During the course of my enthusiastic avoidance of all things law-school related this evening, I came across this blog post about US soldiers signing up for, studying for, and taking the LSAT.

IN IRAQ.

Thought maybe we could all use a little perspective.

I started out studying in my room, but that was problematic because my roommate works the day shift and I work the night shift so I was studying in the dark balancing books on my knees with a tiny light and trying not to make any noise.  So that really didn’t work.  Instead, I started coming into the trailers where my Tactical Operations Center (TOC) is and working there all night, but a lot of people come in and out so I eventually moved out of there as well.

…

The testing center itself was alright.  It was a little noisy at times and the room we tested in was somewhat cramped with shaky squeaking tables and my chair had a broken back.  The proctor, a U.S. civilian, was very kind and helpful.

…

Regardless of our different situations, all soldiers in combat who are trying to accomplish something like this face many small detractors that add up: constant stress of direct or indirect fire, heat (120-140 degrees), irregular sleep patterns, no personal living or work space, unreliable internet, supervisors who may be unsupportive, no real time off, and of course the demands of the mission – whatever it may be for that individual.  The mission always comes first, regardless of your personal endeavors.  You have to split your focus between the mission and possibly the biggest test of your immediate future, which is difficult, especially when your life or the life of your fellow soldiers is at risk.

Happy Halloween! Enjoy this week’s links, and have a safe Halloween!

Costume Ideas

• My personal favorite: Limecat
• Costumes for your doggie: Nacho Libre and a bunch of grapes.
• Are you going as a wookie? Here’s how to make the Chewbacca noise.
• Here’s a cool costume for your favorite zombie wannabe.

Halloween Lists

• Sometimes the scariest movie moments can be found in non-horror movies. Check out the top 25 list here.
• Or, for a sure thing, read Martin Scorsese’s top 11 picks for scariest movies of all time.

Recipes

• Nicole over at Baking Bites has some cool vampire-themed recipes: pancakes, cookies, and cupcakes.
• Over at Not Martha, you can learn how to make a meat hand. Vom alert.
• Double vom alert: brain cake.
• Serve your brain cake with bloody brain shooters.

Goofy Halloween video of the week:

Two upcoming TV shows are giving me yet another a reason to turn on my TV.

First, some of you may remember the most awesomest TV show from our youth:

This was appointment TV at the Propst house when I was a kid. Well, ABC is remaking the V series and the first episode is this coming Tuesday. Here’s a sneak peek:

And while we’re on the subject of my favorite TV shows, here’s a sneak peek at the new season of 24, which starts in January:

Hat tip: Below the Beltway

Oops. Looks like I skipped last Friday night’s link dump. That just means more to share tonight!

• Law school exams are only six weeks away. Yikes! It’s also getting harder and harder to crawl out of bed every morning. Feeling a little burned out? Take a one-year creativity sabbatical. Oh, if only I could do just that. Seriously, though, I’d bet there is something to that. I always get my best ideas in the shower when my mind is wandering. In lieu of the sabbatical, here are 33 ways to get and keep yourself motivated.
• Did you  miss out on the Cash for Clunkers program and now you’re in the market for a new vehicle? Check out the Prombron, the world’s baddest SUV. Pay close attention to the disgusting repulsive horrifying unique seat covers. Eww, vom.
• I need another pet about as much as I need the Prombron, but PLEASE LOOK AT HOW CUTE THESE MICRO-PIGS ARE. Waaaaant. Bonus: Ron Weasley has one. Now you know they’re cool.
• Speaking of swine, FitSugar has some really great tips for warding off the H1N1 virus. It’s been making the rounds here for several weeks now. Don’t get it. If you do, stay away from me. Also, here’s a handy chart for determining whether your symptoms are caused by the swine flu or the regular flu.
• Tissue alert: Read the story behind this picture, if you haven’t seen it already. (image credit: Abby Bennethum)
• 

Courtoon of the week:

Most pathetic/hilarious video of the week:

Yes, yes, I’m aware that this post is actually going out on a Saturday. But I thought about posting it on Friday, so that should count for something. Besides, I don’t want to have to change the name of the series just because I’m running a day behind.

So, without further ado, here are this week’s best links from my feed reader.

• Are you at all interested in interior design? If so, you should check out these 40 Excellent Examples of Interior Designs Rendered in 3D Max.
• Design not your thing? What about Hello Kitty?
• Traces of the anti-flu medication Tamiflu are showing up in rivers in Japan, and scientists are worried that this could result in a drug-resistant strain of the flu.
• Speaking of the flu, here’s a recipe for some do-it-yourself hand sanitizer.

