Law Decks: Great Way To Master The Bar Exam

In the race to study and pass the bar exam, there are a number of decisions you have to make. Do you take the test in July or February? Do you take one or more bar reviews? What other bar exam study aids do you buy? How much money can you spend?

The problem is you want to have enough and the right study materials. But if you get too many, you can get overloaded and unable to use them all. One of the best study aids I found for the bar exam is Law Decks flashcards. It is a set of 800 cards color coded to the six MBE subjects.

I thought the flashcards were so good because the questions are very much like the BarBri questions. But the answers are shorter and sweeter and more to point, thus easier to commit to memory. When you are studying for the bar exam, efficiency is the goal, and the cards allowed me to increase my question speed too. I marked the ones I missed and then reviewed those again in the days right before the exam. I think Law Decks is one of the reasons I passed the exam. And the very reasonable price is great too.


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I'm Sworn In and Licensed--Ready To Go!

It's official--I'm a lawyer now. I got my temporary license in April, was sworn in a few weeks ago, and now I am a real attorney. Do I feel like a real attorney? I have to admit--no. I am not sure why. Maybe I am still shell shocked from learning that I passed the bar. Maybe I am still exhausted from almost five years of no sleep. Maybe because I am still in business and not working in a law firm with other attorneys. Am I thrilled? Absolutely. I am proud of my accomplishment and would do it again in a split second. As much as I wanted to go to law school and as much as I went through to get to the finish line, I know it was the right thing for me to do.

BarBri Ipod The Way To Go For Those At A Distance

My law school pulls in students from all over the state and a neighboring state. I am amazed at the dedication they have to drive great distances to and from class over a four or more year period. Usually they only drive to school a couple of days a week, so when it comes to bar review, it is a different story. Bar review is held everyday for about six weeks, and no one wants to drive that much. So, the BarBri ipod is a good alternative for them.

I did not use the ipod, since I live a stone's throw from school, but some of my friends did. They really liked it. Not only did they not have to drive an hour or more everyday, they could listen to the lectures at their leisure. The only problem is you have to be self motivated and get the ipod out of the box! But the beauty is you can listen to the lectures over and over.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling: A Horrifying Story

I have been reading updates about the two detained U.S. journalists in North Korea--Euna Lee and Laura Ling--and I feel devastated. I have never met either one of them, but my heart is torn as a fellow human being and journalist. It's always bad to be arrested in another country, but this 12-year prison sentence has to be brutal. The sentence calls for hard labor. Looking on the internet, I found some information that hard labor can include working until starvation or humiliating nudity. What a nightmare. Let's work hard to bring them home. And I have heard that Current TV is working behind the scene on this. Let's hope so.

Update: I just read an article by the Christian Science Monitor, dated June 11, 2009. In that article, it was mentioned that the two women would probably not be held in a "gulag," despited the reference to hard labor. But that their existence there would still be "awful," and they would get little to eat.

Has David Letterman Had His "Imus" Moment?

When Don Imus made his disparaging remarks about the Rutgers womens basketball team, people rightly turned him off. Calling them nappy headed hos was not only ridiculous, it was appalling. What was hard to understand is why he said it. He had been in the broadcasting business for eons and should know how far, and no further, he should go. The recent incident with David Letterman joking about Sarah Palin's daughter getting knocked up by A-Rod has somewhat of a similar feel. In this case, most of the feel comes from Palin's reaction to his comments than the comments themselves. Palin said Letterman was talking about her 14-year-old daughter; he says he was talking about her 18-year-old daughter Bristol who had been pregnant out of wedlock. Looking at the TV clip, you couldn't tell if it was Willow or Bristol--they look so much alike. Part of the difference is that Letterman's comments were truly funny, whereas Imus' feel way short. Imus' comments were not funny but came off as the error of a nonthinking, careless man. Imus was directly saying something derogatory about the girls on the team; whereas Letterman was not saying anything derogatory about the Palin girl herself. So no, I don't think this is Letterman's Imus' moment. But Palin appears poised to milk it for all it is worth. The problem is she is still inarticulate and will not gain much by this.

Arrghh I Hate The Way I Look

The bad part about being overweight and out of shape is how I look in photos. Photos last forever, so they need to be darn good. And my photos lately--of my graduation, my swearing in, etc.--are just terrible. Just dog terrible. Not the kind of thing you want to see in perpetuity. I have yet to talk to my pharmacist or doctor about diet pills. I want to soon--I just need to cut down my eating and work out. I have taken a walk after work the last two nights. A good start. But I need to do much more.

I Need To Listen To Music Again--What Do I Buy?

I really need to get rid of my stereo. The one I was so proud to buy about 10 years ago. Or was it 12 years ago? The one that still plays CDs well, but all of the cassette tape buttons are jammed. Which is a shame, because I still have a lot of great cassettes that I never replaced with CDs. The only time I used my stereo during law school was when I popped in a study tape or CD on some subject like remedies, evidence, criminal law or contracts. Listening to music became a foreign idea. But now my studying is behind me, or at least that kind of studying, and I need and want to listen to music again. The music in me. So I went to look at electronics the other night, almost fearfully, not sure what there is even to buy these days. I knew ipods were an option, but what else is out there now? Much to my relief, there are still some tabletop stereo systems and even some bonafide boomboxes. Yippee! Not that I don't want an ipod, but for right now I may still go with a tabletop version.

Now On Facebook

I have taken my social networks to the next level--I have joined Facebook. I have been on LinkedIn, and friends have been after me to get on FB. But with school and the bar exam, there was no time. So far, I really like it. It could be a time suck though, so I have to be careful. After all, I need time for my blogging, and I need to do more of that too. Too much internet, too little time. One annoying thing though--FB has already given me a warning for adding too many people as friends too soon. Whaaa???? They said this can be abusive. I guess they are talking about spamming people. But when you belong to a million groups like I do, you can a lot of friends very quickly. Record time actually. Ticks me off. I read in their help section where a lot of other people are mad about this too. Some people have actually been blocked from adding others and they are not told how long the block lasts. Not a good way to run customer service, for sure.

Colon Cleanser: Another Way To Lose Weight

I am anxious to lose weight, but I have not considered a colon cleanser yet. A colon cleanser helps you lose weight by clearing out the junk in your intestines, and it rids you of toxins and other impurities. I am sure it is worthwhile--the mother of a friend of mine died from colon cancer, and my friend now has been using a colon cleanser for some time. She likes it, and I value her opinion. I have heard the stories about what people store in their colons, and to be honest, it is pretty yucky. I don't know if I will actually do this or not, but it is worth considering.

Rubber Stamp Art

I just visited the Andy Warhol museum, and I am truly amazed at his creative ability. Of course I had seen his art before on TV and in print, but seeing it in person is so much better. A lot of people claim they don't like his stuff, or that he is not really an artist, but there is nothing further from the truth. He came from an illustration and graphic art background, and that is the basis of his art. Because of my publication background, I particularly like it. I don't think he used custom rubber stamps in his art, but I could see getting some neat stamps and creating art by stamping things all over a box or a canvas. It is amazing how being around a creative person or a creative person's work can bring out the creativity in you.