President Bush's Interview on NPR

Check it out - I can't believe he had such an extended interview with Juan Williams:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7056082

This link will bring you to both the transcript and audio of the interview.

One of my favorite quotes: "I think that the vice president is a person reflecting a half-glass-full mentality." What?

Another Music List - This Time of My Own Making

Here's a mix I created since I wanted to send Innocent Bystander off with a CD - let's see what he thinks. I kinda like it.

1. Nicotine and Gravy - Beck
2. All We Have Is Now - The Flaming Lips
3. Waltz #2 (XO) - Elliot Smith
4. One by One - Wilco
5. Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes
6. Stickshifts and Safety Belts - Cake
7. Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies
8. Judy and the Dream of Horses - Belle and Sebastian
9. The Sounds of Science - The Beastie Boys
10. All The Love In the World - Nine Inch Nails
11. Yesterday Threw Everything at Me - Athlete
12. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
13. Radar - Morphine
14. Honey Bear - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
15. Hard Way to Fall - Ryan Adams

AArF Gets Some New Duds!

AArF was subjected to much measuring and trying on of the following sweater. Doesn't he look thrilled? Here's a closer look too. I found the basic pattern online - a rib stitch for the neck and back, and a garter stitch for the body of the sweater - just follow the measurements that are given for your dog's back, belly, neck and stance, and you're on your way to a cool sweater. I used Paton's Wool - the basic worsted wool - with size 6 and 8 needles. The pattern called for one color but I decided to spice up the garter stitch with some stripes. You can use any type of stitch for the body - great way to get some fair isle in for your special dog. Enjoy!

In other news, yesterday was -15 degrees with the wind chill. Some flurries this morning, but we still haven't gotten any substantial snow.

Innocent Bystander is headed up to Canada tomorrow as his father is terminally ill and has taken a turn for the worse.

~GAC

AArF was Confused

AArF and I were on our late afternoon walk when he stopped to smell a tree on the sidewalk in front of someone's house (OK, like a good male dog, he stopped at EVERY tree in the neighborhood), and as he started to squat to mark, this cranky old lady flew out of the house and actually YELLED at me, saying, "you'd better pick up EVERYTHING that dog does there, do you hear me?" I told her not to worry, that he was only doing his usually marking and no number 2, to which she replied, "I don't care. Don't be smart with me - pick it up," and she stomped back in the house.

AArF proceeded to bark at her and I guess I was the one who was confused. Does anyone know how to pick dog pee up from the dirt surrounding a tree, or whether or not you are obligated to when a cranky old lady tells you to?

AArF and I will be walking on the other side of the street or we'll be putting a flaming paper bag on her doorstep - we're thinking it over.

In better news, it was snowing last night and we played "catch and kill the snowball" in the driveway. What fun!

~GAC

Five Minutes 'Til Doomsday

The Atomic Clock has been once again pushed up to five minutes before midnight (or doomsday) as the threat of nuclear annihilation is as close as it was during the Cold War. Check out an article here.

And I thought they moved the clock up b/c of the Marilyn Manson/Dita Von Teese split. If that doesn't signal the end of the world, what does?

Maybe Jack Bauer could help out here....

Obama

Coq au Vin from Martha

I made this last night for the second half of the 24 Premiere and it was amazing. I found it in the current issue of Everyday Food Magazine which Innocent Bystander sent me a subscription of. Make this ASAP:

Wine-Braised Chicken

Serves 6; Prep time: 55 minutes; Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Listed as Coq au Vin in cookbooks and on restaurant menus, the name of this hearty French dish may sound fancy, but its simply chicken cooked in red wine.

3 fresh thyme sprigs 5 flat-leaf parsley sprigs 1 bay leaf 3 slices bacon, cut into pieces 12 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (about 4 pounds total) coarse salt and ground pepper 1 large onion, chopped 6 medium carrots, sliced crosswise on the diagonal into 1/2-inch pieces 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons tomato paste 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups dry red wine, such as a Pinot Noir or French Burgundy 1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth 1. Using cotton kitchen twine, tie thyme, parsley, and bay leaf into a bundle; set aside. 2. Heat a Dutch oven or 5-quart heavy pot with a lid over medium-low. Add bacon; cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain (leave bacon fat in pot). 3. Raise heat to medium-high. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Working in three batches to avoid crowding, brown chicken about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; set aside. 4. Add onion, carrots, and garlic to pot. Cook until onion softens, about 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and flour; cook 1 minute. 5. Add wine, broth, chicken, and herb bundle. Bring to a boil; cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes; uncover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard herb bundle; stir in bacon. Note: To bundle herbs, tie thyme, parsley, and bay leafoften used in soups and stewsinto whats called a bouquet garni. Add the bunch for layers of flavor, then remove it before serving.

