So, I guess I'm back...kinda?

A long rambly multi-topic catchup post wherein I pretend all 3 of my remaining readers still care...

Last night I scrolled through my first two pages of posts and realized that was all I had so far for 2010, and it's nearly freakin August. This made me feel terrible about my chronic blog neglect. Luckily several massive projects completed either last week or Monday of this week, and so while I am certainly still swamped I no longer feel like I am swimming for the surface but just don't know if I will make it before I drown. Living in that feeling for the last 3 months, and in other spurts for most of the last 10 months, has really sucked. And I'm sure it will suck again soon.
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So, like I said in the infusions post, I had 2 parties in June and July. It wasn't really the greatest idea I've ever had, but it's done now and it was for the most part fun. Also, crazy expensive. Also, this post from my dear friend Susan is like the greatest thing ever. Read it, learn it, live it.

I made so many different dishes it is hard to pick just one or two to share recipes for, but one is something I sort of invented based upon a suggestion from a friend, and it was delicious, and easy:

Feta-Stuffed Mini Peppers

2 packages of miniature red, yellow and orange peppers, tops removed, cleaned, split down one side
1 package of good feta cheese
olive oil, ideally infused with some herbs, garlic or red pepper for extra flavor
balsamic vinegar
8 leaves fresh basil (if oil is not infused)
salt and pepper

If using basil, cut into a chiffonade and place a pinch of the basil into each pepper. Stuff each pepper with feta, packing tightly. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and any remaining basil. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to meld. Skewer each pepper and either place on top rack of a grill away from direct flame, with uncut sides of peppers down, or place on a rimmed baking sheet and broil in a hot oven until the cheese browns and the peppers have just started to soften. Be careful when removing the peppers from the grill or oven, as the filling will want to fall out. (If it does, just discreetly stuff it back in. Nobody will notice.) Serve warm.

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I've decided that when I get my bonus in December, I need to do something big with it. Option #1 is a major trip somewhere outside the U.S. where I can get away from it all for awhile. Suggestions on locale are welcome...right now, I am considering exotic places like Italy, France, New Zealand, Tahiti, Barbados, etc. Ideally it should be somewhere that the weather will be lovely in January or February when I can afford to go. Honestly, my biggest concern is that none of my friends will be willing to go with me because of either financial restraints, lack of interest in traveling to where I want to go, or fear of flying. I've been trying to explain to people recently that traveling alone as a single girl is just way dicier than as a guy. My friend who went to France last year by herself and got mugged 3 times in the span of a two week trip, including having her wallet stolen on the very first day she arrived in Paris, is a classic example. She hung in there, got money wired by her parents, and made the best of it, but I would probably be so dejected at that point that I'd just want to turn around and come home. I travel alone all the time for work, but that's different--I never GO anywhere or see anything, I just go from airport to hotel to deposition back to airport. But if I'm traveling abroad, I really don't want to be alone. There should be a place where you can find travel partners for things like this who aren't shady or annoying. (Feel free to also volunteer to be my travel partner in the comments, although I won't be fronting your costs if you do...)

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On the mini-vacation front, I need to go visit a friend in New Orleans for some weekend in August, and I am also probably going back to Biloxi for the poker tournament around Labor Day. This was a total bust last year, but a friend is also going that same week for other reasons and asked me to join her, plus they have lowered the buy-ins considerably from last year. I wonder if that's the effect of the economy? At any rate, I never have the time or desire to play poker in my Thursday night game anymore, so in order to get some practice with live play I am probably going to have to start playing bar tourneys a few times a week. Suggestions for good places in Atlanta with bar tourneys that start at 9pm (not 8, which I can never make it to) are welcome. I used to play at the Brewhouse but apparently new folks are running it so it may suck now.

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Local politics is depressing the hell out of me. I seriously don't like any of the candidates on either side of the aisle who ran for Governor of Georgia, and I will probably write in my friend Page in November. (It's a thing, we write in Page when we don't know who to vote for.) I waver between resolving not to give a shit because it's too upsetting to pay attention to, and resolving to make my own change by working to revamp the Democratic party in this state into something effective and inspiring again. Y'know, with all that free time I have.

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So it's late July, and I resolved in March to maybe run a half marathon this year, and yet I haven't even been able to string together 13 miles on the treadmill across one whole week since that promise, let alone actually starting to train for it. I keep waiting for things at work to get less hectic so I can get home at a normal hour and have the energy and time to recommit, but it just hasn't happened. I wish I didn't have to choose between getting in shape physically and getting my career in order. But doing both at the same time has proven nearly impossible.

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I'm getting ridiculously excited about FSU football this year, even though Vegas has apparently only pegged us to win 8 games. Still, this is one of those years that has the potential to be really special--not national championship special (despite what Tim Brando apparently predicted), but a better year than we have seen in recent memory. I think we could conceivably run the table in the ACC, which would be great if we didn't also have the incredibly difficult non-conference schedule of Oklahoma, BYU and Florida to deal with. Still, the most frustrating thing about FSU's decline this decade has been our tendency to let mediocre ACC teams beat us, and the first step to returning to former glory is to stop letting that happen and start kicking conference asses again.

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I think that's all I got for now. Whew, I was storing up a lot of random junk!

Quick Hits

I haven't felt the urge to blog much this week (as you might have noticed), but here's a few quick and dirty things on my mind today:

* Troy Anthony Davis lost his appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. The Court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Davis had not met the high threshhold necessary to establish an actual innocence claim. I'm so angry and demoralized by this development that I don't even have the heart to analyze the decision. The important point is that he lost.

Davis essentially has two options right now: he can petition the entire 11th circuit to rehear the case en banc (which is discretionary, and rarely granted) in the hopes that he can get a different ruling from the entire panel, and he can petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari on his appeal. Chances are good that he will do both, and be denied both. The 11th circuit's stay of execution last 30 more days while he works out his appellate options, and then we will see an execution date if none of these legal maneuvers work out. I wonder if Thurbert Baker's decision to run for governor might influence his decision to take action or not take action in connection with this case...

