Big plans to spend New Year’s Eve drinking lots of beverages, taking lots of drugs, and rolling around with a furry beast wearing only a little collar (the furry beast, not me) would sound a lot kinkier if I wasn’t sick and looking to cuddle up with the dog for warmth. Happy New Year’s everyone.

Great plans to use the traditional lull around Christmas to catch up on filing and cleaning and organizing and prepping the books for the end of the year have fallen by the wayside due to actual work. Way too much litigation is in the portfolio now, especially for a solo who still needs naps on many afternoons, but it pays the bills and keep the long-term clients happy (and not thinking about talking to other lawyers ‘just until you’re through the radiation‘). A few clients know about the cancer (the list is very similar to the list of clients who know about Howling Point), but after seeing their initial reactions, I realized full disclosure wasn’t the way to go. They’ve been very, very, supportive and positive, but way too willing to defer the paying work that I need to pay BorgHealth (and many, many others). So I stopped telling client-type people. No outright lies, mostly because no one directly says ‘you look like you’re being nuked from the inside out – what’s going on?‘ but a lot of vague answers when people say I look tired or they ask if I can do an afternoon meeting. Between diplomacy, law enforcement and law, I can duck a question like you wouldn’t believe. Also, some changes over at beachlaw have eaten into my time. My posts over there are becoming more regular, both in the news/blog and the forum, as I pay more attention to the site from the business standpoint. It hasn’t hurt that state politics are getting back to issues other than the recall. If you’re interested in coastal access and beach use issues, drop in, post something in the forums, and click on an advertiser or twelve. Plans to offer CLE over there are still in the works but the timetable was pushed out the window when the medical issues started eating up time. There will be more there soon, though, very soon.

The European Union’s little martian lander, Beagle, is missing. It did not call in when it arrived where it was supposed to be. If found, it will be scolded quite soundly and then grounded for a long, long time.

There has been no reporting on the cause of the failure, but according to sources in the intelligence community speaking under the influence of various intoxicants there is reportedly no evidence whatsoever that it was brought down by al-Quaida shoulder-fired missiles as it approached the martian surface. Furthermore there is reportedly no evidence that Martian leader Marvin is harboring al-Quaida fugitives at Utopia Planetia. Historians note that Marvin has claimed to possess weapons of mass destruction at various times during his reign. I’m sorry to digress into this area of unsupported non-statements and historical trivia, but given our national priorities this is the only way I’ll see a manned mission to Mars in my lifetime.

I’ve been out of the water too long lately. Too much work, too many biological and radiological problems, and some generally inclement weather. Well, Christmas Eve is not a work day (allthough I may return some phone calls), and I’ve been feeling pretty good the last few days. As for the inclement weather, some of you will just call me a wuss or a pussy, but I’m a native Californian, and 51 degrees is chilly. But since that was the last object, I braved the winter chill and did some laps this morning. The muscles hurt in all the right places and the zen of moving through the water in isolation from all the wannabe distractions was good. No, it was really good. The only real downside was zipping through that 51 degree air from the pool to the hot tub. But the laps felt great and the hot tub’s jets were hitting all the right places. Now, having had my zen moment for the morning, greetings for all of you: thanks for visiting and keeping this a fun place for Pongo and I to play this past year. We hope you and yours have the best possible holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas is coming. The jolly red elf is about to break and enter and sometime before dawn Rudolph (he of red-nosed fame) will prance or gallup or whatever into Pongo’s annual reindeer ambush. Candy canes are lined up on the bookshelf above the desk and the wrappers of their dearly departed comrades litter the floor about my stocking-clad feet.

But this holiday season an old red is back. Older than Christmas. It’s our old buddy Mars. The Beagle 2, launched from the ESA’s Mars Espress, is due to land on the red planet on Christmas day for the Europeans (Christmas Eve here in the New World). Two american spacecraft will follow in January.

What a cool gift.

Despite a few mutant flu viruses trying to hang out for the holidays, I made it out with the parents last night to see Dickens’ Christmas Carol at the San Diego Rep. Great performance of a classic story by some really exceptional people.

[On the subject of theater, a quick reminder that the best theater-blogger in the business changes domains on 12/26. Go say Merry Christmas to Micky here today and there after the 26th.]

But, back to the holiday spirit, I enjoyed this little bit from PNC Bank on the Christmas Price Index [via The Bradlands]. Very glad to see the price on gold rings is down this year, even if I’d still prefer something in a tasteful silver, and disappointed that the Lords’ wages aren’t increasing at the same rate as those of the various entertainers’ (Dancing ladies, pipers and drummers).

Am I dead? No. Just been distracted by some experiments with nuclear biology a bit.

Research question: What happens when the radioactive thingees in the prostate meet the flu virus?

Experiment: Expose Chuck to the flu virus and see what happens.

Results: Projectile vomiting that makes Linda Blair look like an amateur. Especially in the later stages when the lab rat has tried to rehydrate with Gatorade. So many colors.

Obviously there’s a reason Chuck’s a lawyer and not a scientist. This goes way beyond his inability to do basic math. First, one should never, ever do these kinds of experiments on their own person. Second, one should never be the lab rat of these experiments during the holiday season, although a case could be made for doing this in the spring right before beach season. Want to drop ten pounds in ten hours? Ask me how?

Aside from some unfortunately burning sensations indicating I ate somethingthat tasted good that I shouldn’t have, life is going good. No unfortunate snow like this blogger here. Just sunny weather. Besides, I’ve seen snow before. Now it’s just a case of been there; done that. The whole ‘white christmas’ concept is really overrated.

Had a wonderful drive up the coast yesterday, with a good lunch, a bit of shopping and some great company. Nice blue skies and windows down on the truck for that fresh air smell. Just like winter should be.

For the most part I’m enjoying a guilt-free weekend. Even with the napping schedule I worked a lot last week, both on law and beachlaw stuff. The only thing that really slacked off was the swimming, but I’ll get back to that soon enough. Manana.

Finally feeling comfortable enough with PHP and image manipulation to set up an archive for the 1000 Words pictures (10,000 words). The entries are in a separate Moveable Type blog and the thumbs are generated on the fly by the server via the magic of PHP so I don’t have to commit to a thumbnail size when I upload the picture (or ever, for that matter). I like not having to commit. It works for me, at least for now.

It’s been a very long day lawyering (Or is it ‘attorneying’? ‘Soliciting’ definitely doesn’t work, not if I want to keep my license). Pushing papers, playing phone tag, taking meetings, etc. I’m exhausted. I should go to sleep early tonight. I haven’t swam since last week because I was starting to get a cold and I don’t want to get sick(er). Since my health is important to me, and I need to stay healthy to keep working and paying BorgHealth their blood money, what will I be doing tonight?
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