Jay

Summer 2011

2011-06-22T19:48:00.001-04:00

Summer has arrived in a major way. Weeks of temperatures over 90 degrees and hardly any rain. Luckily we've been spending a lot of time up at a higher elevation and on the water!

Little William

2011-04-15T09:45:00.001-04:00

I wrote this a while ago, but it looks like it was in drafts rather than being posted.....

Jan. 4th I was at work when the wifey called in labor. A few very short hours later William was born. She didn't think she was really in labor, so I went ahead and got some work done. In fact I went over to the jail to talk to some of my clients about court. So I'm in the jail (without a phone) while she's having contractions until about 5 pm. Before too long we were driving through rush hour traffic to the hospital.

William turned out to be two weeks early just like his grandfather who he is named after!

Edit: it turns out that Popi was actually SIX weeks early!!! Wow, beat W by a month!!!

Critical updates required

2011-04-05T15:03:00.002-04:00

It has been too long. I only decided to come here and post something because of the anxiety I am feeling at the moment. Today the wifey flies to Portland for some kind of company meeting. This means that I am a single dad for two kids for a few days. My exterior is very calm and collected. Inside, I am nervous that I may sleep through some crying, give someone the wrong diaper, forget to feed the cats, or any other number of things that could go wrong. It is not a good feeling. Other than that things are great!! :) Work is slow right now, so we're catching up on all the crap that we are supposed to have time for but don't. I am not playing soccer any more due to baby time and general lack of sleep. My motorcyle is not working due to my own stupidity (human error caused oil leak). The lake house is getting new floors -- very exciting!! Looking forward to going up there in a few weeks to put all the furniture back in place and to enjoy the lake-side. Also looking forward to putting the canoe in the water for the first time. Good stuff!!

Cecelia Apple Picking

2010-12-17T09:24:00.003-05:00

This fall we went apple picking at Mercier Farms in North GA. It was less than an hour from our house in Hiawassee and Cecelia had a great time running around in the apple orchard. It was a such a beautiful day (the pictures don't do it justice).

I guess she was getting sleepy by the end of the day!

Cecelia is 2

2010-12-15T15:00:00.002-05:00

Cecelia turned two all of a sudden. Not sure how that happened really. One day we were bringing her home from the hospital, and the next we were at the children's museum singing happy 2nd birthday with a bunch of kids (and adults).

She has graduated to a big girl bed, and has managed to stay in the bed without taking any tumbles. College here she comes!!

We're having a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-18T23:05:00.001-05:00

Just found out that we're having a boy!!! The Wifey wrapped a picture frame with the ultrasound in it... she gave it to me while out at my birthday dinner with all our friends. Best birthday present ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turning 35 today

2010-11-18T08:00:00.003-05:00

Ouch, I feel old.

I've just peed upon

2010-09-11T16:47:00.002-04:00

Potty training. It's an ongoing lesson in patience for everyone.

6 months? Oh no!!

2010-09-01T18:52:00.003-04:00

I was just talking to a friend over in the UK (Hi Alex!!) and he asked if I put something up on my blog.... sadly, I had no idea it had been so darn long. I can't believe it's been 6 months since my last post. My daughter has probably doubled in size!! OK, not really. She's still a shrimp. But she's MY shrimp!

What's happened in 6 months? Here's the summary:

Work
New soccer team
Julie's birthday
Springtime in Atlanta (and a trip to the Botanical Gardens)
Visits with all the grandparents
Bought a house

Work: I had a trial a few weeks ago (won) and got moved to a new courtroom.

New soccer team: I'm playing with a new bunch of guys and having a really fun time. I've reluctantly agreed to play keeper since I have some experience. I'd rather be in the field, but the team needs me there and I still enjoy getting out there and playing.

The house we bought is up in Hiawassee, GA. It's on lake Chatuge and is a quiet place for all of us to get away from the city life. The house itself has been great, ready to move in and everything. The lot is huge and has a bunch of shore-line. We need to work on getting a dock so the girls can sunbathe out there, but otherwise it's really just a ready made get-away for us all.

How is it September already? Summer came and went in the blink of an eye.... what the hell was I doing this whole time?

Cecelia Problem Solving

2010-02-09T10:48:00.003-05:00

Along with her ability to walk came the necessity to fence her in. Not in the "chicken coop" way of fencing, but in a "keep the baby safe" way. How did that work out for us? Not so well at first. We have the hang of it now, but here's a photo montage from Nov. of '09 of Cecelia defeating an obstacle meant to keep her out of the fireplace room. She watches the cat and takes her clues to sneak through!!

What is this daddy? You're impeding my travels...

From Cecelia Problem Solving

Why would you stop me, can I get around this?

From Cecelia Problem Solving

Oh look, the cat can get through!

From Cecelia Problem Solving

Maybe I'll follow her!

From Cecelia Problem Solving

Just a little bit of squeezing to get through....

From Cecelia Problem Solving

VICTORY!!!!

From Cecelia Problem Solving

Oh, now you've added a big pillow to stop me, hmmm....

From Cecelia Problem Solving

Good work daddy!!!

From Cecelia Problem Solving

She's walking... hell, she's running

2009-12-07T11:05:00.001-05:00

For about a month now. It has been wayyy too long between updates here, so sorry to my loyal fan. (Hi Mom!!)

I've got some fun pictures to post, so I'll get on that ASAP!!

She's standing up....

2009-08-10T13:20:00.003-04:00

Cecelia started pulling herself up this weekend. Her first few times were pretty clumsy as expected. Now, she's crawling like a maniac and using her arms to help her stand. I think she secretly does pull-ups in her crib to work out.

Teeth!!

2009-06-19T10:08:00.002-04:00

Cecelia has two little teeth coming in on the bottom!! They are actually quite sharp when she bites your finger. It's really funny to see her chew on things and to see her reaction to different toys that she stuffs in her mouth. My favorite is a teething toy that vibrates when she bites down on the end. When we're in the car we can occasionaly hear a little buzz, buzz, buzz from her carseat.

Our first Braves game

2009-06-07T23:19:00.003-04:00

We took Cecelia to her first Braves game this week. She did really well and didn't freak out or anything! It was pretty cool to bring her along to an evening game. I took pictures, hopefully they came out well. Also, I hope this is just the first in a long line of games that we can attend together.

Promotion!

2009-04-17T15:28:00.001-04:00

I just heard that I am being promoted again! Starting May 1st I will be an "Attorney III"

Yay!

Happy Hour!!

Mom's First Night Away

2009-04-08T09:58:00.004-04:00

Mommy had to go to Chicago yesterday for her first time away from Cecelia. It was an overnight trip, but only 23 hours and 55 minutes away from the baby! I sent her photo updates every so often to prevent separation anxiety...

Got home from the airport:

Ready for bed:

Getting up in the morning:

Old People are Funny (Scary)

2009-04-07T15:57:00.002-04:00

I was at a party recently with several older folks, many of whom had crazy conspiracy theories about the current government. I heard several direct quotes from a nationwide firearm magazine about President Obama trying to "repeal the 2nd amendment." One woman was complaning that her husband had registered their guns because "now the government knows we have them, and they'll come for us when they make it illegal to own all guns!" I also found out that another woman was really against President Obama because he is a secret Muslim and he's going to create domestic terrorism here in the US. Seriously. She believes that. I kinda forgot that there are people like that who look and seem normal, but are completely insane and probably dangerous.

My Daughter the Ham

2009-03-23T08:40:00.002-04:00

When I was young I was often accused of being a ham for the camera. I don't think I was this young though..... Or half this cute!