* Starwood Hotels is suing Hilton Hotels in a very interesting corporate espionage case. It's not interesting merely because it alleges corporate espionage, but because of how Starwood learned of the espionage. Apparently some well-meaning Hilton lawyers found some Starwood documents in boxes while reviewing Hilton records in a completely unconnected case, and returned them to Starwood in an "abundance of caution." Turns out those Starwood documents were stolen from Starwood, and the best of intentions led to a lawsuit. I suspect we will see a legal malpractice lawsuit against Hilton's attorneys as well.

This makes me wonder what I would do if, while reviewing a client's documents for potentially discoverable material, I came across stolen documents from another company. Would I report it? Woudl I tell the client they had to report it or return them? Would I insist that I couldn't work for the client anymore? Would I pretend I had never seen them and hope nobody else ever noticed? It would present a huge ethical dilemma. This makes me wonder if maybe those Hilton lawyers chose the faux-mistaken return route as the best way to save their own asses while upholding their ethical obligations.

* By now you have heard of Susan Boyle, unless you have been living under a rock for the last week. For you rock-dwellers, or for those who want to relive the amazing moment when this dowdy strange woman shocked the world...here it is. And here is Susan singing Ella Fitzgerald's "Cry Me a River" for a charity CD in 1999. What a voice. What a story! I love it when people make us all challenge our preconceived biases and assumptions.

* Last night I ate at Alfredo's for the first time, and it was delicious. The restaurant's decor is straight out of "Goodfellas" but the food and service were both excellent. (Except for the waiter who asked everyone in the restaurant at least twice if they were driving a certain Toyota outside...that was annoying.)

* And finally, congratulations are in order for local blogger Garrett Vonk and his wife Heather, who are currently in the midst of having their first baby. No word yet on whether sympathetic lactation has occurred, but we all wait on pins and needles to hear both the official birth announcement and word about the state of Garrett's breasts.

Randomness

I have a lot of stuff going on in my life and in my friends' lives right now, but none of it is really safe to publicly blog about. Hence the virtual silence around here of late. So, in no particular order, here's some random stuff bouncing around in my empty head:

* I have to decide whether to go to the trouble and expense of getting a Christmas tree this year. I had one in 2006, but did not buy one last year and didn't really miss it all that much. I still have a million ornaments that match perfectly and look beautiful, but do I really want to take the hours upon hours it will require to decorate the tree, only to worry about the cat knocking it over? (Yes, that has happened before. Many times.) I've been in kind of a bad mood lately because of the aforementioned unbloggable stuff, so maybe a forced infusion of Christmas spirit would help. Or maybe it would just make me homicidal and poorer. You tell me.

* Speaking of my lack of Christmas spirit, which I struggle with every year, I tried to make a Christmas list the other day and just failed miserably. There are so many things I'd like for Christmas (a new job!...oops, did I say that out loud?) but precious few that I can actually provide to friends and family trying to decide what to get me as a gift. What I really want from my friends is their companionship, support, and happiness in the coming year. That goes a lot longer than any gift. And for my family, I want prosperity and health. It feels really lame saying "oh yeah, and a Kitchenaid Artisan mixer and cashmere gloves" at the end of a list of such far more important concerns.

* Sometimes, I can be a real pain in the ass. Even when I might be right. I need to remember that.

* I can't decide whether to have a holiday party, a Super Bowl party, both, or neither. I haven't had a party at my house in almost 2 years, since a falling out between some close friends that has made me wary of holding any event to which I would want to invite both. But the hostess bug is hitting me hard, and making me want to bring new people together from the many friends I have made in the last 2 years, and the holidays seem like a natural time to do that. I also always love an excuse to craft a menu and cook far too much food for people.

However, I also worry that everyone is booked up with other holiday parties already and wouldn't be able to come anyway. Decisions, decisions. So, readers...tell me. Are you already booked for every weekend day between now and Dec 25th? If so, the Super Bowl is a really easy, natural time to have a party and my last one was a success. I will almost certainly try that again this year, especially since my Pats won't even be sniffing the playoffs this year from the looks of things.

* Speaking of football, I am so impressed with the way the Falcons are beating expectations that I am thinking I need to start going to more professional sporting events here in town. The Falcons are pretty good, the Hawks are pretty good, hockey is fun even when your team sucks, and the Braves at least have the chance of being decent. Yet, our sports teams are among the lowest attended in the professional leagues. It's time for those of us who enjoy watching and rooting for these teams to start showing our appreciation by putting butts in seats. Who's with me?

* But my college team, that's one that is not getting my butt in a seat for at least another 9 months, if ever. I haven't blogged about the woeful experience that was the Florida-Florida State game because I don't know if I can ever put into words just how much it sucked. We got our asses kicked by our arch rivals, it poured rain on us for much of the game (and for virtually our entire drive to Tallahassee & back), and my phone got wet and shorted out even though it was in my purse the whole time. SUCKED. My seething anger at Bobby & Co. might be blogged someday, but not today.

* Saturday night, after I was in a mood and needed something cathartic, I went to see the incomparable Francine Reed at Blind Willie's blues club. Oh Lord, was it what I needed. If you have never seen Ms. Reed live and in person, you owe it to yourself to check her out. Here's a video of her doing my favorite song she performs, Ida Cox's "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues."



And with that, I guess I better just get wild and crazy, because I really can't stand to have the blues anymore.

Random

I don't have the mental clarity or time for mutiple blog posts, so some tidbits bouncing around my brain to tide folks over:

* Troy Davis dies in a week. I really want to go to protest outside the execution, but I don't know if I will be able to get out of town in time. If not, I will sit on my front step that night and light a candle, and pray. I encourage all who find the decision to execute this man without full consideration of the grounds for his appeal to do the same.

* Tonight I am going with a group of folks to try Taverna Plaka. I haven't had greek food in ages, so I'm very excited! Review forthcoming as soon as I find the time.

* This weekend, I'm going to the FSU-Virginia Tech game. Considering that we lost the Miami game I went to last year, and the 3 home games I went to the year before that, I am a little apprehensive about whether I might be jinxing the team. However, I bought new gear to wear in the hope of exorcising the old demons.

