One of my first posts here was to ask why law school was more than one year. Today I read this post on TaxProf Blog (quoting The American Lawyer) about ways to revamp law school.

As we learn from reading this, law school is designed the way it is in order to keep law professors gainfully employed. Preparing students to become lawyers… not so much.

The medical route is four years of med school with a couple years of internship. This makes sense as there is a lot to learn so that new doctors don’t kill their patients. Why is the the legal route three years of law school with five years of photocopying briefs?

Babies and law school do not mix. Before my baby, I was in the top 5%. Two semesters after baby and I’m out of the top 10%. Looks like my plan of relying on my non-legal work experience will be tested.

Crying Babies

We used two sources to deal with our son when he was crying. They were Happiest Baby on the Block and Dunston Baby Language.

We did not buy Dunston Baby Language because the price was around $50. But, if I knew how much we would rely upon it, and how much easier it made our lives, I would shell out $100 or more for it. We were fortunate to be able to borrow it from friends.

The Dunston DVDs are a little overdone in my opinion (fifteen minutes of baby crying for each “word” in the “language” is a bit much) and Ms Dunston herself is not very comfortable on camera. On the other hand, learning the “words” was such an important part in understanding what our son was crying about, that I wholeheartedly recommend Dunston Baby Language.

What Dunston Baby Language is about is understanding the different sounds that your baby makes. Once you can distinguish the sounds, you can understand what the baby is crying about. There are five “words” in the language for (1) feed me (2) burp me (3) sleepy (4) gassy and (5) uncomfortable. (Update: I was not going to post the words but you can see them on Wikipedia.)

In practice, we could only distinguish the sounds for hunger, burping and sleep. The other two were harder for us to hear. However, what we could interpret are really the important ones anyway.

Keep in mind, though, that babies appear to grow out of this language after five or six months.

Happiest Baby on the Block was useful as well. The method of calming a baby was quite good. If it takes a while to understand the “word” that baby is crying, then you may have a meltdown on your hands. The swaddle and shush technique from Happiest Baby was useful in getting our son from meltdown to the point where we could address his needs. We did not ever use the swaddle when sleeping though I know three other parents who swear by it.

You can order both from Amazon or other online retailers.

Pattern Matching

I am not even a year into parenthood but I think one of the most important skills is pattern matching. Your baby shows certain signs over and over. When baby does ____ it means ____.

Once you start recognizing those, you can determine what is going on much more easily. For example, our baby had an ear infection a few months ago. He did not show the “usual” sign that we’d read about (pulling on his ear) so we didn’t think it was an ear infection.

Just two days ago he started showing some of those signs again. We disagreed on whether there were enough signs to be sure that it was an infection. However, most of them were there. Diagnosis today: ear infection.

This time was much milder than last (probably because we caught it earlier) but if we hadn’t matched the patterns, we might have gone a few more days until he was really miserable.

Really, Dunston Baby Language is pattern matching as well. If baby cries a certain sound, it means _____(hungry, sleepy, gassy, &c).

Toys and Books

At this point, our son doesn’t really like to do anything with books other than try to eat them. As for toys, I try to stick with a few simpler toys since all he does is try to eat them. It is amusing though that we spend so much on books and toys and he is just as happy to grab a magazine and tear it apart.

I had my first take home final this past semester. Obviously I have little good advice to give. I was given a week for my exam but I know people who have had 24 hour take home finals.

I will say this: create an outline even if you have a take home. I did not create an outline and spent a lot of time flipping around the book and my notes to find material.

What is the point of creating the outline even if you have the time to go through the book and your notes? In my opinion, organization and re-familiarization. Since I hadn’t created an outline, I didn’t remember a lot of what we had learned. I also had difficulty finding the material.

On the other hand, it takes me three or four days to create an outline from scratch. Would I waste that much time looking for information while working on the final? Of course not.

In the end, I think the ultimate result of not creating an outline for my take home final was an increased level of stress.

How about you, dear reader? Any advice for handling take home finals?

Often you hear, “Law school changes the way you think.” This is actually true. Here is an example.

One of my favorite books as a child was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I remember reading it over and over again. Every time I read it, I would savor the justice that each child received for being so rotten: turning into a blueberry, getting dumped in trash, etc. When reading it, these punishments sounded so perfect.

