If You Were Stuck On A Deserted Island

With one super-mini fridge, what five refrigerated items would you take with you?

So our refrigerator is broken. I think it was actually broken for three days before I really noticed it. I kept wondering why my juice was warm, why my yogurt was the wrong texture and why the inside smelled like rotting carcass. Hopefully this is an easy fix but in the meantime we are using a friend's dorm room sized mini fridge.

I left it up to my husband to transfer items from the broken fridge to the mini fride. But, surprisingly enough, not everything fits into this shoebox sized fridge. My husband had to sacrifice some items to the gods of broken fridge food spoilage. I have to say his choice of items differs greatly from what I would have chosen to save.

I would have saved, you know, things like a whole carton of eggs, my $10 five pound bag of pepperoni slices, delicious take-out leftovers and the over priced baby juice. Apparently my husband prefers a fridge full of condiments- like mayo, mutard, salad dressing, marinade, vinegar, soy sauce and barbeque sauce. Apparently its better to have things to dip your food in rather than to have actual real food.

When I challenged my husband on his somewhat odd choice he answered very practically, "we have more money invested in condiments than actual food."

It's All About Jacob

Who is this totally fun toddler? I spent almost the entire weekend playing with Jacob while my husband attending his motorcycle certification class (I hate motorcycles!! RRG!). Jacob has suddenly become a total toddler. He is hilarious and so much fun! He is also super mobile and trying out new sounds. Although you can't really understand him yet, he can say his own version of "kitty kitty," "dog," and "bottle." Plus he says "num, num, num," for water and of course, "da da!"

I can't get over how very friendly he is- once he warms up to people, he spends all day crawling back and forth between them and trying to crawl all over them. He is such a ham and loves when he laugh at him- he will repeats the things that made us laugh just to get more attention. It's amazing how much he understands too. He does the following things on command: wave, clap hands, blow kisses, dance and find his wee wee (he doesn't need a command to do the last one).

crazy hair baby

Jacob finding his "wee wee"

Adventures In Client Communications

I called up a client today to get him to answer some interrogatories. This guy had one of those names where you think- "really? Someone gave you that name at birth?" His name was so punk rockish (let's pretend its Danger) that I hope to god he willingly chose it.

Me: "Do you have any other information about this incident aside from what's in the police report?"

Danger: "Hey, will they actually win this case? It's so bogus. They're like the people who sue movie theaters because the theater is too dark and when they came back into daylight they claim they got an eyeball sprain from being exposed to brightness."

Me: "I'm not really qualified to discuss the merits of the case."

Danger: "It's like someone who wants to sue his doctor because he gets a hangnail and the doctor didn't tell him how to properly clip his nails. Or like suing McDonald's for hot coffee.

Me: "Do you know if there were any other eyewitnesses or other people present at the time of the incident?"

Danger: "Dude (love when people call their lawyers 'dude'). I wasn't even involved. I didn't even know about the accident until a year later. Can we just put down "George Bush?" That would be hilarious. The judge would get a kick out of it. People take these thing too seriously anyway."

Me: "These things as in -- 'lawsuits for wrongful death'?"

Danger: "Oh I know! If you go to trial you should call me as an expert witness. It would be awesome. I'll show up in an orange afro and a clown suit."

Me: "Hopefully we'll settle before that is necessary... So, are you aware of any illness or medical condition that might have impaired the co-defendant's ability to operate a vehicle?"

Danger: "How about douche-baggery? He's a real douche-bag. That's a medical condition isn't it? By the way, if you ever talk to him tell him he owes me money."

Me: "I'll just put down that you are not aware of any illnesses."

Danger: "Hey, my insurance company is paying for all of this right? Can I sue my insurance company for wasting my time and making me answer these questions?"

Me: "Let me get this straight. You wan to sue your insurance company for carrying out their contractual obligations by defending you in this lawsuit?"

Most people want to sue their insurer for bad faith failures to defend or deny coverage. This guy wants to sue his insurance company for DEFENDING HIM IN A LAWSUIT. HUH?!

Kind Of A Touchy Subject?

