July 28, 2004

Crackberries

A week or so into it, I really like my Treo. There are things about it I'd change (larger keyboard and a scroll wheel on the side, for starters). Overall, it makes my life much easier.

That being said, I can't say that it always makes life easier for the person who is stuck in the office receiving numerous chopped up missives from the road warrior who is sending them. Typing on these things isn't easy, but if you add to the mix someone who is a bad typist on a full keyboard, you have a recipe for garbage.

Case in point: my boss, who I adore, has a crackberry (so called because she has a physical dependency on this gadget). I once sent her an e-mail and received the following response:

"Tx. Hi yu si on confcall 330$"

I'm not making this up. That is exactly what the e-mail message said. After a few minutes of squinting at my screen and thinking about it, I realized she meant to say, "Thanks. Why don't you sit in on the conference call at 3:30?" While all these handheld devices definitely help us all communicate more easily, they don't necessarily make us better communicators.

Posted by Kitty at 10:41 AM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2004

Borked

Here is a list of nominees for super-hotties of the Federal Judiciary. You know that's gotta be a short list.

Posted by Kitty at 03:33 PM | Comments (1)

July 25, 2004

Fun With Lawyers

I am back from the firm retreat, which was better than I anticipated. I enjoyed hanging out with people from work (did I say that?), and the only really annoying part was the extended "session" with a woman who is an employment lawyer and teaches other lawyers how to think on their feet. Basically, her sessions are take-offs of Who's Line Is It Anyway, only the lawyers aren't as funny as the trained actors on the show.

Some of the funnier moments during the retreat came up Saturday night during the game of Night Spiker volleyball, a firm tradition. The game starts around 9 p.m. (right after our Luau) and is held outdoors with a glow-in the dark volleyball and net, and some lights on the sides so people don't spike each other instead of the ball. One of the partners in my department, a middle aged guy who enjoys his alcohol, decreed himself to be the scorekeeper of the game. He had arrived at the luau wearing a coconut bikini top (so wrong on so many levels), shorts and a grass skirt. When the volleyball game started, he sat on the sidelines, in his outfit, right next to the net, which he held onto for support (using the hand that wasn't holding his beer). He would occasionally drunkenly yell "side out!", regardless of whether the ball was actually in play. Good times.

The only real snag in the weekend was when I checked into the hotel, looked through my bag and realized I forgot to pack any underwear. Rather than go commando for the weekend, we ran by Target and $80 later (I cannot seem to go to Target without spending a fortune), we were back at the beach resort. I had an outstanding massage at the spa yesterday, and Archi had his fill of rum runners which he enjoyed poolside. All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend.

Tonight, we get serious. If we're going to move into a house, we're going to have to clean. And not just pick up a few things but seriously clean. Like with brooms and stuff. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this, but ready or not, here I come.

Posted by Kitty at 03:27 PM | Comments (5)

July 23, 2004

Cheddar X

1. What did you do on your summer vacation?
There will be no summer vacation this year, as all of our funds are going to buy our house. However, we are going out of town for various functions that our employers pay for, so maybe those count.....

2. If you could stop time, what would you do?
Sleep.

3. What is your hidden talent?
I can get people to tell me things (usually more than I want to know).

4. What's your dream house like?
The one we're buying! One story, three bedroom, two bathroom with an office and plenty of space to spread out our junk.

5. What's your favorite hand or arm gesture?
When I was in depositions yesterday, we finished the deposition of the plaintiff's wife. At the end of the deposition, if you were the deponent, you have the right to read a copy of the transcript and review it for typos, and then sign it to attest to the accuracy of it. However, if that sounds like a pain to you, you can waive that right (referred to as waiving reading and signing).

At the end of the deposition, her lawyer said, "Okay everyone, we're done." The court reporter said, "Wait is she going to read and sign?" and her lawyer said, "No, she'll waive." When he said that, she stuck her arm out and waved at the court reporter, throwing everyone into fits of laughter. It's the best hand gesture I've seen in a while.

