Not having web access sucks

For several months, I relied on the generosity of neighbors with wireless routers. But alas, the little lock icon with the deadly words "security enabled wireless network began to appear," and my freeloading came to an end. So one of my friends yesterday quipped, "so that's why you're not online anymore." Last week I called Comcast to set up high speed internet service, and yesterday the cable modem arrived. So now my apartment is fully equipped with more wires and cables, all still without internet access. I spent at least three hours on the phone with the comcast folks being bounced back and forth trying to get my connection set up, all to no avail. Next week a technician has to come by. Yay!

Made me realize how much time I waste online all the time. Right now, at work, I should be working. But now the time I waste at home online has to be made up for by wasting time at work while the boss isn't in the office. Luckily today is a shortened day. I'm leaving for NY after work to go home for the weekend.

Yesterday was a decent day at work. My boss settled a major case, so we all got bonuses. We were all in his office when we started making fun of Tom Cruise and the rest of the freaky Scientologists. He went to wikipedia and started reading some of the bizarro beliefs that those folks have, including the crap about Thetans and a race of aliens being wiped out by hydrogen bombs. Interesting religion... interesting in a 'what the hell is wrong with you people' sort of way.

I got really annoyed yesterday. I registered for a real estate finance class for next semester with this renouned professor at Emory, Professor Frank Alexander. I met him once before and was thoroughly impressed by him, so I was really looking forward to his class. Unfortunatly, there were issues with the Deanship at Emory, and the previous dean stepped down. Professor Alexander was offered the interm deanship and took it. Unfortunately, this meant that he's no longer teaching Real Estate Finance. Now i'm stuck deciding what the hell to do.

I'm really mixed about going back to school for the second year. First year was torture, but it is over. Next year will be more difficult because of the workload plus full time job hunting. But I'll be taking classes that I think will be far more interesting and up my alley. Plus I chose these classes. Hopefully it'll be better. I've also heard about certain friends and classmates who are transferring out. Best wishes to them.

The Home-stretch

I can't believe it's toward the end of July already. This summer has definitely whizzed by. It was definitely a well needed break from the torture of the first year of law school. I have to say, the past scholastic year had definitely included some of the worst, and some of the best, moments of my life. This summer was a certain counterbalance and stabilizer to the past year.

Work has been getting more mundane as of late. For the past two weeks or so, my boss gave me a big research assignment to do for a mediation coming up. It's a case involving breach of contract, some intellectual property, that sort of fun stuff. It made me realize more than anything that there's no way in hell I ever want to be a litigator. It's odd, this past year, I thought Civil Procedure was fascinating. The court system, the rules, all are chess pieces that you use to win your case. But in reality, it's a dirty and destructive game. You honestly have to be a real bastard to be a good litigator.

Earlier today, my boss had me in his office, I mentioned some of the career fairs coming up in the next few weeks for which I'm taking time off. One interview I have coming up is with a litigation practice. He openly and bluntly said to me that I should stay away from litigation because I don't have the personality for it. He's right. He didn't mean it in an insulting way, because he openly and bluntly followed up with the comment that I'm definitely cut out to be a transactional lawyer. He said that's where my skills are most prone and where I'd be most successful. I hope he's right. He also gave me a lot of warnings about joining the real estate field, as it's about to crash for the next 7-20 years. He also warned me to take 'terrorism' concerns into hand if I'm planning on practicing in NY, LA, or DC. Gotta love omnibus warnings along those lines.

I'm going home this weekend for Yon and Sarah's wedding. They're the first of my friends to be getting married, and quite honestly, I'm really excited for them. OVer the past few years, ever since Yon's met Sarah, a better side of him has definitely come out. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him as much, but it's a worthwile price considering he's finally happy. So wedding season has officially begun, with at least 4 other friends of mine on deck to tie the noose.

I can't imagine being married at this point in my life. Mainly because I feel like my life hasn't settled down as of yet. I'm still in school, I have no idea where my career path will take me. I have no idea of the risks that lie ahead. I have no idea what I'll be like a few years down the line, or where I'll be in the years ahead. I don't want to be one of those early to marry early to divorce type of folks. But nor do I want to become an aging hipster trying to pick up 18 year olds either.

Last month, I had a meeting with the officers and alumni of a Legal Fraternity that some classmates and I are taking over at Emory next year. One of these alum is a practicing attorney who recently had a child. He was joking around about marriage, that when folks first marry, they have all sorts of cutsie nicknames for one another like 'schmoopy' and 'honey' and whatever. He said that a litte down the line, the nicknames become 'dream-killer' and 'ball-breaker.' On Law and Order, there was one episode of a murder taking place amongst a same-sex couple fighting over an adoption and subsequent separation. The final send off dealt with an ADA saying, "I think they should be allowed to marry... why should they not be miserable like the rest of us?"

Why such anger and hate? Why are people so fundamentally annoyed at the concept of long term commitment? As a male, I understand the desire not to commit, but I also know the other side of the fence isn't so nice either. Life is weird. People are weird. Makes you wonder whether the traditional Indian system of arranged marriage is all that bad. They figure that left to make the decision on your own, you'll wind up miserable anyway, so why not make it easier and just appoint your dream killer?

But there is hope. The institution has survived for thousands of years. There must be an upside to it.

Who are the ignorant ones?

I'm bored. For some reason, I always wind up falling into these stretches of apathy and numbness where I don't feel like doing anything. I can't think of anything better to do than to just lie still and stare at the ceiling. Unfortunatly here at work, the best I can do while in a mood like this is to stare at the computer screen and try to think of something interesting to write or say.

