A Day of Ups and Downs

Nothing like a whirlwind day of madness to make you long for the more simple relaxed life of yesteryear. This morning I woke up bright and early, ready for a my one and only On Campus Interview. The firm is a fairly sizable IP firm based in Washington, D.C. specializing in patents. Of course, I'm not eligible to sit for the patent bar, so I was surprised to see they accepted my bid for an interview... but if nothing else, it was going to be good interview experience.

As it turns out, the interview went really well. I really enjoyed talking with him and we had a fair number of things in common (for example, we are both Eagle Scouts). Based on that, I would say my chances for a callback are reasonable... however, getting such a callback requires a patent firm to decide they want to hire a copyrights lawyer. It's not impossible, but chances are slim.

After the interview, I went back to the GPSS Office to prepare for a presentation I was to give at the Microbiology New Student Orientation. Just before I was going to leave I heard word from my mother that my grandmother (age 93) had been taken to the hospital for breathing difficulties. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to the hospital because I had to complete the presentation... and even after I was done, Shannan and my Mom asked me to wait before I headed down.

While I waited for them I began preparations for an email announcing that the student governments had agreed to allow all Katrina students at the UW to access student funded facilities free of charge. It's kind of a big deal and one of the small things I'm trying to do to make their lives easier. But before I was able to finish writing the announcement, I was summoned to Swedish Hospital to visit my Grandmother and check on the mental state of my sister and mother.

When I arrived I was immediately struck with how much I dislike hospitals. Just not a very happy place. My grandmother didn't look so good, and was hooked up on a pretty gnarly looking breathing apparatus. But it was later revealed that she was doing okay and might be released as early as Friday. While certainly a scare, it may turn out to be not so bad. The big question we need to face now is when to tell Judy, my aunt in Nicaragua, she should come up. My grandma might live another week or another year. It's hard to tell.

Then I went to play poker... first game in months. The game started out slow for me, but a few good hands and a few well played hands came together, putting me in a strong first place position. But as with all my poker nights, luck turned against me and I was quickly out of the game. Still the best entertainment you can get for just $20.

The real bummer though, after all of that, is that the scheduling of everything forced me to miss my workout session for the first time since I started.