So How's Law School?

Ok, so my brother asked the question, so I'll give my two cents on what law school means to me so far. Thus far, it has been pretty great getting to learn these little things. Law if very logical, or at least it tries to be, especially the common law. The U.S. has a common law base with a codified law "dressing," if you will. So things make sense when you think about it. Like contracts, for example. The laws on contracts are the way they are b/c you want to be able to rely on deals you make. Otherwise you'd never trust anyone, you'd never make deals, and everyone would be worse off. So you make certain requirements that need to be met before anything can be called a contract. Once you have one, there are few things that will break it w/o cause, which gives further support to a contract system. The rules are basically there to make things predictable and flowing.

Not all law is fun or exciting, obviously. But the general stuff that we're learning right now is pretty cool. I take contracts, civil procedure (basically, the rule for litigation), criminal law, and lawyering (a practical class that teachings research, legal writing, proper citation, etc.). My favorite is CivPro b/c my teacher, Sam Issacharoff, has a brilliant mind. Things that are either boring or don't make sense come together when he speaks cause he always brings you back to the big picture. My other teachers are great, though. I could use a little more depth in Crim, but it's still interesting reads.

What is really cool is that I can continue to do service projects. Only now they're called advocacy projects, and they involve some sort of legal know-how. For example, I went yesterday to observe the immigration court proceedings for detainees to make sure they are being respected, their rights are being upheld, and that they aren't getting railroaded. I record what I witness and some public report will be written to publicize any abuses or problems (that may or may not be illegal). I am also going to get started with a project exploring immigrant detention centers. There isn't enough space for the amount of people detained, so they send them places that sometime Immigration even forgets where they are, nevermind family members. And I'm getting involved with a project trying to help people who were sentence for life w/o parole for crimes they committed while under the age of 16. They were charged as adults and given a sentence to die in prison. For the last two projects I will most likely be doing some legal research, but neither has started yet.

I'm hoping not to be too overwhelmed when things pick, but I generally like to be overworked and stressed than bored...though I guess I could never be bored here. There is just too much damned reading. Even if I finish the reading, I have to organize my notes so that the cases and statutes and treatises we read remain useful in my mind and not just my notes.

That's the update.

A Month & A Half

It's been a month and a half since I last wrote. Sorry to all you faithful...who probably have stopped checking this lately. It's hard to keep up. Since I last wrote my brother was in town, he left, I went to New York City, started law school, been down to New Jersey to see Monica twice, and have made a good amount of friends up here. Here's a brief synopsis of all of that.

Orlando in town was awesome. I love my brother. He's a good kid. We played basketball, went to the beach, saw a lot of family, and did everything you could expect to do in one week. It was sad to see him go, like always, but he had to go back to save Peru. I know my dad really enjoyed having us both under the same roof once again, however brief it was.

I got NYC in the mid-20s of August, and basically went straight to doing law school stuff. There was a brief orientation where I met some pretty sweet people who I still like to hang out with. Some of the most memorable are Matt Wolf, who speaks with a distinct twang when you get him a little sauced. Rosie Platzer and her friend Helam have been precious in inviting me to things and being my buds in class. I think Rosie thinks I'm kinda weird, but in a sweet way. I'll take that.

School has been pretty busy. Lots of reading most of the time. Papers and projects have begun. I just wrote a paper on why a hypothetical security procedure at the airport would be against the due process clause of the Constitution. Oh yeah. I'm a badass.

I still have some criminal law to do, so I'm out. Here's the update. I will update this now and again, but I can't promise much. I hope people still check this out. I promise I still really like you all.

Plus, if you have questions or want to know about something, write a comment. I read those. Peace.

Picasa Testing

Does this work? Cause this is a fun picture too, including two of my favorite people

Just a note

saw this picture while I was playing on my parent's computer and I had to put it up. It's my senior-year roommate and my dog. It's so very cute.

Anyways, I have been MIA cause when I got back from retreat I had to get all my work files ready for when I left, in the hopes that no one that needs help for their immigration needs gets lost in the cracks. Then came packing and partying in Milwaukee before I left to say goodbye to the town and my new friends in it. Then came Tampa, where my family was waiting for me. Now my brother is in town. There just hasn't been much free time. I'll put up a picture of the Castillo clan looking sharp at a wedding this weekend, but right now I'm having trouble getting those pictures to upload.

