incidents and accidents, hints and allegations

Wednesday, our first full day back from vacation, we had the exterior house painting finished and more bookcases (the last, we don't have any more room) delivered. Work had been pretty quiet while I was away. Other than that, mostly everything else notable about the week was ( dog stuff. )

Oh, by the way: if a recipe for sauce calls for an egg yolk, do not use an whole egg because you misremembered the recipe. They're really not equivalent. This hard-won lesson is brought to you by our overly-sticky alfredo from Saturday night.

Entertainment this week: the DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. ( cut for papersky )

Things that amused me on my commute this week:

• A trailer truck with the logo "m.s.CARRIER", which I read as considerably less complimentary than they probably intended;
• A local heating company named "Appolo." I hope that's a family name . . .

Rotten news: another co-worker's parent died this week. This is the fourth in the last six weeks or so; I'm starting to wonder if our bureau's been hexed or something. Also, a co-worker's cousin-in-law was killed in an ambush in Iraq a couple of weeks ago.

The week:

Monday: had company in the afternoon and evening: Chad's parents, the medium-sized monster (a.k.a. their dog), Chad's sister, and Chad's sister's family. I hadn't met her family before, as they live on the other side of the country, so that was good.

Tuesday: Chad's summer students came over for dinner; I said hello and then retreated into my cool dark quiet bedroom with a migraine.

Wednesday: continuing legal education program that was an object lesson in why it is a good idea to tailor one's presentation to one's audience.

Thursday: birthday. Started out well: I actually woke up feeling human for once, and got a silly present. Became progressively sleepier as the day went on, and barely stayed conscious through "Jeeves Takes Charge" (Hugh Laurie is brilliant as Bertie Wooster, but I'd pictured Jeeves a little older and more deadpan in expression than Stephen Fry's portrayal). A considerable improvement over last year, when I was taking the bar exam (Multistate day). I really hope that stays the low point in birthdays.

Friday: call from the rescue group to say they had five young Labs available. When we showed up at the foster parent's home, a matter of hours later, all but one were already adopted; the one left was too headstrong and uninterested in people. Someone experienced with dogs could probably train him up a treat, but at nine months he was too strong for us to want to take on (he was pulling on the lead so hard that he was quite literally choking himself—you could hear him wheezing—and nothing we did seemed to make the connection for him that heeling = breathing). But it's good to know we're on their list for short-notice calls, and it turns out that last week's mishap was probably the result of a series of misunderstandings, so all is reasonably well on the dog search front.

Saturday: did our part to keep up durable goods purchases, by buying bedroom furniture and more paperback bookshelves (bigger ones, too, oooh), and deciding to buy a china cabinet/hutch (i.e., a thing with doors rather than all open shelves, for when pets arrive). Went out to dinner for my birthday, had unexpectedly spicy spaghetti with shrimp (lips-going-numb spicy) and ate too much. Watched The Princess Bride with the director's commentary on, because I wanted a comfort movie and didn't want to overdose on Jeeves and Wooster.

Sunday: woke up at 4:30 in the bleeding morning and stayed awake until about 7:00. I want an off switch (to go with this terrible pain in the diodes all down my left side, don't you know) . . . Dragged self out of bed at a reasonable hour on principle and then wasted the morning anyway, but spent the afternoon on refinishing the bookshelves, with excellent results: all that's left is a coat of gel stain, which will take about half an hour, and they're done done done. Chad made terrific grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, and now I'm going to bed.

The early part of the week was mostly spent in a sleep-deprived fog, as I was far from caught up after not sleeping while Chad was away. On Wednesday I did get the decision in the case that I'd compared 490 documents for, last Friday; much faster than I'd expected, obviously, but I always take a win.

Thursday did not start out well; another goddamn many-legged crawly thing, in what was going to be my cereal bowl, and then a visit to the dentist. My current dentist is very good, but when one already has jaw problems, even the best dentist in the world can't make a filling replacement feel good—since it involves having one's mouth held open for half an hour. Eating hurt for the next two days.

The day got considerably better when work let out early; I came home and stretched out in the sun-dappled shade with a Brust novel. Most relaxing. Watched and enjoyed The Bourne Identity that night, slept late the next morning, stretched out in the shade again with another Brust novel, and then went out to see The Italian Job.