Friday night with The Killers

2009-02-03T11:48:00.002-05:00

Julie got me tickets to go see The Killers this past Friday night. It was a boys night out for 5 of us. We walked into the venue and ran straight for the front of the floor seats. Our actuall seats were in the balcony, but we made it to the 3rd row and slipped into seats that held all 5 of us!! I'm still amazed that we made it there and got to stay for the whole show.... it was awesome!!!

No Need to Induce!

2008-12-18T11:17:00.003-05:00

After waiting for all of that extra gestation time, Cecelia Hall Ingraham decided to appear on her own. I think she figured, "hey, we're at the hospital anyway, and I'd rather not have medication messing up a natural child-birth."

At 7:42 AM she made her appearance and the crowds cheered.

What a great surprise!

8 hours to induction

2008-12-03T22:17:00.001-05:00

The suspense is killing me!! We're settling in for sleep at the
hospital. At 6:00 in the morning, the wifey gets the dreaded drugs and
it's off to the races.

I've got a pretty awesome cot and some equally awesome hospital
sheets.... Good night, see you when we're parents.

At the hospital

2008-12-03T16:58:00.001-05:00

We just checked into the hospital for our first night of.... hopefully
just a couple. Tomorrow we get to list a dependent on our taxes.

Fingers crossed!

Due date plus 9 (or 7)... no baby.

2008-12-02T10:35:00.003-05:00

Here we are in December with no baby. We were sure that we were going to have a November baby... and I was sure that it would be close to, if not on, my birthday. Oh well, a December birthday is just fine.

Here's what we've tried to coax the baby out with, in chronological order:
-Eggplant Parmasean
-Walking
-Thanksgiving Turkey
-Walking
-Spicey Thai food
-Walking
-Spicey Mexican Food
-Walking....

None of those have worked, so tomorrow we check into the hospital for some real induction drugs. But there's still time to start naturally, so wish us luck for today!!!

Turkey came and went... NO BABY

2008-11-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

Though we stuffed the Wifey full of turkey and sweet potato, no baby popped out.

We tried a long walk today. No baby.

Warm bath? No baby.

Count down to being induced: 6 days!!

Overdue date

2008-11-26T10:52:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's ultrasound was A-OK. All normal (except that we're a little late). They poked and prodded at the baby, and decided that it's currently around 8 lbs. The ultrasound machine said 8lbs, 3 Oz. which sounds a little optimistically specific to me, but who knows.

We looked at our baby books and found each of our own birth weights too. She was 8 lbs 2 oz and I was 8 lbs 12 oz, so I have to predict 8 lbs 7 oz to land right between us! I was also reminded that I had pretty chubby cheeks as a baby, and my brother had blond hair when I was born... who knew?

Due Date Take Two

2008-11-25T08:18:00.003-05:00

Our other doctor thinks that today is our REAL due date. . . . still no baby.

Ultrasound later today. Hopefully they don't accidentally tell us the sex. All that holding out for nothing!!

and still we patiently wait.

Due Date + Two

2008-11-24T16:19:00.002-05:00

.... and no baby yet!

We've surpassed our due date by two. The wifey still has a very calm attitude about the whole thing, and everything is normal and healthy.

A trip to the doctor tomorrow may tell us something interesting.

Today is the Due Date

2008-11-22T20:50:00.001-05:00

.....and no baby yet. Baby is very squirmy though, so maybe a warm up?
Only time will tell!

I'm 33 (No Baby Yet)

2008-11-20T10:41:00.003-05:00

I turned 33 this week. It feels pretty much the same as 32. Also, very close to 31. Whoa, I accidentally typed 21 there. That was some quick backspacing!! 33 does not feel at all like 21. Although, I can't say exactly what it is that is different. Julie and I no longer have roommates like we did when we were 21. We no longer marvel at the ability to buy fine wines and beers, although we do marvel at being asked for ID sometimes. What else??... ?? Oh yeah, we're expecting a baby at 33. I could not even imagine that at 21. Although in theory I'm sure it was on my mind at the time.

No baby yet. Still waiting. We went to the doctor yesterday for a weekly check: No action. Nothing stirring yet. Everyone's very healthy though, so that's good. Next week we have an untrasound to say hello to the little guy or gal. Well, he or she will say hello to us by waving or something, I guess we won't be able to say hi since he/she doesn't have an ultrasound screen in there to check us out. That would be very cramped quarters. The doctor told us that she estimates the kid to be about 7 lbs. My coworker tells me that they can tell pretty closely that way, though it doesn't look very scientific when they just push on the belly with both hands. 7lbs would be good, not too big, not too small. "It's no 10 pounder, that's for sure!!!"

Hiccups

2008-11-12T16:28:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I posted something new.... and this isn't a very big one either, but this one is funny.

We were drifting off to sleep last night when the baby got the hiccups. It's pretty funny when that happens. There's a tiny little 'hic' every couple of seconds, and usually no other movement. It's pretty crazy to feel the baby moving inside the wifey's tummy. Less than two weeks from our due date now!!

SCUBA with Whale Sharks

2008-09-25T10:56:00.008-04:00

The Georgia Aquarium opened a few years back and became not only the biggest aquarium in the world, it's also one of only a few in the world to have whale sharks. Until this summer, people were only able to see them from behind a huge observation window. Recently, they started giving tours of the inside of the tank! You can sign up for snorkeling or SCUBA diving with the whale sharks and spend the afternoon as few people in the world get to do. . . and I just did it yesterday!!

My friend from work, Glenda, signed us up a few months ago and we got the next available spot. This program is so popular there's an even longer wait now. We took a little time to see the sights at the aquarium before we jumped in the water, it was Glenda's first time there. Here we are starting our afternoon off at the entrance:

We poked around and saw the cool stuff that they have in their permanent exhibits. They did a good job with the exhibits, and there are lots of cool tanks and fish to see. There is really limited documentation on most of the exhibits though, so you don't learn as much as you do at other aquariums or zoos. We were luck to see the octopus moving around. Usually she is pretty shy (or tired) and doesn't show off. Yesterday though, she was active and climbing all over the glass of her tank. They have added aligators since I was last there too. They were pretty small, and not as scary as they could be. It was a good addition to the "River Exhibit." The other highlight was the otters. The little Asian otters were hyperactive and chasing each other around the whole exhibit. They reminded me of my cats. The larger otters were also active, and getting a feeding. Sadly, we didn't make it into the tropical fish area, which is one of my favorites. That's ok though, we had to get to the whale shark tank and get our gear for the dive!

We got a brief orientation talk and video, and then we were off to the giant tank. It was really impressive to see the tank from above. It's 2/3 the size of a football field, and 6.3 million gallons of salt-water are filtered through it constantly. There's plenty of room for the 4 juvenile whale sharks that currently make Atlanta their home.

I'm having some trouble loading the rest of the pictures, so they will have to come later. We circled the tank for a pretty long time. The dive was supposed to be only a half hour, but I think we may have snuck in some extra time underwater somehow. There were sting rays, a manta ray, sharks, groupers, and all sorts of smaller fish to see. Of course the highlight was being passed on all sides by the whale sharks. At one point, one of them went right over me and I swam along upside down just looking at this giant's belly right above me. It was amazing to see.

The dive masters and crew were all very cool and professional, and the whole experience was awesome. I am really glad that Glenda found out about this program and invited me along! Of course, the wifey has another opinion and thinks that we're stressing out the fishies.

