Since I only have six days left in Kingston, I figured I'd better post an update! Since my last Pile Update, I've basically just been working hard to finish up my major projects at work (well, one won't be finished until Thursday unless we hear from the defendants in the meantime about settlement). Last weekend, I drove to Ithaca despite the cancellation of my intended photo shoot, since I had some stuff to take care of at the apartment and wanted to see my friends. It was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun, and now I don't have to leave Pittsburgh by way of Ithaca in August to get stuff done. (Pittsburgh-Ithaca and Ithaca-Cleveland are both 5+ hour drives, whereas Pittsburgh-Cleveland directly is less than two.)

This weekend, I had great luck shopping. I woke up Friday with an inexplicable desire to go shopping, which rarely happens - I like shopping for certain things (books, etc.), but I generally hate clothes shopping since it's near-impossible to find anything that fits me and doesn't make me feel like Jabba the Hutt. I think I have lost a little weight since coming to Kingston, but I'm still in that enviable too-big-for-regular-stores and too-small-for-plus-sizes range, so shopping is generally intensely frustrating. However, I decided to go with the urge and return a pair of pants I'd ordered online a couple of weeks ago (I originally ordered two different sizes, so I needed to return the ones that didn't work out). Upon arriving at the store, I spotted a jacket that matched the pants I was keeping, in my size and on sale for $50.

That. Never. Happens.

Since the jacket was actually cheaper than the pants I was returning, I picked up a new pair of sunglasses as well and left the store with an unexpected addition to my suit wardrobe. Clearly, the Universe was telling me to go shopping! I'll spare you the rest of the shopping details, but I went to the Poughkeepsie mall yesterday and found some other great stuff, so my lucky streak is continuing.

Today I drove up to Woodstock to see the sights, and I highly recommend it as a way to spend a sunny weekend afternoon. Woodstock is adorable - it's what happens when hippies grow up and decide it's OK to have disposable income. I spent about three hours just wandering around the center of town, going in and out of all the little New Age shops and jewelry stores and art galleries, and having a fantastic sandwich in a little cafe (with special bonus Hot Guy at adjoining table). It was a good day.

Tomorrow, back to work for my last week at this job... I'm really going to miss it. I hope the next job is almost as good, but I find it hard to imagine it could equal this one.

The Pile, Week 4
Originally uploaded by kjoliat

Week 4 and the pile continues to grow...

Somehow, despite the complete insanity this week has been so far (and it's only Tuesday!), I managed to be Super Productive Girl today. Yay me!

Oh, and our farm visit is officially set for Thursday.

Today seems a bit more normal, so I don't think I'll be jinxing anything by posting about the day I had yesterday.

It all started when I woke up at 5 AM because the cats were going absolutely nuts. Once I awakened enough to figure out what was making all the noise, I realized there was a bat flying in circles around my bedroom. At that point, I was still too sleepy to do much beyond think "I don't want the cats to catch it," so I herded the cats and myself into the living room, shut the bat into my bedroom, and slept the rest of the night on the couch. I went back into the bedroom in the morning to see if the bat was still there, and I couldn't find any trace of it, so I figured it must have gone back into the attic (which is accessed through a trapdoor in the ceiling of my bedroom) and went off to work.

Once at work, it occurred to me that I might want to look up some more information about bats, and in Googling, I found this interesting page, which I quote in part: "People usually know when they have been bitten by a bat. However, because bats have small teeth which may leave marks that are not easily seen, there are situations in which you should seek medical advice even in the absence of an obvious bite wound. For example, if you awaken and find a bat in your room, see a bat in the room of an unattended child, or see a bat near a mentally impaired or intoxicated person, seek medical advice and have the bat tested." [emphasis added by me]

Obviously, this concerned me, so I called the Cornell health center to get their opinion on whether or not that was overkill, and they advised me to go get rabies shots. Now, I was 99% sure I wasn't bitten. But, if I was wrong and I was bitten and the bat was rabid, I'd, you know, DIE. So, off I went to the hospital, where I sat around for five hours waiting for them to a) actually find some rabies vaccine and b) agree to give it to me, since apparently the CDC recommendations mean nothing to them. That's also when I found out that the hospital I went to was actually not the one hospital in town that has the contract with the county health department to supply the vaccine, which would have been nice to know at some point during the check-in process, rather than after I'd been sitting there for three hours. Fortunately, the ER has free wireless, so I was able to entertain myself by chatting on AIM. It was in this fashion that my roommate informed me that her mom, a doctor, had looked at the CDC regulations, talked to an infectious disease specialist, and recommended that roomie get rabies shots too (since bats can get through a quarter-inch gap, and none of the doors in our apartment actually close more tightly than that), and that we vacate the apartment until the bat issue had been dealt with.

