Over the past few days, I've had the good fortune to attend three - count 'em, three - Mets games.  Ordinarily this is nothing to cheer about, but two of those games were against my hometown Phillies.  The other was against the Rockies (and the tickets were free).  There's no denying that Citi Field is a great place to watch a game - great sight lines, good food, wide concourses, and ridiculously quick to get to from both my office and my apartment.

As for the baseball, each game brought its own joys.  In Game 1, I got to see Melvin Mora hit a grand slam off the Mets' Manny Acosta, and the chorus of boos afterwards warmed my heart.  In Game 2, although the Phillies lost, I saw a one-run gem tossed by Cole Hamels over 8 innings.  In Game 3, Becky and I saw Doc Halladay dominate over8 scoreless innings and get the win (although 3 of the Phillies' 4 runs were unearned).  For future reference, you can totally wear a Phillies shirt to a Mets game.

I doubt that I'll be able to get down to Citizens Bank Park this year to watch a home game, but I've got a great feeling about this year's club.

Some multimedia from last night:

(download)
(download)

I've been feeling bummed lately about how bummed Americans have been feeling about America.  And getting really bummed that they might be right for feeling bummed.  

I don't have the entire solution, but I think a big part of it is to embrace the ethos of Team America: World Police.  Yes, I know that the movie was a send-up of some of the policies that put us in the position we're in now, but I'm a big believer in the importance of national psychology.  We have to be optimistic, and we're all looking for a reason to be.  I don't see a lot of positivity out there now, but I feel like we're close.  We need to solve big national problems - can't we fast track this Mars thing?  America, $%#@ yeah!

I had wanted to write a full iPhone 4 review, but it looks like I'm running out of time to do in a way that is both 1) timely and 2) complete.  So, I'll just aim for timely.

I absolutely love the phone.  All of the features shown in the ads are fantastic: FaceTime, Retina Display, HD video recording, etc.  Each alone is worth the price of admission, though my hands-down favorite is the Retina Display.  I can comfortably read small-type documents using the built-in PDF reader in iBooks (and just one hand, of course).  The screen just completely changes the way I think of the device.  It's a portable infinite piece of paper, connected to the Internet.  It makes the iPad almost unnecessary.  The pace of innovation is startling.

I jumped from the 3G to the 4, so some of the features that were available on the 3GS are new to me: crazy speed (especially on syncing with iMarc!), better battery life, etc. - all are greatly appreciated.  And of course I can take full advantage of iOS 4, something I couldn't do on the 3G.

The form factor is fantastic, and I'd argue it's actually improved by the bumper.  I bought the bumper before Antennagate really hit the fan, so I 1) haven't had any reception problems and 2) got a refund for my purchase.

If you're a human being who likes communication and information, you need to get this phone.

Below, a cute dog picture I took using the phone:

While a student in the Lawyering in the Digital Age clinic in law school, I had the pleasure of working on the incipient "collateral consequences calculator" which was being developed collaboratively by Columbia Law School, the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, and Hon. Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the State of New York. The calculator has now launched and is available to the public today at http://calculator.law.columbia.edu.

The calculator lets legal practitioners, judges, and other interested parties determine the immigration and public housing eligibility consequences that follow from a guilty plea or conviction in New York courts. The importance of this project has been underscored by the recent Supreme Court decision in Padilla v. Kentucky, which held that criminal defense lawyers must advise their clients about the immigration consequences of criminal charges and that failure to do so amounts to the ineffective assistance of counsel.

More information about the Collateral Consequences Calculator is available in a Columbia press release and in the New York Law Journal article embedded below:

(download)
For a related project, I re-designed and curated a blog entitled Four Cs, which catalogs news, cases, statutes/regulations policies, and articles about the collateral consequences of criminal charges.

These guys regularly beat me...

If I was left to my own devices, this blog would be little more than a list of links to The Onion.  In the interest of variety, I won't let that happen.  Still, this one was too good to pass up:

My cousin Jennifer has started a new company, Make Room 4 More, which organizes and runs children's consignment sales in the Philadelphia area.  The sales are a great way to buy and sell gently used children's clothes, toys, and equipment.  Aside from being a fan of both Jennifer and children, I support this business because I helped to develop the Web site.  Why not visit the site to learn more about the Fall 2010 sale, which well be held from Friday, October 1 to Sunday, October 3 at the Elks Lodge in Colmar, PA?  While you're at it, you could become a fan on Facebook.

Putting Some 'Mute' in Your 'Commute': 

NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein today announced plans to conduct a 90-day pilot program to test the feasibility of offering "Quiet Commute" cars on NJ TRANSIT trains.

"Customers have asked us to offer a Quiet Commute option in an effort to balance the needs of people who want to stay connected while aboard our trains with those who want to relax or work in a quiet atmosphere," said Weinstein.  "We're going to offer this amenity as a pilot program and rely on customer feedback to determine whether to make Quiet Commute a permanent NJ TRANSIT amenity." 

Beginning September 7, Quiet Commute cars will be offered weekdays on the first and last cars of Northeast Corridor express trains in the "3900-series" - which operate to and from the outer-zone stations of Trenton, Hamilton and Princeton Junction.

This is fantastic news.  As my friend Martin has aptly stated, the worst part of NJ TRANSIT is the people.  Perhaps the second worst part is the headline of this press release.  It is an egregious example of "unnecessary" quotation marks.  I could maybe get behind "mute" (it's "cute"), but "commute"?  What, are they implying I'm doing this for fun?