I had a great weekend. Friday kicked off with some drinks at my sister's house, and then it was off to see RRB. I watched from behind the stage because my usual spot upstairs was occupied and I couldn't/wouldn't deal with the crowd down in front. I love the view from behind the stage, you can see people lose it when the band starts "their" song, funny faces from Randy, and out-of-control drunk people.

I opted to head home somewhat early, because there was no way I was going to sleep in and miss RK in the morning. I woke up at 8:30, giving me 1/2 an hour to drive to the campus and find a parking spot on gameday. It was my lucky day. I got a great spot one block over and the guys were barely exiting the bus when I got to the lot. I am SO glad I went, even if it was a little cold out. They played what seemed to be all my favorites. My favorite thing from the set was Willy and his pleas to the crowd. He was practically begging for whiskey from anyone in the lot, and said he hadn't been up that early since Scooby-Doo was canceled.

I'll be seeing the other set of Braun boys this weekend. MMC is back at the Blue Light (Charlie Shafter Band opens for them...YAY YAY YAY), and I'm hoping Micky's memory sucks. He made us promise to stand front and center at the BL if they came back to play shows there... Here's hoping that a good crowd shows, and we have company in front of the stage.

Friday night, I finally get to see Mike McClure again. I cannot wait, I'm not sure if it's just him or the band. Either way, I'm happy.

Before all that happens, though, I have two briefs due, a few guilty pleas, and a settlement conference to attend. It's going to be a long week.

I am in a really bad mood today, and I'm not even sure why. I do know why I am irritated with one ex-client, though.

Why in the world would you question repeated warnings of others when it comes to the safety of your children? There are certain things I find it almost impossible to see the rationale in the other side's arguments. This particular situation begs the question, why is anyone allowed to have a child without some sort of competency testing? Harsh, yes...but the details of this case are ugly, and the decisions that have been made are mind-boggling.

I'm sleepy, cranky, and should be doing research. Four o'clock can't come soon enough...

DYK...

Question: Did you know you can actually smell pneumonia?

I never knew that. I've been listening to a backlog of "This American Life" podcasts the past day or so, and I've learned many other useless tidbits:

For example:

There is a hierarchy to balloon-animal artists;

You can be deemed a "sell-out" as a balloon-animal artist;

The drone of your office machinery may affect your mood;

I am lucky to know my parents now and not have to piece together what they may have been through bits of information like songs they've written/music they've played/art they've created;

We are living in a time when more than 99.9 percent of all the maps that have ever existed have been made (this makes sense when you think of all the topographical maps/weather maps/oceanic charts...)

Every summer there's a group of people that traverse NYC's sidewalks to map every crack/off-kilter pavement/pothole/crater in the city (brought to you by a group of attorneys...b/c if you are injured on the sidewalk in the city, you cannot file suit unless the city had prior notification of the problem with the sidewalk)

I had an entertaining morning in the courtroom. I had to sit through some pre-trial hearings, waiting on a client to show. The back and forth between one particular attorney and the judge was hilarious, and I could have watched it all day. The looks on the face of the ADA were priceless.

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I watched Ugly Betty online Sunday afternoon, and I was pleasantly surprised to see John Cho make an appearance (if only for a few seconds). He cracks me up, and I hope his "Kenny" becomes a recurring character.

I re-read the first two HP books this weekend, watched OU eke out a win, and the Tech debacle. I shook everything that was bothering me but the cough/scratchy voice. With any luck, it will be gone soon. Much better.

I purchased a space heater for my office yesterday...it was FREEZING in here yesterday. The rest of the office has yet to register the temperature change, I guess.

Note to self: set DVR for Independent Lens next Sunday

nerd alert...

I'm doing absolutely nothing this weekend. I've got to kick this stupid sinus thing, once and for all. I'll probably end up reading Harry Potter books and watching college football. #2 already down for the count...Go Rutgers!

I have pretty much completed my Christmas shopping for my immediate family. The only one I have left is my dad. I know what he wants is a 52" LCD or Plasma TV for the living room. He better hope mom's got that covered.

My Monday nights are now over. The BL has decided to close down on Mondays and move Charlie's night to Wednesday. That's fine, but it always gave me something to look forward to on Mondays.

Next week: RRB back in town and a little RK early Saturday morning (let's hope we are all in better shape than last year...hahaha, it was disastrous)

lost Friday night...

Did I go see PG? NO. This is how my Friday afternoon went: out of the office at 4:30, passed out in bed at 5, awake at midnight cursing that I'd missed the show. To top it off, I slept right through Friday Night Lights! At least I was able to watch that on my computer.

I was obviously still tired from the night before and recovering from the infection. I spent Saturday watching tons of college football. This was the only time I got to see PG. He introduced the starting lineups for the Tech defense and offense. I was so angry. I had a birthday dinner to go to Saturday, so I didn't get to see the end of the OU game. We ended up at Abuelo's until 11:30 or so. The food was great, as were the Platinum Margaritas. We had a lot of fun...some initial awkwardness (I'm still completely creeped out by this). I've never seen someone want so badly to hightail it out of a place before.

