Vox Lucens

Today I put my last day in the office for a month. Tomorrow I head north for two weeks of study in Virginia, and then it’s out west for another week of review and the Bar Exam. Here’s the exact itinerary:

• Feb. 1-17: Virginia studies.
• Feb. 18-23: Oakland review.
• Feb. 24-25: Attempt to not die of stress.
• Feb. 26-28: The California Bar Exam.
• Feb. 29-Mar. 2: Recover, hang with friends, and travel back to SC to remember what full-time work is like.

In all the study and preparation, I have been reminded of one of my all-time favorite verses, Psalm 90:17:

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Prayers appreciated…with any luck, travelogue updates will appear here on at least a semi-regular basis!

I live in corporate casual. That’s not a complaint; I like corporate casual very much. I certainly like the opportunity to dress up from time to time, but given the choice I wouldn’t want to wear a tie every day, and I enjoy working jobs that require me to at least wear a pair of slacks and a shirt that isn’t covered in wrinkles.

And because I live in corporate casual, I have a lot of it. (Cheap custom-made shirts from Thailand will do that, too…) About a year ago, as I was coming the end of my massive shirt-ironing project one Sunday afternoon, I realized what I had always known in my heart: I hate ironing. But I also hate wrinkled shirts.

Hatred led to action, as it often does, and I took revenge on my iron by putting it away and taking my shirts to the dry cleaner. All it took was one time, and I was addicted. Nothing beats getting 15-20 shirts back, clean and crisply pressed, carefully hung on a little wire hanger.

But you do that any number of times, and the wire hangers take over. They hang in the closet, they sit on the floor, they clog up the trash can–and if you don’t carefully fold them, they rip the trash bag to shreds. And yet, it seems a pity to waste them. Some third-world sweatshop worker put great pains into making that thing, and it seems a great waste of both unskilled labor and cheap metal to chuck dozens of hangers on a regular basis.

And good grief, they’re like a natural resource. My closets are bubbling forth with wire hangers like the plains of Texas bubble with tea. But unlike the Texans, I have not tapped the power of this natural resource.

So I ask you, good friends, what can be done to turn this resource into a little lining for my wallet? So far all the ideas either take too much time or provide too little opportunity to cash out:

• Robot.
• Spider web wallhanging.
• Yarn covered hangers. (Do the feathers make the bird?)
• Vintage wire basket.
• Ugly earrings to hang doll clothes on?

Help!

One of the primary advantages–no pun intended–of being done with the Republican side of the South Carolina vote is that half of the political ads are now no longer on the air. I am heartily sick of looking at ancient pictures of X Candidate with Ronald Reagan–especially when such a picture is the only proof that X Candidate is actually the conservative he claims to be.

But the primary problem with the Democratic primary being next Saturday is that the worst ads are still on air. I mean, unless you’re a hippie, Obama’s ads aren’t for you. And unless you’re a diehard fan of candidates who read their speeches, Hillary’s ads just aren’t going to resonate.

But Edwards’ ads are the worst. First, they have no video–and with just still pictures, I could do a better job with PowerPoint. And as far as the message, I could write a better ad in my sleep. I mean, really–”He will be our president. Not theirs.”

What?

And his other slogan–”A winner every time.” I guess they mean except for his last presidential campaign. Oh, and his last vice presidential campaign. Oh, and every state so far this campaign season.

The primary can’t come fast enough to get this hilarity off the air.

In six weeks, friends, this will be the weekend after the bar exam. It will be a good weekend on its own, though just how good will take until May to know for sure.

A few thoughts at this juncture:

• I’m actually looking forward to going back to work full time. Don’t get me wrong; working part time is very nice from a number of different perspectives–not the least of which is study time–but it makes life feel very disjointed. And I can’t get everything done in 20 hours a week…
• My list of after-law-school projects is about three times as long as my arm in single-spaced, 12 point Helvetica. Most of the ideas are fun ones, but some of them are simply necessary. Getting rid of the boxes of bar review materials that are cluttering my bedroom is near the top of the list.
• I’m also looking forward to having time to cook. Frozen food only goes so far, and I miss my chicken, among other things.

