Trivia Night

Last night was the kick-off for Homecoming week, and the law school SBA has events planned for every night this week leading up to the football game on Saturday. Trivia Night was first on the list.

I don't know if you guys know this about me, but I kinda rock at trivia. Usually. Trivia with law students is very different from trivia with the general population, and out of 20 questions, I was only the clutch player on about 2.5 of those questions. Ouch.

This is due to the general high level of intelligence of law students in general, but I also noticed another tendency that law students have. We're all ambitious, and we all want to win. In the past several years, we've been taught how to maneuver through the holes in arguments and create arguments on the fly. The teams that didn't get a question right immediately searched for a flaw in the question or the delivery, because that's what we've been trained to do.

While I was a little worried that Trivia Night would be taken over by the douches who were treating a fun, non-school event like they would treat a mock trial, the night turned out alright. Maybe alcohol acted like the oil of conversation, maybe they realized they should keep the law jargon to a minimum. Whatever it was, it turned out to be a fun night.

The Best American Facebook Groups

I'm a fan of The Best American Non-Required Reading series, edited by Dave Eggers. I just picked up 2008's copy:













The books always start out with funny lists, like "Best 2007 American Opening Lines" from novels, or "Best American New York Times Headlines." This year they have a list of "Best American Facebook Groups."

Guess what group is in it? YES! "I judge you when you use poor grammar" made the list! Other funny group names:

• If This Group Reaches 150,000 Members, I Will Name My Son Batman
• Gay Marriage Killed the Dinosaurs
• I'm Saving Myself for Wild, Passionate, Awkward Honeymoon Sex
• It Wasn't Awkward Until You Said "Well, This is Awkward." Now It's Awkward.
• My Mom Makes Me Clean Up for My Cleaning Lady
• Carol Never Wore Her Safety Goggles. Now She Doesn't Need Them.
  

Best Posts

I'm filling out a bunch of applications for writing internships for next summer, and they're asking for up to ten samples of my writing. I've filled up the 10 mainly with articles from my college newspaper, but I do want to include a couple posts from the blog.

So here's the question: What's your favorite post on the blog? Which one has made you laugh the most or react in some strong way? Which do you think is the most well-written or original?

Numbers are Scary

In the mornings I'm usually the first one awake, but this morning my roommate had a test so he was awake and studying when I got downstairs. He just went to take his exam, but he left some of his study materials behind. When I said that college was easy, I was not referring to a college experience that included things like this:
















Then again, he's some kind of engineering major, and I was philosophy/political science. I played with words and arguments, he plays with numbers. Maybe this is easy for him, even though it sure isn't for me.

Bumper Cars

A few days ago on the way home from school I was rear-ended. Since I drive a big Explorer and the girl who hit me drove a Civic, she got the worst of it. Her bumper was lower than mine, so her car kind of went under mine and the wreck crumpled her hood. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and also thankfully, my car is fine.

I don't know if you can tell from this tiny picture, but this is the car that hit me. The hood is the most damaged part.

HTML and Me

Blogger has had some glitches lately, so I've had to teach myself some html. I was annoyed at first, but it's turned out to be really interesting. As an added benefit, I don't have to depend on Blogger's shortcut "compose" buttons if they aren't working correctly.

At this rate, I'll be writing programs and creating computer viruses in no time. Just kidding.

Beer as an Investment

This is from a forwarded email and I don't know how to verify it, but it does sound pretty accurate.

• If you purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today.

• If you purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today.

• If you purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today.

• But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank it all, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refunds, you will have received $214.00.

Was Jesus a Republican?

My parents came to town for a few days last weekend. I hadn't seen them since last spring/early summer. They got a hotel room for the weekend, but my mom decided to sleep over at my house. I felt like a little kid again, sharing a bed with my mom.

I went with my parents to dinner with some of their friends one night, and the conversation disturbed me. We were talking about politics and whether or not Obama could trade Biden for Hillary Clinton as his running mate this late in the campaign. One of the men remarked, "I don't think he will. God won't let it happen."

"Flabbergasted" is the only word I can think of to describe my response. Well, maybe a few other words come to mind: offended, outraged, disgusted. Remarks like that make Christians sound stupid.

It was a little like the time I heard Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, say that if Clinton were nominated to the Supreme Court (an extremely long shot that will probably never happen) she would be "parking her broom outside the Supreme Court building for years to come."

Am I missing something, or has God declared publicly that he hates Hillary Clinton? Has God suddenly decided to get involved in politics? Last I checked, there was nothing ethical about implying that somebody is a witch. In fact, I sincerely doubt that God is interested in a particular political candidate or party.

And don't Christians believe that God can use whoever he wants to accomplish His goals? If he used Pontius Pilot, He can certainly use Hillary Clinton.

Gay or Sexist?

Women in my generation have been pretty lucky as far as sexism goes. I can count on one hand the times I've actually been treated differently because of my sex, and I bet other women today rarely experience discrimination because of their gender.

However, one of those times when I felt mistreated because of my gender was today, and I'm still livid. A doctor absolutely spoke down to me today, as if I couldn't understand the big words he was using. I won't say his name, although he deserves to be called out for his bad behavior. I will say that this was not in the UA student health center.

My brother was with me and the doctor spoke normally to him. But when the doctor turned to me, he actually said "Ok, I'll try to put this in easy words so you can follow it." Later on, he mentioned that he went to Mount St. Mary's University "back when it was a good school." "Why was it a good school then and not now?" I asked. His response: "Because back then no women were there."