* My darling Red Sox are out of the playoffs, but they really overachieved in making it to game 7 of the ALCS given the injuries they were struggling with. Now I have to root for the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, since I grew up in central FL. However, I suspect most Braves fans would be rooting against them because if the Rays win they will have eclipsed the Braves' "worst to first" record in 1991...when the Braves lost in the World Series.

* Pretty much everything I watch on TV these days is disappointing and doesn't seem worth the time. Grey's Anatomy sucks, True Blood is cheesy and porny (and badly written), Project Runway was a mere shell of its former self in this last season on Bravo, I lost interest in Fringe after 2 episodes, I couldn't get back into watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles or Pushing Daisies, and Heroes is clearly in the category of one-season wonders previously occupied by Friday Night Lights. Even Gossip Girl isn't as good this time around. Are there any shows that are lighting up your TV screens that I should be watching? (Excepting those on Showtime, which I don't have.)

* This weekend, I attempted Operation Convince the Family to Vote for Obama. It didn't go so well. My grandparents aren't going to vote at all (which is better than a vote for McCain, I guess), and my parents are both so afraid of Democrats having unfettered control of government that they won't be swayed. At least that is their reasoning, rather than fear of a secret Muslim or focus on his alleged relationship with William Ayers. But still, Habersham county is apparently McCain country.

* I bought Mario Kart last weekend for my Wii, and I can't stop playing it. The race that takes place in a shopping mall is so incredibly hard, I want to kill myself every time I try it. But I keep trying it anyway.

* Work is busy, but busy is good. Even though the tension in these parts is pretty thick right about now. Everyone's waiting for the other shoe of the financial crisis to drop, and wondering if it will fall on them. Not the greatest of environments in which to spend my days.

* The election cannot get here fast enough. I am officially sick of it, and ready for Obama to just WIN ALREADY.

Legal scraps and snips

None of these are enough for their own post, but together they constitute the random shit a lawyer thinks about in a day...or not.

* Bet you thought I'd have blogged by now about that guy who sued God, huh? What a complete idiot. Proving a point about frivolous lawsuits by filing one of your own might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.

* So does everyone who went through the traditional big firm fall recruiting process think this is as bad of an idea as I do? If I'm deciding what firm I want to work for over the summer after my 2L year, I'm thinking that a weekend getaway in the wilderness sounds like a potentially scary waste of time. But hey, if a firm wants to waste that much time and money on recruiting a bunch of law students who don't know shit yet and may not even come work there, more power to them. I understand to some extent a summer associate retreat, but this is for people who just have callbacks in the race to be summer associates. Way to blow your wad early, guys!

* And on the creepy side of things, I just love how the AUSA (from Florida, of course...they need to change their state motto to "We Bring the Crazy!") assures the woman who he thinks is loaning him her 5 year old daughter for sex that he'll be "gentle and loving" and not at all physically, let alone psychologically, injurious to the small child he is seeking to rape. Way to go DOJ, you fire the people with some remaining principles, but are always sure to keep the perverts and pedos! I guess at this point I should just be glad he probably has a law degree.

* In yet more crazy Florida, now with more Gator assholishness, some guy got tasered blah blah. I find it hard to muster much caring or righteous indignation in either direction, but I do think the tasering seemed unnecessary to secure or restrain the guy, from my view of the video. I mean how many idiot Gator cops does it take to restrain one unruly college student the old-fashioned way? It is almost a little amusing though to hear the guy say "don't taser me, bro!" just before the zapping and the wailing.

Meanwhile, what I really want to know is: how much does Greg Palast love everyone who watches this video hearing him called the best investigative journalist in America? And was there ever really any doubt that Kerry had read (probably repeatedly) a book that claimed he actually won in 2004?

* Today marks a new first. Last night into the wee hours I redlined the ever-loving crap out of a document drafted by a client. I have a tendency to edit mercilessly anything that I am given to review, even if not asked to actually make sure that there is no passive voice and that abundance sounds better than plethora. I probably should have warned this person in advance, or used some sort of discretion in whether I wanted to piss off a client by giving them something bathed in red, but I didn't. And I got a phone call thanking me effusively for not being afraid to do just that and for making it read so much better, etc. etc. I never thought I'd see the day when I was thanked for grammatically eviscerating someone, but it appears he liked it.

Random Ramblings

None of these are really long enough for their own post, so here you go...

* I agree with Bob Barr again, or rather he agrees with me. This whole Larry Craig thing is completely bogus and prosecution of men for interpreted hand and foot signals in the men's room is beyond silly. Don't we have better places to dedicate our criminal justice resources?

* As I think I have written about before, I do not have my ears pierced. I was afraid of getting them done as a child, and then as a teenager I developed cysts in both earlobes and a dermatologist advised against piercing. One of the cysts eventually went away, and the other one burst when I was 14 or so and left behind some scar tissue that I always presumed would be difficult to pierce anyhow. Well, last week suddenly the one with the scar tissue started to feel swollen and sore again, and I figured my cyst had returned. I intended to go to the doctor at some point, but last night when I went to turn the lobe around to look at the back, it suddenly burst. Good GOD was that gross. (No need to thank me for sharing that story, it was my pleasure.) Now I have a fat swollen earlobe that throbbed all night while I slept. That is probably not a good sign, right? What's the consensus on whether I still need to go to a doctor? Also, just in case anyone was thinking of googling earlobe cysts, trust me and avoid the images page. It is a wonder I slept at all last night.

* Why is a DA buying a red "super lawyer" cape? That might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Among my colleagues, the term "Super Lawyer" or "Rising Star" (two terms conferred on attorneys in Georgia as voted on by their peers) have nearly become perjorative because we make fun of the people who take acuqiring those labels a bit too seriously.

* My award for wince-inducing headline of the day (boys, you can thank me later): Oklahoma-Texas football rivalry leads to near-castration. If you possess a penis and testicles, you probably don't want to click on the link and read the story. I'll just say two words to confirm this for you: "sixty stitches."

* Shame on my former hometown team, the New England Patriots. When you work as hard as you do, and have the talent you do, why would you try to gain unfair advantage? I hope you haev a great bulletproof explanation for why you had a guy videotaping the Jets on Sunday, because otherwise you just lost most if not all of the respect of the rest of the league and the country. Even I can't defend you for this one, as things look presently.