I got really pissed off yesterday. Earlier this week, a columnist in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote an op-ed piece titled, "Terrorism and Ignorance." The gist of the article was that the Islamic world doesn't hate us for our freedoms like Bush and his yes-men claim, but rather they hate us because we don't even understand their initial gripes with us (most notably, US foreign policy). Some jerk from Marietta wrote a letter which the AJC published yesterday that was some of the most racist garbage I could imagine. The letter was implying that the journalist was the ignorant one, and went on to claim that Islam is an inherently violent religion ever since its inception, and Muhammed forcibly converted the masses to Islam. Moreover, this idiot claimed that Islam has always threatened the west. And ironically, the idiot who wrote the letter was claiming that others are ignorant.

A little background on early Islam - when Muhammed came to prominence, the Arabian peninsula was a horribly violent and continuously warring hell-hole. Muhammed gained a following through preaching a message of tolerance and practicality. It wasn't as pacifistic as Christ's 'Turn the other cheek,' ideology, but it was far more humane than anything else existing in the region at the time. Islam saw war as an inevitability that must be fought from time to time, so the religion put restrictions on its use. Holy war was only for defensive purposes, you had to be attacked first. If the other side offered peace or a truce, you were bound to take it, no matter how lousy the terms. Dealing with POW's and ransom, you were required to deal in good faith and procure the release of the POW's you held. In the end, Islam was the least belligerant of the ideologies existing in the region at the time.

Forcible conversion? That's a load of crap. When islam spread to the rest of the region, it was the religion of the elite conquerors. Nobody was forced to convert. A protection tax was levied on non-Muslims, but in return, they received military protection and social protection. When Muhammed was invited to Medina, marking the Hijra that begins the Muslim calendar, he was invited there because he was known to be a just and capable ruler who would bring peace amongst the clashing groups. He did just that. In Medina, the Christian and Jewish tribes there were granted equal protection and rights, and there was a collective defense treaty. Two of the Jewish tribes betrayed Muhammed and sold him out to the Meccans, and after the war was fought, Muhammed had those two tribes disbanded. The men were executed, the women and children were sold off into slavery. Sounds harsh, but at the time, the standard practice would have been to kill everyone in the betraying tribe. It was the most practical and humane decision that could have been made. DId this make Muhammed anti-Jewish? Absolutly not. It was only those two tribes that were destroyed. Smaller Jewish tribes that stood by Muhammed continued to enjoy his protection and friendship in Medina and Mecca. When Medina was under attack by the Meccans, a Rabbi stood at Muhammed's side and took to arms along side of him. When Mecca surrendered to Muhammed, no blood was shed, and nobody was forced to convert.

Yes this idiot who wrote the letter feels that he's the enlightened one and that everyone else is ignorant. It's lovely how this "religious" area called the bible belt is so "enlightened." Christ preached pacificism, to love your neighbor, love your enemy, show compassion, and other very beautiful messages. These so called bible belt residents chose to start the Ku Klux Klan, which claimed to be a Christian organization and used Protestant churches as major recruiting stations for decades was also an organization that committed mass terror and murder. The Crusades were entirely an assault by the Christian west on the Islamic world. When Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusading armies, the first thing they did was massacre the Jewish quarter of the city and turned it into a river of blood. It's a good thing that these "Christians" heeded the message of Christ to turn the other cheek and love their enemies. Luckily our extremely Christian president remembers that message... oh wait?

Yet people insist that it's only the Islamic world that's in a situation of ignorance today. Every religious community today seems to keep forgetting to remind itself why its philosophy was introduced to begin with. Muhammed united a warring and chaotic peninsula into a pragmatic and peaceful place that reached new heights of civilization in record time. Christ introduced his message at a time of extreme hedonism and indifference toward the common man. Moses did the same in leading his people out of slavery. Instead, today's messages have been dumbed down and turned into petty goals. Kill the unbelievers, claim the land, convert the masses so they can realize the evils of believing in evolution.

What pisses me off most is the entire 10 Commandments display cases. The supreme court, very wisely, ruled recently that it was not constitutional to display them at court houses as a violation of the Establishment Clause, but the context must be examined first. People are yelling and screaming about how it's a violation of free practice of religion and free speech. Ann Coulter, one of the especially wise ones of our day, wrote another piece blasting the censorship of the 10 commandments while showing all sorts of obscene and sexually explicit art that is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts using taxpayer money. Well, Ann, were any of those explicit artworks displayed in federal courthouses? Is anyone trying to censor the display of the 10 commandments in Church or in a private residence? No. Those are nice and secure. If obscene art was displayed in the federal courts, I'm sure it would be censored just like the commandments displays.

Why is our world becomming more and more intollerant? The Islamic world is becomming increasingly intolerant the more it is threatened and repressed by the west. The west is becomming increasingly militant and intollerant the more it is threatened by the growth of Muslim extremism. In this day and age where it is possible to immediately send a message around the world in less than a second, why is it so unbelieveably hard to actually communicate good ideas to one another? People are sending these messages all the time, but it looks like nobody is bothering to listen to them and deal with them. People are too concerned with their safety that they want to fight fire with fire. Well hello, water puts out fire, not more fire. If there are extremists spreading a message of hate and violence, counter with a message of reason an moderation, not hate and violence of your own.

I wonder what the world will look like 50 years from now. For some reason, I'm not so sure it will be the utopia some of us would like to envision.