Ah yes, Boston Legal and my colon. No new Boston Legal this week. (Curse you ABC!!!) However my colon is faring the same. That is to say poorly. Couple that with a cold I have developed today and I'm a little miserable. Add in that one of our two dogs at home is having bladder control issues necessitating morning and evening cleaning of the kitchen floor by yours truly ('cause my mom's bad back and bad knee and bad wrist otherwise disqualify her from floor-cleaning duty) and I'm pretty darn miserable tonight.
Sore throat. Stuffy nose. Leaky colon. Recently-cleaned floor that now has a small pile of dog shit courtesy of the other, non-bladder-control-problems dog. *sigh* Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. (Though I did go to work today so it did pay in the literal sense.)
Work is going rather well. I'm learning more every day. Thus far I've drafted a nonprovisional application and a provisional application. Also many Responses to Office Actions. I'm enjoying it most of the time. Sometimes it's boring or uninspiring but even then I slog through and manage to produce something (hopefully) good. I take heart that my provisional draft, which I turned in for review today, only received minor corrections. Heck, even my flow charts and descriptions thereof passed muster! Not bad all things considered.
One cool thing about work. Since it's the holiday season, the firm gets a number of seasonal cards. The firm also gets a number of edible seasonal gifts, including chocolate, coffee cake, and Mrs. Field's cookies. Oh the cookies. The cookies!!! *Homer Simpson-like drooling noises* Soooooo good. Sooooooooooo good. The worst part is that my desk is very close to the kitchen, where the edible seasonal gifts reside. Hence, whenever I pass the kitchen, which I do on a not infrequent basis, I am tempted to partake of the edible seasonal gifts. Sooooo good. Cooooooookies. Yes, my kryptonite is chocolate chip cookies. Coooooookies.
Sorry about that. Got hung up on the edible fare. By the way, the reason for no new posts of late is work. Some nights I get home and don't even turn on my computer. The nights I do, exepting tonight, I tend to play my computer game and relax. I'll try to post a bit more often but how many times in the lifetime of this blog have I promised that one? Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
I do have some comments, maybe ones that could even be misconstrued as substantive, concerning the NYC transit strike and FISA taps. We'll see if I get around to posting those, though. I will say that watching the news coverage of the transit strike, safely afar here in CT, is pretty interesting. Personally I'm rooting for MTA and the city (Bloomberg, Patacki, et al.). The union is in a bad position, in my opinion. Hopefully this thing is resolved in the next day or two but I wouldn't be shocked if it took a bit longer.
And as for the FISA taps, in an effort to keep my name and this blog off various non-existent lists of persons I shall refrain from using names. Let's just say I'm not a POTUS-supporter. I think that he could have handled this, as with so many other things, including the war, in a much better manner. I'm also a bit concerned over these things, even though I'm not surprised by them. In my opinion, sans any review or review process, these taps are the first step on a road I distinctly dislike, namely one leading to a more dictatorial form of government. When the government starts conducting its affairs in secret, out of the eyes of the public and without any accountability thereto, it's time for the people to take note and be afraid. Makes you wonder what else they haven't told us, eh? And that does scare me.
So maybe you did get my thoughts on those topics. Thhhpppttt.
Man I feel rotten. Hope I can get some sleep tonight. I still plan on going into work. It's at my option whether or not I do but every hour of work I miss is one more I have to make up later. And that ain't good, especially if I get behind. As it is, I was on target this morning after the previous two weeks' deficits (due to first day, snow, and ice). I'm currently a half hour behind. Hopefully I can at least put in a good 5-6 hours billable tomorrow.
The almighty billable hour. I've learned that it's not so hard to manage 7-8 billables a day. There's plenty of work to do and if I get in early and stay to at least 5pm, with a 30 min. lunch break it's cake. Unfortunately that doesn't take into account my colon (which has exacted 45-60 min on a bad day or as few as 5-10 on a good day) or break time (which has exacted as much as 55 min on a bad day). I view break time as occasionally necessary to preserve sanity. Plus, it's my time to use towards billables or make up later. I try not to break if I can help it but sometimes I have to surf over to Slashdot or The Legal Underground and take a brief, unbilled breather.