* I know someone who's listed on Cardplayer.com! That is so cool.

* The top 25 paying jobs in the country? Well, the bottom 10 or so are all managerial types. The top 9 are all types of physicians. What's in the middle 6? Lawyahs, for one. Check it out.

Beauty and terror

I have a ton going on today and won't really have time to blog, but here's a quick and dirty rundown:

* Our annual reviews for the associates in our group are today. Yes, on a Saturday. I'm more than a little nervous about them for reasons I can't go into here. Hoping I can keep my cool.

* I'm getting my hair cut today, but when the salon called to confirm yesterday they said I'm having it cut by Ross. Because I'm a moron I can't really remember the name of the guy who cuts my hair...but I'm 99% sure it's not Ross. So this should be interesting. At least if it's not the usual guy, it also hopefully won't be ninety freaking dollars--before tip.

* After that I need a pedicure in a bad way, and to run some errands. Then I have a birthday party tonight. Might squeeze some beer in there somewhere beforehand.

* Sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Griftdrift, who I have been pushing for years now to start playing in major poker tournaments, and who finally listened to me last year and has now played in satellites or table events at three different World Series of Poker circuit events. And last night he came in third in one such tournament, out of 157 players. He made himself enough to pay not only for his trip, but also for probably the two other trips as well. I am so thrilled for him and proud of him. And I hope now he's got the bug and will want to do it more often.

* Where'd the title come from? (Other than being an apt way to mention both getting my hair done and annual reviews?) Well, Rainier Maria Rilke once wrote:

For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror,

which we are still just able to endure,

and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.

I think of this quote every time I find something in my life that I suddenly become transfixed with and want incredibly badly, but also become instantly afraid that it will be taken away from me. Lately I've been thinking how depressing it is not to have something to obsess and be excited about, but now that I found a new one it's absolutely terrifying to think of all the ways that this could fall apart. Not knowing how things will turn out is so deliciously awful that I can hardly stand it. But I'd take it over having nothing worth obsessing over, any day of the week.

Blah Humbug pt II

I just can't muster the enthusiasm today. I think it's PMS but honestly it could just be that none of the current stories interest me all that much. But here's what's running through my head today:

* I had to get my annual gyno exam today and the questionnaire had some very strange things on it. For example, there was a line with checkboxes for number of lifetime sexual partners. They choices were Husband, Less than 5, and More than 5. No "none," not that it would have been applicable to me but presumably some teenage girls who seek gynecological treatment are still virgins. And why is the line drawn at 5? It just seemed so arbitrary. You know how as you are getting older it starts to feel like being bumped from the 18-24 demographic and into the 25-34 demographic feels like a huge life shift that you were totally unprepared for? Well, similarly, choosing between the less than 5 category and more than 5 category feels a little, I don't know, like I'm being judged. And I mean let's be honest, it's only 5. That's hardly an earth-shattering number. Meanwhile, why do they need to know this, exactly? I would understand if they wanted to know about frequency of sexual activity or number of different partners since your last exam, but "lifetime partners" is a little...nosy. It was weird. Of course they also wanted to know all sorts of other nosy details like age of first sexual activity, number of pregnancies, all methods of birth control and STD control used, whether any sexual relationships were monogamous or not, etc. The whole thing left me a little shell-shocked and my sex life isn't even all that interesting compared to some.

* Apparently I'm going to a Falcons pre-season game tomorrow. I was supposed to have other plans but I get the distinct impression those are no longer happening, at least for me. I find it hard enough to muster enthusiasm for the Falcons generally even without their recent troubles, and certainly during the preseason when it doesn't even matter it seems like a non-event. But hey, it's a people watching opportunity and a good excuse to drink. What more do you need.

* I am having a bigger and bigger problem with the calls for Sen. Larry Craig to resign. I mean we've had people stay in office not only after they have been accused but after they have been convicted of much more serious crimes than disorderly conduct. Why aren't more people bothered that the only reason people want him to resign is because they are worried that the thought he might be gay will hurt his reelection chances in conservative Idaho? Nobody can come out and say it of those who have called for his resignation, but it's all right there in their screwed up faces as they use words like "disgusting," "repulsive" and "shameful" to describe...disorderly conduct that consisted of some hand and foot movements in a public restroom stall. I mean, REALLY. Have the balls to stand up and say that you want him to resign because he might be gay and don't pussyfoot around by pretending that it's because he has defiled the office of Senator with this bogus trumped-up bullshit charge. Come on.

* I can't muster any enthusiasm to care about the whole Grady fiasco. I have a friend who works there and I know that despite the horror stories, the doctors and nurses who work there are more committed than anyone to saving as many lives as possible even against what often seem to be insurmountable odds. In addition to what everyone else says about how many counties rely on Grady to serve as their only level I trauma center in the area, we have to also consider how many residents would be deprived of the opportunity to learn cutting edge trauma medicine that they will simply not get the chance to see anywhere else in Georgia. It's just frustrating but I can't wade into all the racial and political drama. I leave that for others with more stomach for it.

* This has been a particularly juicy week at Ye Olde Law Firm, and sadly I can't blog about any of it. But there are times when gossip is fun, and then there are times when it turns ugly. And when it approaches ugly, it's downright disappointing that some people don't know where the line is anymore. That's all I can say about that.

* I watched Zodiac last night and it was really very good, but not for the faint of heart. The methodical and unvarnished way in which it portrays grisly murders was definitely shocking to even me. And actually the most upsetting part of the movie is not violent at all, it is watching a woman who is in a car with the killer and he tells her that he is going to do something shockingly horrible to her baby. It was so incredibly upsetting that I actually nearly hyperventilated. It was such a strange reaction, particularly since I do not have children, but the best evidence I can think of that the movie conveyed that complete horror perfectly. Just imagining the horrible terror of that moment for that woman hit me right in the gut.

* It's so cool to see people that I know here in the Atlanta blogosphere branch out and do great things with their talents. In particular, Shelby and Grayson have been blazing trails with video this week that leave me proud to know such talented folks. I also enjoy seeing this little faction of the local blogosphere become the sort of "troupe" that I can remember comedian friends of mine in Boston having several years ago. They urged each other on, provided fodder for one another, booked each other on shows in various clubs that they were producing, and eventually pushed each other out of the Boston nest and on to New York or LA. Now many of them have gone on to fantastic development deals, cable specials, television roles, and even a book deal for one. I'm loving the spirit of collaboration that I'm seeing, even though I haven't been as much of a participant as others. It's very positive and will only lead to bigger and better things.

