Thursday, July 31, 2003
I think I'm going to keep a tally of the odd items which I hear mentioned on traffic reports as having landed in roadways and freeways.
Every Friday, or so it seems, somebody loses a surfboard off the top of their vehicle and it snarls traffic on The 8 West (the main artery to the beaches in central/southern SD County).
This morning a dishwasher and its hoses fell off the back of a truck onto a secondary road.
Every Friday, or so it seems, somebody loses a surfboard off the top of their vehicle and it snarls traffic on The 8 West (the main artery to the beaches in central/southern SD County).
This morning a dishwasher and its hoses fell off the back of a truck onto a secondary road.
So, if you're wondering what sorts of things I'm doing in my paralegal courses....this is the part of the course where we have research projects in almost every class. Here are the topics I'm working on:
a) an investigation of a particular parcel of land in San Diego to see what zoning laws and planning and development fees apply (this is to teach us how to research such things in various public offices);
b) researching the issues and laws relevant to a dispute between a home buyer, seller, and real estate agent when the buyer discovered a fault with the property after escrow had closed;
c) researching the application of copyright law and fair use doctrine to a particular fact scenario;
d) seeing how various environmental laws are being applied and contested in the battles for preserving wilderness lands in Utah.
Plus, I've been spending 8-16 hours a week at the law office where I'm interning, and have begun looking for a job for after the program is finished.
a) an investigation of a particular parcel of land in San Diego to see what zoning laws and planning and development fees apply (this is to teach us how to research such things in various public offices);
b) researching the issues and laws relevant to a dispute between a home buyer, seller, and real estate agent when the buyer discovered a fault with the property after escrow had closed;
c) researching the application of copyright law and fair use doctrine to a particular fact scenario;
d) seeing how various environmental laws are being applied and contested in the battles for preserving wilderness lands in Utah.
Plus, I've been spending 8-16 hours a week at the law office where I'm interning, and have begun looking for a job for after the program is finished.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Random observations about how my life has changed since I moved out here.....
When working for museums and churches, I always had to carry a key ring with scads of keys on it--I often had to break my collection down to two different keyrings. Now, instead of carrying two keyrings, I carry two keys. That's it. One key to my apartment, one key to my car. Period.
I have eaten more guacamole (yum!) in the past 8 weeks than in the previous 35 years. I've been wondering how much salsa you have to eat in a day to have it count as a portion of vegetables in the Food Pyramid.
I am slowly but surely adapting to a less nocturnal schedule. Between my courses and internship, I have to be at class or work at either 0800 or 0830 four or five days a week. I'm now often in bed by 11 p.m.
Checking the traffic reports before going out on any significant errand is now a matter of course. And I've reacquired the high-intensity freeway driving skills I haven't needed to use since leaving New Jersey almost 10 yrs ago.
The combination of everyone out here being so fitness-obsessed, and the implications of wearing less clothing year-round (no more hiding extra pounds under sweaters or parkas) has me (you'd better sit down now) doing a daily exercise routine. Very low key, in the privacy of my apt., but I haven't exercised intentionally in a decade.
So, those are a few random bits about this new phase of my life....
When working for museums and churches, I always had to carry a key ring with scads of keys on it--I often had to break my collection down to two different keyrings. Now, instead of carrying two keyrings, I carry two keys. That's it. One key to my apartment, one key to my car. Period.
I have eaten more guacamole (yum!) in the past 8 weeks than in the previous 35 years. I've been wondering how much salsa you have to eat in a day to have it count as a portion of vegetables in the Food Pyramid.
I am slowly but surely adapting to a less nocturnal schedule. Between my courses and internship, I have to be at class or work at either 0800 or 0830 four or five days a week. I'm now often in bed by 11 p.m.
Checking the traffic reports before going out on any significant errand is now a matter of course. And I've reacquired the high-intensity freeway driving skills I haven't needed to use since leaving New Jersey almost 10 yrs ago.