Pete and Karen got married

2008-09-01T15:33:00.004-04:00

This week we went to Boston, MA and Portsmouth, NH for my brother's wedding. It was great fun, and the wedding was a perfect fit for both bride and groom. We were on the water near their home in New Hampshire and it was a whopping 10 person wedding. I'll let the expressions on their faces do the talking.....

Drew and Marya are engaged!!

2008-08-21T09:25:00.003-04:00

My friends are in China right now at the Olympics and sight seeing on a super-cool vacation. They were at the Great Wall yesterday and Drew proposed on top of the wall!! What a cool way to get engaged. Sounds pretty amazing. I'm looking forward to pictures and Olympic stories too.

"Ho Killing"

2008-07-28T13:20:00.005-04:00

Apparently there has been another "Ho Killing" because CNN has a headline about someone being "Charged in Ho Killing, Cesspool Burial." I assume this means that she was different from a mere prostitute or hooker, rather another class of slut: a Ho.

This just in: It was a murder with a gardening implement, not a slain skank. My appologies to the yard tool.

Animatronic Update

2008-07-10T11:42:00.002-04:00

This made me laugh: An animatronic band has been reprogrammed to sing a modern songs rather than the chuck-e-cheez type performances that were their original repertoire. It's pretty funny to see the gorilla band leader introducing Shakira and the mouse cheerleader singing Madonna...

From a great blog with extra nerdy humor called Geekology.

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/07/okay_showbiz_pizza_rockafire_e.php

We have concrete!

2008-07-08T14:03:00.001-04:00

We're building a garage in our backyard, and we've reached a milestone: We now have an extended driveway and a concrete slab! Now there's a base to build on and soon there will be a garage to park in!

I'll upload pics as soon as possible.

ULTRA sound

2008-07-02T09:55:00.003-04:00

We qualify for an ultra sound. I hear that's better than a super sound, and much, much better than a mediocre sound.

Yesterday we had a pretty cool ultrasound where we COULD HAVE found out the gender of our baby. Sadly, Julie did not crack under the peer pressure. Really, she didn't even sound close to cracking.

On a related note: We were crib shopping this past weekend and heard a funny tidbit from a fellow crib shopper. They had to come in and change their bedding, decor and whatnot because the doctor changed their story on the sex of thier baby. I guess they went from 99% sure that it was a girl to 100% sure that it is a boy! The funny part is that the salesman said, "that's the third time this month that we've had a gender change late in the pregnancy." Three times!! And that's just in one baby store. Imagine how many kids are wrongly ID'ed by gender across the country.

Want to know the sex?

2008-06-27T16:19:00.002-04:00

I do. The wifey doesn't. This means even more names to reduce down to the final choice.

I keep telling her that I'm going to find out, and I'll keep it a secret if she wants me to.

A friend of mine says that it is important to know ahead of time because, "what if you're disappointed if the doctor says what you weren't expecting?" You don't want to feel disappointment at your child's birth.

What did they do back in the day when you couldn't tell what it would be? Either way dad's around the world smoked a cigar and said, "yep, I knew it all along."

Trying to pick a name

2008-06-18T11:44:00.002-04:00

Julie and I have not agreed on any name choices. This is not a new phenomenon, it has been going on for a while. She likes Tallulah, while I would rather not give my child a complex.

I've been reading baby names too long now. I like some client names though, here are some of mine:

Charlestavious
Takeyolow
Lettice
Arettonette

Nah, I'm thinking maybe something simple, like Bob or Amy.

Cape Cod Lighthouse Was Missing?

2008-06-05T08:53:00.003-04:00

I grew up outside Boston. When we were young, my parents would take my brother and I to Cape Cod for camping, beach trips, all the good stuff that little boys like to do. We would always check out the lighthouses (because they're cool, of course) when we were out there, sometimes from the beach, sometimes we'd walk right up to them. Today, I found out some very interesting things...

This lighthouse was dismantled in Cape Cod in the 1920's and thought to have been destroyed. It was actually boxed up and sent to California, as reported in this month's Lighthouse Digest. The most interesting part of the story: There's a magaznie called LIGHTHOUSE DIGEST!!!

Julie is Pregnant

2008-05-27T09:50:00.004-04:00

Big news!! The wifey is expecting and we're due Nov. 22nd. Which, from what I've gathered, means that the only day we know that we're not going to be in the hospital is Nov. 22nd. It could be my birthday too, Nov. 18th, that would be exciting.

This won't be a surprise to anyone we see on a regular basis. I've been the only drinker in the family for over three months now. Julie could use Lent as an excuse for the first few weeks, but after that everyone was pretty suspicious. Marya figured it out right away, but I think she was the only confirmed spy. For everyone not in Atlanta.... Surprise!!

Julie now has the nuclear bomb of excuses to be lazy and get room service at home. "The baby doesn't want to do dishes." "The baby wants tea and biscuits in bed." "The baby wants to watch Sweeney Todd."

I wanted to get a digital copy of the untrasound that we have on the fridge, but I forgot to ask when we were at our last appointment. I'll put one up here if I figure out just how to do that....

Back from St. Lucia... WHOA!

2008-05-18T12:19:00.002-04:00

The view from our room was pretty awesome:

I went on a few dives, and even got to do a wreck dive!! They let me borrow an underwater digital camera from the dive shop. My pictures are very amateur, but it was my first underwater camera... and my first wreck dive, all at the same time.

Off to St. Lucia!!

2008-05-10T09:20:00.001-04:00

We're all about the Saint Islands, and it is now time for Lucia.

When we return, pictures of me rebreaking my knee on the Pitons!!

Is it the MCL?

2008-05-07T09:37:00.002-04:00

I went to the specialist doctor yesterday who was optimistic about my knee. He doesn't necessarily think it is my ACL, and if it's only my MCL (some other tendon in there) I may not need surgery. Yay!

The pain has gone down considerably, I can do stairs all I want now! It's a little stiff, but walking is alright. No gymnastics for the time being.

I have this brace to wear on my knee all the time while I wait for an MRI appointment to open up. That would be next week, but we'll be in St. Lucia (Poor me) so I have my MRI scheduled for the week we get back. It will be a little while before I know my fate for sure.

Tore my ACL?

2008-05-02T01:12:00.003-04:00

It's 1:00 in the morning, and I just got back from soccer. I only got to play the first half of our 11:10 game because during the game I think I tore a ligament in my knee. It hurt a good deal.

I played on it for a few minutes after it happened, thinking that the pain would subside and I'd be able to play through. I even went in and scored a goal, but that didn't stop the pain.

I came out again to test out the strength of the sideways movement of my knee and I freaked out. I pushed my knee to the inside and it was strong and normal. I pushed it outward and it bent sideways in a way that is against nature. I definitely tore some shit in there. I have no idea what is ripped up, but I know it's something.

This weekend's mountain biking plans up at Tsali in NC may be off... next week's soccer matches are definitely off... vacations? Those are definitely still on 100%.

Looks like yet another trip to the friendly Emory Doctors is in order for next week. For now, ice and rest will have to do. I'm due in court in 7 hours.... lovely.

Failure

2008-05-01T16:07:00.003-04:00

There's a blog out there dedicated to failure. It's quizzically called "Fail Blog" for some reason...

It is definitely worth checking out, especially for stories like this:
(It reminds me of "loss cat" which is a similar, but different, story)

http://failblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/taxonomy-fail/

Smoltz going for 3000 tonight

2008-04-22T13:54:00.003-04:00

I wish I could be at the game. John Smoltz is only 4 strikeouts away from 3000. Only 15 other pitchers in MLB histroy have reached 3000 K's. Tonight he starts against the Washington Nationals here at home.

