what up

I promise to update this soon.  I usually post more when I actually have to study because I’m forced to sit down in quiet places for long periods of time.

I have a pretty manageable finals schedule.

Wed – Test in my graduate business course

Fri – Patent Prosecution assignment for grade due

Weekend – will be in New Yrok

Then an entire week to study

Tuesday – International Intellectual Property Final

Thursday – Property Crime in the Information Age Final

Saturday – Charlie and Karen’s Wedding

The February 2009 Texas Bar Exam Pass Rates are listed below for each school. Congratulations!

School:

BAYLOR —– 97.06%

U OF HOUSTON —– 89.19%

Texas TECH —– 88.57%

ST. MARY’S —– 87.50%

S.M.U. —– 83.61%

UT —– 83.33%

SOUTH TEXAS —– 80.67%

T.W.U. —– 77.36%

T.S.U. —– 40.74%

State Average: 81.52%

Evolution, Intelligent Design and Religion in the Schools

Erwin Chemerinsky came to speak at school today.  He’s a really famous ConLaw (Constitutional Law) professor and is the founding dean of the new UC Irvine School of Law starting classes this fall.  A TON of people in my ConLaw class bought his book as a supplement.  He proved his knowledge of cases today by siting a specific case and example for every single question asked.  He oozed knowlege while sounding overly nice.

Judge John E Jones III also came to speak.  He wasn’t as polished of a speaker but he’s a trial judge.  He knew what he was talking about and spoke mainly about his own experience during Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.

I think they both believed teaching intelligent design in school was a bad idea.  Not because religion is bad but because it is unconstitutional to mix government and religion.  It wasn’t super enlightening but hearing Chemerinsky talk was well worth it.

My general opinion?  Keep intelligent design out of school.  I leave it to the parents to teach faith at home and church.  Either way I think I could do a better job of explaining creation/design/evolution.  Though I would love to have my personal views taught in public schools, if I allow it to be taught I open the door to allow somebody else teach their version as well.  I’d rather keep it seperate.

sigh

Another round of tests that determine your grade for the entire semester.  See you in three weeks.

a few things

1.  Tonight I watched the Astros beat the Pirates.  My professor for my class Baseball and the Law gave me the tickets because he wasn’t using them.  They were great club level seats right on top of third base.  I got to see Hunter Pence hit a home run and Tejada hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, which won a lucky fan $25K.  It was a great way to wind down the week that was packed with journal work and on campus interviews.

2.  Hurricane Ike, its not like I live on the coast really.  I think we’ll be okay here in Houston.  Maybe a few powerlines go down, but Andrew is on the job haha.  Port Lavaca on the other hand, I hope for the best.  The last hurricane in 2003 took power out for a couple days and sadly took my basketball goal down.  I might just head over to Annie’s place to get a little more inland and away from living way up on the 4th floor if winds do start to pick up.

3.  I did have a third topic but it seems to have left my brain.

EDIT:  I remembered the third topic.  The first non-white person to play professional basketball here:

http://asternwarning.blogspot.com/2008/09/wat-nba-pioneer.html

School Sucks

Tuesday’s schedule…1030am to 800pm

at least I have a break for lunch from 12-1

and a mini gap 2-230

US Patent and Trademark Office

US Patent and Trademark Office Registration Examination for Patent Attorneys and Patent Agents

That’s a mouthful.  I call it the Patent Bar.  You don’t need to be a lawyer to take it.  If you pass it you get to be an agent until you are a lawyer.  It is 100 questions multiple choice administered in two three hour chunks of 50 questions each with an hour lunch.  I  specifically point out lunch because I was not aware going in that I would not be able to leave the testing center to buy and enjoy lunch.  So I had to rush to a close little gas station and just pick up a snack before starting the exam.  The test is given at Prometric testing centers.  Its just cubicle type computer testing center with cameras, finger prints and all the typical security.

Anyway:

Preliminary test results show that you passed the U.S. Patent And Trademark Office Registration Exam.  You will receive your official examination results from the USPTO in due course.

grade continued

So I got an email that gives the GPAs for our class rankings. This implies that the student services office has all our grades in. Of course, when I check online, it hasn’t been reported yet. So…yeah, they need to update the system cause I know they have the grade now.

grades

I’m still waiting on, not one, but TWO grades.  I took my last final on May 9th.  I’ve waited a month now.  I guess it won’t change my life, no matter what grade I make, but I’d just like to know.

So far the grades have been good, so let us hope the trend continues.  I really hated Constitutional law.  It was bland and boring.  I was glad I didn’t get a C in that class.  I actually pulled out a B and not a B-.  So woot.

studying

Henry commented on how I can study in public places because of the distractions. The answer is that blocking out more noise seems easier for me. I can study in a quiet environment and I can study in relatively noise filled environments. The worst is when I’m in a quiet environment and there is a single noise. I tend to focus on the single noise. Either way, my study habits are poor and the fact that I am studying at all, in a noisy or quiet environment is already a step in the right direction. Its similar to very out of shape people getting exercise by walking. It isn’t much but it’s a step in the right direction.

Of course the question really should be, why do I keep picking study places with WiFi, the greatest distraction.

Once again, I’m studying in a WiFi filled environment even louder than Panera Bread. Today I’m visiting one of my favorite places to eat, Freebirds.

The only thing I really wanted to mention was that today at Freebirds I got chump change. I got a monster burrito and a drink and got charged something and 23 cents. I recall Freebirds only dealing in quarters or higher. Maybe it’s just a Houston thing, but in Austin, I never got anything smaller than a quarter as change.