3 In A Row!

I don't know what has changed or if suddenly things are working. I now have consistent internet access on our wireless network.

SWEET! Frustration level is coming down.

I was going to go into work, but waking up at 11 a.m. put the kibosh on that idea. Ah...sweet sleep!

Connected Upon Booting Up!

Okay what has changed! Booted up ye olde laptop and it connected to our wireless.

SWEET!

I admit the internet is mostly an escape, but I also do a lot of research online. Nice to have it back....I hope.

Poll Time

Which is the most annoying part of my life?

1. Insomnia that awakens me at 4:00 a.m. for the last 2 weeks.

2. Occasional internet access at home due to roommate's ...whatever he did to the wireless setup!

3. Inability to get orders written due to distractions at work.

4. Inability to get orders written due to attending a million hearings in a week.

5. Inability to get orders written due to solving other people's problems. Wait that sounds a lot like number 3.

I really need the ability to fashion an 8th day of the week that no one else has access to. I would love to have one day a week where no one can reach me, I have no hearings, and I can just catch up on things. People may say do more with less but we've reached the point of you need more to do more!

Spotty Internet Access Just Plain Sucks

The Fabulously Gay Roommate has been monkeying around with our wireless network. He's been trying to get the wireless printer to find our network and print! The wireless capability of the printer was the big reason I got the printer before the end of last year and yet it is the one thing we haven't gotten to work!

The Good: FGR says he can no see the printer on our wireless LAN.
The Bad: We still can't print to it.
The Suck: I have to screw around with my network settings on my laptop for at least 15 minutes before I connect to our wireless network. IF I CONNECT AT ALL!

If you don't hear from me for a few days assume that between too many hours at work, too many hours on the road, and the roommate's infernal modification of our network that I'm not dead, I'm just silent!

You Did What?

The Boss is occasionally a forgetful person. He certainly does things differently than I do, but usually he's a logical and rational person. So I'm befuddled by this problem. We set up with the courts to handle a special project on Fridays this month. At least that's what I thought. I'm checking the calendar for this month and it seems the courts got a late start and started the scheduling towards the end of the month. Okay fine. I guess our project will go into September. I'll have to check into that later, but I kept things off my calendar for this month.

Boss: Wow we're busy the last Friday.

Me: I had assumed we would be busy on every Friday. I guess the courts needed a little more time.

Boss: Did you schedule any administrative hearings on that day.

Me: I didn't schedule any hearings because I thought we would be busy the entire month.

Boss: Uh-oh I think I scheduled 5 admin hearings on that Friday.

Me: You're joking right?

Boss: Checks his calendar. Yep I scheduled 5 for that Friday.


I don't know which is worse. The Boss scheduled ANYTHING on a Friday that we knew ahead of time was supposed to be for our project. Or is it worse he scheduled 5 admin hearings when 3 in a day is exhausting! My clerk asked me if the Boss thought that scheduling 5 hearings would result in 2 complete hearings because we always have people missing. I don't know, but that means once again I'm shouldering the load alone on a busy day.

It is bad enough I do the work of 2 people because we need at least another person, but when I'm doing my boss's job as well I get peeved. It seems like I cover him A LOT more than he covers me.

So Hard To Get Good Help These Days.

Me: Okay Fabulously Gay Roommate flip the breaker.

FGR: 11 or 12?

Me: 11 controls this circuit.

*hear a solid snap*
FGR: Okay you're good.

*screwdriver touches a live wire* FLASH, POP, SNAP!

Me: DUDE!!!!!!! I just got zapped! I thought you said I was good!

FGR: Oh wait, sorry. I flipped the one below it.

Me: Tell you what I'll give you the screwdriver and I'll just randomly flip breakers until your hand goes numb!

The Money Sled.

Only two more payments and my used car is completely mine. A friend sold it to me so I got very favorable financing. However this year the damn thing is turning into a money pit. First, I needed to replace the front tires after I hit a pothole the size Belgium. That left front deflated in less than 2 minutes. Then I needed a transmission rebuild. It is good to have 1st and Reverse again. I thought I needed an alignment, but instead the tire rotation I had 3 weeks earlier brought the old tires to the front. One had a busted steel belt so I needed 2 more tires.

Now the damn headlights won't turn on. What are the odds both bulbs would burn out the same night? I doubt that, especially given the occasional odd electrical glitch the headlight have given me in the past. Electrical gremlins, did I buy a British car from the 1960's?

At 176,000 miles I need this beast to last. I can't afford a new car right now including the cost of fuel and higher insurance rates for a new car. If this keeps up I'm going to need either more money or less commute. Why do I either feel like the working poor or the struggling middle class?

So Much For That Idea.

I got an email today. Big City interview stated they must cancel the interview. They were unable to offer a position at this time and would keep my resume on file.