I was at a game a few years ago when he tied his own record for strikeouts in one game, it was either 15 or 16. Either way, that's a lot of strikeouts for one game, especially considering there's only 27 outs total in a full game.

I wish I could be there again tonight, but I'll have to be happy seeing the highlights after the game.

Who are you doing?

2008-04-09T16:13:00.000-04:00

Julie and I bought a new car in January and the dealership has been following up with service reminders and promos and whatnot. Today I got an email that asked, "Who are you doing with your new car?"

Frankly, I'm not doing anyone with my new car, and if I was I certainly wouldn't tell you about it you perv.

Mike Hampton back on the DL

2008-04-05T13:15:00.003-04:00

The Braves signed Mike Hampton several years ago. He came in with a huge contract, something like $120 million for eight years. He has not started a game for the Braves in three years. He's been on the DL for two years, and was going to start this past Thursday's game against the Pirates. He strained or pulled a pec right before the game though, and now he's back on the DL.

Three years, no starts. It's something out of a ballplayer's nightmare. $120 million is a lot of money too. I feel like I'm back in Boston.... I have been waiting a long time to see him start a game at Turner field. I was hoping to see it this week, but I'll keep waiting I guess.

Hope he feels better soon, because we could use his arm very very soon.

Forehead Stitches

2008-04-01T11:10:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I got a bump on the head and needed some stitches. Well, it was a little more than a bump, it was a rather hard smash. It left a pretty good scar, but the medical student who stitched it up was good and it's the best it can be. It was pretty hard to take pictures of the stitches, Julie had to help me out quite a bit. Here are my first (pretty pathetic) attempts:

OK, smile for us, there you go:

Wow, that's a lot of acreage on the noggin there!!

By this point I'm cracking myself up the pictures look so weird. I felt like I had an alien forehead...

Anyway, you get the point. In those photos you can still see some of the bruising that came along with the impact. All in all though, it was not as bad as it looked. I never got a headache, never lost consciousness, no CAT scans or eyeball tests. Overall I would not suggest it as a form of recreation, but not at all the worst soccer injury ever.

Spring Snow in Atlanta

2008-03-24T16:30:00.002-04:00

It is March 24th, officially the Spring season.

Today it was snowing when I left the office for lunch... not collecting, but snowing nonetheless.

Interesting.

Tour of Atlanta Tornado Damge

2008-03-20T19:53:00.006-04:00

This first picture is right around the corner from Ali's house. We tried to leave Ali's and check on Drew's house since he was out of town. This tree (and several others) blocked the road in several spots. It was Saturday afternoon before we could get over and check on the house. It was fine.

This is the tree that we cleared out of the driveway. It felt pretty big and daunting while we were clearing it in the middle of the night. This is Sunday morning, on our ride around town:

We had no idea that this had happened at the time, but this was right next door to where we were Friday night. This tree ripped up and fell onto the neighbors house (away from us). It knocked their porch off the back of the house! They now have stairs going up to nothing, as you see in the second photo.

Inside the Atlanta Tornado

2008-03-20T19:22:00.006-04:00

Friday night, Atlanta was hit with its very first tornado. We were lucky enough to be right inside the twister and saw it first hand. Also lucky: we came out just fine and nobody was hurt. There was property damage aplenty, but we didn't see anyone in our neighborhood that was seriously hurt. Here's the view from the house we were in on Friday night. Though, the street was seriously cleaned up by the time I took this photo:

Friday night we were at Shannon and Ali's house in the basement trying to watch a movie on his big screen. The power went out right after we got there, so we didn't get past the previews. We sat in the dark for a few minutes laughing at our timing, "we didn't even get to the opening credits, ha ha ha!" The wind and rain started to pick up, so I went upstairs to check on the cat who had been on the back porch. As I got to the back door and opened it to the porch, I saw the huge trees in the backyard swaying and moving like they should not have been moving. These 100 foot trees were whipping around like a huge hand was shaking them apart. All I could see was wind and rain, and the rain was moving sideways being blown really hard from left to my right, (West to East). I could only see the outlines of the trees because it was pretty dark, but they were moving so much I could tell that this was one hell of a storm. At about the same time, my ears popped and I could feel a ton of pressure inside my head... I then realized that we were in a tornado. I slammed the door and ran back down to the basement yelling, "GET ON THE FLOOR!!" At the same time, my wife was yelling to me, "GET BACK TO THE BASEMENT!!" Neither one of us could hear the other though, the wind was so loud.

Everyone says that it sounds like a freight train going through their living room.... I disagree. It sounded more like a jet engine, a constant escalating roar. Very loud indeed.

We sat in the basement for a few minutes, and it was over pretty quickly. We went out the back door through the garage to check out the yard, and saw that all the trees were standing and the rain had mostly stopped. Matt, who lives just up the street, wanted to check on his dogs, so he started to leave in Nick's car. I looked up the driveway, but I saw some branches blocking the way. So I went up the driveway to clear them out. As I got to the top of the drive, I saw that two or three huge trees from across the street had fallen down across the street and across the two driveways on our side. We were blocked in. (The picture above was taken after a lot of clearing by city tree crews. Those trees came into the driveway about 10-15 feet and blocked them both pretty securely) Matt lives pretty close, so he just walked over to his place. The dogs were fine, just a little scared. I wanted to check out house, a little further away, so I drove across the lawn to go out the other way down the street. By this time the neighbors were all out in the street looking at the fallen trees, and one of them stopped me. "You can't go that way either, there are trees and power lines down across the street that way too."

So, out came Ali's chainsaw and we got to cutting pine trees. Seems that nobody else on the street had a saw, so we gathered a crowd around us. People pitched in and helped clear out the cut branches, and pretty soon we had a path cleared out of the driveway. It took a little work, and a couple of helpful hints from nice neighbors, but we cleared out one side where we could drive up the neighbor's drive and hit the street beyond the down trees.

I squeezed the car out of the neighbors drive and headed for our house. Matt came along with his flashlight to help, because power was out all over the place. We only drove on one other neighbor's lawn to get home, and managed to get around a lot of fallen trees between Ali's and home. At the top of his street there were two telephone poles snapped in half. It was a strange sight to see, telephone poles snapped half-way up, not at the top or bottom. They broke in the wind and the power lines stayed attached, so the top halves were suspended low over the road. It looked strange, it was too easy to break those normally sturdy, unmoving poles.

On our block, there was no sign of a tornado. You'd hardly know there was a storm. There were a few branches here and there, some pine needles in the street, but overall pretty calm and clean. The power was out, but our power tends to go out if someone at GA Power farts, so that wasn't unusual. I grabbed my flashlights, checked on the cats, and headed back to Ali and Matt's block.

After reporting back to the troops that our place was fine we called all of our friends nearby. We were a little frazzled by this and had no idea if this was wide spread or local or what. No sign of damage on our block was somewhat comforting, but there was so much destruction where we were it felt like anyone could be in the same situation. Everyone we reached said the same thing, "There was what?" Yes, a tornado, hard to believe, but all anyone else saw was thunderstorms. We surprised several people with our calls at 11:00 at night.

Saturday brought some more storms (and still no power) but nothing in town like we had the night before. Some strong hail, some heavy rain, and we were still a little on edge from Friday. We sought shelter at Hannah's house at one point, but it turned out to be nothing.

Sunday, Nick and I rode around checking out the damage to the city and our neighborhood.... those pictures will come next.

Where's your head?

2008-02-29T17:20:00.003-05:00

Mine is in the ER..... well, it was last night.

