Awards! (and a little bit about me)

I apologize profusely for being absent for so long! Sometimes real life gets in the way of the fun stuff ;)

A little more about me, for anyone who is interested: I'm a full time law student in my spare time when I'm not trying to help shelter pets, so I've been super busy with school lately. I just got done with a mid-term and taking the MPRE (keep your fingers crossed for me-- I'll find out if I passed in a couple weeks), and I've been super busy at the law firm where I work. The good news is, I'll be graduating in May! After three years of working my butt off, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! It will be weird after I graduate to be able to say "I'm a lawyer." Then comes the Bar Exam. Yikes!

I've also got a job lined up when I graduate, so that's a huge relief. Many of my classmates are scrambling to find some sort of job to help pay the gigantic student loan bills that are going to start coming in a few short months.

I started law school with all sorts of altruistic aspirations to do all sorts of good with my law degree. It was my intention to become a criminal defense attorney -- specifically, a public defender. During my second year, I came to realize that criminal defense work wasn't really what I wanted to do. Moreover, I also came to the conclusion that if you want to make enough money to pay back your student loans when you're done with school, you probably better look at private practice or a corporate law job. Ironically, it seems that public interest legal work is best reserved for those law students who come from wealthy backgrounds. Those jobs really just don't pay enough. Lots of people think lawyers are rich. That's not necessarily the case, I've discovered. The cost of education has gone up exponentially, while the pay scale for attorneys has barely risen over the last couple decades. We now graduate with much, much more student debt, fewer job prospects, and lower earning potential.

But, I digress. I worked for a solo practitioner law firm last summer doing personal injury and workers' compensation. It was just supposed to be for the summer, but at the end of the summer, my boss offered me a job. He decided it was time the firm brought on a second attorney. Yay!

Anyway, I'm so honored to report that Saving Lives One at A Time received two blog awards while I was absent from the blogging world.

First, we received the "Wonderful Site Award" from The Cat/Dog Log. We are so honored! Thank you!
We also received the "You Make My Day Award" from Kay's K9's. Thank you!!


We are proud and honored to pass these two awards on to Pet Rescuer Central. This wonderful blog always has awesome information about a variety of subjects related to animal rescue.

**UPDATE 4/10!***Just wanted to share...I passed the MPRE! Yay!

Three FAST FREE EASY Ways to Help Shelter Pets Online

There are so many quick easy ways to help shelter pets in need using the power of the internet. If you are a pet lover, and have five spare minutes, please consider doing the following things:

1. Use Goodsearch every time you do an internet search. Using Goodsearch is simple. Just select your favorite charity, and then search as you normally would. Each search earns about $0.01 for your selected charity. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it really adds up. Consider adding a banner to your site to encourage others to use Goodsearch.

2. Shop through iGive. All you have to do is sign up and select your favorite charity, then, each time you make an online purchase through a participating retailer, a percentage of your purchase is donated to your charity of choice. This is totally free and easy way to help shelters. You don't have to do anything except sign up, and then shop online as you normally would.

You can also participate in the iGive Surfathon. All you have to do is surf participating stores to earn "entries" for your favorite charity. Each month, iGive gives away 5 - $1000 awards to charities every month through July 2008.

3. Add a DogsinDanger.com banner to your website. Help raise awareness about the grim reality facing thousands of shelter pets every day. By placing a banner on your site, a visitor may visit Dogs in Danger, fall in love with a death-row-dog, decide to adopt one of the dogs, and you will have helped save a life.

For more ideas on easy ways to help shelter pets for free, check out my previous posts:
1. Three Fast, Free, Easy Ways to Help Shelter Pets Online
2. Calling All Pet-Loving Bloggers