You're stuck with me for a bit longer, I'm afraid – as of last Wednesday, in-person classes at Notre Dame Law School are cancelled for the rest of the school year. I should probably finish unpacking my suitcase.

My mom's birthday was on Sunday. Not being able to leave the house to buy her an expensive present, even on the spurious assumption that I could afford an expensive present in the first place, I did the next best thing and made her a cake shaped like an expensive present. One batch of fluffy white icing and a dozen strategically cut-and-stacked cookies later, I managed a pretty co...