Reflections on Seeking the Lost (Dog)

I suppose there's a danger of overspiritualizing the events in our lives, looking for meaning where there is none. Still, I can't help but be reminded of Jesus' parables regarding the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one lost sheep.

Luke 15:1-5

I'm also reminded of the parable of the woman and the lost coin: she had 10 coins, but lost one, and so she searched through every corner of her house to find the one lost coin. When she found it, she rejoiced and told all her neighbors to rejoice with her.

Luke 15:8-10

I guess I'd never appreciated before the state of mind of the shepherd looking for the one lost sheep. We know that when David, the king, was a shepherd boy, he'd fought off a lion and a bear. And Jesus mentions predatory wolves attacking flocks of sheep in his analogies. So there were some dangers involved in the shepherd seeking the one lost sheep in the wilderness. Dangers for both the shepherd and for the lost sheep.

And the real possibility that the shepherd would never find the lost sheep. Maybe it would get lost in the wilderness somewhere and the shepherd would never find it. Or it would wander off and join another flock, and be claimed, knowingly or unknowingly, by another shepherd.

And with each passing hour, the shepherd's chances of finding the sheep would diminish.

So in some ways, it's kind of irrational to leave 99 sheep that are safe in a pen somewhere, and leave the safety and comfort of wherever the shepherd was staying, and go off to try to seek and save the one lost sheep. And yet, this is what Jesus says he is like.

And when he finds the one lost sheep, his rejoicing is great.

Adventures in Dogsitting

So, a quick recap of the previous entry: I was taking care of a dog, T, for a few days while T's owners were in Taiwan. They entrusted T to the care of our friend L, but for various reasons, it's difficult for L to take care of T during weekdays. I had T at my place Sun night and Mon during the day. The plan was for me to get the couple's apartment key from L on Mon evening. Also at my place was M, my roommate's parents' dog, who would be picked up Mon afternoon/evening.

My Monday plans were sparse: no work, and only one errand that needed to finish by Wed evening but that needed to be started that day.

So, Mon morning, I gave T a walk, then came home and gave M a walk. Both M and T are the only pets in their respective families, so they're used to getting a lot of attention, and aren't used to having other dogs around. So when I got back with M, I eased the two of them into getting to know each other. I separated them with a partition that would let them see and smell each other. Then I had each of them on leashes and removed the partition. Then I sat on the couch and held one with my right hand and the other with my left hand. And eventually they seemed to more or less get along. But this took the better part of the morning and the early afternoon, and I still had that one errand I needed to start.

Around 4 pm, not having heard from my roommate or his parents, and knowing that I was supposed to meet L sometime after 6 pm to get the apartment key, I left both T and M at my place and went out.

6 o'clock rolls around, and I get back to my place, and see my roommate's brother walking out the door with a big flashlight. Hmm, I wonder, what's that about? A few minutes later, I see my roommate and hear the story. My roommate's mom came by around 5:30 to pick up M from my place. She has a key, so she let herself in. Not knowing that there was another dog around, she saw M, gathered some stuff for M, and then saw for just a couple of seconds, T running out the door of our place.

And so my roommate, his brother, his dad, and his mom were either walking or driving around the block, hoping to find T. His dad suggested that I stay outside my place, in case T found her way back. And so, there I was, standing on the sidewalk, hoping against hope that one of them would find T.

The evening grew darker, and every 10-15 minutes, my roommate, his brother, or his mom or dad would come around the block, holding flashlights and shining them into neighbors' yards or bushes. Each time they'd come around, I'd hope that one of them would be carrying T, with her long white fur. And each time I'd be a little disappointed. Every so often I'd walk around the condo, and look into the bushes myself, and call out T's name. My roommate's mom came around, and explained the details of what had happened, and I could tell she was pretty anxious about it. But it wasn't her fault. She wasn't expecting a second dog, and I'd never done any dogsitting before, so there was no way for her to have expected T at our place.