Another soccer injury has landed me under the care of capable doctors. This time it was merely some stitches in my head. No big deal. Although there was a heck of a lot of blood when it happened. I cracked my forehead against the back of some guy's head. He took the worst of it I think, because he cried like a little girl. I just stood there and said, "Whoops," and thought I was going to continue playing. Then a teammate ran up and said, "oh no, no no" and I realized that I was leaking. In fact, I was leaking so much that blood was running down my face and all over my shirt and the ground. It was weird, I had no headache, and I haven't had any pain really. It was really freaking some people out though, they thought I was going to need cat scans and everything. No head injury at all though, just four stitches on the face.

I hear chicks dig scars?

Gimme Two Dollars!

2008-02-04T10:04:00.001-05:00

I think I may have been robbed after soccer...

This was up in Cobb County (a county of hate, willing to elect Newt Gingrich and ban evolution etc.) I was getting gas after going to a post-soccer bar. As I was holding the pump, a white guy in camo came up and said in a thick country accent, "Hey, Gimme two dollars man." I gave my standard, "I don't carry cash" blowoff, but he was very insistant and pushy. To the point that I felt like I couldn't say no. So, I put $2 worth of gas into his car. I noticed that it had a dealer tag on it, so I'm pretty sure the car was stolen too. Interesting. Maybe I should have just sprayed gas on the guy? Then again, it was only two dollars of gas, a little more than half a gallon. How far from the cops can you run on half a gallon of gas?

Promotion # 2

2008-01-30T08:27:00.000-05:00

OK, you could argue that the last "promotion" wasn't really a step up, rather a turn in the rotation. The email from my boss was titled "Promotion" though, so I thought it was a bigger deal than it turned out. This time though! A real promotion with anticipated raise included.

I am now a 'State Court Attorney' dealing with DUI, family violence, and.... let's be honest, that's all that actually matters. There will be the occasional criminal trespass and driving offense, but the bulk of time is spent on those two types of cases.

So I've been in this position for exactly one day, and I have a DUI motion today, plea calendar on Friday, Trial Calendar on Monday. Woo-Hoo! Jump right into the fire Jay.

Did they move to St. John?

2008-01-19T11:02:00.000-05:00

No, we haven't moved to the islands. My last post was over three months ago, but this blog is not dead!

For some reason I became rather uninspired to write anything at all over the last quarter. But now that we're in a new year I figure I should make a go at it again. I've been meaning to catch up on things here, so here's a brief recap of the last few months:

Opera
St. John
Birthday
Bedford
Motorcycle!
Kitten
Promotion

All caught up?

More details much sooner than last time!!!

Off to St. John!!!

2007-09-30T09:58:00.001-04:00

We are officially on vacation. One week of snorkeling, scuba,
beaching, hiking, and general timeoffidness for us!

I'm especially looking forward to some National Park exploration.

Promotion

2007-09-24T09:24:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a month now and I've finally been promoted!

I'm a little surprised that it happened this quickly.... and by "a little surprised," I mean "shocked beyond speech."

I'm moving from Magistrate Court to Recorders Court, so if you call that a promotion, that's what I got last week.

+1 to the list of people I know who have been CAR-JACKED

2007-09-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

There was a time when I did not know anyone who had been robbed at
gunpoint, or car-jacked.

I recently had to start a list, and now I have to add to it. A friend
who lives about a mile away was standing outside his house at 4:00
this morning. He was talking to a girl in her car as she was leaving,
and a guy walked up to them. He thought that this guy was going to
ask for money or something, but he pulled out a small revolver and
demanded the car and her purse.

So, this is the third person I know in my neighborhood who have had
guns pulled on them.... city living!! The only difference between
the prior cases and this one, is that now I am working in the county
where this crime was committed. So, someone from my office will get
this guy as a client if he is caught. I guess these are the perils of
living (and working) in a neighborhood that's still "on its way up."

Into the Third Week

2007-09-05T13:51:00.000-04:00

I wasn't here very long before someone got fired. It wasn't me.

It's exciting though. Keeps me on my toes. Not that I should be worried.... I hope.

I'm one of two licensed attorneys in the group I am in. Though it's really just me. The other attorney is in Recorder's Court and has to deal with speeding, ordinace violations, public urination... all the fun stuff. So, in the intake division there's me and five future attorneys waiting for bar results. I get to handle a lot of the preliminary hearings and all of the bond hearings for our division.

I'm still really enjoying this office. All the people have been great, very helpful, easy to get along with. I'm feeling rather lucky to have ended up here. I hope the honeymoon doesn't end.

Ryan Turned 29

2007-08-21T00:44:00.000-04:00

Ryan finally made it to the dreaded last year of the 20's. He seemed to take it OK. There was a bit of anxiety, but all in all he did alright. He handled it well.

My First Day of Work

2007-08-21T00:42:00.000-04:00

I had a good day.

I filled out some forms, got to observe a new style of court.... I even supervised an unlicensed attorney. Prettty good overall.

My Last Day of Work

2007-08-17T08:08:00.000-04:00

Today is my last day in the big city. After today my jurisdiction will only cover a little part of this city, and a bunch of smaller ones. It's been a good 2 1/2 years mostly. Some ups and downs, but good overall. On to bigger and better things!!

Shannon's other breaks

2007-08-08T15:11:00.000-04:00

Turns out the fall from the rope swing also broke Shannon's shoulder blade. I've never heard of someone breaking a shoulder blade, but I guess now I know it's possible. So, the hand is being treated with rods, pins, screws, plates and kryptonite. I have not yet heard how the shoulder gets to heal.

This makes me think about how stupid I was as a kid. We did some really stupidly risky things when we were young. Rope swings like this one, swimming in raging rivers, running with scissors, the list goes on. I've been told that I had a relatively high number of ER visits in my life, but I'm beginning to wonder how I didn't have more...

More Broken Bones

2007-08-07T09:12:00.000-04:00

Not mine this time.

After we ran the triathlon on Sunday we rented a pontoon boat on lake Chatuge. We were there for the race anyway, so what better way to relax than floating along on a nice N. Georgia lake. We made it alost the whole day without any mishaps or broken extremities. But, by 4:30 we had worked our way over to a rope swing into the lake.

Pontoon boats are mostly for cruising and drinking. I wouldn't call our outing a "booze cruise" but we had a few coolers and some of the boys and girls had a few drinks. Drinking and rope swings are a notoriously bad idea, but we seem to gravitate to bad ideas as a group. So, after a few of us had taken a couple of rides on the swing, Shannon climbed up the muddy slope for a go at the rope. As it turns out, she wasn't able to hold onto the rope long enough and went crashing down on the rocks at the bottom of the hill. LUCKILY, she did not hit her head or land on her spine. UNLUCKILY, she did not escape injury and had a compound fracture of her Radius. One of the two forearm bones. It is down near her wrist, and it was pretty darn bad. So, the rest of the evening was spent by all at the ER at Chatuge Regional Medical Center. They drugged her up and started the healing process, but had to send her here to Atlanta for the St. Joseph's experts in Orthopaedics. That's the same specialist center that I went to for my broken hand. They're nationally ranked, so she is in good hands.

She had surgery last night, and we're all thinking about her.

This Blog Got Me a New Job

2007-08-07T08:19:00.000-04:00

I have been talking to another attorney here in Atlanta ever since he commented on my blog. He's got his own blog here on cybernets, or interweb, if you will. We've chatted about our respected PD offices off and on, and he gave me a heads up when there was an opening in his office. Well, that heads up e-mail turned into an interview for me, and that interview led to another interview, and all of a sudden, we're going to be co-workers! That's right, I've got less than two weeks in this office, and then I start as a brand new PD in a brand new office. It's very exciting, especially all the good things I've heard about my new place of employ.