Posted by Kitty at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2004

Not So Sandy

We survived.

Archi-Sapper and I are back from taking our churches' high school youth group to Destin, FL for a weekend. All of my limbs are still intact (I checked this morning), I didn't kill anyone and we all had a really good time. The best part of the actual travel to and from Florida was that Archi-Sapper was driving and wouldn't let the three teenage girls in the backseat of our car sing along to Britney Spears at the top of their lungs. There was actually an interesting mix of musical tastes in the car -- two of the girls were of the Britney Spears/Michelle Branch/any girl who sings about love listeners, while one only wanted to listen to Rush and Yes (she wasn't even born when those groups were in their prime, but I wasn't going to complain because it was far better than Britney).

We stayed in a really nice condo that was close to the beach -- not that I ever saw it. Every time I would head over there or think about heading over there, I'd get distracted by something else. Since it was cloudy most of the time and the surf was pretty rough (or so I'm told), we watched movies, went go-carting and I got to read some of my book (currently The Iliad). Archi and I also hit the outlet mall and I learned something new for me, which I'll have to keep in mind as a soon-to-be homeowner: fiscal restraint. They had an Off-5th (Saks' outlet store), and I had to walk out to keep from spending my money. I just kept thinking to myself, "Closing costs, closing costs......"

Posted by Kitty at 09:32 AM | Comments (2)

July 15, 2004

Negotiation

Monday afternoon I was tired, excited, a little nervous and ready to get the show on the road. We've been looking at houses for a month or two, and already I'm sick of it. As I mentioned in a previous post, the more I looked at houses, the more I liked the first house we saw. Archi-Sapper felt the same way. So we decided to go for it and make an offer on the house.

We met our realtor at the coffeeshop near his office. I was uncharacteristically late, as I had gotten sidetracked at the office. They were most of the way through their iced coffees by the time I arrived and saw them sitting on the front porch of the coffee shop. Our realtor suggested we walk through the house one more time and see if there were any conditions we wanted to put on our offer.

We headed over to the house, our realtor got the key and we let ourselves in. Archi-Sapper knows more than any human should about construction, so he studied every wall, corner, nook and cranny to find defects. Being the more technical of the two of us, I wandered through the rooms and thought about what colors I wanted to paint the walls. After about a half hour touring the property, I was about to sweat through my business suit, and begged them to leave so we could write out our offer back at the coffee shop -- back in civilization. Back in a place where the air conditioning was turned on.

We sat down with the forms and talked about the amount of our offer. I wanted to make a low-ball offer and negotiate our way back up. Archi didn't want to insult them with an offer that was too low, but like me, he also wanted to save money. We ended up making the lowest offer we could come up with that was still reasonable, and our agent said, "They won't take this. They'll probably make a counter-offer." That wasn't a problem with us, so we signed the offer and headed home.

Yesterday I went to the downtown branch of our bank -- you know, the place where the little old ladies get dressed up to go to when they need to do their banking? That place. After two hours, we were pre-approved for the loan. I am still floored than anyone is willing to loan us more than $10.

I trudged back through downtown to my office and tried to get some work done. By the end of the day, I had completely forgotten about the house, the meeting with the bank, the offer. . . everything. I forgot until Archi-Sapper called me.

He heard from our realtor.

They accepted our offer.

Posted by Kitty at 10:11 AM | Comments (8)

July 14, 2004

Toys

In a fun turn of events, my firm has just presented me with one of these. Let the e-mailing begin!

Posted by Kitty at 05:03 PM | Comments (3)

July 07, 2004

The Hunt

As Archi-Sapper mentioned on his blog the other day, we're house hunting. When we initially started the wild, weird journey I thought, "No big deal. I love shopping. This is just shopping for something a whole lot bigger than say, a pair of flip flops. Okay."

I'm going to have to retract those thoughts. A house is MUCH bigger than a flip flop.

