gribbitspad

Bad News...

Shay Shay is out with a hamstring pull :( Sad news...I always loose my favorites in this comp. 

Is it pathetic that I don't know what I will do up North without quickhits all weekend?

Tis the Season...

and my favorite time of year:  http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/events/2006/championships/

Worlds be two months away already.  Would you believe we are already mid-way through the Quad? Where did the time go? 

Sadly, I will be just an hour from the competition and not in attendance, but it is the weekend the Sprangers & Co. annually come to the lakehouse for skiiing and just a general good time. [See the "Life" category of this blog--entry entitled "Twinkiegate"].

Alas, it is also the first year Little Greggie will be amiss; therefore, it might be too traumatic for everyone to have my engaging personality not present as well. So I must pass up Nationals this year; the sacrifices we make for the ones we love.  Trust, I will be glued to NBC, as I trust all of you will be as well! 

I am taking Friday off, so have a great weekend folks!

Note From Little Greggie...

last week in words better than I could do.

Well its that time again...I guess I should let everyone know where I am, and what I am up too.

I just recently moved to Fort Stewart Georgia...not that bad of a place...I think that I have been to the beach more than I have been at work...pretty cool....the fishing down here is up too par, the largest bass on post was 16.3 lbs....yes, 16 lbs. that is crazy.....there are so many things down here to hunt...pigs....and deer...enough to keep me busy on top of work....I did put in for an alligator permit....I don't know yet what I am going to do with it yet, but they say it tastes like chicken....I haven't found any hills here...there are just swamps, lakes, and rivers...more for me to explore...

Work is pretty cool...well...its still the beginning what more can I say....I am a fire support officer for an armor unit....that is tanks for all you civilian folk....the days still start nice and early...and I still work really late....that kind of drives me nuts....

I don't know the next time I am going to be home....maybe thanksgiving...the deer are pretty sorry looking here, so I would give anything to get another Wisconsin buck.

I hope that you are all doing great, and feel free to drop me a line.

Little Greggie (Tiff added that part in case you couldn't tell).

A Wis Weekend

all around. 

Friday night, I headed to the Highland House in Mequon to catch up with some CHS alumni.  As I was skipping out of the ten-year reunion, this was my touchstone to the last decade.  I gotta say, it is a little awkward ya know?  Conversation like this: "Hi, I haven't seen you in the last ten years. We didn't have a helluva lot to talk about then, but what the heck, where do you want me to start now?"  Plus, a decade worth of life is really a lot of stuff to cram into dinner, and I don't even have marriage, children, a house, or a second marriage to discuss.  I mean it would take me the appetizers just to relay the fish I've killed in the last decade; I can't imagine what a setback a kid would be :)

All in all, it really was a good time.  These were actually people I had conversations with in high school and had, for the most part, had some contact with since. So I could start the updating of my measly life from like the first day of college or something.  True to some degree, but a good time nonetheless.

So much has changed but maybe not that much. For better or worse, these are the peeps that went through that regretable period of my life, otherwise known as "adolescence."  Granted, it wasn't by choice, but there is some sort of wierd kinship that exists with people from high school that's absent from the college or law school experience per se.  Maybe because college consisted of a drunken fog and maybe because law school ...well, it is law school. You don't have friends. You have "colleagues." Colleagues who would be more than happy to sacrifice their mother (and yours) if it meant they made law review (and provided they had a "colleague" who was also a defense attorney). 

High school was just a different time, I guess.  Maybe it is that whole naivete/ innocence thing.  I wasn't a bitter, overworked, ex-Republican, woman-scorned, divorce attorney at the time.   Gas wasn't $3.15 a gallon, and I surely didn't care that a BP Alaskan pipeline was corroded.  Nope, the whole shining path of life was my oyster, and dang it, I had a sharp knife.

Or perhaps it's just the rosy-glass of time that muddles the memories. And that old mirror image looks so much more inviting than the present.

Or maybe I am just being overly dramatic. Likely. 

But seriously, I could really use that sharp knife right now. 

Weekend Plans...

Have a few minutes since the partners sent the staff home early this afternoon, and after all, what good am I without my secretary?

Lost my tennis match last night-- 6-5.  Ticked me off, because she was the ONE person I beat earlier this season, and she was injured... grr...had a lot of unforced errors...double grr...On a good note,  I served consistently.  This was a positive accomplishment given the fact that I whacked myself in the shin with my tennis racquet while serving hard the day before, busting a slew of blood vessels--something that resembled me being injected with an alien virus.  Happy thoughts...can you tell I am still on the X-Files kick?

