I'm like a little kid today, anxiously peering out the window, waiting for the blizzard they've promised us to start. I'm calculating how much time I'll need to get to the liquor store to buy a bottle of Rioja (something spicy with a lot of fruit) and hit the bookstore for the new Charles Todd mystery before I flee the office. I'm burning a cd full of documents and caselaw so that if I get snowed in tonight and can't make it in tomorrow I can get some work done while the kids sleep. I'm going to light a fire tonight as the snow falls, and I'm going to open that bottle of wine, and I'm going to put on something other than Barney or Norwegian children's music on the stereo system and I'm gonna be a happy guy tonight. That's my plan.

As for bringing work home, I'm going to do it but the brief I'm working on is not due for another 16 days. I would dearly love to have it finished early but I think I need the feeling of impending deadlines to motivate me to get to work. At heart, I procrastinate. I vow to change that with each new task, but I can't really. I need the pressure to make the diamond, to get results. No pressure, no deadline, no work. I'd like to change this, but I can't quite seem to do it. Still, no time like the present, right? I think that, if I can get to work tomorrow, my goal will be to have a good, working first draft of this reply brief done by Friday. I think it can be done.

I love snow days. I hope, if we're going to get snow, that we get a whole lot of it.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:34 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 304 words, total size 2 kb.

Thank you, Margi, for taking my photographs and turning them into these snazzy looking banners. Indeed, if you hit refresh you will find a veritable rotating bonanza of banners, all thanks to the very kind technical and artistic intervention of Ms. Margi.

One of the best things about MuNu is the friendships I have made here. They are no less real because they take place in this medium instead of in a bar or at a cookout. Thank you, Margi, for your friendship.

While I am bubbling over with gratitude and nice things to say, I fear that they will sound insincere if they all come out at once. So instead let me say, on the theory that sometimes less is more, thank you for all your hard work and kindness. I am more touched than I can say and terribly appreciative.

Don't you all think the joint is looking better as a result?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:55 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Snazzy indeed. 2 thumbs up from me!!! Great job to you and Margi.

Posted by: Wicked H at February 25, 2005 10:58 AM (iqFar)

2 Sweet. Margi's the bomb. She even got the lamp picture to work!

Posted by: Jim at February 25, 2005 11:10 AM (tyQ8y)

3 Looks fab!

Posted by: GrammarQueen at February 25, 2005 01:12 PM (kqNmk)

4 Awwww, shucks. Pam (of Pamibe) is a whole lot better at it; but I'm glad you're pleased. It was a whole lot of fun to do. Honest. ACK (my misspelling) I shall have to redo them and re-upload. . .so don't take me off the author list just yet. Kay?

Posted by: Margi at February 25, 2005 02:33 PM (zalxZ)

5 *looks up* very very nice... margi is great! maybe she could pick out the wallpaper for the babies room for me? i think its rather snazzy here now. ok...need to get back to hitting refrsh.

Posted by: standing naked at February 25, 2005 04:08 PM (IAJcf)

6 *raises head out of sand for a moment" "Awesome!" *back to pretending the world isn't there anymore... ;-)

Posted by: Amber at February 25, 2005 06:51 PM (zQE5D)

7 Very cool!

Posted by: nic at February 26, 2005 07:30 AM (etHvD)

8 I like the bus. But where are the Merry Pranksters?

Posted by: Mark at February 26, 2005 10:09 AM (0OaFE)

9 Nice! i like them! =)

Posted by: Indigo at February 27, 2005 02:50 AM (5PkrR)

10 I'm glad you all liked them. And Mark, I'm so tempted to say that the Merry Pranksters can be found on the comment board!

Posted by: RP at February 27, 2005 06:57 AM (X3Lfs)

11 Me likely. Margi, you did great!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at February 27, 2005 04:51 PM (blYXc)

12 "I'm so tempted to say that the Merry Pranksters can be found on the comment board! " Ha ha! But I take it you got the somewhat obscure reference?

