The family (two humans, one dog, seven fish and a lot of plants) is back in Casa with the fishies finally rejoining us today.

Everything that was supposed to survive the fumigation did.  The things that were supposed to die either escaped or had the good manners to die in the walls.  We actually never saw much of a problem, but we know that other units had issues, and we were in no position to stand in front of the condo board and fight for termite rights when it was decided to tent the whole neighborhood.

The only thing close to drama was when the aquarium filter refused to restart after the move back to Casa Saturday afternoon.  We don’t weep for replaceable tech though.  We celebrate the opportunity for an upgrade with gusto and use the opportunity to make certain every piece of electrics and electronics here knows that they’d better behave to survive.

Originally we headed somewhere mid-June for a two-fold celebration: school being out (and the start of Spinner‘s summer vacation) and Spinner’s birthday. Then we got married on vacation in June 2008, which made 2009 and 2010 a threefer when you include the anniversary celebration. Now with budget cuts school gets out much earlier, so the vacation is back to being a twofer, but this year we’re back at The Cliffs.  Five days and four nights walking distance to the beach with the dog.  Do you think he’ll be happy?  I think he’ll be happy.

Sure, I’ve been a doctor for eleven years now.  Despite occasional claims to the contrary, I’m not that kind of doctor, and have trouble doing more medicinally than nuking chicken soup and sticking thermometers in people too sick to defend themselves.  But I do have a degree on the wall that says Doctor, and I’ve been proud of the work that went into earning that title.

But now, after nearly two years of signs and predictions, favorable fortunes from the Ancient Order of Frycooks, and even some astral guidance received while Pluto was transgressing Saturn’s rings, I am proud to announce the Spinner is The Master.  Maybe not that kind of Master.  Or even this kind of master.  But he is definitely this kind of Master, and I’m very, very proud of him.

And on related note, now I’m going to have to look at some Doctor Who themed costumes for ComicCon next year.

I expect the Labor Day weekend will be getting an early start in the next couple of hours.

No big plans for the weekend – still taking things day by day as I try and get over this respiratory thing.  Probably won’t even make it to the Triton Invitational water polo tournament over at UCSD.  It might be fun to watch, but with only five teams the tournament itself is just a shadow of it’s former self.

Been doing some cleaning up of my pending projects this week.  Maybe pruning would be a better word there, or maybe purging. I love practicing law, but have made no secret here of my disdain for the business of law.  For a couple of projects lately it’s been seeming like I spend more time working on getting paid than I actually spend on the projects themselves.  Life’s too short to deal with that nonsense, even if it means a few less billables until some new projects materialize.

So on that note, I’m celebrating Labor Day for the next 84 hours or so, and while my shop might not be organized in any way, shape or form, I can celebrate the trips we’ve taken courtesy of Spinner’s organized labor entity (San Francisco, Palm Springs, San Jose, Irvine),  their efforts to give him a better work environment, and by extension, the union benefits that give us a better life together.

Ignoring for the moment the substance of a certain new Supreme Court decision issued this morning, I’m going to be talking law to Spinner’s 5th graders tomorrow, and wondering if I should try to make them Venn diagram this:

KENNEDY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS,
C. J., and SCALIA and ALITO, JJ., joined, in which THOMAS, J., joined as to all but Part IV, and in which STEVENS, GINSBURG, BREYER, and SO-TOMAYOR, JJ., joined as to Part IV. ROBERTS, C. J., filed a concurring opinion, in which ALITO, J., joined. SCALIA, J., filed a concurring opin-ion, in which ALITO, J., joined, and in which THOMAS, J., joined in part. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part,in which GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I’m taking the ‘scared straight’ approach to their exposure to the world of law. Just say no, kiddies.

I wasn’t completely sold in the concept going into Thanksgiving dinner, but last night’s buffet experience at the Treasure Island in Vegas has completely sold me.  No cooking, no cleanup.  Ten members of the extended family, including my brother who flew in from Salt Lake City around a big table eating all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, plus chinese, seafood, pizza and cotton candy made it a great time for everyone.