Weekend took a bit of a downward turn when I felt inexplicably lousy after the movie and for most of Saturday. This was not helped by rotten insomnia the night before, even though I slept very late in the morning (through Chad power-sawing and hammering downstairs). I worked on our built-in bookcases yesterday afternoon, ( tedious details of house stuff )

Of course, the problem with power tools is that they require a high degree of concentration, and you end up exhausted without realizing it. And I woke up at 4:45 this morning and basically stayed awake until 7:30 or so. Another weekend goes by and the book log continues to languish for attention, the poor neglected thing . . .

Weekend movie roundup:

• The Bourne Identity. The interviews and such included with the DVD make a big deal about how it's not your typical action movie, which is crap. There's one plot detail that avoids cliché, and a car chase scene where random cars appear not to have TNT in their trunks—both of which are refreshing—but it's unquestionably an action movie, sub-genre spy/mystery. Matt Damon's character is found in the Mediterranean with two bullets in his back, a Swiss bank number implanted in his hip, and no memory of his identity. The Swiss vault contains six passports with his picture, a gun, and a lot of cash; he appears to have not read any spy novels before he fell overboard, since the contents of the vault don't immediately scream "Special Operations" to him. People are after him, there's a girl, you know the drill. Competent and entertaining.

  The ending is free of obvious sequel hooks, though it's my understanding that there's two more in the works (per Greg's Previews, formerly upcomingmovies.com).

  The alternate ending is stupid, though not movie-destroying the way Ronin's was.

• The Italian Job (2003). I really have a weakness for caper movies, even fairly undistinguished ones like this remake. The whole movie was basically in the trailer, as I suspected (except the Ukrainian subplot), but what the heck, I enjoyed it anyway. Once again, the characters have a sad lack of knowledge of genre films, else they'd know better than to hire Edward Norton for a job. Revenge and a whole lot of gold, what else do you need for a movie?
• Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, special edition DVD. I wouldn't have believed this could be made any more silly, but it is. Worth the rental just for the "Subtitles for People Who Don't Like the Film," which are all eerily apropos quotes from Henry IV, part II. Don't miss the animated Lego version of the Camelot scene, and the documentary about the film's locations, on disc two. Perfectly, daftly brilliant.

Oh, right, I meant to do a week in review post.

Car stuff: On Monday, I discovered a dent. I've only had the thing since Thursday. It's a very small dent, true, but someone has quite clearly opened their door into one of my back doors. Grr. Otherwise the car is still lovely; it went over the hills to Williamstown this weekend with no problems, and is currently averaging 47.9 miles per gallon.

Work stuff: I should always assume that good decisions will be appealed, instead of letting myself get my hopes up, as I did regarding that decision I was all excited over. On the other hand, I'll be helping with the appeal, which should be educational. I stayed home sick Wednesday, went to a legislative hearing on Thursday regarding possible litigation, and that was about that's reportable for the week.

Social stuff: we spent most of the weekend in Williamstown for Chad's 10-year college reunion. Got to see many of his friends, to meet some of their kids for the first time, and to sleep on the worst hotel bed I've ever paid for. Came home early Sunday so Chad could go to Union's graduation; spent most of the afternoon outside in the sun, devouring a long-awaited book, and then went to bed very early.

House stuff: currently investigating painting the house and replacing the windows. Anyone have strong feelings between Pella or Andersen windows?

The first part of last week was spent running around trying to get stuff together for a case, the papers for which needed to go in the mail on Wednesday. The catch was that I wasn't going to be there on Wednesday; I was going to be in New York City for a conference. And I am a control semi-freak when it comes to work and really prefer to oversee things myself, even when I know I've left everything in capable hands. My state of mind was not helped by the discovery that things would have been ready on Tuesday, had I not been an idiot and overlooked something important. Fortunately it was all fixable and went in the mail properly—on Wednesday.

I spent Wednesday through Friday in New York City, at the National Association of Attorneys General's annual conference on corrections law (prisons and prisoners). I think it was probably pretty standard as such things go: a reasonable variation in the levels things were pitched at; one person who went on about "me, me, me, me, me" for far too long; and a widespread inability to speak into microphones. Unfortunately, the more advanced topics were ones that I'd happened to work on already, so there wasn't anything incredibly new to me. We did get a CD-ROM with our printed materials that looks to have a lot of very nice research on it, though.