6 turned into 6:30, and L called me, saying she was done with work, and asking if I was ready to take T to the apartment. Then I had to tell her that I'd lost T, and that my roommate's family and I were trying to find her. She asked if she should come to my place, and I said yes, hoping that T would recognize her voice better than mine or my roommate's family (who have never seen T before, as far as I know).

Then I continued waiting, hoping, fearing. All kinds of thoughts whirled in my head as I waited. Perhaps T would be hit by a car, perhaps she'd get into a fight with another dog (I've noticed that a lot of small dogs seem to be particularly aggressive), perhaps she'd run out into the fields beyond my block and never be seen again. What would I say to the couple, who are pretty attached to T? What would I say to L, who had trusted me with T after T had been put in her care?

A little after 7, it was getting dark and cold. My roommate's family gathered on the sidewalk with me, and decided that there wasn't much chance of finding her that night. They'd been around the local streets many many times, had asked various people if they'd seen T (to the point that one guy got angry because he'd been asked 3 times), and found various other stray dogs and a cat. But since they hadn't seen her at this point, they probably weren't going to. They told me that if I could get a flyer with T's picture, they'd be happy to make copies and post them on the light poles around. There was a good chance that T had been picked up by some family. Hopefully, they'd see that she was cared for and had a collar, and would call the number on it. And that that was our best hope. Then they left.

Not certain whether L would find my place, I stayed outside, and a few minutes later, L, her boyfriend, and 2 other friends (Y and S) from church who live near L drove up. We knew that T had a collar and a tag, but we didn't know if it had the owners' current telephone number (they'd moved a few weeks before) or if it had the cell phone number of either the husband or the wife. L sent her boyfriend and S to the apartment to check if there were messages and to get any cell phones there.

My roommate explained that his family had been looking for the last 2 hours, so our chances were slim. Nevertheless, he, L, Y, and I gave it another go around the block. I hoped that L's voice would be more familiar to T, and might coax her out from under a bush or from someone's yard.

L and I went one way around the block, and the other two went the other way. We called out T's name, shone our flashlights under cars and into bushes, and ventured into quasi private property (apartment and condo common areas and such). L was very careful in her search, not leaving any area unexamined. After a while, we met up with my roommate and Y, and my roommate repeated the things his family had said earlier, and recommended we go back to our place. He led the way, but Y, L, and I went slowly, still searching, since we hadn't spend the last 2 hours doing so.

We came across a slightly scruffy looking guys near a garbage dumpster, who had a walking stick, a flashlight, and a large trash bag with stuff inside. L asked if he'd seen a small white dog, and he said he had, around 5:30 that evening, over by the river beyond the bike trail (as he pointed towards a particular direction). Not knowing where these places were, I asked him how to get there, and he explained that in another direction, beyond the houses and yards, was a fence. In one corner, there was a gap that would allow one to pass. Then we should head in another direction and we'd run into a bike trail that would take us to the river. He'd seen this small white groomed dog over by the river running back and forth, and he'd thought that it looked out of place.

We'd lost my roommate, but Y, L, and I headed to the fence. We found it, then found a gap, and went through. I began to wonder whether T was the same dog that this guy had seen, since it seemed a bit far for T to have run after leaving my place around 5:30. Still, it was our best unexplored lead so far, so we walked through these wild fields with long grass, shining our flashlights into the bushes and scrub near the fence.

We then saw the same guy, who explained that he thought we might not find it, so he was going to lead us there himself. We walked, he and I side by side, with L and Y behind us. More dark thoughts went through my head. We were a considerable distance away from any homes or yards or other people. The guy was a little taller than me, but leaner, and I thought that if he were to attack me with his stick, I might have a chance against him, but that he'd likely take me. On the other hand, I could probably hold him off long enough that L and Y, though they're both relatively small Asian girls, would have enough time to join the fight, and that 3 on 1 weren't good odds for him, even if he did have a stout walking stick. On the other hand again, maybe he had another weapon on him. Still, he'd done nothing bad so far, and we might find T and spare ourselves much unpleasantness.