I walked into an associate's office to ask him a question about our client's responses to interrogatories in a case I'm dealing with.

I walk in, start asking my question but stop mid sentence.

"Do you think we should..."

I looked around the associate's office and saw piles and piles of papers and redwells all over the place. There were stacks of documents growing up out of the floors, and mountains of them bubbling up all over the associate's desk and conference table. It looked like an entire file cabinet died in there but not before expunging itself. I blatently said as much to the associate.

"Wow. It looks like a file cabinet exploded in here."

He looked around, looked at me and solemly replied:

"I hate my life."

Law Is Sexy

Around noon today I returned from my daily trip to the generic food mart with my daily can of Diet Dr. Pepper and my daily bag of Skittles.

As soon as I got to my office an associate walked by. He told me he was going for coffee and invited me to come along. Although I had just stocked up on my noon caffeine fix- I took him up on the invitation. I've learned that something as little as grabbing coffee with an associate can be a big boost in getting to know someone and becoming a welcome part of the office social strata. So now I NEVER pass up any opportunity to make a coffee run with someone.

I'm so glad I went too! During the elevator ride down we (genuinely) chatted about theories of law and legal topics that were of particular interest to us. I let it out that I am a number one fan of UCC Sales and Secured Transactions. The associate told me that his very first case involved sale warranties and that he has had a soft spot for it ever since. I repeated for him a description of my love for all things UCC.

Then associate said something I never expected to hear from anyone but me. He told me about a topic of sales law that he thought was...get this..... "sexy!" He explained to me about how under a construction contract, when the UCC statue of limitations wears out on a product, the general contractor can still be held responsible for defects if he does not disclaim the implied warranties about his work on the project. Then under an equitable estoppel theory, the general contractor can seek indemnification from the product seller or manufacturer. (sexy huh?!).

As soon as this associate used the word "sexy" to describe the legal theory, I knew I had a bes friend for life. Finally, another person who thinks the law is capable of being sexy- and not just "hot suited professional attorney in court" sexy but "nerdy intellectual discussions about legal theories" sexy.

I immediately confessed to this associate my profound and unrequited love for the Economic Loss Doctrine. And the circle was complete. We both returned from our coffee run intellecutally stimulated and hot and bothered. I might even have had tousled, sweaty hair and an unbuttoned blouse from just thinking about it all.

Peace & Quiet & Duct Tape

When I was growing up we used to ask Dad each year what he wanted for Father's Day, his birthday, and Christmas. Everytime we asked we got the same response: "I just want peace and quiet."

Well this year, he finally gets his peace and quiet!

I made him a card with this photo. The best part of this is the duct tape. My dad is one of those dads whose motto is: "nothing is broken that can't be fixed with duct tape." Behold, the wonders of duct tape:

Peace and Quiet for Father's Day!

Matter No. Butterfinger

Today I worked closely with an associate on one of my latest assignments. Things have been nice so far this summer in that I have been assigned less research projects and more hands on case management projects. I find that I like being more involved and I like interacting more with the associates. I'm quickly finding my spot in the social circles of the firm and becoming friendly with my co-workers.

Except maybe I got too friendly.

After speaking with a client today, I sent a follow up email to the client and cc'ed the associate on the case. this is the same associate I had been working with for most of the day. The associate promptly responded to remind me that I had referenced the wrong case number in the subject of my email. He wanted to make sure I caught this before I started billing my time on the wrong case. He sympathized with me on how hard it is to remember case numbers. Then we made some funny (lame) jokes about lawyers and numbers not mixing. You know, the jokes you've heard a million times in law school. Except I still think they are funny (because they are soooo true!).

Finally, I suggested that we reference and identify cases by assigning then candy bar names and joked that I would REALLY remember the cases if they were linked to chocolate. I chuckled to myself at how funny I was. And then?

No reply.

Ten minutes later: No reply.

Hour later: No reply.

Dude, the guy completely stopped talking to me for the rest of the day. Even when we almost passed each other in the hall way (he ducked back into his office really quickly as I walked by).

Hey, it wasn't THAT LAME.