New Year

So the new year is coming up quick. I can't believe it's going to be 2008. When did time start to go by so quick? As of January 1, I can say "Next year I'll be a lawyer." That's crazy! Also, as of today I'm half way done with law school (presuming I pass all of my classes). My papers are in, my finals are taken, and my brain is dead.

Dave and I are leaving Sunday for his grandparent's in Modesto. We're going to spend a few days there with the *entire* family. I'm really looking forward to it. Dave's family tends to be pretty welcoming, even though we have different points of view on a lot of things. Then I leave Modesto on the 26th to head to Phoenix. I'll be there having Christmas again on the 27th and catching up with a lot of friends for sure. Then I head back to Seattle on the 31st. Until recently I didn't really realize how short of time I'm going to end up being in Phoenix. It's kind of sad, but since school ended so late this year, travel got all screwy.

Plus, since Dave and I got Lola I really don't want to be gone too long. Sadly, I'm sure I'm going to miss her like crazy. I mean I won't have a little cuddlebug to sleep with me all of the time.

Ohhh for Christmas Dave got me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings. Since he's working nights until we leave for Christmas, he told me yesterday morning he was going into work for a couple of hours and would probably be home by the time I was leaving for school. When I woke up he was home and told me he got me something from McDonalds. I jumped in the shower and when I got out, I went to the kitchen to get what I thought was one of McDonald's new burrito. To my surprise, there was actually a jewelry box with a bow on it in the bag. I was so excited and really gave me motivation to get through studying for community property yesterday. I'm so excited to put them in.

Sprint Sucks

This is my review that I wrote for Sprint on Yelp.com. I'm posting it here in hopes that it will turn up on searches and people will be advised. I plan on posting this in as many places as possible.

This is my experience trying to use Spring in Seattle. I say trying because half the time that's what it is. Given my phone is now just barely a year old but the quality of the service is diminishing quickly. My major complaints about the service in Seattle:

1) When they started airing the commercials that advertised they now had more coverage "from the mountains to the sound" my service became even crappier, which frustrates me.

2) My phone rings about 1/3 of the time it should. Most of the time I just get a notification I have a new voice mail. It's definitely not a problem with the fact I don't hear the phone ringing because it doesn't even tell me I've missed a call. I just randomly get a new voice mail.

3) On 4th of July I spent the *entire* day roaming while I was in downtown Seattle. This was ridiculous because there is no way I was outside of the service area.

4) Until recently, when I drove to central Washington, I didn't even know my phone had more than 3 bars in the service strength area. Really, I never have above 3 bars. Apparently it has up to 5.

5) I drop calls ALL of the time. My "signal fades" frequently when I have 3 bars of service and drops a call. Now I would think "maybe there's just a service gap while I'm walking down the street" but the problem is that I'm sitting in the same place sometimes and have been on the phone for 2 minutes and then it decides I no longer have service in that area. Sometimes when it does this my phone decides to roam too for the next 15 minutes (only stops after turning my phone on and off several times).

6) Customer service is a joke. They are unhelpful most of the time and can be quite rude. It's not my fault I sound like a 14 year old girl calling you sometimes. I'm 23 but just sound young. I know what I'm talking about and I know when you're lying to me so don't get angry because I correct you. On this note, I tried calling customer service earlier today for help with a problem. Their response was "Hello? Ma'am? I'm sorry I can't hear you! You're breaking up. Are you still there? Hello? Hello?" The funny part was that I could hear her perfectly the entire time.

7) Last but not least, they charge you in every little single place you can. I pay for unlimited internet. I used AIM for free. Well every time somebody would send me a response message, I would get a text message telling me I have a new IM. Well this was fabulous because not only was I using up my internet usage (thank goodness it was unlimited) but I was ALSO getting charged for a text message. In the end, I stopped using the IM because my text messages were getting to be excessive. When I called customer service to ask if there was any way to turn that off, I was kindly informed by what sounded to be an 18 year old girl that nope,she had the same problem, and she canceled her Sprint contract because she had many of the same problems.

So what's the point of all this? Don't waste time getting Sprint in Seattle. Go for a company that actually has service!