The New Semester Is Here and I've Finally Posted my Project Pictures

My first day of classes was yesterday. I'm enrolled in Corporations, Criminal Procedure/Constitutional Law, Family Trial Practice, Trusts, and Professional Responsibility. The first three classes I had yesterday and I think Crim/Con is going to be a doozy. Family Law Trial Practice will be very interactive as it is being taught in a mock courtroom, and Corporations, well who knows? All I do know is that there is a master outline that everyone studies from and does very well on the exam. I'll post anything exciting.

Ok, I've finally downloaded pictures of crochet/knit projects and thought I'd post them here for posterity.

Starting with my first crochet project ever - a baby blanket that I gave to friends that told Innocent Bystander that they were going to have a baby the day I started the blanket. It was destiny for the little one. I started it after Christmas 2006 and finished it by mid-January. It's made with a baby soft acrylic so that mom and dad could wash it several times. Simple but satisfying:

And a close-up of the pattern:

Next up is an Amigurumi bunny - although the face is a little simple - hey it was a first try. These are really fun to make and my favorite amigurumi designer is Ana Paula. Check out her stuff after checking out this bunny:

I crocheted a bunch of cool scalloped scarves, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them. I'll have to make another and post one online - it's a pattern that uses one full skein of paton's wool from the Happy Hooker crochet book (not to be confused with the other Happy Hooker, Xaviera Hollander). I modified the pattern so that it isn't as long and it's much wider. I also add embelishments to the corners of the scarves, like buttons or jingle bells.

Onto the next pattern, a simple garter stitch scarf that I made with handspun and dyed wool I picked up on Newbury Street. I call it my subway scarf as I made it to and from the library during finals this december. One of my first knitting projects (that I've completed).

Next is a hat that my poor dad was given for Christmas this year. You can find the pattern here. I think it came out quite good as I learned fair isle knitting and knitting in the round on this very hat. No practice runs, I just dove right in. I completed the hat in about 6-8 hours.

Last but not least is a pillow that I made for Innocent Bystander from this book. The C stands for curmudgeon, no, cute - ok not really either of them. The pattern was actually quite easy - reversing knit and purl stitches for the outline around the pillow (hard to see here) and for the letter C. The yarn was from Knitpicks.com and it was 75% cotton/25% wool. The funny part was when I gave IB the gift, I had just packaged up the book, yarn, and needles. The book was a baby book - and I made sure to tell him it wasn't what he was thinking! I think he was rather glad. The pattern is too nice not to make up for big babies as well!

That's it for the projects right now. I just received the new Lion Brand catalog in the mail and there's a really cute felted purse I might try to make. Only two skeins of wool so it fits in with a student's budget.

President Bush will be speaking in less than two hours about the 20,000 troop "surge." WTF is up with that word? It's like, heh heh, the American people are already pissed off at me, so what sort of word could I use to piss them off even more? Oh, yes. Surge. I'll be watching.

AArF is BACK!

After over a month long "holiday" in the country with his "grandparents," AArF is back home and is already readjusting to his city dog life. I'm so glad he's able to stay for such an extended time with my family, as my extremely long days in the library would be less than fair to him.

AArF has been struggling to keep weight on for the past year now and has times when he looks quite ribby. He's started a regimen of prednisone recently and it seems to be helping. We are all keeping our fingers crossed.

More on my holiday knitting projects soon!

~GAC

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas - I'm celebrating with family and snuck away for a few to check my email and write a little post.

There's always such a ramp-up to Christmas and then it seems like it's all over so quickly. It's nice spending time with family.

Innocent Bystander is visiting with his family today and he gave me some great early Christmas presents - one is a beautiful opal flower ring - - maybe I'll post a picture when I'm back on my computer.

Here's wishing for a fabulous, fattening, fun-filled holiday!
~GAC

My Study Music

A few weeks ago, I found this really cool program called The Filter (right now it's only available for PC's - Mac version is coming soon). It works with iTunes and what you do is choose a song or two from your library and it creates a playlist of songs that would be compatible with your choices.

