Life to Date

Words

2019-01-05T11:53:00.000-05:00

Words. I need words. I need all the words. And I don’t feel like I have them but I need them. I don’t just need words. I need the right words.

I used to have all the words. I used to have all the words. I used to be awash in words. "Pontificate for me, Justin" she would say. Where did I put all of the words? They seem scattered and hidden in places. I must have put them there to keep them safe but I don't remember doing it. I don't remember what I was keeping them safe from or was I keeping myself safe.

The words I have left: They're misplaced. They're disorganized. They're not the words I want.

"There's no good way to say what you need to say." How do I create a new language with all the words I want?

The little boy sat on the picnic table, his legs dangling as the wind tousled his hair that desperately needed a haircut.

"What are you thinking about?" She looked up at him, her big eyes filled with innocence and curiosity. Her words floated in the breeze and landed gently on the boys ears, carrying him back from where he had gone.

"I wonder if clouds talk."

The girl scrunched up her face. "You sound like you're hungry."

"Maybe."

The girl reached into her pocket and fished out an apple. She rose from her reclined position and offered the apple to the boy. "Do you want my apple?"

"Won't you be hungry?"

"It's more important that you eat. I only get hungry for your words."

The boy gently took the apple from the girl's hand and studied her carefully. Then turning his full attention to the apple, he seemed lost in thought. "I miss my words. I think some of them went missing."

The girl looked down with sadness. "Will you not make words for me?"

The boy gazed at the apple, appearing to not have heard the question. A moment passed.Then the boy turned to the girl. "For you? For you, I would make an entire language."

Missing

2013-01-17T08:16:00.001-05:00

I miss blogging. Maybe. I certainly miss writing. I miss the creative outlet it provided. More than that, I miss the community. Almost every blogger I came to know through their writing has stopped posting. The witty banter that used to sometimes take place (generally on other people's blogs) is gone.

Adventures on the High Seas

2011-09-29T21:21:00.002-04:00

The old haggard captain eyed his crew as the scurried about the deck, the waves crashing over the deck, occasionally sweeping a sailor off of his feet. The waves seemed chaotic and disorganized to the untrained sailors but the captain saw it all differently, each wave delivering a glimpse of the endless layers of the sea. Some carried pain, some joy, others indifference. Captured memories, ideas, thoughts all struggling to be released.

This storm was not going to be easy and some of the crew may not make it out alive but the ship would make it. And the captain had navigated these waters before - knowing what to expect. He eyed his youngest mate who seemed gripped with fear and unknowing which way to turn next. The young sailor's knuckles were white as he gripped the mop handle, unable to explain why he found such comfort in this object. A wave sprang up behind him, readying to knock him to the deck. The captain cried out, his hair whipping as he almost too nimbly sailed across the deck, securing the young mate to the center mast. Catching the young sailor's eye, the captain barked "Hold tightly, mate. This be one nasty storm but it will pass and there be calm seas and bright skies on the other side."

My Cup Runneth Over

2010-01-17T08:03:00.000-05:00

And by cup I mean book shelves. I have too many books. There, I said it. Cook books, history books, fiction books ... books. The next step in my never ending battle against clutter may be donating a number of these dead trees with words on them to Good Will or a library. I would assume, someone would want to read the Harry Potter series. Although, by now you would think everyone would have read it.

Over Christmas, my girlfriend got a Kindle. She wasn't sure if she would like reading a book without real pages. She felt that it may eliminate the satisfaction she received in flipping the pages and seeing her progress as she read. Turns out, she loves virtual pages and the ability to always read a book one handed while sitting in bed - irrespective of its size, as the Kindle always weighs the same.

I could get a new book shelf for more books, but I have nowhere to put it. It would likely involve me throwing away other furniture to try and squeeze it in, which just seems like a little much. However, I could get a Kindle and store an unlimited number of books on it that would always be available to me on my virtual book shelf at amazon, and that's kind of how I view the Kindle. Sure, it seems expensive but really not much more expensive than a good bookshelf and I totally have room for a virtual one. Plus, when you add in the money you save for either not having to keep books in a storage unit and not having to pay for someone to move them ... ever, it becomes more cost effective.