And just in case our own family couldn’t supply enough drama, there were the hundreds of people at the tables surrounding ours adding to the evening entertainment.  Highlight of the evening: the waytooskinny blonde Asian chick who upchucked her first course but stayed at the table as her dinner companions kept fetching her more plates.  Gotta admire the professional staff who brought her a tub without batting an eye – that’s when you know a buffet really, really, means the meal is ‘all you can eat.’ 

Still enjoying the weekend.  Spent the Black Friday away from the malls, but took Diego and Spinner to the beach to stretch the legs and see some new sights.  Boulder Beach at Lake Mead might not be a great surf spot, but it allows us to keep with the family tradition of always hitting the beach on vacations and Diego had a blast chasing the birds.

I’ve been spending a lot of time the last two months on a little non-public website.  It’s no secret – it’s just that by design it has about 35 users and is not open to the public.  It started off simple – a place some kids could access online some photos Spinner uses as writing prompts for his class.

Then it expanded into a way for them to submit their related writing assignments online.

In the current iteration the class can get an assignment with text and related media online, and complete and return their assignments online.  Students get teacher feedback as soon as it’s entered.  True/False, multiple choice, fill in the blank, open-ended essays – it’s all there for the teacher to use, including some automated scoring.  Cross-indexing lets the teacher look at a student’s entire semester work at once to get a feel for progress or issues, and share that with the parents.  It even sends the parents e-mail copies of their kid’s work if they want.

Why?  It saves trees. Teaches kids computer skills for the real world, while incorporating content not able to be shown in text-based ditto copies. Lets a certain school district off the hook with their draconian photocopy restrictions. My husband spends less time carting stacks of paper around, and so has more time for Diego (and possibly me-me-me-me-me).

And it did keep me busy while other business was slow this summer and pumped up my php and mySql skills a notch or two.

But this week a silly little plugin and a developer’s gratuitous use of javascript(s) are pushing me to get out a chainsaw and pulp an entire forest into xerox paper for him just so the headache will go away.  I’m sure the feeling will go away after a short nap and some puppy licks, and I will get this update done and published, but I just needed to share.

Sunday started nicely with some good surf in Encinitas, and a good breakfast burrito in a little dive on the coast highway.   It was  brought down a bit by the realization that Spinnner’s wedding ring was apparantly lost in the ocean during the session.  We then consoled ourselves over the loss with a relaxing drive home through the back county on Via de la Valle and the Del Dios Highway, admiring all the bright colors on the side of the road.  Just wanted to reach out the window and grab a handful.

Plants in north county are looking pretty dry after days of 100+ degree heat, bringing back lots of memories of Firestorm 07, but those cyclists looked plenty hydrated, and so pretty in the varying hues of lycra.   Mmmm, nap time until we meet some friends for pizza this afternoon.

I’m just trying to keep my head down around here right now; this is Spinner’s weekend.  He’s singing two shows Sunday with the San Diego Men’s Chorus at their Pride concert at the Qualcomm Campus (NOT the Stadium, but the Jacobs Concert Hall in Sorrento Valley), and coordinating a poetry exhibit as part of his Master’s program.

[Just had a little earthquake.  Back now.]

Me, with temperatures that might hit triple digits here in Escondido, I just want to stay cool.  If I end up venturing out, there better be plenty of water or air conditioning.

[Just got the numbers.  Looks like a 4.0 20 miles off the coast.]

We’ve had a running joke here about roller coasters ever since the Mouse tried to kill Spinner back in ’07.  Now I’m not even going to be able to get him on the Monorail.  Maybe we can just sit around the Carnation Cafe on our next visit to the Magic Kingdom and sip sodas while the Dapper Dans sing. That’s gotta be safe, right?