Law Students

More on everyday negotiation

Posted on July 19, 2010
I have had two house-related conversations lately (one with the bank, one with the moving company) that I thought would be contentious, but I didn't even have to pull out my ammunition. All I had to do was explain what I wanted and why, and they agreed...

Three years, four months, and change

Posted on July 12, 2010
Dear K,You are forty-and-a-half months old. In some ways, you haven't changed at all. You've always been a playful, cuddly little boy who loves music and books and never stops moving. Ever since we started letting you play Beatles Rock Band, you've been picking up everything you see and pretending it's a guitar...

The real estate saga, Part IV: Money

Posted on July 02, 2010
We were going to take out a bridge loan to help with the down payment for the new house, and pay it off once our current house sold. That would take some of the pressure off of selling our house. The bank told us it would be no problem. Today we got a call saying that the bridge loan would be half the amount we expected...

The real estate saga: Part III

Posted on June 26, 2010
Looking over my past blog posts, I realize that I've been spending a lot of time over the last year thinking about real estate. Unfortunately for people who read this blog, I've been writing about it a lot too. I think real estate as a blogging topic is a lot like babies: you only care about the minutiae if you're going through it too...

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Men and women and making partner

Posted on June 23, 2010
Excerpt from an interview with Suzanne Graeser, a corporate partner at MoFo, on Ms. JD:What are your thoughts on the retaining women in corporate law practice?I am very aware of the lack of female partners in corporate law, and it has been getting progressively worse...

Whimsy, under wraps

Posted on June 04, 2010
Dear Ana,I've been meaning to email you back, but somehow it turned into this blog post instead.In eighth grade, my English teacher taught us how to write. Really write. That year, I churned out creative stories, personal narratives, persuasive essays, and analytical pieces...

How to ask

Posted on June 02, 2010
I was surprised to receive several responses to my three-sentence post about reducing my cable bill. Most were along the lines of, "How did you do that?"A short and simple guide to (this kind of) negotiation:1. Figure out what concrete actions or results you want, and what a reasonable alternative would be...

K the oracle

Posted on May 20, 2010
During a playdate at a friend's house, we were asking the kids about animal noises when their daughter uttered an unfamiliar phrase: "I don't know."The only time I hear "I don't know" come out of K's mouth is when he doesn't feel like answering questions like, "What did you do at school today?" (Which I consider to be an advanced usage of "I don't know" -- I didn't figure out how to evade annoying questions like that until I was much older...

Dig up St. Joseph

Posted on May 14, 2010
Last fall, interest rates were low, the housing tax credit was in effect, and we were talking about expanding our family. We were happy in our two-bedroom house, and thought about trying to rejigger it to be a three-bedroom, but it seemed like the real estate gods were giving us a nudge...

Law school saved me thirty dollars a month

Posted on May 10, 2010
I just got off the phone with the cable company, which had sent us a letter saying they were increasing our rate by $25 a month. By the end of the phone call, they agreed to reduce our rate by $5 a month instead.I wonder if the negotiating skills I picked up in law school will eventually be enough to offset my monthly loan payments.

Annabel Scheme giveaway

Posted on May 03, 2010
We're moving. I have to clean out my bookshelves.Who wants this awesome book? In its original supercool packaging, and signed by the author, Robin Sloan!Seriously, it's a great book -- the only reason I'm giving it away is that I had four copies and I gave two of them away to good homes, and I'm keeping one...

Mortgage

Posted on April 28, 2010
We got a mortgage pre-approval letter today. We're considering making an offer on a house.On one hand, it's a great house in my favorite neighborhood in town, with several neighbors we already know and like. It's spacious and is in move-in condition...

To do in eight years

Posted on April 27, 2010
I saw an ad for an upcoming performance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and thought how long it had been since I'd been to a professional orchestra concert. (The last time was when I was pregnant, and I fell asleep halfway through.) Then I thought it would be fun to find out in advance what pieces they're playing and try to play them myself before the concert...

Weekend cooking: Brunch!

Posted on April 18, 2010
For over a year now, we've been saying, "One of these days, we should have a party and invite everyone we know." But we never actually do that, in part because our schedule is unpredictable. So I decided that we should just start inviting a handful of people over here and there, even if it's just a few days in advance, when we think we'll have free time over the weekend...

