"Good shooting teams are usually good at the free throw line. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule." - Steve Lavin, commentating on the Michigan State/Georgia Tech basketball game on ESPN.

Earlier this year, I ordered some "Tire Minders" from Miles Kimball. After two weeks of non delivery, I gave a phone call to the company and they said that they hadn't been shipped yet, and they would get on it tomorrow. I said fine.

Another two weeks later and I still had not received the item, so I called again, this time angrier. I got someone else on the phone, and she stated that the item was in stock and she had no idea why it had not been shipped yet. I of course got a little bit testy, and she said that she would make sure they go out tomorrow.

At this point, I wanted a little something for my trouble, so I asked her if I could get my shipping fees (which were fairly large) refunded. She said she wasn't sure.

A week or so later, the item arrived, and when I checked my credit card statement, I was in fact charged for shipping.

So I wrote an email to their customer service, describing the troubles I had with the delivery and that I was quite disappointed to not have my shipping charge refunded. I also stated that if the fee was not refunded, I would not shop with them again.

No response.

A week or so later, I checked my credit card statement, and the shipping charge was in fact refunded. Which I found odd. If you were going to refund my shipping fee, wouldn't you email me to let me know that you acquiesced to my demands? What if I'm the type of person who just blindly pays their credit card bills without looking at the breakdown? If I was that type of person, then the refund would be for nought, as I'd still be pissed off.

I had chalked that up to just the odd practice of Miles Kimball. But the same thing has happened to me just a day ago.

I ordered Kim some yellow roses for her birthday from ftd.com. I ordered them on Wednesday, and her bday was on Friday. When the flowers arrived, she called to tell me how much she liked them. However, I later found out that they were not all yellow. Only two of the dozen were yellow; the rest were pink or red. Not what I had wanted at all.

So I sent off an email to FTD complaining about this, and asking for them to refund my $10.99 "service charge" that was tacked onto my order. No response. So I planned to write an "absolutely devastating" email to them yesterday. But I checked my credit card statement, and lo and behold, the $10.99 was refunded to my credit card. And once again, no email confirmation of this refund.

I wonder if they just do not want to bother writing out an apology email. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

This guy has some potential as a ESPN Page 2 columnist. Some tidbits from his column:

Headlines That Are Probably In Newspapers This Morning:

Detroit: "Lions fans enjoy rare loss-free Sunday"

Green Bay (and maybe Mississippi): "Heroic Favre throws another gritty, go-for-broke, game-ending interception"

5. On the opposite side of the broadcasting coin yesterday, the gentleman providing the color commentary for the Eagles-Packers game on Fox said the following: "If you were to remove the interceptions he's thrown this year … I think Brett [Favre] has played pretty well." Uh … well, yeah. And if you were to remove all of the wins they've had this year, the Colts would be having a terrible season.

10. A friend of mine who works for Apple has confirmed that the company will stop running the U2 ad for the new iPod Video during NFL games if -- and only if -- everyone in the country purchases one. So please, for the love of God, go buy the new video iPod and spare us all from having to listen to Bono wail "Diddit, diddit, diddit, diddit, diddit, diddit, diddit, diddit … shabba-da-bo" -- or whatever it is he's screeching -- during each and every commercial break. (And really, why would you not want a video iPod anyway? In this age of giant, 52-inch HD plasma screens with surround sound, what's better than squinting at The Edge on a 2.5-inch screen while you're on the subway?)

So I was watching CSI just now and had a random thought:

"What happened to that stupid lawyer sitcom that Fox was advertising a couple months ago?"

You may have seen the commercials. It featured Adam Goldberg as some annoying crazy lawyer guy who "doesn't go by the book." In fact, he uses the books to hit other lawyers when they piss him off! Ahhhahahhahha. Ahem...

And you also have the not so crazy lawyer guy, who is always trying to talk some sense into the crazy one. Sometimes it works (I guess, I never watched the show), and sometimes it doesn't. But (I'm guessing), it always results in hilarity!