Anyway, we kept walking and walking on a trail that he said would take us to the river. We got to an area of paved road, and I saw a sign saying that we were entering the Kern River Parkway. I felt a shiver of dismay at the sight. When I had been handling criminal cases, I had a fair number of cases against folks who'd broken the local municipal code by camping there. And I also knew that some of the folks who camped there were hiding from the law, since they had open arrest warrants against them.

Still, we'd come this far, and the guy said it wasn't much farther. So I kept with him, while L and Y began to lag behind. Not a good feeling.

Then the paved area ended, and the guy was leading me through a walking trail in the midst of the long grass and scrub and trees. I didn't see where L and Y were anymore. I looked at myself and tried to remember if there were any signs of conspicuous consumption--wasn't wearing a watch, my cell phone was primitive, and my jacket had some signs of dirt and wear. Maybe the guy was sincere and didn't mean to rob or injure any of us.

We walked on for a bit and he pointed out where he'd seen the white dog. He mentioned that some dogs like that are sold for $500, and the suspicious part of me wondered if he expected some reward money if and when we found the dog. Which I'd be happy to give him if it was T.

L called me on my cell, and I told her I was up ahead, but that she and Y should stay near the lightpole I'd passed earlier. I'd only go on for a few more minutes, then turn back if I didn't see T.

We went on into the brush, calling for T, while I also kept a nervous eye on the guy's walking stick. The guy said that in this area, sometimes there are guys who walk through these fields, and that many of them are the kind that you shouldn't trust. I thought, but did not say aloud, "and what about you?"

Eventually the guy with me went on ahead, calling T's name, and I lost sight of him around a bend in the trail. Then I was even more worried. Even if my companion was a good hearted man, there was a chance I'd meet someone else who wasn't. Especially because I was calling T's name and shining a flashlight around, attracting attention to myself.

Another phone call came from L, who said she and Y were worried about me, and that I should go back, and that her boyfriend and S had driven to where they were. I told her that I would. Then, as I began to follow the trail, I heard my companion of a few minutes before, calling for T. I rejoined him, thanked him profusely, and told him I needed to get back to my friends. I left my cell number with him in case he found T, wished him a good night, and headed back.

I walked along the trail, shining my flashlight, hoping I'd meet my friends before I met any unsavory characters. Fortunately, I saw the group of flashlights from L, Y, L's boyfriend, S, and my roommate walking towards me on the trail.

We drove back to my place, a distance of somewhere between half a mile and a mile. We regrouped there, and agreed that we should call the couple in Taiwan, and see if they remembered what phone number they put on T's tag, and ask if there were pictures of T we could use for a flyer.

I led L up to my extremely disorganized and cluttered room, and she got the couple's number in Taiwan as well as her international calling card number. I then overheard her having what must have been a very difficult conversation with the wife, explaining what happened. While I don't understand Chinese, I could hear the tone of voice, and the pauses, and a word or two of English here and there. Then the husband got on the phone, and L passed her phone to me, and he and I talked for a bit. I explained what happened and apologized, and found out from him that the number on T's tag was the number of the husband's cell phone, which he had with him. The pics of T I could find on Facebook. And I thought I could hear the wife in the background crying.

We went downstairs and L and I told all we knew to the rest of the group. I told them I'd make flyers and post them tomorrow. We then had a short prayer for T, who we trusted to God's hands because we were just unable to do anything for her. And they left.

I went back to my room, and started the disheartening task of making a "Have you seen me?" lost dog flyer. Looked at the wife's Facebook albums, and saw various pics of T, many from when she was a puppy. I selected two pics, and tried to start typing the text.

Then my phone rang. It was the husband, who said he'd checked his voicemail, and that someone had picked up T earlier that evening. Could we go and pick him up? Absolutely, I said, elated.

My roommate and I put on our jackets, I grabbed T's leash, and we walked to the address I'd gotten, about a 5 minute walk down the same street as our place. We met a guy at the front door, invited us in and said he would go upstairs to get the dog. A few minutes later, we had T, and the guy said he'd picked her up around 6 pm, and that his daughter had given T a bath.

