Seattle Public Library

The new downtown Seattle Public Library received a lot of media attention when it opened up, so after spending an hour in Pike's Market I thought I would see what all the fuss was about. The outside looks pretty cool...

...and there are some interesting vantage points inside...

But overall I wasn't impressed. The library didn't seem to have that many books. Maybe this is because the central library serves as a distribution center for branch libraries throughout the city, or maybe it is because so much is online now. There was a wide open room with about 200 computer screens in a row, each being watched by a glass-eyed "researcher" not paying attention to anything but the monitor and certainly NOT surfing for free porn. For a moment I felt like I was back in Civil Procedure. Also, the color scheme was a little weird:

welcome to my bordello

The Red Floor didn't seem to have a purpose except perhaps to host a few conference rooms, and once you got into the stacks neon yellow/puke green escalators took you from floor to floor but then you had to take an elevator or stairs to get back down. Speaking of floors, even though the library just opened, one of the floors was closed since the floor surface had to be refinished. I guess that in all the weirdness the builders forgot to protect it from foot traffic scuffs.

I was most disappointed in the 1/3 of a shelf of Portuguese books in the foreign language section. I have more on my bookshelf.

Where I Am Not

Today has been and remains painful. 59 practice questions reminded me why Contracts was my worst subject in law school, and I'm about to dive into the reading for tomorrow's class on "Commercial Paper." If you are like me, your initial reaction may be "what the fuck is that." After reading the first sentence of the assignment, I am happy to fill in our mutual gap in knowledge with the extent of my own: commercial paper (e.g. checks and promissory notes) is governed by Article 3. A thrilling hour and a half awaits after this post.

But first, I will blog a bit about my awesome trip to Seattle two weeks ago. This is a picture I took near the summit of Dog "Mountain" in the Columbia Gorge on the border of Washington and Oregon. My friend and I went up and down in the space of 3.5 hours, 1.5 hours less than the time said to be necessary by the park and guide books. And my friend hiked in flip flops, being the bad-ass villageois she is. We continued our fine tradition of speed hiking yet still enjoying nature that we developed on the Inca Trail, which we completed a day early. Maybe other people are just slow.

Cameroon's gift to the world

It seems as if AIDS is not the American Invention to Discourage Sex or some virus concocted by the CIA to kill off Africans. Rather, scientists at the University of Alabama - Birmingham have confirmed that the HIV virus originated in wild chimpanzees in Cameroon. I've read several other stories hypothesizing this, but the article published in this Friday's "Science" is the first to genetically trace the primate version of HIV in the wild. To do this, the scientists collected 1,300 samples of fresh chimp shit.

It is suspected that "someone in rural Cameroon was bitten by a chimp or was cut while butchering one and became infected with the ape virus." If only chimps weren't so tasty.

Intensive preparation

After hours of tedious Bar/Bri reading for tomorrow's Criminal Procedure III class, I've decided to take some time to prepare for what is really important: this weekend's opening of X-Men: The Last Stand. Nevermind that I've seen the first two X-Men dozens of times, I'm watching them again so that I can have a full appreciation for the story line of the next installment. I've read some preliminary reviews and they aren't great, but who cares. I already have my ticket, and two hours of explosions and mutant powers is exactly what I will need after Friday's 8-hour double session on Contracts.

Blech.

40 lbs of books

This is the hell that is in store for me this summer. Some random observations:

If I am paying out the ass to learn everything I need to know to pass the bar, why is there a separate workshop on Texas Procedure and Evidence that is not included in the price? Both of those subjects are covered.

Why is the center in north Austin, a 20 minute drive from where I live? Nothing available on campus?

On Thursday, I jokingly asked if people had started studying for the bar, you know, so they could get a head start. Two people said yes.

Spare change

Where do unused Westlaw points go? I didn't have enough for anything cool in the catalog, so I redeemed what I had for the greatest number of mediocre movies that I will soon own only because they are free. But I still had 125 points leftover, not enough for anything, not even a coffee giftcard. I think Westlaw should set up one of those giant spare change wishing wells for foreign currency you see in some airports to collect all the unused points from graduating law students the world over. The accumulated points could be redeemed for helpful study aids for this fall's entering class of refugee law students fleeing the horrors of the Working World.

My pre-bar vacation to the Pacific Northwest has been good. I bummed around Seattle on Friday, went to Portland on Saturday, hiked a mountain in the Columbia gorge on Sunday, and biked along Puget Sound yesterday. I'm going to check out a museum this morning and will probably sit in a park and read this afternoon.

mini-vacation

I'm off to the land of Starbuck's coffee, Grey's Anatomy, 70 degree weather, mountains, and bitchy friends from the Peace Corps. I might stop by Microsoft and tell them how much I hate the .mup driver, which seems to be what killed my computer. My efforts at resurrection have so far been unsuccessful.