Settling In

Well, it has been almost exactly two months since Ben and Annie and I arrived here at our new abode in Chester, MD, and we are settling in. I am getting used to our routines, and the fact that the East Coast tends to operate on a different schedule. For example, when I get up at my unusually early hour in the morning on the west coast, one can watch SportsCenter, or other shows that are on early on the east coast and broadcast at the same time on the west coast. Here, when I get up at my scarily early hour, none of those shows are on -- it is the best of info-mercials (so far I've only succumbed to one), and some scary late night reruns. The same holds true for NPR shows -- on the west coast they start as early as 4:00 with Morning Edition. Here on the east coast, one must listen to BBC programming until they folks here in DC finally get up and get broadcasting!

So -- to make up for missing a lot of the NPR shows I used to listen to, I am now a podcaster -- I listen to the shows I like on the bus as I commute. That is, I listen to them when I am not napping. Like a baby in a moving stroller or a car seat in a moving car, I find that when I get on the bus and it starts rolling down the highway I am overcome with the urge to sleep. As much as I try to do some focused and intense work, I inevitably conk out for at least part of the trip. I just hope I don't snore as much as the man who sits across the aisle from me . . .

In Oly I was used to shopping every day for something for dinner, and relying on some store's pre-made thing that I could just microwave. Here, though, the only pre-made stuff tends to have the words "wing," "casserole," or "fried" attached to it, so I am actually cooking more. Sundays tend to turn into Alex's domestic days -- today I did laundry, baked bread, mowed the lawn and made a giant batch of chicken curry that I hope will serve as dinner for the rest of the week. How domestic am I!! Martha Stewart ain't got nothing on me -- I can cook, etc., AND would have been able to represent myself in the insider trading lawsuit . . .

Work has been hopping and I am hoping one of my cases slows down soon. We are in front of a court of federal claims judge who is trying to micromanage discovery. So --- we have orders that require us to agree with the other side about what boxes of documents will be looked through, and then report back to her about what we found in each box by a specific date. It makes a lot more work than it all should be and seems unecessary -- oh well, what can you do? Ms. Napolean Complex-Judge holds all the power. I also have a case in Miami on the Everglades Restoration Project -- we went down for a hearing on a specific evidentiary issue and the Judge decided all on her own that the Plaintiff's first two claims have no merit, and then told the government to file a motion to dismiss the remaining claims within 30 days -- and told us she wasn't going to bother with the evidentiary issue. Wow -- a long trip for a lot of listening and not much action on the part of the attorneys. It was nice and warm in Miami, though . . .

Well -- back to the last few housework issues before I get back to the work grind tomorrow . . . Ben and Annie are conked out on the bed beside me and snoring away -- time for me to get ready to join them . . .