Last night, I attended a ceremony to present a wreath in honor of Veterans' Day. I had to attend since I helped organize it. We had the ceremony right before the Marine Corps Birthday Dinner that we also organized. It was well attended and we had a Lieutenant General from the Marines as our guest of honor. He spoke both at the dinner, which I did not stay for, and at our wreath ceremony. He spoke of the importance of veterans and of the "steely-eyed" men and women who are serving now.

As many of you may know, Veterans' Day started as Armistice day. It was the 11th minute, of the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month that the guns of the Great War stopped firing. That was the war to end all wars. Or so we thought. It was certainly horrific.

So, today, give thanks.

After the ceremony ended, I walked up to an older man. Must have been in his late sixties or early seventies. He had a chestful of medals on the left breast of his tuxedo jacket. I held out my hand to him and I said the following:

"Thank you for your service. I am not staying for the dinner tonight because I have to go home and read stories and bathe my children. Thank you for all you've done in the past so that I can enjoy this now." And I shook his hand.

He looked startled and then genuinely pleased. He shook my hand back and smiled and thanked me for thanking him.

And I went home and read stories to my children, secure in the knowledge that there are brave men and women out there making it possible for me to enjoy my freedom.

Thank you to all veterans.

My thanks and gratitude would be incomplete, I feel, if I did not also thank the families of the veterans. Those men and women who keep the family together while their soldier goes off to fight. They are mostly unsung, these home bound warriors, but they deserve our thanks no less and have suffered their loved one's absence in ways we may not fully comprehend. Thank you.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 11:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 378 words, total size 2 kb.

From the NY Post today:

Ethan Hawke satirized New York's over- demanding parents Monday when he out lined his plans for Maya, 6, his daughter with Uma Thurman. "I've already started compiling her reading list," the sometime novelist told the audience at the Glamour Women of the Year awards at the Ameri can Museum of Natural History. "It starts with the Hans Christian Andersen in the original Dutch (emphasis added), because that's important. Then there's Homer and she'll go straight into the complete collected works of Judy Blume, because as any man knows, there's no better guide to the teen woman than 'Deenie.' "

Dutch, you nincompoop? Dutch? Try Danish. Hans Christian Andersen wrote in Danish. You know, Ethan, Danish is not just something you eat with your coffee.

On that note, I leave you with the statue of the Little Mermaid from Copenhagen (you know, in Denmark?):

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:52 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 160 words, total size 1 kb.

I read here of the enormous irony in that Jews carrying visible signs of Jewish symbols were excluded from marching to commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht in Oslo. How can this be?

Andrew Sullivan covers this as well.

UPDATE:

There is a lot of information going around that Jews were not excluded from the march. Indeed, someone left a very long comment to that effect (by pasting and cutting another's words). Instead, I refer you to the following for more information: here, here, and here

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:09 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 99 words, total size 1 kb.

NY State, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that I must accomplish 24 hour credits of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) in order to renew my license to practice law every two years. It is a self reporting system. Theoretically, they can audit you but I've never heard of it happening. No matter, I will comply because I can't actually contemplate signing my name to a false affirmation that I did comply. And if I could contemplate doing so, no amount of CLE is going to make a difference. Certainly not the 4 hours of ethics. I figure that if you make a knowingly false affirmation, you are beyond the help 4 hours of ethics can provide.

One nice thing is that I can do it by way of streaming video over the internet. I am picking among the following interesting (said with no irony at all, that's how pathetic I am) looking classes:

*Evidence and Objections: Laying Foundations for Introducing and Raising and Rebutting Evidence

*Credibility and Cross Examination by Irving Younger (A giant of the trial bar)

*Hearsay (also by Younger)

*Nuts and Bolts of New York Appellate Practice

*Summary Judgment in New York: A Review

*Avoiding Professional Malpractice

There are also some good bankruptcy programs on asset protection.

I look back on this list and I weep with the knowledge that I am actually looking forward to a little evidence refresher. How reduced I have become.

Still, as for a bright spot, at least I am not in Minnesota, where:

The Minnesota Supreme Court issued an order making ethics and diversity training mandatory for Minnesota attorneys. As of July 1, 1996, lawyers licensed in Minnesota are required to take three hours of ethics courses and two hours of elimination of bias training as part of the 45 credit requirement to keep their attorney licenses up to date.

The University of Minnesota allows you to meet this requirement with this kind of silly course:

ENGL 3741: Literacy and Cultural Diversity 4 credits

Meets CLE req of Citizenship/Publ Ethics Theme; meets CLE req of Cultural Diversity Theme

Description: Through reading, writing, and community action, this course examines the function and variety of literacies in contemporary U.S. culture. Readings in literary, sociological and pedagogical theory, imaginative literature, autobiographies and memoirs, will engage students with the idea of literacy. By working in community organizations, students will enter into the complex practices of literacy among young school students or adult learners, with long-time citizens as well as newly arrived residents from Africa, Mexico, South Asia, and elsewhere. Reading across history and culture, but with a special emphasis on the vexed case of U.S. literacy, we will think about inscription and exclusion, the politics of power and knowledge, institutions and disciplines of literacy and literature, about race and schooling, about migration and disapora [Ed. comment: SIC!!! This is so stupid that they cannot even spell DIASPORA. It's DIASPORA, you idiot!!! There, I feel better now and return you to the course description], and about the possibilities for renewed and revolutionary literacies. Readings may include works by Paulo Freire, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Franz Kafka, Frederick Douglass, Zitkala Sa, Nuruddin Farah, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Myung Mi Kim, Anne Fadiman. As part of the course, students commit to 2 hours a week of literacy work (broadly defined) in a local community organization. A one-day literacy training session, usually scheduled for a Saturday early in the semester, along with a variety of on-site trainings, will help students prepare for their community work.

Class Time: In addition to course work, a 2 hr/week service commitment off-campus

Work Load: Assignments will include a reading and reflection journal, a literacy autobiography, several short writing assignments, an in-class presentation, and a final project.

I'm sure that the clients of Minnesota are better served by lawyers who can fight their way successfully through bull shite like this. 100% sure, I am.

As this blogger points out, the real problem is that there is really only one stream of ideology that qualifies for inclusion in this curriculum. Guess which one? If you guessed conservative, you're wrong! The lawyers in Minnesota have tried to litigate this requirement and lost.

I guess I'm grateful for the small favor that if I have to take CLE, at least I can pick professionally useful classes and am not required to pay someone for the privilege of brainwashing.

Back to evidence!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 712 words, total size 5 kb.

Last night, while reading bed time stories to the Girl Child, she stumped me. She asked me how to say "clam" in French. I could not remember at all. So I looked it up this morning when I got to work in my handy Larousse. In French, clam is palourde. And now I know exactly why I could not remember this word last night. I never knew it before.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:14 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 77 words, total size 1 kb.

This was truly cool. Last night, I saw the bat used by Babe Ruth to hit the first home run in the new Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923.

For baseball fans, this doesn't get much cooler. For Yankees fans, it is nice to know that he hit that home run against the Red Sox.

The bat is being auctioned off at Sotheby's. Here's a press release about the sale.

I also got to see the first Mickey Mantel major league home run ball and a very cool Ty Cobb bat. I was a little surprised that the Ty Cobb bat did not have any blood or human hair on it, considering what I've read of Mr. Cobb's temper over the years.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 132 words, total size 1 kb.

You are a cardinal! You love to try & get others
into trouble, even if you have to make up
lies...NO ONE expects the Spanish Inquisition!


What Monty Python Sketch Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks Margi!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:41 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 52 words, total size 1 kb.

Thanks to Mark for the Random PG Wodehouse Quote Generator from which I take the following:

I was sauntering on the river bank with a girl named something that has slipped my mind, when there was a sound of barking and a large hefty dog came galloping up, full of beans and buck and obviously intent on mayhem. And I was just commending my soul to God and feeling that this was where the old flannel trousers got about thirty bobs worth of value bitten out of them, when the girl, waiting till she saw the whites of its eyes, with extraordinary presence of mind opened a coloured Japanese umbrella in the animal's face. Upon which it did three back somersaults and retired into private life.

I don't know what it means, really, but it did speak to me.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:31 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 1 kb.

It is just going to be me and my son for Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving is not that far away. My wife is jetting off to Norway for her sister's wedding and has decided to take the Girl Child with her. I am more than a little disappointed. I had thought it was going to be just me and the kids all by ourselves for four days and I was delighted. I love having the kids to myself and I am surprised to discover that I am really going to miss having my daughter around. So much so that I want to tell my wife not to take her. But I'm not going to do that.

Instead, I'm focusing on how much fun it will be to have the Boy Child all to myself for four days. I don't really know him as well as I do the Girl Child or as well as I ought to and this should prove to be a golden opportunity to get to know him a bit better. I have not yet formulated any plans or come up with any activities for us to do, but I certainly want to do something fun just for him. Maybe I'll take him to a children's museum or something like that. I hope we both have a good time together. He's only 20 months and really doesn't talk at all yet beyond 2 or 3 words. That can cut down on the possibility of long chats, you see. Still, all in all, this will give him a lot of 100% attention, the kind of attention he can't quite get when the Girl Child is up and running around as she demands quite a lot of attention.

I remember, hazily, last Thanksgiving. We were about to start a trial. I was working around the clock and took that Thursday off. I took the Girl Child to the park to play. We were the only ones there. It was deeply satisfying to be there with her.

The Girl Child is not taking my work schedule (weekends, early mornings, late nights) very well. She keeps asking me when I am going to be taking care of her again. It makes me very sad. I am torn. If circumstances permitted, I'd like to stay home and take care of her full time. I am a reluctant lawyer these days.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:55 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 404 words, total size 2 kb.

I had the weekend off for the first time in some weeks now. It was glorious. My wife asked me last night what my favorite moment was and I really didn't have one. I told her that it was made up of many small pleasures and that while none of them may have stood out as particularly worthy of an extended memory, in totality, they gave me a lot of pleasure. I did run some errands this weekend: hardware store; supermarket; back again to the hardware store; and the gas station. And I cooked. A lot. I made gallons of soup, a vat of chili, and I roasted a turkey breast. Kosher turkey breast, while more expensive, is cleary the way to go. My wife deemed it the only acceptable turkey breast she had ever eaten. I also did some neglected house things, like throwing out rotted pumpkins, etc.

I did steal a little time for myself, about 10 minutes. I went and sat by the ocean. There was no one else around and it was very windy. I tried to sit there and let the salt breeze blow some of my cobwebs out. I was sad because I realized that while I had been at work, I missed the peak of the leaf change. The glorious reds and yellows and oranges that make the trees look like they are ablaze. I got a little too cold, inappropriately dressed, and went home to play with the kids.

One errand I ran this weekend got me to thinking about the concept of roots. We are a peripatetic society, or so it seems from my perch. I've lived in a couple of different states and cities and even countries. Americans, as a group, cherish their freedom to relocate as they chase the next big opportunity from state to state, region to region. And as they do, the concept of roots becomes harder to define.

For some of us, roots can be about big things. For my wife, it means that in her ancestral city, there are a couple of streets named for her family. For others, it means that significant cultural institutions are named for their family, college buildings or libraries. Others have Mayflower roots or have joined various heraldic-type societies like the Daughters of the American Revolution. There are few people who have roots like that, I think.

No, for the majority of us, roots may mean that our families have lived in a place for many generations. And as we move, roots become the place where our children went to school and grew up. As we become more mobile, it seems to me that it roots become more and more shallow and easier to put down. They become a collections of firsts. This was the first town our child was born in, the first town I was promoted to vice president in, the first town I got involved in a political campaign. So that roots become easier to pull up when you move and easier to recreate when you stop moving. And I think it is no accident that I use children in so many of my examples. Children give us roots and a place in a community that we not feel when we were younger and had less of a permanent place in it.

It may be that as you associate roots with the first time kind of experience, or even roots that simply reflect your attachment to place that it becomes harder to accept change in the physical place. As things in the physical get torn down and rebuilt or as stores go out of business, we find it harder to accept that change. What do you mean that diner closed? It's been there forever! I dislike that kind of change, even though I understand it. For instance, the cider mill in Armonk is gone. It was part of my childhood and I looked forward to sharing that with my children.

I navigate my way around Westchester, to my wife's amusement, by disappeared landmarks. I navigate a landscape inhabited sometimes only by my memory. I superimpose my map over the real topography and who is to say which one is real? Especially when my reference points are shared by someone on the other end of the telephone and we agree on a set of directions by reference to long gone places. We share the same map. We share each other's roots, a common touchstone of experience and place. Even if that place is gone.

Maybe that's what they mean when they say you can never go home again. Maybe home has changed because your roots are gone or because the roots you take with you exist only in your mind. Beats me. I just know that I agree.

Roots are not just about places, though. They are also about people. For instance, I consciously sought them out this weekend. I demanded continuity. It was my daughter's first dentist appointment. She was such a champ. After the hygienist finished, she asked me if I wanted the dentist or his associate to perform the examination and I told her that I wanted the dentist because, with this examination, he would be treating four generations of the same family. My grandfather, my mother, me, and my daughter. She was surprised to hear that. I guess it is pretty uncommon but I liked it. It gave me a feeling of connectedness, of continuity.

Roots are also about connections, about the seamless way that people interact and cross groups. About board memberships and friendships. I guess what I'm trying to say is that roots are about networks. About knowing people who can and will help you, whether from church or temple or school or professional association or clubs. These relationships are about roots. And they are not moveable. They are place specific. They may assist you with an introduction in a new place, but they won't really do more than that.

Anyway, let me leave my extended meditation with the interaction between the Girl Child and the Dentist on Saturday.

D: How old are you?

GC: I'm 3 and three quarters.

D: [Visably amused] Is that older than three and a half?

GC: Yes.

D: And when do you turn four?

GC: On my birthday. In January. January 12.

D: [Looks at me, smiles, looks back down at her] You are so cute I could just eat you right up.

GC: Oh, no, I don't taste very good.

D: That's not what your grandmother says!

GC: [Very earnestly] Oh, she's just kidding!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:47 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 1088 words, total size 6 kb.

The first day of trial has finished. In preparing for this and attending the first day, we have billed over 400 hours of time. Is it any wonder that high stakes ($30 million in asserted liability) corporate litigation is too expensive for ordinary civilians to conduct on anything but a contingency fee basis?

In any event, the judge has great animus for our client and, by extension, us. This is the same judge I got in a fight with before (here for story). She is hypertechnical, snide, rude, and not too swift. She is creating an appealable record. In other words, she is making errors with her evidentiary rulings. This is the kind of thing that an appellate court can seize on to reverse a final determination. As for snide, she actually over-ruled an objection by saying, "maybe I'm just not as smart as you are". Astonishing sarcasm from the bench.

I think that generally there has been an irretriveable breakdown in the civil relationship between the bar and the bench. Judges and lawyers are just downright more hostile and mean to each other. I really don't know why. I suppose I have some guesses, but there really is no excuse at the end of the day. Moreover, judges who are rude are abusing their position, I feel.

Trial is an odd thing. Its billed as a search for truth. Its more like a formalistic dance between skilled lawyers who try to thread their way through, or impede their opponent from doing so, a complex thicket of evidentiary rules designed to protect the fact finder from unreliable information. The Rules of Evidence are fascinating, archaic, and a trap for the unwary. We're pretty good on them at my office and can often use them to trip up the other side. The judge has an obligation to follow them but only if you call the correct rule to his/her attention at the correct time. This is a situation of make the correct objection in a timely manner or have it be deemed waived. Once the information is in evidence, and thus been accepted as reliable, you can argue from it to your heart's content. This includes, by the way, documentary evidence.