Crap, when did I become a shill for Amazon? I am still refusing to get one, however, until I have actually read all the books that I own which I still have yet to read. Given my insane work hours and utter lack of free time, I figure I will not actually purchase one for two to three years and by then, ebook readers will likely have come a long way. Until then, I am not allowed to buy any new books (you know, other than the book I bought for $5 last week with formerly unpublished Mark Twain pieces or travel books when we decide to go on our next trip). Yeah, this plan is foolproof.

Are You Looking at Me?

2010-01-03T09:35:00.001-05:00

It's freaking cold. I don't know if any of you have noticed but here in Florida, it's in the 50s. Freezing for those of you unfamiliar with the southern temperature scales. I had to actually wear shoes yesterday. I think hypothermia is going to claim me. As I type this, my entire life is flashing before my eyes.

The guy you see above is the monkey I have in my closet. He scares the crap out of me. Alright, that's not really true. He's one of the cool little guys I saw at the zoo when I went there a couple of weeks ago. I know there's no snow and it looks very green and some of you may be thinking, that doesn't look very cold to me. I guess you would be right, it is green and as I look out the window, I see the palm trees gently rocking in the breeze but it's a frigid breeze I tell you.

So, I have a new thing. I am going to try and update this blog once per week. I am not sure if it will work but I think I can do it. It has been difficult to find the time to do all of the things I like and want to do. Even as I sit here doing this, I know there are at least four other things that I should be doing. But if I don't update my blog that little guy is going to leap out of my closet and attack me.

From Puerto Rico with Love

2009-12-25T08:48:00.005-05:00

Look at the View
Originally uploaded by -J:

Some people spend Thanksgiving with family. We tend to just head to warmer climates. When you live in Florida, it can be difficult to find warmer climates, unless you decide to go to the Keys, leave the United States, or ... go to Puerto Rico.

I was excited to go for the food and while the food was delicious, when I go back, I will probably be going for much more than the food. There were a ton of beautiful panoramic scenes like this one, there was lots of walking to be done, and lots to do.

It is kind of amazing how much is packed onto that little island. It has its own rain forest, temperate forests, caves, rum factory, forts, beautiful ocean views, bio luminescent bays, and coffee. And that doesn't even cover all of it. Plus, I didn't have to go through customs once. Brilliant!

Absence

2009-08-16T09:09:00.000-04:00

"You've been quiet for a while," she said, nudging him expectantly.

"Mmm," he said absentmindedly. He seemed to be struggling with the puzzle pieces in his hands. "I've been working on this thing here."

"Don't stick your tongue out like that."

"I thought it made me look more youthful and fun."

"It makes you look juvenile."

"It doesn't sound very attractive when you put it that way."

"So, what happened to your friend?"

"We stopped being friends."

"That's not fun." She began picking up various pieces of the puzzle, trying to fit them together.

"No, I would say it is the furthest thing from fun."

"Why would you both do that?" she asked as she fit another piece into place.

"I don't think it was intentional. I stopped trusting her and I just do not think I was ever able to start doing so again. This likely led to amplified reactions on my part."

"That sounds so sad." A timer went off somewhere and she went to retrieve cookies from the oven.

"It is sad in some respects but at the same time, she was often not very nice to me and we had drifted apart quite a bit. There was just too much pain and too many injuries. The relationship was already in intensive care. It required a lot of attention and we did not probably give it the attention it needed. We were both very busy with different things. It was probably far easier for her to just go be friends with someone else. Someone requiring less effort."

She returned with a plate full of cookies, placing them on the table between them. "I wish this story had a happier ending. I liked her. She seemed nice. Cookie?"

"Well, it was not a complete tragedy; she did get married. I believe I read once that all comedies end with a wedding."

Listen Up

2009-02-22T09:39:00.002-05:00

The radio informed me today that there is some sort of belief that is starting to gain traction that walking while either listening to your mp3 player, talking on your cell phone, or texting your friends can be a distraction. I have no doubt that the latter is true, as it is very hard to both look at your cell phone as you type and pay attention to the traffic, but I question the first two. Granted, I imagine it does matter how loud you listen to your music. If you listen too loudly, you aren't going to hear the ambient noise around you. However, I also wonder what is to explain all the people out there that don't do any of these activities yet still seem incapable of navigating traffic.

It seems every single time I go through parking lots, there are people walking down the middle of the lanes reserved for automotives. Because, after all, it's not like there are cars in parking lots, right? Parking lots are built for pedestrians - so that they can spread out and meander and walk three to four abreast. That's safe, right?