The combination of everyone out here being so fitness-obsessed, and the implications of wearing less clothing year-round (no more hiding extra pounds under sweaters or parkas) has me (you'd better sit down now) doing a daily exercise routine. Very low key, in the privacy of my apt., but I haven't exercised intentionally in a decade.
So, those are a few random bits about this new phase of my life....
Monday, July 07, 2003
Let's see....some other stuff about San Diego....
Living here, just miles from the Mexican border, it's no surprise that Hispanics/Latinos have now surpassed African Americans as the largest ethnic minority in the USA. This city is almost bilingual. It's amazing to listen to counter workers in fast food joints switch seamlessly back and forth between Spanish and English, remembering as they call out orders which customers speak which language.
I like Mexican food, and I'll sure have lots of chances to enjoy it here!
One plus of the city is that it has very decent public transportation, especially by USA standards. Trains, light rail and buses form an integrated network. I'm sure there are lots of spots it doesn't reach, but compared to lots of US cities, it's good.
I'm really looking forward to having a positive cash flow and a regular schedule once I find a job, so I can enjoy some of what San Diego has to offer. That would include the world-class Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and downtown shopping and entertainment districts like the Gaslamp District, Hillcrest, Little Italy, the shops along the bayfront, and Horton Plaza. Plus there's all the cultural stuff that a big city offers. There have already been more major country music acts performing here since I arrived in late May than came to Minnesota in a year, if not the whole 3 years I was there. (OK, so country music may not count as "culture." But there's a symphony and all that sort of stuff too. :-) There's a William and Mary alumni chapter, even.
And it appears that there may actually be single straight eligible men living in the area. So far it's mainly a rumour, but I am very optimistic!
On that note, :-), I'll sign off for the evening.
Living here, just miles from the Mexican border, it's no surprise that Hispanics/Latinos have now surpassed African Americans as the largest ethnic minority in the USA. This city is almost bilingual. It's amazing to listen to counter workers in fast food joints switch seamlessly back and forth between Spanish and English, remembering as they call out orders which customers speak which language.
I like Mexican food, and I'll sure have lots of chances to enjoy it here!
One plus of the city is that it has very decent public transportation, especially by USA standards. Trains, light rail and buses form an integrated network. I'm sure there are lots of spots it doesn't reach, but compared to lots of US cities, it's good.
I'm really looking forward to having a positive cash flow and a regular schedule once I find a job, so I can enjoy some of what San Diego has to offer. That would include the world-class Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and downtown shopping and entertainment districts like the Gaslamp District, Hillcrest, Little Italy, the shops along the bayfront, and Horton Plaza. Plus there's all the cultural stuff that a big city offers. There have already been more major country music acts performing here since I arrived in late May than came to Minnesota in a year, if not the whole 3 years I was there. (OK, so country music may not count as "culture." But there's a symphony and all that sort of stuff too. :-) There's a William and Mary alumni chapter, even.
And it appears that there may actually be single straight eligible men living in the area. So far it's mainly a rumour, but I am very optimistic!
On that note, :-), I'll sign off for the evening.
Okay, I said I’d say something about how I like San Diego thus far. In short: a lot!
When I first arrived, so looking forward to the fabled San Diego climate, I instead found nothing but clouds and fog and drizzle and cool temps. My friends back in Minnesota were having better weather—that really frosted me! Unbeknownst to me, I’d arrived here right in the midst of an annual phenomenon known as “May Gray and June Gloom.” I don’t understand all the science of it, but apparently it has something to do w/ a cold, still air layer over the ocean hitting the land and stalling. This happens every year at this time, so the locals expect it, and consider May and June their “winter.” They told me to just wait a few weeks and I’d get the San Diego weather I’d been expecting. Sure enough, just as the calendar pages turned from June to July, the sky cleared and the temps rose.
Thus far I’ve found the city fairly easy to get around. I haven’t explored very far out of the Linda Vista/Fashion and Mission Valley/Hillcrest/CBD areas, however.