When I went to their office to officially receive my offer, the Director said, "Oh yeah, we've all read your blog. It's great, very funny." I was a bit surprised, but delighted that they liked my sense of humor. I'm also glad I didn't put any of my more embarassing stories on here, like... my 30th birthday party, Drew's 21st birthday, almost any given weekend, stuff like that.

So, this blog really did get me a new job!

Triathlon Crew

2007-08-06T15:19:00.001-04:00

Here is the fun crowd of first time triathletes. They write your number on you in sharpie, so we figured we'd show off our goods. This was right after we had all finished, and were glowing in anticipation of the rest of the day off from exherting ourselves.

Go Clydesdale!!

2007-08-05T10:40:00.000-04:00

I just finished my very first triathlon!! I was in the Clydesdale division,which means men over 200 lbs... yes, the faty guys.

It was hard, but we had a ton of fun. Drew, Marya, Shannon, Ryan and I ran it (and biked it, and swam it) this morning in Hiawasee, GA. I would love to do another one, but maybe not back-to-back.

Ryan finished first at 1:16
I came in second at 1:20
Drew and Marya held hands across the finish line at 1:26
and Shannon came in around 1:30 somewhere.

We all had a blast, and are looking forward to the next one.....

My First Trial?

2007-07-27T11:43:00.000-04:00

I have a client who I represent on several cases. He's charged in another county for a similar crime. He's on a trial calendar for August, meaning that his cases will go to trial in August, or perhaps September. Although I have not tried a single case in my long career as a lawyer, this may be one of my first trials. I've been "second chair" in a few cases, Drug Trafficking, Child Molestation, Armed Robbery, and I've picked a bunch of juries. All good, practical experience, but I have yet to take the final step of representing my own client all the way through trial.

This particular client has four cases in my county, one in the next county over, and even managed to get himself onto the local news for at least one of the cases. He just happened to be in the courtroom that I took over last month. Before his case comes up though, I will have been second chair on a Murder, and first or second chair on a Rape case. When I moved courtrooms, I really got thrown into the mix. I don't mind at all, but it's been trial by fire very quickly (excuse the pun).

So far, I've been able to deal with the stress. We'll see what I'm made of when I am on the eve of trial and preparing these cases.....

Huddle House

2007-07-23T21:57:00.001-04:00

I'm currently getting breakfast at night. Where? At Waffle House's
bastard cousin: Huddle House. It's not too bad for a rip-off.

Mr. Engleburg

2007-07-17T11:30:00.001-04:00

I keep getting calls from a client's girlfriend who calls me Mr. Engleburg.

I should be used to it by now, but why can't anyone remember my name?

Wedding season

2007-07-08T19:31:00.000-04:00

This year we've got 6 weddings in a row, every month from May to October.

Memorial Day in Boulder, CO kicked off the season. Steph and Andy had a great wedding over looking the rocky mountains. It was a great ceremony and a fun reception. He works for Avery brewing, so there was REALLY good beer there. I had a few.

June was Adam and Holly's month. We decided to get there early and see Northern California. Julie and I flew to San Fran and did all the touristy stuff. We went to China Town, Japan Town, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, Ghirardeli Square (the original factory!). It was super fun. Then Ali, Shannon, Nick, Ryley and Angie joined us for a trek northward. We checked out Muir Woods briefly and saw some redwoods - WOW, they're big. Then headed into Napa Valley for some vineyard tours. I drove the ladies around to sample as much wine as possible in two days... turns out they can sample a lot. So, they ordered several cases for home delivery. Fun stuff. We also got to Anderson Valley to see a vineyard run by Nick's old friend from back home. Goldeneye Vineyards. All Pinot Noir, all very tastey. Got a case there too. Finally, we migrated north again to get to Ashland for the wedding. That was great fun too. Adam and Holly got married outside, wore linen and stuff, all quite nice indeed. I got to stand up there with everyone as a groomsman, it was a great honor I think. The trip was a terrific way to take a week and see Northern Cali and Southern Oregon.

So far, we've only been to half of the 6 weddings. The third was yesterday in Pittsburgh. Matt and Martha were married on Saturday night, and I got to be a groomsman in that one too. Of note: The reception was in the same room where they filmed a scene from Silence of the Lambs. The scene where Hannibal Lecter is in a cage in a large room and he breaks out and kills those cops... it was in the Soldier and Sailor Memorial building in Pittsburgh. Very fun reception. Theirs was about the polar opposite from Adam and Holly's. It was in a big catholic church, limos, tuxedos, live wedding band, it was great. Both weddings were fabulous, I loved them both in very different ways. The only odd thing about Matt and Martha's was that two of my friends decided to try and kill each other at the reception... very odd indeed. All was patched up and drinks drowned their differences in no time. I guess that's what happens when the groomsmen drink and entire bottle of scotch on the way to the reception.

Public Defender kiddnapped at gunpoint

2007-07-02T16:02:00.000-04:00

One of my coworkers was kidnapped at gun point Saturday night/Sunday morning. It happened about a mile from my house in East Atlanta. He and another attorney paid the bill at the East Side Lounge, then headed for the car. They were carjacked and driven to a house in Cabbagetown where they were tied up and left for 14 hours. Two men were arrested using their credit cards, and gave up the location of the two kidnapped men.

Thanks goodness this story had as happy an ending as was possible. His family was fearing the worst when he had not been found the next day.

This appears to be a robbery, not someone that he knew. When I first got a call from another coworker saying that he had been kidnapped, I thought that this was some disgruntled client. I've gotten some threatening words before, but nothing I ever took seriously. My stomach dropped when I first heard about this, but I'm glad that he is home with his family now.

148 new missed calls

2007-06-25T10:18:00.001-04:00

That will teach me to take a week off.....

We've got Gas!!

2007-06-06T16:20:00.001-04:00

I was sitting in my office on the phone with a client just now. The
next thing I know I'm starting to get lightheaded amd smelling some
strong ass natural gas. So, we evacuated to the stret and the office
is now closed for business. So much for filing those motions today.

CREAMY SPAM BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

2007-06-06T10:59:00.001-04:00

This recipe link popped up in my g-mail account. This sounds so, so,
so... not appealing!

-I'll have the spam casserole without so much rat in it.
(5 minutes later)
-Appalling!

TB

2007-06-02T08:47:00.000-04:00

This big TB scare from Atlanta has people in such a tizzy. The news came out the other day that the transatlantic traveler was a 31 year old attorney from Atlanta. My friends immediately blamed me.

No, I can't take credit for this international uproar. The last time I did that.... well, let's just say I've run out of polonium 210.

Who needs "Discovery" anyway?

2007-05-31T16:47:00.001-04:00

'Discovery' is a term we use to describe anything that the State is
planning to use against out clients. It includes statements of
witnesses, photographs, videos, police reports, criminal histories,
etc. Most of our cases involve police reports and witness statements,
and not much more. Occasionally on bigger cases we have the crime
scene photos that you see on t.v. or the video taped statement of our
client confessing.

Today I was looking through one of my cases which I inherited from
another attorney in my office. It was rather thin when I got it, and
it looked pretty empty for a case that was on the trial calendar. The
only note in the file was, "gave only copy of discovery to client."

I received this case the day the judge called the trial calendar....

A Close Call

2007-05-30T16:48:00.001-04:00

OK, not almost, but I had a scare.

