This is the first day of the rest of your life

Well, I started work today. It went fairly smoothly, and I think I'm going to enjoy it. I got right down to business, and have already put in some billable hours. I have a LOT to learn, not only about general law firm practice but also about some pretty technical stuff. I was a Biology major for a year in college, and also a Chemistry major for a year, so hopefully some of that will come back to me.

I'm not going to post any details about my job, for obvious reasons. In fact, I probably won't talk about work at all on here after today. I think I made the right choice with my firm, and I'll leave it at that.

It's a good feeling.

Lake Picture

I took this at Lake Leelanau a few days before I left. It was a long exposure, so I needed a tripod. The shutter was open for almost 2 minutes.

I'm still not pleased with the JPG export quality from Aperture. You can't see it here, but images exported into JPGs are noticeably pixellated at 100% magnification.

The End

I haven't posted for a while, but cut me some slack. I've been taking the Missouri Bar Exam, and as weird as it seems, I'm finally done. I thought I was really done in May, when I graduated from KU, but by the time it had really sunk in, the nervousness about the upcoming bar had already hit. There was one more major hurdle in my way before I could move on. It really was amazing how the bar exam was able to suck all the enjoyment out of my summer.

I'm not saying I spent the entire summer preparing for it. But any time that I wasn't preparing for it made me feel guilty. Also, I could be having a good time doing something when my mood instantly became anxious and worried when I remembered the exam was getting closer and closer.

But now it's done, and hopefully I can get on with my life. It's pretty amazing. I've spent the last 21 years of my life in school, just so I can report to work on Monday. That's it. And it's not just the Torts classes I've taken in law school. It's the geometry classes I took in high school, all the way back to my first book report, from 1st Grade. It's all been a buildup for starting my career. The next part of my life all starts Monday.

Wish me luck.

Look on the bright side

I could be complaining about how I'm stuck at Midcontinent Airport in Wichita, KS, waiting for maintenance to glue my plane back together. I could be complaining about the delay guaranteeing that I will miss my connecting flight out of O'Hare. I could be complaining about how I'll waste all day, and possibly part of tomorrow in airports just trying to get to Lake Leelanau, Michigan.

Ok, so I guess I am complaining about all those things. But on the bright side, I do have free, wireless internet access from the terminal.

Could be worse.

Dell Fiasco

Here's a play by play of my conversation with Dell "Customer Service" the other day. Basically I ordered a 20" widescreen (16:10 aspect ratio) LCD and received a 20" regular (4:3 aspect ratio) LCD instead. My order confirmation clearly stated "widescreen". I tried to arrange an exchange. Any bets on my success?

Call Placed

I told the rep that I received a regular LCD instead of a widescreen model as indicated by my order sheet.
Placed on hold.
She thought I meant received a "regular" (CRT) monitor.
I said, no, I received an LCD Monitor, just not widescreen like I was supposed to get.
Placed on hold.
She asked me for the serial number. Could not understand me. Repeated it 3 times.
Finally gets the number right.
Placed on hold.
She told me I received the correct monitor, because the serial number I gave her matches the unit they shipped me.
Anger rising
I try to explain to her that that's the whole point. I'm not disputing the fact that I received the same item they shipped me, but rather that they shipped the wrong unit in the first place.
She has a hard time understanding this.
Placed on hold.
(Elapsed Time: 20 minutes.)
She tells me I need to measure the unit from corner to corner, diagonally.
Anger simmering
I tell her it's not the size that's the problem. Again, it's the aspect ratio. WIDESCREEN!
Placed on hold for a supervisor.
No supervisor available. Asks me if I want one to call me in 24 to 48 hours. I ask her if a supervisor is necessary to do an exchange. She is confused. Tells me that she "has already given me the information that no supervisor is available", would I like one to call me back? I tell her again, you're not understanding what I'm asking, what I'm asking is whether a supervisor is necessar...
She cuts me off, repeating the "I have already given you the information..." line.
I try to keep talking, she keeps talking, finally I say, "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" She stops. I finish my question, she finally gets it, and tells me it's out of her hands.
Placed on hold for a supervisor
(Elapsed Time: 30 minutes.)
Asked if I still want to wait for a supervisor. I say if it's necessary to do the exchange, yes.
Placed on hold again.
She asks if a supervisor can call me back tomorrow. I tell her I'll be very busy tomorrow. She asks if she can call me on my cell. I say, NO. I'm on my cell now, but I won't be able to answer it when she calls tomorrow. I'M BUSY. I ask if someone can call me back tonight.
How late?
How about midnight?
No. We're already closed.
Then why even ask?
(Elapsed Time: 40 mins.)
You guessed it. Placed on hold.
I'm finally told that the person I've been holding for wasn't even there today. She'll call back within 24-48 hours.
(Elapsed Time: 45 mins....completely wasted.)