Posted by: Mark at February 28, 2005 05:12 PM (96b3f)

13 In fact, if you squint really hard, I think you can see Ken Kesey in the window.

Posted by: Mark at March 02, 2005 01:28 PM (96b3f)

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Curious title, no? Well, that's what you'd see if enough people joined me today in my first, Stick Your Head in the Sand Day. If you lean over and stick your hand in the sand, that would be your butt waving around in the air. And if enough people join in, no one will even be able to see your butt or remark on the fact that you might have sat on something that left a stain.

I am feeling entirely overwhelmed, today. What follow is not meant to be an extended whine, but an explanation, pure and simple, of why I want to stick my head in the sand today.

* I have a tension headache brought on by some work related matters that started in the back of my neck and, no kidding, just finished climbing over the top of my head and hit my nose. A new personal best for tension headaches. Pardon me for a moment while I interrupt this typing to take something.

* I hate the fact that this morning, after crawling into bed with the Girl Child in response to her summons, I had to answer her question about who was going to be taking care of her today with an answer different from, "me". I have guilt. Big time guilt.

* I am ground down by the war on terror. I can only hold firm to the belief that Bush is right and the only way to win this battle is to spread liberty and freedom, even as paradoxical as it sounds, if it has to be at the point of the bayonet.

* I am saddened and diminished by every serviceman's death.

* I am daunted by the task of getting my house ready to sell and finding a new house in a different community which we will have chosen based on too little research and too much salesmanship, no doubt.

* I am just feeling like too little butter spread too thinly over too little bread with too many committments between work, not for profit demands, and my preference to be home with my children as they bounce all over me.

I'd like to say just writing it all down makes me feel better, but it doesn't.

So, I'm trying something new today. I will stick my head in the sand. No newspaper at all, no current events, no thinking about the house, can't avoid the work obligations but I will try to leave them at work today, no reading anyone's tales of woe, and no focusing on anything negative. That's it. That's my solution.

If you see my butt in the air when you pass by today, and it looks as if I sat in some old chewing gum on the train this morning, I will trust that you will have the delicacy not to mention it. I wish to remain serenely untroubled by absolutely everything today. Tomorrow is soon enough to consider todayÂ’s old chewing gum.

Pax tibi.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:45 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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That from a British oil trader to a Greenpeace volunteer after the oil traders kicked the shit out of a Greenpeace commando group who invaded the floor of the oil exchange.

If this wasn't reported in the Times of London I would have thought it was a joke.

one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”

Damn, I wish I had been there to see that one.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Did you form the impression yet that I'm what my grandmother used to call a smart aleck? Let me share with you two conversations I've had recently that amused me, at least, to no end.

Conversation 1:
Place: Walking up the train platform with a commuting buddy

Her: What was that language I heard you speaking to your children the other day? Was it French?

Me: No, it was Norwegian. We speak Norwegian to the children. We only speak French to the servants.

The look I got was priceless.

Conversation 2:
Place: Gym, this morning

Her: If you need to reach me tomorrow, I should tell you that I will be out of the office all day.

Me: What are you doing?

Her: It is my art and culture day. You know what I mean? I'm going to see Christo's installation in Central Park.

Me: Oh. Its good that you explained what you meant there because when you said culture, I assumed you meant yogurt.

Another incredulous look.

Its just sometimes, I forget to turn on the filter between my brain and my mouth. Fortunately, that doesn't happen too often, but still, it does happen.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:07 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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I love public speaking. I have no fear about getting up in front of a group of people and speaking. This is a useful thing for a trial lawyer. In fact, I don't know how I could be a trial lawyer if public speaking bothered me. But Wednesday night was a bit different. I had to give a small speech to a small group -- about 60 people -- in my new role as chairman of a committee that was sponsoring an event. As chairman, I was the master of ceremonies. The dinner ran for about 3 hours and my speech was very well received. The crowd laughed in the right places and were solemn in the right places. It was very satisfying.