I generated this list first thing in the morning and have listened to it three times through. I think it's a keeper:

Grace - U2
Pictures of You - The Cure
You've Got Her In Your Pocket - The White Stripes
I Asked Her For Water (She Brought Me Gasoline) - Howlin' Wolf
We're A Happy Family - The Ramones
Wave of Mutiliation (UK Surf Mix) - The Pixies
Cheated Hearts - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Standin' Here Tremblin' - Muddy Waters
All We Have Is Now - The Flaming Lips
Pigs in Zen - Jane's Addiction
Weeping Willow - The Verve
Oh No, Not You Again - The Rolling Stones
Come Dancing - The Kinks
Add It Up - The Violent Femmes
Crush With Eyeliner - R.E.M.
No Complaints - Beck
Kamera - Wilco
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave
The Boy Done Wrong Again - Belle & Sebestian

I'm nearly done now!
~GAC

Two Thumbs?

I told Innocent Bystander this story at lunch and he thought it should make it onto the blog. So before getting down to working on my paper this morning, I went to a nail salon to have a manicure and polish change (my nails are now a festive cranberry red). I wasn't thrilled with my last manicure so I thought I'd try a different place close to my house.

In order for it to make sense, you should understand two (of many things to come, I'm sure) things about me:
1. I don't like men doing my nails - I'm not sure why - I just find it weird; and
2. I don't like the looks of slightly deformed hands (disclaimer - Innocent Bystander has what doctors call Watch glass Nails - and although he used to torture his sisters with them - alien fingers - I like them a lot!).

Ok, back to the story. So I go in to have my nails done and of course, the only person free is a guy! He seemed fine enough and I wanted to get to school so I decided to let him do my nails. As he worked on them, I realized that he had a lump protruding from one of his thumbs, and I then further realized that this lump had a nail of its own. I think he had a second thumb (albeit a little one) growing from his fully formed one! I'm sure it wasn't still in the process of growing, but for description's sake it will have to do.

The first image that popped into my mind was the mutant rebel leader, Kuato, from Total Recall. Could Kuato be doing my nails?

The second feeling was that of a little queasiness. I decided not to look anymore and just watch President Bush sign the Hyde Act on TV. You know, something to calm me down a bit.

I'll be trying out some other salon next time.

~GAC

Almost a Year and a Half Later

Ok, Ok, I realized that I was terrible at this whole blogger thing, but it really seemed like a good idea at the time. And, it of course feels like a good idea right about now - when I should be plugging away at a Consitutional Law paper that is due by 5.00pm on Wednesday. I'm in the process of writing about children and the Constitution - what rights they have and what rights they need. During my research, I discovered that a child welfare action was actually prosecuted under the NY cruelty to animals law in the late 1800's - because animals had legal protections then but children didn't. Amazing! Anyway, Wednesday is soooo far away, so I suppose I have time for one post.

After a year and a half of law school, I'm surviving pretty well. My way of thinking has changed significantly, and my poor roommate and Innocent Bystander are the first to know of legal consequences to their actions, whether it be tax consequences or opening themselves up to a lawsuit. Needless to say, they are thrilled about it. I've also decided that I really do want to practice family law. After three years at the coolest law firm in Boston, if not the world, and working with people who cannot afford a lawyer for their divorce/custody matters, it really is something I enjoy and I think I might be able to become really good at. One of my friends once said to me, "GAC, you could become the next Monroe Inker!" I just hope that was based on brains and not looks! I remember once I was at a conference that he was also in attendance for and he took it as a perfect time for a snooze. He was listening though, b/c at any given time, he would snap awake, mid-snore, and voice his opinions no matter who had the floor. I guess that's what comes with being considered the "father" of modern divorce law.

I'm all done with this semester's finals, and I think I did pretty well. My family law final went exceedingly well, and I didn't study too much for it, but I did have to study my little butt off for Income Tax and Evidence. Evidence is SO confusing and the exam was multiple choice. There were at least three or four questions that really were arguably one answer or another. I wonder how the professor will grade it. I'll miss not having him again for a class, as I developed quite an academic crush. I just thought he was the epitome of how a law professor was to teach - or maybe I'm just a complete dork. I also had a Children and the Law exam that was very fair - not too difficult, but you certainly had to know your stuff! And yes, I decided to write my paper on something that I was already taking a class on. Hey, you've gotta use anything you can, right? When I went to discuss paper ideas with the Con. Law professor, I thought maybe I could make a good impression on him. Instead, I wound up wishing I never went as the idea I originally had is something that he had written extensively about and has been lobbying Congress and state legislatures to adopt. D'oh!

