Lifeload: New York is a Woman

Some know, some don't, but I figured I might as well announce it here. I've accepted a summer position at Katten Muchin Rosenman's NYC office. I'll be living in the City May-August. I hope it's ready for me ;)

-M.

Lifeload: Strikeout

A close friend of mine is getting married tomorrow, and last night was his bachelor party.

On Tuesday, I got a call from the Best Man telling me that the bachelor party was going to be Thursday night. Although I had plans, I immediately canceled them, because I mean a bachelor party (hopefully) only happens once. On Tuesday, the conversation went as such:

"We're going to a Nationals game, and then maybe club hopping afterwards, getting a limo, finding some VIP lounges."

Wow! This sounded great. I was excited.

On Wednesday I got a call from the Best Man asking if I knew of any good hotspots for after the game. Apparently, another person in the party told him that I had at least been to a club, which is more than most in this group. So while I probably was more qualified than these people to pick a spot, I was still entirely unqualified.

"I don't really know the...straight...scene in DC. But I can ask around at work?"
"Sounds good! And you guys can pay me back for this stuff whenever."
"Wait, what - ?"
"Bye!"

My feeling on the matter is a Best Man either 1) pays for everything himself or 2) includes the other friends during the planning stages weeks if not months before, so he knows what kind of budget he's working with. That I was now paying for baseball tickets (and had no idea how much they were) kind of irked me.

I asked around the office, and got the names of a few clubs as I had been asked to do. I was, frankly, surprised that we were doing clubs and not bars, but it was a good surprise.

So on Thursday, I hop a metro home to go change before the game. I was meeting them there (told them I would be obnoxiously late), because they were heading in at 5ish. I get to Vienna metro and see them at 6, just entering Vienna metro.

I go up to the Best Man and noticed, immediately, that everyone was wearing jeans and shorts.

"Were you planning changing?"
"No?"
"You are not getting into clubs."
"Really?"
"We are 10 guys. In jeans. Have fun. I will see you at the game."

***

After changing, showering, etc. I joined them for the 8th inning at the stadium (perfect timing). The game went into extra innings, the Bachelor had a good time, all in all it was good. I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would, and even if I did it wouldn't matter. It was his night.

Throughout, the Best Man is asking me where we are going next. Like I know. Somehow, in the course of 24 hours, it had become my job to get 10 Air Force Cadets drunk and laid. And not by me. I kept asking if they wanted clubs, lounges, or bars. Best Man kept saying clubs. I conducted some frantic texting, came up with a few names of places that would actually let us all in, and proposed them to the group.

Best Man: "lets just head down to Adam's Morgan"
Me: "Srsly?"

We walked towards the metro.

Best Man: "let's not metro. let's take cabs. you 5 get a cab meet you there bye!"

So five of us (we didn't really know each other, and most were out-of-towners) were left to hail a cab. Fifteen minutes later, we finally got one and head to Adam's Morgan. Upon arrival, I called the Best Man.

Me: "Where are you guys?"
Best Man: "24th and Connecticut! Where are you?"
Me: "Adams Morgan. Which is no where near you."
Best Man: "We'll walk there!"

You see, they had taken a cab to the "Adam's Morgan" metro stop. Which is in fact not particularly close to Adam's Morgan. Another fifteen minutes, and we were reunited. There was a quick stop at a club which had great music, great scene, but not great for us? I'm still not sure why we left after one shot. There was a delay at a pizza parlor as the inevitable "I don't know what to do now" set in. I made motions to leave. I had to get to bed, work the following morning, etc.

Me: "How are you getting home?"
Best Man: "Metro?"
Me: "Metro closes at midnight."
Best Man: "Fuck."

That was the last I heard of them.

-M.

Life/Caseload: It Has Come To My Attention

It has come to my attention that this website shows up when you google my name. As such, my lower posts have been redacted. And I will be far more careful with what goes on here from now on.