My birthday

Posted on April 13, 2010
I woke up at 2 a.m. to K crying. He was crying because his cup of water was on the table next to his bed, while he was in his bed. I handed him the water and didn't get back to sleep for the rest of the night. It was like studying for the bar exam all over again: as soon as I got in bed, the twenty things I hadn't made time to do rushed into my head and wouldn't leave until I got up to do them...

How do you feel

Posted on April 11, 2010
Around here, we talk about our feelings a lot. I ask K how he's feeling throughout the day, so he can catch himself feeling happy or we can figure out why he's not. As he gets older, he's been turning the tables on me. In particular, when I betray the slightest hint of annoyance, he looks into my eyes and asks, "How do you feel?" I often use a conversation about K's feelings to head off fussing and whining...

Weekend baking: Leek tart and morning glory muffins

Posted on March 28, 2010
First, Saturday morning breakfast: fairly healthy mini-muffins (or "cupcakes," as K called them, which is fine with me if it gets him excited). This was my first foray into using my food processor attachments, even though I've had the food processor for about eight years now...

Quality time

Posted on March 24, 2010
After the debate over at Cee's about balancing our time between our kids and our careers, and her recent post about quality time, I thought about the time I spend with K during the week. We're together about 3-4 hours a day on a typical weekday. Which, honestly, isn't great...

Weekend cooking: Scallion pancakes

Posted on March 21, 2010
Courtesy of Ming Tsai, and just as good as the Chinese restaurant version! I used a LOT less oil than he suggested, and also added some chili oil on the dough along with the sesame oil.These have been on my to-make list forever. They're so simple and use so few ingredients, yet they seem like something you couldn't possibly make at home...

Current favorite game: Letter Petectives

Posted on March 17, 2010
Today he kept making me spell "gopher."

Rugelach again

Posted on March 16, 2010
Enough career pondering... now back to baking.My third batch since Christmas, this time with strawberry jam and walnuts. These are pre-baking -- I had the dough sitting around for a while and didn't want to keep it in the fridge too much longer, so I decided to prepare and quick-freeze them instead of baking them...

Ambition

Posted on March 15, 2010
Over lunch one day, talk turned to the associates who were laid off last year and what they were doing now. A few are working for smaller firms. One or two have left the profession. Several are working for the government, legal services, or nonprofits...

More baking

Posted on March 14, 2010
I have a loaf of Irish Soda Bread in the oven, in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to the recipe (a chronic habit) and swapped the amounts of leavening, then tried to compensate by haphazardly scooping out baking soda...

Baked oatmeal

Posted on March 14, 2010
Instead of our usual Sunday-morning popovers, this morning I made baked oatmeal. (I also found a pumpkin baked oatmeal recipe, which sounds even better, but I didn't want to open a whole can of pumpkin and only use half of it.) It was delicious, and not that much worse for you than regular oatmeal...

Betsy's Wedding

Posted on March 12, 2010
After LL's post about childhood books where she mentioned the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, I became obsessed with rereading the Betsy books. I just finished all ten of them, plus "Carney's House Party" and "Emily of Deep Valley," and loved reading them again -- until the end...

Dining out

Posted on March 12, 2010
JW gave a big speech at a conference today and didn't get home until late. I left work early to pick up K. Holding hands, we walked to a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood. He sat across the table from me and ate dumplings and pea shoots with rice and told me about his day...

Update

Posted on March 05, 2010
After a while of not blogging because I didn't have time or enough that I cared to write about, I entered a period of not blogging because it was too daunting to start again. So here's my quick summary of the past few weeks: Work stuff: Lots to say, but nothing I can talk about...

Train cake

Posted on February 28, 2010
Train cake! Only partially candled in this picture. Decorating is still not my forte, but I think I'm getting better each year. By his high school graduation, I'll be ready for tiers and a giant fondant model of K.K was very excited and kept asking to eat his cake, but ended up not touching the cake and instead eating all the wheels (gummy Lifesavers)...

The licking song

Posted on February 26, 2010
K is running and singing, as usual. He rarely does one without the other. "Da da DA da da da DA DA... Mommy, lick something!""Lick something?""Like this," he says, indicating the bathroom door."I'm not going to lick that.""Why not?""Why do you want me to lick that?""Da da da DA DA DA da da da DA DA DA...

Headhunted

Posted on February 01, 2010
I got my first headhunter call today! I told the guy, "You know I'm a first-year, right?" It's nice to feel wanted, even though I'm not planning to go anywhere. (Plus, the firm he was calling about laid off half their first-year class a year ago! That's why they're low on junior associates...

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