Would the limited number of peopler that were involved in some sort of accident while listening to their mp3 player or talking on their cell phones have avoided the incident if they had been walking or running sans auditory technology? One of the people the news story talked about to support their position was walking down the middle of train tracks. Another person failed to notice the bus coming at her. Sure, you could say it was the technology but I see people without any technilogical devices to their ears behave this way nearly every single time I drive through a parking lot. Maybe it's just a complete lack of common sense. However, we can't say that there are just dumb people out there can we? We have to say that they are "distracted." That sounds so much nicer; it implies that these people are otherwise quite bright - if only this damn technology had not distracted them. However, I question its validity, maybe not in every case but certainly in quite a few.

I suppose if the issue really is a problem, the government has an interest in protecting the poor folks having to contend with these technology fiends (as well as the fiends themselves, I guess). However, what about all the other folks? Is there a way we can legislate to eliminate stupid?

I am Middle Eastern?

2009-02-09T15:05:00.005-05:00

This past week or two, the food I have been making has taken a decidedly Middle Eastern direction, as I have been perfecting hummus and tabbouleh recipes. Growing up, I was taught you are what you eatbut if that's the case, I am beginning to doubt my heritage.

For the past few months, i have been trying to see how many meals I could comfortably eliminate meat from. There's no vegetarian or higher purpose to this goal. (Perish the thought - a life without bacon is simply not one I want to live.) It's more a matter that I am exceedingly lazy and I do not feel like I consume enough vegetables each day. There are two choices, as I see it, to rectify this. First, I could cook more vegetable side items, which is ok but, again, I am lazy. Second, I could simply make the vegetables the entire main course or an interagal part of it. Well, that's how it all started but now it has sort of become a goal. What healthy thing can I make from vegetables? Does fried eggplant count as healthy?

I seem to know how to do lots of things with meat, but now I want to branch out and do more with vegetables. I have to do something to keep myself busy other than working all the time, and clearly, blogging is so not one of those things. Did you see me post twice last week? Me neither and I am not sure this week looks much better. However, I have added two new recipes to my repretoire and as long as I am eating, things cannot be that bad, right?

Popcorn

2009-01-26T13:05:00.002-05:00

I had popcorn for dinner last night. No, not even the delicious kettle corn popcorn or even popcorn cooked in oil with yummy buttery goodness cooked right in. No, I had simple popcorn, popped in an air popper. I am fairly sure it had absolutely no fat and yet it somehow satisfied me. Don't ask me why or how because if you did, I couldn't tell you.

All I know is that I woke up and began working by 10. Somewhere in there, there was a short break for lunch and then I worked, without moving, until 7 that night. I suppose I didn't have to finish all of that work this weekend. I could have tried to delay or postpone it but it would have just made the work that much harder because each time I went back to it, I would have had to remember where I left off and remember my system and it would have ended up taking longer than it did.

Saturday was a little better. I actually got out of the house for a little while. When I came home, I passed out on the couch. I awoke wondering how I ended up on the couch instead of in bed, convinced that it must be 3 or 4 in the morning. Fortunately, I hadn't slept the entire night away and there was still a little time left in which to eat and return phone calls.

What was my point? I have no idea. Other than the fact that popcorn is freaking magical. I think I may be working too hard. I guess I muct be working too hard, as I did not liveup to my goal of two updates this past week, but I am working and that is good. I like paychecks. They help me pay for really cool things like ... popcorn.

But Don't You Believe Them

2009-01-17T13:40:00.003-05:00

Hillary always uses a song lyric as the title to her posts. Given that she is much better at updating her blog than I am and makes me laugh on a regular basis, I thought I would take a page from her.

I almost decided to giving up blogging entirely, owing to time constraints but then a funny thing happened, people started emailing me, asking how I was doing and what was wrong. I didn't even think anyone still bothered reading me, given that I hardly ever update anymore but it seems I was mistaken.

In answer to your question, Sally, yes, I am still working the same insane hours. This is the main reason for my lack of updating. Many of my friends who are attorneys work absolutely ridiculous hours, but many of them see light at the end of the tunnel. "I only have to work this hard for the next few months and then I will be caught up." I do not have this luxury. I am fairly certain that I will be working these hours for as long as I choose to remain at this job (or for as long as they desire to keep me, whichever feeling lasts the shortest.)