I also took advantage of being in NYC by having a nice dinner with redbird on Thursday night, at La Bonne Soupe (mmm, cheese fondue), and then went to see Perfect Crime, a play that I'd gotten a half-price same-day ticket for. ( Thoughts on the play, no spoilers )

My plans for Friday afternoon fell through when I never heard from the person I was going to meet, so I went to the Met before catching a train home. ( Museum-ing )

It was good to be home.

Saturday, I actually did some yard work, raking and trimming hedges (fun with cordless hedge trimmers!) while Chad dug up bushes (breaking a shovel in the process) and improved our patio. Went to see X2 that night, which I quite enjoyed. It didn't rock my world—I got more of an adrenaline rush from the Matrix trailer—and I don't drool over the prospect of a sequel, but it was good clean mostly-non-stupid fun and I recommend it. Ian McKellen just oozes panache, and Hugh Jackman really ought to be a star—no, I don't find him attractive, but he just has terrific screen presence, dreadful hair and all.

As far as trailers: ooooh, Matrix Reloaded. I'm not sure which trailer this was—not the final theatrical, which is all that seems to be on the website now—but it had a beautiful sequence, towards the end, of intercut parallel shots of jumps/flips/pikes/general arcing motion. Ooooh, pretty. (It's like watching diving, only with better clothes.) The eponymous Hulk looks disturbingly like Shrek; I don't think we'll be seeing that. I could probably see The Italian Job, being a sucker for caper films, even though I suspect that we saw most of the movie in the trailer. Everything else looked dire.

On Sunday, we bought a swing (as in porch, though this one is freestanding with its own cover, not as in playground) and Chad spent most of the afternoon putting it together. I made a risotto with shrimp that, to my philistine tastebubs, is just as good when you boil the rice as when you simmer. (Is there really a difference?) I'd meant to update both this and the book log after dinner, but I was still so tired from the week (the hotel bed was dire) that I just stared the screen blankly for a while, mindlessly playing Bejeweled, and then went to bed in a stupor.

This promises to be an interesting week. I have the Mental Hygiene calendar this month, which basically means appearing every Thursday at hearings that determine whether people who've been committed to a mental health facility, stay committed; and on Friday, I have at least one oral argument. Also, though I told rysmiel that we wouldn't make Montreal this weekend because we needed the time at home, I have discovered that thanks to miscommunication here, we actually have a prior commitment for Saturday, and maybe a new one for Sunday too. Whee. Which means I should go to bed instead of writing enormous LJ posts . . .

Fairly quiet week at work. I did lose my first decision, which was disappointing; yes, it had to come sometime, and I don't think there was much else I could have done with what I had—but I do wish it hadn't been that case or that decision.

At home, our new bookshelves were delivered on Tuesday, which was the cause of much oooh'ing and aaah'ing. We've only had time to unpack the hardcovers so far, and those will all need to be shifted around when we retrieve the rest of my books from my parents' house: but it's so nice to have books on shelves again. Also, our couch was delivered on Friday; Chad is currently stretched out full-length on it as he swears at the TV (Maryland is in a very ugly overtime game with Virginia), so that gives you an idea of the size of the thing. It's very comfy.

It was also a week for museums. I went over to the New York State Museum to see the exhibit "Once Upon a Time: Fiction and Fantasy in Contemporary Art," drawn from the Whitney's collection. It was a small showing, but there were two pieces I really liked. One was Frank Moore's Lullaby II, which really needs to be seen full-size to be appreciated. The second was Alexis Smith's Beauty and the Beast, which was three long horizontal rectangles, divided into panels, arranged on top of each other. Typewritten excerpts from the story were on top of most of the panels; an object that referred to the story was in the center. For instance, when the father picked the rose, there was a paint chip for a shade called "Scarlet." I'm not describing it very well, and I can't find any pictures online, but it was well done.

This weekend, we went down to Long Island to visit Chad's grandmother, whose birthday is soon. I also went to visit one of his great-aunts, who is not well; it was sad, but I was glad to have done it. We had a nice dinner Saturday night, and today went to the American Museum of Natural History. We went first to the Einstein exhibit, which was enjoyable but not, in my opinion, spectacular. Then we went to see butterflies, which is always fun. Out for lunch, and then back for the Rose Center for Earth and Space. The Hall of Planet Earth is very well done, lots of beautiful geological exhibits, but the coolest thing is the "Scales of the Universe". The idea, as explained on the museum's web page, is that the Hayden Sphere is used as a scale reference in relation to models. My favorite was, if the Hayden was the size of an atom, then a point smaller than the dot on top of an "i" was a proton. It's really effective at conveying how big (and small) things are, and just a brilliant idea. On the way out, we stopped in at the First Europeans exhibit and the gift shop—buying a plushie squid and a stuffed T. Rex, just because they were so absurd.

