There’s an old saying that goes like this: “I once complained that I had no shoes, but then I met a man who had no feet.”

My classmates are doing a lot of complaining about how much studying they’re doing for the bar exam.  And yes, I myself occasionally indulge in the art of complaining on this blog.  But maybe I have no right; I spent the night hanging out with my friend Samir, a recent med school graduate who’s about to begin his residency…working 80-hour weeks.  Plus, he’s going into plastic surgery, which means he won’t get a paycheck until he’s like 34 or something. 

More med school fun here: HawkeMedSchoolBlog, and here:AnotherGoodMedSchoolBlog. 

Technorati Tags:

The Book Club Queen just put out a review of Lawyer Boy. It’s a good review, and I thank the Queen for it…only I can’t get over the start of the first line: “As a semi-professional magician and general disgrace, Rick decides…”

General disgrace? Sure, I spent a year after college bumming around my parents’ house, eating their food, using their computers, and watching the Price Is Right…but does that make me a “general disgrace?” I’d argue it made me a time-and-place-specific disgrace, if anything.

Anyway, here’s The Book Club Queen’s review:

- - - - - - - -

A semi-professional magician and a general disgrace, Rick decides it’s time to get his life together and join his father’s ranks in making “The Only Acceptable Career Choice.” Born to a long line of lawyers, Rick knew that it was only a matter of time until he too entered the fold. Besides, it’s hard to get girls with lines like “Want to come back to my parents’ place?”

After suffering a few sudden, crushing disappointments, he is accepted to DePaul Law School in Chicago. With a dry, intelligent wit, Rick Lax dissects the application process and his first year of law school for our amusement. Notoriously difficult, Rick’s trials and travails prove that even the most unprepared and unlikely 1L’s can survive the test of the first year, and furthermore can maintain and even nourish a lively sense of humor.

Peppered with explanations of real cases and legal jargon, reading LAWYER BOY (St. Martin’s Press / Hardcover / July 2008 / 0-312-37335-X / $24.95) is like borrowing notes from the class clown—It won’t get you an A, but it’s probably the best reading you’ll find in law school.

- - - - - - - - -

Quick question: is it bad form to review my reviews?

Technorati Tags:

I came back to Michigan for the week to see my friends and family, and to study for the bar. I do most of my studying at the Barnes & Noble by my parents’ house. It’s been my favorite study location for a decade, only last year, that started to change when the nearby retirement homes started bussing their female residents to the bookstore to 1) play bridge, 2) ask me whether I would marry their granddaughters.

These women are loud and I can’t get much reading done with them around. Apparently I’m not alone; a few months ago, the store put up signs that say, “Game playing is welcome before noon and after 5pm.” The rule was perfect because that’s when I study.

So…the past few days, two groups of four women have been flouting the prohibition. And the Barnes & Noble café workers didn’t have the guts to enforce the prohibition.

Sure, NOW it’s just two groups of four women…but next month…

The “Broken Window Theory” of crime prevention says that it is easier to solve a small problem before it becomes a big problem. For example, if one person spray paints the side of a building a small area you want to clean that area up before more people add their spray paint tags to the building making it a big issue.

Wikipedia explains that Mayor Giuliani used the Broken Window theory when he had the police strictly enforce the law against subway fare evasion, and stopped public drinkers, urinators, and the "squeegee men" who had been wiping windshields of stopped cars and demanding payment. Rates of both petty and serious crime fell suddenly and significantly, and continued to drop for the following ten years.

So….should I print the wikipedia Broken Window Theory entry out and give it to the Barnes & Noble workers anonymously?

Technorati Tags: