Cleaners

Today I tried to take a couple suits to the dry cleaners. It's in a location that is difficult to reach, but it didn't used to be as bad when I lived near there and passed it a couple times a day. It's hard to explain to people who do not understand Michigan Left's. But I had to turn around to get into the cleaners, but you cannot access the cleaners from from the road I was on, and you cannot access the road I needed to be on to enter from the road I was on, so I had to turn onto another road, and then turn left onto the road I needed to be on, and finally right into the cleaners. Then to get back on track I had to turn right out of the cleaners, the opposite direction of what I needed to be going, turn right on the first road I was on, Michigan Left to turn around, turn right back onto the road I was first on, Michigan left again to turn the direction I needed to be going. In case any of that was unclear I documented the paths below. The yellowish color is the path to get to the cleaners, and purple path is what it took to get back to the correct direction.


To make matters worse, the cleaners has changed hands and as I walked in I saw a giant sign reading:

PRE-PAYMENT REQUIRED
CASH ONLY!

Perfect. I only carry debit, and while they suggested I use their convenient onsite ATM. Thanks but no thanks, I'm not about to pay a $2 fee when I only come to this cleaners since it's the cheapest in the area ($1.99 per piece). When I left the door was flung open by the 50 mph wind gusts, which I didn't notice until I got to my car, only to see the owner giving me a dirty look as he closed it, as if I intentionally left it open.

So I stopped at another cleaners on the way to work, which is much easier to access. It is, however, a bit more expensive ($2.99 per piece) and also requires pre-payment.

Call me crazy, but isn't it weird for dry cleaners to require prepayment?

Clueless

My clients have a tendency to drive me crazy. I do not really think that they mean to drive me crazy, it's just that a lot of them are crazy themselves, so I guess they do not know any better. Not to mention, they all seem to think that the are my only client, which is rather far from the reality.

A lot of times when they call I don't remember what the hell their case is about or who the hell they are until I'm 2-3 minutes into the call.

Plus, my predecessor seems to have been doing a very poor job of updating clients. Which wouldn't be such a big deal if I knew the details of the cases or what was going on, but I don't, so mostly I just make it up as I go along. Maybe that's why they call it "practicing" law.

Friday Dog Blogging: I Need To Take Pictures Earlier In The Week Edition

Theodore enjoys one of his rawhides.

The Grey Area

There are aspects of my job that I feel more comfortable with each day. However, as I settle in more I realize how little I know. Plus, I'm trying to catch up on a bunch of cases, and it's kind of a "grey area" as to what I can bill for that. Obviously I do not think it's fair to bill to review things my predecessor already did, however, I do have an hourly requirement I'd like to start meeting. It's an ever greyer area what I can bill for revising things my predecessor did wrong.

There has been plenty of interesting fodder which could make for a hilarious post. Sadly, none of it I feel comfortable posting.

Friday Dog Blogging: You're Home Edition

Everyday when I get home from work, after the jumping and excitement on Theodore's part has stopped, I get looked at with sad eyes asking if I'm going to leave him again tomorrow. It's something like this:

Shopping Spree

In the past 2 days I've ordered:

• a pair of black pants
• a black suit
• a black jacket
  
• a pair of grey pants
• a grey suit
• a grey cardigan
• a pair of white pants
  
• a white cardigan

Apparently not only am I developing an shopping addiction, but I've also developed a phobia of color.

Playtime

I am really enjoying the new job thus far. I'm starting to settle in. I will say, I feel like I'm playing lawyer, not that this is what I'll be doing for the rest of my life.

Separation Anxiety Update

Well, I survived. As did Teddie, in fact I think he was probably more well adjusted than I was.

Life at the firm is already insane. I won't really be posting about it until I feel the environment out. But I will say I already have my own clients and I'm meeting with them alone, drafting pleadings, and (obviously) arguing motions.

Separation Anxiety

Tomorrow I have what I'd consider a stressful day. I have to argue in court for the first time ever (I've yet to even go to motion call). To make the experience even more fun, my boss will be there. I spent the day fighting the urge to cry and/or throw up from the nerves.

Plus I have to leave Teddie for the longest time period I've ever left him. He has never been alone more than 6 hours, so I've always crated him. However, the way things work out tomorrow he'll have to be alone for about 10 hours. Being that I'm already stressed, the guilt of that proved to be a bit too much. I am attempting to see if he can be left in the kitchen, which led to him crying to be let out, which led to me crying out of guilt for being unfair to him, which led to my dad telling me to get a grip. Admittedly I was being overly emotional, but it's not like I was just crying about the dog situation, it was clearly a combination of everything.

Friday Dog Blogging: Birthday Edition

Teddie licking all the carob dip off his birthday treat.

