JD Law Students Blog

I moved to South Royalton (SoRo) from NY a little over two weeks ago and have found that the sound of crickets and clock towers have easily replaced the sirens, planes and automobiles of my former life. Week zero is here…ahhh, orientation. Now is the time when everything and everyone you meet is new and unexplored, each conversation is stimulating and rich. If this week had a color it would be green like fresh grass.

I have spent the majority of each day in orientation workshops trying to add context to the void that we are about to enter as first year law students. Workshops about broad topics like justice and professionalism as well as specialized topics like conduct and career. I have had the pleasure of many long nights of thoughtful and often funny conversations with my classmates about what brought us here, why we are staying and what we hope to know and be when we leave. Happily, I survived my first “flying ant season” even though I thought I might die when I came home to find a few thousand bugs teaming and buzzing around the lantern above my front door.

I have come to VLS from one of the most diversely populated cities in the world, a place that equips one for different types of challenges. Where getting through the day makes you feel a bit smug, smart and cultured. SoRo has its own pacing and everyday here highlights the fact that “intelligence” and “skill” are subjective words that are relative to place and time. For every one thing I know as a fact of life in NY, I am met by three new things to see and do. I suppose it will take time to get fully acclimated, but the fresh maple syrup is quite helpful in transition

Over the last few days of orientation some of you have come up to me and asked, so what is that “thing” you are using for notes? It is called a Tablet PC. Some manufacturers also refer to it as a convertible laptop. Many organizations such as, colleges, corporate business firms and specific industries (medical, delivery companies, etc) are using them for convenience and the features they offer.
I can “write” using the digital pen with a software package called Windows Journal. I can use a variety of templates in this program including the spiral notebook for notes (which inserts the date automatically!), memos for “to do” lists, a calendar for my schedule, etc. All of this in my “lovely” handwriting requiring no keyboard at all.  Therefore, I can hold the machine on my lap or flat on the desk as if it were a real spiral notebook. 
The professors in colleges love the fact that they can now actually see students’ faces in class when they use a Tablet PC, instead of the students hiding behind a laptop screen on the desk. (ok this may not be an advantage for the students!)  Also, the annoying tapping sound of the keys as students type on a standard laptop, which can be distracting, is no longer an issue with the Tablet PC since you are writing on it and it makes virtually no sound.
The portability of this machine is also a bonus.  My screen is 12” but you can get one as small as 8” and it weighs very little so holding it on your lap works out just fine.  In addition, you can do all the other things you do on a laptop such as surf the internet and write papers in MS Word using an external wireless keyboard or one that snaps under the screen but is removable.  A fun feature is that your handwritten notes can be converted into text. The convert to text feature is not perfect since handwriting is not perfect (at least mine isn’t) and this feature is best used for smaller amounts of text such as an email message or assignment lists rather than long MS Word documents.   In the coming years, this technology should improve.
The “green” side to my Tablet PC is that since I am taking handwritten notes in class using the digital pen on the PC screen, I will not be using paper. When I write, my handwriting is fairly large and messy so, I like to re-write my notes for clarity. This used to mean having lots of wasted paper. Not anymore!  Moreover, if I want to “erase” something when writing, I click on the eraser icon and rub out the error with my digital pen. Also, with one quick click, actually the correct terminology is “tap” of my digital pen (you click a mouse you tap this pen) I can add blank space in between my existing writing if I want to add in some extra notes that belong there.
Many colleges and companies are studying the effective uses of the tablet PC and have discovered that it is a great tool. A University of Vermont professor, Dr. James Kraushaar and his colleagues conducted such a study and won the Microsoft Research Tablet PC, Technology and Higher Education 2005 Award.  Dr. K. as he is called by his students is a former professor I had when I attended UVM and the school of Business Administration.  I specifically graduated as part of the MIS (management information systems) concentration program.   For more information about Dr. K’s study details can be found on the UVM Business School’s website: http://www.bsad.uvm.edu/home/  or at the Microsoft website you can review the other award winners from other colleges and universities across the country: http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/RFPs/TabletTech2005_RFP_Awards.aspx
Incidentally, I own a Tablet PC that is manufactured by a company called Motion Computing.  This was the right choice for me.  Many other companies put out a similar product such as Gateway, HP, Toshiba and Acer and more.  In addition, I believe there are products that just have the spiral notebook writing feature as a stand alone product.  This product is more affordable for many students, although it may require purchasing a second machine for standard computing features.
I worked in the MIS and ecommerce field for almost 8 years before coming to VLS.  I am not an expert, but I do love technology and am happy to help anyone who has any questions.  I feel it is a great tool in any industry and hope to bring that to my law studies and career.  I have lived with technology all my life since before my dad brought home from work an IBM machine with dual 5 1/4 floppy diskette drives as our home computer back in 1983.  From that moment on I was hooked; learning basic primer, binary concepts, UNIX commands, etc.

