Where did I go?

Ok, so it's been a REALLY long time since I've posted anything. This is due to a number of reasons, the largest of which is the change I've had in jobs. As the confidentiality of my job increases, I feel compelled to share less about my job. As a bonus, the time I spend at my job seems to stay at a constant "too much" time. So hence my laziness.

That being said...

The weather is cooling (thank GOD) and fall is around the corner. This can only mean one thing. School buses. I hate school buses. I hate them because I never seem to be able to avoid them. And I always hit them when I am late for work, and always in a place I cannot pass. And is it just me or do they stop more often then they used to? I swear we all conglomerated at one stop when I was a kid. But now the stupid bus stops every other house on the street. The kids really can't go to one anothers houses? We must stop on a major road NINE times in about 40 feet??? OY!!!

(didja miss me?)

Let's go Red!

This weekend Cornell heads to the Capitol Region to take on Union and RPI. The Big Red needs to beat both teams to really move up in the ECAC rankings. As I contemplated the upcoming games, I remembered going to the Cornell v. RPI game last year. As I sat amongst a mix of wonderfully crazed Cornell fans and a few RPI kids who I felt bad for (they were stuck with us, after all) I heard a cheer of "Let's go Red!" I heard a LARGE cheer of "Let's go Red!" Granted, this is an every day occurance in Lynah Rink, but we were not in Ithaca. And the cheer was coming from the RPI fans. Huh.

It was explained to me, by one of my RPI fan friends, that this cheer is a common occurance at RPI, as one of their colors is red. Ummmm..ok. And, when the Cornell fans, clearly amused by this turn of events, started THANKING the RPI fans for rooting for their team, the RPI folks got annoyed. After all, why should they give up THEIR color because we were in THEIR house. We (Cornell) should have to give up our color at RPI.

I hate to be dumb, but does any one else find this a little silly? No? Let me clarify: The Cornell Big Red fans should have to give up our color when we play against the RPI Engineers? Hi, RPI? Red is not just our color, it is our team name. We are not the Bear, or the Bulldogs, or even an Engineer (I realize Engineer is a lame name, but whatever, your school picked it...) We are just the Big Red. That's it. Big Red. So no, RPI, we shall not give up our name because it happens to be one of your colors. Get over it. And when we beat you in your house (again) you know what we will say? LETS GO RED!

And you know we don't mean you. :-)

Please snow, come soon!

Warren Miller is coming up this weekend, and with Warren Miller comes one thing... a burning desire to ski.

Warren Miller is a movie producer who does a skiing, and, in recent years, skiing/snowboarding movies. They are awesome, with exotic locations, like Alaska, Japan, Dubai, Europe, and many many more. They have the best in the sports, doing all kinds of gnarly tricks, and hard core riding. And the soundtrack generally rules as well.

Now, I am NOT an awesome skier. That being said, after watching the movie, every year, I want to ski. Now. That minute. Sadly, most years I have seen the movie in October, which is not all that conducive to immediate skiing. This year the tour is later this year, and hopefully there will be snow soon. Very soon.

Now? Please?

Fire bad, trees pretty

As we have finally stepped into autumn in the northeast (kinda, but we shall ignore the random heat wave...) the leaves are finally changing from the summer-present shades of green to the multitude of colors we are graced with for 3 weeks a year. To better examine this phenomina, some friends and I went hiking again this weekend. Bigger group then last time, with some "non-hikers" in the group. Happily for me, the non-hikers made my life a lot easier, and I could breathe the entire way up the mountain and never be the slowest in the group. YAY!

AND, as an added bonus, my legs don't hurt at all today. In fact, I would swear I didn't hike yesterday if I didn't know better. This is a good thing (and it means the hike was not nearly tough enough.) Maybe I can get out again next weekend.

By the by, having columbus day off is awesome. I missed having little holidays in private practice. Rock on, public interest law!!!

I know I am not a real lawyer...

But could everyone stop reminding me of that? I know, as a Legal Aid lawyer, that, like a Public Defender, I am not a "real" lawyer. I know that I clearly did not go to law school. And I know that I didn't pass a real bar exam. I know I don't practice real law, and I don't REALLY have to bill my time. And I know all of this because I don't bill my client, so there for my time is not real, and the law I practice is not real.

So since I know all of this, could you PLEASE stop reminding me? Thanks in advance!

Hiking in the Moonlight...

Yesterday, 2 of my best friends and I hiked Giant Mountain. This is the second hike I ahve taken with these two, and, much like our Mt. Marcy hike of many years ago, it was a heck of a lot of fun. Now understand that one of the guys hikes all the time, and the other never hikes at all. And then there is me, with no legs and a whole lot more desire then talent, as it were. So off we went, starting the mountain about 3 hours later then we had planned to start. And, as per the norm of our hikes, we ended up hiking the majority of the way down in the dark. We summited about 15 minutes before sunset, and hiked the first mile mostly by moonlight.