Like many/all? large cities, it’s really a collection of neighborhoods and small towns. The area to the east of USD is now heavily Vietnamese. Our nearest shopping center is all Vietnamese stores and goods. To the west it’s mainly a commercial area. South is a bit of residential, then a golf course and a freeway. North is some open space and lots of condominiums and apartments. Fashion Valley is a huge mall with all the wonderful stores I mentioned earlier, and adjacent Mission Valley is one huge shopping megaplex—a bunch of newish strip-mall centers w/ interlocking parking lots.
On Sundays I’ve mostly been going to St Paul’s Cathedral, which is downtown, in between Hillcrest and the Central Business District, adjacent to Balboa Park. Hillcrest is the gay quarter in San Diego. Rainbow flags flying above every boutique and café and restored bungalow. Once I have some free time I’m sure I’ll enjoy browsing and noshing down there. St Paul’s has a ton of gay members and has a long history of advocacy for lesbigay issues (and other justice issues too). So far I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the parish. The new Dean seems very energetic and a good preacher. I’m also in the process of checking out some other parishes in the area that I’ve heard good things about: All Souls Point Loma and St James LaJolla.
Two weeks ago I started my internship, which takes me down to the central business district. I’m at Gaglione, Coleman and Green LLP, whose offices are on the tippy-top floor of Symphony Towers, right next to the University Club. A very posh address, and killer views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. I can see the bay, the bridge to Coronado, the new Petco Park baseball stadium under construction. I was worried about the commute right at the heart of morning rush hour, but so far I’ve been lucky—there haven’t been any traffic tie-ups any of the mornings I’ve had to go in, and it takes me about 20 minutes door-to-door.
Speaking of traffic reports. . . . Neither Rochester MN nor Charlottesville VA had traffic enough to warrant regular radio traffic reports. San Diego has traffic reports all day long, sometimes 7 days a week. Yes, Sunday afternoon traffic frequently warrants a traffic report here. And I heard a report the other day that I certainly never heard in the metro DC area or the Philly/Trenton corridor:
“If you’re heading west on The 8, watch out for a surfboard in the right lane at Mission Valley.”
By the way, it’s a SoCal affectation to preface all interstate freeway numbers with “The.” So one takes The 8 to The 15. As near as I can tell, non-interstates don’t take “the”, but I’m not totally sure of the syntax quite yet.
In Minnesota folks pride themselves on being “Minnesota nice.” Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but so far I’ve found San Diegans to be as nice as the Minnesotans. Or maybe it’s that Rochester is cosmopolitan enough that it’s less “nice” than the rest of Minnesota, so my perspective is skewed.
I made my first pilgrimage to the beach Friday a week ago, spending the afternoon on the sand at Coronado, and then browsing the shops on the main strand. A very lovely day.
Well, that’s all I can think of to bore you with now. If you want to see pics of my surroundings, and of the beach, check out the “San Diego” album at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/esoterica1693
Now back to the books. . .
When I first arrived, so looking forward to the fabled San Diego climate, I instead found nothing but clouds and fog and drizzle and cool temps. My friends back in Minnesota were having better weather—that really frosted me! Unbeknownst to me, I’d arrived here right in the midst of an annual phenomenon known as “May Gray and June Gloom.” I don’t understand all the science of it, but apparently it has something to do w/ a cold, still air layer over the ocean hitting the land and stalling. This happens every year at this time, so the locals expect it, and consider May and June their “winter.” They told me to just wait a few weeks and I’d get the San Diego weather I’d been expecting. Sure enough, just as the calendar pages turned from June to July, the sky cleared and the temps rose.
Thus far I’ve found the city fairly easy to get around. I haven’t explored very far out of the Linda Vista/Fashion and Mission Valley/Hillcrest/CBD areas, however.
