Tags
Musings
Disjointed matters
I’m sure I will have many posts on disjointed matters, but here is the first in my recent posts. First, the sweet potato chips were a huge hit with the dogs. I think I may make more tomorrow for them. Second, I’m rather frustrated with my orchestra right now. I really miss playing in my college orchestra where people practiced and the conductor encouraged players to be better. One derisive comment the conductor made at practice tonight really made me think seriously about not going back. But I can’t leave the orchestra without a bass player… Third, I’m struggling with sewing ultrex, which is a goretex type material. My stitches are really close together no matter what stitch length I set them at, and the feed dogs push the fabric through faster than the needle, so it puckers. I fiddled with the tension and thought I had it figured out, but no. I’ve ripped out about seven inches of very close stitches, and I have another two to go, so if anyone has any suggestions, please share them. I definitely learned my lesson about practicing on scraps instead of the actual project. And fourth, I will be starting a new job in two weeks at another firm here in Kansas City. I will be doing e-discovery and data privacy consulting, as far as I understand it, but everyone knows you don’t really know what your job entails until a month into it. I am so grateful for the experience I’ve gained at my current firm, but it is time to go somewhere else, and I am excited about this next chapter in my career. That’s it for now. Mulling over a few other things that I might post, but we’ll just have to see.
Sep 2011after more than a year hiatus...
… I’m back. Pretty sure no one has noticed my absence, and that’s fine by me. I’ve spent the last year fully embracing the domestic life. I took up sewing, I’ve dived deep into gluten-free cooking, and we spent a good portion of the year doing yard and garden work. I plan to update my blog more frequently from here on out and write about more substantive things, contrary to the whining that I too frequently fall into. Here’s to another beginning!
Jun 2010JD
Within a month or two after starting law school, I was at a career services thing, and they spent a minute stressing that the degree we were pursuing is a Juris Doctor, not a Juris Doctorate. Although I understand that some people might be confused, people should know what their own degree is. I was given a pamphlet about a Republican candidate today (the Republican part isn’t important, but still…), and one of the statements in there was about him receiving a Juris Doctorate from Washington University. That just irritated me. Thought I’d mention it, because I’ve seen “Juris Doctorate” on a few attorney websites and all over our Luther class letter.
Jan 2010work-life balance
This will be a short post, as I have to be at work in seven hours, meaning that I have five hours to sleep, but I wanted to say a quick word about balancing work and life. In the legal profession, or at least in private practice, balance seems to be actively discouraged. All through law school and while looking for jobs, I told myself that being balanced was very important. And it is. However, it seems to be a struggle to maintain it, and my job sometimes feels like it is a little kid on a teeter-totter who keeps moving closer and closer to the fulcrum. I’ve joined an orchestra and a gym, and I have taken over the music director position (“position” being a very loose word) at LCM as well as looking for a new church home in Overland Park. Also planning a wedding and starting to look at moving to KC (well, Johnson County really). And making time for friends. I should be able to do all this, right? It seems like these things are essential to my well-being as a person as well as a lawyer. And yet there is never ever enough time. As I write this, it seems more like I took too much on rather than work is demanding more of my time than it should reasonably have, so maybe I’m just whining. Today was just a hard day, and I’m starting to think that this struggle for balance, and this ideal of working at the office and not working outside the office is just that, an ideal.