Shopping

Went downtown today to go shopping for a birthday present. I feel like I'm not very good at buying gifts when I haven't known the person very long. I did my best though. It was raining quite hard and I realized that the art of umbrella etiquette is lost on all visitors to Seattle. It might even be worth writing an instruction guide so that people figure out how to use umbrellas properly in Seattle. I'm kind of bummed because I think I'm going to end up missing the Eastlake Pub Crawl tomorrow. I'm sure I'll figure something out though. While I was downtown I got myself a new wallet. It's the first time I've spent more than like $10 on a wallet ever. I'm kind of excited about having something a bit nicer.

Oh and get this. I called Sprint's customer service to ask them a question about my plan but they couldn't hear me because I was breaking up and had no service. Even though I could hear her perfectly fine and I had 3 bars out of 5. It was hilarious. Sprint sucks sooo much. I'm hoping to maybe end my contract early and go to a company that actually has service. I mean when I can't get your customer service people on the phone because I have no service, you know you're in trouble.

Thoughts

I got my tentative class rank and it highly disappointed me. Next semester I'm working super hard in all of my classes and I'm going to drag my rank up.

Also, decided that I was tired of free photo sites so went with a Flickr Pro account. Excited to start using it. Hoping to make good use of my "free" time in August.

Class is hard to focus on tonight.

Why?

Why is it so freakin' hard to keep concentration when you're in law school? In undergrad Jamie and I would sit in Coffee Xchange for hours and do homework. Now I sit in the library and I can't keep my focus for more than like 10 minutes at a time. I wonder if it's possible that law school causes the onset of ADD. I would think it might even cause ADHD but I have no energy ever, so the hyperactivity part of that equation is out.

On another note, I only have 5 classes left of evidence. *YAY* Also, since it's almost the beginning of August all of my friends who have been out of the country & state will be coming back. Not that people haven't been in Seattle all this time, I just haven't had the time to see them. I'm hoping that with no night class in August and just working during the day I'll be able to find time to see people who I haven't seen since the end of finals. I miss my Section B friends!

Freaks Me Out

I figure if I leave blogger open in the background maybe I'll think to write when I have more down time. Just a few thoughts of the day:

1) I think the law school is trying to freeze it's student to death. Going to the bathroom in the law school is like going to the bathroom in Antarctica sometimes. I always come out of it freezing, and frequently shivering. Also, the higher up in floors you go, the less hot water the bathrooms have. Strange.

2) It always catches me off guard when I'm in a class of 60+ people and a professor remembers my name. Especially one with Parkinson's. Talk about having a great mind! I'm always impressed when people can remember names with faces. I'm working on getting better at it and hopefully will master it so I can network better in the future.

A New Normal

Wow, summer has sure flown by. I think it's because I've been keeping so busy - though not always voluntarily. I can hardly believe I have just over a week left of evidence and in 2 weeks I'll be done with class for the summer. That means 26 days of nothing school related to do. Okay, that's a lie. When you're in law school there's always something school related to do. Toward the end of August I'll have to do all my first day assignments (that's right they give us homework before school even starts). I also need to spend some time researching OCI (On Campus Interviewing) and getting my job materials ready. August 27, the first day of school, is when the great job hunt begins. I'll be looking for work for the summer and possibly even for the spring semester. Everybody makes it sound a bit scary, but all the interviews I did for jobs this summer went well, so I'm hoping to not get too nervous.

Why is this little entry entitled "A New Normal?" Well it's because there's been a big shift in my life. I have now officially moved in with Dave. It is so nice not to have to figure out logistics of when I'm going to see him next or if I spend a night there when I'm going to go home for clothes for the next day or anything like that. It's nice knowing that when the day is over I'm going to see him. The apartment is a little cramped since I did move my fully furnished apartment into his fully furnished apartment, but we're making it work. It's been great so far and I look forward to keeping it going.