Like many/all? large cities, it’s really a collection of neighborhoods and small towns. The area to the east of USD is now heavily Vietnamese. Our nearest shopping center is all Vietnamese stores and goods. To the west it’s mainly a commercial area. South is a bit of residential, then a golf course and a freeway. North is some open space and lots of condominiums and apartments. Fashion Valley is a huge mall with all the wonderful stores I mentioned earlier, and adjacent Mission Valley is one huge shopping megaplex—a bunch of newish strip-mall centers w/ interlocking parking lots.
On Sundays I’ve mostly been going to St Paul’s Cathedral, which is downtown, in between Hillcrest and the Central Business District, adjacent to Balboa Park. Hillcrest is the gay quarter in San Diego. Rainbow flags flying above every boutique and café and restored bungalow. Once I have some free time I’m sure I’ll enjoy browsing and noshing down there. St Paul’s has a ton of gay members and has a long history of advocacy for lesbigay issues (and other justice issues too). So far I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the parish. The new Dean seems very energetic and a good preacher. I’m also in the process of checking out some other parishes in the area that I’ve heard good things about: All Souls Point Loma and St James LaJolla.
Two weeks ago I started my internship, which takes me down to the central business district. I’m at Gaglione, Coleman and Green LLP, whose offices are on the tippy-top floor of Symphony Towers, right next to the University Club. A very posh address, and killer views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. I can see the bay, the bridge to Coronado, the new Petco Park baseball stadium under construction. I was worried about the commute right at the heart of morning rush hour, but so far I’ve been lucky—there haven’t been any traffic tie-ups any of the mornings I’ve had to go in, and it takes me about 20 minutes door-to-door.
Speaking of traffic reports. . . . Neither Rochester MN nor Charlottesville VA had traffic enough to warrant regular radio traffic reports. San Diego has traffic reports all day long, sometimes 7 days a week. Yes, Sunday afternoon traffic frequently warrants a traffic report here. And I heard a report the other day that I certainly never heard in the metro DC area or the Philly/Trenton corridor:
“If you’re heading west on The 8, watch out for a surfboard in the right lane at Mission Valley.”
By the way, it’s a SoCal affectation to preface all interstate freeway numbers with “The.” So one takes The 8 to The 15. As near as I can tell, non-interstates don’t take “the”, but I’m not totally sure of the syntax quite yet.
In Minnesota folks pride themselves on being “Minnesota nice.” Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but so far I’ve found San Diegans to be as nice as the Minnesotans. Or maybe it’s that Rochester is cosmopolitan enough that it’s less “nice” than the rest of Minnesota, so my perspective is skewed.
I made my first pilgrimage to the beach Friday a week ago, spending the afternoon on the sand at Coronado, and then browsing the shops on the main strand. A very lovely day.
Well, that’s all I can think of to bore you with now. If you want to see pics of my surroundings, and of the beach, check out the “San Diego” album at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/esoterica1693
Now back to the books. . .
Friday, July 04, 2003
Well, when you last heard from me, about six weeks ago, I had just arrived in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California. Then I disappeared off the face of the blog universe. J I’ve actually just been incredibly busy getting settled in San Diego, and keeping my head above water in my paralegal studies program. Now I’ll try to bring this blog somewhat up to date.
I spent the first three days after arriving out here with my aunt and uncle in their condo in Rancho Bernardo. It was good to spend a few days with my aunt as her health declined.
On Friday May 23 I registered as a student at USD and bought over $500 worth of textbooks, and on Monday, May 26, I moved in to my summer digs—a studio apartment on campus.
USD is a Roman Catholic school, and San Diego was founded by Spanish missionaries, so all the dorms here are named after Spanish saints. I’m in San Antonio de Padua, or “SAP” for short. I’m on the fourth storey, which is the topmost one, and have a very nice furnished studio apartment all to myself. I’m paying a few extra dollars a month to avoid having a roommate, but it’s worth it. It’s ample space for one; it would be cramped for two, considering I haven’t shared my living space in a long while! In addition to the living area, and the kitchen, and walk-in closet, and bathroom, it also has a balcony. If I look the right way through the trees, and have my glasses or contacts in place, I can even see the Pacific Ocean. If you look at my photos page on yahoo:
http://photos.yahoo.com/esoterica1693
and click on the “San Diego” album, you’ll see two pics I snapped from the balcony.