-M.

Lifeload: Smokers Need Not Apply

I'm in relationship-heat, and it's a mentality that sets in every summer. A feeling that gets worse and worse every year because damnit I'm 22 and I'm ready to settle down and birth some babies. Or something like that.

I had quintessentially the worst date in the history of dates. Ever. Suffice it to say that the boy smoked, wore jorts to the date, was tripping on LSD as we ate, and ordered "the soup of the day...don't tell me what it is, though, I want it to be a surprise." Meanwhile, I spent most of the dinner trying to slit my wrist with a spoon under the table just to escape.

[Redacted]? Which perhaps raises the more interesting question that many of us will have to deal with post-school.

How do you meet anyone after college these days?

-M.

Caseload: I Mean, it was Bound to Happen

So last week, I had a rush project that involved a sort of traditional motion that opposing counsel was making in a non-traditional sort of way. My assignment was to, as fast as humanly possible, round up some cases that spoke to it. I did, kind of, and passed them on to the attorneys less than 24 hours later. E-mail replies were along the lines of "this looks good!"

Shortly thereafter, I was informed that opposing counsel had an Epic Fail, and had filed the motion wrong. They would be resubmitting, but it gave us an extra 2 business days to clean up our response. Now, my research could be more crafted, polished, and refined. So I dug deeper, uncovering the best information I could find. I wrote up a memo, it was beautiful, and I sent it off to the attorneys on Tuesday morning. E-mail replies were even better: "This is EXACTLY what we're looking for! Thanks!"

I was on Cloud. Fucking. Nine. But that was the end of that project and time to move on.

On Friday, the clerk who sits next to me got an assignment to proofread a Reply to a Motion. He looked at it, looked at the paralegal who came in with the draft, and looked at me. "Dean was the one that did the research on it. Dean, do you wanna proof it?" "Sure!" I got really excited, because I would get to see how my research was impacting actual litigation. I mean, isn't that every would-be-lawyers dream?
So I read it. Of course not too much of my stuff was in there, but who cares? It was clearly informative to them, and they were able to use it and springboard into what I thought was a completely brilliant Reply. I made a few grammar edits, handed it back to the paralegal, and got on with my other projects.

[Redacted].

I wanted, and still want, to cry. But I guess it's a learning experience? Right?

-M.

Caseload: Kelo

Three years ago the Supreme Court ruled in the Kelo case that government could take your property and give it to private developers. Since then, eminent domain suddenly became a household phrase. The firm that I work for represented Kelo in that case, and even though we lost, it finally started getting people talking.



I know nobody that reads this will donate, but since part of this is to keep tabs on the work everyone's doing, I thought this was representative.

-M.

Lifeload: The Great Hunt IV

Expect a post about work sometime next week, when I have a full slew of things to tell you. I thought now would just be a good time to note that GREAT HUNT IV IS OFFICIALLY READY TO GO. I put the finishing touches on tonight, and it's all ready to roll out. I'm super pumped. I promised Erik a zombie convergence on my house, complete with shotgun.

Unfortunately, Lifeload blog posts will be inherently shorter than Caseload ones. Why? Because I have no life now. Except for my Wii Fit.

-M.

Caseload: A Preview of Things to Come

I decided today, today would be a good day to go and see where I will be working on Monday. I had a phone interview, followed by a phone offer and a phone acceptance - and from then on it's been e-mail communication all the way. I was hoping this would translate into a phone job. I was not so lucky.

Work is only about 20 miles away (in DC traffic, that's roughly an hour, and I'm not jew-zaggerating). The parking garage has an 'early bird special' if you park before 8:30 for the whole day. And hey, I have a *daily meeting* at 8:30, so I'm set! I think the best part is that, this Monday, I've been told to bring my own lunch. We'll be having a meeting during lunch on legal research.

No pay, long hours, and not even a lunch break. Welcome to the world of non-profits.

-M.