Do These Make Me Look Fat?

Wakonda’s slippage on the laminate floors is a constant issue.  So we tried the booties above and hilarity ensued.  The booties are too much trouble.  Imagine wrestling a 100 pound malamute into booties every single day.  Not happening.

Now I’m trying paw wax.  Malamute (100 pounds of which) is not allowing me to apply the paw wax without a wrestling match.  We’ve moved onto scattered throw rugs.  I’m eyeing some of these for the future.  Right now it’s whatever I can find at Walmart that looks decent.

My office decor is complete for the moment.  I went for “Zen”.  I have paper lamps and a tinkling table fountain.  Another attorney walked in and said “this looks like a spa” – perfect!

Today we can see the sky for the first time in days.  We’ve been under a solid grey inversion layer.  Everyone I talk to is wandering around depressed from the endless grey, grey, grey.  The bright day should help us all recover from S.A.D.

I’m heading back to the office today.  It’s been a long weekend of working.  But it’s either sit around and stress about the work I have piled up, or simply go in and start working on it.

Ridiculous Busy

It’s been crazy.  I have more work than I can handle.  I looked over my client list and realized I’ve more than doubled the list in a year.  I started out with a couple of pro bono clients and some lower-income/low-fee clients last year.  Now I have one low-fee client, 1 pro bono client, and a ton of work on other cases.  I also have some clients appointed by the court and I’m working part time for the government.

In spite of myself, I think I’m well on my way to having an established solo practice.  The problem now is having “me” time carved out.  I’m starting this weekend by refusing to work.  I really should work, but I also really should take some time off.

The Jenny Craig thing is still motoring along.  I took time off over Thanksgiving.  The real go-getters stick to the plan over the holidays.  Me, not so much a go-getter.

This isn’t much of a blog post, but I had to write something to get myself going again.  It’s been so long since I posted that I had self-imposed pressure to publish a brilliant post.  Then I didn’t post because I wasn’t feeling brilliant or witty or at all newsy.

Oh wait, I have gotten hooked on a couple of series thanks to DVD releases:

• Dexter is incredible.  How did I go so long without watching Dexter? We blazed through the DVDs just in time to bring us to the new season.  Now the new season only has two episodes left and we’re starting to panic.
• Lost.  I ignored Lost for the longest time just because it was popular.  (See how I am?)  During a dearth of decent new DVD releases we decided to give it a shot.  We are now hooked.  I think we are just about done with Season 2.  We’ll sit and watch about 3 or 4 episodes at a time.   I’ve actually stayed past up past my bed time because I had to watch one more episode to see what happened.
• Loved, loved, loved True Blood.  The first season was over way too soon.

Home Office Pros and Con

The singular “con” instead of “cons” was deliberate because I’ve only experienced one downside to working from home so far. The downside is that it is always there and easily accessible…always. I’m having to exercise a form of self-discipline I didn’t expect which is not to work. I’ll often find myself at 7:00 p.m. thinking of something I need to do and heading downstairs to the office. I need to set some limits on myself so I don’t end up with a whopper case of burn out.

On the pro side, there are plenty. Working in jammies, sweats and blue jeans tops the list. Having canines milling around is a close second. There’s something about a dog or two passed out on the floor next to me that makes me more productive. Blasting music while I work is another bonus. In an office atmosphere with people around, the polite thing is to play music that can barely be heard from a foot away. As a result, it ain’t worth it. Plugging in the ear buds on the iPod is an option, but once the phone rings or someone comes in to talk, the ear buds become a nuisance. Here at home, I plug my iPod into a speaker system and play it at the volume I like and play the music I like (which is not conducive to a professional office – believe me).

So far the arrangement is quite satisfactory. I’m advertising in two papers and chasing referral business.  I accepted a couple pro bono cases that I took mainly because right now I have the luxury of taking pro bono work because there isn’t any paying work to compete for my attention! I’m hoping to take on one or two pro bono cases a year (maybe more depending on complexity) because family law is an area where there is a huge need for low income legal clinics or pro bono work.

So far I’ve been keeping very busy doing start-up stuff like opening empty bank accounts, setting up advertising, setting up forms, printing out pertinent court rules and statutes, and trying to figure out how to make Quickbooks do what I want. It’s incredible how busy I can stay with only two clients! But the goal is to get set up in the front end so that when things start rolling (fingers crossed) I’m ready.

My Purse Has A Warranty

My very last gift to myself for passing the bar was a Dooney & Burke handbag. I’m not kidding about the warranty. Can I afford a purse that has a warranty? Not particularly.

Which brings me to the real subject of this post. Job hunting is not going well which isn’t a surprise in the Northwest market (especially since I want to stay put where I live). While I continue job hunting, I’m going solo. To make this enterprise possible, I’m going to start up at home. Future contract work with a small firm has been lined up. As soon as I get my mythical bar number in the mail, I can start marketing myself for both contract work and private clients. My background is in civil litigation with a focus on family law. Since family law is what I know best, that is what I’m going to practice.

Right now I’m open to either getting a permanent job with someone else being responsible for keeping the lights on or settling into a solo practice. Beginning after Thanskgiving I’m going to start doing all the stuff I really don’t like much such as attending organization lunches, going to events and networking, networking. Blech! As severely uncomfortable as self-promotion may be, it won’t be nearly as painful as bar preparation.