Is this post that long yet? I suspect it is but I refuse to verify.
CSI is good. If you like, the Spike channel shows it from at least 7-8pm, if not also 8-9pm. Got a double dose tonight. Yay Grissom! I am kind of hoping that Jorja Fox gets more acting roles. I suspect she has potential. (Plus she's pretty good-looking.) Have to see if she gets other parts elsewhere.
Speaking of entertainment, I need to see Chronicles of Narnia and Aeon Flux. I'd like to buy Serenity on DVD, now that I have money in my pocket from my first paycheck. I did watch the movie Rounders on tv. I rather liked it! A good one with Matt Damon and Ed Norton about poker. Good ending too. Two weekends ago my mom and I saw Syriana in the theater. It was okay at best. We both feel like we missed something with it. As in its overall goal, point, story, or direction. Not a good thing to find oneself missing in a movie.
Enough. Peace out.
ADDENDUM: In reviewing the front page of my blog, I remembered one other thing I wanted to write. Apologies go to my friend's fiancee whom I mentioned about 3 posts back. You see, my friend's fiancee is also a friend of mine and apparently she took my reference to her, as "my friend's fiancee," in a negative light. Apologies T-bone!
She voiced this to me when I met up with her and her fiancee, aka my friend, at that shindig a Thursday or two back. Was a good thing, except for the location. New Haven stinks! Took me over an hour to get there! Anyways, she sparked a brief discussion over my reference to her. At which point I sided with her fiancee, aka my friend, in pointing out that I met him before her. See, I was friends with both of them before they were ever a them. I met him at orientation and her in the grocery store late one night. (She was my neighbor and in front of me in line and recognized me and said hi.)
It's actually kind of funny. Each year of law school I was good friends with a different friend o' mine. First year it was T-bone's fiancee. Second year it was The Lawless One. Third year it was Dan-the-Man. T-bone hooked up with his fiancee the end of first year. The Lawless One re-hooked up with his former-ex girlfriend the end of second year. Dan-the-Man commuted so he had nowhere else to go when in Hartford, other than the school. (Hah!) Plus he and I liked computer games. I got him back into Diablo 2 and then World of Warcraft. As it is, he and I became pretty good friends although I wasn't invited to his wedding this past November. I haven't asked him about that yet but then I haven't talked with him much. I will inquire though.
That's another thing. The Cara and The Dave had their wedding in October. Captain Kate and Sneaky Pete had their wedding this October. I think I was the only law student invited to both weddings. The group of friends I assembled is a little odd in that not everyone in the group is friends or even friendly with the rest. Except me. I'm pretty much friends with everyone. I predict that I won't see all of them again until it's time for my wedding, when I invite them all. 'Cause no one else is friends with everyone. Kinda sad. Especially given some of the 'reasons' behind the non-friendship. Also because they all are my friends and it'd be really cool to hang with them all again. At one time. In one place.
Speaking of my wedding, I predict it to be a loooooooong way off. Me living at home does not a good dating life make. Not that me living in my own apartment was much better. But home just kinda kills it. The town doesn't help either. And I'm not really one to cruise bars and pick up women. I sometimes wish I was but that ain't how it works for me. So I spend my Friday and Saturday nights watching tv or playing computer games. At some point, possibly after I lose a few pounds and feel a bit better about myself and have some more dispensible income, I can give it more of a shot. I suspect the Internet will be involved. Yes, that doesn't make me leap with joy either.
By the way, one soft goal of mine next year, besides getting out of debt, is to consider getting a new car. What would I get? Probably a new, spiffy 2006 Shelby Ford Cobra GT500. I just want to throw that one out there. Sometime, in another post, I'll dig out some links, info, and pictures. Me likey.
Okay, enough addendum. Cheers! [9:45 PM]
ADDENDUM II: I really hate my colon. I mean it. I. hate. my. colon. I mean I'm sure I need a colon. And if I do need one, I'm sure it's better to have a colon than not. However I would much rather it be a properly-functioning colon as opposed to, well, mine. *sigh* I think I should just sit on the toilet and telecommute. [9:54 PM]