Overjoyed...

I think for all of us, there are songs, for whatever reason, that really ring true. It's not necessarily a direct connection with the music or lyrics, but something in a song's delivery and mood that captures something not just about the artist, but us.

To me, that's what art is about. Like an indescribable connection to a painting. For instance, do we even know who the Mona Lisa was? Or what her relationship to DaVinci was? Or what he was thinking when he painted that? But who hasn't been moved by that smile, those half-lidded eyes? And who can really explain why? A song can do that too.

For me, Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed," is such a song. I've been listening to it a lot. There's a dreamy melancholy to it that I think captures something about me. And how I relate to the world.

Find it. And give it a listen.

As long as it's Funk-ee!

This is Casimir Funke. The first man to posit the existence of "vitamines".

Obviously a brilliant guy. Like all us Poles.

Ahem.

Madera Canyon, Kent's Spring Trail

This is where I went this morning. Madera Canyon is what ecologists call a mountain island, basically one ecosystem completely surrounded by another. In this case, coniferous forest, surrounded by high desert. Take a look. Click on the images for a larger picture.


This is on the way. You have to go through Green Valley to get there. Someday, I'll put up a post about that weird little burg, but for now, let's get to the hike!






I was hoping to see wildlife, but yipe! That's a cougar track. And a big one. This print was the size of my palm. These tracks were mixed into the tracks of someone's big ass dog. And a horse. And a couple of people. Anyway...



These are the views after a quick scramble up. To the left of this you can see the bright blue ponds of the copper mines. Or, as I refer to them, "the big fucking mistakes." Ahem.

It was really cold by the way. Luckily, I had a Pendleton and a hat in the car. Phew!




Our hero. Note the snow. Do I look rakish and devil-may-care?
I've always wanted to look devil-may care!





Did I mention the snow?
The path up to the ridge was really icy. More than some people would care for.













What can I say about the pic to the right? It's a beautiful place. It was a great walk.







Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? Sometimes, in the woods, I get that feeling. If you look past me almost at the top of the path, you can see the spot where I slipped and fell flat on my ass.








This is the path on the way out. The whole trip is a total of six miles or so. The path back is a heck of a lot easier than the path up. Damn, but it was slippery.

I feel really, really bad because about a quarter mile before this, I ran into two chatty guys coming the other way. They asked me how it was further up and if they'd be okay wearing their sport shoes.

I sort of shrugged and said, "Well, you made it up here." Oops.

I hope they were all right. That part of the trail was pretty dicy.

FINIS

Bullshit by any other name...

I've been watching this documentary series on the Military Channel called "Alpha Company" about a group of Marines in Iraq. It's very well done.

What's annoying though, are all the ads aimed at recruiting new soldiers during the commercials. Most are aimed at parents, "You made them strong, we'll make them Army strong!"

I wonder what the ads would be like if they were really serious and accurate. Imagine an ad with a solemn looking colonel at a desk. Saying something like this, "If you let your son join the Army, we promise to return all the pieces of him that we can find."

Seriously, I hope there aren't people out there that buy this shit. I really, really hope not. I have a deep respect for anyone who wears the uniform. I think it's a viable career choice. But not while this crap is going on.

What a waste.

The Three Stooges...

My Uncle John. My Dad. And me.

The Ferrier men. There aren't many of us.

But we'll surprise you.

How about a nice big cup of shut the f@#$ up?

I get really tired of my colleagues in the profession. One of the things I get tired of are the circular phone calls. The sort I mean are where one lawyer comes up with a stack of figures/bills/etc., that they've been busily calculating for three hours then calls me up, downloads the information to me, and then insists that right then and there, I stipulate to whatever it is he/she wants. Then, should I have the nerve to say that I really need to review my own file and make sure the numbers being shouted meet with mine, I get Petulant Whiny Lawyer in response who spends the next twenty minutes explaining how unbelievably unreasonable I am.

SHUT THE FUCK UP!!

And stop wasting my client's time with your closing argument jackass! Fine, we disagree. That's what hearings are for.

This is where older lawyers are a pleasure to deal with. I called up a guy the other day. Said, "This is the number I came up with." He asked me to fax the worksheet. I did. Then he faxed his. We reviewed and then had a five minute phone conversation. Done. No fuss. No muss.

That's what the practice should be like. To my mind anyway.

Speaking of eating...

It's been a long time since I've buried my face in a Navajo taco. Man, I love a good taco. I like the way the juice runs down your face when you really dig in.

Man, it might not be good for you. But it's good to you.

If you know what I mean. And some of you probably do.

Dogs don't lie...

Or talk. But no matter. This dog has the right idea. Skippy makes the best peanut butter. Super chunk specifically. Jif is okay. I'm all for being healthy, but natural peanut butter is simply a pain in the ass. Unless you enjoy carefully stirring the oil back into the peanuts. A horrible task. Or unless you need to spackle a wall. Then it comes in handy.