Yesterday I watched a little bit of the Johnny Depp movie version of the book. After five semesters of law school, I could only think about the legal liabilities involved in each child’s “punishment.” Permanent physical disability, emotional trauma, etc, etc.

I would also think that OSHA would like a look at that factory.* And then the Oompa-Loompas: looks to me like immigration and labor law violations.

*Yes, I know that it is set in England. Roll with it.

I have a final in less than 48 hours so what better to do than write a movie review? This one will be quick.

No Country for Old Men was on cable this weekend. I absolutely hated it when I saw it in the theaters. Since it won several Oscars, and has higher than 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought I’d watch it again to see if I still felt the same way. (Yes, I’m avoiding my studies.)

This time, knowing what happens, my reaction wasn’t quite as visceral. Still, I think the movie insults its viewers. That is my ultimate beef with the movie.

** SPOILER WARNING **

I love the Coen brothers. Almost every movie of theirs I have enjoyed. But there is one simple thing any story does: it follows its characters. Llywellyn’s death is the insult, in my opinion. Yes, it is cheap that he dies at the hands of the drug runners, rather than by the hand of Chigurh. A typical movie would have a climactic shootout between the protagonist and the antagonist. The Coen brothers don’t do typical so there is no expectation of that. I’m not happy about who killed him but I can deal with the “random nature” theme of the movie.

What I absolutely hate is that Llewelyn dies off camera. The viewer just wants to follow the character – in whom the viewer has invested the previous three-fourths of the film – to his end be it good or bad. A massive shootout isn’t necessary. If the directors don’t care enough to allow the viewer the primal resolve of the character’s last minutes, why should the viewer care about any other characters?

Up until that point of the movie, I would have said that this was my favorite Coen brother’s movie. The cinematography was incredible. The feel of the time was great (something that the Coen brother’s always do well). But, but, but… let the viewer follow the protaganist to his end.

UPDATE (2008-12-12): A friend was bothered by the exact same scene that I was bothered by. His belief – after watching the movie a second time – was that the main character of the movie was actually Tommy Lee Jones’ sheriff. That is certainly possible (the wikipedia entry says this to be true for the book) but the construction of the movie makes it near impossible to grok that the Llewellyn is NOT the main character. Maybe because the scenes for him are more typical for a movie and the sheriff’s scenes (more introspection) are more typical for a book.

Despite having a new baby and being in law school and having gone back to work after baby leave, I have been able to squeeze in some time on Fallout 3 and Mercenaries 2. This is about F3.

I’ve played Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics and even played that mediocre Fallout Brotherhood of Steel (which we won’t talk about). I have always enjoyed the Fallout world and the care that has gone into the games. The artwork and art direction have always been great. As for the world: the sense of humor has been one of the best aspects of the games. The depth of the world is also fantastic: you can choose many routes to play, and many characteristics of your character and have vastly different experiences playing the game.

After many years (a saga you find online), a new publisher has finally made Fallout 3. While not the game that Fallout purists want, I think it pretty good so far in the first five hours of game time that I’ve logged. I recognize that third person isometric turn based games aren’t popular or even understood by the masses. (Which is too bad because my disabled brother NEEDS games to be turn based.)

The changes I’ve noticed so far:

• Not turnbased anymore. This helps with mass appeal but annoys the fanboys. Turn based combat can be turned on and I find it extremely helpful.
• First person perspective. Generally okay. I’d prefer the third person isometric feel. You can zoom the camera out which I’d also prefer (after all my hours playing GTA and Mercenaries) but I haven’t been able to get the motion of the character to feel natural in that camera angle. It always seems like the character is turned at an angle. Weird.
• Decreased humor. The old games had a wicked sense of humor but that would often “take one out of the game.” I haven’t seen any of that yet.
• Increased “realism.” The artwork for the originals was so good that looking at post apocalypse America was entertaining. This game looks much more like a desolate wasteland.

I haven’t had any problems but I’m playing the Xbox 360 version. My friends who have the PC version have stopped playing due to instability of the game.

UPDATE (2008-12-12): I’m not even done with finals but I see that I’ve logged almost eighty hours of game play. Uh-oh, my GPA will take another battering this semester.

Still, I think this shows that the game is definitely worth the money to me. Dollar per hour, this is way ahead of any movie. I’m also likely to start over and play through as an “evil” character.