* Drive By Truckers return to Atlanta and the Variety Playhouse, Jason Isbell-less, on Sept. 28th. I can't decide if I want to go or not. Also don't know if I will be able to muster up a gang this time willing to come along. If you're interested and want to try talking me into it, do so in comments or by email.

Random Smatterings

I cannot motivate to blog lately, hence the myriad of short posts or music videos or cartoons or generally useless drivel I've been spewing. Not likely to change anytime soon unless the urge hits or the news becomes interesting. It's hot, everyone's lazy, and that's extending to the blogosphere too. But here's some crap I could blog about if I really wanted to:

* I think it's really cool that Georgia coach (and former FSU offensive coordinator) Mark Richt flew down to Tallahassee to attend Mickey Andrews' son's funeral. The ties obviously still run deep there. I also think it's fantastic how many former coaches and players made it a priority to be there in person to express their condolences. Coach Andrews has obviously touched many lives and now it is the turn of the FSU family to show him that support runs back to him when he needs it.

* As a result of the funeral yesterday, FSU did not announce their starting QB for the Clemson game. That announcement is expected today.

* My car is officially a piece of shit and it won't even be 4 years old until tomorrow. My 2003 VW Passat, which has only 44,000 miles on it, is just killing me. The air conditioner doesn't work when stopped in traffic now, which as you might expect in 100+ degree temperatures is a bit of a problem. Yesterday after trying to get home from Decatur in rush hour traffic and having to keep the windows down for most of the ride, I stopped at Alon's to pick up dinner. When I got out of there and turned on the car I got a message that said "STOP, turn off car" with a little temperature thing. The engine temp. indicator was in the red zone. So, I turned off the car, turned off the A/C, waited for awhile, and when I turned it back on again the temp slowly dropped and I was able to drive home. But as a result of this madness I am more resolved than ever to get a new car ASAP because this shit has got to stop. I've already gotten pre-approval from three companies and I'm going to use that to hammer VW to give me a good rate on a new Eos. Now I just have to decide between the 2.0L and 3.2L. This is where having a guy who knows something about cars would be exceedingly helpful.

* As a result of my sweaty ride home in temperatures that my car's external thermometer claimed him 108 degrees, I felt the need to take a cold shower. Much to my extreme terror, my parents arrived home from the airport after their trip to Italy at this very moment and my mother walked into the bathroom and loudly announced her presence. I was absolutely thrilled to see them both to hear all about their trip and to catch them up on the developments and drama of the past 10 days. They brought me some beautiful hand blow venetian glass shotglasses, and something mysterious which will apparently be a Christmas present. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a leather jacket to match the handmade ones that they bought, but I could be wrong. I'm glad they had a great time since they take far too few legitimate vacations.

* From Blog For Democracy, we have all learned that ACLU of Georgia has mysteriously lost all of its lawyers recently and when they need them the most, too. Not only do we have the implementation of the VoterID bill to fight, but the City of Atlanta wants to ban baggy pants. They better hire some legal staff, stat. If I married rich tomorrow or won the lottery, I'd volunteer. But alas, public interest law is not in the cards for me anytime soon.

* Yeah, no shit the drought is worsening. While in Helen, GA last weekend we were amused to see the tubers on the Chattahoochee getting continually stuck because the water level is so low they can barely pass through the rocks. Meanwhile my yard is in shambles even though I illegally watered it a couple nights this weekend. (Shhh, don't tell. My sprinkler timer was broken so I was making up for lost time.) I can't believe we have gone this long with 100+ degree temperatures and absolutely no rain. We need a deluge, hopefully this weekend. Remember when Drudge was constantly pointing to freak snowstorms to try and refute the possibility that global warming exists? How come he's strangely silent about much of the country being stuck in a ridiculously long heat wave this month?

* Speaking of Drudge, he's apparently preoccupied with topless photos of world leaders. Remember all that drama over Hillary Clinton showing a little cleav? Meanwhile, both Russia and France have seen their (male) Presidents photographed shirtless in the last couple of weeks and it's causing a stir there as well. I think it's just a little strange to see any of your world leaders in various states of undress, and I don't think it's a sexist issue. Because man, that photo of Putin is just weird.

Random Observations

-Today marks day 9 since I have spoken to my parents by phone or in person. This may be the longest I have ever gone without talking to them at least by phone. I feel rudderless and like I have so so much to tell them. I know they're having a great time in Italy but this experience has shown me just how much I rely on them to keep me sane and grounded.

-Upside of having an exterminator come visit is that the roaches and such are dying. Downside is that they are dying all over the inside of the house, meaning a) I had a lot more bugs than I thought I did and b) they are now popping up everywhere. It's ooging me out, man.

-Perfect red lipstick: Nars' "Fire Down Below." This with Black Honey gloss from Clinique will turn me into a redlipped vixen from now on. You have been warned. Getting the perfect red that's not too blue, not too pink and not too orange is incredibly hard for a redhead. But this color is absolutely freakin' PERFECT.

-While I love the clean lines of french manicures, why do they last so little time? I got this one yesterday and I've already chipped half the white off of a nail. I will need a redo by Saturday at the latest.

-I don't consider myself someone with impeccable etiquette but so often I am astounded by the bad manners of others. Were people raised in a barn? I guess more sank in from my momma than I thought.

-All of you friends who urged me to put aside my prejudices and date someone who I wasn't immediately smitten with (and who's shorter than me), I listened. It didn't work. If that makes me shallow, so be it.

Randomness embodied

It's funny how when I'm absolutely swamped at work it seems like there is no shortage of blog-worthy news or topics, but as soon as I actually have a little breathing room my mind goes as blank as Paris Hilton's.

As you no doubt noticed by now, I was pretty well underwater for the last few weeks. I was working extremely late nights even on the weekends, I was sleeping too little, I had developed what sure felt like an ulcer, and I started despairing about whether I want to live this life anymore. That question still lingers, but I feel now with a couple days of decent sleep and a workday that ended at 7pm like I can afford to wait awhile and decide it on my own terms.

