The King Is Dead

Ah, my least favorite day of the year - Black Friday. A testament to all the things I dislike about Christmas time. Unless there is some turn of events this year I suspect this will be the year I actually stop enjoying Christmas. After 35 years of being "that guy" that annoys everyone with Christmas music and going into Christmas stores all year long, my enjoyment of Christmas has slowly been decreasing over the last few years. I'm sure part of it has to do with the constant new reports on how important holiday shopping is and if we don't all go out and buy, buy, buy during the holidays, our economy will go in the toilet. Well, we seem to have all been overtaken by the pressure to spend time, energy, money and put our focus on decorating, buying gifts and searching for "deals". None of which makes me enjoy Christmas time.

Comfortably Numb

I tried. Really I tried. I didn't want to end the day full to the point of being uncomfortable. Now, I realize you aren't surprised that I did, but the point is, I didn't want to. It was fun. Final total was 19 people. The Apodacas, Doughertys, Gallivans, G.G. (Tiffany's grandmother), Ashley (Tiffany's cousin) and Justin (Ashley's boyfriend) were all here. I even managed to get the tables set up without dislocating my jaw as was the fun experience in 2006 (the last time we did Thanksgiving here). I may have a few pictures that I'll try to upload, but right now it's time to give in to the Tryptophan and go to sleep...

Blood Money

I just threw-up a little bit. I should end it at that, but why not share? I was reading an article this morning about the stock rally over the past couple of days and at the end of the article it said "the dollar ended up". Hmmm, I thought, what does that mean? So I logged on check the current exchange rate. Apparently the exchange rate calculator must be broken because it didn't seem to have all the correct numbers, oh but no, it's correct. The Euro was worth about $1.30. Why would that make me throw-up? Simple, I did the math from our trip to Europe which was 3 months ago. At the time of our trip the exchange rate was $1.60, so the difference in the exchange rate now means that our trip would have cost $2,250 less. Ok, I'll be honest, I didn't throw-up, I mean I couldn't with all the crying I was doing.

Ahhhhh

I don't have the patience to name this entry anything else. I read two news entries tonight.

First was the article that said since the November 4th election investors have been slowly selling off stocks because of anxiety that this may be a long recession. Seriously? You don't think it has anything to do with the historical fear that has followed every election of a Democratic President. Obama campaigned on the platform of raising capital gains to 26%, up from 15% and they really can't figure out WHY investors want to sell now? Do the math and figure out how much the stock market would have to increase in order to make up for the anticipated tax increase. Idiots, they're selling to avoid greater losses due to taxes.

Second, there was an article on the "U.S. rushing to bail-out Citigroup with 20 billion dollars". In case I haven't said it enough, bail-outs suck. More and more money to crappy companies that made stupid decisions. Why rescue them??? The service won't disappear, someone will just replace them and do it better. Capitalism, learn it, live it, love it. Meaning stop this crap with giving them our money!!!!

New Orleans Saints

In case there is some need for explanation: The driver (of the Mardi Gras float) is Drew Brees the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. It may be because I like the Saints and love anything Mardi Gras-ish or New Orlean-ish...

It Depends On Where You Start Counting...

Here is the piece of "news" I received today:

Since 1950 there have been 13 bear markets. They lasted an average of 12 months (longest was 36 months from 2000-2003). The S&P 500 lost an average of 20.6% (the worst was in the 73-74 when the S&P lost 42.7%, but 2000-2003 comes in a close second at -40.6%). The first year after the decline saw an S&P increase by an average of +35.6% (that's a pretty consistent number). From the end of the bear market it took an average of 9 months to break even. From the beginning of the bear market to breakeven averaged 21 months.

That's all well and good, but at least two things come to mind. First, this all really is based on when you start counting. So when did the current bear marekt "begin"? It's pretty easy to make it fit this if once it's all over you just decide on a beginning date. Second, I don't recall the record number of "bail-out" requests during these past bear markets. So how do you say it'll work the same if we, the taxpayers, are giving out record bail-outs? Might it extend the current problem? Might it cause another bear market in a much shorter time?

I Got Your 30% Approval Rating Right Here

So many comments and so little time. First, let's just make it clear that these idiots are from ASU (disclaimer - I graduated from UA). Now, I'm not sure which one I think is more hilarious. First that the President of the United States is displaying the "shocker" sign, or two that ASU's new symbol (they started just a few years ago) is the "shocker". As much as I would love to throw ASU under the bus, I'm going to have to say the President doing the "shocker" is better. Let's face it, I make fun of ASU all the time, so the fact they were morons when they "invented" the trident symbol doesn't really "shock" me (I know, I crack myself up).

