When dogs fly

On Monday the 11th I sent my dog, Varley, on the first flight of his 9 years. I really didn't want to but Air Canada and WestJet are so monumentally difficult with their restrictions on animals flying over Christmas that WestJet cargo was nearly the only game in town. Air Canada cargo could have taken him later so he could have stayed with me this week but it would have cost $750 one way. Yes, that is double what Air Canada charges me one way and he is about a third the weight my suitcases and I are! Air Canada has seen the last of my dollars.

The UVic difference

One of the selling points of UVic Law is that the school does not produce class rankings and strives to create a, "supportive learning environment. Students are encouraged and challenged to excel, but to compete only against themselves." What does this really mean though? The fact remains that UVic Law subscribes to the same grading scheme that all other Canadian law schools do, strictly limiting the number of A-level grades they award. Since most of us at law school are used to getting A grades and most of us are competitive (I think), this poses a bit of a problem. Also, getting a job often depends on getting good marks, whether UVic produces rankings or not.

I can't say whether it's more or less likely that a UVic law student will give another one a helping hand. I can say, though, that during exam time, some people do refuse to share their class outlines / cheat sheets. This might be just because if they put work into it they feel it's fundamentally unjust for me slackers who don't do any work to get a "free ride". Or, it might just be that when the chips are down, some people don't want their classmates to have the same chance they do for good grades.

That's not to say there aren't some generous people here. I won't name names, but I've had 3 people email me info from their outlines for this year (and the student body maintains a list of outlines from past years). Still, I think UVic Law would be really different if they had a truly communal study prep mentality. Just a thought.

You go girls!

I came to law school because I want to be like those wonderful people I've known over the years who try to do good in the world. One important facet of freeing people is giving them freedom of speech. It seems to me that the American constitution is much more adamant about protecting this right than the Canadian constitution is (though I'm no expert, as my constitutional law prof will surely tell you in 2 weeks). However, the practical reality in those two countries seems quite different. Canadians seem much more tolerant of free speech than Americans are when it comes to certain topics. Like saying what a ludicrous buffoon your supreme leader is.

I saw the Dixie Chicks' documentary, Shut Up And Sing, a few weeks ago and was repulsed by the hatred and censorship that many American citizens heaped on "the Chicks". (If you don't know the what the deal is, see the movie or google it.) I was so moved that I decided to vote with my wallet and I lost my iTunes virginity. Yes, I actually paid money for music that is freely available to steal on the Internet—usually in higher bitrate versions. I even deleted a version of "Without You" I had downloaded back in my days as a radio advertising sales rep (for CHFX, a country station in NS) and paid for a legitimate copy. That's right, even though the bulk of the cash will go to Apple (which is good) and Sony/Columbia (which is bad), I wanted to give a few nickels to those fine ladies soooo much that I forked out good Canadian dollars.

Take that you ludicrous buffon! (And thanks for sticking to your guns, girls.)

Exams loom large

One thing I have learned about law school — at least (or should that be "even"?) UVic law school — is that the evaluation methods are far from modern. They seem stuck firmly in 20th century, maybe even the 19th, commonly featuring "100% final exams". Hmm... does it seem likely that having students regurgitate knowledge in a short time frame and in an offline fashion accurately models real world legal practice or students' overall abilities or depth of knowledge? It would be not much work to devise better marking schemes, in my opinion. The fact that most profs are not doing so makes me assume this boat is being skippered a bit recklessly.

Like Christmas, but just for me

Joy of Joys! After 2 days sitting in purgatory Mississauga (why must the GTA always be my nemesis?) the FedEx gods have favoured me. My new MacBook has sprung, nearly instantaneously, from those hellish suburbs onto a truck in Victoria by the sea. Praise the Fates! At last, all that Chinese-enslaving mass production and planet-scorching delivery will come to fruition. I think I need to stay home from school to receive it.

Silly snow days

It turns out that the city of Victoria doesn't own a snow plow or even a snow shovel. At least, that's what it looks like. We get a little bit of snow and because the city fails to clear the streets, they get icy and treacherous and school needs to be cancelled the next day. Please. At least this gave Varley a chance to see a snowy beach in Victoria and me lots of time to check on the progress of my new MacBook (still stuck in Mississauga!).

From our sweat shop to your door

Like others I am suffering from FedEx anxiety, frequently checking the shipping status of my new MacBook. (Tip: Simple Tracking provides more tracking details than FedEx does)

I should have anticipated, but I was surprised to note that FedEx reported my order shipped (on the first business day) from SUZHOU CN. That's CN, as in China. Naturally. I don't know why I imagined they were assembled in the US.

So as I sit, thinking about all the fossil fuels pouring into the environment because I wanted a computer that is built on the other side of the planet (as I'm sure they all are), I started thinking about what goes on in SUZHOU CN. Probably it's a different plant, but at least one Apple supplier in SUZHOU is allegedly not playing nice. Even buying from manufacturers in China that do "play nice" according to local standards makes me feel a bit dirty (and not in a good way). "According to a China Labor Watch project coordinator, Xiao Min Zheng, the minimum wage... where... the iPod nano factory [is] located, is... about $80 a month." (from the same article)

I wish China would hurry up and get rich so their living standards and wages would increase to a point where we would stop buying from them. Of course, I'm sure we'd just move on to the next "starve the workers and beat them for good measure" sweat shop haven.

But I do love my shiny new electronics.