Of course it doesn't hurt that just in the knick of time (is it nick or knick?) my boss decided to be concerned and supportive and just generally exactly what I needed out of her, even though I rarely even get to see her in person these days. But she both encouraged vacation and praised my recent efforts, and gave me lots of helpful and positive feedback on my being on course for an associate at my senior level who has to think about the dreaded S word (rhymes with "hairholder") in a year or so. I still don't know if that's what I ultimately want, but it was nice to hear the encouragement to stay on that path. Plenty of associates at my level of seniority are getting far less encouraging and far less subtle signs about their prospects or lack thereof at this point in their careers.

So I don't know if I've been sucked back in completely or not, but I don't feel like jumping out the window anymore and my stomach no longer feels like a roiling volcano of acidity, so that's nice. I have developed a strange visual anomaly that I think I've decided is part of a new onset of optical migraines when I have PMS. This would explain the vertigo 2 months ago and why my physical and migraine were completely normal. The bad part is that I have other friends who have experienced late-onset hormonal migraines and it has gotten unbearable for them. I don't really want to go through that.

My dad also had a recent health scare, though that sounds like it may be due to new physician ineptitude rather than an actual health issue. After having low cholesterol his whole life, low to the point of freakishness, his doctor now says it's 255. He is requesting a second test, but if it really is that high then I am going to have to start really watching my own cholesterol instead of presuming that good genes would carry me along. Sadly, like most cooks I love real butter way too much and have a hard time cutting it out. I'm also scared for my dad, who at 62 years old is a prime candidate for heart disease even though he is in fantastic shape. And it makes me scared for other guys I know who have even more risk factors but who don't want to take the risk seriously.

I am quite proud that yesterday I got my mother to actually shop at and purchase clothes from designer stores. If you knew my mom you'd know this was a major milestone! My parents are going to Italy in August for an early 40th anniversary present, and my mom really wanted some cute and trendy clothes. I got her to buy 2 outfits from Michael Kors including an adorable empire waist dress (unlike me, my mom has the perfect figure for empire waist--small up top, a little hippy on the bottom) that she fought me on until she actually put it on and my dad's jaw just dropped. It was really adorable to see that interaction between them. I was lucky to grow up with such a great example of a lifetime love affair. Now if only my mom would take me up on my offer to get her hair colored to take away the grey, she'd look 10 years younger at least.

I made a cherry pie last night on a whim and holy crap was it good! I cut a bunch of pitted bing cherries up and mixed them with some prebought Williams-Sonoma cherry pie/cobbler filling, and then just used a Pillsbury pie crust. I wasn't prepared for how long a pie has to bake and I kinda overdid the filling, but it still tasted fantastic. I'm thinking of having some folks over for dinner this week as a way to use up the pie before I eat it all. I do love my cherry pie. No, not in the dirty way.

I guess that's it. I know this is rambly, but I really got nothing of actual consequence to say these days. Everyone's out of town, I've been both bored and miserable, and the news topics have all been played out to death.

Office Food Thieves

Apparently we have a thief among us. Last night in the wee hours as I went to put away my leftover cold pizza and grab another diet Coke, I was shocked to see notes all over the tupperware and takeout containers in the fridge. They said things like "If you eat this I hope you get sick!" and "I am broke and have to bring this food to be able to eat. Please don't take it." What the hell is going on?

So today, I asked my secretary and she said that some unidentified culprit has been eating food out of the refrigerator on our floor, often eating only part and putting the rest back. I am seriously confused about this. I have often been stuck here late at night, hungry, when nobody in the world would know if I went into the fridge and ate someone's leftovers. And yet the thought has never even crossed my mind because it's just so disgusting. Who in the world would do such a thing?

If not for the tales of half-eaten leftovers, I would suspect that what is actually occurring is people are throwing away leftovers to make room for their own in our often-cramped refrigerator. But apparently multiple people have come back the next day to find half a fruit salad or half a bowl of soup is suddenly missing. That just ain't right.

My friend Samantha's office in Boston had a food thief, but that turned out to be a girl in the office who was anorexic but who would suddenly when working late at night have an irresistible impulse to eat everything in sight. So, apparently, she would go on a smorgasbord through the office kitchen. Now I'm wondering if we have someone similarly screwed up working here. The other options are that we have someone crazy, or someone so incredibly broke that they need to steal leftovers in the middle of the night to keep from going hungry. I don't like to consider either of those as viable options.

Recipe for a Rivalry

Today must be recycling day, because after shamelessly stealing Andrew Sullivan's quote of the day I am now going to recycle a post of mine from earlier today on a messageboard, in response to the question of what constitutes a great college rivalry. Here goes:

I think there are certain elements that are necessary to a great rivalry, at least for college football purposes:

1. The teams gotta be good. Not consistently good necessarily, but good enough that the rivalry consistently affects the national championship aspirations of one of the two teams. For example, FSU-Miami determined or all but determined the national title hopes of one of the 2 teams for about a decade.

2. These can't be some podunk teams--we need big stadiums, massive fan bases, and national appeal. Michigan-Ohio State is probably the best example of an ugly rivalry with massive appeal.

3. No stupid bucket or jug or trophy involved. I'm sorry but if what you're fighting for is a trinket, it's not a serious rivalry. Hate needs to be your primary motivation.

4. It needs to be a direct rivalry borne of years of hard fought games and mutual dislike, not "your entire conference hates you." This means all those other SEC teams that hate UF (Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, etc.) don't *really* have rivalries with UF like FSU and Georgia do.

5. Can't be lopsided for very long in either direction. Both teams need to have a legitimate shot at winning when they take the field. Bonus points if the team having the off year can usually rise to the occasion and pull off the upset just because they hate you so much and want to ruin your season.