There is something about good public speaking that is a combination of Aikido and seduction. Aikido, in part, is premised on the belief that you can take another person's energy, control it, redirect it and then throw the person. Seduction? Well, you know what it is even if you can't explain it. When it goes well, it goes like this. You stand in front of the group. You make eye contact with some and you speak. And as you speak, you sense the energy of the group. You change your tone and your rhythm and your cadence and your volume as you speak. You force them to pay attention. To be drawn in to your words. Then you pull them along with you and make them think that they are interacting with you, that you are speaking to them. It feels seductive and you know you succeed when people you've never met before come up to you afterwards to say how much they enjoyed your talk and you can tell that they want to just linger, just to chat. You've seduced them. You've taken them from cold, although mildly interested, to warm, to hot. You can feel the energy in the room as it changes and you wrap yourself up in it. I really like that.

And the corollary, of course, is that sometimes your speech goes over as well as a "come here often" line. Happily, that didn't happen this time. And if you have a decent sense of rhythm, you ought to be able to avoid that entirely.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Remember when I said that I was going to London to see the Queen? Just for the record, that was not a sly reference to the upcoming wedding of Prince Charles and Ms. Parker Bowles.

Nope. I declined that invitation.

Why did I turn that invitation down? Because Helen, who lives in London, is free while I am there and we're going to get together for drinks! Yay! You can see how, faced with the choice of Prince Charles or Helen, the Prince just had to go. Besides, Helen met him at Ascot last year, I seem to recall, and she can fill me in on all the gossip.

I'm really looking forward to it. Helen is the one who sponsored me for MuNu and, as I've already promised, I've got first shout.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:47 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I think it is pretty much over. Hockey season this year died before it was born, taking with it some hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars out of the Canadian economy, I read in Sports Illustrated recently. The Union and the League have called off talks and I think that there is really no hope that we are going to see a zamboni again this year on the ice at Madison Square Garden.

The sad part is that I only now just really noticed. I mean, I was excited and all to take part in the Inter-Munuvian Hockey Bitch Slap (hence the Rangers image on my sidebar) even knowing that my local team was going to feel the bitch slap a lot. But I didn't miss it for more than a minute. I barely noticed that no one was playing. And why would I? I think that these greedy asswipes have effectively destroyed their league, their game, their place in the pantheon of professional sports. My bet is that no one is coming back when they turn the lights back on again. I wrote about hockey before, asking: when did hockey lose its relevance. I guess it happened when most of us were doing other things.

Sprint training for baseball begins really soon. That, I'm excited about.

Rest in Peace, Hockey. We hardly knew ya.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:39 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Go wish Margi a very, happy birthday!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:38 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I have reserved my ticket to London for mid-March. I am off to see a friend get married. Frankly, I always assumed he was gay, so this is kind of a nice surprise. He may still be gay, of course, but he's getting married anyway. And I have to be there. Unfortunately, my wife is not coming, so I will be off in London by myself. Automatically, that makes it less fun. It will be a busy trip. I have old friends to see -- buddies from law school who are there, friends from back in the day when I lived in London, my old fencing master who I just love, and all the wedding insanity, of course.

There are also some museums I have missed and some, very small, shopping to do.

I also just want to wander about and see some old buildings/friends and retrace my steps on some favorite old streets. I always need some quiet alone time in cities I've lived in before. I can have that quiet alone time with my wife along and actually prefer to have her along for that but I have to have it. Something about revisiting the scene of youthful indiscretions, misdemeanors if not quite crimes. I like to totter along and see if I left any part of myself there, if I'm quick enough, I might just find myself in a favorite old pub, or cul-de-sac. A younger me, with less gray in my hair and more optimism about the future, dressed impeccably having embraced the English bright shirt and tie thing, hurrying along imbued with the joy of living in London and being 25. I'm going to be looking for that guy. I don't think I'll see him, but I'm going to look.