My roommate and I were absolutely thrilled as we walked back to our place. T was happy and oblivious to all the efforts that had been made that evening on her behalf.
I called L, and told her to call the couple in Taiwan as well as the others who had joined us in our search to let them all know that T was back.

Adventures in Dogsitting (preface & intro)

Recently, a rather dramatic story happened. I get the impression that my life has had more than its usual share of drama in the last few weeks, but those stories are for another time. I'm going to give some probably unnecessary context here for Part II.

Some friends of mine (a married couple from church) own a small dog, (I'll call her T here) but are traveling in Taiwan for a few weeks. They asked another friend, L, to take care of her, and she's done so for the last week or so. However, it's a bit of an inconvenience for her: since her apartment doesn't allow dogs, she's been staying at the couple's apartment, taking the dog for a morning walk, then commuting a good bit longer to work, all of which requires her to wake up considerably earlier than she normally does.

Since my work has been rather slow lately, I offered to either to have T stay at my place (my roommate, who owns the condo I'm in, is fine with dogs), or stay at the couple's apartment myself, which is a bit closer to my work, and, I thought, might give me a chance to get some work done in a different environment.

I didn't know at the time that I made this offer that my roommate's parents were going to be out of town last week until yesterday, and that their dog, M, would also be at the condo until Mon afternoon/evening.

In any case, I planned to be out of town from Thurs to Sat of last week. And L, who was taking care of T, said she'd email the couple and see if that would be ok with them. So, we planned for me to take care of T this week, with the couple's permission.

(As a bit of an aside as to the extent of my experience with pets, I've never owned a dog before, and the only pets my family has ever had or taken care of were some goldfish. Still, one of my good friends since junior high has some dogs and a cat, and I'd always gotten along ok with them. And in grad school, a very good friend of mine had a dog and a cat, and for some reason, his dog, also a rather small dog, really bonded with me. To this day, she always gets really excited to see me when I visit, to the point that my friend jokes that she likes me better than she likes him.

Sat evening I came home, saw my roommate, saw his parents' dog M, and went to dinner with a friend. After dinner, we came to my place, and started watching a movie. M made some whimpering noises, which we understood to mean that she wanted something, but we couldn't figure it out. I made sure M's water and food bowls were stocked, we tried her squeaky toys, and I opened the front door (leading to a small patio, enclosed by a gate), but she didn't seem interested. So we gave up and basically ignored her whimpering. When my roommate came home, he took M out for a real walk, and she almost immediately relieved herself. Goes to show how well I can tell what's really going on with dogs.)

In any case, I talked with L and agreed that I'd take care of T from Sun night to Thurs. I picked up T from L's apartment Sun night (she and her boyfriend had snuck T into their complex over the weekend). Also got T's food, bowls, treats of various kinds, cage, bed, leash, and a small gate for enclosing T when I'd be out. And L passed on to me various instructions regarding dog care. We also arranged that I'd get the key to the couple's apartment Mon evening, after L got off from work. So for Sun night and Mon during the day, T would stay at my place, along with M (my roommate's dog).

I drove home, unpacked the various dog paraphernalia I'd acquired, and realized L hadn't told me what T is used to with regard to sleeping arrangements. I had found out that when T stayed at L's boyfriend's apartment, she'd peed on his floor, so I figured I should keep T in a place with tile. Since my kitchen didn't work, this meant it was my bathroom. Not wanting her to pee in there, either, and guessing that this behavior might have something to do with anxiety about being in a new place, I stayed up with her in my bathroom with her, trying to reassure her. I also didn't know how much light T was used to sleeping with, so I left a flashlight on so that it wasn't too dark. Eventually, I snuck out of the bathroom, closed the door, and went to my room. Then a few minutes later, I heard her whining. So I went back to the bathroom, stayed with her a while, hoped she'd fallen asleep, then snuck out again. This cycle repeated itself numerous times, and I think the reason why it perpetuated itself was that in closing the bathroom door, I made enough sound that it caused her to waken. And maybe she also felt or smelled my absence.