Crap!

Did the position just disappear? Did they already find someone to fill it? Did the fact I had to wait until Tuesday to interview kill my chances? Who knows. I hate second guessing things.

I honestly don't know how much longer I can last in Small Town. The hour long commute. The extreme work hours based on the work load and the fact I do the work of three people. A boss who just doesn't seem to do anything urgently. Hell the boss doesn't seem to do much of anything. The boss is burned out and in a sore need of a six month sabbatical. Fine, but that means so much of the behind the scenes workload gets routed to me. All that does is burn me out.

So much for the hope of getting out of the burden of Atlas' shoulders.

Thriller Indeed.

I know I'm a little late to the Michael Jackson death, but I felt I should talk a little bit about it. I only own one CD of his, Thriller, and I hadn't even taken it out of the wrap. I remember buying it about a year ago. I bought it because I knew I needed at least one MJ album and Thriller was what sent him to superstardom. Back when MTV still played videos this was one of the best ever.

I don't know what happened in his personal life. In the best light he got weird. In the worst light he did a lot of bad things. One thing is certain, he was the King of Pop and for 10 years nobody came close to him.

Though I never bought an album until a year ago, he made a lot of the music I grew up with. Michael Jackson, perhaps this Halloween I'll learn the Thriller dance in your honor. Long live the king!

Hope?

I saw the ad for the position in Big City. It is under the same program as my current job in Small Town. I gave some thought to whether or not I should apply to it. In many ways I really dislike the subject matter of my current job. Why would I want to continue on in that particular field?

Yet, it would be a job in Big City. The commute would be less time. I would regain an hour of my life back simply from the shorter drive. I wouldn't spend as much money on gas, oil changes, tires, and maintenance on the car. I would also be in the Big City job market. In the future I would hope I could find job leads around town that would get me to where I want to be. Granted I have no idea where I want to work when I grow up, but I need to start somewhere.

The few people I ask said the same thing: apply it won't hurt.

Given it has been a few weeks I figured I didn't even make the first cut for interviews. Until the email came. Big City job asked for an interview. Luckily we figured out a time. Day One wouldn't work at all, but I asked if the afternoon of Day Two was fine. Luckily yes.

Now the games begin. Stay chill at work. Don't let anyone know I'm interviewing. Come up with a doctor's appointment I need to attend that afternoon. I like the people I work with. The crew is good, but I can't keep working this one job. Too many issues with the job itself, the outside stuff related to the job, the commute and other stuff. I simply want to go home if I can. Is that too much to ask for?

What I Really Wanted To Say.

Judge: It's been seven years. How come no action has been taken?

Me *thinking to myself*: Because the idiot disappeared for seven years. What, you want me to put LoJack on everyone?

When The Boss Is Out Of Town...

I'm worked to death! I have to be in multiple courtrooms at once. I'm get all of the screwy problems. The number of hearings aren't too bad, except for Thursday, but the issues seem full of an extra helping of crap and inconvenience. Just as I settle in my chair to work on something of my choosing something else pops up.

I'm just tired and needing a big break soon. At least the holiday is approaching and I'll get a brief respite. At least I hope so.

Oh Hail!

Wow the plants and trees are trashed and my car has lots of little dimples. The hail was about gumball size but when a few thousand of the buggers are hitting my car it sounds like the inside of a snare drum!

The worse part: I ran into the same storm twice! A good thing my car isn't new or I would be far more crushed. I'm merely peeved.

I think I'll just go to bed.

White Flag Slowly Going Up.

I'm hoping to have at least 2 years in on the job in Small Town before I go elsewhere. Given the insane amount of work we've had the past few months and the long commute I've grown exhausted over this job.

I just updated my resume. Perhaps I'll upload it to a few websites in a few days. Perhaps I might sign onto a few employment websites soon. I'm tired of being tired. There needs to be less frustrating jobs in the legal field that pay at least as well and don't involve a one hour commute.

Star Trek Preview Review?

Umm..a review on the preview of the new Star Trek movie. Full of snark and reasons you should see it including the "Ka-Ching" rating. LOL

VISA Be Gone!

The last year of school. Fees for bar review classes. Job hunt expenses. Day to day expenses. All that stuff went to my VISA card. The numbers kept going up and all I could do was make barely above minimum payments. Before law school I was one of those who routinely paid off my credit card bills every month. The amount of credit debt skyrocketing upward was disheartening. Every new bill gave me a headache. Between the amount I borrowed for student loans and VISA the amount of debt I had was mind-boggling to me. Worse of all there was no way to get rid of it. Student loans can't be discharged by bankruptcy. The changes made to the bankruptcy laws made it more difficult to discharge the paltry by comparison amount on my VISA card. Despite all my intelligence, despite all my creative history, despite my outside the box reality I had run out of hope after years of frustration.