See you soon

JVC's Almost Over

jvc47, originally uploaded by jvc_mw.

The above picture is one from my community having dinner. We were pretty good about eating together in the weeknights. At least a couple nights a week, all seven of us would eat together. Today we begin our two day trek to dis-orientation (silly name, I know), which is the unofficial end to my JVC year. I'm actually contracted to work until August 3, so it's not quite over, but it practically is.

This isn't the complete reflection on the year, but for starters, JVC has been a good experience. Of course, like all things, some of what I was expecting wasn't there, and other things that were I hadn't thought about at all. Our community wasn't hardcore spiritual (which was a semi-fear of mine). It emphasized more the personal spiritual element than the communal. The personalities in the house simply lead it to be that way. I sometimes wished we were more communally spiritual, but it just wasn't the house's personality. You get used to it, and start to enjoy the benefits of the laid-back approach.

I think we lived pretty well. Everyone probably had issue with everyone else at some point. You can't help that, though. And hopefully it brings growth. Jack Bauer and the movie Wedding Crashers were house favorites. The house was freezing in the winter (I slept next to a drafty window, so to stay warm I slept in flannel pajama pants, a sweatshirt with the hoodie up, in flannel sheets, and under 4 blankets--toasty), and hotter than it is outside in the summer, which isn't too bad until it reaches over 90 degrees. We had one car break-in (stole a radio) and one window broken. We threw at least 4 parties, not to mention impromptu beer pong. Life was good.

I think most everybody is glad they did this, if only because they had nothing else to do. Also, I think most everybody is ready to move on. That's a good place to be, I'd say.

Summerfest Rocks

Summerfest is apparently the world's largest music festival. That means, 11 days of seven main stages and multiple minor stages of music. Each stage has a headliner, and one main stage has the festival headliner. Like, on last Friday, the festival headliner was Def Leppard, but another stage had Sum 41 as it's headliner. Anyways, we got hooked up as volunteers, which means we get to go to the festival on the day we volunteer for free, and then get tickets to come back another day for free ($15 otherwise). All this for like 3 hours of ridiculously easy work.

REO Speedwagon was the first band I saw. Actually, I only saw them sing "Take on the Run" (the one the goes, "Heard it from a friend who/heard from a friend who/heard from another you been messin' around..."). The mics were all f*ck*d up, so it didn't sound good, but I can now say I hear REO live. The rest of that night was pretty uneventful for me. Saw Wolfmother (pretty cool rock band) and Jacks Mannequin (from the guy who was in Something Corporate, alternative rockish). Nothing to write home about, but that might be cause I was tired.

The next day Rocked, though! I didn't see their whole set, but I saw Styx play "Come Sail Away", followed by "Renegade" (my favorite dueling piano bar song). Absolutely awesome! Then I saw Def Leppard for an hour or so, only recognizing like 2 songs (they saved the other ones for after I left), but it was still cool. Most of them are middle-aged looking foggies, but one of their guitarists was jacked. I mean, nevermind looking good for a 40-something year-old. Jacked. I left early, cause from there...

I went to see OAR. Actually, I went to the stage they were at, forced my way to the seat-part of a picnic table, and watched them play on a monitor cause that's as close as I was gonna get. Still, it was pretty sweet seeing them play. When the finished with "Craziest Game of Poker", everyone apparently brought a deck of cards and threw them into the air. Pretty funny stuff, I thought.


Two nights ago, I worked and went to see Lewis Black do a comedy skit. He was a pretty funny guy, as usual. Talking about Santa Claus and stupid politics. Good stuff. John Mayer with Ben Folds was the main main show, but I didn't have the money to see them. AFI was also there, as was Weird Al. I think I made a smart choice with Lewis Black, but there was no shortage of talent there that night.