Eventually, I went to my room, and she either stopped whining, or I was too tired to hear or care, and I fell asleep. And then woke up the next morning to attend to her. My roommate's comment was that I looked like I'd had a rough night.

Anyway, Part II, the more interesting story, comes in the next post.

Summertime in Boston

I'm hoping all in CA are doing well. Especially those in Bakersfield--I'm hoping the heat hasn't been too bad there.

I've been working a lot in Boston, but also having a lot of fun, and learning a lot as well. Life has been pretty different, for lots of different reasons:
-not having a car, thus walking and taking public transportation, which has been good
-college cafeteria food, so no cooking, cleaning, and very little shopping (and healthier eating, too, though I haven't lost as much weight as I'd hoped to)
-in the first roughly 2 weeks, some heat and a lot of humidity, due to nearby Charles River
-in all the rest of the time, lots of rain, much of it sudden and unexpected.
-learning a ton from the other teachers about the test, about handling student types, about teaching, etc.
-visiting various churches, and being a visitor at them

I've done a bit of sightseeing while here, seeing Boston Commons, the graveyard where Paul Revere and Sam Adams and other colonials are, and a bit of the financial district, as well as the train station (South Station).

Also went for a weekend to visit an old friend from high school, who's now at Yale. Visited, and accompanied her, her husband, 3 kids, her friends (another couple) and their 2 kids to New York, for my second visit there. The oldest was 7, and the others were all 4 or younger. It was alternately exciting and exhausting, and often times both simultaneously.

And, I've been praying for my students, partly because most of them haven't had really substantial score increases yet. I was warned of this by the teachers who were part of the program last year--that for many, the increases during the program would be followed by further increases in the time after the program. I'm hoping that will be true. And praying for them also because they are "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." At least as far as I can see. I've been open about having been pre-med in college, and about med school rejections, and the fact that "I believe I am where I'm supposed to be" (a bit like John Locke in the tv show Lost). Students' reactions are usually a bit discouraged--you mean with your scores, you didn't get in to med school? Yes, but that was several lifetimes ago. And I'm glad to be where I'm at.

Preparations for Boston

So, a while ago, my company announced that they were looking for people to teach in Boston for 6 weeks this summer. I applied, went through various screening processes, and a few phone conversations, and was accepted to be one of the 5 teachers who would remain the whole time.

In June, my company had all of us teachers (from various parts of the country) fly to New York to the national offices for an all day meeting. The trip was my first time to New York, which went well. I flew in a day early, visited a friend from college, and did a little sightseeing before the meeting the next day. Then I stayed an extra afternoon before flying back. Got to see Central Park, Fifth Avenue, Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, the Museum of Modern Art, Columbia University, and the subway system.

A quick aside regarding air travel. On the flight there, I sat in the window seat, in a three seat row. To my right there was an older couple who had come prepared--they had multiple bags of chips, sandwiches, water, nuts, and other food. I had brought no food. The flight attendants announced that we could buy food--at rather steep prices--but that there wouldn't be any free meals. I did get a small bag of pretzels, which I ate slowly. After the couple next to me had their appetizers, main courses, and were on their desserts, the husband offered me a bag of nuts, which I gratefully received. I made a mental note to myself to always bring food on flights of at least medium length. On the flight back from New York, we had an hour layover somewhere. Having learned my lesson, I had bought some not-so-tasty cereal grain bars in New York. After having one, I decided to try to get some better food in the airport. Walked to 4-5 fast food type restaurants, but all were closed. Went to McDonald's, waited in line for way too long, and missed the flight. So, I ended up catching another one about 3 hours later. Made another mental note: do not miss flights because of food. Got to LA really late at night, as a result. Had forgotten where in the long term parking lot I had parked my car. Spent another 2-3 hours walking up and down the rows searching (partway through, decided it would be better for me to leave my luggage in one spot, then retrieve it once I got the car). Another mental note to self: take note of where car is parked, especially when in a big parking lot. Indeed, a veritable comedy of errors.

