Whiter the Blog Goeth. . .

Well, what can I say?  I haven't been blogging.   It's been so long, the TypePad interface has completely changed from the last time I logged in.

And the reason I'm back?  Oh, a combination of guilt and boredom, I'd say.  The guilt comes from a co-worker who noted I was not blogging, whereas the boredom comes from life in general.

It's not really boredom though - it's sort of part burn-out, part learning-curve at work, part actually-doing-stuff.  But even with all this activity, In the ven diagram of my life and the blogging world, there's very little overlap right now. 

Professionally, there's not much to blog about since felony cases tend to stretch out for awhile.  So I'd rather not talk about the research I'm doing, or interesting things I've come across on open cases.  Then again, a huge part of that (as in Juive) is just unbloggable because of client confidentiality.  In terms of "reportage," which comprised a lot of my county blogging (i.e., things on the court record I can talk about) a lot of my felony cases plea out.  I tend to get very good results for my clients.  But blogging about it. . .kinda weird, possibly boring.  I also don't really want to write a lot about the caseload litigation, or about my typical "day" in the office, lest I be called as a witness or quoted or cited or something - and dealing with that would just completely hamper my already sadly overburdened practice.

Poetically, the wells been kind of dry lately.  It happens.  It could overflow at anytime, and, because I'm feeling, eh, kind of aware of it, that anytime should be soon.  I did have a good recent run of poetry, only one of which got posted to the blog.  It's complicated.  Sometimes the poems aren't really written for the general reader - they're written to a specific person or to myself.  I don't really share a lot of those here.  However, I may be doing some recording with a musician down here, which'll be fun.  I've often done this and it's always quite cool whatever happens.

Personally, I lead a somewhat boring life, one mostly eaten by the job.  I don't cook as much as I used to, bike as much, or get out as much.  This has led to a general dissatisfaction, to say nothing of the lack of blogging topics.  I'm not sure if it's Miami, or my job, or me, or all.  I do need to change something though.  I don't want to take the past six months and repeat them 10 more times.  Should I stay?  Should I go?  Eh.  I'll take a few bars and see what my options are - as of this moment I am not in full flight mode.

There's also been assorted unbloggable drama recently.  I feel like I've taken on a lot of problems (not mine) and have done well with them.  Again, unfortunately for blogging purposes, the details are not mine to share.  (Although I note it here for my own bad memory.)

So, what can I talk about?

Well, I had my first Felony trial recently.  Client was charged with Battery on a L.E.O. and Resisting With Violence, both thrid degree felonies.  I second chaired it, but did the voir dire, one cross (minimal) and the close.  The client was found guilty of the lesser-included misdemeanor charge of Resisting Without Violence, for which they were put on probation.  Yea!  That's clearly a victory in PD parlance.  No felony conviction, no loss of civil rights, no hideous collateral consequences for employment, immigration, child custody, no jail time, no prison time, and so on. 

I also had two County Court convictions overturned since I've been in Felonies.  Which is niiiiiice.  So far I'm 2 for 2.  One guy got an automatic JOA on remand (basically the trial court must find him not guilty.)  I felt so bad for him when we went to trial and lost; the details are kind of sadly pathetic.  Basically wrong place, wrong time - and he was there because he was trying to find his emotionally/mentally impaired brother who had wandered away from home.  Here's the weird thing though - my life has been so work hectic that I wasn't sure I went on the trial, or if I had just been there in court for it, and had given up my spot to an intern or something (which I did a few times).  So I pulled the transcript from appeals and sure enough, I was on the trial.  It's weird reading a voir dire you've done within the past year, while having almost no memory of it.  Some things I read and felt elated in a  "Cool - I did that? That's awesome!"  way.  Other choice bits provoked a response more like, "Oh. I really *am* a fucking idiot, aren't I?"

I have a few more pending from County and Juvie.  I've checked in on their progress and would be tempted to just take one and write it myself, but for how little time I have.

I've gotten on the bicycle again (mostly Sheldon Bike) and promptly almost gave myself heat stroke or something like it.  There was a 30 min feet up eating sugar and drinking water phase in the last ride.  After that though, I finished strong - so go figure.  Overall, I think I lost less than I feared I did. 

My reading life is weak.  I read Hyperion, and liked it quite a bit.  Other than that I've re-read some staples in the past few months.  I need to hit up the library and get some new stuff in my head.

There have been good hang out times also - not so much visitors, but the cast of locals I know.  In some ways I think I have actually become the TLF (who is in NYC now, and doing very well).  I lack a sidekick (role filled by myself previously) for my odd travels though.  And there are plenty of oddities in FL. 

Speaking of the TLF, in assorted Blog Character News, The Mayor has gone private, and is kicking ass.  The CAnarchist continues to be my opposite number on the West Coast - at least as far as our penchant for making obscure constitutional arguments (Appeals - are you listening?!?)  The James Bond Watch visited a few times, and our usual fun drinking/geeky law evenings were had. 

The thing that's taken up the most of my "tapped-out-want-to-be-alone-but-cant-sleep" time is the new motorcycle.  I picked up a $100 craigs list bike for parts.  She's the same year and model as Bess, so I figured I'd have a good source of replacements should I need them.  I ended up deciding that the parts bike could be restored, and resolved to do so in my usual DIY fashion of workarounds and whatnots.  Finding the title (via the owners) was accomplished with the help of a private detective friend.  Everything else was me.  I have only a handful of things left to do, but she'd be road rideable right now if I wanted to take her out.  Plus she does not have a name yet, which is dreadfully unlucky. 

I loved working on her and learned a lot, but I'm glad it's more or less done.  I need to put in a couple of "ride the bicycle to an obscure park with a book and a flask of wine" afternoons to get my balance back.  I'm actually temped to disappear for a bit, as I feel kind of pushy and pushed and unchill in general.  Sigh.  I'm sure it'll all sort itself out.  As it always does.  

But anyway, this is the Final version of the new bike.  Name suggestions welcomed!:

Comments

[Joe]

sounds like you've been really, really busy!

[gudnuff]

I'm quite curious about this: Did you really mean to say "Whiter" in the post title? (I'm thinkin' you were aiming for "Whither"...yes?)

[Scoplaw]

LOL. My spelling is appalling. As you know if you'd read the blog. But the new bike is white, so I'll leave it.

[Shana Patricia Ryan]

Juan Odin Sanchez is the only appropriate name for that bike. That's a bit mouthy for a motorcycle so you can shorten it to Jos.

xxx
Shana