I have been a little out of it. I no longer know what to write or what to say. I lost my rhythm for writing. I spend most of my time keeping up on other people's blogs and commenting whenever I have something reasonably intelligible to say. (Also, for most of the last week, I have been sick.) However, I know that it important that I retain some outside interests and some sort of a life. So, I will make an effort to update here at least twice per week going forward. We'll see how I do.

I hope all of you are doing well.

Disconnect

2009-01-02T10:05:00.003-05:00

People sometimes say things that are foreign to me. Most often, I feel it around the holiday times when people speak of how important family is and the special bond that connects them. "Blood is thicker than water," they say. I often find myself very resistant to these concepts, but it was not until recently I determined why. This concept just does not make sense to me and is completely opposite to what I have learned.

I am not what anyone would consider close to my family. The thought that people would actually look forward to seeing and being with their family for longer than an hour or two is shocking and ridiculous to me. Why would they possibly want to do this.? However, I know people who actually enjoy their family. They cannot wait to see their siblings and parents and spend time with them. It is not just something they say to sound cool and popular. Although, I also know many people that say these things just to say them. Meanwhile, in their hearts the actual act of spending time with their family makes them wish for death ... or at least morphine. They have been taught, and somewhere in their minds believe, that they enjoy it - deriving some perverse pleasure from the misery. Much like Stockholm's syndrome.

I wonder how many other things might be like this. I often find that I will tell people things that they have never heard or thought about and they are initially uncomfortable with the concept and dismiss it immediately. I know others that languish in relationships, of one form or another, that clearly have no hope of satisfying their needs or making them happy. People like to believe things that are comfortable familiar and I believe for me, it was comfortable to believe that no one really enjoys their families. However, I think the real answer is I just do not particularly enjoy most of mine and it is foreign to me to think that anyone else could.

New Job, No Life

2008-12-21T10:01:00.002-05:00

So, you see, I started my new job and now have no life. I know I am supposed to be happy that I have a job at all in this crazy, wacky economy and in many ways I am. It's just the no life part that is slowly sucking my will to live. On the bright side, I have so far kept my new job and they do not seem to hate me too much yet. I am not entirely sure what they think of me yet, quite honestly. They may think I am great or they may be thinking, "Great gobbly googly, what have we done?" Either way, they are paying me.

I am, however, working 12 hour days and sometimes on Saturday. My entire gym routine ... what gym routine. I eat dinner after 8 every night and by the time it's done and we have cleaned up, it's almost 9 and almost time to go to bed so that I can wake up and do it all over again the next day. The really scary part is the partners there work longer hours than I do. I do not know how they ever see their children.

I still wait to see ever week if they will tell me that I am just not working out and that they are looking for someone else. However, every week, I seem to finish and they do not say it. Granted it has only been a couple of weeks and they would probably wait until after the holidays anyway, but this is how my brain works. It all started with my first three miserable law jobs working for attorneys that were either crazy or inept (or both) and ever since then, I have become exceptionally jittery with new jobs. I was at my last firm for four years. I was quite used to it and sort of knew what to expect. Now, I do not really know what to expect. It lacks the stability I have learned to love.

And, so, this is why I have been so absent. The good news is that I still have a job. The bad news is that I mostly have no life and I do not know how my new job is going yet.

How I Spent My Holiday Weekend

2008-12-04T13:36:00.001-05:00

Nighttime
Originally uploaded by -J:

I spent it in the Keys. I hope to write more here soon. Sorry I have been so bad about writing. I think with the job and everything else, I have just been overwhelmed and swamped.

Missing a Job, Finding a Job

2008-11-17T14:56:00.003-05:00

So, as it turns out, the firm I work for told me last week that they could not continue to afford me. This has been very hard for everyone involved. On the bright side, however, I was able to secure two job offers at two very good law firms and am now beginning the process of transitioning out of my old job and into my new one. All of this is supposed to now happen before the end of the year.

I feel like this is all going so fast. A few weeks ago, I had a job and everything was peachy keen. Now all of a sudden, I am having to finalize things and turn my work over and it's all just going so quickly.