Anyway, once back in CA, slowly began to prepare for the summer. I decided to move out of my apartment, and, when I returned, move in with a friend of mine in town, who has been staying in a condo. Leaving my 920 sq. ft 1 bedroom apartment meant I'd have less space, but this was, I decided, a good thing, since I'd be less tempted to acquire material possessions. And, more importantly, I'd gain the fellowship and accountability of a fellow believer. And a considerably lower rent.

So, aside from wrapping up some things with my day job and evening job, the primary preparation was moving out. I chose to rent some storage space, throw my stuff in there, then move in to the new place at my leisure once I returned from Boston. The moving was largely by myself, which was necessary since I had to decide what needed to be thrown out and what I'd put into storage or take with me. I was rather slow about this, and various other circumstances conspired against me so that I found myself on the last night of my lease frantically sacrificing various things due to lack of time and space. (I was reminded of that famous hypothetical: if your house was on fire and you could only take 1 thing/3 things with you, what would you take? Except that I had a car's worth of space, and many hard choices, and too much time to make them.)

I then drove to my parents' home with a full carload of stuff, unloaded it (since my brother would be using my car while I was gone), frantically packed for 6 weeks worth in Boston, and got a ride from my brother and sister (who was in town for just 2 weeks) to the airport. With 2 hastily packed pieces of luggage, and a shoulder bag. I distinctly remember during the packing process considering whether I should pack a jacket, in case it got cold and/or rained. But then I remembered various friends saying that it would be hot and humid in Boston, so I didn't.

With regard to weather, I was looking forward to being out of town for the summer, since the last two summers were very hot in Bakersfield. Especially 2 summers ago, when the daytime temperatures got into the 115+ range, and it didn't cool down enough at night (once, it was still in the 90's at 11 pm). So, I figured, how bad can it be in Boston?

The other preparation was for the work. I've never taught the more intense course that the curriculum would be based on, so I had to arrange to get a copy of the materials, and intended to start preparing it. Two of the teachers had taught last year, two hadn't, but had taught the intense course in their respective cities. One of the nonrepeating teachers had been with my company for about a year. So I felt in some sense that I was in the running for least experienced teacher who would be there.

Intended to do some more prep work on the plane, but only did a little bit. Slept a bit, felt cold, made another mental note to dress in layers when flying.

(Another post will come soon.)

Short updates

Wow, it's been a really long time since my last post.

Hmmm, so what's happened that's been significant in the last 2 years? This is going to be a bit jumbled.

I've now had 5 jury trials, 1 bench trial (where the judge ruled on the innocence or guilt of the defendant), researched a good number of varied topics, written and argued a bunch of motions (many of which were variations on a theme), and helped prepare an appellate brief (state court).

I've also been the victim of a felony robbery (it's actually a pretty funny story), and testified as a witness in the case.

Gotten a bit of an insider's view of the criminal justice system. And of city government. I had a bit more of an idealistic view of both, previously, and that's now been partially replaced with...realism? cynicism? pragmatism?

Paid off a sizable fraction of my loans, but still have a lot more to go. The monkey on my back. Still, I'm much better off financially than I was when I started this job.

Other things, some of which will last a bit longer: joining, getting involved in, and serving in my church in Bakersfield. Joining/helping to start a Bible study group (which hasn't been quite as connected to the previous sentence as you might think). Teaching Sunday school for the youth group (ranging from 7th grade to 12th). Friendships with coworkers (believers, nonbelievers, and nominals).

Seen two of my supervisors elevated from attorneys to judges of the Superior Court of California. And that has caused me to think more about what a judge is, and how you get to be a judge in our system.

Spiritually, I think I've grown a bit in some ways, or maybe toughened. But in too many other ways, I've stagnated or gone backwards, or just lost passion. It's one of the things I feared about working a job, and being in this stage of life.

Gotten a view of life in a small urban area. This is a hard thing to articulate, but I have a bit more of a feel of what it would be like to have lived here. Some of this is evident in how long term residents view those from LA or the Bay Area or such. There's a certain love/hate relationship there.