Weekend highlights:

*Hearing my niece, Lexi, give 4 or 5 different explanations as to how she chipped her tooth...I should have expected nothing less, she is the one that did blame the "water ghosts" when the hallway bathroom at my parents' house was mysteriously flooded.

Dentist's verdict this morning...none of the explanations pan out. LOL Most likely, she fell and her bottom teeth chipped it from the force of the fall. She's likely looking at braces at the beginning of the year. I couldn't tell if she was excited or anxious about this on the phone.

*A Halloween wedding seems like the coolest thing in the world to a four year old. How can you beat having Shaggy as the best man? HAHAHA! When she was told, "No," by her mom, she settled for the compromise of a Halloween party.

outside my office window...

The day's dragging, I'm done with all my appointments, and am now stalling before I begin drafting a few things.

Things I've seen out my window today:

1) PG's bus
2) aTm tractor-trailer
3) aTm caravans
4) a couple satellite-equipped trucks

I am avoiding the campus after the trip to the Coliseum tonight. I know some people are going to camp out for tailgating tonight. I hope they have fun with that...
I'm currently listening to Garth Brooks on my ipod. I was scrolling through the Hype Machine the other day and saw a listing of his songs. I went over to this blog, and was reminded of how much I enjoyed some of his songs. There are some that I hate with a passion...but that's beside the point. I'm also obsessed with the latest Dashboard Confessional cd, The Shade of Poison Trees...it's back to sounding like Chris Carrabba's initial efforts (or so I say). I'm also loving the Foo Fighters' cover for the Radio 1, est'd. 1967 cd. It's "Band on the Run," the old Wings/Paul McCartney song. I love it...but that could be said of anything they do...like the current commercial for SNL this weekend with Bon Jovi.

just one of those days...

I felt like Jay in Dogma...whole fucking world's against us, dude, swear to God.

Nothing went as it should. I found most of my afternoon wasted on chasing information in two particular cases. I got stuck dealing with a client (and case) I despise...one of those criminal cases that I wish I could avoid altogether. I found out just as I was getting ready to leave, that a few motions weren't completed as they should have been, so I ended up sticking around much longer than planned.

This past weekend, I began my Christmas shopping. Two items were waiting on the porch when I got home. Problem: I don't have many places to store these things now...probably something I should have thought of beforehand.

I believe I'm going to see my first Pat Green show in three years. It's the KA Kalf Fry, which makes no sense to me since Tech's playing A&M this weekend, but whatever. Stoney's opening the show, and that's enough to get me there. It's been a while...I'm keeping my fingers crossed for lots of old stuff.

The plan last night: Go see Charlie. Reality: Fell asleep at 10, woke up at 4:10 this morning. Lame.

I know it's wrong...

But I want to murder the legal assistant right now...

I had to get to the courthouse this morning and cover a few guilty pleas...always a great way to start off. I had to review all the files and paperwork to make sure everything was as agreed to, since I'm not the one that arranged the pleas with the DA. Normally, I don't mind, but finding out at 10:00 that there are four guys waiting for GPs that were scheduled for 8:30 doesn't exactly give me a lot of time to review the specifics of each agreement. Thank God, Mark was sitting in for the State. I got him to buy me some time before being called, so that I could speak with each client. How hard is it to let me know when I get to the office that I may be covering the pleas?

I'm feeling better. I think I'll go see Charlie tonight.

I suffered through the mediation yesterday. Honestly, I went in expecting no resolution (or monetary settlement) from this case. The client and I walked out with 20k, five times more than the offer at the end of the first hour plus atty fees and court costs. I hoped for the other benefits we came to terms on, but never expected them to go above 5k. Woo!

I woke up today knowing I was not going anywhere near the office. I have the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection. The pain in my head subsides for about 20 minutes and then comes back like a wave... Who knows if I'll go in tomorrow or not. I do know that I'll not be in Dallas this weekend, unless I recover unbelievably fast. *tear*

Chances are I'm going to be watching the game from home, not seeing anyone, and probably sleeping most of the weekend away.

I should be sleeping...

RRB weekend complete...I had a great time and am so glad I ended up making both shows. Friday night was a great show overall. The night was perfect weather-wise. The setlist was fantastic, as was the little acoustic portion of the night. I ended up not making the BR show. By the time we got out of the amphitheater and back to the house (carpool), it would have been pointless to drive back out to catch the end of his show. The vodka filled pre-party didn't help matters much.

I woke up at some point around ten, Saturday. I didn't do much besides watch the OU game in shock. I couldn't deal with the text messages I was getting from T and other relentless UT fans...they fell silent a few hours later...

The Saturday night show was a lot of fun. Apparently, we are a magnet for redneck high-school/barely legal dudes after the show. We were invited to a number of after-show parties, no one seemed to grasp the fact that we were not sticking around for the night. My favorites were the people that kept saying the band was coming to their party...oh, yeah? You wanna bet? LOL Spent a little downtime with the guys. Apparently, Halo 3 is the pastime du jour. They were all in great spirits, which explains the donning of bunny ears, antennae and in-show commentary. It was nice to see them having fun.

I went to mom and dad's Sunday. Mom has some kind of virus, that I think I have now. My stomach and I are currently at war...ugh. I have a scheduled mediation tomorrow...I don't think I'm going to make it.