Cast of Characters

I live on the top floor of my apartment building and each neighbor has an interestingly distinguishable characteristic I have come to associate their apartment with. I haven't been able to pick up on everyone as these are only my observations from walking by closed doors, or in the case of my neighbors, what I hear through the wall.

1. My French neighbor: Early in the morning every day the TV is blaring the news from their unit. I can clearly hear the tv through my wall. They also have a squawking bird. This couple is very friendly in the halls when I bump into them but have annoying habits and pets behind closed doors.

2. My gay neighbor: One time laying in bed late on Wednesday I heard something through the wall that I never want to hear again: "Oh My God" being yelled in ecstasy by a man.

3. The nympho down the hall: On more than one occasion I have walked by this girl's apartment and heard moaning from behind the door. In fact, one time I was walking by her door and her boyfriend was leaving the apartment and saying goodbye. As I always do when an another apartment's door is open, I glanced inside as I continued walking by. There she was laying completely naked on the bed. And she saw me too. This has made for some awkward elevator rides.

4. The guy who picks up half of his newspaper every morning: A few doors down one guy gets a subsription to the Post. He will usually grab half of it in the morning and leave the other half laying in the hallway until later in the day when he picks up the rest of it. That or the janitor picks it up.

5. The narcoleptic: On the other side of the floor, nine times out of ten when I am waiting for the elevator, I can hear a beeping alarm clock coming from someone's unit. I am so glad this person is not my neighbor -- I have heard that alarm going off in the middle of the day, early in the morning, and late at night when waiting for the elevator.

6. The beer guy: Someone on my floor puts a down 6 pack every night. Evidence left is the empty bottles neatly placed back in the six pack and sitting by the trash chute.

7. The party girl: Again, fortunately, this person lives on the other side of the floor. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights usually mean loud music and lots of chattering voices from this apartment.

Lame Christmas Gifts #1

Just think of the ecstasy you will experience on Christmas morning if you find this in your stocking.

Who wouldn't want to experience the magic of an Al Gore Christmas? He is jolly, charming, and has a personality that is just to die for. Really. Maybe when you look outside Christmas morning and see that no snow is on the ground, you will feel Al Gore's icy breath on your neck encouraging you not to take that SUV trip down to Starbucks. And he might even fly on a private jet across the country to personally tell you so.

So gather the family around the television set on Christmas morning because everyone's favorite holiday feelings are self righteousness and superiority over your fellow man.

Study Partner & Guardian of the Law

I Want to Wake Up In a City that Never Sleeps (with you)

A trip to New York is something I have always wanted to do with someone special to me. I am looking forward to the small things like the road trip from DC to NY and of course all our plans. We are going to have so much fun! And posts referring to you now outnumber posts referring to Matthew Lesko :-)

You Are What You Drive

I was off to grab a bite this afternoon when I noticed a mini-cooper parked right behind my apartment building with question marks all over it. This has to be Matthew Lesko's car. Seriously, who else drives a yellow car with black question marks painted all over it. Especially if your suits match your car. I really wanted to stick around for awhile to see if I could get a picture with him but I had to go. I always had Lesko pegged as more of a PT Cruiser sort of guy than Cooper. Guess all that free money he is getting to pay off his bills is really working out! And I also never thought I would have the opportunity to blog twice about my favorite TV infomercial spokesman.

A Taste of the Neighborhood and a View from Above

I'll Take the Case!

I bet the boys down at the station are working around the clock to break this case wide open. Picture and caption from Yahoo News.




Reuters - Wed Oct 4, 1:37 PM ET - A German plastic surgeon who was cheated out of payment by several women has given pictures of their enlarged breasts to police, in the hope the photos will help trace them. REUTERS/Ian Waldie

You want to know what I hate? Andy Rooney.

How does one go about getting a job as being a grumpy, flabby old man that gets to bitch about American culture not being right to his liking at the end of an investigative journalism show every week? That is how I would like to spend my retirement. This guy has to be every little kid's worst nightmare to have as a next door neighbor.

Cute, fun, smart, and sweet

It was the best birthday weekend anyone could have hoped for. Thank you! :-)

District Life

Law school in DC is in full swing and I am really enjoying things.

My neighborhood is awesome. I am living an extremely trendy part of the city and have a very cool top floor apartment with a great view. It also has a rooftop with a monument view of DC.

The DC DMV is a pain in the ass, as is parking. I have never had my car out here until now. I had to go get a sticker to park on the streets around my apartment which set me back a few hundred dollars. Thank God I don't have to go there for another year.

I can't tell if school is harder here yet. I feel like I'm doing more reading but spending less time in class. Maybe its because I have a couple four hour classes so they are pretty long but only a couple times a week. One perk: the law school does not have class on Friday. Most people use this as a chance to extern or something but I think I am going to try and establish a very good ranking in my class this semester by using all my free time to study. That way when I apply for jobs next semester they can see a strong ranking at my current school. Which is a good transition for my next point,

The job hunt here is very hard. Even though I have a strong resume, I have not had as much luck with OCI this semester. It has to be because I don't have a ranking at this law school yet. So I will spend free time studying hard this semester to break into the hopefully top 10% and attempt to write on to one of the school's law reviews. I am shooting for either a firm or some administrative agency general counsel work. These things always work themselves out for me though, so I'm not too worried. (more on this later and my philosophy of things working themselves out)

Any regrets? No, but I really miss my friends. The friends you make first year in law school really end up being close because of the whole going through hell together thing. My new school takes a sizable number of transfers so I know many are in the same boat as me. But all my closest friends have been a result of going through some hardship together. True for college and law school. Maybe the same will be true for other transfers making the same jump as me. The jump in school prestige I have made will be worth it after I get a few years in at some lobby firm on K Street.