Despite the fact that 95% of my posts are about law school, and the other 5% about Xbox 360 games, I get quite a few hits due to an offhand comment regarding weight loss. I started writing a long post about my experience (I lost 85 pounds five years ago and have gained back half of it but have been fairly stable the last year). Unfortunately, that post got lost in the WordPress ether. The part I hadn’t written was some of my tips and tricks that worked for me. (And after two years of law school and work and marriage and baby, I’m finally working them back into my routine.)

Tip 1 – Count Calories

The absolute best way to lose weight. I did not really start losing weight until I reigned in my bad eating habits.  This was after two years working with a personal trainer.

Know how much you are eating and how much you are burning. Read labels. Get a general understanding of how many calories are in the types of food that you eat. No need to get super precise (“I ate 135.6 calories for that snack”) but just have a good idea of how many calories you consume in a given day.

Tip 2 – Low Fat Does Not Help

It might be okay for milk and a few items. The problems:

1. Usually tastes awful
2. You eat more because “it is low fat”
3. It might have more calories than the high fat (compare peanut butter and low fat peanut butter)

If you need to cut fat out on doctor’s orders, by all means do so.

Tip 3 – Don’t Drink Your Calories

A normal can of soda runs from 120 calories to 180 calories. Drink two or three and you are close to a full meal in terms of calories. Even worse: free refills at a restaurant.

Tip 4 – Diet Soda + Lemon Juice

Lemon juice (not lemonade) has zero calories and does wonders as a counter to that nasty diet soda aftertaste. I usually pour an ounce or so of lemon juice in a glass for each can of diet soda. You’ll have to figure out the appropriate balance for your own taste buds. (Side note: Jones Soda’s Sugar Free Black Cherry Soda, available from Target, is quite good even with out the lemon juice.)

Tip 5 – Fiber One + Cinnamon

You need to eat a lot of dietary fiber. It helps you feel full and is a good calorie choice. Fiber One is the tastiest cereal out there and has the highest fiber content I know of. However, it is still a bit bland so I add a some cinnamon (almost zero calories) for flavor. Make sure you put the cinnamon on the cereal BEFORE adding milk. And go to your local big-box grocery store and get a big, cheap container of cinnamon. (Side note: Target is usually the cheapest place to find Fiber One.)

Tip 6 – Reduce Carb Intake

I don’t recommend going Atkins. Just reduce the carbs as your body turns that into fat. I mean candy, sugar drinks, chips, french fries, &c, &c. Try this: give up french fries (or something else you eat regularly) for a week and see if you can survive. If so, give it up for a little longer. Rinse and repeat.

Tip 7 – Werther’s Original

If you have a sweet tooth like me, finding substitutes is a pain. Hard candies are a good choice because they last longer thus making you feel like you got more. Werther’s are 20 calories per candy and last about 5 minutes (compare to a 25 calorie Hershey’s kiss that lasts 3 seconds).

Tip 8 – Weekly Weigh-In

You need to weigh yourself weekly and keep track of your weight. Since you are on a computer, I assume you have access to a spreadsheet. Use it.

Steps for the weigh-in:

1. Once a week on the same day (if possible)
2. In the morning (or after you have slept)
3. Before eating or drinking anything
4. After going to the bathroom (yes, I mean that)
5. With the same scale
6. Naked

Your body weight fluctuates constantly based on a large variety of factors. Too frequent weigh-ins can be frustrating. Too infrequent and you don’t catch bad behavior or reward good behavior.

Tip 9 – Frequent Aerobic Exercise

You need to burn more calories than your you do in the course of your normal activities. You must do something aerobic that raises your heart rate (to a safe level) for ten or more minutes per day. Whatever it is that you can do that will not lose your interest, do it. Dancing, biking, walking, hiking, treadmill, elliptical trainer, swimming, rowing, jazzercise… Make it routine and do it several times a week.