I also want to go to SimpsonÂ’s on the Strand for breakfast one morning, if I can get a moment. Oh, and the book store. And maybe buy a tie. And get more perfume for my wife (a top priority)!

I have way too much to do in London. I feel pressed for time already. IsnÂ’t that ridiculous?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:22 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 You should just relax and view it as a nice opportunity to take a small breather from your hectic life. At least you'll be able to read a little on the plane!

Posted by: GrammarQueen at February 09, 2005 05:42 PM (glf8i)

2 "My old fencing master whom I just love. . ."???? Who's calling whom gay here?

Posted by: John Bruce at February 09, 2005 06:55 PM (FMHoj)

3 Well, I do love him. He was a mentor to me. Should I deny that for some reason? I can't imagine why. As for my friend who I thought was gay, it never bothered me that I thought he was gay, I just wished he'd sort of make up his mind because I figured he'd be happier if he did. He's a very dear friend and, as a matter of fact, I love him, too. Why else would I head off to London at great incovenience to watch him get married?

Posted by: RP at February 10, 2005 05:32 AM (X3Lfs)

4 Don't forget to put dinner and drinks with Helen on the list!

Posted by: Jim at February 10, 2005 05:45 AM (MDLz3)

5 Thank you Jim, I was beginning to feel neglected here. Now I feel like an imposition!

Posted by: Helen at February 10, 2005 07:49 AM (MmtAs)

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Having a job interview for a job far, far away, doing something different, but not radically different from what I do now, makes me feel a bit like a tourist in my own life, a visitor to a distant, but familiar land. Am I just browsing in this store? No thank you, to the clerk, just looking, you say.

You have the interview and it allows you to imagine, to project, to take a tour in your life -- what would my life be like here? What would it be like to uproot my family and take them across the country? How would I live there? Before it gets serious, before you get the call back to come and fly out, you become the tourist. What would it be like to live there? You browse some real estate listings and are stunned by the palaces you could buy for half the amount your house is worth now. What would it be like? You picture yourself living there and doing the work and that is tourism in your own life.

It works that way for house hunting, too, because there you actually picture yourself, sort of, living in another house with someone elseÂ’s furnishings. We did that all last weekend and will continue for part of this upcoming weekend.

I feel like I'm not being clear, but I get this sense of other worldliness when I take an interview and contemplate moving. A feeling like I'm visiting my life in a parallel universe, where, maybe, we can afford for one parent to stay home and where work on weekends is the exception and not the rule. Maybe its just a fantasy, you never know until they make you an offer. And until they make you an offer, you never have to really ask yourself any of the tough questions, you can just sort of gloss over the inconveniences and the difficulties, not to mention the potential trauma in uprooting everyone.

That's why I'm a tourist. Its my life, but sometimes, I'm really just visiting.

Make any sense to anyone?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:43 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Perfectly clear to me. I felt that way more often when I was a practicing archaeologist, and doing things that were at odds with my "normal" life the rest of the year. Of course, now that I have switched careers, I still feel like a visitor at times.

Posted by: Mandalei at February 09, 2005 06:15 PM (PibH1)

2 Yup, I had the same feeling when we were looking into moving down here to Atlanta. What's weirder is when you go back home and feel like a tourist again.

Posted by: Jim at February 10, 2005 05:42 AM (MDLz3)

3 Well, I'm glad it was clear. It felt like I had not exactly acheived a model of clarity with this post!

Posted by: RP at February 10, 2005 09:45 AM (LlPKh)

4 Perfectly clear to me, too. And.. erm... Welcome to the neighborhood?!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at February 10, 2005 11:28 PM (FVav8)

5 Thanks, TS!

Posted by: RP at February 11, 2005 09:41 AM (LlPKh)

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We're hunting wabbits! We loaded our SUV with equipment, children and snacks for said children, picked up a trusty native guide, and set off in search of game. In short, we did some house hunting this weekend. It was both interesting and annoying.

