In this episode: telemarketers, Kubuntu 9.0.4, and 3L grades!

I'm studying for Federal Courts. The final exam is Wednesday. It is the final final--graduation is Friday.

So what I'm saying is, if you're here looking for quality reading material, I apologize. Blogging, as fun as it is, takes time, which is sort of at a premium these days. Check back in about two weeks, I'll probably have something for you then.

That is all.

No, not that kind of citation!

So, small but exciting event... I made a small update to my Selected Publications page. My article in the BYU Law Review was quoted by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut! I'm honored that a federal court would consider me quotable.

In related news, I am actually presenting some of the quoted paper at a conference in Virginia in April. Should be fun!

So! The BYU Law Review has selected a new Board. Other than some basic training for my successors, I am done with Law Review. It was an educational and often entertaining experience; I didn't accomplish everything I'd hoped, but I think I came pretty close. And the new Board should do quite well.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a funny (in retrospect...) conversation with a couple of kibitzing 1Ls. I had (in a separate conversation with a somewhat brighter 2L) sweepingly generalized this year's presidential election as a choice between "stupid hope" and "stupid fear." The 2L asked me whether it was "really" stupid fear, suggesting that we may not know how many terrorist attacks have been prevented since the Towers went down. I responded that, no, I could hardly claim epistemic certainty about the absence of theoretical events--

I know what you're thinking.

"But Kenny! Didn't you say you were never going to interview with a law firm ever again?"

I don't talk much about Jack Thompson. He's a bit of a kook, a classic example of excessive zeal in a questionable cause. I mentioned him once, to discuss the civility of his filings, but despite his grotesque obsession with censorship, making fun of him often feels like the moral equivalent of beating up an infant or mocking someone with a severe mental handicap. The man is a walking caricature who seems incapable of recognizing how ridiculous he is. He's finally been disbarred for his antics, though, and I just have to share the jokes...

Law school is the one thing I've ever said I'd never do. While I (obviously) got over that particular commitment, I have never felt entirely at home in the law school environment. Most of my peers want more practicality; I'd like more theory. My peers think law is the best, most effective way to structure human relationships; I am frequently suspicious of the law and its tendency to serve as an instrument for imposing one's will on others. Most of my peers are bright and interesting and socially adept; I'm bright and interesting and, let's face it, awkward beyond belief.

Every summer for several years now, my mother-in-law's extended family has gathered at Bear Lake for a few days of fun at the lake. We've stayed at various places, but last summer reservations were made, a full year in advance, for this years festivities to occur at a lakeside condominium.

I've mentioned in the past that old law school saying, "First year they scare you to death, second year they work you to death, and third year they bore you to death." I was not actually scared my first year--more disappointed, I guess--but my second year did just about kill me. Will the upcoming year be as dull as everyone says? Let's take a look at my schedule and see...