Tidbits

My first semester of law school is done. After being warned repeatedly about the amount of work, the time it would take to adjust, and the reading requirements, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Fortunately, PHC alumni universally gave me the same perspective: it’s no harder than PHC. And they’re right. A “random” (meaning easier to calculate based on the syllabi I still have) survey reveals that History of the Western World I averaged 23.5 pages of reading per class, Western World II averaged 33.3, Principles of Biblical Reasoning averaged 15.8, Presidency averaged 26.2. Contracts and Torts, in turn, averaged a mere 16.2 and 17.2 respectively. And unlike PHC classes, Law school classes didn’t meet three times per week and the total credit load is on average lighter (16 credits, not 18, is the maximum). Additionally, only one law school class had any writing requirements (and it had no final), and only one had a graded midterm. Finals were spread across two weeks, rather than four days. So yes, less reading per class, fewer class periods, fewer classes at one time, and fewer assignments beyond reading (not to mention that there’s no foreign language requirement) means that law school is definitely easier than PHC.

I learned what a serpentine belt is yesterday. Over a week ago, pulling into our parking lot, the power steering went out on my car. It took a week to explore the problem, but when I opened up the hood yesterday, I found a belt that wasn’t attached to anything. Apparently, the serpentine belt runs: brakes, power steering, air conditioning, and battery recharging, just to mention a few. Mine fell off because the wheel that holds it in tension sheered off. A few google searches confirmed the problem, some youtube videos showed how to fix it, and a very helpful neighbor both walked me through the fix and drove me to the auto part store to get the new part (as well as explained what tools I would need). My car is running again. Next project: fix the broken headlamp (I have a new one, now I just have to install it).

I made peppermint bark today. It is only a moderate success—the flavor is good, but the dark and light chocolate layers separated. I’ll have to work on that next time. However, pulverizing candy canes with a meat tenderizer is . . . kind of addicting.

Rhyme and I finally saw Inception last weekend. It will hopefully be getting its own post in the next few days. Same with Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Daniel Hannan isn’t just a good speaker. He’s also a good writer. I’ve just started The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America, and am enjoying it more than I thought I would.