Funny cartoon of the week:

Entertaining video of the week:

My poor, neglected Google reader dutifully collects tons and tons of articles and blog posts for me to read, and my new favorite Friday night activity is catching up on some reading that doesn’t have to do with consideration, but-for causation, or Rule 9. Okay, I’m old and I have no social life. Good grief.

Anyway, since I feel like I’ve been totally neglecting this blog lately, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of the best items from my feed reader (hence the name “friday night feeding”… get it?) with you in case you’re bored. Like me. Not that I’m complaining. Sometimes boredom is beautiful.

• Dan Brown, of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons fame, has a new book called The Lost Symbol. I was entertained by The Da Vinci Code much more than Angels & Demons, and I’m sure at some point I’ll get around to reading The Lost Symbol. I’m not a huge fan, though. Here’s a less-than-flattering review of the new book by The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik.
• Along the same lines, here are Dan Brown’s 20 Worst Sentences. Some of them really are pretty bad.
• I want to make this recipe for Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans. Yum.
• I think this guy’s lawsuit for “1,784 billion, trillion dollars” is completely reasonable.
• Are you planning a party and providing alcohol? Wondering how to figure out how much to buy? Lifehacker, perhaps the most useful website EVAH, has a simple formula.

Funny comic of the week:

Funny kitteh video of the week:

For your viewing pleasure. You’re welcome.

hat tip: @no634 from a long time ago

…I’ve just been in law school. So actually, it kindof is like falling off the face of the earth. Anyway, I have a few updates to my 101 goals in 1001 days, and then a major announcement!

1.  Had another mother-daughter dinner with Molly at Pei Wei. We’re still running behind by one month but will hopefully get that remedied soon.

7.  It’s with a sad heart (okay, not really so sad, but don’t tell Molly) that I must report that Allie is no longer a Propst. Allie’s philosophy in life apparently was “The World is My Toilet.” Accordingly, she stubbornly refused to use the litterbox at least half the time. I’ve never had a cat who wouldn’t use the litterbox. The final straw was when she peed on my Torts notebook. END OF PROPST-HOOD. I’m happy to report that Allie has found a new home in the country, where she can pee and poop wherever and whenever the spirit moves her.

38.  Manicures have become the first casualty of law school. I just don’t have the time, and I really don’t need to spend the money. I will not give up my pedicures, though. Just try to make me.

64 & 66: Done!!! My car is paid off and the orthodontist is paid off. WOOT! This will save me a hunk of change every month. YAY!

82.  Done!!! I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to use an external hard drive with backups once a week or some online method of backup that would be done more frequently (and without my having to remember), so I ended up doing both. I bought an external hard drive and I have scheduled backups for Saturday afternoons, and I also got a Dropbox account for my law school related documents so they remain constantly updated and accessible via any computer in the world, just in case the Blue Screen of Death ever pays me a visit at an inopportune time. Shameless plug: If you think you may be interested in a Dropbox account for yourself (it’s free!), please let me email you a link to use so I can get credit for the referral.

**********

So in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been updating this blog much lately. I blame George Bush, Barack Obama, and law school. I started this blog as a way for my friends and family (especially the ones who aren’t on Facebook) to be able to keep up with me, and I still want to do that. I’ve also had another blog for a few months now, and I originally thought I wanted to keep it anonymous, but I’ve since decided that that’s too stressful and there’s really no good reason for it.

drum roll please…

If you want to read about my otherwise mundane existence, my 101 goals in 1001 days, and my kid and my pets, by all means, please keep reading this blog. I plan to keep its focus on my personal stuff, and if that doesn’t interest you, I certainly don’t blame you.

If you want to read about my law school experience, my rants about current events and politics (warning: you will probably disagree with me at least half the time), and the general hilarity that seems to follow me around wherever I go, you belong here. All I ask is that you not use my real name if you choose to comment on that blog, as it has quite a few more readers than this one does, from all around the globe (yay!!), and I’d like to try to avoid attracting crazy weirdo stalker people if possible.

You can read both blogs if you want to, you can read one or the other, or you can read neither.

I hope you’ll read both.

Just a few updates to my 101 goals in 1001 days project, because not every little update deserves its own blog post.

1.  Molly and I had our monthly dinner in June at Pei Wei. Yum. Sadly, we missed July’s dinner because of our trip to California. We’re going to try to double up in August to make up for it.

2.  Molly, Mom, and I went to see a show at the Cactus Theater called “Walkin the Line,” which was a tribute to/impersonation of Johnny Cash. It was pretty good, much better than the Johnny Cash show we saw at the City Bank Auditorium a few years back as part of Celebrity Attractions.

3.  Visited PawPaw in Brownwood over Father’s Day weekend. Details here.

8.  So far, right on schedule with the dog grooming. Sophie is happy.

11 & 15.  Most brilliant idea evah: pay Molly to do these for me!

