The biggest trap for the unwary is overestimating how much you’re actually able to handle. In Spring 2009 there at least a dozen courses I am highly interested in taking. Realistically, I probably can’t take more than four of them and still able to absorb anything that I’m supposedly learning. But the temptation to load up is strong. I’ve seen many other people do it, and by this point in the semester, they almost always regret it.

I have until December 1 to “pre-register” through Columbia’s rather Byzantine system. Until then, I’ll be playing with my course-selection spreadsheet..

After school let out I had a great time working at Quinn Emanuel’s New York office.  The work was interesting, the people were friendly, and the summer events were just good, old-fashioned fun.  I have a lot to say about my experience there (all of it positive), so I might save it for another post.

After New York, we had the firm hike in Switzerland.  This was my first trip to Europe, and it was an absolute whirlwind.  We left Wednesday evening and arrived Thursday morning.  On Thursday I was way too tired to do much of anything other than to rest for the hike.  On Friday morning we took a train up a mountain, got off (the train), and started hiking.  Five or so hours (and a rainstorm or two) later, we were done.  It was pretty intense, but the scenery was beautiful.  The rest of Friday, and the better part of Saturday, were spent in the hot tub at the hotel.  Evenings were spent at Black & White, a dance club about which nothing further need be said.  Like all good things, our Switzerland trip had to end, and so it did, early on Sunday morning.  I got back to New York Sunday afternoon and slept for 15 hours or so.

The next day I flew to San Francisco.  I arrived fairly late so had only enough time to meet my roommate and then crash.  I started in Quinn’s SF office on Tuesday, and have already been given some interesting assignments.  After my first day we went to a German pub and then had dinner in Chinatown.  On Wednesday we went to a party at a partner’s house in Marin County.  On Thursday we saw a partner’s band play at a local bar, and on Friday we were in Napa all day (after that, I saw The Dark Knight and then did some karaoke in Japantown).  This weekend was a little slow (pretty much all I did was go on a historic walking tour of some parts of the city), and then yesterday I went to a bar and then a really good pizza place.  So, it’s been a lot of fun.

I’m working until Aug. 22, then sticking around until Aug. 30 for some additional sightseeing.  Becky and her family rented a house here for that week, and we’re also going to go to Sonoma for a few days, so I’m really looking forward to that.  Also, my family is coming out the week before.  I’ll still be working so I’ll only be able to spend the evenings with them, but I’m excited for them because they’ve never been to California.

I’m very much open to suggestions for things to do in my remaining time in San Francisco.

Me.

Tomorrow’s Professional Responsibility final exam will be my last of the semester. I also have one short essay to write, but there’s not really a set deadline for that.

Now, most semesters, I yearn to stay around school over the break and verify the accuracy of the footnotes in my casebooks. I’m not in the mood for that this semester, though - it’s been a fairly exhausting few months, between the transfer, job interviews, moot court, and normal school stuff.

I’m going home on Saturday. Bright and early Sunday morning, my family and I leave for San Juan, the departure port for our cruise.

* Image - My disgraced childhood hero.

I have my moot court brief due on Friday. I’m pretty far behind schedule on it (not surprisingly), and I’m wondering why I signed up for this. Maybe it will be good for me to be humbled, though.

On a completely unrelated note, I absolutely love Guitar Hero. If you have a Wii and want to face-off, be a dear and let me know.

I’m giving blood on Tuesday and getting a flu shot on Wednesday. What kind of sanguinarium is Columbia running?

UPDATE: The brief was finished on time, and it is not abysmal.

Friday we saw our friend Marnie perform in the musical, The Yellow Wood. She was excellent, as was the rest of the cast - you should go. I love legitimate theater.

On Saturday Becky and I again ventured onto the island to see the documentary, In the Shadow of the Moon. Needless to say, I eat all this space stuff up. I didn’t really learn any new facts per se, but there was plenty of footage I hadn’t seen before, and hearing about Apollo from the astronauts’ points of view was fascinating. I was struck by how understated many of them were. Becky was so excited that she avoided falling asleep. A few notes:

• Becky excoriated me for giving up my childhood (and teenage) dream of becoming an astronaut. I replied by saying that, in a strange way, being a lawyer is perhaps a direct route, insofar as the easiest way to become an astronaut in the coming years will be to pay as a tourist.
• Watching Kennedy’s speech where he sets the famous goal of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade, I got really pissed off at President Bush. After September 11, he had a golden opportunity to push this country to do great things. Kennedy understood that America excels at solving big problems that other countries can not, or will not. He could have challenged us to become energy independent, to build universities throughout the world, to put New Orleans up on stilts - whatever. We know what happened. He’s a greedy, intellectual lazy man who will eventually have to face up to what he’s done.

Then on Sunday I went to the Mets game. It’s fun to be able to take a subway to a baseball game, at least if you hate paying for parking as much as I do. The game was a joke, Glavine didn’t escape the first inning, and I was able to go home to follow the Phillies game (sadly, I had to keep clicking “Refresh” over at Yahoo! Sports because the game wasn’t on TV). I can’t really communicate how special the Phillies’ winning the NL East is. I’m still worried I’m going to wake up.

Anyway, I’ll be done with my callback interviews on Friday. The whole process has been pretty painless, actually. I hope to say the same of the rest of this semester.

I’m currently back home. Wanna play hoops?

On the work front: Work continues to be, on the whole, fantastic. That big criminal trial I wrote about earlier ended last week with a guilty verdict. Read all about it here (part 1) and here (part 2). I’ve been analyzing motions for attorneys’ fees and for remand to state court. Sometimes it seems that the lawyers who write these briefs just aren’t trying - they miss really important parts of the law, which is both frustrating (makes my job harder) and helpful (forces me to practice researching!). I don’t claim that my work is brilliant, but I’m impressed by how much I learned last year.

On the home front: The nice thing about this job is that the work doesn’t follow me home like it did during the school year. Unfortunately Becky usually works until around 8 or 10pm on most days, including Saturday, so that limits our chill times. We’ve been watching a lot of movies (Blockbuster Total Access is pretty awesome), and re-reading the Harry Potter books in preparation for July 21. Last Sunday I went to the Raging Waters waterpark with Dan and Eugene, which was appropriately infuriating (i.e., fun). Yesterday, because Becky was off, we went down to the San Diego Zoo. I’m not really a pet or animal guy, but this was pretty awesome (pics here). We have a few more things/places we’d like to do/visit this summer - a visit to San Francisco chief among them.

On the idea front: It seems to me that escalators run all day long, but a lot of the time there is nobody on them. Isn’t this a huge waste of energy? I’m curious to see if it would be possible to put motion sensors near the entrance area so that they only start running once somebody approaches. I don’t know if a) there are many escalators that are under-utilized (the ones in the courthouse are, which inspired this idea), or b) whether repeatedly starting and stopping the motor uses less energy than just running it non-stop. Somebody shoud look into this.