May 27 -- The DC Forum! 

Every jot and tittle of the plan is in place, so I'm linking it early and will post other law school updates before I leave town, between June 5th and 7th.

I'll spend two weeks on the east coast, attending the NAPLA-SAPLA prelaw advisors' conference in Durham, NC, meeting with clients and doing some tutoring in Philly, and dropping back down to DC for dinners with fabulous clients past and present as well as the Law Forum on June 19.

NAPLA-SAPLA

The Northeast and Southern Pre Law Advisors conferences are combined this year; I guess even the Ivies are feeling the financial pinch. 

I'm currently scheduled to fly in on Tuesday, June 8, at 5:00 p.m.  That means I'll miss the tours of Wake Forest and Elon, but I've been to Wake many a time in my nine years of living in North Carolina, and I'll try to see Elon on Thursday, when the conference has only one workshop.  I NEVER make definite dinner plans for the day the plane lands, in case it doesn't.  (Ask Suzy; her 11:30 p.m. flight to Houston last February landed at 3:30 a.m.)

• But if you want to try, I'm planning to eat at the Outback Steakhouse at 3500 Mt. Moriah Road, at 8:00 p.m. If you want to join me, email me before I leave, or call me at the hotel or on my cell phone.

Wednesday, June 9, has a day chock full of interesting events -- beginning and advanced prelaw advisors' training, and a workshop on advising underrepresented groups.   So I'll be busy non-stop until 5:00. 

I'll reward myself after a long, hard day with dinner at Bullock's Barbecue.  This restaurant presents several problems to the unwary:

• They only take cash;
• I'll be ordering the Family Style dinner, so the whole table must do the same;
• Barbecue necessarily involves pork -- some of the best and most unusual pork you'll ever eat.  This is not pork with a brown sugar sauce; it has a vinegar flavoring. (You can get ribs with a traditional sauce on the side.)

So if you want to join me at 6:30, call me in advance and don't be late; partial groups are not seated. 

Thursday, June 10, there's an LSAT workshop I'd like to catch, even though it's way early for me -- 9:00 a.m.!  And 9:00 a.m. eastern time is 6:00 a.m. to the Pacific-coast-jet-lagged.

That, plus other conference events, will keep me working hard until 2:30 p.m.; after that, the schedule involves field trips with prelaw advisors and admissions officers, then dinner at UNC.

Friday, June 11, is booked solid. Three workshops, lunch, law school fair, dinner -- they're even worse than I am, going from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.!  So there's no time at all for clients.

• The law fair will be my chance to visit with any of my friends in the admissions world I haven't seen yet, so if I promised to ask a question for you, make sure to email me so I put it on my day's agenda.

Saturday, June 12, is very flexible.  Again, the crack-of-dawn (okay, 9:00 a.m.) session is the most important to me, so I'll be up early. By 1:30 we'll be finished, so I'm free Saturday afternoon and evening. 

• I'm expecting clients to come up from Atlanta and South Carolina. The DC folks need not come down, since I'll be there in a few days.
• Dinner will be at El Rodeo Mexican at Brightleaf Square, at 6:00 (in case some of those southerners are driving back that night).

Sunday, June 13, through Wednesday, June 16, I'm off to leg two of the trip -- a visit to family, friends, and clients in Philly. 

I'll be staying with friends Sunday and Monday, then at two different hotels in three days (because of last-minute changes of plans). So if you want to reach me, I suggest the above-mentioned cell phone.

There's no sense even putting up a map. I'll be in downtown Philly, where everything is six blocks from everything. Just call me and we'll go with the flow.

Thursday and Friday, June 17 and 18, are pre-forum client days.  We meet, get acquainted, and plan which schools we'll talk to. 

Thursday, June 17, is a bit of a whirlwind.