We have signed up with an excellent local realtor who has been showing us houses. This is, of course, the fun part. This is akin to going to the mall to try on clothes, only without the salespeople trying to peek over your dressing room door to see how you're doing (does that happen to anyone else?), without the bad music played in each store and without having to find your car in the parking lot when it's all done. We're not planning on making any immediate offers at any of these houses, so no pressure. Right?

We saw one house that had a cat lurking outside, and when we walked inside, it became apparent that the cat had been living in the house. Alone. With no one to deoderize the house. Note to real estate agents who list houses: they're much easier to sell when they don't smell like wet cat.

We saw another house that had foundation problems. Most houses settle after a few years, and in southeast Louisiana, you expect quite a bit of movement beneath you. However, prior to selling a house, most people fix their foundation problems. Not this seller. I knew I couldn't move into that house because I would've been afraid to put our dog in the corner, for fear that she'd tumble paw over paw until she landed face first in the door. And if we're going to fix the house's foundation, we're not fixing the door.

We saw a couple of houses that weren't "fixer-uppers", they were "tear down and rebuild"-ers. If I'm going to build a house, I'll either buy an empty plot of land or consider buying a house to raze if it is dirt cheap. These weren't.

After looking at house after house, our favorite one is still the very first one we saw. We liked it when we walked in, and after seeing numerous houses which would undoubtedly propel us into some sort of protracted litigation at some point in the future (for brain damage to our dog, if nothing else), it looks even better.

Anybody have a lawnmower we can borrow?

Posted by Kitty at 05:52 PM | Comments (7)

July 05, 2004

Weighty Issues

Only in New Orleans is the lack of bathrooms in bars such a big issue that restrooms are now required in these establishments by city ordinance. My favorite line from the article: "The New Orleans Police Department is responsible for enforcing the law, and violations should be reported by calling the department's nonemergency line." I don't know about you, but when nature calls, I'd classify that as an emergency.

Posted by Kitty at 06:41 PM | Comments (2)

July 02, 2004

Cheddar X

1. What was the best thing that happened to you this week? The worst?
Best: Tie between going to lunch with the law clerks at Pancho's Mexican Buffet (the food was disgusting, but the company was great) and having dinner with Archi-Sapper and boss at her house last night. Worst: Working until 9:00 p.m. Tuesday night. No thank you.

2. What's the best thing someone's done for you (recently or not so recently)? What's the worst thing someone's done to you (again, recently or not so recently)?
Best: Again, a tie between giving me a job when no one else wanted to employ me and all of the supportive things Archi-Sapper has done for me. Worst: two words: high school.

3. What's the best thing about your job? Worst?
Best: the funny people. Worst: Stupid decisions made by management.

4. What's the best new website you've found? Worst?
Best: Reality Blurred (a blog of reality shows). Worst: The website of Odin Soli, the mastermind behind the Plain Layne hoax.

5. What's the best book you've read? Worst?
Best ever: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Worst: A book I read in junior high by Drew Barrymore about her life story (gimme a break, it was junior high).

6. What's the best movie you've seen? Worst?
Best: High Fidelity. Worst: Ishtar.

7. What's the best meal you've had? Worst?
Best: Tie between meals at Jacq-Imo's in New Orleans and at K-Paul in New Orleans. Worst: Dinner at Ye Olde College Inn in New Orleans (the restaurant was populated with senior citizens, and the waitress refused to bring us anything we asked for but doted over the seniors. It must've been reverse age discrimination).

8. What's the best holiday? Worst?
Best: Thanksgiving. All that food and no gifts to wrap. Worst: Valentine's Day.

9. What's the best thing in your future? Worst?
Best: happiness. Worst: more work.

10. What's the best quote you know? Worst?
Best: Adults are children who owe money. Worst: "They can't suspend all seven of us!" (this stated by seven high school seniors prior to a senior year prank which did result in seven suspensions)

11. What's your best word? Worst word?
Best: meow. Worst: woof.

Posted by Kitty at 04:33 PM | Comments (2)