Well, it's over 48 hours later, and I still haven't received my return call. I'd call back, but I'm not willing to waste the time again, and I'm getting ready to leave for Michigan tomorrow, so I don't have time to mess with it anyway. It's incredibly frustrating, but to be honest, I get Dell stuff so cheap that it's not going to sway me away from using them in the future. Which is why I don't expect Dell customer service to get better any time soon.

It's really amazing how much BS people will put up with just to save a few bucks. Just ask these guys. They figured it out a long time ago.

Dell Fiasco

Here's a play by play of my conversation with Dell "Customer Service" the other day. Basically I ordered a 20" widescreen (16:10 aspect ratio) LCD and received a 20" regular (4:3 aspect ratio) LCD instead. My order confirmation clearly stated "widescreen". I tried to arrange an exchange. Any bets on my success?

Call Placed

I told the rep that I received a regular LCD instead of a widescreen model as indicated by my order sheet.
Placed on hold.
She thought I meant received a "regular" (CRT) monitor.
I said, no, I received an LCD Monitor, just not widescreen like I was supposed to get.
Placed on hold.
She asked me for the serial number. Could not understand me. Repeated it 3 times.
Finally gets the number right.
Placed on hold.
She told me I received the correct monitor, because the serial number I gave her matches the unit they shipped me.
Anger rising
I try to explain to her that that's the whole point. I'm not disputing the fact that I received the same item they shipped me, but rather that they shipped the wrong unit in the first place.
She has a hard time understanding this.
Placed on hold.
(Elapsed Time: 20 minutes.)
She tells me I need to measure the unit from corner to corner, diagonally.
Anger simmering
I tell her it's not the size that's the problem. Again, it's the aspect ratio. WIDESCREEN!
Placed on hold for a supervisor.
No supervisor available. Asks me if I want one to call me in 24 to 48 hours. I ask her if a supervisor is necessary to do an exchange. She is confused. Tells me that she "has already given me the information that no supervisor is available", would I like one to call me back? I tell her again, you're not understanding what I'm asking, what I'm asking is whether a supervisor is necessar...
She cuts me off, repeating the "I have already given you the information..." line.
I try to keep talking, she keeps talking, finally I say, "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" She stops. I finish my question, she finally gets it, and tells me it's out of her hands.
Placed on hold for a supervisor
(Elapsed Time: 30 minutes.)
Asked if I still want to wait for a supervisor. I say if it's necessary to do the exchange, yes.
Placed on hold again.
She asks if a supervisor can call me back tomorrow. I tell her I'll be very busy tomorrow. She asks if she can call me on my cell. I say, NO. I'm on my cell now, but I won't be able to answer it when she calls tomorrow. I'M BUSY. I ask if someone can call me back tonight.
How late?
How about midnight?
No. We're already closed.
Then why even ask?
(Elapsed Time: 40 mins.)
You guessed it. Placed on hold.
I finally get told that the person I've been holding for wasn't even there today. She'll call back within 24-48 hours.
(Elapsed Time: 45 mins....completely wasted.)

Well, it's over 48 hours later, and I still haven't received my return call. I'd call back, but I'm not willing to waste the time again, and I'm getting ready to leave for Michigan tomorrow, so I don't have time to mess with it anyway. It's incredibly frustrating, but to be honest, I get Dell stuff so cheap that it's not going to sway me away from using them in the future. Which is why I don't expect Dell customer service to get better any time soon.

It's really amazing how much BS people will put up with just to save a few bucks. Just ask these guys. They figured it out a long time ago.

Happy 4th of July

In case you don't recognize it, it's the Declaration of Independence. I saw something today that really made me sad.

In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.
-Yahoo News reporting on British perceptions of the US

I think this is mainly misconception, altough some of these things are just flat out wrong, as evidenced by the next quotes.

Violent crime rates declined since 1994, reaching the lowest level ever recorded in 2004.
-BJS National Crime Victimization Survey

The risk of being a victim of a violent crime in the US in 2004 was 2.1 percent.
-US Dept. of Justice Statistics

Compare that to Britain, which is well over 50% higher.

The risk of being a victim of violent crime in the 2004/05 BCS was 3.6 per cent.
-Crime Rates in England and Wales from homeoffice.gov.uk

Also, while our government doesn't give as high of a proportion of our GDP in foreign aid as some countries, we do give a huge amount overall. I know that many people think that it should be measured on a per capita basis, but I don't think either is completely fair.

For instance, many people complain about the expense of the US military. Whatever your feelings are on Iraq, a strong US military is vital to many other nations, who therefore don't have to spend as much in comparison. I'm pretty sure South Korea and Japan would agree, especially right now. It's sad that we need to build bombs and jets, but if the only people doing it were Syria and North Korea, we'd probably have more problems than we do now.