So six more weeks of pedal-to-the-metal study. In two weeks I head up to Virginia for some hardcore practice testing, two weeks after that I fly to Oakland for a review and the test, and then, Lord willing, I am done.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

I’ve loved Ramen Noodles for a long time. There for a while, I forgot the passion, but lately it is being restored. I don’t know what triggered the restoration, to be honest–probably the desire to be frugal combined with the call of unlimited options.

Now don’t get me wrong, friends. Ramen can be prepared badly, especially if you follow the directions on the packet. If you make a weak, slimy, yellow-green soup, you are doing it all wrong. And don’t bother with anything other than the chicken flavor.

But done right, Ramen is glorious. Done right, Ramen is not just dinner, nor is it just art; Ramen is the canvas upon which dinner is painted.

Just imagine it. Ramen noodles (Maruchan Ramen, not Top Ramen) cooked, drained, and the sauce added. Combine on the top some stir-fried veggies (Costco has an excellent frozen mix), a couple of slices of canned jalapeno, and if you are really adventurous some sliced, stir-fried chicken or steak. A little salt for the veggies and some fresh crushed black pepper, and you have a meal that takes 15 minutes and tastes great.

And the options are unlimited. Versatile, tasty, and undeniably convenient, Ramen is the ultimate American food.

Not convinced? –

Wall o’ Ramen

Ramen, You’re Beautiful

Defenestration: A throwing of a person or thing out of a window.

Since the days of Jezebel–or more precisely, the last day of Jezebel–defenestration has been on the minds and hearts of mankind. From her window, she pridefully stood out and surveyed her domain, laughing at Jehu’s attempt to disenthrone her. But even as she, with painted face and adorned head, gave him a scornful answer, confident in her own powers, she did not see the servants behind her.

But I bet she saw the window frame fly by. I bet she saw the ground rapidly approach. And the rest of the world saw her skull, feet, and palms–all that was left of her arrogance. (For all the juicy details, I refer you to 2 Kings 9:30-33.)

The window that was the source of her pride was the source of her demise.

But let us not stop there. Defenestration has not just been the Biblical tool of revolt; it has also been the tool of religious change. Take the Defenestration of Prague in 1419, for instance. Just four years before, John Huss had been burned at the stake for his reforms, but his followers were gaining power. Good King Wenceslas IV, apparently undistracted by the Feast of Stephen at this juncture, had an affinity for taking Hussite leaders to trial. During one of these trials, citizens of Prague stormed the Town Hall and threw the jury out the window.

NB:

Good King Wenceslas went out,
The window very quickly.
As the ground of Prague came fast,
He said, “I do feel sickly.”
But his stomach soon was calm,
And likewise was his psyche,
For the ground applied the balm
To all his earthly trouble, oooohhhhhh…

[No, it wasn’t Wenceslas that was defenestrated, but hey.]

(While this defenestration helped to instigate the Hussite wars, I find it ironic that 200 years later was the Second Defenestration of Prague, which touched off the Thirty Years War. Being a war between Catholics and Protestants, that defenestration was an agent of both religious and civil change. Regardless, Prague apparently has a long and glorious history of windows that need more effective screens.)

It was said once, and repeated countless times later, that those that forget history are doomed to repeat it. Today I found that to be true.

It is no mistake, my friends, that the prominent agent of modern technological change is simply called “Windows.” And after fighting with Windows all afternoon, I have discovered the feeling of modern cyber defenestration.

You see, I, like Jezebel, can look through the Windows to view my domain. Though I don’t need to paint my face, or adorn my hair, and thankfully don’t need to give arrogant answers to a would-be conqueror, as she did, I have learned the power of some lowly servant standing just behind the Windows. One lowly misbehaving useragent, one usurping registry entry, and I go through the Windows to the hard ground below (and not mention the dogs).

Beware, beware, this new defenestration.