Deciding between the two job offers was extremely difficult for me. One of the offers was at a very large firm and the other was at a not so large firm. At the end of the day, I chose the latter because I felt I had a higher probability of happiness at the smaller firm, even though I may end up working longer hours there.

Plus, I am getting my new (used) Prius, which has been a planned purchase for a long while now but I had to move up the time line fairly rapidly so that I would more easily get approved when they looked at employment verification, etc, for the financing.

Election Results

2008-11-06T09:07:00.002-05:00

So, it turns out Obama is our new President. Did you know he's black? I didn't know because I don't see color. (I'm like Colbert.) I had heard some people talking but I try to ignore the gossip. Newspapers? You want me to read? That's just crazy talk.

I, actually, somehow feel really proud of my country even though it's completely messed up and greedy and I may lose my job and all of the rest, we finally elected a black man as President. It just makes me feel proud. Throughout history, it has always been a black man to break through a glass ceiling on big issues before women. (This was why I didn't think Hillary would be the Democratic nominee - it just did not follow the historical pattern.)

I am very proud that our nation took this step, a great step, towards equality. However, there is clearly a whole lot of work to be done. Obama beat McCain partially because McCain made several mistakes, the economy is terrible and Obama outspent McCain in huge amounts. It was almost like some sort of supernatural affirmative action at work, and I am glad that it all came together like that for him. However, it should not have been that hard. And we still have not had a female president. I hope I get to live to see that too. (Although, she may have policies that I will hate and I may regret these words in a number of years from now that is divisible by four.)

I hope this is just another small step down the road of true change and acceptance. (Although, based on the fact that all the anti-gay amendments passed, I am not sure we did not take one step back as we took another forward.)

Vote!

2008-11-04T10:45:00.001-05:00

Economic Impact

2008-11-03T09:03:00.004-05:00

So, it turns out that all of this bad economic news is starting to hit closer and closer to home. Last week, Hillary said that she found out she might lose her job if the economy continues to deteriorate and I recently just learned that my firm may not be able to afford to keep me. for the same reasons. It's nice to have things in common with the people you know, but this was not one of the things I had in mind. I guess we will have to see how all the numbers work out and if they end up working out worse than I could possibly imagine, whether or not I could find another job quickly.

This did not, however, stop me from enjoying my weekend and my $650 a piece tickets to the tennis event in-town. I received the tickets for free from my friend who was involved with the event and have a bit of a sunburn now to show off from it, as I forgot my hat. It was awesome, though. I got to see Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Jon Lovitz, Alan Thicke, Gavin Rossdale, and Greg Norman play tennis with some really great tennis pros. It was really pretty cool, even if I do have a sunburn now. I brought my camera, expecting to take lots of pictures but it was too hard to time the perfect photographic moment. Instead, I just sat back and enjoyed the matches and the near perfect weather nature had served up. Get it, served? Heh. Well, I think someone may have a ball with that one. Ha ha ha. I know, $650 per ticket sounds like quite a racket. Not that funny, huh?

In other news, the election is tomorrow. I attempted to vote early two weeks ago but the lines were insane. Using the old noodle, I went ahead and requested an absentee ballot, which I was able to complete in five minutes in the privacy of my living room. Now I just have to trust the postal service to get it back to my supervisor of elections office. I considered taking it back myself but I leave for work before it is open and return from work after it is closed. See, if I didn't have a job none of that would be an issue. However, I will accept such issues in exchange for nice paycheck every week.

All My Wisdom is Gone

2008-10-28T15:40:00.000-04:00

I know I have not updated in a while. This may have a lot to do with the fact that I have been in excruciating pain and unable to really eat for over a week or it could be just because I am exceptionally lazy. But let's go with option one to make me feel better. Ironic that my pain would somehow make me feel better.

The surgery to extract my wisdom teeth went relatively smoothly. I was in and out in about an hour and home on pain meds and icing within another hour. (I was only prescribed Tylenol with Codeine but I had some vicodin on hand just in case.) However, I did not - unlike what everyone told me I would do - sleep the rest of the day. I was tired for most of the day but was completely unable to sleep. I did, however, relax and lay around most of the day and try to come to terms with the fact that I couldn't eat. Overall, though, I would say the pain was not too bad. It was a lot like when I had my shoulder surgery - there was some dull pain and only severe pain when I tried to do something I really shouldn't.