Tip 10 – Eat at Home, Cook at Home

It is cheaper. It is easier to portion control. It is easier to control what goes into the food. Learn to use spices to give flavor. Here are some of the recipes that I used

• Vegetable Soup from Picture Perfect Weightloss Cookbook
• Turkey Chili from Cook’s Illustrated (you can get it off their website)
• Turkey Meatloaf from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Cookbook or on foodtv.com. Note: You can cut the recipe in half or even down to one-quarter the amount. I HIGHLY recommend using a pan with sides so you can more easily do portion control (the recipe calls for a cookie sheet)
• Spuma di Tonno from Michael Chiarello’s Easy Entertaining or on foodtv.com. This tuna puree has slightly more calories than desirable but if you use veggies to dip: perfect
• Broccoli Puree from Giada de Laurentis on foodtv.com. An easy to make mashed potatoes with pureed broccoli. Even my vegetable hating brother likes this. Reduce the sour cream to save calories
• Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup from Cook’s Illustrated (you can get it off their website). Uses bread rather than cream for texture.

Restaurants serve too much food (it is the cheapest way to entice customers back) and add too much fat via butter or oil. Avoid them if possible. If not, eat half and put the rest in a to-go container. And don’t eat the bread they bring out while you wait for your entree.

Tip 11 – Eat More Vegetables

One of my big problems is that I don’t like vegetables. For weight loss, and general health, you need to eat more veggies. I’ve listed a few recipes above that have helped me increase my daily serving of vegetable but it is a struggle. I’m always on the lookout for vegetable dishes that will appeal to me the carnivore/garbagevore.

Tip 12 – Be Patient, Be Diligent

It takes time to lose weight. There are no magic pills (though science is trying hard). So you need to be patient because it will take a while. You need to be diligent to stick with slowly changing your eating habits. Don’t fall for the “eat only ____” type of diet. “Diets” don’t work, only changing your diet works.

Tip 13 – Cheat

It isn’t easy giving up foods that you really like but aren’t good for you. However, if you know that you will get them from time to time – and you balance the rest of your day around them – then go ahead and cheat every once in a while. Besides my sweet tooth, I love pizza. So when I was losing weight, I would have a slice of pizza every Wednesday. That way, on the weekend, I could tell myself, “Don’t eat that pizza now. You’ll have another slice on Wednesday.”

Good Luck

A non-law school post.

Fox has a new game show called “Hole in the Wall” which is based off of a Japanese game show. I’m not sure of the name of the Japanese game show but on YouTube it is usually referred to as “Human Tetris.” The clips on YouTube are absolutely hilarious. But that is all I’ve see: clips of funny moments.

The US version, as US versions of non-US shows tend to be, isn’t great. But it is funny at times. And they don’t have the hostess in a naughty school girl outfit as the Japanese one has.

My complaints:

• Stop with the trash talking between the contestants. Rather, LAUGH at each other’s attempts. That is what the show is about.
• Minimize the introductions.
• Needs better graphics that indicate the suggested position of the player.

What I think is better than the Japanese version

• No naughty school girl outfit.
• No advertising on the wall.

So far, I’m enjoying the show but I just fast-forward to the point where the wall is coming. I’m also okay with the repetive explanations (for now) as they introduce the concept of the game to people. I hope the show lasts.

That is, as always, up to you. In one of your classes, have you finished a topic and started a new one? Then it might be time to throw a few small things together for your outline.

I have more advice on outlines here. I have exam advice as well.

On your exam, and sometimes in class, you’ll get asked to decide what the “best” rule is. Or what the best rule should be. For your exam, you should just follow the standard IRAC form. Issue: What is the best rule for ___? Rule: <pick the rule that you think best>. Analysis: <argue why the rule is best>. Conclusion: ___.

What to consider when deciding what is best?

Fairness

This should always be discussed. What rule is fair to both plaintiff AND defendant? Avoid being one-sided. Why avoid this? Because (and you should argue this), a one-sided rule “undermines the public’s faith and confidence in the legal system.” Yes, in reality, we have one-sided rules. Why do you think we’ve got millions of lawyer jokes?

The other reason to avoid being one-sided is that the plaintiff or defendant isn’t always the noble good guy. What if Bill Gates was hit by a car driven by a widowed unemployed mother of three developmentally disabled children? Does he really need more money and does she really need to owe him any even though she is in the wrong?

Judicial Efficiency

This just means “courts are lazy” but don’t ever say that. In short, judicial resources are limited. So if you can argue that a particular rule will bring more certainty to the legal system, and thus lead to less lawsuits, then that rule would lead to more judicial efficiency. (Yes, you are arguing against ambiguity.)

More Arguments

There are a few more that I will add to this post. Please check back later.