With all of this in mind, I submit that these are the best and only true rivalries in college football:

FSU-Florida
Ohio St-Michigan
Alabama-Auburn
Texas-Oklahoma
Texas- A&M
USC-Notre Dame
Florida-Georgia
FSU-Miami (fading off this list, but it ruled the rivalries in the 80s/90s)

Now, some jokers will add Army-Navy into a list like this even though neither team has been good in ages. And they will talk about how it's a whole 'nother level of rivalry and consecutive losses for a number of years by either team indicated a coming war. I don't care. It's a game that nobody outside of the military gives a shit about.

Also, anyone who would include Harvard-Yale on this list probably hasn't watched real college football in their entire lives.

Mourning

I have nothing but grief and mourning on my mind today. Tonight is the final show of Carp Circles Radio, which I mentioned earlier this week was really important to me for several years. I'm incredibly sad to see it go and can remember so many good times tied up in that show. I'll be on hand with the boys and their usual band of groupies (ok, really, I'm the only groupie) and crazy characters to get wild, get nostalgic, and send the last broadcast into the ether. Tune in from 8-11 to check it out. I may even get the sniffles at the end.

And I'm also mourning something that really has been limping along for awhile before recently taking a turn for the worse: a close friendship with someone I have known for half of my life. We have been through a lot together, but a lot of my other friends and family have been critical of her in the past for a variety of reasons. A big part of why I was able to leave Boston and move down here was because I recognized that my relationship with her was changing in a way that caused me to rely on her less and less as she gravitated towards other friends who made her the focus of their universe at a time when I could not. I actually thought distance would improve things, because I wouldn't have frequent occasion to be reminded about how she only seemed to call me or want to hang out when she needed something from me.

However, since a recent event exposed a serious trust issue between us, and one that I knew would be really hard for me to get over, I just haven't been able to muster the same level of enthusiasm I once did. Yesterday when she sensed it and asked if I was angry at her, I was finally honest. Boy was that a mistake. Now I'm getting the long guilt-trip emails about how she has been the perfect friend and I must just be crazy. Yeah, let me just tell those of you who don't know me real well, that angle doesn't work with me. Both guilt trips and being told that it must be all in my head are surefire ways to piss me off. So, as things stand now, I doubt if we'll speak again for a long time. And I've made my peace with that even though it definitely makes me feel incredibly lousy to be in this place with her. We've been friends for half my life, and I never thought we wouldn't be friends. But my recent outlook on life involves a lot less tolerance for bullshit, and I'm sticking to my guns here and telling her exactly how I feel, and if she can't handle it then there's not much reason for us to try and stay friends anyhow.

And finally, another good friend of mine is mourning someone she lost, and my heart is just breaking for her. I wish I could find some way to make it hurt less. But grief is one of those things that never really goes away, even with time and distance. It just becomes a part of you and you learn to go about your life while feeling it as opposed to being consumed by it. I have been spared that kind of unbearable loss in my life so far, but I mourn for all those who still experience that feeling every day. If I could take it away from you all, I would.

Random drivel while waiting at the brake place

I am back at the brake place today because I have noticed a thunk sound whenever I apply the brakes. I may not know enough to avoid getting hosed by mechanics, but I know that knocking noise wasn't there before and isn't a good thing. At all.

So I am sitting here with a guy and his sleeping kid, who is very cute. The guy has been very talkative and friendly and initially I thought he might be hitting on me (which would be wildly inappropriate with his 2 year old on his lap), but now I think he's trying to get me involved in some Tahitian Noni franchise. I am writing this post in no small part because he just asked me if I had time for a conference call, and that's just strange, so I am preteneding to be deeply engrossed in something worklike. Yeah, I really am this bad at saying "no."

I had very strange dreams last night. I dreamt that a friend of mine was going to a party for Nascar driver Jamie McMurray in Cornelia, GA near my parents' house. I really have no idea where that came from.

I am trying the new fad diet that's all about doing things in 5s. 5 small meals a day, each of which is supposed to contain: 1)lean protein 2) good carbs 3) good fats 4)fiber and d) liquid. That's pretty easy, right? And then 5 sessions each per wk of cardio and strength/flexibility training at least 25 mins at a time. That part is gonna take awhile to integrate, but ideally I'll do one session in the morning and one at either lunch or after work. We'll see. But the best part is that 1 day a week is a cheat day when you have whatever you want. That I can do! Of course if it seems too easy then it probably is. I'm sure the last critical step that they conveniently leave out is the plastic surgery.

I'm sure I'll have more randomness if I'm forced to wait here much longer.

A little of this, a little of that

* I have a coworker who calls it the French Quarters, not the French Quarter. I find this quite amusing for some reason, perhaps because she is otherwise quite smart. I didn't have the heart to correct her.

* I'm going to feel a little guilty if Paul Broun ends up edging out James Marlow for the runoff slot against Jim Whitehead in the 10th district special election, as presently appears to be the case. See, I knew I couldn't convince my Republican parents to vote for Marlow, so when I balked at the notion of them voting for Whitehead and my Dad asked me the obligatory "then who's a better option" question, I blanked on exactly which of the other candidates was least crazy and suggested he look at Paul Broun. I think unfortunately he listened. My thinking at the time was that anything that siphoned votes from Whitehead and kept him from 50% was a good thing. I vastly underestimated Broun's support, apparently. Whoops.

* I went to the doctor today to answer the threatening instructions from family and friends that I get checked out after vertigo last week, sharp stomach pains and a fever on Friday night, and then a fainting spell on Saturday in the bathroom at Moe's and Joe's. (NOT where you want to faint, for future reference.) Well, after taking bloodwork, doing an EKG and physical exam, and asking me a bunch of questions the short answer was she has no idea what's wrong with me until the bloodwork comes back, and potentially even then. However, she's scheduled me for an MRI of my brain, which is scary both because she said she wanted to make sure I didn't have a tumor and because I'm a claustrophobic who gets hives at the mere thought of being stuck in a tube and I can't get out. Now I think she was really honest with me about the tumor thing and what she was trying to rule out because we talked about what I do for a living and how a part of that is defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases, and so she thought I could handle the unvarnished truth of what she was doing without the sugarcoated bullshit, and she probably also wanted to show me how thorough she was in checking for every possible cause. I guess that's what I get for being a lawyer.

* I am inappropriately happy that the doctor did shrug off any worries about me having an ulcer, which means I can drink again! Woo hoo! Also my blood pressure and pulse rate were both good, so good that I think she was almost surprised that someone so obviously NOT in shape as me had a BP of 100/75. What can I say, good genes.