Go East Young Man

I got my transfer! I am actually doing it, moving to DC for who knows how long. It will be at least a few years. I am very excited, a little nervous, but ready to go!

I love my home state and just as much as I want to go to DC now is how much I want to return here someday down the road. This experience has shown me that whatever I am willing to work hard enough for, I can have.

I take my coffee like I take my women: Strong, Black, and Proud

I stopped by Starbucks this morning as I usually do to grab a coffee on the way to work. But what made this trip a little unusual was the barista serving me my morning cup. It was the valedictorian from my high school class! Seriously, it doesn't get much funnier than that!

pins and needles

Thinking about my txfr admission is absolutely killing me. I don't know how I am going to survive another week of this. Maybe one of these dumb quizzes will help.

1. My ex is...
a distant memory

2. I am listening to...
the news

3. Maybe I should...
go have some red bull and vodkas tonight to take this txfr thing off my mind

4. I love...
DC

5. My bestfriend(s)...
are great

6. I don't understand...
why extremely fat people still biggie size their meals

7. I lost...
my sunglasses. No idea where they are.

8. People say...
one bird in hand is better than two in the tree

10. Love is...
a pretty nice feeling

11. Somewhere, someone is...
lobbing rockets into Israel

12. I will always...
want to travel more

13. Forever seems...
like an eternity

14. I never want to...
fight in a war

15. My mobile phone...
's battery has been crapping out lately

16. When I wake up in the morning...
I just lay there for a few minutes

17. I get annoyed when...
people eating fast food handle my remote controls and get them all greasy

18. Parties are...
better than staying home

19. My pets are...
funny

20.Kisses are the best when...
passionate

21. Today I...
watched a federal trial

22. Tomorrow I will...
obsess over my transfer

23. I really want...
to get into law school in DC!

Hmm, this quiz was begging the question. I should go booze.

When Tourists Attack!!

I was walking down Pennsylvania Ave. today on my way back from lunch at Old Ebbitt when I saw a trend among tourists that has annoyed me to no end. Of course this is on Pennsylvania Ave. in front of the White House, so it is closed to traffic and that is why these idiots are in the road. But when they don't have a wide open street to ride on, they roll down the sidewalks and force everyone else off lest you get bowled over by some smelly* tourist.

*You can smell a tourist when there is a stench of sunscreen and sweat and you are within any sort of proximity to a monument.

So I whipped out my camera phone to document this. I think the picture pretty much sums it all up for me. And just so you know, there were more of them that I didn't catch in the picture.

Ukraine is not weak!

Trends

Google trends lets you type in a search phrase and it will give you the top ten cities that have searched for that term. Some interesting, but not really surprising results:

law school: Not too surprising, you have Univ. of Michigan, about five DC schools, and Harvard represented as the greatest interest in the term "law school"
1. Ann Arbor, MI
2. Washington, DC
3. Cambridge, MA

porn: Interstingly, the United States does not crack the rankings until Irvine, CA at #6. The Brits and the Aussies have this one covered.
1. Birmingham, United Kingdom
2. Brisbane, Australia
3. Manchester, United Kingdom

popped collar:
1. New York, NY - It was the only city that had enough hits for the search term for popped collar to pop up. I always knew NY was the place to go for the hottest fashion.

Sensationalist media

So this was the cover of the NY Post after Zarqawi was killed. Seems wrong, yet hilarious.

A small hangup

I was browsing through netflix titles picking what to get next. For some reason it keeps recommending the movie whale rider. I'm not one to judge a movie by its cover, but this cover has always bugged me. I can remember being at the movie store as long as a year ago and the cover of this movie annoying me. And it still does. And is that the best they could do on the quote to put on the cover? "People love whale rider?" Come on!

Aggressive Behavior

One thing I don't remember is how aggressive the homeless are here. Last time I lived in DC they weren't this bad. That has not been my experience this time.

I was sitting outside my apartment building on a ledge talking on my cell phone. This homeless guy comes wandering up to me and I know what he is going to ask. So as not to disrupt my phone conversation, I start waiving my hand at him in a shoo or go-away motion when he was within a few feet of me. He looked down at me and said "Muthafucka, I didn't even ask you for no money or nothin yet." Then he turns around and yells "Kracka ass muthafucka, I have a good mind to knock yo kracka ass muthafuckin head off." I didn't look back, but I could still hear him ranting for another minute or so as he walked away down the street.

That was probably the worst one but others have tried song and dance routines while following right at my side when I was walking home from bars in Georgetown. Then they hold out their hand and look at you like you are ripping them off for not paying for the spectacle you just witnessed.

Its all coming together

1. The weirdest thing happened to me today. My boss took me out to lunch with some friends of his. First of all, he knew nothing of my intentions to transfer to a law school here. One of the people at lunch with us today is in a position of power of at the school I am most interested in. When I found this out, I whispered out my intentions of transferring to this guy's law school to my boss and asked if it would be appropriate to say something to him after lunch. My boss said we would talk to him after lunch. We did.

2. The girl I have been interested in is looking promising. We have been more in touch now than any time in the last year. How could I have missed someone cute, sweet, smart, and fun like this. Hopefully it doesn't pass me by again.