September 29, 2004

Blue Collar TV

Last night Archi-Sapper and I had a new experience -- we got to watch the taping of a television show. A friend of ours e-mailed me last week and said he'd snagged three tickets to a taping of Blue Collar TV at the House of Blues. I've not been a huge fan of the show (though I do like Jeff Foxworthy), but Drew Carey was the guest star, and I do like him (I'm a big fan of his show Whose Line Is It Anyway).

There were two tapings last night, one at 6:00 and one at 10:00. We attended the 6:00 taping (10:00 tapings are past my bedtime on a school night). The guys recorded a few skits live in front of us, and in between skits we watched pre-recorded skits on the closed circuit t.v.'s. It was all well done, though watching the same skits more than once was a bit tiring. My favorite skit was a spoof of The Phantom of the Opera, where they had someone pretending to be Dolly Parton singing and one of the cast members was the Phantom of the Grand Ole Opry. There was also a cute spoof of The Apprentice.

The episode is supposed to air on the WB network next Thursday night. Don't look for me or Archi in the crowd, though. We were upstairs and towards the back of the loft, so we didn't make it on screen. We did, however, make it to a nice after-show dinner at the HOB restaurant.

Posted by Kitty at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)

September 27, 2004

Space Travel

This article explains how Virgin Airlines plans to introduce commercial space flights.

This could take my fear of flying to a whole new level.

Posted by Kitty at 12:17 PM | Comments (3)

September 24, 2004

Interviews Redux

I wrote a post last year about doing on campus interviewing for a local law school and the hilarity that ensued. For non-lawyers, on campus interviewing (informally known as OCI) is a process where law firms send a couple of lawyers onto the school's campus to interview law students for summer clerkship positions at their firms. Some students actually do get summer jobs through this process (though when I was in law school I never did) and it is a nation-wide rite of passage.

This year, the school that enrolls the students I interviewed asked us to conduct on campus interviews off campus because their facilities are currently under construction. This was a wonderful turn of events for those of us doing the interviewing, who only had to run into another office to conduct an interview instead of across town, and could get some work done in between interviews.

I interviewed with a male partner who I didn't really know very well until yesterday. He's a great guy and we made a good interviewing team. We interviewed five people throughout the day, and the sixth candidate was our last, arriving at 4:00 p.m.

I read the candidate's resume and it was excellent. She is in the top 5% of her class, has travelled the world and done some really interesting stuff. When she entered the office where we were holding the interviews, I nearly fell out of my chair.

She was wearing a seersucker suit which had white and green pin stripes. The suit didn't fit very well, but for that, she can be forgiven. Underneath the suit (which was too casual for a job interview) she wore a pink negligee. No, I'm not joking. No blouse, just a negligee. It was pink silk with lace across the top and spaghetti straps. It perfectly matched her lipstick. She wore no pantyhose and shoes that matched neither the ill-fitting suit nor the negligee.

It should be clear by now that I work for a defense firm. Defense firms generally are known for being conservative. If I were going to interview at one (and indeed, I've interviewed at many), I would err on the side of being too conservative. Not this woman. The guy who interviewed with me kept looking at me, looking at the floor and looking at the ceiling -- anywhere but at her. Note: if the interviewer can't even look at you during the interview, it isn't going well.

I am absolutely floored that anyone would consider wearing their underwear in plain view during a job interview of any sort, much less one to practice law at a large defense firm. After she left, the other interviewer and I were talking and I said, "Was it my imagination, or was she wearing a negligee and no stockings?" and he said, "I didn't notice the lack of stockings. I was trying too hard not to look at her negligee."

Posted by Kitty at 09:58 AM | Comments (1)

September 21, 2004

Ennui

Here I sit, on another telephone deposition. The folks who are running the show are in southern California. I am sitting at my desk, on a muted speakerphone, eating the candy my secretary just brought me and listening to this nonsense while I read blogs. The deponent is a pulmonologist -- not the most exciting creature life has to offer. He's a bright guy and is much easier to stomach today than he normally is when he testifies, since today he has not once referred to himself as a "world renowned physician" (he really has said that before).

The deposition I'm on today is similar to many I've been on before, and the deponent tends to say the same things every time. Thus, I have a deposition plan now. This is my telephone deposition drill: I dial in, make my appearance on the record and make chit chat with the lawyers on the line, press the mute button, start a summary and begin surfing the internet until something comes up on the deposition that need my attention, at which point I punch the mute button, chime in, punch the button again and go back into blog catatonia.

