Beginning Advice

I start work today. I'm excited to finally begin getting some "hands-on" legal experience, but it's bittersweet as well because who wants to go to work? Summer should be about books to read, trails to hike, great roads and trails to bike, and I hope it still will be, but those things will now have to squeeze in sometime before 7:30 a.m. or after 6:30 p.m., or on weekends. But that's how "normal" people live, isn't it? I realize I've led a charmed life in that I haven't had to report to a real "9-5" job since 1999. In fact, I probably haven't spent much more than two years of my life thus far obligated to a real 9-5 schedule. That doesn't mean I haven't been working, but my work—leading bike tours, laying out newspapers, teaching English classes—has generally been time-flexible, project-oriented, and not necessarily tied to an office. For the next 13-14 weeks, that will change. It should be interesting.

I'm lucky to begin with a nice bit of advice from a rising GW 3L who spent last summer working the same job I'll be doing this summer. In an email he advises:

just go in there and soak it all in. keep in mind also that you don't know anything. this, however, doesn't matter, as long as you know that it's true. ask a lot of questions, make sure you're doing things right, and within a few weeks you'll be in total command of everything that comes your way. they won't give you enough rope to hang yourself, for the most part.

make sure that when you talk to clients you realize (1) they are all crazy, more or less, (2) they are all lying to you, more or less, and (3) you must treat them with respect if you want to get anywhere with them, notwithstanding (1) and (2). and also (4) that you probably wont get anywhere with them.

Sounds great: I know nothing. I'm good at asking questions. I'm used to being lied to. I plan to get nowhere with anyone. Ready, set, go!

Posted 05:51 AM | 1L summer

MT Options

After the weekend's furor over Movable Type's new licensing plan, the dust seems to be settling a little. For now I plan to stick with MT, and will probably buy the individual license.

Meanwhile, the furor has encouraged a lot of discussion around the web of alternatives to MT. This can only be a good thing, because it gives exposure to other developers and even if MT remains the preeminent blogging platform, it will have to stay on its toes to remain competitive. New options I've found (many from this mefi thread) which I may consider sometime in the mythical future when I have time for such things include:

Nucleus CMS eXtreme Edition
WordPress and TextPattern, both of which I mentioned before.
Pivot
blosxom (free, open source)
b2evolution (free, open source)
WebGUI (appears to be more general CMS than dedicated blogging platform, but I'm sure it could work)
PHPX (free, open source)
rb.log (free, open source)
Discloser (free, open source)
Exscribe (still in infancy, it seems)
dixit.net
Absolut Engine
e107

Many of the above are packages released under the GPL, which sounds great after reading Mark Pilgrim's convincing argument in its favor. But like I said, I have neither the time nor really the burning desire to make a big switch now. If I start any new blogs from here on out, they might use another package, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Posted 05:47 AM | Comments (3) | meta-blogging