Yet a weak bit of hope appeared, the job in Small Town. I knew the commute would be tiring. I knew the job wouldn't fit my personality much less my dreams. I knew the job would be frustrating, but it was a job that paid money. Any port in a storm, eh? Yet my paychecks didn't seem to go far enough. Gas prices going over $4.00 per gallon last summer, electric bills, rent, football tickets, insurance premiums, that bitch Sallie Mae, trying to put something in a savings account, and all the normal stuff in our lives. Yet I paid as much as I could towards my VISA. The monthly statement started to slowly go down. I remember when it got under $10,000. I practically wept. Perhaps some good luck had finally come my way? Perhaps this really could work? Perhaps I could slowly climb my way out of the dark financial hole I was in? Between a large tax refund and using most of my savings account the check I wrote last month to VISA felt like I fired a bazooka at the debt.

Tonight I write the last check to VISA to erase my debt to them. What was once an impossible mountain of debt is now gone. I don't feel happy, but I am relieved, so incredibly relieved. I still hate the job in Small Town, I still hate the commute, I still hate the impossible situations I'm placed in, but the job has done the one thing I wanted it to do. It got rid of that damned VISA bill! I hope to move onto other opportunities in 9 to 12 months, but for now I'm glad I got something useful out of this job and I'm thankful for it.

We Lost Our Brains Today.

Scenario #1

Me: Clerk, why are my numbers not adding up? Can you print that off and follow my numbers? Okay so the total is on page 19.

Clerk: No Wolfrham, the total is on page 21.

Me: Eh, what? No the total is on page 19.

Clerk: Oh look, you only went back to 1999.

Me: Oh crap, do you think 2 years might make a big difference?

Scenario #2

Me: Okay I guess we'll need to schedule a status hearing to figure out what's going on.

Clerk: That's okay you can just get the info during the April 12th hearing.

Me: What? No we already had that hearing.

Clerk: No, you're having that hearing just next month on the 12th.

Me: Of April?

Clerk *clearly exasperated*: Yes.

Me: Clerk, what is today's date?

Clerk *ponders in thought for a second*: Oh crap!

I Must Be So Below Average.

Forbes has a list of the Top 25 Best Paid jobs and a list of the Top 25 Worst Paid jobs. At Number 16 for the best paid are lawyers! Supposedly lawyers have an average annual pay of $124,750 with 553,690 "employees in the field."

Okay, I have a good math background so I know how averages are calculated. I know I've been in the real world practicing law for less than 2 years now. (We're not going to get into how long it took to even find the job I'm working.) So I realize I should still be in that entry level starting salary phase. But I am nowhere near that average salary.

I have to wonder if the few lawyers who are into those big class action lawsuits and get a third if they win are skewing the average up to 6 figures. How many lawyers getting 500 million dollar settlements can skew my underpaid public sector salary to result in a $124,750 AVERAGE salary for my profession?

I'm either in the wrong field or I'm just a sucky lawyer.

Run Away! Run Away!

You Are "esc"

Some people might try to say that you're unreliable or flighty. But you can't help it. You're always finding yourself in sticky situations. You're willing to bail if things are looking bad. You are quite impatient. For you, having to escape every now in then is the price of taking risks. And you're not about to stop taking risks!

What Keyboard Key Are You?

Doesn't That Sound Like Someone Else We Know?

The funeral is this afternoon. The long viewing was last night. The more I tried to sneak out of work early the more things conspired to keep me in the office. Every file for today was prepped with copious notes. Thursdays are our busy days, but strangely I didn't have that many hearings I needed to pawn off. I managed to get out on time. That never happens.

Family, family friends, extended family, and plenty of people I had no idea who they are were at the funeral home for the viewing. A video slideshow was on a large TV. Photos of Grandpa's parents and siblings. Photos of him in his garden. A wedding photo of him in his army uniform with Grandma 66 years ago. Photos of him with his trucks, cars, and RVs. Photos of him with family at various holiday including last Christmas. I doubt Grandpa had any regrets in life. He pretty much got to do anything he wanted to. He was retired and enjoying life for as long as he worked toward that retirement.

My mother, Grandma, and extended relative (a great-uncle or second cousin perhaps), and I were standing next to the open coffin. We were talking and I suggested my thoughts on a few things. Grandma just tilted her head towards her husband and said, "Doesn't that sound like someone else we know?"

I'm okay with that comparison.

Today is the first warm and sunny day we've had in weeks. The rain we've had for the past week has broke. Rain during a funeral looks dramatic on TV and in a movie, but in real life it is simply insult to injury. Time for a hot shower and a good black suit. See y'all later.