Last night I saw Less than Jake, and Reel Big Fish. Less than Jake puts on a pretty good show, but I didn't know a single song they played. I attribute that to me overestimating what I knew of theirs. I think I only know one song, come to think about it. "Dope Man." Wasn't played, though. Reel Big Fish, on the other hand, rocked the house, and I knew a lot of their songs. They have tons of energy, and did this one really impressive thing where they took a song of theirs and played it in different styles: reggae, ska, punk, blues, hardcore metal, as a love song, and as an old-skool hip-hop song. Amazing!

What I'm looking forward to now is G. Love and Special Sauce on Sunday. I've never seen them live before, but I'm a fan.

I also missed some sweet groups, like Razhel, Arrested Development, the Fray, ASIA, Plain White T's, Rusted Root, Keller Williams, Ludacris, etc. What a festival!

Happy belated Fourth of July, everyone.

Sounds Inviting

This is today's first reading. I like it.

Eph 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

I think it sounds better if its removed from Paul's goal of convincing Jews that they don't need to be Jews anymore. And that's the beauty of the Bible, or all writing for that matter: the words can have so much meaning, even beyond the goals of the writer. Hermeneutics, gotta love it!

My Work Peoples

These are my coworkers. After almost a year of working with these people, I finally have the pictures to show for it. We are celebrating Heydee, the girl on the right, who just received a $1000 award from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Milwaukee for going back to school. She's planning on getting a law degree and taking all of my current bosses clients, though by that time my boss might want to retire anyways and become a caterer. She's a damn good cook, but I've only been able to smell it. Never taste. Anyways, Heydee is sweet as pie, and cooks a delicious lunch, just like her mama. I really hope that she accomplishes her goal of becoming an attorney. That way she can make enough money to keep a house in Milwaukee to be with her family and still buy a house in Sarasota to be with her husband's fam....and near me.

The other lass is Gloria. If it's a beer drinking contest, a chili eating contest, or --worse yet--a chili-spiked-beer drinking contest, prepare to lose. She is a tough mofo, but she's also the gentle mother of three...I think three. They're all young, so they require a lot of work. It's a testament to her mothering that she has never heeded my advice of selling them. Apparently they mean a lot to her. I'd take the money.


This is Victor. He's my brother. My big brother in Milwaukee. We finally hung out for the second time all year this past weekend when he invited me to a comedy open-mic night with his wife and a friend. I brought my roommates, one of which was practically asleep, the other which was rolling and laughing it up. But, this is about Victor, not them. Victor is a generous guy who wants to make big positive changes for the Hispanic community here in Milwaukee. He thinks big, and seems to not get tired or lazy. Either that, or he talks a mean game. He was running up and down the line when Milwaukee Hispanics and friends marched on International Workers Day to make the impression of immigrants felt while Washington debates their futures. He's a winner.

Ames High Aims High

Note: My boss is too busy, and I'm stuck on like 8 cases until I can talk to her about them. Hence the posts today.

I went to Ames, Iowa this past weekend. Home of my roommie, Dorota Pruski. We stayed at her place and got to tour around this town that's got cornfields inside the city. But that's ok, cause Iowa State is pretty cool, I got to play legitimate frisbee colf, and I got to make pierogies with my new Polish mother. I didn't get to meet Dorota's dad, but he's a smart guy. Click on his name and you'll see just how smart.

Oh, and "Ames High Aims High" is one of the motto's to Dorota's High School. Go cyclones...

My Facination with Tyler Survant

I have this statistic thing that lets me see how many people come to my blog (see the right column, all the way at the bottom), but it also tells me how they got there. It seems that most of my viewers have my site bookmarked (thanks) or simply type the web address. The rest come from Katy Murphy's website (a special thanks to Kate O'Regan--ps. I was telling my friends this weekend about how cool your family's names are: Kite, Taig, and Asling, if I'm not mistaken. Irish is so cool!) or facebook.

One that keeps coming up every blue moon, however, has really caught my eye. I lived with Tyler Survant for half a year as a Junior in college. Then I went to Ireland and Tyler Survant went to Italy. We came back, and I lived with Juanito. Tyler Survant lived with architecture peeps (they're weird). Looking at some of the pictures I had from that time, I put one of Tyler Survant on the blog and made some pleasant commentary about how nice he is or something to that effect (which he is). Tyler Survant once googled "Tyler Survant" and found the picture and made a thankful comment. Since, though, Tyler Survant has googled "Tyler Survant" many MANY times. I think it's funny. That's why I have written Tyler Survant so many times here. I want his next search to include this entry.