Chunky peanut butters are better than creamy. This is a fact, not opinion. So shut up.

Last, a word about low-fat brands. Don't bother. In my mind, a low-fat alternative should taste almost exactly the same as its high fat counterpart. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time. Like trying to replace crack with cup after cup of hot coffee. Sort of. Or near beer. Better to go cold turkey.

For Godssakes be a man!

I really love my kids...

But sometimes they drive me nuts.

I wish my ex-wife would feed them something other than hot dogs.

That would make it easier to feed them actual food. You know, the kind that I spend an hour cooking?

That would be nice.

It would be nice if my ex-wife would take one of our many conversations about this to heart and actually feed them something that doesn't come in a can, a box, or a microwavable tray.

That would make my life easier.

I'm a reasonable man.

Right?

Is that guy really our President?

Holy cow.

When you can't even get all your Republican buddies to stand up and applaud, you have serious issues.

So the President wants to focus on domestic issue? How about this?

My neighbor's son is in Iraq. I'd like it if he didn't get his brains blown out. How's that for a domestic issue? Asshole.

Is it really too much to ask that my president be smarter than I am? Really?

Not that the members of my own party are all that better. Although I did like James Webb's little "we will show the President the way" comment. Classic. As was him telling the president when jackass asked about his son in Iraq, "That's between me and my boy."

Man, when you can't get any love from Reagan's Secretary of the Navy, geez, it's time to leave the building.

Barak Obama's looking presidential. He's got a blue tie and everything. He even managed to adopt a solemn and fatherly tone last night. And, it looks like Hillary's finally made the complete transformation into the lovable, jive-talking robot we always knew she had inside her.

Why does my stomach hurt when I think about 2008? President McCain. Ow.

Just saw a hawk outside. Pigeons tremble.

God's dog

I saw two coyotes this morning at about Pima and Tucson. Just jogging along doing the things coyotes do.

I've always thought they were amazing animals. Sometimes, when I forget to close my back gate, they'll come jogging through my yard on the way who knows where from the alley. Often, I'll be out on the porch drinking coffee and they trot right past, close enough to touch.

I'm not sure what it says about me that coyotes don't find me threatening.

Hmm.

Blech...

I had a horrible, expensive meal last night.

There's this place called Fiorito's down the street that postures itself as an Italian bistro. My dad and I both ordered pasta pomodoro, a classic Italian dish, noodles with tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil. It should be a plate buzzing with vibrant flavor and colors. Especially when you're charged twelve dollars for it.

Instead, it was gummy and incredibly bland. Why oh why, isn't there an Italian place in this city that has some notion of how to cook pasta? Overcooked pasta is inexcusable in general. At an overpriced bistro, it should actually be punishable by death. Or by people going someplace else to eat. Ahem.

In any case, defeated by the pasta, I decided to have some of my daughters' pizza, thinking, "how can you really mess up hot cheese?" By using old, too old, canned tomatoes, that's how. Ewww. Even the four year old wanted none of it.

To top it off, we ordered dessert for the kids. It took twenty (20) minutes for a bowl of vanilla ice cream to arrive at the table.

I'm not sure what was going on. But I know I'm not going to try and find out.

Did you ever get the feeling...

That you should have sold Cadillacs for a living?

I do.

Sometimes.

Let's face it....

Plankton, is, by far, the best character on Spongebob Squarepants. I mean, come on, evil laughs, dreams of world domination, crazy, intensely diabolical plans, annnnnnnd, he's plankton.

To me, Plankton is a symbol. A reminder that no matter who we are, or how uni-celled, we all have that special thing inside of us that makes us capable of ruling the Earth with an iron fist.

God bless you Plankton.

Plug...

I love to cook. But most of what I enjoy eating, my two girls, age 7 and 4, do not. Hey kids! How about a big plate of carne adovada!

So I love this book. The recipes are super simple. And while the flavors are simple as well, the flavors are big. Among other things, it has the best recipe for a whole chicken I've ever had. And the recipe probably has five ingredients, including the chicken and some water.

If, like me, you have to cook for kids, but you still want meals that will please your adult palate, go for this without hesitation. You'll also save a ton of cash.

One caveat. These are not low-fat recipes. Some of them involve using prepackaged food. So if you're the type of overactive weirdo who can't stand it if your kid eats a Kraft single or a slice of white bread, this book is probably not for you. If however, you're someone I could stand talking to, buy it. Buy it now.

I said now!

A real alternative..

I have to admit, I like John Edwards for president. I was at the Volunteer Lawyers Program luncheon and he showed up, sua sponte to speak to us. He praised volunteerism as a virtue in lawyers and said a few things about the state of the world.