All documents are, by their nature, out of court statements usually offered to prove the truth of the matter they assert. Thus, classic hearsay. Sometimes more than that. Sometimes the document may also report on what someone else says. Say its a memorandum of a telephone conversation. Then the memo is hearsay and contains hearsay within hearsay, or double hearsay. You need an exception, and there are a lot, to each level of the hearsay objection or else the document isn't coming in. At another trial some time ago, I made the hearsay within hearsay objection and kept out of evidence a whole series of memoranda and caused opposing counsel to actually get so angry that he began jumping up and down. It was . . . sublime. In fact, that lawyer then complained to the judge that he let in all of my similar documents and the judge responded that the fellow didn't object at the time and he was not now, at the end of trial, going to revisit every one of his evidentiary rulings. A very satisfying moment, indeed.

So, maybe trial isn't really a search for truth but a search for reliable information upon which a fact finder can make factual findings based on, among other things, the credibility of the source of the reliable information. Plaintiff is still putting on its case here and the fact finder, in this case it is the judge, is judging the credibility of plaintiff's witnesses. By and large, so far, they look credible. We'll see what happens when we reconvene next month. Next month, you may ask yourselves? Yes. It is a bench trial so it goes in dribs and drabs, starts and fits, whenever the judge has an odd bit in her calendar and can fit us in. Then we do post-trial briefs, proposed findings of facts, post-trial motions, etc. and she makes her decisions.

It was a long day and has been a long couple of weeks.

Yesterday was also my wedding anniversary. I called my wife to wish her a happy anniversary and said, has it really been 11 years? And she said, yes, and they have been the happiest 3 years of my life. Zing!

I was on the 8:40 train home last night (early for this week, actually) and it broke down in Pelham. They evacuated the whole thing and, happily, had another train to us in less than 15 minutes but it was not fun there for awhile.

I am off to the wine store shortly to buy something fun to drink. Tonight, we light a fire in the fire place, drink wine, and put on the first episode of To Serve Them All My Days. I cannot wait.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 12:33 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 836 words, total size 5 kb.

1 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!! I hope you have a lovely evening. Sorry it happens to be in the middle of trial. With the nutbar of a judge....

Posted by: Elizabeth at November 05, 2004 01:42 PM (ehQxN)

2 Happy Anniversary!

Posted by: JohnL at November 05, 2004 02:46 PM (YVul2)

3 A very happy anniversary! 11 years, that is so wonderful. What is the 11th anyway? The popcorn anniversary? Origami? Screw it. Wine works for every one of 'em.

Posted by: Jim at November 05, 2004 04:26 PM (tyQ8y)

4 As a juror in a first degree murder trial, I was very, very happy to get the juror instruction that says if a witness can be shown to have lied on one part of the evidence, you can throw out all the rest of his testimony. That had a big bearing, though not the only factor, on a verdict of not guilty in this case. It seems to me that rules like that make things a lot easier, whether or not they prove absolute truth. But as you said earlier, you're not going to find absolute truth in a courtroom.

Posted by: John Bruce at November 05, 2004 05:50 PM (AtiUs)

5 Wow... sounds kind of cut throat, to be honest. Then again, I'm having major problems with a cynical world. Anyway, hope you enjoyed your time in front of the cosy fireplace... always a good way to feel better!

Posted by: Hannah at November 06, 2004 07:17 AM (7dELN)

6 Congratulations, Random! Astonishingly close, our anniversaries. Freaky thing! ;-)

Posted by: Mick at November 06, 2004 01:42 PM (VhRca)

7 RP, based on the Judge's conduct it sounds like its a darn good thing your building up a good appellate record. Is this a jury or bench trial? You may have mentioned that before but I missed it. In any event, good luck and hope you had a great anniversary. Ivan

Posted by: ivac at November 06, 2004 05:55 PM (xy2ZU)

8 I hope you had a wonderful anniversary. Maybe it is good in some ways that the trial comes in dribs and drabs; you get some breather between entries into the lions den.

Posted by: Rachel Ann at November 08, 2004 01:52 AM (OnNyU)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Hi, all,

If silence is golden, this blog is bling.

Trial starts today at 2:00 in New York State Supreme Court, New York County. I have been billing 12-14 hours a day. My kids know me only as a voice on the telephone at this point.

In the midst of all this craziness, I have been invited for a job interview doing something really cool. I can't say much about it at this point other than that it is prosecutorial in nature and would involve lots of trial time. I interview just before Thanksgiving.

So, Bush, huh? I expected it. I voted for him. I did not expect my vote for Bush in NY to matter and of course it did not. As I said all along, I needed a good reason to switch Presidents in the middle of a war and John Kerry never gave me that reason. Simple as that.

Anyway, wish me luck on the trial. We've actually managed to construct a defense and, if we're right, we defeat a claim for $30 million. That. Would. Be. Sweet. Besides, I would also like to stick it to the other side who, in a short time, I've come to dislike (but that's almost always the case in litigation).

Thanks to everyone who left me happy birthday wishes. I appreciated and enjoyed all of my virtual birthday cards, I just have not had time to reply individually and I'm veyr sorry about that.

Pax tibi.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 07:46 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 256 words, total size 1 kb.

I have a friend. He is my oldest friend. We have been friends since we were 2 years old. He lives in Europe now and has for some years. He just, out of the blue, called to chat. He did not remember that it was my birthday. Again. This is the third time, at least, that I can recall him doing this. Once, he called to quiz me on 80's movie trivia because he was in Germany and no one he knew there could answer any of his questions. This year, he called just to chat and catch up.

Cost of the phone call: $10?
Time spent chatting before reminding him that its my birthday: 20 minutes
Reminding him that its my birthday during the call: Priceless.

I love these calls. I'm still smiling as I write this.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:18 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.

Today, November 1st:

Birthdays!

*1500 Benvenuto Cellini a fascinating charactor of the Renaissance. He was a sculptor, goldsmith, assassin, and writer: "Much of Cellini's notoriety, and perhaps even fame, derives from his memoirs, begun in 1558 and abandoned in 1562, which were published posthumously under the title The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. As noted by one biographer, 'His amours and hatreds, his passions and delights, his love of the sumptuous and the exquisite in art, his self-applause and self-assertion, make this one of the most singular and fascinating books in existence.'"

*1871 Stephen Crane US, novelist and poet, known best for the Red Badge of Courage. But he also wrote Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets (1893), his first book, about a girl from the slums and he moved to the slums to live in order to write about it. He was also a well known war correspondent.

*1902 Nordahl Grieg, a fascinating person, was a Norwegian poet, dramatist, newspaper man, and novelist. He was an anti-fascist at a time when that was not popular and served with the Norwegian Goverment in exile in England during WW II. He died during a bombing run over Berlin in 1943.

*1942 Larry Flynt magazine publisher (Hustler). Heh.

*1961 Mags Furuholmen Norway, from the band Aha (I'm sure you are all singing, "Take on Me")

*1963 Rick Allen Def Leppard drummer.

*1967 ME! "I was born a small, black child in Mississippi." Quote?

Events:

Ok, there was a lot of interesting stuff that happened today and I regret that I lack the time to do my usual history links to it all but I want to put it out there anyway.

*79 Pompei buried by Mt Vesuvius
*1210 King John of England begins imprisoning Jews
*1512 Michelangelo's paintings on ceiling of Sistine Chapel, 1st exhibited
*1604 William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" 1st presented
*1611 Shakespeare's romantic comedy "The Tempest" 1st presented
*1755 Lisbon earthquake kills more than 50,000
*1765 Stamp Act went into effect in the British colonies
*1776 Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in California
*1894 Vaccine for diphtheria announced by Dr Roux of Paris
*1922 Ottoman Empire abolished
*1950 Puerto Rican nationalists try to kill President Truman at the Blair House
*1952 Fusion occurred for the 1st time on Earth
*1956 Nagy government of Hungary withdraws from Warsaw Pact

My wife gave me, last night, a very cool gift. She gave me the entire DVD collection of the Masterpiece Theater presentation of: To Serve Them All My Days. I loved this when I saw it 20 some years ago and it remains one of my favorite books. Thanks, honey!!!!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:08 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 449 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Ohhhh... first to wish you a happy birthday! AND the first chance to guess at the quote! Many happy returns, and I hope you get to do something non-work related on this happy day--I know I am happy you're around these parts. I bet the quote is from The Jerk", with Steve Martin.

Posted by: Mandalei at November 01, 2004 10:10 AM (LcyhB)

2 Thanks, Amanda! And you are correct. It was, "The Jerk".

Posted by: RP at November 01, 2004 11:51 AM (LlPKh)

3 Happy Birthday RP! I loved that movie "The Jerk" especially the bit when he was oblivious about the guy shooting at him.

Posted by: Oorgo at November 01, 2004 01:03 PM (lM0qs)

4 Oh my god! I got it right! even better than having your name tattooed on someone's ass! Happy Birthday, again!

Posted by: Mandalei at November 01, 2004 01:10 PM (LcyhB)

5 Here's wishing you a very Happy Birthday RP. Many, many happy returns!! Clink!!

Posted by: Wicked H at November 01, 2004 01:25 PM (iqFar)

6 Happy Birthday, RP!

Posted by: Howard at November 01, 2004 02:22 PM (X88j1)

7 Happy Happy Happy!!!! It sounds like you've already got a great start at a wonderful day. So, my brilliant deductive reasoning tells me that you are either a) much younger than I, or b) LOOK young because I've "celebrated" my last birthday. From now on, it's anniversarys of birthdays. You know, fainstance: the eleventh anniversary of my twenty-ninth birthday? :: giggle :: Here's to hoping that, during the next year, you receive ALL of what you need and most of what you desire. xoxo m

Posted by: Margi at November 01, 2004 02:27 PM (MAdsZ)

8 Brillant deductive reasoning? More like ZERO reading comprehension. (I blame the Blogheimers.) 1967. A very good year. I was two.

Posted by: Margi at November 01, 2004 02:30 PM (MAdsZ)

9 I missed your birthday!? ARGH! Happy Belated Birthday, Random! The Jerk is one of my favorite movies ever; I got the quote instantly. I wish they'd come out with the widescreen version (well, maybe they have; I haven't checked for awhile). Favorite scene? When Steve Martin has lost all his money and is writing out all those checks for $1.XX and starts going out the door shouting, "I don't need YOU, I don't need ANYTHING! I don't need this house, or these things or... Well...maybe *this*" and he picks up a phone..."But that's ALL! That's ALL I NEED!" He starts dragging out the door again shouting he doesn't need ANYTHING from ANYONE. Then he stops "...well, maybe *this*" and he picks up another stupid item..."But that's ALL! THAT'S ALL I NEED!" Needless to say we've picked up on that phrase and when anyone says, "I don't need blah-blah"...we go into the whole bit. Annoying, ain't we? ;-) (Happy Happy Belated Birthday Wishes!)