Much more entertaining is the fact the President of the United States is getting his picture like this. (warning, this is about to be kid unfriendly) So the President's history isn't really secret. Alcoholic, used drugs, etc... So really? You really think he doesn't get this? At some point in the first 35 years of his life while running around drunk, with prostitutes and blow, you don't think this gesture came up? You know in the back of his mind he's thinking, "you're 30% approval rating can go where this pinkie is going..." I'm just dumbfounded that someone, ANYONE, on the White House staff, from the chief of staff down to an intern, someone didn't say, "hey, instead of a picture that will float around the internet, why doesn't the President just say, "2 in the pink, 1 in the stink"? At least then there isn't visual evidence out there." Holy crap someone screwed up (yes, still cracking myself up).

Oh, and just in case you thought it was a fluke:

Eye Strain - Brain Strain

My parents sent me a box of various items. Most were cub scout clothes and band shirts, but there were two tapes. First was of our high school graduation. It was mainly a tape of my Uncle's 40th birthday party. Now, consider how close I am to having my 40th birthday and it's a very bizzare thing to see. Tiffany was her usual non-talking self. There was also a video created by someone in band for the 88-89 marching season. It included 4 marching routines. Ahh, that means I must have been very excited when I finally found the '87 routine, right? Ummm, no. Because after watching 2 hours of video, I watched the '85, '86, '88 and '89 routines. Seriously? Was the '87 routine so good it got copyrighted or something? This is ridiculous!!!!

I Have Another Question

So I'm preparing for a hearing coming up and one of the issues is whether a parent successfully completed a treatment plan. In preparing to do this we typically ask caseworkers for a list of treatment providers and what services they did with the parents. Today I received a list for this case and they said one of the potential people I should interview teaches a Parent Education Class. They forwarned me that the parent passed the class, but the teacher may be able to testify that the parent did not internalize the information, that they slept during class and would talk incoherently. Um, ok. I've got a question, HOW did they pass this class? I would have assumed that understanding the information, being awake for class and being able to discuss the information would be the three primary things you look for in deciding if they passed the class. But hey, that's me.

Better Use of Time

I know Tiffany doesn't really think I watch her shows that much while she watches them and I'm doing something else, but I do. Well, sometimes. I'll admit, I don't get it. Some are funny or entertaining, but yet half of them seem to be stories about children dying, dead spouses or parents, affairs, divorce, etc... just the sadest things in life. Pretend, sure, but I'll absolutely never understand why it's on t.v., why people watch it, or why we we consider it "entertainment". Portraying real life sadness isn't something that should win awards, it's something that, in my opinion, is a waste of time.

Europe

Alright, if you really have any interest in seeing Europe pictures, then sit down, grab a warm drink, and relax for the next half hour... Honestly I feel weird posting these videos only because I can't imagine anyone wanting to sit and watch these things that long. But, I've been asked about them, so here they are...

All I Need Is A Robe and Gold Chains

I seem to be on a roll with the non-kid-friendly posts. This may not even be funny to anyone else, one of those "had to be there" things, but I'm going to post it anyway. Proposed resolutions for the Board have to be run through our office. I reviewed a simple resolution and asked Jennifer, a 25 year old paralegal, to bring me the resolution so I could sign it and get it over to the Board. She walks in and puts it on my desk and stands there looking down at me, waiting for me to sign it. I open my bottom drawer and pull out the stamp I use to sign these. As she stands there looking down, she sees the stamp and says, "Wow, you've got a big one." I stop for a second and then it clicks in her head what she just said and how it looks. She starts laughing, but also turns bright red and pulls her jacket up over her face because she is so embarassed. Now, to clear up any confusion - another attorney she works with has a stamp that is about 1/2 that size, which is what prompted the comment.

WTF

Are you F**king kidding me??? I'm sorry, this will clearly not be a "kid-friendly" post. I just saw a new article regarding the Democratic Congress' newest brain-storm. The idea, change the terms on mortgages... The quote:

To qualify, borrowers would have to be at least three months behind on their home loans and would have to owe 90 percent or more than the home is worth. Investors who do not occupy their homes would be excluded, as would borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy.
Qualified borrowers would get help in several ways: The interest rate would be reduced so that they would not pay more than 38 percent of their gross income on housing expenses. Another option is for loans to be extended to 40 years from 30, and for some of the principal to be deferred, interest-free.

So let me get this straight. Take out an ARM to purchase a house too expensive for you, the bank gives you a loan even though your credit is sub-prime, and the result is the government lowering your interest rate or extending the loan all to lower your payment. Meanwhile, the rest of us just suck it up for making the right decision to begin with...