I still think I'm funny.

Tampa Time

I'm in the the beautiful city of Tampa, and I just wanted to share some photos really quickly, before I go to bed. Tomorrow I'm off to the beach. Long live Florida beaches.

First off, we have the reason for the gathering. Young Terin Barbas graduated from Notre Dame. This beautiful young lass will be attending Florida State Law. We might have been classmates had Tallahassee not been void of anything useful for Monica.

Here is a handsome threesome. Mr. Atom, of course, making an appearance. Mr. Chris Sullivan is in the mix here, too. I think we make quite a fine Mexican flag together. If not, maybe Italian is more your tastes.

Here we have the freaky deaky Dutch gal, Kara Stajlan (is that right?), and a slim Joe Romano. Joe is taking over Tampa, which apparently is his way of escaping it, and Kara will get an M.D. at Jorgetown.

And this is the group. Nice.

I like my peoples in Tampa.

Sweet NFL Map

Just thought this was cool

I'm up

I am well. Life is good. Work is busy. Sun is nice. Memorial Day Weekend in Florida happening soon. Roommates are cool. I like hamburgers.

Now, just a quick note on what's going on in immigration in America. First off, my Peruvian and French/Irish friends, did you know that there are signs like this in border cities like San Diego, CA?

A funnier version of that sign, courtesy of Carlos Mencia, a comedian:
(note the preggers and the man's sombrero :)


And a not so funny version:

I get so frustrated with hearing the immigration reform be called amnesty. Amnesty is a clean slate. It's mean forgiven and forgotten. What is being suggested by Congress is not amnesty. Years of the suffering the all the problems that come with illegal status, the thousands of dollars lost to coyotes, crappy bosses, and corrupt landlords--from which there is very little protection, but no one seeks it for fear of being discovered and deported--all of this has ruled out amnesty. Some people act like the 12 million or so worker who are illegal in this country are all criminals. Like they had a choice to come illegally. A real choice. It's not a choice when you need the money to pay for your family's food, education, chance at life; when your parents are sick; etc.

If anything, the reform Congress is talking about screws over people who have had years of waiting for their family member to do the process the correct way (that's right, it could take 5-15 year for your mom to get your dad hear legally; if that's not a family, I don't know what is). Also, they are talking about helping workers, which is great, but it doesn't help them all. Look up articles on domestic workers, for example, and the little protections they get from abuse.

This is not an easy mess to fix, and no one seems to agree on how it can be fixed. I guess my point is that something needs to be done, and this is something. Not everything that needs to be done, but something. And, just like everything else in life, it has NOT come free.

Crist is the Man!

I really like this new Governor. He's my kind of Republican. I love moderates!

Everglades plan draws praise

By ASSOCIATED PRESS


Published May 9, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Environmentalists are hailing a bill to expand Everglades cleanup by extending the effort to the northern reaches of the ecosystem, where the water gets polluted in the first place.

A bill lawmakers sent last week to Gov. Charlie Crist doubles the amount of money going into Everglades cleanup, up to $200-million from the $100-million the program has received yearly since state and federal officials pledged in 2000 to try to reverse decades of pollution-caused problems.

With matching money from local governments and state funding for related projects, the total spending will be close to $500-million, said Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who led the effort in the Senate.
...

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I'm Alive

Ok, it's been a while, and I can't write much now. I just wanted to express my aliveness and my desire to write about:

• How cool my bro is (very).
• The silent retreat I did (nice).
• Mónica being done with work next week (relaxing).
• Summer plans (hotness).
• NYU (red delicious).

But not right now. Peace.

It is finished

Wow! I am going to law school next year. Man, it was tough. Ok, let's do the long and short of it. I applied to FSU, USC, Pepperdine, U Chicago, Loyola Chicago, Northwestern, Northeastern, Boston College, Boston U, NYU, Fordham, UPenn, and Rutgers-Camden. I never heard from BU nor UPenn (weird!). U Chicago waitlisted me. The rest accepted me.

