It’s been so long since I posted that I’m going to have to resort to bullet points.

• Spring finally arrived in the Northwest.
• J has launched into yard work. I have not. Weeds abound.
• My weight loss is now 24 point something. Hell, we’ll call it 25.
• Koba gained 3 pounds on prescription diet food.
• Turns out Koba is hypothyroid.
• Koba is a high maintenance little dog. He now takes 4 pills a day for his epilepsy and thyroid.
• I had my first raging case of lawyer burn out.
• Simultaneously with my first case of lawyer burn out, I caught a head cold. I’m such an overachiever.
• Lawyer burn out passed.
• We actually left our house to watch a movie. Iron Man. Awesome.
• Battlestar Galactica and The Tudors are on hiatus. Not awesome.
• I’m sick of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen.

Our mini-Dachshund, Lucy, is so incredibly self-absorbed it leaves all us little people in awe.  Lucy had a sore back leg this weekend.  I felt up and down the subject leg with firm pressure (takes about 1 millisecond on a short weenie dog leg) and she did not object.  So I gave her an armchair diagnosis of muscle sprain.  The solution was to keep her quiet for a couple of days (not difficult) and to make sure she didn’t try to leap off of anything.

Lucille went into recuperation and pampering mode.  She’s feeling much better and the limp is all but gone.  However, I’m not sure she’s going to snap out of it.

Madam is resting and will not be disturbed.

Today I decided Koba needed a grooming.  He had dandruff!  And he was messy in general.  He obviously enjoyed his time at the groomer and felt mighty snazzy with his red bandanna.

His inflated ego almost got us into trouble when he tried to consume a nervous Chihuahua in  Petsmart.  As you can see from the photo, he wasn’t the least bit remorseful for his bad manners.

In answer to a question in the comments, Koba’s diet plan consists of eating Hill’s Prescription Science Diet W/D and going for walks.  Unfortunately, a side effect of taking medication for his epilepsy was weight gain.  He is still a pretty energetic guy, but Schipperkes are notoriously hyper and the Schip version of energy is energy-on-steroids.

As I type this post, Koba is still wearing his snappy red bandanna and prancing around like a diva.  He’s quite the little hotty tonight.

I’ve been quietly participating in the Jenny Craig weight-loss program since about the middle of April. I’m happy to report that it’s working marvelously and I’ve kissed a chunk of weight buh-bye.

I’m not going to post a weight-loss ticker nor state the amount of weight I intend to lose. Let’s just say…well, the seven years of school were not kind to me! I already had some weight to lose when I started my educational saga, but it was the kind of weight that could be unloaded in a couple of months (only I didn’t). Now, however, I’m pretty much planning to devote a significant chunk of my future to this venture.

The last time I tried to tackle this weighty issue, I was beginning bar study. After a couple of weeks, I realized that was a really, really bad idea.

But now I have school behind me, the bar exam is a fond memory, and I can focus on cleaning up my act.

I am impressed with the Jenny Craig food. It’s actually very tasty. The main reason I picked Jenny Craig was because I needed something that didn’t require actual thought on my part. With a new, debt-laden law practice I don’t have the time nor the inclination to organize one more item in my life. With JC, I show up once a week, chat with a consultant, write a hefty check and leave all of my food. There really isn’t much to buy at the grocery store and I don’t have to plan a thing. Perfect.

Because misery loves company, I’ve also placed Koba the Schipperke on a diet. But really, he isn’t very miserable. A side effect of my goal to get us both back in shape is Koba getting to go on lots of walks. A curious dog + Spring + retractable leash = heaven.

Since Radiohead released In Rainbows online, other artists have been tinkering with ways to release music online, most notably, my favorite Trent Reznor. Reznor recently released an instrumental album online, Ghosts for free and for pay in a variety of formats. The best way I can describe the music is ambient/experimental. It’s very nice, but not recommended for long drives or you’ll nod off on the steering wheel.