Greetings!  This is my first blog ever.  To be honest I am not really sure why I thought I should become a blogger and better yet why I was chosen.  Perhaps it is because I grew up in Vermont and can give little fun hints here and there about places I have been and any secrets not in the guide books.  I also left Vermont for a time and then came back so I am not a complete isolationist Vermonter especially since I married someone from Massachusetts.  I have traveled and I am in my thirties so I have had shall we say experiences.  Back to the Vermonter thing, one of my favorite things to do and just a little bit sad thing about growing up in “townee land” Vermont, is describing to people “stuff” that used to not be there.  For example, I grew up just outside of Burlington in the town of Essex, so, I remember when there were no traffic lights in the town at all and even in Essex Junction (don’t get me started about the whole town vs junction issue or I will need a whole gigabyte) at the infamous 5 corners in Essex Junction, just a flashing 5 way blinking red light existed and people for a time were polite and it worked.  That would be unheard of today with all of the traffic there, so lights did go up I’d say 20 or so years ago.  I also remember as a kid grocery shopping in Essex Junction since the town had no grocery stores (now they have 2 grocery stores) and the closest place to get a pizza was in Colchester at Zachary’s pizza (not sure if they still exist or not).  It also used to only take me 10-15 minutes to get from Essex to Burlington by car, and now it takes easily a half an hour.  There’s more exciting stuff where this came from, folks, especially since now I live up in the northeast kingdom when I am not living near campus that is.

I feel the need to comment regarding the book so generously given to us by VLS entitled “Expert Learning for Law Students.”  Unlike some other law schools, I am thrilled that VLS appears to want incoming students to have every opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade so to speak and possibly decrease the stress of law school by giving us suggestions (not demands) on how to study and how this whole thing works.  Personally, I graduated over 9 years ago from undergraduate school and found that this book helped to ease my mind about many misconceptions about law school and also it convinced me that my brain could again handle the rigors of school.  Along with helpful tips, there is also some redundancy and at times a complete over analysis of the process one goes through to study either individually or in a group situation, but overall, it is a good read.  That is in my humble opinion.  I bet four or five years ago I would have felt rebellious about someone trying to tell me to do something a certain way.  But, for some reason since turning thirty(almost 2 years ago), I have a new attitude and I decided I was plain sick of learning things the hard way.  I figured if this book contained just a few sentences that I found helpful, well, then by George, I think it’s worth the read and could save me some time in the long run and I could use that time to motorcycle or play Frisbee with my dog.  I guess ultimately as was told to me by my mentor that VLS assigned (another great program implemented by VLS to help with this transition), it is up to each individual to decide if he or she wants to work hard, study smart and do everything in his or her power to succeed the best he or she can or if instead the individual wants to goof off and play Frisbee all the time.  Frankly folks, I am paying a little bit too much money to the good people at VLS to justify the Frisbee thing 24/7.

Right now is a very stressful time for all of us incoming 1Ls.  It is especially stressful since for most of us it is truly the “unknown”.  Then there are the external things happening in our lives that add to everything as well.  For me, right now my dad is sick.  He is in the hospital and doing ok and should be out in a day or two, but it is making me a little anxious, I admit.  I asked him the other day if he had any advice to his daughter (aka me) entering law school next week.  He thought for a moment and in a joyful shout and with a triumphant look on his face he exclaimed, “Increase the loom speed!”  I gasped, “What?”, thinking he had really lost his mind this time.  He explained that when he was in grad school getting his MBA, he had a very difficult operations management issue to solve.  The answer after much pondering and after many hours of work came to him and others in his class and they all exclaimed together one day in class that the solution was to “Increase the loom speed!”  He said the saying stuck with him and his classmates throughout their time in grad school.  He said that they would shout it out to each other every time they saw one another no matter if it was at the coffee shop, the bookstore, or the parking lot.

So, my fellow classmates, if all else fails and you don’t know the answer I suggest that you just exclaim (even if to yourself or to another fellow classmate in the parking lot) “Increase the loom speed!”

Test – this is a test to see if this works.  Sorry folks.  Brenda