Quickly, as shown by my previous message, it became the battle of two schools: Loyola Chicago and NYU. And deciding b/n the two was maybe the most difficulty and draining thing I have ever done (side note: I really think that this statement is true, which says a lot about the tough times in my life. I'm a lucky kid).

One the one hand, Loyola is a great Jesuit school, filled with a tradition of social justice, spirituality, and a high percentage of law students that go into public interest. But the kicker is this. They offered me full tuition, and I was the inaugural recipient of the award. What a gift!

On the other hand, NYU is the fourth ranked law school in the most recent US News and World Report rankings, has a serious interest in public interest (though it is most definitely populated by people who will most likely work for big time firms for big time money), and offered me $15,000 a year (tuition is $39k).

The debates in my head were almost a grueling with the debate I had with my dad. That was terrible. In the end, I am going to NYU. I am very VERY excited about going there, but I still feel very sad about turning down such an amazing gift. They give 3 full tuition scholarships, all in honor of different contributers to LUC. I felt blessed to have that distinction given to me.

In the end two things struck me and lead me to choose NYU over LUC (many of the other considerations made the schools pretty evenly matched). One, I don't think that not wanting to turn down a scholarship is not reason enough to choose one school over another. And, more importantly, New York offered me family. My cousins live in Queens. Monica's family lives in Philly and has family in NYC.

Man, that was hard to do. I need to recoup so I can truly be psyched about going to NYU. The Big Apple. Gotham City. Sweet.

Where I've been...

Below is where I've been in the USA. Some were day trips, but I count them b/c I did significant things there. Like I never spent the night in Kentucky, but I did bail someone out of jail. I never slept in Wyoming, but I did walk around Yellowstone National Park there. I never slept in South Carolina, but I did skim-board at Myrtle Beach.

And these are the countries I've been to in the world. There might be some more in Central America, but I was too young to remember much of it. Also, I have been to an island owned by Colombia, but that is nothing like the rest of the country, so I didn't mark it. I am painfully aware of how red the west and how gray the east is. I would love to check out Africa, especially surfing on the souther coast and partying all over the rest of it. I'd love to go to the Holy Land. I'd love to rock out India with my boy Pushkar. I'd love to have a cabana on the beach in Thailand, surf again in Australia, and then sing very bad karaoke in Japan before visiting Criollo in China. Maybe one day.


Shout-out to Isabel for this idea. I met your Marista friend, Carmen, at NYU. She's very nice.

Do your own maps, thanks to douweosinga (what does that mean?).

Welcome Chorizo!

Our good friend, Chorizo (number 5) made his professional debut at the Milwaukee Brewers game yesterday. He made a cameo last year, but the club violated mascot rules, so they needed to wait until now to bring him on for good. He joins Polish and Italian sausages, hot dogs, and I think a bratwurst, but don't quote me on that.

My boss, who was at opening day, told me that when they introduced our good friend Chorizo, some people cheered, but others booed. Obviously, Chorizo is not Spainish but Mexican. He's got a sombrero, for crying out loud! So do the people who booed just dislike spicy sausage? I'm guessing they don't like Hispanic immigrants. To all of those people, you frustrate me. You're missing out on how yummy chorizo can be.

Bush Admin and Greenhouse Gases

Justices Rule Against White House on Emissions

By DAVID STOUT
Published: April 2, 2007

WASHINGTON, April 2 — The Supreme Court ruled today, in what amounts to a rebuke of the Bush administration, that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide from automobile emissions, and that it has shirked its duty in not doing so.

...

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. dissented, along with Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. The chief justice said his dissent “involves no judgment on whether global warming exists, what causes it, or the extent of the problem.” Rather, he wrote, the kind of dispute in this case is better resolved by Congress and the executive branch rather than the courts.

I think that the dissenters have a point in that Congress is the place to make the rules and do clarification on Acts. Then again, the point of having a Checks and Balances system is to make sure the other branches are doing their jobs right. (Well, it's much more complicated than that, but I think the majority ruling is still in the spirit of the checks.)