It seems nearly futile to write about my first year of school, so maybe I'll make mention of it in future posts. That seems the best thing to do.

I've tried to keep busy and "broaden my horizons" in ways other than all things law. Over the past year I've picked up the art of crochet - taught to me in December 2005 by my mother. We had quite a few laughs at my poorly formed crochet chains and inability to handle the hook with any sort of skilled way. I'm much better now, and my first project was a baby blanket for friends who found out they were pregnant only a few days after I learned to crochet. I guess it was fate. I also taught myself to knit this fall, and I think it may become my yarn craft of choice. It's nice to sit down with a project after a day of school or a day in the library. I've also become very adept at crocheting/knitting and watching TV! I've also found out that I get carsick while knitting. Damn! Maybe I'll post a few picures of projects I've completed. They're pretty basic, but they're mine, all mine!

Christmas is right around the corner and I've done nothing by way of shopping. I take that back - I received a shipment from Amazon and couldn't believe how little I received for so much money. I'm returning one item as I wasn't pleased with the book at all - something else to add to all the things I have to do between Wednesday evening and the morning of the 24th. I'm really bummed b/c I want to spend a day baking, but I just don't know if I'll have time! I have real issues with store bought baked goods - not by way of eating them, but by way of purchasing them. Last week, while studying for finals, Innocent Bystander reminded me that we had accepted a dinner invitation. Because I forgot that I had volunteered myself to bring dessert, I had to buy something at the grocery store. All I wanted was to make strawberry shortcake and I had to go to three different stores and be disappointed that they didn't have biscuits or even the crappy little yellow cakes. I had to use a chocolate angel food cake that was sort of lost and forgotten between the Italian loaves and fruit cakes. It all turned out fine and I spruced it up by adding blackberries to the strawberry mixture, but it was more stress than I needed and a reminder of how I hate to be at the mercy of the bakery department of my local grocery store.

Well, time to grab a little lunch with Innocent Bystander and then back to the paper.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

New Orleans Blues

Just as I did on and after September 11th, I have been spending most of my free time glued to the TV watching coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the devastating aftermath. It is absolutely shocking how a whole city (actually many cities and towns) can be wiped out by Mother Nature in less than 24 hours.

Part of my sadness is for a selfish reason - I've always wanted to go to New Orleans and was hoping to get there sometime within the next few years. Experiencing the culture (especially the music) of New Orleans first hand was something I was looking forward to doing. Maybe I began to be facinated with N.O. when my father went there on business when I was about 6 or 7. He brought me home a ceramic Mardi Gras mask that sustained a small chip in it on the trip back to Massachusetts. I actually had to fight the urge to sign up as a volunteer for the Red Cross and head down there to help. Sitting in class and learning about subject matter jurisdiction and the link between mens reus and actus reus just doesn't seem as important as helping out. The majority of my sadness is because of all the lives that were lost and destroyed by this storm. How will these people move on? Where will they go? Where will they live? They can't live in the Astrodome forever!

On Monday, I came home to a pipe that had burst in the basement and water found its way up through my kitchen sink. As I entered my apartment (which was surrounded by firefighters) and walked into the kitchen, I found AArF sitting in about an inch of water and a firefighter trying to calm him down and give him a treat. AArF was having none of it. Anyway, I was so put out by having to clean up the water, throwing away some damaged food, and not being able to use my sink while the repairman was on his way to the "scene." Katrina put my "plight" into a little more perspective.

I had started to write a post about my first week in school, but now's not quite the right time for me. Perhaps this weekend I'll finish it up. In the meantime, here are some links related to the disaster relief effort:

American Red Cross
Federal Emergency Management Agency
TV Telethons Announced
City of New Orleans: http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx
Louisiana Governor's Office: http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Let's all hope and pray that families will be restored again as quickly as possible.

~GAC

Post Canada

Innocent Bystander here. Guilty as Charged is busy watching Jon Stewart. We went out to a couple of Cambridge pubs: People's Republik and Green Street. I was outpacing her a good two pints to one. Her excuse for abruptly ending our evening of carousing: "I have class tomorrow (Friday)". Of course, her first class is at 11 a.m. and I start work at 9 a.m. So who's the wus? Anyway, my incredulousness fell on deaf ears.