Nov 2009a long pause
It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime. The rest of my time in Europe was WONDERFUL. It was so good to be with Carl, and the traveling was a lot of fun. I flew home (that was an ordeal) at the beginning of September and started my job a week later. I was excited about my job before I started, and it has turned out to be even better than I thought it would be. I work with great people who support and challenge me, the subject matter is surprisingly interesting, and I get to do things that big firm associates don’t see until their third year. Also, I went to Miami this last week for a conference on asbestos medicine. Six of us went from the office - I only went because one of the attorneys couldn’t at the last minute - and it was a nice combination of educational lectures (including a video of a extra-pleural pneumonectomy - yuck), networking, and relaxing (mostly on the day before the conference actually started). I had a great time, and I felt really lucky to go. Asbestos is a complicated area, and so getting the chance to learn more in a focused context was really good for me. In other news, Carl moved home a few weeks ago. It’s so good to be back together. Wedding plans are gearing up, though there is still a lot to take care of. We’re also just trying to sort through the house. Between the two of us, who lived alone for three and four years, we’ve accumulated a lot of things, many of them duplicates. We have more tupperware (in a generic sense) than anyone should ever need. I also picked up the vestiges of my youth from my mom’s house about a month ago, meaning all of my childhood books, yearbooks, journals, stuffed animals, my baby blanket and baptismal blanket, and assorted items like a music box from my grandmother and a salt-covered rock from the Dead Sea. That is all now added to the pile of things to sort through. It is literally a pile, similar to a small hill, though much more fragile. I started to go through things today, but I didn’t get very far, because I started reading my journals from high school. Oh my goodness, those were drama-filled years. I’m very glad I’m past those years. So in closing, life is good, and I’m enjoying this journey into real adulthood. Oh, and Carl and I got Motorola Droids a week and a half ago. Awesome. We love them.
Jun 2009another day
neck hurts, jerked awake yesterday morning and strained something studying a lot Mom bought a piano, so I get the one we’ve had forever! bought plane ticket to London!
Apr 2009almost done with law school!
I have a grand total of nine classes left. Four tomorrow, three Wednesday, two Thursday. And then I will be done with class for a long time! Three finals, then graduation. And Carl comes home for a couple weeks. Next year, I’ll be working for a law firm in Kansas City, Missouri. I’m not going to say the name because I really don’t want my blog to come up in searches for it. That would just be weird. I’ll be defending asbestos manufacturers though. I’m very excited about it. It’s a really great firm, and I’m looking forward to working with all of them. Recently, I’ve been playing bass more. I really do miss it. Anyone know of an orchestra I could play with next year? There’s a civic orchestra with whom a Kansas appellate judge plays. That would be fun, but I’m a little hesitant to try and play with them. Okay, I’m done.
Mar 2009soon
I’m headed to Germany on Wednesday! I’ll land in Munich on Thursday and spend a couple days with Carl. I’ll leave on Saturday for Eisleben, where I’ll meet up with some friends from LCM, and we’ll do a Luther tour, following his footsteps, so to speak. Then on the next Thursday, I’ll head up to Berlin to stay with my brother until Monday. Carl is meeting me up there, so he’ll get to meet those friends. I’m excited. Also have a job lined up for next year, wedding plans are coming along, and I graduate in two months. Life is so good.
Sep 2008a spider
I’m pretty convinced now that a spider is trying to take over my house. For some odd reason, a very large and ugly spider took up residence on the overhang in front of my front door. After going through the spiderweb three or four times, Carl “saved” me and took down the spider (and the spiderweb) with a stick and threw it on my roof. It’s been three days, and now the spider has built a very large web right outside my sliding glass door. It’s trying to trap me, you see. It’s very determined. And very strategic. Maybe I’ll leave it there for a day or two and then throw the spider in the bushes or something and hope it doesn’t come back. Yuck.
May 2008my Ossi bike
I rode my bike today for the first time in almost a year. It was killing three birds with one stone - exercise, errands (without damaging the environment), and procrastination. Everything was good for the first mile or so, but then the gears started acting up. One awesome thing about my bike (yes, awesome) is that when you backpedal, it brakes. But it would slip out of its gear (it has three gears plus a “neutral” - yeah, I love it) and only the handbrake worked. Then it got more and more frequent to the point it was happening every 10-15 seconds by the time I got home. My sandal flew off twice, and I had to turn around and walk back to it. Damn Commies. Nah, I love my happy little Ossi bike.