For now I’m using a mail center for an address and I just hooked up VOIP for my fax and home office line. Who knows, maybe I’ll decide I love being a solo. If so, I’ll be in the market for an office share arrangement in the future.

And finally a big Shout Out to Shelley of The Menagerie who kindly responded to my frantic email seeking advice. Go check out her blog and her cute Peaches.

Dammit My Feet Hurt

I have one major problem with being in costume as an almost lawyer — the freakin’ shoes. I religiously try to buy shoes that feel comfortable in the store, but my feet simply do not get along with dress shoes. My feet will happily coexist with flip-flops and tennis shoes, in that order.

Today I was in black heels (seriously cute shoes BTW) from 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and my feet absolutely rebelled in the grocery store on the way home. My feet came so unglued by being trapped in uncomfortable, hot shoes that I lost control and had to stuff them into my briefcase once I reached the seclusion of my car.

My feet are now in their favorite state (bare) but continue to protest today’s vicious abuse.

I’m so thinking pedicure this weekend.

I Am Inconsistent

Just a few posts ago I was whining about being bored. Well, since that post I began to wallow in my open schedule. I started renewing my interest in CSS, digital photography and digital art. I picked up a few books and decided to dive into my inner geek while I had the chance.

Unfortunately, before the bar I talked with a public agency about volunteering after the bar to get a feel for the place and possibly apply when my name appears on the bar pass list. I was told to check back after I finished the bar. During my short boredom period I called to let them know I was ready to volunteer. I didn’t hear back from them right away and to be honest, I wasn’t all that eager to begin due to my sudden interest in devoting my time to self-indulgence.

Well damn, I got a call back. I have a meeting tomorrow. Before I could stop myself I said I could be available full time. Does my ambition know no bounds? Could I not be a little coy and perhaps volunteer part time?

So my play time is almost over because I wimped out on a little boredom.

In other news, I went back to moving posts from the old blog into this one. God, I did not know how to shut up during my 1L year. I posted every freakin’ day, sometimes twice a day. While such exuberance is nice for journaling purposes, it really sucks when I have to copy and paste every single entry. But I’m determined to have everything nicely tucked into one fat blog.

I Chose This for the rest of My Life?

Today was one of my 10-hour workdays commencing with wake-up at 5 ayem. Most of the morning and part of the afternoon I struggled with a research memo that refused to write itself. My problem began when I carefully re-read the cases, noticed some distinctions and changed my mind about the answer to the problem. Then I wrestled for a long while trying to get past “I don’t know.” I wanted so badly to say “I don’t know” but I gave that luxury up when I decided to learn to be a lawyer. I finally picked a position and put together a draft. Two red-inked drafts later (inked by moi) I finalized it and dropped it on the associate’s chair with the supporting research.

Then I started researching another problem and to my delight, it actually looks like an issue warranting a further look-see. The partner was already assuming I’d come back to him with a “no, we can’t do this” but we just may be able to get past privilege and work product. More research Friday will iron that out.

But then, after ten long hours of research and writing, I came home to … research and writing. Well, not really research, just reading for class tomorrow. But I’m on call tomorrow in Family Law and the prof specifically assigned briefs. Although I didn’t need to brief the case to recite tomorrow, I figured since she specified briefing, I’d better do it. I still have 20 pages to read in Con Law, but my eyes are shot and my brain is dead. I’ll read them in the morning.

And now some light web surfing and off to bed. I’m burned out on the law today.

Sleep

Yesterday I hit the Wall of Exhaustion. I left behind an intriguing intrastate custody battle at work. I arrived home, gathered my dogs around me, and went face down for 3 hours. I woke up, updated my Outlook tasks, read my property text and went back to sleep. Much better today.

I’ve only left one assignment dangling. I have to brief a case for my writing class at 1:00 today. I have two 1-hour breaks on my schedule today so I can brief in the library.

Week 1 has been conquered. I’m looking forward to the weekend which will be spent relaxing and studying. Lots of naps are planned.

A situation has developed with my PDA. I have one PDA. I have a calendar at work and a calendar for school on my laptop. Currently the PDA is synced to the work calendar. I can access my work calendar from the web. Should I switch my PDA over to my Outlook calendar? I can’t decide. Two PDAs would be ridiculous. Two PDAs would scream “Gunner!”

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

Yesterday I checked my work email a few times from school. All appeared quiet. Quiet was the atmosphere I was craving since I was exhausted.

I strolled into the office carrying the luggage under my eyes. And was hit by the Perfect Storm. Everyone was in a tizzy. There were numerous items that needed done NOW. I had new assignments I did not anticipate. All of this happened before I even logged into my computer.

I staggered back to my office muttering. The only hope for the situation was to methodically start pushing the piles. But I was interrupted numerous times by people stopping by my office door. I was pushing water uphill.

Finally, I resorted to the ultimate “Leave Me Alone” symbol – I shut my door. But, my door kept getting opened. I thought about taking a nap in a bathroom stall. I thought about chewing my way through the network cords hooked to my computer. I thought about all of the reading I had to complete when I got home.

If anyone worries about the uncertainty of law school life, it’s nothing compared to law firm life.