No Kinky Sex in Amsterdam ...

Couple of years ago I went to Madagascar (pictures here). Felicia and I were trying to decide between Europe and Africa, and one of the reason we chose the latter was because of the deforestation and other environmental problems in the region. We figured that it would be a long time before we could take such a long travel vacation again, and that by that time the Malagasy nature might be destroyed. On the other hand, Europe has been around for thousands of years and will probably be around forever without much change, or so I thought.

Newsweek reports that the Amsterdam city government has started a plan to close down the red light district. Most of the of the brothels will be shut down, and those pimps and prostitutes who remain may be forced to be licensed. Furthermore, the city has adopted a stricter policy for selling marijuana and banning hallucinogenic mushrooms later this year. All of this is being done in an attempt to reduce crime and violence in the city and turn the red light district into a booming commercial center. Many are protesting, but the majority of the city is supporting the plan. I may just need to travel there before the city changes too much.

It's a tie ....

Super Tuesday is over and the winner is ... who knows. On Tuesday Hillary won California with 52% of the vote compared to 42% for Obama (see post below). Because California, like most states, is not a winner take all system, each candidate will get a number of delegates based the percent of votes they get. The final delegate count is Obama 861 to Hillary's 855, with 2,025 needed to win the election. It seems that the nomination will not be resolved by the time the convention comes around. This reminds me of the that one West Wing episode where the democratic nominee was chosen in a free for all during the convention. I miss that show, but real life may prove to be just as exciting.

Go Democracy ....

It's late here on the west coast, but people still have time to go vote until 8pm. Until then, check out this Google gadget which dynamically updates elections results below. You can also take a look a Google Map mashup of Twitter comments about the election throughout the country. This is exciting. Go Obama.

Go Obama ...

My friend Bob sent a massive email to his friends detailing why he is choosing Obama over Clinton for the Democratic presidential primary tomorrow. Like me, he was supporting Edwards, but moved over to Obama when Edwards exited the race. His email does not address one of my biggest concerns which is lack of executive experience. Looking up (this is from Wikipedia so please beware of the accuracy) the previous experience of past presidents is not a decisive factor in their success as president. Given this with all other factors, I lean towards Obama. So yeah ... go vote for him. Bug Bob for the email, I won't post it without his permission.

I got a job!!

I am happy to report that I've just accepted an offer to work part time during the school year at Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP. This is a small local firm with many cases dealing with mass tort litigation against large technology companies such as Google and Yahoo.

This is really exciting for me because this will be my first "real" legal job. I will probably start in the next week or so. They have some exciting cases going on. Unfortunately, if I get to work on them I will not be able to post on them because of the sensitive nature of litigation. Bummer.

My short term goal is to save money for a trip to Nicaragua this summer. Long term, to gain real legal experience. All of the people were nice and I enjoyed the firm culture. I look forward to start working.

New Baby Girl...

I just got a message from Jim and Ami.

Ami gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a couple of days ago. I am so happy! Seriously, there is nothing that can ruin my mood right now. I would post a picture, but I think that the parents should be the first to introduce the child into the interwebs.

Anyways, here are the happy details . Lucy Renée Heffron, born on January 30th, 2008 at 4:40pm PST. Weighing 8 lbs, 14 oz. and measuring 21 inches.

Welcome to the world Lucy! Congratulations again guys.

= )


-Updated to show correct weight and name. The excitement made me make typos.

Interesting Week ...

This week I got some bad news, which I won't go into. A job offer, which I will probably reject. An interview, for a job that I really, really want. Gave blood and a few hours later went drinking (not recommended). Got pulled over because there was a warrant for my arrest, the officer eventually realized that he made a mistake and let me go with his apologies (this was scary). Slept in when I wasn't supposed to. What a week!

Now it's Friday night and I am doing homework for my Saturday class. Tomorrow I got a busy day with class and my official training with the NLS.

Superbowl weekend and no plans (how lame is that). Hope next week proves to be interesting too.