19.  Had the car washed in June, then had to skip July because of travel and copious rain.

22.  It’s with a heavy heart that I must report the demise of the tomato plant. He grew pretty well, although he never once made a bloom, much less a tomato, and then one day he plunged to his death in my yard. Remember, he was living in a Topsy Turvy planter, which was hanging from the ceiling of my patio. I guess my poor tomato plant was having feelings of inadequacy because somehow he unscrewed himself from the ceiling and plummeted one whole story, fracturing several limbs upon his landing. He was properly disposed of and he will be fondly remembered. Better luck next summer, I guess.

25.  Is it just me, or is watching the local news the most boring thing on the planet? Very hard to force myself to do this, and even then I can only make it about halfway through. Ugh.

27.  I don’t think I’m quite writing twice a week, but maybe I’ll have more to write about once school actually gets started. Of course, then I won’t have any time.

32, 35, & 38.  Right on track with the pedicures, manicures, and hair appointments.

43.  So when I said I wanted to floss every day for a month, I didn’t specify that it had to be 30 days in a row.

48.  I did compile a lifetime reading list (which you can view here). It’s a work in progress, meaning that it will probably never be fully complete. Alas, my ability to cross books off the list is subpar.

49.  The Netflix movie goal is sadly neglected. I had such good intentions.

51.  For my nonfiction book I read Law School Confidential. I hope I can use some of the helpful hints in that book during law school.

52.  The one Shyamalan movie I’ve rewatched is “The Happening.” What a crappy ending. It starts off so well, and ends so horribly. This man really knows how to disappoint.

59.  The one movie of this category that I’ve watched also just happens to be the one Netflix movie I’ve watched (see 49 above), and that was “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” I hadn’t seen it before and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Jack Nicholson… what can I say about him that hasn’t already been said? He’s fabulous.

68.  The saving-change project is well underway and we’ve already almost filled up an entire mayonnaise jar with change. Molly has already started talking about the places she wants to go with our post-bar-exam-trip money.

73.  I promised Molly at the beginning of the summer that if she’d completely organize her bedroom and get rid of a bunch of stuff, I’d redo her room for her. She previously had baby pink walls and a quilt with pastel horses on it, and that was so not cool for a newly minted 6th grader. Believe it or not, it only took her two days of hard work in her room to get it almost Martha-Stewart organized. Amazing how quickly that can get done when there’s a good incentive! Anyway, she has gotten new bedding and we’re preparing to paint the walls gray. After that, she’s getting new carpet. I’ll post pictures when it’s finished.

77.  The office organization project — are you sitting down? — is almost completely done. Yep, you read that right. If you’ve ever seen my office before now, you can appreciate the gravity of this statement. I’m so excited about having a functional office (almost) again!!

83.  The new city we visited was Anaheim, California, on the dance trip (details here). We also spent one day in San Diego/Coronado Beach, but I didn’t count that because we were just there for the day.

86.  We’re a little behind on the two recipes per month, but not too far behind yet. We can make up for it with a little work.

87.  The three new beers I’ve tried are (a) Shock Top Belgian White brewed by Anheuser-Busch, (b) Warsteiner Dunkel brewed by Warsteiner-USA, and (c) Thunderhead India Pale Ale brewed by Pyramid Breweries. Of the three, I liked the Warsteiner Dunkel the best. The Shock Top, I suppose, was meant to compete with Blue Moon, but it just didn’t come close. The Thunderhead IPA was good, but a little hoppy for my taste.

89.  I’ve only tried one new bottle of wine so far, and that was Chateau Ste Michelle 2006 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m no professional or even wannabe pro wine taster, so I can’t really speak to the flavors it had. I just know that I liked it.

91.  The five new restaurants I’ve counted were all in California. I didn’t count any airport restaurants (and I use that term loosely here) or any park food. They are (a) breakfast at Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel, (b) pizza at a pizzeria in San Diego, the name of which I can’t remember, (c) Bubba Gump’s in Anaheim, (d) Tortilla Joe’s in Downtown Disney, and (e) House of Blues in Downtown Disney. All of it was good, but the guacamole at Tortilla Joe’s, the awesome omelet at Steakhouse 55, and the humongous pizza in San Diego were my favorites.

So, that pretty much gets all my progress up-to-date. Have you started your list of 101 goals yet (I’m looking at you, Cousin Laura!)?

Orientation at Texas Tech School of Law starts (for me) on Tuesday, August 18, with a library tour and a laptop configuration session, followed by two full days of listening, questions and answers, small group breakout sessions, free food and drink (!), and generally shuffling about in groups of people who — fingers crossed here — will be just as confused and disoriented as I will be. Hence the name: orientation.

