I was a fan of the Anne Rice books until the movies ruined the stories for me.  The Lost Boys is certainly one of my big-screen guilty pleasures.  I’ve always been a big fan of Buffy, though I never followed Angel when he went to his own series.  But I never got into Twilight, either in print or on screen.

We got the movie on Netflix, but I couldn’t get through it without falling asleep.  Spinner has the book, trying to read it this summer to prove his affinity for masochism better bond with his 10-year-old charges, but I’ve got no interest.

But my otherwise pathetic Monday was made when Mikerzz posted this video.

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Site maintenance is done, unless I’ve broken something that I haven’t noticed yet.  Now it’s time for Chuck maintenance.  A little swimming, a little tanning, and little reading.  Sundays rock.

There are code and files on the server here dating back to 2002, so I’m doing a little spring cleaning today.  Time to tidy up some code and get some consistency in the organization, such as it is. Apologies in advance for any temporary outages.

Procrastinating at the moment.  Got a big hearing this afternoon, but I’m not mentally dealing with it yet.  Focusing on my life once I’m past it.  Clean desk.  Significantly less family law stress.  Saturday.

I’ll be mostly alone this weekend since Spinner’s going to be with his M.Ed cohort.  May head out to Torrey Pines, since I haven’t been in forever and Spinner doesn’t normally like the cliffs.  If I survive this afternoon I’m going to need some sun and some sea water and a complete lack of cell phone reception, and that might just do it.

I’d seen a few of these photos around, but too many of the kids blogging (and Facebooking and Tweeting, etc), never learned how to do anything but steal an image and repost it.  Credit an artist?  No.  Cite the site where the work was found?  OMG NO!  Just put a photo in context with an accurate caption?  Huh?

Enough with the rant.  Maybe it’s yet another sign that I’m doing too much family law, but Fallen Princesses rocks.  Thanks to Soliloqueer for blogging it old school.

Pongo used to post here from time to time, using his special powers to telepathically move my fingers over the keyboard.

Diego’s never felt the need, but we did feel that he should have the opportunity to share his vacation experiences in his own way.

Still photography from the week is up in the galleries. It was a great vacation, and I’m still regretting listening to the pesky voice of financial reason and letting it end.

Still on vacation in Pismo, making a quick post while Spinner forages for breakfast.  Diego’s getting spoiled rotten with the long, leashless, walks on the beach.  This morning’s was a special treat though.

About halfway down the beach we stumbled on (and Diego sniffed) a young couple enjoying a bottle of champagne with the sunrise.  Didn’t want to intrude to the point of asking what they were celebrating – settled for luring Diego away so they could get back to their moment.  Have to assume though they were there to help celebrate our anniversary.  Yep, our wedding was one year ago today, on the second day of California’s 2008 marriage equality window.  The marriage is still going strong despite the best efforts of the H8ers, and I love Randy even more today then I ever have.

Meeting a physical therapist tomorrow morning at BorgHealth.  Haven’t seen one since I wiped out my back moving furniture in the 80s, but my neurologist passed the buck on deciding what I can do after having my arm in a brace since March, so here we go.  Yes, there’ve been no laps since March.  No gym since March.  Puppy walks are allowed, as long as I remember to hold the leash in the right hand (which my left-handedness usually overrules).

More and more I resemble a jelly donut, and a lack of physical activity and low body image aren’t really helping the depression coming from that whole ‘recession is hurting my business’ thing.

This is pretty much just an alcohol-fueled rant.  With a bit of luck the tequila in my system will magically heal my ulnar nerve and get rid of the numbness and weakness in my hand while I pass out tonight.  Then I can get back to my life and the meditative aspects of the swimming will help me deal with the realities of the economy.  But somehow I doubt it.  When the neurologist scheduled me for a four-month follow up I got the hint that life’s just going to suck for a long, long time.  At least I’m getting on my way to being too big to fail.  Bailout, here we come!

I learned a long time ago that the Business of Law isn’t that different from countless other professions.  Sure, I’ve got my little card from the Bar, but on another level my work isn’t that far removed from various other consultants and technical writers.  Various legal pundits have been on a kick lately about the death of the billable hour; we must find another way to bill that blah, blah, blah.  

Yeah, that’s about as far as I get in those articles, so it was refreshing to see a good piece on the pros of the billable hour today that mirrors my experience from Jhames (a designer).  Personally, flat fees have a time and a place, just like several other masochistic activities I can think of.  Running comes to mind, as does getting my blood drawn.  Billable hours at a negotiated rate are the best way of measuring value and services that’s fair to both parties.

That said, while I love to do the occasional pro bono work, take everything Jhames says about the time-wasting proclivities of clients on a flat fee and square it for clients who aren’t paying anything.  He hints at the problem near of the end of his post when he discusses clients who aren’t being charged enough: without fail it’s the pro bonos (and my clients from my Public Defender days) who stand me up for meetings and generally run me ragged holding their hands as though they were in kindergarten.   Hate to say that most people seem to need a financial incentive to show common courtesy, but some days it certainly seems to be true.

Glad to put May behind me and looking forward to a great June.  Then I learned today that no matter how good our vacation is this month, July will totally rock.  Business can keep skidding, the sky can stay grey, but Torchwood is back, possibly even in HD goodness.

Between that and Comic-Con, July will have me in a geeky little coma.  A very happy little geeky coma.