Machu Pichu is Cool

If that doesn't look mystical, I don't know what does. An interesting fact I learned about the Inca's while in Peru is that they built these terraced lawns, not only for practicality's sake--living in the mountains makes flat space otherwise hard to find--but also to make the Machu Pichu golf course the most difficult, where even the emperor (called the Inca) might have a tough time sinking in the par fours....Ok, the golf course thing was a big lie, but the terraces are cool, no? And the dark, cloudy, rainy day made it look all the more mystical. Turns out Machu Pichu was the land for the elites, like astrologers, doctors, priests, and vestal virgins.

Machu Pichu also had some llamas rolling around there. Before this picture was taken, these Argentine chicas were taking a picture of one of their friends near the llamas, when one (not pictured) went running down the ancient gutter tot he right of the picture, straight at her. She freaked out, and SNAP; her friends took a picture of her terrified face while a llama ran past.


Atom and I also tried some Guinea Pig, or cuy. Not the most delicious thing on the menu. The alpaca was better. But all in all, not that bad. I think if it had a better sauce/seasoning it would have been better. And they say you're supposed to eat everything except for the bones. Gross. The leg I had still had some hairs sticking out of the skin, so I ripped that 'ish off before I munched on the little bit of meat left behind. One of my fake uncles, Tio Ivan, was sitting in front of Atom and left the able. Couldn't stand the look of the cuy. Can't say I blame him.



On a completely separate note, I'm off to NYU for an interview. I'm a finalist for the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program, which gives money to kids to are cool (like me) and will  commit to working in Public Interest Law for some years after law school. I talked to one of this past year's scholars, and she humbled me...aka made me nervous. I realize they must like something about me, but her experiences and qualifications made what I have done seem juvenile in the sense that she has lived more life and done more things and my adult life is just starting. She has shown years of dedication and service as a professional, while I am finishing my first year out of college. Still, I know and am proud of what I have done in the past, I have a strong sense of what I want to accomplish in the future, and (as I keep reminding myself) I was picked from a pretty large applicant pool to be a finalist. So wish me luck. New York, here I come....Friday.

Peace.

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To Peru and Back

My boy, Atom, has some pictures of this momentous trip. Alas, I do not. But it was wonderful to see my bro and spend time with my family. Here's the neighborhood in which my bro and his community work at. This dog isn't theirs, but the community, Family of Jesus Healer (FJH) has four of their own with the men and a few more protecting the women. My bro was in charge of training a few of them, which gave him a pretty wicked scar when the trainee fought back.

 

Below here is a picture of my bro and FJH. Notice how green the grass is, and compare it to the dusty, dirty, cactusy picture above. They are neighbors. It shows how fertile the land is, but how dry it is. The grass is green (or exists at all) only if you have water to keep it growing. The community takes care of their land to make it a haven for themselves, those they help, and because they can. They have dug a well somewhere in the back, so they have the access to water that some of their constituents don't have. In the picture is (from the far left to far right) Tio Jose, Orlando (Hno. Jose Maria), Hno. Pio, Hno. Karol, Tia Fatima, and my pop's left side.



This last picture is of my boy Atom and me, on our way from Lima to Cusco, right before we hit up Machu Pichu. Little did we know that what Cusco held in store for us was my vomiting and Atom wanting to.



All in all, a good trip. Glory to God.

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Mathew Celebrity Look-Alikes

Mathew Dutra's celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.



I love having fun with my roommates!

Let's Continue the Love

Well, you can obviously tell my fascination and excitement with what Alyse is doing, so here is a picture from her group, the Center for Development in Central America. Click on the picture to link to their current Newsletter.

New Friend

Hey, I'm really excited that I discovered a friend's blog. Alyse Rothrock (or something of that nature) is in mi patria, Nicaragua, saving the world. Read about it by following the link to the right or clicking on her name. Coolio!