First, to all you real estate brokers out there: Stop calling them homes. I supply the home, you supply the house. The house is what we are shopping, tentatively, for. We will put the home in the house. The house is merely the wrapper for the home.

Second, when asked a question about a negative aspect of the community. Don't over sell me. Don't say, "I can't deny that X is a problem", and then go right ahead and finesse it or deny it. That behavior just makes me suspicious. You see, I am trained to ask questions and listen carefully to the answers. That is a big part of what litigation is all about. Ask, listen, and test the answer against what you know or think you know or the common sense understanding you have of the rhythm of the transaction in order to pick up on discordant notes. So, when you elide an issue, Ms. Broker, it trips that spidey sense and makes me question your candor and listen more carefully. I don't particularly enjoy that.

Finally, house hunting is both exhilarating, mildly, and sobering, majorly. You can get more for your money if you move out of overpriced suburb close to NY City and move to overpriced suburb farther from NY City, but you need to spend more, too. It is kind of exhilarating to see all the new space and the greater amount of space and the amount of land and to imagine yourself living in it. It is sobering to realize how much money is required to do so. Other parts of the country have it better in this regard, there is no doubt. For instance, Fort Worth, Texas. I could buy a five bedroom house in Fort Worth for a lot less than what I am spending in the NY metropolitan area.

You know what? I think that someone, somewhere, knows I am thinking about selling my house. I've just spent the last 20 minutes on the phone and off the phone with the plumber, authorizing him to put in a new hot water heater in the house. The old one has just dumped a quarter inch of water in my basement. How come I couldn't get away with the old one for, say, another three or four months? Also, how come I never have a problem with this house under the four figure range? Huh? Why is that?

Frustration level with house: High.

I miss my apartment in the City. I really do. A nice superintendent. I was a more equal pig than others since I was the Vice President of the Co-op Board and always was attended to promptly. I sure do miss that. *sigh*

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:38 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Been in your shoes RP. Hang in there!

Posted by: Wicked H at February 07, 2005 10:58 AM (iqFar)

2 Been there too. It's tough. I know you'll find what you need and want. Be patient. Keep being picky; the right house will appear! :-)

Posted by: Amber at February 07, 2005 01:52 PM (zQE5D)

3 Are you saying that replacing a hot water heater cost you four figures? Yikes! Maybe you shouldn't call a local plumber. I'll bet a plumber from my area would gladly make the trip and do the job for less than half of that.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at February 07, 2005 09:14 PM (DLwY5)

4 Thanks, y'all. Everything is a trade off, unless you have unlimited resources. We don't really have that. What the heck, life goes on!

Posted by: RP at February 08, 2005 09:57 AM (LlPKh)

5 As a member of the legal community in Fort Worth (I work for the largest firm in the county and will finish law school in May), I say come on down!

Posted by: David at February 08, 2005 01:31 PM (8MmTs)

6 Thanks, Dave! I'll let you know how things turn out in that regard. I suppose I'll know a little bit better tomorrow.

Posted by: RP at February 08, 2005 01:57 PM (LlPKh)

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People say that when something bad is happening, its like time slows down and they can see every aspect of the bad thing right down to the texture of the paint on the car or whatever. They say that, while they are powerless to change the outcome, it all goes so slowly.

Not always, I discovered.

Sometimes, it is almost over before you know it.

I fell today while carrying my son. I fell on some black ice while turning from the sidewalk into my driveway. I fell so fast that I didn't realize I was falling until I was already down. Nothing slowed down for me; it all sped up. The Boy Child fell from my arms, missing the concrete retaining wall by six or eight inches and went belly up onto the gravel driveway. He was just a little scared, not hurt at all. I was up to get him so fast that I didn't even realize I had cut my elbow or that I had even come down on my elbow. I just wanted to see if he was ok. Only later did I realize that I had hurt myself, my hip, my elbow, my back, and really given a wrench to my left shoulder and arm, the side I was carrying him on when I went down.