USD is in the Linda Vista section of San Diego. If you look at a map of San Diego, you’ll see there are two bays on the coast. . . the big one, San Diego Bay, behind Coronado/North Island, and then the smaller one further north, Mission Bay. USD is just inland of Mission Bay, on the southeast side. Sea World is just west of us. Every night Sea World has a fireworks display at closing time, which I can hear and see from my apartment. (It begins precisely at 9:51 p.m. and lasts about 7 minutes…ba-boom, boom, crackle, boom)
It took me a week or so to get oriented to the area and figure out where all the necessities, such as grocery stores and such, are located. I’m pretty close to the Friars Rd, Fashion Valley, and Mission Valley shopping areas—everything from Wal-Mart to Saks Fifth Avenue is within 5 miles of my apt. Being within 5 miles of both Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack means I truly am in paradise!
Classes started at 8 a.m. on Tuesday the 27th—I barely had my basic unpacking done. Ever since, I’ve been trying to just keep my head above water. Our course load is the equivalent of 19 credit hours, plus I’m now doing 8 hrs a week at my internship site.
The student body is divided into two tracks: Generalist and Business/Environmental Law. This term each track seems to have about the same number of students—around 25. I’m in the Business/Environmental track. Both tracks take the same foundation courses: Intro to Law (2.25 hrs/week), Legal Research (2.25 hrs), and Computers in the Law Practice (3.0 hrs). Our tracks diverge for our afternoon specialty classes. We started off with Civil Litigation on Tues/Thursday, for 6.0 hrs/week, and Corporations, also for 6.0 hrs. Now we’ve finished both of those, and we’re taking Real Estate, and Environmental Law, also 6.0 hrs each. And of course each class also requires outside reading, and some small amounts of research and writing. We also started our internships at the end of June, and we have to put in at least 40 hrs on-site by mid-August.
I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how much I’m enjoying the course work and the field. I really hadn’t done that much research into what being a paralegal entailed before leaping in, considering. But thus far, it seems like a good fit. Lots of research, analysis, and writing. The teaching in the program covers the spectrum from excellent to adequate, but is generally pretty good. The instructors are all practicing attorneys who just teach as a sidelight. One is a practicing paralegal; only one (the Legal Research guy) is a full-time teacher—he teaches at one of the law schools in town. They’re mostly men—only two women.
While none of the material is tremendously difficult in and of itself, it’s taught at a fast pace. And it’s a totally new field to me, with new thought patterns and an entirely new vocabulary. It’s like learning a new language. So I do have to study and work at it. I’m amazed at how much knowledge I’ve assimilated in just six weeks. Now as I read the business section of the newspaper, or the articles about the just-concluded Supreme Court term, I’m understanding stuff I never would have even glanced at before. Legal terms like stare decisis and res judicata just roll off my tongue. :-)
My fellow students seem to come in two demographic bands: young 20-somethings just out of undergraduate programs, looking for a marketable trade, and mid-life career-changers. Those of us in the 30-40 age range have mostly been laid off from other professions; there are a few slightly older folks who are re-entering the workforce after time at home or are starting a new career after retiring from the military. Most of the students are female; in my specialty-track section of 23 there are about 4 guys.
Well, that’s about all I have time and energy to write at present. Over the course of this holiday weekend I’ll try to add a few more posts—describing my impressions of San Diego itself, etc..
I spent the first three days after arriving out here with my aunt and uncle in their condo in Rancho Bernardo. It was good to spend a few days with my aunt as her health declined.
On Friday May 23 I registered as a student at USD and bought over $500 worth of textbooks, and on Monday, May 26, I moved in to my summer digs—a studio apartment on campus.