Posted by: Amber at November 02, 2004 01:17 PM (zQE5D)

10 Happy birthday and many more to come. You'll need them to get through that DVD collection.

Posted by: Simon at November 04, 2004 11:37 PM (FUPxT)

11 Sorry I'm late wishing you a happy birthday, but here it is anyway: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And I looked at the link for To Serve them All My Days... it looks really, really interesting. I'll have to look up the books, so thanks for the link!

Posted by: Hannah at November 06, 2004 07:20 AM (7dELN)

12 Hi! It's my birthday too today (Nov 1 2005) and I stumbled on your site after doing a search (sad or what?) Have a good day. Lorraine

Posted by: Lorraine at November 01, 2005 10:47 AM (ALMw6)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

This article at Front Page Mag. details the adventures of a journalist who infiltrated the "no press allowed" workshop sessions at the recent Duke University sponsored hate fest known as the Palestinian Solidarity Movement and smuggled in a tape recorder. Go and read it. It is, well, horrifying. It is also very long and very detailed.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:56 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

Herewith a rambling, stream of consciousness, not totally filtered catching up post.

I have not written much this past week or so. I hate that. I have come to enjoy the act of writing non-legal things. I love the comments I get, pro or con, and the dialogues that result. But really, I miss the writing. Sometimes when I write, I want a cigarette. Well, not really want so much as remember times past when I would write late into the night with coffee cooling next to me and an ashtray with a burning cigarette in it on the desk. I miss that part of smoking, the part that I associate with those nights and that kind of creativity. I quit smoking some ten and a half years ago, in the days after I sat for the NY Bar Exam. I figured that would be the most stressful moment and once I got past it, I could and should quit. And so I did. Now, of course, I hate smoking. I hate being behind people on the street when they smoke and I hate bars or restaurants filled with smoke. But it is a special kind of hate because I know that I miss it, like I miss that 21 year old kid smoking "Peter Rouge" in Paris in 1988-89. Paris memories involve smoking. Damn I miss that.

I had no intention of writing about smoking, by the way, so I suppose my lead in that this would be stream of consciousness was correct. I will stop here on the smoking and the callow youth I once was. Although, I suppose it is natural to reflect back on what seemed to be simpler times and the person I once was since I am staring my birthday right in the face. Monday, in fact. Another year passed in which I once again managed to dodge the sabre toothed tiger (that's how I cheerfully think of it). But that's not quite what I intended to write about either.

No, I was going to write about: thinking. I have enough time these days to write, but not enough time to think and to organize my thoughts enough to draft a coherent paragraph with a natural and orderly progression of point to point to conclusion. That's why my posts have been so short of late. More in the nature of random observations or remarks than anything I am particularly proud of. No, the problem is I am too busy to think. This is the luxury I crave. Time to step back from the rushed and harried existence. Time to reflect on my observations, to organize them, to see if I can learn anything from them. Time to record these observations as engraved images on my brain, like a print maker makes an impression. Otherwise, the observations are fleeting and they leave with a sort of, "gosh, I have to remember this so I can write about it later" sigh, but they do leave. Like yesterday, I have a half formed impression from seeing two young woman facing each other on the subway, one playing a game boy, the other clutching a text book on international financial management. I had thoughts about the value of education and the soul destroying nature of video games, but they have not fully crystalized and may never.

I also took some time away from the office yesterday to go renew my driver licence which is set to expire on Monday. I walked guided only by a need to go South and West and a desire to keep moving, so I went where the traffic lights sent me and I ended up wandering through the West 30's, a part of town not greatly frequented by tourists. It is the heart, still, of what we in NY call the shmatta trade. The rag trade. The fashion business. Full of wholesale only clothing and all the fabric stores. It is kind of seedy and dingy and full of men pushing expensive clothing through the streets on rolling racks. Clothing you might expect to see next season in the department stores. I think that's fun. It made me want to buy a small, pocket sized digital camera for my birthday to be able to carry with me and take pictures of interesting things on the street so I can post them here. There was one old fashioned barber shop that I would have liked to take a picture of, for sure. Otherwise, renewing my licence was painless and quick. I was, to quote an English friend, gobsmacked at how easy it was. Something has changed drastically at the DMV. I distrust it but I like it.

I am going to be working all weekend, again. I suspect that this might just be the case through Thanksgiving. This is the part of my job I sometimes hate, but not really. I mean, yes, I hate that I will not be seeing my kids or my wife very much but I enjoy working hard. I think that there is a reward unto itself when you stretch your capacity and work hard. Especially if the work is interesting. That's one nice thing about practicing law, the work is usually interesting and requires me to become a quick expert on whatever my client's business is. Right now, its high stakes real estate development and the financing and construction aspects specifically.