The ugliness has passed

Sorry for all the ick that I was spewing forth earlier this week--it was an unfortunate combination of rampant PMS, the birthday blues, and feeling completely overwhelmed by work. Thankfully all three of those issues have passed and now I'm starting to feel more human than monster again. I'm hoping to use a little bit of a lull in my workload to catch up on some languishing cases and hopefully get myself into a better position for the next time a crunch hits, but I also want to take it a little bit easier for awhile too.

I got my car back yesterday, which was nice except for the fact that this little episode cost me $850 out of pocket thanks to my deductible, rental car fee, and towing fee. The repairs, while seemingly minor, amounted to $2100 because they had to replace my entire hood. That means my insurance will definitely go up, which sucks. But at least I have no points on my license. Now I have to focus on being a better driver and not texting or using my blackberry while in traffic--which should seem obvious but hey, I'm a multi-tasker. What can I say. Or as my terrified passenger Griftdrift recently put it, to paraphrase: "it's not that you're a terrible driver....OK, you are a terrible driver. But you're also easily distractable, which is really the problem." So, I'm going to work on that because I would really like to avoid both the sky high insurance bills and also fulfilling the bad girl driver stereotype.

And on that note, I'm headed out of the city today for a meeting in the town where my parents live so I will be offline for most of the day. Because I'm not going to blog or twitter or text or anything else while I'm in the car for the 90 minute drive each way. No really, I'm not! As always, consider following the links on the blogroll to some interesting spots slightly off the beaten path.

The return of...What You're Googling!

I haven't done this in awhile but my brain is currently devoid of original coherent thought, so let's give this a whirl. This report of What You're Googling will be broken up by category:

1. The beer is still addicted to me: People still search for this several times a day. Why they end up here I do not know. In related news, "stages of drunk" is rapidly rising up the search charts. No, this is not a sign that I do in fact have a problem.

2. Panda-monium: I don't know what prompted it, but about a month ago I started noticing at least 5-10 daily hits that involve the word "panda." Baby panda, 3 day old panda, panda cub, and my personal favorite..."panda drunk." Poor little Mei Lan is too young and fragile to imbibe, so we better be talking about another panda!

3. Lyrics: That Mika song "Grace Kelly" really took off, didn't it? So did searches for the lyrics. I also get a few searches for the Jewel song that was on Men in Trees every now and again.

4. Skinny, ugly or both?: I shudder to think why so many people appear to be searching for "too thin," "thin models," "way too thin," "thin pictures," etc. Would I prefer that it be men who are turned on by emaciated chicks, or women who are looking for incentive to starve themselves? Either way it's awful. Don't even get me started on "models under 18." Also along these lines, someone really, really wanted "pictures of ugly girls." I hope that them following a link to my blog after that search isn't the web equivalent of having my picture in the dictionary.

5. Random shit: Some searches I understand, some I don't. For example, I get why people who are searching for snakes in Florida or Georgia would end up here. The ones I don't: "ponder your scene," "gay red sox" (hey! fuckin' Yankee fans...), or "monster lobster."

6. Here, pussy pussy pussy: Lots of searches for "cathouse," "bunny ranch," "sunset thomas," etc. One hopeful but probably disappointed search for "atlanta cathouse." In related news, and again I don't want to know how they were led to me, we have searches for "prostitutes in Atlanta," "sluts in Atlanta" (because there's like a running list or something?), and "anonymous sex in Dawsonville." Good luck with that one buddy!

7. I really don't want to know: "drug resistant syphilis." Yes, more than once that was searched and ended up here. I don't have it, I swear!

(I am, however going to wish I hadn't included the P word in a post on this blog. I can feel the porn searches starting as I write this.)

Late Night Weirdness

So it's almost 4am and I just won another satellite for a WSOP qualifier that I started over 3 hours ago. That was exhausting! Hopefully this one will go better than the others.

Robinella was amazing tonight and I will definitely see her perform again when she is in town. She was hilarious too, though often unintentionally so. She was telling a story about going to the grocery story in her small town in Tennessee to buy easter candy for her son, and she said something like this:

"So I went up to the IGA, well, it's not the IGA anymore because they put a sheet of plastic over the IGA with the new name, but you know how southern people are, we'll always call it the IGA...so I went up to the IGA to buy some eggs to dye, and...well the thing about the IGA is you have to be careful what you buy there. Because a lot of times things at the IGA are out of date. Like, milk, meat, produce, cheese, even canned vegetables will be out of date. But the eggs are always fresh."

This may not amuse anyone but me and one reader out there, but let's just say that those of us who have shopped in an IGA before know that this rule about the things you don't buy there (hint: almost anything with an expiration date or that needs to be refrigerated at a decent temperature) is so, so true.

We won't be talking about the other part of my evening because, well, it's just not worth talking about. That's the nicest way I can put it.

Afterwards I talked to my friend Jen who swears to me that it snowed tonight up in Cobb County. I swear she lies. I saw no snow, and I know because I stared out the window for about half an hour after her call practically willing it to snow. I really miss snow.

And now I have to go to sleep. 'Night, all.

I'm all befuddled

All day I've felt like my head was put on backwards for some reason. First I had some supremely weird and vivid dreams, things like looking out a window at a huge black raincloud only to realize as it got closer that it was actually a swarm of birds...and video cameras. Yes, video cameras were flying around in this cloud. Weird, right? Then I had a dream that co-defendant's counsel in one of my cases showed up at my house dressed as R2D2 from Star Wars. Then I had a dream that the most recent object of my affection told me that he was in love with the girl who was my high school senior class president. There's more weirdness but that's just a sample. Talk about a strange feeling when I woke up!

The weather isn't helping. It was cold, then it was warm, then it was downright hot, now suddenly it's freezing again. Or at least it seems that way when you wake up and it's 37 degrees outside after it was in the 80s a couple days ago. I've switched back and forth between air conditioning and heat so many times in the last 3 weeks that I'm half expecting the HVAC to just go kaput next time I turn it on.

It's strange days, baby. I feel like I'm in a really bad movie.