Anyway, the show got cancelled after an incredible two episodes.

In approximately five hours, the stores will open up.

And the sales will start up, and run for only 6 hours at most places.

Laptops for three hundred dollars.

DVDs for four dollars.

Last year my brother in law went to Best Buy, and found a 2.5 hour line to check out.

Wal-Mart is one of these stores that are having massive six hour, starting at five AM sales, and Kim is intent on us going at the store opening so she can purchase a very inexpensively priced digital camera. 5 megapixels, 70 dollars. I'm not sure if thats a good deal, but I'm told that it is.

Of course, I'm not sure if Kim is actually serious about going. She may or may not have set her alarm; her phone is ominously sitting on the bureau, and I don't feel like checking to see what time its going to go off. She is already sleeping, but she isn't good about getting up to alarms anyway.

Oh well, I guess all will be revealed soon enough.

Today is November 22nd. Our last day of classes before Thanksgiving break.

Our first final exam is December 12th. That is 20 days away. Then three more exams follow, every other day afterwards.

Already, people are talking about "having to study" for these exams.

It sounds a bit weird - but law school exams are different. In most classes, they count for 100 percent of your grade. However, in some classes they're not totally 100 percent. For instance, in my contracts class this semester, the final is "only" 80 percent of my grade.

And 1L grades (grades from your first two semesters) basically are the most important grades you'll ever have. 1L grades lead to the job you'll have the summer after your 2L year (because you interview in the fall of your 2L year for it). And the job you have during your 2L summer will probably be the job you work for once you graduate.

So there's a lot riding on these final exams. That being said, I'll most likely start studying this weekend at some point. But there are of course, people starting earlier (like tonight), and some crazies who have started even earlier.

I remember seeing one girl last week who was outlining, and a guy in her section complimented her studious nature. She replied that she wasn't being studious, but that she was planning on doing "nothing but sleeping" in the days before the exam, so she had to do it now.

Rigghhhhhhht.

I kind of get a kick out of people like this. They're so freaked out that they're studying a month before the exam, yet claim that they are not going to study in the days before the exam.

I wonder if they believe their own lies.

I spilled a lot of hot bacon grease all over my foot this morning. I would have thought that my foot would be badly burned. But instead it simply stung for a little bit and now just feels a bit funny. So just an FYI - bacon grease, while appearing to be really hot, might not be as hot as you think.

I still don't recommend spilling it on any part of you, however.

Its actually amazing how much funnier Lionel Hutz (the lawyer in the Simpsons) quotes are when you're in law school. I mean, they're funny even when you're not in law school. But when you start thinking about the hilarity of citing a case called "Finders versus Keepers," well, its downright side-splitting.

A few great quotes from snpp:

Hutz: Now Mr. Nahasapeemapetilon, if that is your real name.
Have you ever forgotten anything?
Apu: No. In fact I can recite pi to 40,000 places.
And the last digit is 1.
Homer: Mmm... pie.
Hutz: Well if you never forget anything. Tell me this. What color tie am I wearing? [turns around]
Apu: You are wearing a red and white club tie in a half-windsor knot.
Hutz: Oh, I am, am I? Is that what you think? Well if that's what you think, I have something to tell you [ugh]. Something which may shock and discredit you [ugh]. And that thing is as follows [as he finally undoes the whole tie]. I'm not wearing a tie at all. [jury gasps]
Apu: If I am wrong about that. Maybe I am wrong about Mrs. Simpson.
Hutz: No further questions. [Hutz raises his arm and the tie is sticking out of his sleeve]

Hutz: First some ground rules. Number one, we get bathroom breaks every half-hour.
Evil Flanders: Agreed. Number two, the jury will be chosen by me.
Hutz: Agreed. [realizing] No, wait --
Evil Flanders: Silence!