That said, I think I grow a little weary of this professional life, weary of the conflict, weary of trying to separate the truth from the untruth. You know what? Truth is inherently malleable. It really is a matter of perception when trying to establish the truth between two competing versions of events. I used to think that truth was TRUTH -- simple and inviolate. It isn't really. There are concepts that cannot be distinguished away and their may be scientific, unarguable truths, but to say that one person swears one thing is true and the other swears the other is true and therefore one is lying is not necessarily the case. They may both be convinced they are each telling the truth. And then the fact finder, judge or jury, decides which version is more credible and thus which is the truth. This is tiring. Especially when you begin to think that your own client may have a more casual relationship with the truth than you are comfortable with. Enough said, I think. Except, perhaps, a word of caution: don't lie to your own lawyer. I hope I don't need to explain why this is a bad idea, do I? One other thing, even if I may be experiencing enough burn out with my current profession to be looking up MBA programs on the web, I am old enough to know that I should not be making any long term decisions under the over worked / under rested circumstances. I'm just thinking about other options without allowing myself to take a position I may have problems retreating from. I think that counts as wisdom and not timidity. But I may just be inclined to self-generosity here.

In the midst of all of this, I had a win yesterday. A motion I filed back in February and which was submitted to the Court in May was finally decided in October. The Court favored my clients with a 10 page decision, which is unusually long for State Court. I moved to dismiss 8 counts of a complaint and I won on 6 of them, have a good argument to renew my motion on the seventh after we serve an answer to the complaint, and know for a fact that the plaintiff cannot prove the eighth count. We'll spend a little time in discovery, which is expensive, but the big threats have been removed. My clients are thrilled. Now they just have to pay their outstanding bills which I think and hope they'll be able to do.

Well, back to work now. Here endeth the ramble. I hope you enjoyed it. And if not, that's ok, too. I am not re-reading it or editing it before posting, by the way. It is truly unfiltered.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:49 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 1375 words, total size 7 kb.

1 Smoking is a harsh mistress (or mister)RP. I quit for 17 years. Quit cold turkey while I was in law school. 17 years later, on a business trip to Europe (during the break up of my marriage) while surrounded by smokers I took it up again for a year. It was as if I had never quit. All the smoking mannerisms returned almost immediately: juggling a coffee or a drink with a cigarette; lighting up in the wind; etc. Quitting the second time was much harder than the 1st. I feel deprived of the 'mannerisms' if not the nicotine. As to career changes, no need not to think of them. This is a second career for me (12 years in the transportation biz between undergrad and law school) and have to say it was a good change. Guess the legal career was my answer to burn out . . . which is the opposite of most law trajectories. :-)

Posted by: ivan at October 29, 2004 10:10 AM (A27TY)

2 I always enjoy your ramblings, Random. Ramble away. :-) Truth...yes. It is not absolute. Just another reason why when people insist on breaking everything down to "black and white", I want to thump them on the head with an umbrella. It's never that simple. Probably a good thing, really. If life were that simple, things would be much more boring, I think.

Posted by: Amber at October 29, 2004 12:11 PM (zQE5D)

3 Your unfiltered ramblings are as welcome as the other kind. Different flavors of the same wonderful dish. I know from quitting smoking.... How much that brought back. Two of my relatives both changed careers as lawyers a couple of times. One from litigation to mediation ... and the other from corporate to family advocacy. They seemed subtle to the outsider like me,("You're still a lawyer, though, right?". Then a few years ago I went from managing small projects as an all-purpose tool (planning, executing, writing the supporting materials, providing the training) to being a program manager, where I manage all sort of people who do each of the bits and it is my job to ensure delivery. It sounds like a progression, and it somewhat was, but my days are completely different now. We're humans, we need change. Nuanced or blunt. Thanks again for the thought-provoking post!

Posted by: Elizabeth at October 30, 2004 10:42 AM (ehQxN)

4 Thanks for the great comments, y'all. I'm just impressed you got this far. When I put it into WordPerfect to spell check it, it was 3 single spaced pages, which is a lot to ask people to read. I'm sorry I don't have the time to respond as I'd like to, but please know that I've read and enjoyed all of your comments.

Posted by: RP at October 30, 2004 12:24 PM (LlPKh)

5 Penseur, what a great post. Stream of consciousness is so much better than cadavre exquise, I think. There's a progression that often leads to unexpected places. For your readers, it's an experience where our minds move along the same paths as yours.

Posted by: emilyohyes at October 30, 2004 12:45 PM (n4KpH)

6 I really enjoyed this post as well! Thx RP!

Posted by: indigo at November 02, 2004 03:38 AM (5PkrR)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Jim is now joining the ranks of the previously unemployed.

HE GOT A NEW JOB!!!

Yay, Jim!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

The time of personal responsibility has passed. No longer will you have to admit fault or recognize that the error or mistake lies within you, and not within the stars or some other silly excuse. In a development in Norway which I am sure will be reproduced as soon as possible in the United States, it has become impossible to imprison the "mentally ill", whatever that means.

A Stavanger man convicted 25 times and with 70 offences on the books since his last conviction may be able to sue for damages thanks to new laws. The man has now been diagnosed as 'extremely mentally handicapped' since 1992, and should have received treatment rather than prison time.
The man's defense counsel, John Christian Elden, has filed to reopen cases involving 19 convictions since 1992.

District attorney Tormod Haugnes told newspaper Stavanger Aftenbladet that authorities have little choice but to acquit since it is not possible to imprison the mentally handicapped.

"New rules give him the right to commit crimes for the rest of his life, without punishment," Haugnes told the paper. "This is the most extreme result of the new penal code, where preventive detention is replaced with custody and compulsory treatment."

