Saturday, November 12, 2005

Who needs a "logicboard" anyway?

This past week has not numbered among my best. In chief, the problems come down to the second failure of my computer because of a crack in its "logicboard." Apparently, this board of logic is the nerve center of my laptop and when it goes on the fritz... all hell breaks loose. On Tuesday morning I knew all was not well because my screen did what I call "the matrix" in the middle of criminal procedure. Lines started crossing my open windows, things froze, little green numbers started trailing down my screen and I panicked.* As it turns out, my panicked state was warranted because after bringing in my computer to the folks at the Mac Store, I learned that something was rotten in the state of my computer.

On top of the logicboard flaw, my entire hard drive had bitten the dust. Upon hearing this news I had a bit of a meltdown myself. Once I recovered, I managed to cajolethe folks at Mac to give data recovery on my behalf one last valiant effort. Happily, they managed to retrive all of my word documents from my time at Boalt. This was cause for great celebration but sadly, I lost all my music, my photos, and my emails.**

Over the course of this week and this loss, I've learned exactly how much my computer means to me. I was devastated and quite inconsolable when I thought everything was lost. It's been tough to shake this sense of frustration and the knowledge that not having my laptop is going to set me back a bit in terms of my studying and my all-too-elusive writing requirement. It feels as though these logicboard cracks are contagious. If I had one, it feels like it would be cracked right now too. I suppose the lesson to be learned in all of this is to lighten up, invest less (of my worth and energy) in my personal possessions, and... above all else - BACK UP YOUR DATA. That is my public service announcement. That is all.

* In reality, no awesome numbers dripped down my screen but it did begin to look as though it were possessed.
** I know, I know, I could have paid thousands of dollars to folks at Lazarus or Drivesavers to get this information but the cost of that operation could match my Bar expenses and I had to say no.

Friday, November 04, 2005

WHEREAS...

Kip and LaFawnduh's wedding shows Idaho's commitment to healthy marriages...

This morning as part of my ongoing quest to once again attain Lexis-Nexis elite member status I did the 10 point "You Decide Fact or Fiction" research exercise. In the course of this point-grubbing I was delighted to find another legal research gem. My all-time favorite legal research tidbit is the Circuit Court judge quoting Ludacris but this is a close second.

Earlier this year, the Idaho House of Representatives passed a Resolution "commending Jared and Jerusha Hess and the City of Preston for the production of the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." Further research revealed that the Idaho State Senate also passed the resolution. Some of the best findings of the Legislature were:

WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered multiethnic relationships;
WHEREAS, Rico and Kip's Tupperware sales and Deb's keychains and glamour shots promote entrepreneurism and self-sufficiency in Idaho's small towns;
WHEREAS, Pedro's efforts to bake a cake for Summer illustrate the positive connection between culinary skills to lifelong relationships; and...
WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's most famous export.


While all of these findings are quite hilarious, the best part of the resolution was the section that warned any naysaying members of the House of Representatives or the Senate "run the risk of having the 'Worst Day of Their Lives!; and are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!"

Unsurprisingly, given these fighting words, the resolution passed the House unanimously with one absent member.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

And on another note...

I love that people in places other than Berkeley find the time to "protest" such atrocities as... Ashlee Simpson.

Six Reasons for the Recent Blog Hiatus

6. The fact that my dear roommate pointed out how little my blog is worth hasn't helped me to feel motivated to post. See, e.g.:
5. The Social Security System in the old US of A is pretty darn complicated. I'm trying hard to write a paper that explains all this complexity that's (1) not mind-numbingly boring; (2) still really quite long so that it satisfies my stinking writing requirement; and (3) not as confusing or complex as my topic itself.
4. I've been thinking about the riots in Paris, the indictments, Scalito's nomination, the news of secret CIA prisons throughout Eastern Europe and beyond, but honestly, I've got little to add. I am happy that something is finally serving to take Bush down a notch, at least in the polls, but the news, for the most part, has been so depressing lately that I can't find anything to say.
3. I might have posted something about ANTM tonight but the episode wasn't new. Instead of eliminating another girl, Tyra recapped the season's episodes thus far. I was bored to tears but kept watching and came away with one take-home point: Jayla is America's Next Top Beeyotch. The producers have either been really merciless in editing her or she is truly one of the meanest individuals to ever surface on this show. Stay tuned for Tyra's inevitable heart-to-heart with Jayla which reveals the reasons for her 'tude and magically transforms her into America's darling. Also, tune in to UPN next week for what's certain to be some of the worst television ever. Former ANTM contestants will be starring on UPN's crappy shows, get this, every night of the week. If the acting wasn't atrocious to begin with, wait until the models arrive. Perhaps the idea behind this is to make the regular stars look halfway competent. What ingenuity!
2. This morning, I would have posted but I had an eye exam and my pupils were crazy dilated. I wore my sunglasses into the library and tried to work on my computer but the screen was too bright. With little else to do, I turned to reading Social Security cases off the Lexis printer.
1. I suppose the top reason for my lack of posting is that in the spirit of procrastination, I've stooped so low as to neglect even my blog.