Having dinner tonight with some old CHS classmates.  Our class ten-year class reunion is the weekend (Saturday).  I have, however, opted not to attend.  Unknown as whether I will regret not going at this point. Any opinions on that whole high school reunion thing?

I will, however, be going to the Wisconsin State Fair with my lil sista on Saturday. Very excited for the bunnies. Working on conning the bf into purchasing a fuzzy bunny for his home, one that I can visit and walk everyday.  Wish me luck with that (wink).

Have a great weekend!

Ditto On the Last Two Captions

YIPPEEE, YIPPEE, I am not melting today!  Please refrain from any comments analogizing me to the Wicked Witch of the West.  I have clients for that.

You really can't keep up with the new blog entries, huh?  It might require you to actually scroll down to find out what has been going on.  Can you believe that? Bet ya never thought you would see the day.  I guess I was secretly itching to give you the updates.

So what else is happening you ask? As if the last few updates weren't enough...the family was actually home this summer.  My sister was home from Arizona for most of June with the love-of-her (and my)-life--Henry. I have some pretty adorable pictures, which I hope to get uploaded and share with ya'll.  She is starting a Ph.D program at the U of Arizona in a topic area which I can't pronounce, and Henry wanted a summer in the Midwest.

Greg headed to Wisconsin for two weeks (though not consecutive) from Oklahoma where he has been the last six months; he is now on his way to his permanent base in Savannah, Ga. Word is he will be deployed to Afghanistan come November--ugh...

There were quite a few trips to the Lake already this summer with another coming in August, though I will be the only kid in attendance this year, as Linds will be in school and Little Greggie will be blowing up things down South.

In between the family stuff and all the other stuff I mentioned, I also chaired the annual Watertown Art Festival for the second year. For all practical and intense purposes, it was an exceedingly time-consuming and frustrating process, made worse by the fact that I simply didn't have the time to sort through it.  As hindsight is 20/20, I am planning to remain on the Board and assist with the 2007 festival in a limited fashion.  Good learning lessons, but nothing I care to repeat if you know what I mean.

So I think that is pretty much as far as updates... but oh yeah, I got a boyfriend.

Back To That In The Last Eight Months Thingy...

Yeah, nothing like the feeling of playing tennis with a wet towel on your head. 

They say the temperature has dropped, but a helluva lot of difference that makes when the dew point has increased  to 79.  I can no longer tell the difference between a heat index of 92 or a heat index of 110.  Either way, IT IS TOO HOT!

Back to tennis, yeah. Been doing that a lot this summer. Joined the Watertown Tennis Association determined to figure out how to smash that little ball.  Needed something I could hit without the potential issue of being sued.  It's a matter of survival in this business; swimming just wasn't cutting it.  All my life, my folks have been telling me that I am not aggressive enough (self-proclaimed passive-aggressive personality here), blah, blah... turns out, they just never put any instrument in my hand with which I could hit something or someone.

And I have become obsessed with becoming a "competent" tennis player.  Group lessons on Mondays, women's doubles on Tuesdays, hitting lessons on Wednesdays, and singles matches on Thursdays.  And on occassion I will sub in for the Mayor's wife, and play mixed doubles with the Mayor on Wednesday after hitting lessons. 

I just got a new hitting coach a couple weeks ago, and it has been a great experience.  I can't play the net to save my life, so he's really forced me to go back to the basic drills.  Yeah, that's me on the court doing the "air" volley and forehand smash.  I pretend I am doing my Zen work on the Court; it helps me ignore the people honking their car horns and screaming out their car window, "You look like a freakin idiot, you know that?!"

As if it weren't obvious enough...

In truth, I play tennis cuz I like the "thwack" noise. It may sound stupid, but let's be honest, my intelligence--or at the very least, my sanity-- has always been a little "questionable" to begin with.  But you know that little noise the ball makes when it hits the sweet spot of the racquet. Yeah, I live for that sound.  So I play the baseline; I like to hit hard.  The net is boring, and you look like a grasshopper. And who wants to look like a grasshopper? New hitting coach now uses baseline hitting as a carrot to get me to play the net.  Good net drills, more baseline time. 

I feel like I am five.

Wish my hard work was actually reflected in my record.  I have 1 win and 1 tie to my name--out of 13 games.  For heavens sake, do I look like Martina Hingis? I said I liked to play, not that I was any good.  However, I did take second place in the annual Watertown Intermediate Singles Tourny.  If you were worth anything, your follow-up question to that statement would be: "Yeah, that's great.  How many people played?" 