Just in case you don’t have your calendar handy and you’re feeling a little bit disoriented yourself, that’s less than a week away. Where in the world did the summer go? In the last few days, I’ve been trying to get totally organized in time for school to start. Just in case a future law-school hopeful ever stumbles upon this blog in a frantic search for helpful information, I present Eight Steps to Law School Preparation.

1. I read parts of Law School Confidential, and I plan to read Getting to Maybe. The beginning of Law School Confidential is about the LSAT and the application process, and probably the entire second half is about your 2L and 3L years, the bar exam, and finding a job, so I only read the parts in between that had to do with the 1L year. I thought it was useful and I particularly liked the whole color-coded-book-briefing-with-highlighters idea. Getting to Maybe deals specifically with succeeding on law school exams, and from everything I’ve heard it’s most useful if you read it during the semester, finishing up around Thanksgiving. That’s the plan.
2. Inspired in part by Law School Confidential, I made an epic trip to the office supply store. Not that this was difficult for me; I do LOVE me some office supplies. I stocked up on highlighters, pens, pencils, binders, dividers, and Post-It flag thingies. I don’t really know if I’ll use the binders and dividers, but they were just so cute! Anyway, Molly can use them if I don’t.
3. The orientation info packet we were sent specifically said not to buy any books until orientation, just in case they have to change your section assignment, but there’s no way I was gonna wait that long. Waiting that long to get books would mean that your only option would be to buy the books at the local bookstores, unless you ordered books and then had them shipped overnight. Of course, the increased shipping cost would defeat the purpose of ordering the books online at a lower cost, now wouldn’t it? I knew I wanted brand-new casebooks because I didn’t want anyone else’s notes and/or highlighting to interfere with mine, so I ordered those from Barnes & Noble. If you have a membership card there, which I believe is $25 a year, you get 10% off all your purchases. This saved me probably around $60, which is almost like getting a small book for free. I also got some used books from the local bookstore, as I was able to find some that weren’t marked in at all.
4. I went ahead and got a few supplements even though I think you’re supposed to wait and see which ones you’ll need, if any. I got Examples & Explanations (E&E’s) for each of my classes except one — Torts, Contracts, and Civil Procedure — and I got a commercial Contracts outline (Emanuel’s). The E&E’s were recommended to me by my brother, who recently graduated from Tech Law, so I’m confident they’ll come in handy. The commercial outline was recommended in Law School Confidential. We’ll see if it was a good investment or not. The one class I didn’t get supplements for is Legal Practice and I don’t think any will be needed, if they even make any.
5. I decided to use Microsoft OneNote for notes, briefs, and outlines. The consensus is that it’s the best PC application for law school, so I’m going to give it a whirl. I set up a notebook for each of my four classes, with sections in each for keeping track of readings and assignments, reading notes, lecture notes, case briefs, and outlines. I have no idea if I’ll even use all those categories, but they’re there if I need them.
6. I’ve spent some quality time this summer with books and movies. Books that I read for pleasure, that is. I figure I won’t have much of a chance to indulge for at least the next year.
7. I set up this blog because I want to have a record of this whole adventure for myself. This is going to be a fun/scary/enlightening/challenging/unique experience.
8. I shopped for some new clothes so that I’ll look less like a hobo and more like a future lawyer, or at least a respectable citizen. After working from home for the last eleven years, my wardrobe has devolved into not much more than an assortment of T-shirts and capri pants. My brother and my sister-in-law have both told me that they wished they had realized sooner that the people you go to law school with today will be your colleagues tomorrow, and the impressions you make in law school will matter.

And here are some things I haven’t done, whether I should have or not.

1. I haven’t read one single word in any of my law school books or supplements. I was in such a hurry to buy them, and yet I can’t make myself start reading them. Rationale: My understanding is that different professors will highlight different cases, and I’m not interested in doing unnecessary reading/studying.
2. I didn’t buy a Mac. But oh, how desperately I want one. Alas, it’s just not in the budget for this semester. As soon as I can, though, I’m getting a 13-inch MacBook Pro, and don’t try to talk me out of it.
3. I haven’t come to terms with the fact that I’ll have four — FOUR — 8:00 classes a week. That is to say, I’m still staying up until 2:00 in the morning and waking up around 9:30. This. Has. To. Stop. When school starts up, I’ll be waking up at 5:30 every morning. Yep, I said 5:30. That’s a.m., as in morning. Please hold for a panic attack.
4. I haven’t canceled my cable subscription, complete with HBO. I refuse to believe that I won’t have time to watch my favorite shows: So You Think You Can Dance, True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Cleaner, Intervention, and maybe others. I won’t likely be able to watch them live, but I’ll DVR the heck out of them and watch them on my terms. Take that, busy schedule.

So there you have it. At this point I have no idea if I’ve been brilliant or not, but I’ll let you know as the year progresses.