All three weeks of winter break have vanished out from under me - and I find myself back in the lecture hall for my final semester of this law school business. I'm having the usual mixed reactions to being back - and while I don't think my senioritis has kicked in in full force yet, I'm wary of what's going to happen to my already minimal motivation when the spring sun finally comes out. Work at the state has been good but busy...busy enough in fact that I've spent a good part of my three day weekend working on compliance reports, but I'm getting close to the end of a major project, and there's certainly some satisfaction to be found in that.

Winter break was really a good time all in all - probably the most free time I'll have in a single block until after the bar. I enjoyed some much needed quality time with the family down in Pasadena and then returned north to spend new years/and the remainder of the days off with Chante. While out in Windsor, we got to experience the major flooding in Sonoma - the most water northern CA has seen in the last ten years. Thankfully, Chante's folks' property didn't sustain any damage - quite to the contrary, their vineyard view was changed to lakefront over night. This truly remarkable transformation afforded me a rare opportunity to grab some breathtaking shots with my new Panasonic Lumix DX9. Hope you like em!

update: new template + modified settings to allow non-members to comment.

step2 will be an attempt at original banner creation. time to see how rusty my photoshop skills really are...

...back to back releases from Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin - oh yeah! I'm preparing myself for 2000 pages of raw self-indulgence.

At 15 years old, I was pretty good with computers. I worked as the assistant to a net admin for a multi-branch lumber company. It was good stuff, lots of problem solving - and I already had my own office.

Now a little over a month away from 25 years of age, I'm nearing the mid-point of my final year of law school. I've learned quite a bit, matured at least a little, and lost more than one hair along the way... As a law clerk for a state agency, I see a few interesting issues and a whole lot of mundane regulations cross my desk. I have felt generally appreciated. However, today I was informed that due to space limitations, I would henceforth be SHARING MY GODDAMN CUBICLE...

Now I feel like that strange little guy in the movie Office Space, when they took away his Swingline Stapler...


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update!
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a subtle indication of my concern, heard by the right ear, has solved the problem - and my dignity restored.

Today on slashdot:

Sony's most recent attempt at digital rights management, on it's line of "copy protected" CD's, has been revealed to contain "rootkits" which automatically install registry level security flaws on Windows computers.

It is, in fact, time to be afraid. Rootkit hacks, formerly only associated with serious "malware," are far beyond the reach of the best spyware tools and virus checkers. Installation takes place without notice or consent, and the mere discovery (much less removal) of these cloaked files poses serious difficulties for even skilled IT professionals.

I am frankly shocked that Sony would stoop to this level of illegal and intrusive conduct, and I seriously hope that consumers will repay this violation of trust with a boycott that brings the consumer electronics giant to its knees.

Link to Slashdot Story - (click link "rootkit from Sony Music" for full discussion)

This slate.msn comment on the Alito nomination was just too priceless to pass up:
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And Thrasymachus sheds some light, albeit ironically, on Alito's judicial stance on abortion:

The poor man is being cruelly maligned and slandered by his unscrupulous feminist opponents.

Why, just last week Alito issued a decision in which he denied asylum to a Chinese woman who fled China because she had undergone a forced abortion and been ordered to report to a medical clinic for mandatory sterilization. Chen v. Gonzales, Slip Copy 2005 WL 2652051 (3rd Cir., October 18, 2005).

So take that, liberals! He's not anti-abortion at all! He's just against women having the right to choose abortion for themselves.
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What a monster! They should give this guy horns, a goatee, and red face paint to go with his robes. Scales of justice soon to be replaced with fiery trident...

If your values are at all akin to mine, the nomination of *Scalito* as a replacement for Justice O'Conner probably has you feeling more than a little depressed or outraged (depending on the moment and your personality type).

I would invite you all to set these troubling ramifications aside, if only for a moment, and find a little joy in this exquisite gallery of "floral abstracts" by Adam Clutterbuck. I stumbled on it today, and it is simply breathtaking.

Goodness and beauty are not dead afterall. Gallery Link