So, after I finally got my first shots (we both have to get more on Thursday, next Monday, the Monday after that, and two Mondays after that), I went home to pick roomie up so we could go to the other hospital for her shots. This is also when we talked to our landlords about their little bat problem and how they might want to look into that, and oh yes, we also needed a copy of their homeowners insurance policy for billing purposes (I'm still not clear on precisely who pays for the vaccines, the county health department or the homeowners, but either way it's not us). Needless to say, they were not happy with us, and there were noises made about "Well, since you don't have a lease, you're just going to take all your stuff and go tonight, right?" Um, no, and you do NOT pull that "no lease" shit with two law students. There was an offer, there was acceptance, there was consideration, and it's all documented in e-mails, bitch. Fortunately, after the county health department contacted them, they started to take things more seriously and everything was OK after that.

Anyway, we hauled ourselves and the cats over to the Holiday Inn for the night, and today I'm meeting the owners and the inspectors over at the house at 2 so we can see what's going to happen from this point on. I think it's likely we'll be able to go back to the apartment tonight, which would be nice - the cats are not too happy at the hotel, and I feel bad for having to disrupt them again, but I wasn't about to leave them in the damn Batcave despite their up-to-date rabies vaccinations.

The reason I say that yesterday was surreal, instead of really incredibly bad? While I was sitting in the ER, I noticed that there was a new e-mail in my business inbox. I checked it out, and I've been invited to do the cover photography for a hardback book being published to support Animal Lifeline of Iowa, Inc. (a no-kill special needs shelter) and celebrate their 20th anniversary. The reason I'm being asked to get involved is that the dog they want for the cover shot, a paraplegic black lab named Abacus, moved to Ithaca with his owners four years ago. So, I was sitting there in the ER, possibly rabid, finalizing a book cover deal.

My life is just so weird sometimes.

It's been another busy week - court on Monday, no foie gras farm visit Tuesday (I think we're going sometime this week instead), minor Malcolm emergency on Wednesday, memo memo memo Thursday-Friday. I did manage to do some fun stuff, though. My roommate and I went to see Pirates 3 on Friday (verdict - totally plotless but completely entertaining, particularly the bit with multiple Johnnies). We also went rock climbing yesterday at the little indoor climbing gym in New Paltz, which was loads of fun and highly addictive. I've always wanted to try it and practically everyone at this office is into it, so I thought I ought to learn the basics before the next after-work excursion. I'm sore today, but it was worth it, and as soon as I got home yesterday I logged on to Zappos.com and bought climbing shoes so I don't have to rent them next time. (Renting shoes is just gross.)

Malcolm is just fine, by the way - he slipped into the basement of this house when the owners left the door open, and got all freaked out and tore some claws while racing around. We had to take him to the emergency vet in Poughkeepsie because he was bleeding everywhere, but his little toes are healing very well and he was back to his old self by Thursday morning.

Now that I have officially (sort of) practiced law for three weeks, I can say with certainty that I love being a lawyer, but I can definitely see how a lot of people are unhappy with their decision to go into the law. Apart from the actual meetings with clients (of which I've had a couple during my time here, both in person and telephonically), legal work pretty much consists of reading, reading, more reading, and the occasional writing. Obviously, this is right up my alley. But even I find it somewhat tedious when I've been hunting for some obscure point of law for three hours, trying to figure out precisely how to prove what I'm being asked to prove. If I had to practice in an area of law in which I didn't truly, deeply believe, I think I'd find it boring as hell. (This is why I will never be a lawyer specializing in corporate finance.)

Also, when I interviewed with firms last summer, I told them I was more interested in transactional work than litigation, and I've completely changed my mind about that. Don't get me wrong, I'm still completely terrified by the thought of doing an oral argument (oh, trial advocacy next spring is going to be fun), and the whole "hurry up and wait" thing where you haul ass to submit something to the court ASAP and then you have to sit around and wait for your opposing counsel to respond can be kind of annoying, but the back-and-forth nature of litigation is just plain more interesting than sitting in your office examining the fine points of a contract for days on end. Of course, sometimes you have to contend with the fact that your opposing counsel is a completely incompetent, arrogant twat, but at least you get to make fun of him with your office mates.

I'm really interested to see how my next summer job will compare to this one. Right now, I love practicing law, but I wonder if job #2 will be equally great or if this one is just so great because of the people I work with and the nature of the work? I'll be sure to report back.

LOLcats are taking over the law...
Originally uploaded by kjoliat

Workwise, it's going to be an interesting week. Yesterday we had another trip down to the federal courthouse in White Plains to watch our opposing counsel get yelled at by the judge, and tomorrow we're heading out to the foie gras farm to meet with some of the workers and see the place for ourselves. For the rest of the week I'll probably be up to my neck in the memo I'm writing for that case, which strangely enough I'm actually looking forward to. I'm rather tempted to make this the cover page of my memo, although I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fly in federal court.

For those who might be concerned, don't be! Yesterday's post in no way indicates that I no longer love my job - it's partly because I do love it so much that it's so frustrating when stuff like that happens. Today was better, though; a nice slow Friday in the office, just depositions to read and a little research to do, and now it's the weekend. I have no plans beyond watching season 2 of the UK Office, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

I just found out today that the trial I was supposed to present at is now going to be held on June 28, the day before my last day at work. So, if we don't settle in the meantime, I'll still get to play.

I can't believe I've been working here two weeks already! I'll post some musings on law practice soonish, but right now I'm waiting for dinner to arrive...