And then I would shut-up.  I am hoping to get a trophy though or maybe a participation ribbon. :)  The people at work give me a hard time cuz I suck at playing tennis.

Oh well...

Trying to get back in the water this summer as well.  Competed at the Badger State Games where I whomped in the 50 backstroke. Course I was the only backstroker under the age of 67 in my heat.

Some eighty year-old swam next to me in the 50 breastroke. How cool is that? The guy actually got up on the blocks and dove off.  Competition was at Shorewood Park in Madison--pretty nice facility, and it was nice outside.  Fifty meters, however.  In a word, ouch.  You really start to miss them walls. Adam, I think you should compete next year. Rachel and Ava can come and cheer you on; you've been in the water far more than me.  It was also a great chance to catch up with some oldie swimming pals.  Detwiler, Dr. Mykelby, Stephanie...nice to see the peeps around. I will try and get some pics up, so you can see my gold, silver, and bronze medals :)

So that's some more of the stuff that's been going on...the boy is bee-bopping down, so I must leave you ("ouch," you say...leaving you when I finally say something interesting, huh?)

Toodles.

In The Last Eight Months...

Seriously, no one should have to enter blogland on that prepositional phrase.

Obviously, I could dwell on cliche adages as to "where has time gone?" given it has been...ahem...eight months and some change since I updated this thing, but then again, that would be... well... cliche. Oh hell, bear with me, because honestly, WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE? I feel like I went to sleep in January and woke up in August...

Nonetheless--rest assured--I follow your journeys through your fellow blogs. And I enjoy them, and I live vicariously through them, even if I don't always comment on them, so keep them coming.  Often the stories, the photos, the videos, and Dimick's crazy quizzes are my one moment of respite smashed in between a phone call as to whether Wife must give 6 or 7 hours of notice to Husband before entering the marital residence to snag the toothbrush she left behind; and that settlement conference over Wife texting the kids on Husband's placement time.

This IS Law and Order folks.

Einstein I am not, babysitter perhaps...but ahead of myself I get.  [Random Observation:  Writing like a lawyer is a lot like thinking like Yoda; perhaps Yoda fans should go to law school].

I'll start with work, since that it where I live(d) the last year.

Spring trial schedule was INSANELY busy.  Remember in school when your exams, papers, etc. all hit you on the exact same day? I swear it doesn't change in grown-up world. Seventeen trials in a three month span.  Perhaps that doesn't sound like much, and even though only one out of that seventeen actually went to trial (that's how things really work, folks), I still had to do the preparation as if it were going to trial.  After all, that's your ante on the other lawyer, right?  I am ready for trial. You aren't, so give me what I want (a.ka. the essence of lawyering).

It was a whirlwind of depositions, settlement conferences, motions, and all that crap you do in a day's work.  And along the way, there were milestones, far more important (and interesting) to me than you, so I will spare you the details.  Suffice it to say, the learning curve was awfully steep.  All those first cases that came through my door were finally getting through the steampipe.  Procrastination was not an option.  Hello civil litigation and that murky world called (drum roll please)...the rules of evidence.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

The hell concluded the second week in July afer one of my year-and-a-half divorce cases of the messy nth degree (it involved Jesus, and I swear if Husband could have made him a third-party, he would have) went to trial.  Scheduled for two-days on every issue under the sun and then some, it settled after a half a day of negogiations.  See Paragraph 7.

Amen Jesus.

Then again, it kinda settled because no more than an hour after arriving at my office after the default did I already have a vm from Husband's attorney's secretary (don't ask--she does all the work; he just shows up on Court), complaining about some asinine things, although Jesus was not one of them.  I could have, however, really used Jesus at that point.

As if the trial schedule weren't bad enough, our firm merged-- with two others.  It was in many ways a frustrating process. We hired a new associate who stayed for six months, got caught in some crossfire, and then left, making my world a wee-bit more empty. 

Add to that, I lost Carol--my mentor and the string that ties me to reality and this job-- to half-time lawyering status.  It sounds corny, but I seriously went through a grieving process after she left. Ah yeah, and she went from 5 days to 2.5 days a week.  I know-- cheezball. And I can't explain it to make you understand.  Suffice it to say, I am very covetous and grateful of and for that relationship; I know how rare it is to find that kind of person in this business. 

So there's something to chew on.  I have a tennis match in a couple minutes--more to come later.