Okay, back to work, since that's where I am. Hopefully I'll start finding more time to update this. Otherwise, I'll continue on as normal with random posts whenever the mood strikes :)

Back to (somewhat) normal

So after a string of many, many visitors (on both my end and Dave's) my life is somewhat settling down. AJ and Josh left yesterday and I was sad to see them go. It's always nice having people in town and getting to reconnect. Though no matter who it is, it always feels a bit like life is interrupted. I'm a person who loves routine and always get a bit flustered when that gets thrown off...

Speaking of routine, I have a kind of new routine to get used to. I'm officially moved into Dave's. The furniture is there, my clothes are there, and all that is left at my apartment are odds and ends and some laundry to do. This morning it was weird waking up in my own bed but in a different apartment. And then since there was a lot of shuffling of cars I ended up taking the bus to school. I felt like a real city person getting up, taking my stuff on the bus, and walking to school with no real stops (like an apartment) in between. Tomorrow will be even more strange when I just scooter to school without stopping at the apartment.

I'm looking forward to the weekend (though another disruption in my lovely routine) when Dave and I go to Leavenworth. It's my first big drive since the September 11th Cruise and this one will be much bigger. I'm sure there will be a *ton* of photos that will be posted after my return. Ahh, well I'm posting at work and just actually got something to do.

Moving

Slowly I realize I have this big, adult life that I don't know where it came from. On Saturday I'm moving into Dave's apartment until his lease is up, in October. I also am somehow managing to hold down a job, take a night class, and entertain an endless chain of out of town guests. I can honestly say that I will be thankful for July when all the craziness is over. In the past month I have taken finals, had my parents in town, started work, started a night class, spent time with Dave's friend visiting from Colorado, attempted to learn to drive my car, and now have more visitors. Before the month is over, I will have moved out of my apartment and gone to Leavenworth for 3 days. Hopefully after 4th of July life will be somewhat sane and I will have time to see all of my Seattle friends who are being neglected due to lack of time!

New Car

So as illustrative by the pictures and the title, I bought a (new to me) car. It's an 88 Jetta GLi. It needs some work but it was a great deal and I have a built-in mechanic in my boyfriend. I'm super excited by it and can't wait to drive it. It has a full Recaro interior. How great is that!?! Oh and that's right, I bought a car I can't drive. It's a stick and I'm quite the best at driving stick yet. I don't think it will be an issue to learn but I'm sure the hills will provide quite a challenge. Nothing I'm not up for though.

Spring break was last week and it was nice to have a break from school. Jamie was in town from Saturday morning (4 AM) until Wednesday afternoon. We had a great time. On Saturday we hung out, caught up, and met Dave for dinner at Rosita's. Sunday Dave took us for a drive out to Snoqualmie and around Seattle and out to Alki. It was a great day for a drive. Then Dave made a nice roast for dinner for Jamie and I. We ended up having a few drinks at Pazzo's and having Jamie and Dave getting to know each other. Monday Jamie and I went shopping. I got a fabulous dress and heels. I'm so excited to wear them out! Tuesday I rented a rental car and drove down to the Point Defiance Zoo. It was great and we had tons of fun. Wednesday we just mostly hung out and drove around Seattle a bit until it was time to take her to the airport.

Time to watch some TV and take some Nyquill for the cold and check out for the evening.

<3

Head over heels in love <3 with life, Dave, and my new car.

Hmmm....

So, as normal, it's been a while. Dave has started working nights. He's only been doing it since Tuesday, but I'm hoping it goes well. He's liking not being stuck in the shop. I miss getting to see him every night, but did get to see him much more than I expected over the weekend. His hours are 11 PM until 8 AM. I tend to get to talk to him a bit in the morning when he gets home and sometimes before he leaves for work. I'm a little sad he'll be doing it while Jamie is here and she probably won't get to hang out with him as much, but at the same time for that week I have somebody to keep me company.

We have decided we're for sure moving in together. This weekend we were talking about maybe renting a house a bit further South from the school. Wherever we end up, we're going to try to find a place that accepts dogs. If his place accepted dogs, I'm sure we would have had one already.

School is getting stressful. My grades weren't as stellar as I had hoped last semester and I'm hoping to pull them up this semester. Well it's actually time to go get ready for school. :)