Over the last couple of weeks, Reznor released a couple of songs that seemed to be either stand-alone bits and pieces or part of a full-length album. Fans were told to check the NIN website for a surprise on May 5th.

I somehow remembered to check and Woot!, a new NIN album online for free!

It’s finals season which means there will be a great increase in the consumption of Red Bull and anti-depressants. I don’t have much advice to offer because those that are going to over-study are going to over-study, while those who are going to procrastinate are going to procrastinate. It is the way of things (please excuse the Obi-Wan moment).

But I do have the following to offer:

1L’s: Enjoy the hell out of yourselves this summer.

2L’s: Experience everything you can get out of your internships, keep your options and eyes open.

3L’s: Really dedicate yourself to relaxation and self-spoiling in between your last final and the start of bar review. Seriously, you’ve earned it. Wallow.

I just opened a twitter account. I twitter here.

Hopefully, I will be more verbose on Twitter since I don’t have the agonizing pressure of coming up with something post-worthy to say. Sadly, WordPress (this free version) doesn’t allow java script or I would have a neato badge in my sidebar. I have it linked instead (which is boring).

The practice is going well - I actually made enough to pay all my monthly bills last month and then some. Hopefully the trend will continue since making a living is the point of this venture.

Meanwhile, the weather this Winter Spring? is hideous. It snowed last weekend. Today and yesterday was rain-slash-hail. My poor perennials are bravely heading upwards as they stubbornly insist that snow is “so yesterday” and green is the new black.

It’s hard to believe, but this time last year I was studying for my last set of law school finals. Damn the past year went quick.

Today I spent four hours in court for a one hour hearing.

To add insult to injury, the sky dumped little ice balls on my head as I trudged from the courthouse to the car.

Only to find a wet parking ticket stuck under my windshield wiper.

Ah. The glamorous life of a litigator.

This weekend I lived dangerously and took the entire day off Saturday.  On Sunday I only devoted a couple of hours to the “must be done before Monday” projects.  Then I turned off the light and turned my back on the gazillion other items clamoring to get my attention.  It’s time to set some boundaries.

Really, I don’t mind working late or working on weekends, which is the heart of the problem. I could easily get sucked into being a beyond-repair workaholic.  Not healthy.  So the new rule is that if I don’t have anything that absolutely has to get done over the weekend, then I take at least one day off.

For the first time ever I had a housecleaning service come in and do a top to bottom clean.  It was worth every penny.  There was a lot of grunge in this house that had been building throughout my pursuit of higher education.  For instance, I cringed if any guest ever looked up to see all the cobwebs and dirty dust bunnies on ledges and hanging in the corners.  It was serious Adamms Family material.  I’m planning to have the service come back every two weeks.  It keeps the Zen flowing.

I’ll try to update this blog more, honest.  I did a little spring cleaning by replacing the snowy Malamute with the grassy Dachshund in the header.

Ye Ole Solo Practice is picking up nicely. I had a run of new client calls that resulted in actual clients. I could use another run like that in the next week or so. I’m carrying about nine clients right now and I think I could potentially carry about a 30-client caseload comfortably. Every one of the cases has interesting facts, or legal issues, or both.

Last week my world was temporarily kicked off the tracks when my purse was stolen. The rotten thief didn’t get more than a dollar in cash, however, it was a major payday for cool stuff: iPod, designer eyeglasses, Shure headphones, designer purse. I was livid and it took an entire day to get my life back in order. I’m over it now, but I would relish it if they caught the loser who ripped me off.

The week also brought about a sudden realization that my house is sinking in dirt and I can’t bail quickly enough. I hired a housecleaning service. It’s my hope to keep them coming every two weeks. We’ve yet to schedule the initial cleaning. I’m waiting for bated breath for the day they do the Big Clean.

This weekend I took two days and relaxed and recreated. I realized I hadn’t taken a day off since January 18th. That’s a good way to get a good case of burnout. Since things are getting busy, I’m heading to Montana for a long weekend in a few days. I decided I’d better get a trip in before I become overwhelmed with court days and deadlines.