USD is a Roman Catholic school, and San Diego was founded by Spanish missionaries, so all the dorms here are named after Spanish saints. I’m in San Antonio de Padua, or “SAP” for short. I’m on the fourth storey, which is the topmost one, and have a very nice furnished studio apartment all to myself. I’m paying a few extra dollars a month to avoid having a roommate, but it’s worth it. It’s ample space for one; it would be cramped for two, considering I haven’t shared my living space in a long while! In addition to the living area, and the kitchen, and walk-in closet, and bathroom, it also has a balcony. If I look the right way through the trees, and have my glasses or contacts in place, I can even see the Pacific Ocean. If you look at my photos page on yahoo:
http://photos.yahoo.com/esoterica1693
and click on the “San Diego” album, you’ll see two pics I snapped from the balcony.
USD is in the Linda Vista section of San Diego. If you look at a map of San Diego, you’ll see there are two bays on the coast. . . the big one, San Diego Bay, behind Coronado/North Island, and then the smaller one further north, Mission Bay. USD is just inland of Mission Bay, on the southeast side. Sea World is just west of us. Every night Sea World has a fireworks display at closing time, which I can hear and see from my apartment. (It begins precisely at 9:51 p.m. and lasts about 7 minutes…ba-boom, boom, crackle, boom)
It took me a week or so to get oriented to the area and figure out where all the necessities, such as grocery stores and such, are located. I’m pretty close to the Friars Rd, Fashion Valley, and Mission Valley shopping areas—everything from Wal-Mart to Saks Fifth Avenue is within 5 miles of my apt. Being within 5 miles of both Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack means I truly am in paradise!
Classes started at 8 a.m. on Tuesday the 27th—I barely had my basic unpacking done. Ever since, I’ve been trying to just keep my head above water. Our course load is the equivalent of 19 credit hours, plus I’m now doing 8 hrs a week at my internship site.
The student body is divided into two tracks: Generalist and Business/Environmental Law. This term each track seems to have about the same number of students—around 25. I’m in the Business/Environmental track. Both tracks take the same foundation courses: Intro to Law (2.25 hrs/week), Legal Research (2.25 hrs), and Computers in the Law Practice (3.0 hrs). Our tracks diverge for our afternoon specialty classes. We started off with Civil Litigation on Tues/Thursday, for 6.0 hrs/week, and Corporations, also for 6.0 hrs. Now we’ve finished both of those, and we’re taking Real Estate, and Environmental Law, also 6.0 hrs each. And of course each class also requires outside reading, and some small amounts of research and writing. We also started our internships at the end of June, and we have to put in at least 40 hrs on-site by mid-August.
I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how much I’m enjoying the course work and the field. I really hadn’t done that much research into what being a paralegal entailed before leaping in, considering. But thus far, it seems like a good fit. Lots of research, analysis, and writing. The teaching in the program covers the spectrum from excellent to adequate, but is generally pretty good. The instructors are all practicing attorneys who just teach as a sidelight. One is a practicing paralegal; only one (the Legal Research guy) is a full-time teacher—he teaches at one of the law schools in town. They’re mostly men—only two women.
While none of the material is tremendously difficult in and of itself, it’s taught at a fast pace. And it’s a totally new field to me, with new thought patterns and an entirely new vocabulary. It’s like learning a new language. So I do have to study and work at it. I’m amazed at how much knowledge I’ve assimilated in just six weeks. Now as I read the business section of the newspaper, or the articles about the just-concluded Supreme Court term, I’m understanding stuff I never would have even glanced at before. Legal terms like stare decisis and res judicata just roll off my tongue. :-)
My fellow students seem to come in two demographic bands: young 20-somethings just out of undergraduate programs, looking for a marketable trade, and mid-life career-changers. Those of us in the 30-40 age range have mostly been laid off from other professions; there are a few slightly older folks who are re-entering the workforce after time at home or are starting a new career after retiring from the military. Most of the students are female; in my specialty-track section of 23 there are about 4 guys.
Well, that’s about all I have time and energy to write at present. Over the course of this holiday weekend I’ll try to add a few more posts—describing my impressions of San Diego itself, etc..