New and Improved

As you may have noticed I've been playing around with widgets and gadgets on the website. Two of the newest additions are the Larimer County Webcam and the weather. The webcam literally is aimed at our office's front door and I walk through the parking lot numerous times a day. I'll have to see if it's worth keeping up, but at least for now the novelty is fun. The weather is nice becuase I'm always trying to figure out what the temperature is and what the day will be like. I got used to pulling it up on our old site and I've missed it, so I added it again. Unfortunately, with youtube video feeds, flickr picture feeds, weather widgets, webcams, news feeds and the election widgets, loading the website was becoming a pain. So I killed off the election results - I mean we know what they are now, no sense in keeping them there, really it was meant for election night so you could watch them in real-time. Why? I don't know, I guess it is possible someone logged on to my site to watch election results instead of one of the dozen national news sources... Anyway, if the website is getting bogged down because of all the fun gadgets being added I'll have to start taking them off, but for now, enjoy!!!!

Sentence Without Words

I’m sitting at work and decided to post this by email.  I just wrote my first sentence that has almost no words in it.  How you may ask?  Simple, someone asked me to review an agreement.  I did and asked how many copies they needed.  They didn’t recall which agreement it was and asked me which one we were talking about.  I responded, “ASU/CSU FTE MOU”.  Sadly, that made sense to both of us.

Password

A phrase that I am continuously amused by is "mutual boyfriend". It keeps coming up when we talk about cases because there are various moms who have the same boyfriend - thus a "mutual boyfriend". The things we have to have phrases for now...

¿Gravemente?

A couple of months ago we found out the Court wanted to make an "introduction" video for parents in our cases. It would just give a short explanation of who each person is and what their role is during the case. Simple enough, plus I'll be in a "movie"! Ok, I'll do it.

A few weeks ago I receive a call from the producers trying to schedule a date/time for the filming. We get a time set and I ask if there is anything I need to review beforehand to be prepared. She says there is a script and she can email it to me when it's ready.

Today was the day of filming. I arrived and saw a few people wandering around setting up lighting and microphones. Off to the side was another attorney I knew so I went and stood by him. We joked around a bit and then one of the producers asked if anybody needed to look over the scripts. The other attorney said, "No, I have mine and I've been going over it." I said, "Yes, I never got one, so I haven't been able to practice anything, so I really need to see it." He handed me a copy.

The first line was, "Soy el abogado para trabajador social y el Departamento de Servicios Sociales." I quickly told the producer, "I'm sorry mine is in spanish." To which he responded, "Well, sure, the video is in spanish."

Even now when I write this my brain blanks out with no response or words. Exactly what does one say when you arrive only to be told you are filming in spanish. Aside from dos mas cerveza por favor and donde es el bano - two highly important phrases when you go to college 30 minutes from Mexico - I would have major difficulty recalling my spanish classes. True, at one point I could read books in spanish, but let's be honest, about 6 months after I graduated all of that information was gone.

But not to worry, right, the other people must have some concerns about spanish. Let's see, the CASA (a volunteer who works in these cases) speaks some spanish and had been practicing for over a week - she did it flawlessly. The defense attorney used to work for a few years in a kitchen in California, where he apparently learned "kitchen spanish" - again, nearly flawless. The other person I saw there - well, she was the court interpretter. Not only does she obviously speak english and spanish, but she prefers spanish (as we waited she told a story about how the day before she just got so tired of speaking english and her boss got tired of speaking spanish, so they each only spoke the other language for the entire day).

Needless to say, I may literally be the only person in the history of film to speak spanish and still have spanish sub-titles...

State of the Union

The election is over. For many it went as hoped. For others a disappointment. I personally did not vote for Obama, not because of his determination, not because of his views on a united people, but simply over policy differences. I simply believe in an open market system, a balanced federal budget, decreased deficit and that lower investment tax actually generates greater tax revenue. However, while I may not have voted for our next President, I am still happy. Happy, not becaue of the outcome, but inspite of the outcome. Happy, not because I am optimistic that Obama's plans will help America, but because others are optimistic that Obama's plans will help America. I have seen numerous election results televised, but rarely have I seen so many people as passionate and excited. I am happy, because they are happy. I am hopeful, because they are hopeful. I do not agree with the outcome, but I will forever defend the people's right to choose. Our ability to pick our own destiny as a country is one that few others have. Our right to voice our support for a candidate or political view without fear is beyond any other people on Earth. I have been blessed to be a part of the greatest nation that has existed and in doing so I exercise rights that few others have. In exchange I must respect and defend the rights others have exercised. So yes, I am happy because others are happy. I am hopeful because others are hopeful. Tonight I say good-bye to John McCain, a candidate I have supported for over 10 years. He is too old to consider another run. Congratulations to all those who supported President-elect Obama. After tonight it is no longer "us vs. them". President-elect Obama is now the President WE have elected. I pray we have choosen wisely.