Finally, in web news: I updated my LJ bio in a fit of strange procrastination. I found a cool story about the 1933 Double Eagle coin, and was tickled when BoingBoing picked it up on my suggestion. And I finally finished my Boskone 40 Convention Report.

This morning, I got into my car at 8:22 a.m., and walked into my office building at nine on the dot. Which, as my first commute from the new house, was really not as bad as I'd feared: it's about 20 miles over rush-hour highways, compared to the six over back roads from the old apartment, so you can see why I was apprehensive. Even my absent-mindedly taking the wrong exit didn't slow me down too much—though looking at the backup on the exit I would have taken, the wrong exit was probably faster. I still need to learn some alternative routes, but I think this will be manageable. (And yay, E-Z Pass.)

Saturday morning, I also spent a bunch of time sitting in the car, though with less happy results. The movers came to the apartment at about nine o'clock to get the furniture and the boxes we'd managed to pack. I left before they did, to stop at the bank and open up the house. However, neither of us realized that I didn't have a house key until I pulled up at the house. (I blame this on our being chronically short on sleep these days, exacerbated by packing since seven a.m.) I decided to wait in the car, mostly because it was too much effort to go anywhere else. While I waited, I looked at the car clock and said, "Hey, it's 10:00; maybe Car Talk is on at a different time up here." As the radio automatically scanned through the AM band, I heard Columbia mentioned on one station; on the second station, I woke up and listened. No, it's not as shocking at Challenger, but it still made me very sad. [Edited to say: something like what Jim Henley expresses in his blog.] (Oddly, I kept flashing to the book Apollo 13, which gave me such a vivid picture of NASA in crisis mode.)

The movers did come and distract me, however, and it was good. It was *so* worth paying professional movers to do the furniture and boxes: yes, we could have bribed students with pizza, but we've done that, and it's still a lot of work and hassle and dings on freshly-painted walls. These guys had an enormous truck, and excellent spatial ability, and left us just past eleven with everything in place and nary a ding to be seen. I repeat: *SO* worth it.

(I didn't see the delivery of our new king-sized bed, which I wish I did, since looking at it in the bedroom, I have no idea how they got it in. It is, to use a technical term, ginormous. If we ever move out, we have no choice but to get professional movers again, because we can't possibly extract that thing ourselves.

And yes, it's extremely comfy.)

Also this past week: On Wednesday, I officially became an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York. "But wait," I hear you say, "haven't you been working there since September? What were you before Wednesday?" Surprisingly, the answer to that question is unclear, but I wasn't an AAG: you have to be admitted to the bar before you can call yourself an attorney, so before Wednesday, I didn't really have a title. However, I'm now officially admitted, which means I get to sign my own papers and talk in court and have business cards with an actual title and all that good stuff. (I have to be separately admitted in federal court, which ought to happen Friday.)

The bar admission process is a bit odd. You send in a whole bunch of paperwork: every place you've lived since you were eighteen, every place you've worked since you were eighteen, affidavits from every legal employer you've had, affidavits of good moral character from friends, proof you passed the bar, all this stuff. Then you wait. Then you get a letter saying to report at such-and-such time for your interview with the Committee on Character and Fitness.

(My interview was Tuesday, with a single person, and consisted of: "Are you admitted in Connecticut? Did you take Connecticut's bar exam? Do you have a job yet? Well done, congratulations." (The answers, if you're curious, were no, no, and yes.) Hey, it was quick . . . )

After the interview, you sign the official roll of attorneys and get your Certificate of Good Standing, saying you're a member of the bar. At this time, the court workers impress upon you that attendance at the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday is MANDATORY; their insistence leaves you with the strong impression that no-one would notice if you skipped completely. This turns out to be the case: all 600 plus names get read off, you bob up and down when your name is called, everyone raises their hand and swears, the generic "congratulations, you're a lawyer, go forth and do good" speech is given, and then you leave.