Elden told Aftenbladet that his client could demand compensation for the unjustified imprisonment for the seven to eight years he served for the convictions, and said the damages could likely amount to millions of crowns.

Please tell me that I am not the only one who thinks that this is outrageous, especially considering how easy it can be to manipulate the mental health system.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 07:53 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 275 words, total size 2 kb.

The update is, well, there is still no news, no leads, and the museum itself remains closed. As we previously discussed here and here, Aftenposten reports:

"We ain't got squat", said the police. Ok, they didn't really say that, but it amounts to the same thing. They are no closer to solving the robbery or returning the paintings now then they were back in August when the robbery took place.

I am not filled with hope or optimism, at this point.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.

I have a moment to make a quick report, in case anyone was wondering where I've been. I have, since Friday morning, now billed 30 hours in preparing my emergency application. I smell bad, my glasses are filthy, I am out of emergency chocolate, and my desk is a wreck of old torn up drafts, empty coffee cups, lost pens, files, folders, documents -- both originals and copies, statute and form books, and transcripts. I have a notice of motion, a memorandum of law, and, most importantly, an affidavit for my client to sign. I will serve it all tomorrow morning and then see about digging out. I believe it will hit the plaintiff right between the eyes.

This is not the fun and romantic career I thought I was getting into when I used to watch L.A. Law.

I hope I have not missed much fun stuff on all the other blogs.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 04:27 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 157 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Hang in there, RP! Hope it gets better for you soon!

Posted by: GrammarQueen at October 25, 2004 05:52 PM (gDEwS)

2 As I dig out of my own hole--surfacing from 9th grade research papers and parent phone calls about kids who need to get into Harvard 4 years from now, and whose lives I personally have shattered because of this grade--I am sending you zen vibes of hope and good cheer. Rock on with your bad self!

Posted by: Mandalei at October 25, 2004 07:43 PM (PibH1)

3 *rushes into room with armful of halloween candy* here - hand me your glasses *uses soft cloth and wipes away grit* there - talk to you later

Posted by: standing naked at October 25, 2004 10:27 PM (IAJcf)

4 As someone who has worked for over ten years in insurance defense -- GO GETTEM, TIGER!! And as always, hug your support staff. *grin* xoxo

Posted by: Margi at October 26, 2004 12:20 AM (MAdsZ)

5 Ugh, ugh. I hope your newest efforts knock the socks off the plaintiff and your client gets what they deserve. Also wishing you a full nights sleep, a vacation with the family, and chocolate. Plenty of chocolate.

Posted by: Rachel Ann at October 26, 2004 01:41 AM (RgxV/)

6 OUT of 'emergency chocolate' , this is bad!

Posted by: Mia at October 26, 2004 02:08 AM (6kWIG)

7 I avoided watching L.A. Law, at all costs, just because it was on TV. The work is the thrill! The pain is only yer growth! May we all yet suffer as much as ye, me matey! Oop, sorry. Talk Like A Pirate Day was last month...

Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 26, 2004 03:04 AM (OcLmo)

8 Ok, wow. Thanks for all the great comments and very kind wishes and thoughts. Today is serve the papers day and then things will settle down a bit. The boss, by the way, thought I did a great job. So, that's nice, at least.

Posted by: RP at October 26, 2004 07:40 AM (LlPKh)

9 Is Stinky the boss?

Posted by: John Bruce at October 26, 2004 11:00 AM (MRbP2)

10 Damn, John, you remember that? In fact, he is.

Posted by: RP at October 26, 2004 11:24 AM (LlPKh)

11 What have you missed on blogs? Where do I begin! Jim of SBD has gone gay. Finally, he's come out of the closet and admitted secretly he's always wanted to spend his life in drag and grow old surrounded by 50 cats and the original recordings of all of Debbie Reynold's songs. Ravings of a Corporate Mommy? Well, Elizabeth and her family have quit the rat race nad now own a farm of sunflowers, which will be run as a cooperative. And me? I'm on the lam. I stole that painting after all-I mean, it was easy to do. I speak Swedish, after all Hang in there, baby.

Posted by: Helen at October 26, 2004 02:30 PM (DCpYG)

12 I've been outed? Damn. Well, it was only a metter of time. Debbie Reynolds rules!!!!!

Posted by: Jim at October 26, 2004 04:16 PM (GCA5m)

13 1)Order in chocolate at next opportunity. I thought you NY'ers could order in anything. 2)Burn material on top of desk 3)Use fire to roast marshmallows and make s'mores or Stinky, whatever comes first 4)Give self a long holiday weekend. 5)Institue "costume" only dress code at the firm.

Posted by: Azalea at October 26, 2004 06:33 PM (hRxUm)

14 Oops, I'm late (again!) but...hang in there, stay warm, go get 'em, YAY RANDOM! GRRRRR! (How's zat?)

Posted by: Amber at October 26, 2004 07:18 PM (zQE5D)

15 Hope it works out RP, I'm your your memo of law was terrific. Based upon your prior comments about the quality of justice your client received below I'm sure you'll get a good result. Ivan

Posted by: ivan at October 26, 2004 09:49 PM (xy2ZU)

16 I thought about you today, and just wanted to send some more good wishes. *wish*wish*wish*wish*wish*wish*wish*wish*wish*wish*

Posted by: Mandalei at October 27, 2004 06:18 PM (PibH1)

Hide Comments | Add Comment