I expect I will be pretty darn sore tomorrow. But the Boy Child is ok and that was really all that mattered to me.

It was just so fast. Me on my side looking at him face down on the gravel. I've had better days. I just hope that, with respect to my boy, I don't have worse.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:37 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Ouch. I hope it's not too bad tomorrow. I know exactly what you mean though - you don't feel the pain until you see the child isn't hurt. When Bear was 1 1/2 he had a fall down our stairs. Completely my fault - I was at the top encouraging him to climb up to me. He was bubbly with excitement and stopped to clap his hands. Unfortunately there was nothing under his butt when he sat down and he tumbled backwards. I jumped from the top landing to the bottom one with a slight contact about half way down. I landed at the bottom on one foot and a knee. The stairs were padded and carpeted and about as dangerous as a stiff accent pillow. He was fine. I checked him over and calmed him down. I picked him up and started to stand up and then fell back on my ass. The knee didn't work. At that point I felt the pain. It was the size of a melon within an hour. If we could bottle parents' child-in-danger anxiety endorphins we'd have the most potent pain killers the world has ever known.

Posted by: Jim at February 05, 2005 10:41 PM (MDLz3)

2 i am so glad to hear the boy child is alright. i can only say - i can begin to imagine that feeling. i am also glad to hear...you weren't hurt too badly. i hope this morning finds you achingless than you thought you would.

Posted by: standing naked at February 06, 2005 07:33 AM (IAJcf)

3 Glad to hear Boy Child is alright and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Posted by: Wicked H at February 06, 2005 12:48 PM (BQhBn)

4 OUCH - Good to hear your son is OK. RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Posted by: Mark at February 06, 2005 01:24 PM (jSnvf)

5 Thank god you're alright! Black ice can do that to you... now I bet that if you had slipped down a hill for 20 meters, things would have gone in slow motion. But black ice is all about... surprise tactics. Take care of yourself... and hoping your not too sore to continue typing...

Posted by: Philippe Roy at February 07, 2005 12:54 AM (nGiV1)

6 I too am glad your son is ok. But you did show off the bruises as war wounds to the Mrs, right? Ask for a kiss for the boo-boos, ask to have breakfast brough to you in bed? I would've done that. Those have "wounds of bravery" written all over them, especially since you were so concerned about your son you didn't even realize you had hurt yourself. I think it commands rewards, should you ask.

Posted by: Helen at February 07, 2005 06:13 AM (y74Wc)

7 Oh Random! So glad the BC is okay. And you too. Those things happen. :-( That doesn't make it any easier, knowing that, but it does happen. Always made my heart stop.

Posted by: Amber at February 07, 2005 01:51 PM (zQE5D)

8 Whew. So glad you're both okay. Wow. I can't imagine how you felt when you looked over at him. Again, happy you're okay.

Posted by: C at February 07, 2005 09:10 PM (UvR2t)

9 Great that the BC is fine and hopefully you're not to achy. Perhaps a slip and fall seems not to happen in slow motion because when we fall we a) are surprised, and b) don't feel a force acting on us so we can't make sense of it; our minds go blank until the ground slams up into us. I dunno. A couple of weeks ago I was walking, at night, along a poorly lit sidewalk and carrying to heavy bags of groceries. I got to spot where a tree root had pushed the black pavement up quite a few inches. I didn't see it, and my left foot was stopped cold and then my right. My upper body and the groceries were still moving forward at a brisk pace, of course, and I tried to get my feet under me. I moved them faster and faster, which only thrusted my upper body faster and faster and with a split second I running forward with my feet not quite under me yet. I finally had to just drop the bags, fall forward and land on my back. Slo-mo all the way. Never felt a thing except po'd at the sidewalk!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at February 07, 2005 09:39 PM (DLwY5)

10 Thanks very much for all the comments, stories, and expressions of concern. Everyone is fine. My arm and shoulder are still sore, but are getting better every day. It really was very kind of you all to chime in. I actually had considered closing comments on this post because I did not want to be seen as fishing for sympathy. I'm glad I didn't as I enjoyed the comments very much.