I was near GSU standing on the corner, waiting to cros Piedmont Ave.
It's a four lane, one way street at that point, and traffic moves
along pretty well. A Jeep Cherokee in the 2nd lane from the left
slowed down and started to turn left from the 2nd lane! A little
black Honda came up in the far left lane and the jeep turned right
into her. I was standing on the far left corner waiting to walk, so
both cars were heading right for me (the Honda much faster than the
Jeep). I jumped back, but the car didn't actually leave the road or
hit the curb or anything. I did have a momentary panic though, and
moved pretty fast out of the way.

Atlanta drivers are the worst!

Swim Workout

2007-05-25T21:35:00.001-04:00

I'm on a plane heading for Denver for a boulder wedding tomorrow
night.... Congrats Steph and Andy!!!!!!! But that's not the swimming
story. I joined the GSU gym as an alum this week, so I can train for
the upcoming triathlon of course. I did my first swim workout with
Shannon this afternoon and it hurt. A lot. I didn't think it would be
this bad, but I'm sore. As I was swimming, I forgot to count my laps,
so I have no idea how far I was able to make it in 30 minutes. But I
did think about how long its been since I did ANY swim workout. I was
a senior in college, 8 years ago, I was 23 years old and in much
better shape than now.

So, I did a bunch of laps and checked my watch since I thought I'd
been at least 3/4 of the way done..... Only 10 minutes in. At least I
was keeping up a good pace. Ok, not really, but I felt like I was
building miuscle mass like a medman.

So, it looks like I'm going to be taking a lot of swim workouts pretty
seriously from now until August. Or, instead, maybe I'll just buy a
jetski.

4 Min. 42 Sec.

2007-05-23T17:41:00.000-04:00

My first bike ride post-break. Almost made it to the 5 minute mark. My hand was too sore to go for a real ride.

Dang.

Good news though: I joined the GA State Gym to get good workouts on my way to the triathlon this summer. It's a "sprint" one, very short. A good place to start. Hopefully I will be able to post how my workouts have gotten me into tip top shape! On a note of fear: It's in the North GA Mountains! Better get my hill skills together.

UNITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-05-16T22:24:00.000-04:00

The cold war has ended. The world's superpowers have come together to fight a common enemy. There is tension in our tiny universe. An uneasy truce has developed to stare down and intimidate those who trespass. Oliver is on the porch!

What's the "Oder"

2007-05-11T10:54:00.001-04:00

I just found an "Order for Mental Health Evaluation" that I typed up a
few months ago... only instead of "Order" I saw "Oder"

So, some of my clients have been "Odered" to have a mental eval....
That stinks.

That interview...

2007-05-09T15:48:00.001-04:00

I had a good interview last week. I felt like the office would be a
good match for my career expectations. My favorite line by the
director of the office was, "I fire people." Bravo! You couldn't get
fired from my office for anything!

I got an email this week telling me that I did not get this position,
but to keep in touch and return soon. So, with any luck, by the end
of the year I'll be moving.

It feels good to be making positive moves with life. Like I am Master
of my own Destiny! Not to be confused with Masters of the
Universe(TM). Those guys are much more muscly and medieval.

Interview

2007-05-02T16:38:00.000-04:00

I just had a job interview yesterday! Very exciting. I was dropping off my resume at another PD office in town and I got invited to interview the same day! How cool? Very.

The office seems like a very positive place. As it turns out I know several other attorneys there, so I have advocates on the inside!

Keep your fingers crossed for me, I'm really hoping to get an offer from this office.

PS The hand is still broken, new cast tomrrow!

Hard Cast

2007-04-25T17:47:00.000-04:00

No surgery needed, but you can see the bone pushing out of my hand... mmmmm bone bumps.

I got a hard fiberglass cast put on yesterday. It's a little less inconvenient since my fingers are free, but it's still a pain to type.

Work is going slow. Both my trial partners are in the middle of a murder trial which takes up all their time. I've been covering most of their other cases, but that's not too bad.

Things get pretty boring when you can't do the things you love... it's hard to bike, play soccer or frisbee, or really do anything active with a cast. I was supposed to be waterskiing this weekend too... dang!

Another Bone

2007-04-17T18:08:00.000-04:00

It turns out that I have TWO broken bones in my hand. I went to the specialist again today and told him that my middle finger was pretty sore. He took another look at my x-rays and lo and behold! the bottom knuckle on my flipping finger has a fracture in it. I guess we were all distracted by the more dramatic break in the other bone. I've added some graphic representations of where the fractures are. (Thank you again to mystery cyberspace hand, well done my friend.) Good news though, still no surgery.

My wifey graciously typed this for me - damn she's fast. What a babe.

A special splint

2007-04-14T09:48:00.000-04:00

Here's the new splint from the hand specialist/surgeon I saw on Wed. The hand still looks pretty well bruised... in fact, somehow the bruising keeps getting worse.

Interesting note: since I was taking this photo for my blog, you can actually see my last entry on my computer in the background!

Emmie pointed out that a lot of my blog is dedicated to my injuries. I realized that she's right, and I guess I should worry that I either: a) get hurt far too often, b) have the same number of injuries as the normal Joe, but bitch about it more, or c) have nothing else interesting in my life. I assure you, ALL these things are partiallly true at best. :) Maybe I have some fascination with talking about bumps, bruises and scrapes? Mom and Dad were never surprised when I called home from the ER, so maybe I just live life alittle harder than some? Or perhaps I have a disproportionate coordination to desire for activity ratio?

While at the doctor's office

2007-04-11T21:03:00.000-04:00

I took these photos since I brought my camera to my appointment. They don't really do it justice, but you get an idea of how swollen and purple I got:

It's like something exploded inside my hand!!

No surgery... yet

2007-04-11T17:03:00.001-04:00

Update: My left hand has a broken bone from soccer.

Typing with one hand: still a pain in the ass.

I saw a hand specialist today. He tells me that it's not too bad of a
break, and MOST LIKELY won't need surgery. Yay! There's always a
possibility of needing to get a pin or screw put in, but he thinks it
will be OK without.

I follow up with him next week to check how it is setting and to get a
real cast. My hand was so swollen that any cast now would be too
loose by next week. So, I am still in a splint/half cast.

I broke my hand

2007-04-10T16:40:00.000-04:00

It seems I am not quite done with trips to the E.R. This year there was no ski trip, so there were no ski injuries. In years ppast we've always had a trip to the ER on the road in Nevada or Colorado or somewhere exotic. Shannon in 2005 with a torn ACL, Matt in 2006 with a spiral fracture of his leg, and the prize pools were not ALL favoring me for a fall this year... but the pools did not account for soccer!

Last night I took a shot in the hand from pretty close. I didn't think it was broken at first, and played out the rest of the game. When I had Ali look at it later, he pulled my finger (!) and it popped back and forth in a rather disturbing manner. So. off for x-rays and a splint.

I need to go to the Orthoscoper tomorrow to see if I need any surgery done, and will keep all aprised of the situation.

Typing with just my right hand is very tiring.

Note: that is not my hand above, just an image from cyberspace.

Clash of the Titans

2007-04-05T13:26:00.000-04:00

We've had a few small additions to the house in the last week. Adam and Holly had to move out of the apartment they've been renting for the past few years because it sold to new owners. They'll only be with us for six weeks or so, and it's been fine so far. BUT, they had to bring their cat with them... and we've got little miss Madison here already. Turns out, Madison is pretty teritorial about the house, and everything in it. Here she is at the left, looking extra terrifying and intimidating. She's a whole 10 lbs of fighting street cat. Unfortunately for her, Reo is bigger and heftier than she is. He weighs in at 14 lbs and is a few inches taller.

