Now that the Supreme Court has reminded Bush/Ashcroft et al that those pesky constitutional due process rights apply even to suspected terrorists, nice to see a New York Times article documenting the treatment of one of the innocents (and I’m sure there are others) hauled into Shrub’s “new maximum security system of secret detention and secret hearings.”

I don’t want to get dressed. I don’t want to wear a tie. I don’t want to sit through a mediation (even though it is much preferred to sitting in my cube).

I want to go swimming. I want to block out the noises and focus on going faster and further. I want to get out of town for a while. So does Pongo.

Too many disappointments scrolling through the blog list the last few days. People taking time off. Bad for me, good for them, so who would I be to protest? Hasta luego.

That’s enough wallowing in my depression for a Tueday: go wish Mark a happy birthday. Now! Do it now!

READING, Pa. (AP) — Around the country, neighborhood pools and swim clubs are closing or just treading water. Among the reasons: Pools built for baby boomers 30, 40 and 50 years ago are showing their age and need costly repairs, and swimming is dropping in popularity because of air conditioning, changing lifestyles and competition from other activities.

Of course the term mismanagement doesn’t appear in the paragraph. I regularly used the city pool in Monterey when I worked there, and used the city pools occassionally here in San Diego. I would have used the city pools here much more but in the early stages of budget cuts they trimmed back the hours so much that they were pretty much guaranteed the pool would always be crowded. Great from a dollars per personhour perspective, lousy from a user perspective. Now that I’m not self-employed, there’s no way to make my schedule match theirs, and on the rare occassions a mental health day lets me partake of the therapeutic benefits of the pool, it seemed like they were always hosting some special event.

The city pools here are great, but access requires compatible schedules, so I bit the bullet and joined a private gym that happened to have a lap pool open twenty-four hours a day. The cost to me is more, but since I get to use the pool without having to worry about when the water aerobics or junior swimmers are scheduled I actually swim more.

Not entirely sure where I’m going with this. I guess the point of this was to point out that maybe instead of blaming external factors, maybe some municipalities should take a harder look at how they run their business, or why they’re in business in the first place. Or maybe it was just a change to do a swimming post – we haven’t had one of those in a long time.

Nope, there’s nothing here, but go watch Osama bin Lotto. [via Sean Bonner]

Stop and rest a moment. Scratch the puppy if he lets you. This is just a brief intermission while we think of something witty.

This list of the 100 most banned books was over on a post over at Sardonic Bomb this afternoon. I’ll have to admit I’m curious why some of them are there. Regardless, I’m probably more ashamed that I’ve only read twelve of the hundred, and only two of the fifty most banned than I am for actually having read any of the works listed. Looks like I’ve got my summer beach reading cut out for me.

Read on if you want to see what’s been corrupting my mind over the years. Those I’ve read are in bold, and although I’ve seen film versions of a number of the others, I’m not going to give myself the credit until I’ve been subjected to the original author’s unadulterated bad influences.
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Not sure if I should be upset at the unreasonably long line for lanes at my gym’s lap pool this afternoon, or grateful for a chance to chill and listen to Joshua Bell’s Kreisler Album on the iPod while working on the tanlines guilt-free.

Sorry if I haven’t been here much. At least Pongo’s been trying to fill in for me. In short, too many different things have been pulling me in too many different directions. Things are slipping and the juggled balls are crashing here and there. I really need to end the law practice so I can focus on the new job and my health, not to mention eliminate the overhead costs, but it hasn’t happened yet. A word of advice to aspiring solo practitioners – don’t, or at least have an exit strategy if possible in your jurisdiction. You will want a way to ethically kick the clients off a cliff withdraw from pending matters when you decide to quit. The reason for quitting may be illness, it may be relocation, it may be retirement, it may be a job with an actual regular paycheck, but you will need a way out without commiting malpractice and getting the bar all pissy. I certainly never thought that four months after deciding to get out of the business I’d still be having to coddle private clients on top of everything else.

The appointment with BorgHealth on Wednesday went less well then expected. No bad news, just no news at all. Instead of speaking with a doctor it was a half-day of getting tested by drones with promises that a doctor will answer my questions during the follow-up visit. Excuse, but how can they figure out what to test for if I don’t get to talk about problems and issues? I should have checked more ‘stress’-related issue boxes on their silly questionaire. I should stop venting and find someone willing to play outside with me on a beautiful Saturday, #$% the pending pile. I should be curled up in the shade licking myself like Pongo, the zen puppy. If only I’d done more yoga over the years.

German researchers have found a border collie named Rico who understands more than 200 words and can learn new ones as quickly as many children.

Leave it to the europeans to go bragging about little things. Two hundred words? C’mon. We all understand way more than that. I can understand three languages (English, French and that african tribal thing the houseboy spoke when I was a puppy), and yes, I do understand when the big guy spells things out. b-e-a-c-h means sand and dead animals. See – I spell just fine.

The key issue is not understanding, but obedience. As even a two-year-old human could tell you if they wanted to, feigning ignorance is one of the most powerful bargaining tools around. Why should I acknowledge some silly word like ‘sit’ when I know that a little ignorance will get me a treat before I sit?

Busy weekend, but it felt very good, not tiring at all. Then today was also very busy. I spent the full day at the office (unusual since I’m supposed to be doing field work, not just because I’m a slacker), came home for some law work, e-mails and Pongo time, and then went to the gym for some pool and sauna time. But remarkably I’m feeling good. I’m in court tomorrow, and Wednesday the drones of BorgHealth get to do their alien-probe routine on me, but things actually feel good. There are too many things going right for the little things to stress me out as much as they did not too long ago.