New apartment in Bakersfield

Life in Bakersfield has been good. I thought I'd have
my first trial, but it didn't end up happening. But
it looks like I'll have one in the next week or two.

Apart from work, I've mostly just been settling in to
my new apartment (after having rented a room in a
house for a month temporarily). I'm pretty amazed at
how much money I've spent already. I thought I'd be
living a pretty simple life, but even the simplest
furniture and fixtures and such seem to all add up.
And there's also clothes and shoes for work, too.

There's a lot of Hispanic folks in my apartment
complex, but I've yet to actually meet
anyone--probably because I'm at work so much.

The other thing I've started to do is look for a
church. I think this process may take a while,
because I'll be going back to Irvine for a good number
of weekends this summer, for various reasons,
including a few weddings.

Another email soon after moving to Bakersfield

Hey all,

Hope you're all well. Some updates on what's been going on with me lately:

Up until 3 weeks ago, I've been living with my folks in Orange County, working for Kaplan as an occasional teacher and really more as an academic manager, supervising and training other teachers. And getting involved again at my church in Irvine. And watching a whole lot of tv (I joked that I made up for all the tv I didn't watch last year when I didn't have one). And sending out applications for legal work. And then, about 2 months ago, I got an offer from the place I'm at now.

So I've been at my new job for a little more than 3 weeks now. I'm now working for the city attorney's office in Bakersfield, CA. It's about 1.5 hrs north of LA, on the 99.

Before coming here, I'd had the fear that it would only be marginally bigger than those tiny towns you drive through on that drive (you know, those places with a handful of gas stations, fast food restaurants, and not much else). But as my friend J found out on wikipedia, it's a good sized city, the 11th largest in CA, with a bit more than 300,000 people.

The job has been really good, at least in the 3 weeks I've been here. I'm going to get a lot of experience doing a number of different things. Part of my time I'm in the office, doing legal research on issues affecting the city. The other part of the time (which may be the bulk of it), I'm in court or at the DA's office learning and starting to prosecute minor crimes.

(Which reminds me that I should write another post sometime about the level of certainty within a prosecutor's mind regarding the guilt of a defendant, both for trial as well as for plea negotiations.)

These last few weeks I've been spending a lot of time at work, partly to alleviate some of my vast ignorance, and partly because I don't have an Internet connection at the place I'm temporarily at. You don't appreciate what you've got until you don't have it anymore.

One of my co-workers in Irvine described Bakersfield as a blend of a central valley city (like Sacramento, Fresno, Stockton, etc) on the one hand and a greater LA area suburb on the other. Some of my coworkers leave town every weekend to go down to LA, or the bay area, or the central coast. The good thing is that there's a number of outdoor activities that aren't too far away, some camping, rafting, Sequoia isn't too far, and the coast (SLO) is about 2 hrs away. Or so I hear. I've gone back to the OC every weekend so far, though that won't continue for long.

One thing that a lot of people here say is not so good is the air quality. Since the city is at the southern edge of the central valley, we've got mountains on 3 sides that contribute to an inversion layer. So all the pollution from us (and partly from LA) stays in the area, and as the summer continues, my coworker tells me I'll gradually lose sight of the hills and mountains because of the smog. Apparently, LA puts some of its sewage in the fields in Kern county. Lovely.

Another thing almost everyone mentions is the heat. They say that Bakersfield summers are really really bad, and that while it's usually a dry heat, sometimes it's also humid, too. (I think it had something to do with that inversion layer.)

I'm not sure what to make of that. I spent the last 3 summers in Davis, and that first summer in particular, I remember was bad. Sitting in my apartment at 11 pm sweating and thinking to myself--when is it going to cool down? Visiting Safeway on a Sun afternoon to enjoy free air-conditioning.

And my second summer, working in Sacramento, it got so hot that the glue that held my rearview mirror in my car couldn't take the heat. A bit later, my brother glued it back on, but then another few months went by and the glue couldn't take the heat. So, how much worse than Davis is it going to be? Guess we'll see.