The point is, there were no tv cameras. No journalists at all. Just about a hundred lawyers eating lunch. And a mariachi band. Several local pols, notably local harpie Gabbie Giffords, tried to appear with him. And asked to bring the press. He flatly refused.

He came because those of us there cared about poor people. Like he does.

We could do worse. Hell, we already have.

Am I a threat to society?

Hmm. Maybe. Law, especially litigation, encourages some anti-social tendencies. Argument. Glee at other's misfortune. A desire to wade hip-deep in the blood of your enemy.

Not much separates me from your average gladiator in temperment. I see crap everyday that would have shocked me ten years ago. Hear stories and see people do things I would never have believed. Hear people's most inner secrets. Sometimes, I stop myself and realize that what I do, what I'm doing, has a profound effect on people's lives. Forever.

I'm starting to wonder how long it will be until someone, somewhere, with a longstanding grudge comes to blow my brains out for what I did to him/her, or what they perceive I did. For any lawyer will tell you, our lives and our careers are ruled by facts.

And the facts will reign.

Da news...

So Barak Obama (sp?) is running for president. File under yawn. Why should he be president? Other than the collective guilt of white America that is.

It's cold here today. Apparently, we have a streak of three nights below freezing. I believe it. It was cold as hell this morning.

My dad and uncle are coming into town for some car show. It'll be good to see them.

Another day at work. Another client is due to come in. That's good. Have a PI who volunteered to help with my Justice Project case coming in too. That's a good thing.

More later.

Some of the places I've been lately.

This is the Chiricahuas. Geez, but it was cold.
This is in Chaco Canyon. An amazing place. This is where I spent Thanksgiving. Cold, got a touch of frostbite one morning.
This is a tree on the way to Morenci. Apparently bowhunters like shooting arrows into it. A twisty road. Took me three hours to go 75 miles.



These are some of the places I've been lately. Ha!

Out of synch...

You know I find it odd that NPR was all atwitter about the supposed inappropriateness of the executions in Iraq. The implication seemed to be that Iraquis should have considered our feelings about MLK and his legacy and should have had more respect.

Hmm. I wonder if this means we'll stop dropping bombs during Ramadan. Or freaking out when a Congressman wants to be sworn in with a Koran. Doubt it somehow.

We'll just have to get used to it. We don't care what they think. And they, most emphatically, do not care what we think.

I'm comfortable with that.

Sooo....

Had an okay MLK holiday. I worked. Supposed to have three potential clients coming in. One actually showed up. But the one has a problem, has money, and I think I can help him. Should be a nice piece of business. And, handled right, should turn into the sort of business that's recurring. He runs a small business. Big businesses have been bullying him. It stops today.

Being a lawyer means you exist in a funny sort of duality. People come in with problems and sure, there's sympathy and empathy. But there's also a part of you that says, "Thank God. This case will be expensive!"

Not that I don't try to be cost effective. Certainly I do. A lot of things, most things can be handled with a phone call and a letter. And that's how they get handled. And you bill the client twenty-two fifty and move on.

But the sight of major litigation in the offing.... Well, it's the same feeling I imagine a Sioux scout felt when he crested a rise and saw the buffalo before him. All that meat. Freedom from want. Security for his family. Sure he respected and worshiped the buffalo. It didn't keep him from the slaughter.

Man, that was a bit dramatic. My blood's up. Suddenly I want a horse. And a lance.

I really need another computer for the girls. If only to stop the "Can I go to Bratz.com?" chatter. Driving me nuts.

In the last three months, I estimate that I have made 562 cheese sandwiches.

Tomorrow is another day. Huzzah!

Hard at Work?

So here I sit in my suit and tie, waiting for the clients to come in.

It's a beautiful day. Storm clouds on the horizon, moving fast toward the northeast.

Made machaca last night. Researched a Rule Of Family Law Procedure. I'm sitting here trying to upload a photo to the blog. It's taking an awfully long time.

Maybe I'll go out to lunch in a bit. Have a criminal client coming in soon. I like criminal work. It means I get to go to court!

Haven't even billed a smidge today. Maybe I should be worried, but I'm not.

Girls are good. I got some good hair dressing advice the other day and they actually looked somewhat presentable on the way out the door. The oldest has been spending a lot of time on Bratz.com. It's really pretty cute.

The working life...

Did about two hours of actual work today. Met with a really scared guy for a bit. Ate an onion bagel, with nothing on it. Enjoyed listening to Cash Rules Everything Around Me while sitting in my chair and doing a crossword puzzle on my desk.

This is the life of a lawyer.

I'm scared. But I'm happy to have my own business. Somehow, all the balls are the air. Don't know quite how.

I'm beginning to like my new job.

I finally feel like a lawyer again.