s the blogger’s call, when it’s time for a blog to go.

idwsj, you’ll be missed!

Week 2

As you could probably guess, I’ve been too busy to post about how school is going. I suppose that’s the usual dilemma with law school blogs. You start a blog about law school, but law school is too busy and too much work to leave any time for blogging. Oh, well.

Week 2 was only slightly less crazy than week 1. We are all still adjusting to the new schedule, and figuring out the professors. Each has his/her unique style, which makes life interesting (in a good way). I’m quite surprised that contracts and legal writing are shaping up to be my favorite classes. Who would have known!

Although I appreciate the importance of Civ Pro, so far I’m not hugely excited about it. And so far it seems more complicated than it probably should be –maybe because of the lengthy Supreme Court opinions we’ve been reading. The class is always at the end of the day, when my brain is already saturated, and refuses to work at full capacity. It helps a little that the professor’s voice reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld (he’s funny, too)… if you close your eyes, you’d think it’s Seinfeld teaching civil procedure!

As a side note, I got my USPTO registration number last week! As a matter of fact, I’d been a registered patent agent for almost three weeks already without knowing about it, but the letter went to three different addresses in two different states, so that took a while. Which serves as a reminder that I need to inform the patent office of my new address! (Fortunately they give you 30 days to do that.)

The Whirlwind of Week 1

I have to say week 1 was a blur. The kids and I both started school on Tuesday, and we were trying to figure out the logistics all week. Having a different schedule every day of the week doesn’t help much! One day my first-grader’s teacher e-mailed me, asking for clarification on his schedule, not being sure whether she should send him to the bus or after school care each day. I’m sure it seemed completely random to her… it is random!

Some classes started full speed ahead pretty much day one. Professor Contracts didn’t cut us any slack, and people seemed completely terrified by him, probably because he seemed to match his reputation of being sharp, strict and somewhat unforgiving. (He is really not that bad, and I quite enjoy his lectures.) Professor Torts and Civ Pro both used the first day for introduction to what they were going to be talking about, and then jumped into the course material. Professor Crim Law spent the most time on introduction, getting us familiar with briefing, the legal system, etc. Many of my section mates seemed surprised that “she is so… normal!”

I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of reading that we had for week 1. It probably would have been fine, had I not had to deal with the kids first week of school, some remaining issues to deal with relating to the move, and my brother passing through town on his way back home. This week I’m much more on top of things, and hopefully can find a routine for doing things both at school and at home.

Orientation, Days 2 and 3

My head is spinning… but I have now survived my first cold call and case brief, so I’m well on my way to becoming a lawyer, right?!? (Just agree with me on this one, and make me feel better.)

Day 2 of orientation was inundated with more information over load, and an introduction to legal writing. Day 3 was a little more exciting with more legal writing instruction, new lap tops (I’m sure you could tell right away that this post was written on a brand spankin’ new lap top!) and a big stack of books, but it was really long. We were scheduled to go from 8 am till 6 pm, but fortunately were done a half hour early. It was still long… very long.

Tomorrow is just a half day, with yet some more legal writing instruction and the mandatory advice on life balance and other high flying topics.

Orientation, Day 1

Just a quick update to let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but that I have moved (twice -more on that later!) and that law school orientation has finally started! The first day was informational and inspirational. We got divided into our sections, and got to start the endless memorizing of new names. I’m terrible with new names… or sometimes even old ones, for that matter! The comment “you don’t want to be the one asking somebody their name three months from now” hit home; that’ll totally be me! “Oh, hi there, er… what was your name again?”

The keynote address was delivered by Michelle Miller, VP and Senior Counsel at Medtronic. She became an instant role model and a source of inspiration, because she began her obviously very successful legal career as a 35-year-old law student with two kids -just like Yours truly. She is living proof that it can be done!

Three more days of orientation left (is this a very long orientation, or is it just me?), and hopefully more frequent blog updates now that we also have such a novelty as The Internet! And like I said, more on the move later…

Ready

One more day of life without appliances! The appliance I miss having the most is the fridge, by far. I want cold, filtered water with ice!! I want milk with my cereal! Maybe if it was winter, I would feel differently. I know I would.

One more day of work at the place that has put food on the table for over eight years. This week has been pretty crazy, trying to wrap things up and make sure there’s somebody to catch each one of the balls I’ve been juggling. I’ll miss the office and my co-workers, and I’ll miss the challenges of my job. But I know there will be new people to meet and new challenges to conquer.

A few more days till the kids come back home. They’ve had a blast, and Mr. S (6) has picked up a whole new vocabulary, but I think they’re ready to come home and start school again. I miss my little guys, and I’ve had enough of Skype for the rest of the year.

I’m totally sick of packing and life in the middle of all these boxes (anywhere you look there are boxes!). I’m ready to go!

The Final Countdown

(Cue in Europe) (Most of my future class mates weren’t even born when that song aired. It was THE coolest piece of music when I was in middle school… Yes, I’m that old, and no, I didn’t understand any of the lyrics back then, but it was still so cool…)

It’s less than 2 weeks till our move to Minnesota. It’s less than 3 weeks to the start of law school, or at least orientation. I’m excited, yet slightly worried. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not worried about law school, per se. I’m excited about that. I’ve got financial aid and housing all figured out, I know what my section is, and I’ve got my books ordered. I’m more worried about all the other stuff I need to get lined up by August 31st, mainly related to my kids and their before- and after-school care. Our schedules are still yet to be determined for the most part, and I can’t really figure it all out, before we’ve moved and I’ve got the kids registered for school (you can’t register before you have a permanent address in the district, which means you can’t do it ahead of time, which, I’m sure you can imagine, bugs the heck out of me. I like to be prepared.) Before I figure out my actual commute time, I won’t really know what time I have to leave for school each morning, and what time I’ll be back. What time does the school bus pick the kids up/drop them off? What other resources can I figure out to help with the situation? And the big white monster that causes me sleepless nights: what happens to my commute when there is snow??? I might need another glass of wine…

Prairie

A few days ago I went to explore one of the many state parks in my soon-to-be new home state.  (Click for bigger)

It was a hot day, and for a while I thought I’d perish in the humid heat, and hoped I had started my hike a couple of hours earlier in the morning. Also, I was convinced that the map was wrong, and I wasn’t exactly sure I was on the right trail, because it seemed I was going in the wrong direction and only getting further away from where I was supposed to be going. (It’s not unusual that the printed state park trail maps don’t match either the trails or the maps/signs posted along the trails. This is probably because the printed maps may be several years old and haven’t been updated to reflect changes to the trails.) Turns out there was a gravel road and a parking lot that weren’t marked on the map, and I confused them with another parking lot that was. To compensate for my frustration, there was a visitor center (surprise!) at the far end of the trail with air conditioning and water to fill up your water bottle.

These buffalo aren’t exactly “wild” or in their natural habitat (to see that you’d have to drive to western South Dakota or North Dakota), and because they were so far away, I couldn’t tell, if they looked like real buffalo,  or more like those skinny little farm buffalos.

Minnesota offers ample opportunities for enjoying nature and big skies. I was happy to learn that the state park pass is good for 12 months, instead of a calendar year, like some states. I just hope that law school will leave me time to use it!