I don't claim to be the great American blogger. I'm hardly an A-lister, and have no claims to become one. Nevertheless, having blogged for over a year, I've decided I have enough experience to gripe about other blogs that get on my nerves. Here goes:

1. Law school blogs:
Why are there so many bloggers who are law students? Is it because they have so much free time? Is it because they like to write? Is it because they like to whine? After trolling for new reads on Blogspot, I've found more than one blog containing some version of the following, "Law review is so haaarrrrdd." If you're on law review, you're likely to graduate and step into a six figure a year job (or soon to be six figures a year), so I don't want to hear it. Although there are some law school blogs that are good (Mixtape Marathon comes to mind), most suck.

2. Overly-specialized blogs
Although these obviously appeal to small fragments of the population, I can't really get into a blog about bird watching, politics (I'm referring to blogs that only discuss politics and nothing else), religion, basket weaving, etc. This calls to mind a quote I recently heard (and I really don't remember where I heard it or I would cite the source, I swear) about NPR. NPR is really great, except when they decide to air 12 minute stories about a new combination of a tomato and a kumquat: who cares?

3. "Deep" blogs
If you haven't seen one of these, count yourself lucky. These are painfully awful blogs that only serve as a medium for the writer to emote about senseless drivel: why we don't have world peace, why all their "friends" don't realize they're a misunderstood genius, why their dog walks out of the room when they walk in, etc. Enough. To quote Elaine on Seinfeld, I can't take any more gentle sobbing.

4. Biologs
I call these biologs for lack of a better term. These are blogs where the blogger writes ad nauseaum about every detail of their lives. Do I blog about my life? Sure. Do I write about my life to the exclusion of anything else? Um, no. All bloggers (primarily those under the age of 20) who write blogs which contain lists or run-on excruciatingly boring paragraphs detailing every phone conversation had, e-mail sent, letter read, t.v. show watched, fight had and/or meal eaten should be beaten, stabbed and trampeled. Survivors should be prosecuted.

I'd better get back to this deposition. I might have to hit the mute button soon.

Posted by Kitty at 05:04 PM | Comments (4)

September 19, 2004

Odds and Ends

I can't figure out how Nola always gets lucky on these things (though it wasn't so lucky when Betsy paid a visit), but we were happily spared the wrath of Ivan. Archi-Sapper and I evacuated to Houston and spent a few days in my grandmother's condo. I love my grandmother, I really do, but she's losing it. I suppose when you're 78, you're allowed to be forgetful. There were a few amusing moments in the land of memory loss, however.

On Wednesday we decided to get ice cream as an afternoon snack. My grandmother helpfully wanted to go buy a gallon at the grocery store, but neither Archi nor I wanted that because neither of us wants to eat a gallon of ice cream. So we suggested finding a Baskin Robbins. Sweet grandmother looked them up in the phone book, and then called ahead to let them know we were coming. I'm sure the folks at Baskin Robbins were grateful for the heads up. Before leaving, she was excited because she found some gift certificates to Baskin Robbins and insisted that we had to use them. Fine, no problem.

We hopped in the car and zipped over there, only to have grandmother spend ten minutes worrying because she can no longer consume dairy products and needed to find a gelato or ice that she could eat. Mind you, they only had three flavors in the ices, but she had to pick the right one. We finally got all of our ice cream, and then she produced the gift certificates. I said, "No, really, let us buy this. It isn't going to break our bank and we'd like to do it." After she insisted on paying, I picked up the gift certificates and pointed out to her that they were actually for Marble Slab, and probably expired two years ago.

Duly flustered, I escorted her to the tables and chairs to have a seat. While sitting and eating the ice cream and reviewing the errant gift certificates for where she could've gone wrong with this whole ice cream buying gig, she looked at the birthday card they came in and read the message from the person who gave them to her, which was signed by someone named Steve. She looked at me and said, "Who's Steve?"

Needless to say, as much as I love her, I'm glad to be back in the land of people who are able to make decisions and remember (most) things. My biggest concern now is my eyesight. This morning (okay, it was afternoon) after I woke up I was rinsing my contact lenses and, since they're not made by Black & Decker, I managed to tear one of them. This wouldn't be an issue, but it was my last pair of contacts and my next eye doctor's appointment isn't scheduled until one week from Monday (the soonest he could fit me in). It normally takes one to two months to get my contacts ordered and in, since I wear astigmatic lenses and they have be special ordered. The good thing about this is that I actually see better out of my glasses than my contacts. I am convinced, after years of road-testing contacts, that even the astigmatic lenses don't correct an astigmatism better than glasses. The downside to all of this is that, well, I have to wear glasses. Archi-Sapper thinks they make me look cute, though, God bless him. I'm glad he likes them because this is going to be my "look" until October.

