California Again

I am sitting here, again back at my parents' house in California. While I was away, they redid the kitchen. It looks really nice, but I have to say that it is a little weird to see the kitchen I grew up with like, disappeared. Flight from Arizona was uneventful, which is the best kind of flight, really. I have to say, the Phoenix airport is like, really nice. In terms of non-crappy shops and eateries. They had a Brighton Collections store. But it kind of has a stupid name -- Phoenix "Sky Harbor." It kind of sounds like a poorly-conceived base for superheroes in a comic book or something.

So here I am, looking towards a pretty uneventful week. Which is nice. It's my parents' wedding anniversary on Tuesday, so I am trying to think what I can get the both of them that is under $100. And I am trying to be more original than a bottle of champagne, even if it would be a nice bottle. So that is probably my mission for tomorrow, amongst some other more mundane errands.

Not going to lie, one of my most favorite parts of coming back to California is getting to see my parents' dog, Coco. Coco (aka Kokomo... don't ask, it's kind of complicated) is an adorable 9-year-old German-Shepard/Golden Retriever mix. He is a very sweet dog, but bless his heart, he is not the smartest of animals. Is actually the only dog I have ever known that legitimately chases his tail. It's kind of awesome to watch. If I ever catch him in the act I will try to capture it on video and upload it. But he is just a real sweetie. If you have read this blog, then you know I LOVE PUPPIES (aka Doggies). So I pretty much spent the first ten minutes I was home cuddling the puppy. :-) I miss having a doggie, but it was gratifying to know that after 9 month, Coco still remembered me.

Coco, the cutie puppy

And because I love dogs, and because I use any excuse to add doggie videos to this blog, in honor of being around one again, here is a posting of my favorite Youtube doggie video. I know, it is old news, as many people know about Mishka the Talking Husky. But even though it is an oldie, it is a goodie.

Apparently, Huskies can do this because they howl, they don't bark

On a completely unrelated note, I rediscovered the best scene from the Ben Stiller movie, Tropic Thunder. It is played for you below:

Seriously, Tom Cruise should have gotten an Oscar for his performance in that movie -- he was definitely the best and strongest part of that film. Also, after having seen this movie and the more recent Rock of Ages, I am pretty convinced that Tom Cruise is at his best when he plays completely crazy, over-the-top, off-the-wall characters. He does it so well, and so convincingly. It's kind of awesome. And I personally like this clip because, other than being hilarious, it is actually kind of cathartic: if I am really pissed off at someone, I can just play this clip and pretend that I am Tom Cruise/Less Grossman, and the person that I am pissed at is Flaming Dragon. :). So there's that.

Also, as a bonus, this clip:

That's about it for today. Not much to report, and I realize the post was kind of random, but am trying to get back into a semi-regular blogging pattern, even if only for spring break.

Sorority Rush for Grown-Ups

No, fearless readers, I am not dead. I know I haven't updated my blog in a while, but truth be told, once I touched down in Chicago last week, it has pretty much been 0-60 in about 3 seconds. From the moment I got home, I have been absorbed in sorting out the myriad of details pertaining to the move to the new apartment, which will be happening one week from today. Plus, I am *still* trying to finish my last project from this summer's work, which at this stage is clocking in at about 90 pages. And I feel like a tool that it is taking this long. And as of Tuesday, the one major ritual that all rising 2L law students go through has begun: On-Campus interviews, also known as OCI.

Ah, OCI. It's kind of like the sorting hat from Harry Potter in that the purpose of it is to place students in Summer Associate positions at various large firms next summer. So everyone interviews with between 15-25ish firms, and through a long process that takes several weeks of interviews and callback interviews, people are *hopefully* narrowed down to one (and not none, i.e. they can find a job). OCI is actually rather important, because the job a law student holds during their second summer, unless they suck really badly, often becomes the job offer they will have upon graduation and passage of the bar exam. So, it's kind of a big deal.

The OCI bit is what is going on now. OCI is basically sorority rush for grown-ups. I don't know how many of you all reading this have been in sororities and have gone through rush, but it is literally the same set-up in most aspects: over a week or two, students go interview with the firms that they received interviews with through a lottery bidding system. Every day there can be several interviews of 20 minutes, depending on your schedule. Reps from different firms are sitting in a bunch of different rooms, and students go from room to room, having many conversations. The major difference being that instead of rah-rah pants and matching T-Shirts, we are wearing suits. So, who knew the skill of being able to go around having short conversations with complete strangers multiple times a day would actually come in handy in the real world? And, also like the "rounds" of "parties" during sorority rush (excuse me, "recruitment"), if the shorter interview/conversations go well, and you meet their requirements, you will be "asked back" to a few firms for a larger, longer interview process at their office.

Over the next couple weeks, I will have interviews with 18 firms; so far, I have had 5 of those 18, with 3 more coming up today. The thing with OCI, however, is that you can't just go into it "blind;" it is expected that you actually researching the firm and your interviewers ahead of time, so it actually takes up more time than you might think. Plus, thank you notes. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens. About 2/3 of the firms I am interviewing with are located in NYC, the other 1/3 are DC firms. Unfortunately, I learned during one night of pre-OCI-induced insomnia, this whole process can take like 6 weeks, as firms are kind of on their own manyana man schedule about when they get back to people about any callbacks, and then about offers after callbacks. So I may not know what is going on for a while. But obviously, will post updates.

And so another spin of life's roulette wheel has been turned...

In other news, I started my volunteer work at PAWS Chicago, which is a no-kill animal rescue organization in Chicago. Had my second training session yesterday evening, so now I am ready to sign up for shifts, which I will be doing 2x/month. I probably won't be able to sign up for any shifts before September, however. Between OCI and moving, my August is pretty shot. But, I thought it would a good thing for me to have something going on that is in no way related to law school-- so I can have a well-rounded life. Plus, doggies make me less stressed as a person, and these animals really do need good homes; since at this stage in my life I can't adopt my own doggie, I am happy to do what I can to make sure that other doggies find their forever homes. The organization does really great work: since they started in 1997, they have reduced the number of euthanized dogs and cats from something disgusting like 47K in the Chicagoland area, to under 18K in 2010. Unfortunately, sometimes animals are too sick to save, but that is the vast minority of cases. Most animals that are killed, are done so just because of overcrowded shelters, which is just so sad and a real tragedy. So the other good thing that PAWS does, is provide education about spaying and neutering pets, which is really at the root of the problem. They also provide free and low-cost spay/neutering to people who can't afford it, including a mobile "spay van," which has really helped reduce the number of unwanted animals.

More information about PAWS Chicago can be found on their website. If you are considering getting an animal, whether you are in Chicago or elsewhere, please adopt from a shelter or rescue group. There are a lot of perfectly wonderful animals in need of a good home, and you will be helping to solve the problem, not encourage it through the use of puppy mills.

In honor of my new volunteer group, here are a couple cute animal videos (also since OCI really isn't conducive to the use of mixed media...)

So, that's basically been my week back in Chicago. More news as it comes.