Hutz: Thank you, Dr. Hibbert. I rest my case.
Judge: You rest your case?
Hutz: What? Oh no, I thought that was just a figure of speech. CASE CLOSED.

Suck Day

*We had our softball game at noon. Tied game, bottom of the 5th inning. Shallow, but high, pop fly hit into the outfield. Evan sprints in instead of jogging in. As Evan tries to stop himself under the ball, his 7 year old sneakers give out under the wet grass. Evan falls on his ass and is unable to catch the ball. Two runs score that inning and we lose by 1. Out of the playoffs.

*Our contracts professor had our section (32 people) over for dinner at his house. He has a few bottles of red wine. Mark fills our glasses to the brim, and Jesse unknowlingly comes up behind me and shakes my shoulder a bit. Wine then spills all over the floor and onto my pants.

*Oh yeah, and the night ended with this:

The fun cases I get to read in my Criminal Law book:

Thomas and two others went into a bar. One of the three began to dance with a girl, who almost immediately collapsed in his arms. The three companions agreed to take the girl home, and on the way took advantage of her unresisting condition to have sexual intercourse. When she did not revive, they became concerned and asked for help. Doctors subsequently agreed that she had died on the dance floor and was therefore not a living person at the time of the events described.

Defendants convicted of attempted rape and conspiracy to commit rape. Affirmed on appeal, as the defendant's claim that her being dead made rape "impossible" was brushed aside because impossibility is not a defense to conspiracy.

Stupidity of the day:

On Jeopardy, there was a video daily double. This lady came on and said that researchers at NC State are making bone replacements, such as the one she's holding (camera shows a silvery metallic thing), out of atomic element number 22.

The moron:

Calcium!

One long ass Thursday. But the last Thursday I have a 9 AM this semester (and ideally, ever)

9:00 AM - Criminal Law
10:30 AM - Contracts, where I will be called on (hopefully, cause I don't want it tomorrow)
1:30 PM - Civ Pro
3:00 PM - Torts
4:30 PM - Softball playoff game #1
6:00 PM - Softball playoff game #2 (if we win game #1)
9:30 PM - Wine and Cheese bar review preparty
11:00 PM - Bar review

Professional poker players have a saying about guys who are not totally new to the game, but not really good players either.

"I love playing with them. They know just enough to get into a lot of trouble."

I feel that I'm the same way with computers. I know just enough to totally mess it up. If I knew more then I'd be pretty competent, if I knew less than I would totally stay away from the control panel (and god forbid, the registry).

Today in torts an odd thing happened. My internet connection was just lost. It happens sometimes at school, but I checked other people's computers and they were browsing some websites, so I figured that it must be a problem specific to me. Still, I tried to ignore it, hoping it would just fix itself.

Around a half hour later, I saw one of my classmates bring up the wireless connection window, so I figured that she was having the same problem as me. So that made me feel a little better. But then I saw her do something, and suddenly she was back online.

And that only encouraged me to try to figure it out. I clicked on the always tempting "repair" option. Repair sounds too good to be true, and truthfully I cannot recall the repair option ever working. And this situation was no different, as it just kind of froze as it tried disabling my wireless device.

Five minutes passed. I took some more notes on proximate cause.

It still had not even disabled the wireless device, so I decided to just restart the computer. That worked even less well; the computer froze at the "your computer is shutting down" screen, which was bad for two reasons.

1) I was unable to take any notes
2) The computer might be forever destroyed

I remember my freshman year at Duke when Ben had his laptop. His laptop froze at some screen, and he was unable to ctrl+alt+del his way out of it. It just froze. So we tried hitting the power button, but that also did nothing. The only solution at that point (that I know of) is to remove the battery. But we were unable to, as for some reason it was fused into the computer. So we just had to let it sit there and run out its battery.

Well, my battery wasn't fused to the computer, so I discretely popped it out and then popped it back in. The computer started back up, but still no internet connection. It kept trying to validate my identity. I finished up class sans internet and walked home.