So the decisionmaking begins

Ok, so as of now, all schools outside of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia are not options. I doubt that will change, but only time will tell. The new developments are that both Loyola Chicago and NYU have invited me to interview for scholarships. Loyola has already offered me a pretty large chunk of money, so this could bring the total close to a full tuition. NYU is just offering me now, but there are 3 scholarships I'm applying for, and they all can be up to full tuition. They come with a catch, that I have to work in Public Interest law for so many years. I don't think it's such a big deal b/c I was planning on it anyways, but being forced and doing it how you want are two different things. So it seems that this month is being dominated by these two schools....and the tremendous amount of work I have.....and not going to the gym for this or for that (mostly staying late a work). You know, I get here at 7:30am. Yesterday I left at 6:30pm. Before that 5:30. Today, who knows. I just want to take a nap.

vs.

Busy busy

So, I've been very busy lately, so I haven't had time to internet much for fun at work, nor many trips to Marquette library to do cyberspacing over there. So here's the updated list of schools I am accepted to.

USC, Pepperdine, Loyola Chicago, Northwestern, Northeastern, Fordham, NYU, and Rutgers-Camden.

I don't know where I will go next year, but the more likely cities are Chicago, NYC, and Philadelphia. I am waiting to hear back from UPenn, BU, BC, and UChicago. So far I have had tremendous luck with there colleges and getting acceptances. I feel very blessed, but have a tough decision to make. Hopefully it can be done before the end of this month. I'd like to begin planning my life past August '07.

Sorry to keep you readers waiting and bored and reticent about visiting me again. I'll try to keep more up to date, though work is full of....work.

Updating

Work has been very busy, hence not much posting. To update the college list, here is where I am in so far:

Florida State, Rutgers-Camden, Pepperdine, Loyola Chicago, NYU, and Fordham.

Yay

Accepted

Today I was told I was accepted to Rutgers and Florida State law schools in Camden, NJ and Tallahassee, FL, respectively. To celebrate, here's a picture of an animal that London is trying to save. I think it's well worth it.

Nice Story

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6788291

Lethal Injection

For all those Pro-Life or just Anti-Death Penalty:

The Executioner's Wrong

Jan 4th 2007 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

Florida, California and Maryland suspend lethal injections

ON DECEMBER 13th, Angel Diaz, a convicted murderer from Florida, became the latest victim of a botched lethal injection. The doctor who served as executioner bungled the first set of injections, sliding the needle straight through the vein and pumping the toxic chemicals directly into the underlying flesh. Mr Diaz writhed, grimaced, andattempted to speak until a second dose killed him. That was 34 minutes later; the execution should take only a fraction of that.

Two days later, Jeb Bush, in his last month as governor, suspended all executions in the state. He also set up a commission to consider whether Florida's lethal injections are constitutional.

Resolutions and Photo

Really quick, because I got a client coming in in less than an hour, here is my New Years resolution. I resolve to live the rest of this volunteer year to the fullest I can, especially with regards to things that may not be as accessible to me in the future. What that means is that I will try to use more time to read, to write, to learn guitar, to pray. I will start spiritual direction to see how it goes. I will try to sleep at a reasonable hour because I wake up early. I don't know what else I will do, but I'm sure this list is not exhaustive.

For those of you that don't have facebook, i.e. Orlando, I include for you the new profile picture I have. I had some free time the other day and got a little happy with Microsoft Paint. It combines 3 pictures for both Monica and me, though my legs haven't looked like that in a long time. I thought it was fun and funny. Hope you do too.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

How obscene is the Spanish word for year with the funky 'n' (pronounced enye, but I can't write it here. Merry Christmas to all those around the world, and happy Epiphany to our Eastern friends. In Tampa, the Greek Orthodox Church has a big event where a bunch of youngin's dive into a deep lake to find a cross, and the person who finds it gets a special blessings from some cool guy with a sweet beard.

While in Tampa for a week and change I sent out 8 law school applications, and then 5 more in Milwaukee. There are divided up into 5 cities, plus a straggler. Two cities had 3 applications, but the rest had two (and then the straggler). So the total now is 13 schools. The cities/schools are:

L.A.- USC and Pepperdine (Malibu)
Chicago- Loyola, U Chicago, and Northwestern
Philadelphia- U Penn and Rutgers (Camden, NJ)
New York- Fordham and NYU
Boston- BC, BU, and Northeastern
Florida- Florida State

We'll see what the future holds for Jorge.

New Years resolution....to be continued. My boss is giving me a ride. Peace.