He's either gay or sexist, right? I'm concluding sexist.

ADDED: Some of the commenters seem to think that I was saying the doctor might be gay because he talked down to me, a woman. That's not what I was saying at all. When I wrote that he might be gay, I was referring to the comment he made about college. He might have preferred an all-male college because he was gay, or he might have preferred it because he's sexist and doesn't think women belong in higher education. (Yes, I'm ignoring the other positives that come from single sex education, but I wrote this post with tongue planted firmly in cheek.)

Also, I ended the post by saying he was sexist, not gay. Even if the preceding statements were unclear, the last line should have clarified it. Re-read the post. There's nothing offensive in there except for the way he treated me.

Judicial Celebrities

Several total judicial celebrities are speaking at our law school in the future, and getting the email announcing that they're coming totally made me squeal a little.

Justice Clarence Thomas will be speaking at the UA law school in 2009, and Chief Justice Roberts will come in 2010. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, of Canada's Supreme Court, is coming in March of 2009.

Ahhhh!

Mass Emails Will Never Let You Down

Email # 1:

After happily mooching off of my neighbor's wireless internet for the last two months, I unfortunately have to sign up for wireless internet.

Comcast is trying to get me to pay 60 bucks a month plus 150 to install. Does anyone know a cheaper way?

Thanks!

Email # 2:

There's a way that you can purchase the internet on 5 densely packed CDs for the low price of 3 installment payments of $89.99 + $2.99 S/H. While there's some initial overhead involved, you basically get to keep the internet forever, so I would say that it's a pretty good investment. Plus it's super fast! I invested in these CDs two year back, and while I don't have access to a lot of news stories that people talk about everyday, I still love it.

Let me know if you're interested.

D.

Email # 3:

I don't know if this will be cheaper or not (with the current gas prices), but I would drive around in my underwear looking for houses with wifi. Then, I'd park in front of the house literally all day. Occasionally, I'd get out and do some calisthenics (in my underwear, of course) to keep the blood flowing. Once the people get home, you have to book it or the cops get called. But then, you just move on to a different house for the evening shift (at night it's harder for the people to realize that, yes, you are the same car that has been parked out front for 8 hours). But, again, I don't know if it's worth it with the current gas prices.

Email # 4:

In response to your plea for help from the wisdom of the crowds (or me, specifically), I have a suggestion. When faced with an impending consumer decision, I pride myself on thorough research to arrive at the most cost-effective and efficient solution to my needs. I'm glad you have chosen to be so dililgent, as well. In my efforts, I usually consult many resources to assess my options as a thrifty shopper. Lately, I've resorted to what people are calling the "information superhighway," the "world-wide web," or the "Internets." But, if you choose to conduct your research in the same way, keep in mind that the "Internet" is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. Just the other day, someone sent me an Internet but I didn't get it until today. You know why? Because all these people are sending Internets to everyone, asking for advice on how to research things like consumer decisions. But, I wish you the best of luck in your never-ending quest for the best value. Good night, and good luck.

Email # 5:

I don't know if this will help you find free internet, but it's help me out of a number of jams.

Picture attached: (Click to make it larger.)

Email # 6:

Ryan,

I think this might help you better than that flow chart.
http://smouch.net/lol/

Im never gone let you down.

[Anybody know why the font size changes and won't change back when I do longer posts? None of blogger's editing tools are working to make the text normal-sized, and I guess I'm getting the html wrong. Sorry about it for now, but I'll figure it out soon.]

Lessons on Health Insurance

Today I received my bill from the hospital stay last semester. I stayed for 2 nights and 3 days while they pumped me full of antibiotics and waited for my fever to go down. There were no major surgeries, no chemotherapy and no limbs were removed, and the pre-insurance bill still came out to a heart-stopping:

$8,639.12.

[I wonder what the 12 cents were for. Why even include the cents in huge purchases like that? I propose that we get rid of pennies in any transaction that involves more than $1,000.00. Just round up, people.]

After insurance, the total that I have to pay comes down to a much less terrifying $760.44.

The lesson here is that health insurance, although expensive and occasionally evil, is essential. Even if you're a non-smoking non-drinking non-drugging student triathlete, you need health insurance. The good news is that because you're a non-smoking non-drinking non-drugging triathlete, your insurance is probably going to be cheaper than mine.

When I turned 23 in December of last year, my parents' insurance dropped me and didn't inform me that I had no health insurance. In fact, I lived for the next two months thinking I had insurance before an unfilled prescription forced me to call the company. After spending two hours on the phone while I stood on my head and pressed zero over and over, an Indian guy across the world finally informed me (through a substantial communication barrier) that I had no health insurance. Thankfully, I bought the student coverage the next day, because a few weeks later I was lying in the hospital bed at DCH wondering what the heck was wrong with my body and if my Evidence professor would cut off my ear for missing his exam.

The bonus lesson, then, is that you should check up on your insurance at your birthday to make sure you're still covered.

There. Now, if you don't have insurance and have an accident after reading this, I will not bring you Arby's while you're in the hospital, and I will not feel guilty about it.

How I did It, Part II

OJ Simpson, along with his co-conspirator, was found guilty of all charges in his most recent case. Both face the possibility of life in prison for robbing two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas, Nevada, in September of 2007.

Is "How I did It, Part II" already in the works?

The Book's Official Amazon Listing

Here's the cover and official listing for the book on Amazon. Have at it!