Oddly, the pain in the lower left half of my mouth became worse a few days later and I developed a fever of over 100 and decided that I must have an infection. I was on aZpack ever since the surgery but I eat antibiotics like they are going out of style. What the hell does a Zpack really mean to my skewed immune system? So, I went back to see my oral surgeon and he decided I couldn't possibly have an infection, as the wounds seemed to be healing so well and everything else looked great. I still think I had a secondary infection. However, I was already on the Zpack. So, I left his office hoping that would be enough. Oh, and he also gave me more pain meds. Unfortunately, my stomach decided it did not really like pain medication anymore after a few days and I mostly played hurt.

As time progressed, I was able to isolate my increased pain to what felt like bruising of my jaw bone and lots of nerve pain, but almost all of it was contained to the lower left hand side of my mouth. It became a waiting game. A test as to how long I could survive on yogurt and applesauce, and it turns out I can do so for over a week. However, after all of that, I go on some crazy burger binge, which somehow seems to ease the pain. I have no scientific evidence to prove it but I will say I felt marked improvement after every day that I ate a burger. Just sayin'.

The bright die to all of this, other than the discovery of the medicinal uses of cheeseburgers, is that I never have to have my wisdom teeth out again.

The Dark Horse

2008-10-17T20:30:00.004-04:00

The day before I went in for my surgery, I stumbled upon an interesting Website. The site has a series of questions that you answer and then it helps you pick the presidential candidate that most matches your priorities.

The shocking part of all of this was that when I finished, the candidate it had selected that most matched my ideals and priorities in this upcoming election was Cynthia McKinney. My first reaction was who the heck is that? My second reaction was we have another woman running for president? How have I never heard of her? Oh, but the plot, she doth thicken, as it turns out that not only is Ms. McKinney a woman, but she is also black and she's the Green Party's candidate for president.

Holy smokes! I was completely blown away. How is it that not one single media outlet happened to mention this? They have been tracking this Joe The Plumber guy for days and learning everything there is to know about him, but a black female is on a national party ticket for president and I don't hear a peep about it? What the heck is that? I know they have the time. I know because all I do is hear the same darn stupid stories about McCain and Obama every single day. It would be nice to break that up with something new.

I guess it's only exciting that a woman is running for president when it's Hilary and Barack is the only black candidate that ranks. However, it sure would be nice if the people were informed of their other alternatives.

Extraction and Race

2008-10-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

This is it, folks. The week I go in and my four wisdom teeth come out. I am really not looking forward to this, as so many folks keep talking about how miserable and painful it is. However, at least one or two people have said it was not that bad for them. I just want the pain to be short lived, and not to have a month of infections afterward - like what happened with my shoulder surgery.

I see quite a few bloggers I read are espousing the virtues of Obama. For them, education appears to be their number one issue. I think this is good. I think education should be everyone's number one issue, as one of the best ways to uplift a society is through education. On the other hand, I feel like finding quality educators and resources can be difficult. I think I feel dumber after reading half of whatever mainstream media has put out there, and I often think it is not just the inputting of facts and information into a person's head that is important, but also teaching them how to think and question and really get down and dirty with the facts. I do not feel that is done enough.

I also do not feel Obama supporters necessarily have the high ground in the debate. I think Obama is the smarter and better candidate. However, I have trouble viewing him as better or more honest. I have pointed this out before here. I was commenting to my girlfriend last night that I think it would be really awesome if a candidate decided one year to just be completely truthful and honest with the American people and the media about what they did and did not do and what their plans actually were. It would be interesting to see if the media picked up on this and there started to be some sort of contest as to which candidate could be the most honest. Instead of having to rely on factcheck.org to tell us what the truth actually is. The worst part is that I am not sure such services work.

I was listening to a news story recently discussing some scientific studies that have been done over the years and it appears the refutation of erroneous facts does not work. Hence, if someone tells you that the administration knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or that the president's economic plan will save our economy, often the subsequent refutation of those statements with facts will not change the your original opinion. In fact, conservatives end up believing the originally stated erroneous fact more vigorously when it is refuted. This heightened state of belief did not seem to occur with non-conservative participants in the study, but that may have been because the questions involved were hot button conservative questions. It is unclear. What seems to be pretty clear is that once bad facts are out there, it is really hard to unring that bell. Perhaps we should institute fines on any political figures that deliver erroneous facts. It really seems odd to me that we, as voters, do not demand more. We get Obama and we are happy. Somehow it does not seem like enough.