Here's the funny part. We stopped at one point, and we were sitting there, pretty much in the dark. We had stopped at one fo the trail junctions to take a break, about two-thirds of the way down, since it was a flat area, for once. I was sitting on a long, one of my friends was lying on the ground, and my other friend was attempting to light his cigar, and was failing because the wind kept blowing. And I got this weird sense of utter fimilarity. I said, "It's so perfect that you are trying to light your cigar, it just makes this so normal." And my other friend started laughing, since apparently he was having the exact same thought. One of them said it best, as we were hiking in the dark, which was such a bad idea,"This trip is so us." And it was. These guys have been my friends since third and fifth grade. We've known each other for pretty much all of our waking lives, and there is something just awesome about that. Whether we are hanging out in someones backyard, going out to a bar, or hiking a mountain in the dark, these are my friends. I can't imagine my life without them, and I don't think I'd want to.

Athletics and Age

There comes a time in every athlete's life where he or she begins to wonder if maybe they should stop playing. Maybe not every sport, but you begin to wonder if the benefits of playing still outweighs the negatives. You contemplate that maybe, just maybe, you are in fact "too old for this."

My first brush with this feeling occurred when I started law school. I was asked by a college teammate who lived in the area if I wanted to play club rugby. Now I loved playing rugby in college. I loved the challenge, I loved the running, I loved the mud, and I loved the hitting. Rugby was my kind of sport. But when my friend asked me if I wanted to play, all I could think was how much I was spending educating these brain cells of mine, and how many I had probably destroyed with the last concussion I had received. So I declined, because as much as I loved playing, I had that whole "responsible adult" thing going on in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to today, where I once again contemplate my own mortality. I now play co-ed softball, in a modified fast pitch league, as I have been for the past 3 years. I love playing, I love my team. But I have been a pitcher for the past 3 years, and I have seen my share of injuries. After all, the pitcher in softball stands 43 feet from the batter. Batters who are frequently very large men, swinging shiny metal bats. Batters who, at times, have a tendency to hit the ball directly back at me. And, due to the very short distance, and very fast nature of the ball, have hit me a number of times. The most recent incidence of this has left me with a bone bruise on my left leg, and put me on crutches for well over half a week (should ahve been longer, but I HATE crutches.)

These bruises, particularly the one currently causing me much pain and annoyance, leads me to wonder, "am I getting to old for this?" I don't heal as well as I used to. And frankly, I do not want to have to go to court with a black eye, or a lump on my head, and have to explain, again, that it is from softball, and no, one of my client's husbands did not beat me up.

I know darn well that I am not gonna quite softball. On the all and all, it is a wonderful and mostly harmless sport. But maybe I'll cut back on pitching a bit. After all, I DID spend a lot of money educating these brain cells. :-)

Long time, no post

Someone mentioned to me that I had not posted here in a while. Apparently this person is the master of the understatement, as it is has been well over a year since my last real post (merry christmas does not count.) Granted, there are a number of reasons for my rampant delinquency, namely that whole lawyer gig that I do so well. Now, I know there are many of lawyers blogging away on the blog-o-sphere, but frankly, I've been busy.

For those of you who know me (which is pretty much anyone who might actually read this creature) you know that I am no longer in the real estate world. This is a cause for much joy and celebration because while I learned a lot in the real estate world, real estate law 24/7 is really tedious and boring. And I don't really do tedious and boring. At all.

So I ran off to be the litigator that I always wanted to be, and I love it. It is crazy, and there is in many ways more work to do then in my old job, but I love it. The arguments, the crying, the debates, the negotiations and the smack downs. And that is just opposing counsel. :-)

In theory, I will actually try to write a little more consistently then once a year on here, but who knows what the months ahead will bring.

At least everyone knows I still exist. That makes it all ok. Right?

Merry Christmas

A quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Hopefully everyone is having a fab holiday, filled with much joy, bliss and family!

Youtube, I love you

I asmit, this is the first real free time I have had in the past 2 + weeks (because real estate law = insanity for the 3 summer months of the year). But I get the 3rd off, and thus I can actually take a break instead of working all weekend. As it is humid as hell out, and I am just tired and lazy, I spent a good part of today cleaning up my hard drive and searching the web. And there I fell in love...with youtube.

Now, before you look at me like I just re-appeared on this planet, yes, I have heard of youtube before today. But I had the opportunity to explore the page a bit today, and I love it! It is this bizarre cross section of humanity. I watched some guy play the super mario brothers theme on the piano BLINDFOLDED, saw clips of family guy, watched world cup highlights and strange japanese game shows, all the course of an hour.

I think the most fascinating part for me was seeing what was the most often viewed. People watch all sorts of silly things, don't they? And does anyone know why seeing someone getting hit in the groin is so so so so SO funny??