I don't have wireless in my apartment because NTC has deemed that they are unable to recognize some wireless routers. So I have to plug my laptop into an ethernet cord, which is only annoying 90 percent of the time.

And then... disaster. My computer, while plugged in, was unable to bring up any webpages. Or email. Nothing.

So now I was stuck. Did I just fry my internet card by debatterying my computer while it was trying to disable the device? Millions of thoughts ran through my head - am I going to have to send this off to Dell? Can I simply buy a new card and install it myself? Can I borrow Ryan's other laptop in the meantime?

Well, much like Life of Pi, this story has a happy ending (for now). My computer seems to be happy, as I've fiddled with repairing, firewalls, disabling, and all sorts of things, and it seems to be working fine now. Of course, it could just randomly cut out tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised at all. I suppose the lesson here is that a little bit of knowledge can go a long way to fucking yourself over.

Over on Slate.com, there is a nice little feature on Calvin and Hobbes, including a great little slide show essay.

Calvin and Hobbes was without question my favorite comic strip. Every day I'd turn to the last two pages of the "magazine" section of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and begin reading the comics. Calvin and Hobbes was always on the second page, but I forced myself to read the other comics before Calvin. You see, there were not that many good comic strips on the second page, so it was up to Calvin to redeem them. And boy, it did. I'd get a new Calvin and Hobbes book almost every year for Christmas. Even though I had read them in the newspapers, it was always enjoyable to read them a second or third time.

I'd try to describe the overall appeal of the strip, but the Slate.com slide show essay I think does a much better job than I ever could hope to do.

When Watterson decided to stop drawing the strip, it was a sad day. I saved the comics section containing the last strip and put it in a crappy poster frame. Its still hanging in my room in Cinnaminson.

This Xmas, I think a great gift for anyone who does not have any of the books is The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Just don't expect to talk to the recipient much over the next few days. If they haven't seen the comics before, they'll be engrossed in the books. And if they have read the comics before, well they'll still be engrossed in reading them again. So either way, you're not talking to them. Which may be a good thing.

Its quite disconcerting to write a 25 page memo (which I've just completed), and to have your answer be: "Maybe. It could go either way."

I also almost used "Hollywood Upstairs Medical College" in one of the last pages, but restrained myself. I may have to add it in tomorrow.

With a little love, and some tenderness
We'll walk upon the water
We'll rise above this mess
With a little peace, and some harmony
We'll take the world together
We'll take 'em by the hand

Hootie and the Blowfish's first album, Cracked Rear View, was one of the first CD's I ever owned, one of the mind-boggling 13 million copies of the CD that sold. While Hootie is best known for their ginormous singles "Hold My Hand" and "Let Her Cry," a massive Hootie backlash developed when the singles became a "tad" overplayed on the radio. And that was pretty much the end of their run in the spotlight.

When I came back for Fall break a couple weeks ago, I rummaged through my old CDs and found Cracked Rear View. I brought it back with me to Charlottesville, and I've been listening to it a fair amount. To me, it still has the catchy tunes and sounds that made it so popular in the first place. And its not only the super hits that were played on the radio 24/7, a lot of the other songs hold their own and most likely would have been big radio hits too, if not for the Hootie backlash.

I heartily recommend to anyone who has never had the CD to pick it up at a used CD place, if you happen to be by one of those. There are so many of them that it can be bought for as little as a dollar, and is certainly a dollar well spent.

The worst question and best response I've heard outside of Criminal Law this year occurred yesterday, at a big meeting for 1Ls regarding our course selection for next Spring. Approximately the whole 1L class was in the auditorium.

Student: You've stated that we need no fewer than five credits and no more than seven. What if we were to take two three credit courses and one two credit short course?

Associate Dean: Well, my math may be a little rusty, but that seems like it would add up to EIGHT!

All other students in the room: (laughter)