Has Obama lied during the last two presidential debates? Of course. Has John McCain? Absolutely. Yet, we would like to elect one of these liars into our highest public office. Because "everyone does it". It somehow just does not feel right. What, liberals have the moral highground when voting for Obama because he wants to teach children? What does he want to teach them? If you lie well enough and tell enough people what they want to hear, you too can be president? It frustrates me that this is even acceptable. Not only acceptable but there are people so fervent in their support that they will wear buttons and T-shirts promoting their favorite liar. And make no mistake about it - McCain is no better. He cheated on his wife, inflated his accomplishments, omitted important facts and has done all sorts of inappropriate things. However, I wonder if Obama's record would be any cleaner if he had been in office for thirty years.

Sorry, I wandered off the path. I guess it is all of that wisdom still stuck in my head. Don't worry, though. They swear they will take it all away this week. Although, I hear it is very painful.

Too Tired to Drive

2008-10-07T09:32:00.000-04:00

So, apparently, I need a new bed. I also need a new car, and it seems the bed is going to cost almost as much as the car.

When I went to New York a few months ago, we slept on a Tempurpedic-esque king sized bed, which was really made by Isotonic. It was an amazing bed, as I have mentioned here before. In fact, I have not slept as well as I did there since I returned home to my nice queen sized bed. It may be because I am no longer on a semi-vacation or it may be because of the bed and either its age or size or comfort level. That part is not clear. What is clear is that my trouble sleeping is affecting everything, including my ability to consistently get to the gym, as I will find myself waking up at 3 in the morning and not being able to fall back asleep, which makes my body particularly displeased with the notion of exercise. I also seem to be experiencing back pain after sleeping in the bed and my girlfriend has a degenerative disc condition. It is quite the trifecta.

As to the car, my air bag light came the same day I left for New York and it never went away. I know something is wrong with my system restraint system - either the seatbelts or the airbags, but I also know that to fix it will cost at least one to two thousand dollars, and my car already has well over 100,000 miles on it because I drove it all over the state for years and years. Somehow, I have trouble justifying spending that much money to fix my car when I know I need a new one. Hence, I have been saving my money to get a new car. It would be cool if I could hold out until next spring and get the new Honda hybrid that is supposed to run a mere $18,000. However, I have been eyeing the Prius. Either way, I think I want a car that does not cost as much as most of the luxury cars, that keeps my gas consumption low and that makes an environmental statement. Plus, a hybrid will provide me with unfettered access to the HOV lanes. You really cannot put a price on that in South Florida.

This weekend, the girlfriend said we should go mattress shopping. This seemed like a good idea. However, when you walk out of the store and realize that you have actually just spent probably more than what your old car is worth just to acquire the new bed and you still need a frame and sheets, your body begins to experience what I like to call complete and total shock and the thought of how will I pay for this begins to enter your head. It is unfortunate that there is no way to really know if such a purchase is the right decision. While the bed is purchased, I have not yet authorized delivery, as we decided we should do some more research and ask around - I can decide on which bed we actually want at any time prior to delivery.

It appears that Tempurpedic beds can be great or not so great depending on the particular one that is delivered to your house. Some have more off-gassing than others (meaning they smell like chemicals for longer) and some have more indentation problems than others. Also, some people find them to be too hot to sleep on, as they have trouble ventilating. We also looked at latex beds, which seem to have different benefits and different issues. It is all very confusing. Who the heck thought buying a bed would be so confusing or so expensive? The two things that have been the most helpful is that we actually know people with the Tempurpedic that love it and we also found a really great Website for researching things like beds and pillows. It seemed totally unbiased and was very informative. I still do not feel it has removed all of our doubts but I think at this point, I would spend any sum of money just to be able to sleep through the night and get to the gym on a daily basis again. Now I just need to find the money for the car.

Come, All Ye Voters

2008-10-03T08:48:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, one of my good friends called me. I have been driving around with a huge bag of rice in my car all darn week so that I can give it to this guy, so that he can give it to Haiti (as part of his relief efforts). Hence, when he called, I figured he must be calling to schedule a meetup to get the rice. "Want to volunteer with me this Saturday? We need attorneys."

"Where would we be volunteering?"

"I'm not sure."