Rio, for the most part, minds his own busines. (Side note: Rio has the stinkiest, STINKIEST, cat box on the planet. It wafts throughout the whole house!!) He's not very aggressive, and not really interested in Madison at all. Mostly he hangs out with people and naps on his fleece blanky. It's too bad cats aren't more like dogs. They could just sniff each other and decide from the beginning whether or not they are friends. Cats do much more circling and posturing to determine who's going to strike first. It's like they spend most of their time together dancing with each other.

Here's what it looks like whenever they are in close range to each other. It's the stare down of death, followed by the super-slow-motion slinking:

Why hasn't my phone broken yet?

2007-03-29T01:02:00.000-04:00

I'm not trying to break it. I just seem to drop it a whole lot. Just now for instance, I was coming home from soccer, getting all my stuff out of the car, and it slipped out of my hand and landed on the concrete driveway. It bounced twice and landed on the grass. I picked it up and it was bright and ready to make a call, or send an email... just another scratch and/or dent. I've dropped it so many times now, I am shocked that it still receives any calls at all.

I hate having the late game on soccer night. By the times I get all the way home from Marietta it's almost time to get up for work... OK, so not that late, but I do have a Motions Hearing at 8:30 tomorrow (today). Yikes, I need to plan on some catch up sleep this weekend: Sometime between Adam and Holly moving in with us and doing all the tax crap. What lovely weekend plans! At least there are no blueprints involved with the weekend plans, that's always a sure sign of a busy weekend to come.

Happy Birthday Pete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-17T11:18:00.000-04:00

My bro is the MAN! Happy birthday to the man!

Just for fun, here we are on Little Tybee Island a few years ago:

Gotta Get Out

2007-03-15T17:39:00.000-04:00

I think my time in my current position has run its course. Since I started this job I have grown increasingly frustrated with the inefficiency with which my office is run. I've been staying here based on promises of progress within the office and within the county. Needless to say, no progress has been made to improve client representation, nobody is held accountable, and the depressing status quo is held onto tighter than a fat baby grabbing a lollipop. Innovation and quality assurance are both still very much frowned upon.

So... do you need a new co-worker? Are you looking for a trial attorney with second-chair Felony trial experience? Yes, sadly I have not tried my own case yet. I've been second chair on a Child Molestation case, and also one Trafficking Cocaine case. I've picked a jury or two also. I am supposed to second-chair a murder trial starting May 21st.... maybe I need to hang on until then. I'd probably have a much better chance at landing a job in another PD office if I could say that I've been involved in a Murder trial. Even if I am not lead counsel.

In other circuits PDs start off in State Court with misdemeanor cases, or even traffic court. I can't really say that I'm interested in traffic court. Though, if I were to go into private practice it would be a good experience to have. As would State Court. There are plenty of college students who get busted for misdemeanor charges who will pay good money to keep things off their record. BUT: I don't even feel like I want to go into private practice any time soon. I really want to stay a PD. I just want a better place to be one.

Picked another jury, took another plea

2007-03-10T11:13:00.000-05:00

We had a repeat from a few weeks ago. That Armed Robbery trial never happened, and now an Aggravated Assault trial didn't happend. I'm getting some good practice picking juries though.

My trial partner filed a demand for speedy trial, so the court had two months to try this case or it would be dismissed. So, Wednesday we picked a jury and were ready to open on Thursday morning. Thursday morning I was sitting at our table across from the prosecutor who looked and me and shook her head.... and started laughing. She said, "why are we here?" She had just talked to the victim in the case who said that this "Aggravated Assault" was just a misunderstanding and that he didn't think they should even go forward.

"It's a battery, give her time served."

So, our client was released from jail and will only get a misdemeanor on her record. She plead guilty to battery, got put on misdemeanor probation, and will get anger management along with alcohol and drug treatment. All good things.

It's a good outcome for our client who was facing 20 years in prison, so we're happy about that. It was a waste of time, but good practice I guess. It was only a waste in time in that we could have taken this plea earlier in the process, but it was well worth the time and effort to get this result for our client.

Hard work and perseverance ARE worth something! ! Luckily, my trial partner has both in spades. I won't take any credit for this one, since it's his case. I just hope I can be as good as he is some time soon.

What happened to Scrubs?

2007-03-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

I fear they've jumped the shark!

I've liked the show Scrubs for a while now. I didn't start watching it from the beginning, but I've had a season pass on TiVo for a few years now. It's quite quirky and funny, and it's always had good writing to acompany the good comedic actors.... but.... The past few weeks have been pretty bad. Last week there was the sit-com suicide "clip-show" where, instead of coming up with another creative and funny show, the entire cast had flashbacks from prior years. Then, this week there was not much funny about the episode because they alternated between trying to hard to be funny and attempting drama. The episode opened with one character trying to make a joke and another character telling her that she's not the comic relief of the cast of characters. Sort of a post-modern crack at themselves which fell flat on its face. "Look at us pointing out that we're a cast of characters while trying to be funny by pointing out how not funny some of us are." It just didn't work at all.

This has prompted my fear that they've jumped the shark. If you are not familiar with that term you can google it, but in short it means that they're on the way downhill for the rest of the series. It stems from the Happy Days episode where Fonzie jumps a shark on water skis. Since then, it stands for the turning point where only darkness lies ahead.

The Simpsons actually had a clip show a few years ago which they feared may lead to their tanking. They were very clever about it though, ending the show with still frames and a new ending credit song, "We're sorry for the clip show." Very clever and funny indeed. One of the stills was even Homer jumping a shark!

That clip show did not spell disaster for the Simpsons, which remains pretty good still. Hopefully Scrubs will be able to bounce back from their sad bump in the road.

Happy Birthday Julie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-06T18:09:00.000-05:00

It's The Wifey's birthday. She's 31, just like me.

We're headed for The EARL for a Guac burger.... mmmmmmmm guac.

Malpractice

2007-03-01T10:18:00.001-05:00

I was just talking to one of my co-workers about Malpractice. His
wife is a psychiatrist who is being sued for wrongful death. That got
us to talking about our clients, and potential cases where we're
PERSONALLY on the wrong side of the v. You never know if someone is
going to file suit against anyone and everyone they can think of, just
because they are in jail.

He has a very interesting case right now that's getting ready for
trial. His client is charged with Kidnapping, Aggravated Assault,
Aggravated Sodomy and other assorted felonies. His client was in
jail, was offered a plea to Misdemeanor Simple Batter to be time
served (let out of jail with a Misdemeanor!!) and rejected that offer
in the expectation that he could only do better if he went to trial.
The client must have thought that the victim would either not show up,
or recant her story. What he didn't think was that the DA would have
over a thousand hours of taped conversations between him and the
victim from the jail phones. In those thousands of hours, he can be
heard convincing the victim to lie for him and say that this incident
did not occur. Once the DA got wind of these recordings, he withdrew
the offer for Simple Battery and is going to ask for Life Without
Parole after the inevitable guilty verdict. I guess that verdict
isn't inevitable. The victim could sound believable, she could decide
not to show up for trial, she could have a skydiving accident...
anything could happen.

It blows my mind that this guy would be in jail and reject an offer of
Time Served to a Misdemeanor while he's facing Life Without Parole.
But I guess if he was a real genius he wouldn't be in this situation
in the first place. So, if he does get LWOP, one of his claims will
be that our office did a terrible job before and during trial. Anyone
ca end up beneath the v.