Pub review: The People's Republik crew was kind of obnoxious: undergraduate boys and girls half in the bag, or intoxicated yet unemployed 30-somethings; the bartender was decidedly unresponsive, and seemed surprised whenever we wanted a beer. So forget that place. Green Street was much better. We got our Stella Artois quickly, and not too expensively, but we were so temptingly close to my apartment that GAC couldn't last, and insisted we hit my couch for the Daily Show.

What can you do? It's a Thursday. DIfficult for me to argue for reckless abandon. One can only hope that the minimal homework assigned to GAC this week continues in the weeks ahead — but I doubt it.

D'oh!

Ok, so the professor clarified the Civ Pro assignment...it was to only read PAGES 1-4!!

So much for the firehose (I'm sure I'll be regretting I wrote this much later).

Off to Canada, eh?
~GAC

Earplugs

I had my first official day of orientation today which included a speech from the Dean of Students complete with his promises that we will graduate law school before the Yankees win a World Series and before all of the litigation associated with the Big Dig is finished. Our class is apparently the 100th entering class for the law school, which is kind of a neat distinction.

We briefed our first "case" in an Academic Resources class, which most of us found pretty helpful, but I could tell that others found the case even more confusing when we were done. The school offers a great optional class where you can get extra help with briefing cases, legal writing, or just some advice as to how to deal with the overwhelming feeling all first year students are bound to have. The professor said first year was once described to her as trying to drink from a fire hose. I love the image of that, as foreboding as it might actually be.

The school has a message board where students can post topics on just about anything. I've decided not to read the message board anymore and classes haven't even officially begun! The latest post was a debate over whether or not our Civ Pro professor wanted us to read pages 1-4 or chapters 1-4. Mind you, chapters 1-4 cover about 250 pages of material relating to personal and subject matter jurisdiction, including the "famous" Pennoyer v. Neff, International Shoe v. Washington, and the Erie Doctrine. I think the consensus on the web board was to only read pages 1-4, but I'm not listening....

Speaking of not listening, I've decided that earplugs are the only way to go while trying to read at home. Every single noise for me is a distraction and I've found that they really work! My roommate likes to talk on the phone too, so the earplugs pretty much wipe out that noise as well.

I've briefed the cases for my Legal Practice Skills class tomorrow, and I've just about finished all the work necessary for the first days of class - even the 250 pages of Civ Pro. I'm in good shape to go off to Canada tomorrow after orientation wraps up. Bring the fire hose on.

~GAC

Welcome

My boyfriend, Innocent Bystander, ("IB") and I were hanging out at River Gods last night when I turned to him and said, "hey, so I'm thinking that since I'm starting law school in just over a week, it might be fun for me to start a blog that chronicles the next three years, and it would be a great way for me to keep family and friends connected and up to date with my progress!" He was a bit surprised, since I have read quite a few blogs that make me go, "huh?" and have me wondering why bandwidth is being taken up with such blather. Well, I guess I've decided that it's my time to blather, and going off to law school is the perfect time to start!

I've decided to change the names of the innocent and not-so-innocent, but not places, events, and things that I come across (unless it would immediately lead to a disclosure of identities). Gives me a little more freedom to type away, right? I've decided on Guilty as Charged ("GAC") for my own pen-name, and I'm still working on a good one for my dog!

Anyhow, I'm about a week away from my first day of class on August 22nd. Between now and then, I will be reading up for my first day of class (can you believe my Civil Procedure professor has asked us to read 1/3 of our text book for the first day?! I can't wait to see how she plans to get through all that material...) going to orientations, getting a haircut, visiting with my family, and flying up to Canada to spend a few days with IB's family. I wonder if I can do it all and keep my sanity? Fitting what should be three weeks worth of activities into just about one will certainly be interesting.

Yesterday was my last day of full time employment, possibly for the next three years. I worked at, hands down, the best law firm in Boston, and I was with the firm since they hung their shingle out nearly three years ago (well, I started in the first few formative months). I worked hard there and made many friends along the way. I also feel like I have a bit of a head start with studying law now. As I was reading through my Civ Pro book, the word "interrogatories" was referred to, and I was proud to say that aside from being able to pronounce the word, I've actually drafted and answered interrogatories! I know I have a lot to learn, but every little bit helps!

The law team gave me a wonderful going away party at Harvest Restaurant in Harvard Square, where the peach margaritas are to die for, and the food leaves you speechless! Laughter and tears had by all, and it was a really touching evening. It feels good to have been a part of something so great, and it's sad for me to voluntarily leave it behind!

Off to my first of several events over the course of this week; I'll be sure to post sometime this week to memorialize my orientation!

~GAC