Posted by Kitty at 01:39 PM | Comments (3)

September 13, 2004

Down at the Twist & Shout

They got a alligator stew and a crawfish pie
A golf storm blowin’ into town tonight
Livin on the delta’s quite a show
They got hurricane parties every time it blows

I like Mary Chapin Carpenter and all, but she's got to be kidding if she thinks New Orleanians have hurricane parties. Currently, Hurrican Ivan is eyeing the Gulf Coast and most everyone I know is obsessively watching the Weather Channel for updates and waiting for the local news stations to roll out poor Nash Roberts, our nearly-dead hurricane expert (anyone who lives in New Orleans knows you don't have to start worrying about a hurricane until you turn on the t.v. and see Nash).

I can't give anyone around here a hard time about the weather watching, since anyone who knows me knows how much of a Weather Channel freak I am, rain or shine. My question is this: when is weather forecasting going to improve? They've been saying for the past week that Hurricane Ivan is going to make a turn toward the north and march toward Florida, and so far, all it has done is march west/northwest -- straight toward Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama. I am no meteorologist, but even I can look at the map and see where this thing is headed.

Tomorrow, I'm packing up my bags, my husband and my dog and heading for safer climes. Folks around here are going to have to have a hurricane party without me.

Posted by Kitty at 12:54 PM | Comments (4)

September 08, 2004

Anniversary Cheddar

I had two anniversaries on Saturday but only remembered one. The one I remembered was my fifth wedding anniversary to Archi-Sapper (hooray! We're five!) We had a very nice dinner and watched the end of the LSU game. Romantic stuff.

The second anniversary, which I forgot, was of this blog. I can't believe I've been rambling aimlessly in cyberspace for a year now. Time flies.

And now for some Cheddar X:

1. Who's your favorite superhero?
Mighty Mouse (although Wonder Woman comes a close second. She would've come in first had I been allowed to wear Wonder Woman underoos as a child, as I requested. My request may have been denied because I always called her "Wonder Wonam", and it's possible no one knew what I meant).

2. Who's your favorite villain?
Snideley Whiplash. Love the 'stache.

3. What was your last brush with greatness?
I'm drawing a blank here.

4. Who is the last celebrity you've seen in public?
Although lots of celebs have homes in New Orleans, I can't say I've seen any of them. Guess they don't hang out at law firms.

5. What's the most important event on your horizon?
My horizon is pretty limited at the moment (I try not to plan things too far in advance). Right now, I'm thinking going home and changing clothes looks promising.

6. What did you think of Bush's speech last night?
I didn't watch Bush's speech. Although, he might qualify as one of my favorite villains....

Posted by Kitty at 12:42 PM | Comments (4)

September 02, 2004

Living in Triage

We're about 95% moved in. Appliances made it, furniture made it (thanks to the movers) and we're only missing a few boxes and "Rusty", Archi-Sapper's 1976 JMC pickup truck, complete with shag carpeting in the floorboard. If it were up to me, Rusty would be heading to the Pep Boys in the sky, but it ain't up to me. Rusty has a lot of sentimental value for Archi, and I get that. He puts up with my Hello Kitty collection.

That said, our new house looks like a refugee camp. It is filled with brown cardboard boxes and trash bags. Although the boxes are labeled, they only have one word titles stating what room they go in, so you really don't know what you're gonna get until you open them. I found a trash bag full of clean underwear two days ago and thought I'd hit the jackpot. Now, if I could just find more than two pairs of shoes.......I've basically boiled my life down to the basics, and spend my evenings trying to find the things I absolutely need: deoderant, toothpaste, black shoes (which go with most anything), house keys, cute purses......

I am happy to report that, speaking of necessities, the high speed internet was installed this morning (requiring me to stay here until noon while the cable/phone/internet guy drilled holes in our walls and the dog growled at him). I think the plan for this weekend is to keep unpacking and finish up the necessities (i.e. getting a mailbox and some more blinds over all the windows).

And yes, Pylorns, there is room for you and MJ to stay the next time you're in town. You'll get your own beds and everything! (we don't need you two sharing beds. That would come to no good end).

We finally came to grips with the fact that we're now an old married couple. We spent last Friday night at Lowe's shopping for appliances. One Lowe's card and two hours later, and we're officially homeowners.

Posted by Kitty at 09:00 PM | Comments (6)

September 01, 2004

Public Radio

Do you miss Bob Edwards? Soon, you won't have to. Subscribers to XM Satellite Radio will be able to listen to him again starting October 4. Public radio is the one thing XM has been lacking. Now I'll never have a reason to listen to local radio again.

Posted by Kitty at 01:26 PM | Comments (1)