• Lunch will be at Morty's Deli (previously Krupin's), 4620 Wisconsin Ave NW, (202) 686-1989. Just hop the red line from Union Station to Tenleytown, then walk a block north. We'll hope to be there by 1:30.
• The new tourist stop this year is Dumbarton Oaks. Aside from a magnificent Federal Mansion and gardens, it's the place where dignitaries met to plan the United Nations. Both the 31 and 32 buses run down Wisconsin Ave. to within two blocks of Dumbarton. I couldn't get the 31 bus schedule to download, but based on the 32 schedule, one or the other should come every 15 minutes.
• Dinner will be at Jaleo, 480 7th St. NW. (202) 628-7949. I have a reservation for 4 in my name at 7:00 p.m., so call if you want to be added to the party. Note that both Gallery Place and Federal Triangle stops are within walking distance of the restaurant, so all five Metro lines are covered.

Friday, July 18th, will be more laid back, but will run longer.

We'll start around 10:00 with a look at Georgetown Law School; after all, our hotel is only a few blocks away, so why miss it?

We'll opt for an early lunch. Join us at noon at the Burma Restaurant, 740 6th Street NW, (202) 638-1280, since it's within walking distance and has great food. (Note that the Burmese restaurant is on the second floor, above the Thai place).

From there we'll walk over to the National Gallery of Art. In addition to my beloved Rembrandts and other Flemish painters, there's a Chester Dale Exhibit. I know Dale as one of the world's foremost collectors of Salvador Dali's work; in fact, the Gallery lists Dali's painting of Chester Dale among its holdings, so I don't want to miss this opportunity.

Somewhere around 3:00 or 4:00 we'll drop by George Washington Law School. Employee Erika wants to see the Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, etc. I may sit and enjoy the sculpture garden while she runs off to do the tourist attractions. Either way, we'll have time for the Viet Nam wall before dinner, which will be at 7:30 at the Russia House, just a bit south of the Forum Hotel and north of DuPont Circle. I haven't found a decent Russian restaurant since RTR closed in New York (and the re-opening isn't getting rave reviews), and since that's the other (non-Italian) half of my heritage, it's a must, even if it's a bit pricey. Again, I have a reservation in my name at 7:30 p.m., so call if you want to be added to the party.

• This dinner is mandatory for all Forum clients. If you don't want to spend too much money, you can have a salad and a desert.

After dinner we'll head a mile north to the Marriott Wardman Park (a/k/a/ "the Forum Hotel") and plan a meeting spot for the next day. We'll make sure everyone knows where to meet before, during and after the Forum. We'll also point out the Afghan Grill, Saturday's dinner spot, on the way past. There are no Metro stops between the restaurant and the hotel, but there must be a bus-- I just can't get the pdf's to download. If you want to try, go ahead!

After planning the Forum logistics, we'll return to our hotel and collapse.

Saturday, June 19, is Forum day, and, as with all Forum days, is carved in stone.  (Note that all Saturday locales are on Friday evening's map.)

• I can have a maximum of 5 clients, so if you want to be one of them, you'd better let me know early.
• We'll meet for breakfast at the Forum Hotel, the Marriott Wardman Park
  2660 Woodley Road, NW, at 8:30 a.m. 
• From 10:00 until 5:00, Forum hours, we'll work very hard. We'll have an hour's worth of breaks and move non-stop the rest of the time. 
• From 5:00 until 6:15, we'll have drinks at the lobby bar, chat with an admissions officer or three, see who wants to join us for dinner. 
• At 6:30, we'll have dinner at the Afghan Grill, 2309 Calvert St, NW, about two long blocks from the Forum hotel. The phone number is 202-234-5095.  This is an open dinner; feel free to join us. 

On June 20th, I'm flying home after brunch. I'll debrief any clients who stayed over, but alumni and wannabes are welcome to join us. According to the Washingtonian, our hotel has the best Sunday brunch on Capitol Hill, so we may be stuck with Expensive. Plan B is for me to make coffee and someone to bring the bagels; plan C is for someone to suggest another place.

Since both plan A and plan B are at my hotel, I've added it to the map page. Also, Erika flies out five hours later than I, so she can see the Holocaust Museum (I've already been, thanks). So if you're interested in plan C, check out the map and look for something en route.