I suppose at some point in the future I would have felt bad if I'd skipped it, but right now it seems like a waste of an hour and a half that I could have used to get some work done. Like the summary judgment motion and set of pretrial papers I sent out on Friday (and was I glad to see them go).

As a final note, the phone in the new house won't be hooked up until Friday, so I won't be around the 'net much this week; I'll be checking a few things from work, but I have neither the time nor the inclinations to do as much as I normally would on a work computer. Catch up with you all when I get back.

I had today off, and we had a bunch of help this weekend (my mom Saturday, Chad's folks yesterday and today—our families are too good to us), so we got a lot done on the house. The second bedroom is completely painted, and the master bedroom is almost done—I suck at doing edges, so the molding and some ceiling touch-up needs to be done. The main part of the office room would almost be done, but the contractors started work on the bathroom today and had a lot of stuff in the way. Not that I mind, since we really want the bathroom done before we move in . . . We've still got a lot to go, but it's actually starting to look like a house now, which is exciting.

Not much to report about work this week, except that I got considerably peeved by one of my prisoner plaintiffs, who insisted on referring to me by my first name in papers opposing our motion to dismiss his complaint. Words cannot adequately express how annoying I found this.

Also upgraded the bandwidth for steelypips, added a mirror copy of the Wheel of Time FAQ (not that I'm reading Jordan any more, it's the community), and updated the book log with a lonely entry.

And now, I'm going to bed, because I'm exhausted.

(Because Papersky did it and it seemed like a good idea, especially with my memory like a whatchamacallit.)

January: Rang in the New Year with friends in a rented house in the D.C. area. Came back to exams (Tax, Criminal Procedure, and Convicting the Innocent (not a how-to)), then went off to spend break with the family and Chad, separately. Classes started up again: for my last semester, I took Property; Wills, Trusts, and Estates; Sexuality, Gender, and the Law; and Bioethics and the Law. Also, I was still working on two law journals and doing the long-distance relationship thing: it would be a busy semester.

February: Finished the second long paper required for graduation, from my fourth class of the prior semester (The Criminal Jury); this would eventually be accepted for publication in a law journal (the issue is coming out this month). Went to and enjoyed Boskone; this time I went to more readings than panels, which worked well for me.

March: Spring break. Still didn't get picked for jury duty. Went to a pre-martial instruction meeting with the priest who was planning to do the wedding ceremony, and managed not to strangle him.

April: Two bridal showers, both of which were quite nice, exceeding my expectations considerably.

May: Wedding preparation and exam preparation went into high gear at exactly the same time, which was inconvenient. Got my first speeding ticket on the trip home to get a wedding license. Mid-month, went to a friend's wedding in Kentucky. Graduated on Memorial Day, cleverly falling down the stairs while leaving the dorm.

June: Got married (yay!). Started bar review immediately thereafter (boo). Got a job (yay!).

July: Kept studying for the bar. My stress levels were not helped by the fact that it was extremely hot in Schenectady and our apartment was not air-conditioned, but with lots of orange sherbet, a weekend escape to Chad's parents, another weekend escape to Six Flags for roller coasters, and a ceiling fan in the living room, I survived. Went to another friend's wedding and saw a lot of people I used to work with in D.C. Took the bar at the very end of the month.

August: Went to Massachusetts almost immediately thereafter for a relative's surgery (which went well). Came back and moved apartments. Went to Montreal at the end of the month for a belated mini-honeymoon. The first several hours were terrible, the rest was lovely. Spent a couple days with papersky, rysmiel, and Zorinth while we were there.

September: Started work, and enjoyed it right away. At the end of the month, went to a trial of my boss's in Utica, just to watch and help with documents. (We won.)

October: Signed a contract to buy a house.

November: Down to New York City to have lunch with the boss, along with a number of other Honors Program hires. Split Thanksgiving between our families; my folks were going to come out to Chad's parents, but health problems interfered.

December: Vegas with friends. First court appearance, an oral
argument in an Article 78 proceeding. Closed on the house. Discovered that
spackling appears to be a never-ending process. Split the holidays again;
the tradition of throwing oyster crackers at each other at Christmas Eve
dinner appears to be at an end, not that I blame Chad's aunt and uncle for
not wanting to vacuum up the crumbs. Watched a heck of a lot of snow come
down Christmas Day. Quiet New Year's at home, breaking the D.C.-area
tradition.

Overall: It was a good year, but I'd like 2003 to be less busy, please.