I dropped the big-box retailer gig a couple weeks ago; it’s nice to have weekends not spent working.  That said, I’m still at the Office of Dispute Resolution.  In addition, I’ve recently been employed as a law clerk for the 72nd District Court in Lubbock, Texas.  It’s a pretty fun position.  I get to work on a large variety of cases, which meas I’m usually approaching a case with very little knowledge of the substantive law applicable to that case, but have to make a recommendation as to the outcome of a certain issue.

My experiences working on guardianship cases in the Office of Dispute Resolution and working on the variety of cases at the court have reinforced my desire to have my own firm, and to practice estate planning, family law, and generally have a small general-practice law firm.  My experiences have also illustrated to me that people can be deceptive and conniving, and that there are judges and attorneys around who will enable (or perpetrate) poor or bad conduct.

Ooooh!  I just bought a Hickey Freeman suit on eBay the other day.  $120.00 + shipping and it’s AMAZING!  Fully canvassed, functioning sleeve buttons, etc.  It’s awesome.  Bonus: I need to have the slacks taken in, as I’ve lost weight.  Yesterday afternoon was a decent afternoon.

Where to start… Last final was May 17; on May 18, I start my new employment. Unfortunately, my class schedule is too busy to allow for law-related work during the summer, so I’ve picked up a job stocking shelves (during the day/weekends) at a large retailer. I’ve never worked retail before, so this is quite an experience for me. May 21 was an all-day class for my summer externship. The externship will be working in a guardianship program through the same office I did my mediations over the spring semester (hopefully I can continue to do mediations, and maybe start making some money). Today, May 24, I started my Commercial Law class. 7:45am-9:00am all summer.  Last, I just moved in with my girlfriend. Most of my things are moved, and I just have a bit of cleaning left to do. This is going to be quite a summer!

Acting as a mediator has been very interesting. It seems like a lot more comes out in mediation than would otherwise come out in court. Also, it’s nice to see parties create their own resolution, rather than having the court come down with something that both parties might dislike.

I look forward to mediating more cases while in law school, and to continue to mediate cases once a practicing attorney.

Spent a couple weeks in Florida. It was amazing. I’d never been to Florida before. Saw Disney World (Downtown Disney and Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon). Saw West Palm Beach. Saw the Keys (including Key Deer, which are tiny).

About 12 hours after returning from FL, I started my summer internship at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Lubbock. Pretty nifty! The cases I’ve worked on are pretty interesting, and if they haven’t been interesting, the actual issues I’ve been working on are usually interesting.

I also started my Masters in personal financial planning. I’m not quite sold on this degree. Hopefully this class gets better/my Summer II class is better.

Uhm…that’s all for now, I guess.

At the house, we have four dogs…four very hyper and crazy dogs. I figured I’d run with the dogs, that way I have a running “partner” and they also get “out of the house.” I’m three days into this running business (with a different dog each day), and I’ve already noticed I can go farther and faster than on day one, and feel less spent at the end of my dog adventure (more on the dog part below). I’ve been going about 20 minutes each time. I walk down to the park, then jog up the street and back to my “start-run point” and then walk back to the house.

As for taking a dog running with me, it’s been interesting. Since they aren’t really used to going on walks, I’m also having to keep them in line each time we go. Shosty is pretty good, as I have actually walked him many a time in the past. Riley…she’s crazy, but tomorrow will be her first outing, so we’ll see how that goes. Cory, my roommate’s dog, was surprisingly well behaved, and a good run partner. Winnie, my roommate’s other dog, is also crazy. Very crazy. She apparently does not know how to be walked, as she kept running in front of me and behind me (and inevitably getting kicked by the heel of my shoe while behind me). Also, today, I almost tripped on her when she was suddenly distracted by another dog. “Other dogs” make me wary about running, because there are many strays around LBK (like…VERY many), and some are large. Today, Winnie and I came across a large and free male pitbull. He looked nice enough, but you never know with strays. I’ve contemplated carrying a firearm just in case a dog gets aggressive (or a neighbor lady tries to run me over with her truck).

…yeah, some neighbor lady ran over two young kids (about 8 and 14 years old) on Sunday. She ended up dragging the 8 year old little dude about 200 feet before stopping. How she failed to notice she just plowed over two kids on bikes I will never know. Also, the 14 (ish) year old had tats on his arm. What kind of 14 year old has tats? hmmm…

uhm…I’m gonna stop now. K.

In other news, my trial brief is done for my legal writing class, and I have successfully installed Windows 7 Ultimate on my desktop (I haven’t really used my desktop since I moved to Lubbock, and it is nice to sit at a 22″ monitor again!).

New Mexico has introduced a bill that will finally legalize concealed carry on university (and school) campuses! Hooray! <a target=”_blank” href=”LINK TO THE BILL! I’ll be super excited when it passes. Now I just need to get my danged CHL!

Federalist Society Wikipedia page

Federalist Society’s official page

Also, maybe a cruise? hm…