"What time?"

"I'll need to get those details."

"What will we be doing?"

"I don't know exactly. Something about felons voting."

"What?! Ok, well call me back when you know more and I'll see you on Saturday." I have a small collection of friends that if they ever needed me, I would drop almost anything to help them if I could. He happens to be one of them. For a period of time in law school, there were four of us who were completely inseparable and this still bleeds into our daily lives today. Granted, most of us now live at least three hours apart, but we are still there for each other as much as we can be. So, when one of these friends asked me if I would help him by volunteering some of my time, there really was only one possible answer.

Turns out I will be working with the ACLU this weekend to help convicted felons register to vote - seeing if their records can be suppressed or expunged and, as a result, become qualified to vote under the laws of the state of Florida. In some ways, it makes me a little nervous to be volunteering with convicted felons. However, at least with such situations, you know who to watch out for. In other areas of the law, you are never quite sure. I know one woman who spent years practicing real estate law in Florida, with an emphasis in home owners association regulation. She said she eventually started doing criminal defense because it felt much safer and she did not have to worry about as many stray bullets.

My Blog?

2008-09-30T09:13:00.002-04:00

It has recently been brought to my attention that I have a blog. I know, I was just as shocked as you are.

Apparently, blogs, unlike books, have to be constantly updated in order to stay relevant and current. It does not matter the nature of the prior content in the blog, if it's not new, people do not want it. This must be why many bloggers blog about current events, politics, and the economy. There you can just talk about the next big thing. However, I have always tried to reign in any tendencies I might have of being political. I do not always succeed but most of the time, I like to think that my posts have been non-political and mostly about dating and relationships. This makes me more like an introspective self help blog. (Eww, really. This is terrible.) Unfortunately, unlike many therapists out there that just keep churning out books that say the same damn thing, I cannot bring myself to do it. I had some thoughts and view points, and as they occurred to me, I wrote them down. Then I moved on to other things. Plus, I stopped dating lots of people and started dating only one people. Talk about adventures in boring.

So, now what do I talk about? The awesome bread I made last weekend that complemented my homemade tomato sauce with meatballs and handmade sausage perfectly? Hmm, does not seem to have the same ring to it as "Let me tell you about this crazy chick I went out with last night." Plus, I have been trapped reading up on and creating a presentation on Medicaid and Social Security and planning for disabled beneficiaries. Let me tell you, this stuff is really exciting. I think my outline could put you to sleep in under five minutes. Although, it is terribly practical stuff. I even learned about these new long term care insurance plans that can help you keep your assets but still qualify for Medicaid. Crazy, right?

So where was I? Oh, right my blog. So, you see, the public demands that I update more frequently. Update with something, anything to appease the masses. One person said I could talk about how the divorce rate in the U.S. is down, but many attribute this solely to the fact that fewer Americans are even bothering to get married, not that our social fabric has become miraculously stronger. I suppose I could talk about the plummeting economy, but I feel so tired of it. Lots of very smart people knew this was coming and anyone saying this crisis is new or special, obviously does not remember the derivatives crash in the 90s. Know your history, folks.

One thing is for sure, my blog has been neglected and it, much like a puppy will become sad and starve without attention. Because blogs have a life of their own. Wait, what? Well, whatever this all means, I think I will be writing more. Although, I cannot promise a cohesive theme or even the most entertaining of topics, I will attempt to make words flow in some sort of coherent fashion. Certainly more coherent than this.

Wordless

2008-09-17T17:54:00.002-04:00

I have been a little stuck for what to write about on this blog for quite some time now. I keep meaning to write but when I have time, I find that I lack anything interesting to say. The most I have been able to do is Twitter and comment on other people's blogs. Becauise of this, I have decided that I will go back to writing meaningless little fictional posts like I used to do now and again. I also plan on using other people's photos as inspiration. I have been going through Flickr, finding photos licensed under Creative Commons and which allow for me the right to use and modify their work. I don't think I will be making any profit from any of this, as it's just my blog. However, I will link to where the photo comes from so that the person might get some props if you like it. This is the best solution I have been able to come up with, as I simply do not feel capable of writing constant interesting posts about my life to date. I know that now and again, they will creep in, as things still do happen and some of them are exciting. However, when I lack anything like that to write about, I will do this fiction stuff instead. I hope no one minds.