The plusses: Bakersfield is big enough to have all the major stores and restaurants: Costco, Walmart, supermarkets, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Trader Joe's, etc. There's a mall that has a Macy's though no Banana Republic.

And it's small enough not to have traffic. I live now about 5 miles from work, and on a good day, it takes 10 minutes to get to the parking lot at work. On a bad day, it takes 12 minutes.

And many of the people have the friendliness and genuine niceness that seems characteristic of the central valley.

Soon after moving to Bakersfield

Hey all,

I've been pretty bad about updating this. And I know I haven't made an effort yet to let people know that this blog has moved from its previous location. But I've been encouraged to write once again, especially given my new locale.

So, here are some edited excerpts from some emails I wrote to friends in the last few weeks. To start, what's below was written April 17, 2006.


Hey C,

Sorry I didn't write earlier--these last few weeks have been really hectic, trying to wrap things up in OC for work and church before coming here. And finding an apartment. And moving here.

Anyway, I had my first day of work here at the City Attorney's office. Lots of stuff and lots of meeting people whose names I promptly forgot about 5 minutes later. HR people, secretaries and attorneys in the office, police officers, more police officers, other people we met in the hall as our supervisor gave us tours. And tomorrow and the day after we'll be meeting a bunch more people, various police people and the DA's. Pretty much everyone was gone by 5:15 pm, so here I am checking email.

It's nice to know that I'm not in the kind of environment where everyone works really late. I hope I don't stand out too much by staying later than the others here.

My initial fear was that I'd be pretty bored here in Bakersfield, but it looks like there's lots and lots to learn here at work, both with regard to legal stuff and with regard to people and relationships and organizational stuff.

The other 2 people who started with me today seem nice. They're both a bit more experienced than I am, so I hope I can show myself to be at least competent.

Anyway, lots of first impressions, but we'll see how things pan out in a few weeks.

--Wanr

The CA bar

It's been a while since I've posted.

The CA bar itself was from July 26-28. It was an intense few days. Friends of mine stayed at a hotel right across the street from the Sacramento Convention Center, but I didn't want to spend the money, so I drove every day. It was not bad, though it was inconvenient driving, parking each morning, then walking to the convention center.

The structure of the bar is as follows:
the first day:
Morning: 3 essays, 1 hour each, on any of the subjects (CA and/or federal)
Afternoon: a "Performance Test"--a 3 hour block of time to read instructions, figure out what to write, and write it

the second day:
Morning: 100 multiple choice questions, with 3 hours to do them, covering the multistate subjects
Afternoon: more of the same

the third day:
just like the first day

Almost everyone I talked to thought the first day's morning essays were really hard. Hard to figure out what they were asking, what area of law they were testing, what to write. During the lunch break of the third day, a few of us were watching tv in a hotel room. We saw the scene in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" where a military helicopter gets caught in a draft of cold air, and crashes to the ground. The crew survives the crash, and start moving to get out of the helicopter, but then the cold air freezes them.

A friend commented: that's what I felt like that first day--crash, then oh, maybe we've survived, but then, no, it's all over. All of us in the room started laughing.

I honestly don't know how I did. I certainly could have done a whole lot better. I wish I'd done more practice essays to train myself to think and write quickly. For the short essays on the first and third days, I felt I'd written too slowly and left out a number of things as a result. The multiple choice went well, I thought.

So, I won't be surprised either way, whether I pass or fail. But if I do fail, it's going to be a big downer, since I'll have to go through the whole deal of studying for the Feb test, and this time without the experience of going through it with other people.

It helps a lot to go through intense experiences like these with others. Helps keep you motivated, and keeps you from feeling like you're the only loser. We'll see.

bar studying

Studying for the bar means:
classes 5-6 days/week,
4 hrs of class most days (occasionally more),
several hours of homework each day,
being in class with the same people every day, chitchatting during the 10 min breaks,
trying to remember stuff you crammed months, or, more often, years ago