Meme

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?" YOU SAY?
Fool to Cry-The Rolling Stones.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Only Heart-John Mayer

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Who'll Stop the Rain-CCR

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
A Certain Shade of Green-Incubus

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Surf Song-Jack Johnson

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Wonderwall-Oasis

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Touch the Sky-Kayne West

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
I'm on Fire-Bruce Springsteen

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Gin 'n' Juice-Snoop Dogg

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
All Along the Watchtower-Jimi Hendrix

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
The Space Between Us-Dave Matthews Band

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
More Than A Feeling-Boston

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
The Good Fight-Dashboard Confessional

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Lay Lady Lay-Bob Dylan

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Wonderful Tonight-Eric Clapton

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Time of Your Life-Green Day

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
While My Guitar Gently Weeps-The Beatles

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Swallowed-Bush (You can't make this shit up people.)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Tarantula-Smashing Pumpkins

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Only in Dreams-Weezer

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Wisemen-Slightly Stoopid

Via Lily Greypure.

I'm Glad It's Your Birthday, Happy Birthday To You.

Today is Theodore's first birthday. We celebrated with a trip to the Doggie Bakery where we got Carob Frosted Doggie Treats for him to enjoy tonight. We also went to the pet supply store and got him a couple new toys, a new bag of rawhides, and a couple other treats.

The only bad part is I always feel bad after giving him a rawhide, since all he does is pace around the house for an hour, stressed out, trying to hide it.

Friday Dog Blogging: Belated Edition

"Were you joking when you said quantity and not quality?"

Fuckabee? Seriously?

It's weird that I'm more worked up about the Republican Candidates, none of whom I plan to vote for in November, than the Democratic Candidates. I think it's because I'm not really excited about any of them (like I was with Howard Dean in '04), but will most likely vote for whoever the party nominates. Before someone gets all worked up and calls me a sheep, my follower mentality in this election is largely because I find Barack and Hillary to both be decent candidates, yet am not sure that either of them are "electable". I also get the feeling that they are both so focused on seeming "Presidential" they are are unable to build the excitement that Howard Dean did going in the primaries. Big deal, the guy yelled in a weird voice.

UPDATE: I feel the need to clarify since I don't know how many of you know what is going on with the Michigan Primaries. My attitude probably has a lot to do with the fact that my vote won't actually count in the primaries. Hillary is the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot, even writing in any of the other major candidates will not be counted. Lastly, our delegates won't even be counted, so Hillary being on the ballot is irrelevant. At this point I'm very unlikely to even bother to vote, since there is no point in voting Democratic, and voting Republican would be based on which Republican I thought the Democrats could beat. Generally I donate about $25 a year to the democratic party, sure it's not a lot, but it's not like I make a ton. This year I've decided that money will go to animal rescue rather than a party who chooses to disenfranchise an entire state.

We haven't had campaigning here outside of a few Mitt Romney commercials, in which he tells of plans to cut taxes on large companies "so they can compete against China", plus at the end of the commercial during which he is talking the entire time he goes "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message." I know that's a standard "sign-off", but the way it comes across to me is "In case you weren't sure if I was in control of my mouth during the last 30 seconds, I did mean to say all that."

Basically, there just isn't a lot to get excited about around here.

Obligatory New Years Post

I've never been a big fan of celebrating New Years, overly crowded bars and drunken strangers spilling drinks on me has never been my idea of a good time. Plus the entire experience is usually so anti-climatic, I think the last person I kissed on New Years was a gay (male) friend 2 years ago.

So this year when the friend that I have sorta been seeing asked me what I was doing for New Years my answer was simple, I was staying home. Apparently that answer was not satisfactory, and led to an entire debate about how I am passive aggressive and wouldn't just admit I wanted to spend New Years with him, which led to me calling him egotistical and wrong. After much nagging I finally agreed to go out to watch the Wings game (insert random tangent about how much I hate hockey), I stipulated that I wasn't feeling well, but that I'd put in my best effort.

As we arrived at the bar I immediately was put on notice of what type of establishment it was by the three overweight, middle-aged, unattractive women leading a sing-a-long from their bar stools. Then it was a hassle to even get the hockey game on, which I was fine with me since any football game is better than a hockey game to me. To make matters even more fun, my seat was at a weird angle that forced me to slouch and weirdly bend my neck to see the television.

All of that I could tolerate, but when my "special male friend" started ranting about how much he hates Theodore for no apparent reason, and I got up to pee and both women's restrooms were out of order I drew the line¹. I used the men's (something I generally would only do while intoxicated), and came out and politely asked my friend to lay off the "threatening to kill my dog". When my request wasn't honored I decided to leave, without regard for the fact that I drove everyone. Sure it was bitchy, but the smokey environment was making me sicker by the minute, and they were within walking distance of one of their houses.

I was home by 10, took my temperature to learn I was running a low-grade-temp, and in bed by 10:45. All I wanted for New Years was to rest, which I guess occurred. As for New Year's Resolutions, I've never been big on making them, however this year I am going to focus on not doing things I don't want to just to make others happy.

¹I feel the need to point out that the bar isn't actually a total dive, it just appeared to be last night.