Racial tension? Sadly, I agree. There is a lot bubbling under the surface, but then again, what country doesn't have these problems? Canada has issues with the native population, Australia has issues with their native population, and surely no one forgets the French/Muslim riots last year.

It's a shame that things have come to this.

Getting Organized

As some of you may know, I'm desperately unorganized, despite Hillary's best efforts. I've decided I'm going to give Google Calendar a shot. It looks like it has some great features.

1. It is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. With my Treo, that includes I-35, Arrowhead Stadium, and pretty much anywhere else.

2. I can add events to it by sending a text message with my phone. It's pretty smart, too. I sent a message that said, "lunch today @ 12pm". It understood what I meant, and the event showed online a few seconds later.

3. As I'm typing this, it just text messaged me a reminder of an event scheduled to start in 10 minutes.

4. It can sync with iCal. Although I'm not a regular iCal user, and I don't have .Mac, that might change someday.

5. The interface is great.

6. It's completely free.

7. It shows up on my custom Google homepage. Here's a screenshot

All in all, I'm pretty impressed.

FedUp

FedEx lost a MacBook Pro I shipped in early June, and they don't want to make good on it. It has apparently fallen off the face of the Earth.

I'm EXTREMELY lucky I got a receipt, because FedEx employees have told me in the past that they don't provide them. I'm not falling for that one again. Had I done so, I would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle. It's been almost a month, and it's been like one long, recurring bad dream.

First, the rep was extremely rude to me. He told me I needed the serial number. I explained the serial number was on the box they lost, and I had no record of it. We argued for 5 minutes, until he finally gave in.

He then claimed they would send a claim form. I never received it. I finally had to download one and fill it out myself, which I would have gladly done in the first place had I been told it was an option. I faxed it to them and waited. I called a few days later, and they claimed they never received the fax, even though I had a return confirmation. I repeated the fax, repeated the phone call. Same story. Finally, two weeks after the inital claim was sent, they acknowleged the fax.

I was then told it would take 5-7 days for approval. They said someone would call me back. No one did. This became a recurring problem, which I'm still dealing with.

Finally, I called today, expecting it to be completed. The guy tells me he needs a receipt. I tell him again that it's not my laptop, I don't have a receipt, and I probably can't get one. He says he'll check with his supervisor and call me back in an hour. Uh huh. I called back a few hours later, and a new guy tells me I need a manufacturer's invoice, which I'm clueless about. He tells me it shows the manufacturer's cost, not my purchase price. I about lost it at that point.

Now I'm waiting on a call from either "Hope" or "Marsha". Hopefully they'll be able to get something done, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm worried I may have to sue them to get my money out of them. It's been a huge nightmare, which could have been even worse, if I didn't have the receipt. Although suing them might be kind of fun if I had enough time on my hands, I'm dealing with the bar exam, and need the money now.

Ever since I took Secured Transactions, I've wanted to go into a business I hate with the Sheriff to collect a judgment. It would almost be worth the hassle of suing just to be able to do so. Best Buy would be epic, but I'll settle for FedEx if it comes down to it.

I hope it doesn't.

Aperture

I'm using Aperture 1.1 on my MacBook, and while I like some aspects of it, I'm not totally sold on the package. Although I read a really scathing review of version 1.0 a while back, the author of the review now claims Apple fixed most of the problems with a (significant) version update.

I'm admittedly a relative novice when it comes to image editing, and I'm probably not part of the intended audience for Aperture. However, it seems others agree that while the user interface is beautiful, it's not very intuitive. I was able to process this picture of Hillary using Aperture, but I'm sure I missed some neat tricks along the way. I suppose I'll have to get used to it.

I am pretty used to (and happy with) Nikon Capture, which has a major revision pending. The new version, Capture NX, is supposed to be amazing. The good news is that it looks very user friendly. The bad news, at least for Intel Mac users, is that it will run slowly under Rosetta, if at all. I hope it lives up to the hype, and Nikon kicks a Universal Binary out the door, ASAP.

Progress

I took a practice MBE Friday. The results weren't what I hoped for, but far better than I feared. I'm a decent amount ahead of the average, at least at this stage of the game. That being said, this stage of the game is pretty much meaningless unless I continue to improve. Yet it is reassuring that I don't have as far to go as most people, because I don't have a lot of time to get there.

I'm more worried about the essay portion of the bar exam. It's weighted more heavily, and covers a few topics I never studied in law school. I don't expect to fail, because I've never done anything like that before on something this big, but it's still stressfull. I have a lot riding on it.

I'll definitely be glad to put the whole thing in the can later this month.