Halloween

Ok, I'm a couple days behind, but really what is there to say - candy, lots and lots of candy. Walking, lots and lots of walking. Oh, and some costumes for the kids (and adults).


















Oh and ever wonder what it looks like when a small girl runs in a blow-up tourist costume?

Coyote Soccer Tournament

This weekend was jammed packed (again). Micauley was at a church retreat and Madison played in a weekend long soccer tournament! The first game was the morning after Halloween - you can imagine how the girls reacted to being up so early on Saturday after being up late and bouncing around on sugar. We thought their chances of winning were slim after they tied 1-1, but it turns out all the games tied, I guess every girl in soccer had the same Halloween sugar induced handicap! They won their second game with a shut-out which adds lots of extra points. After the final game we weren't sure if they had enough points to win or not, so we all walked over and sat down to see what the final count was. This was the reaction when they found out where they placed:

(In case you can't decifer their cries - they won!)


Some other shots from the tournament:



The Captains doing the pre-game coin flip


Yes that small person flying in at a 45 degree angle is Madi


The Coyotes


At Coopersmith's celebrating their victory


The one and only...

Best James Bond Songs

I saw a special tonight about James Bond movies and heard a variety of Bond songs, which reminded me - there are A LOT of Bond songs I love. So, here is the top ten list of James Bond Songs. I know, they likely will not match most people's lists, probably because there are certain memories that go with each song that bump them up, but nevertheless - I've never seen anyone else do a James Bond Song list...

Honorable Mention - it didn't make the top ten, but Goldfinger is pretty good, especially the intro.

10) License to kill - You know I was never a giant Gladys Knight fan, but with the horns and her lower voice, I really like this one.

9) You Know My Name - The song is good, but honestly it's the fact this is my favorite Bond movie ever that bumps this into the top ten (yes, that's right, my favorite and by a lot).

8) Diamonds are forever - This song is just cool.

7) You Only Live Twice - Ok, the strings are cool, but I also recall my dad telling me this is his favorite Bond song, so combine the two and it makes it to number seven.

6) For Your Eyes Only - The Spy Who Loved Me was awesome! I'm sure it had something to do with the skin-tight ski outfits and Sheena Easton, but so what, still good.

5) The Living Daylights - True the movie was average at best and I don't like Timothy Dalton as James Bond, but this is oddly the only James Bond album (aside from the album with all the theme songs) that I own. I listened to that cassette tape (that's right) over and over and loved those songs. They are 100% 80's (can you say Ah-ha) and remind me of lots of fun times - otherwise they may be horrible, but because of all the things it reminds me of, it breaks the top five.

4) View to a Kill - Whatever I said about song 5, goes double for this one. Plus the movie wasn't bad. It's Duran Duran, suck it up and like it.

3) Dr. No - I know, you assumed this would be number one. Yes, it's awesome and played a thousand times during every James Bond movie. It definitely takes some amazing songs to top this one, wouldn't you think?

2) Nobody does it better - I'll admit it, I like Carly Simon. This song goes beyond James Bond. I've seen it played for lots of movies and I've even seen it played as the primary song on James Bond specials, so obviously even they realize it's huge!

1) Live and Let Die - You know, I even like the Guns'n'Roses version. This song is just fantastic and there is no way to not get excited when it comes on. You can complain about Paul McCartney all you want and make fun of Wings as a "70's band" but they had great songs and this is by far the best Bond Song ever!

Still Searching

We bought a bottle of Chianti while we were in Italy a couple of months ago. I really enjoyed the wine while we were there and this was a good one to have - well just about any time, though I was thinking Thanksgiving would be when to open it. Well, last night we went over to some friends' house to meet before the kids went trick-or-treating in a large group and we brought over a bottle of wine. Turns out we grabbed the wrong bottle and brought the bottle from Italy. Now on the plus side I did have one sip. Unfortunately it is now gone. I've looked to see if it might also be imported to the United States, but so far I can't find it. The search continues...

State Marching Championships

October 25, 2008 was the State Marching Championship. Regionals were held a few weeks earlier and Micauley's band placed high enough they could skip quarter finals. Meaning they had to go to the semi-finals in Englewood the morning of the 25th. If they placed in the top 6 in the state they would go to the finals held at Invesco field. Below is their semi-final performance. It's not the best video we've gotten of them, primarily because it was held at a small school with TINY bleachers. Meaning we ended up on the bottom row at the 30 yard line - not optimal marching band seating!!! I also have some regular pictures, but they are on the other computer, so those will have to get posted later.