Posted by: RP at February 08, 2005 09:59 AM (LlPKh)

11 I found this website because I did a search on "seeing in slow motion." My Dad experienced this twice in his life. The first time was a rather mundane event; my sister knocked a bowl of ice cream of the table, and he saw it fall in slow motion, and then grabbed it and put it back on the table. The second time, he was running behind my other sister as she was riding a bike for the first time. She fell down, though, and he thought as he was running, "Oh no, I'm going to trample her!" Then he started seeing things in slow motion and was able to jump over her. My sister remembers seeing him jump over her, and he was literally airborne - arms stretched forward and legs back like Superman flying in the movies, but only three feet in the air. It's almost like the first incident was a test run, to make sure it would work, so the second event would definitely be avoided.

Posted by: Derrick Campbell at June 23, 2005 12:41 AM (cM93H)

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Yesterday, I posted my thoughts about time and it really isn't money and I received, thank you very much, some very thoughtful and interesting comments. By the way, I heart comments and especially the excellent comments y'all left yesterday.

But here is another way to look at time and its value: Through the eyes of the lawyer who bills by the hour (I am reproducing the contents of that page below the fold here just in case the link stops being live, for whatever reason): more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:40 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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How often have you heard that? A lot, if you live in NY, I bet. But is it really true? I was kicking the thought around this morning and decided I'd write about it to see if I couldn't come up with a more disciplined result. As one old professor of mine once said, you don't know anything until you write it down.

First, you can save money but you can't save time. Saving money makes sense. Spend less, put more money in the bank or the market, and watch it, hopefully, grow and maybe even compound. Time, on the other hand, you can't save. You can rush around all you want, get stressed about making a deadline or catching an earlier train, all with the over riding goal of being more efficient and saving time. Well, what do you do with the time you save? You can't put it in a bottle (thank you, Mr. Croce), you can't store it up until a more convenient moment. It won't grow like money does in the bank. No, you can't really save time. Consequently, I suppose, you need to live more in the moment. You need to live fully and thoughtfully so that you can extract the maximum amount of value from the time you do have. It is a finite amount, after all, you just don't know how finite.

Second, if time were money, or at least a commodity, you'd have to be able to value it. How much money, I was wondering, would it be worth to me to buy time? Let's say I had a million dollars. How much of that million would I spend to buy an extra hour of life? An extra hour to say goodbye or visit with my loved ones. What is that worth? A lot? A little? Let's complicate things. What if, in making this calculation, you know that your heirs apparent need this money that you will be leaving behind. Does that factor into your calculations about how much your hour is worth to you? Is this too hard? What about buying an extra five minutes? Is that worth less? How do you assign a value to time?

Let's try something easier, something market driven. Travel costs. Travel costs are often a matter of assigning a monetary value to time. Flights at undesirable times often cost less, right? The reason seems clear, to entice you to fly when no one wants to. But what is it worth to you to fly at an inconvenient time? How much are you willing to spend in order to have more time at the office to prepare for a meeting, or to arrive at a more convenient time at your destination so that you are rested for the upcoming event? Hundreds? Maybe. A thousand? Who knows, right? Depends on the circumstances. But what if the timing of the flight may mean the difference between spending time with an aging relative who you may not get to see again. How much is that worth to you when you run your little balance sheet calculations? Can you put a value on the time? Sure. Its the difference in cost between the convenient ticket and the inconvenient ticket. The market set that price difference, but what is it worth to you to pay it?

Beats me. I don't have any answers. Well, maybe I have one answer. Time is precious, even if I can't set a price for it. And good health is beyond price. So, spend some time, time you can't save anyway, tending to your health. Go to the gym, get a physical (you know, the one you've been putting off), and eat smarter. This may turn out to be a big dividend paying investment as the years roll on.

Did this post make any sense to anyone?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:54 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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