Friday Night Family Blogging

Eleanor is small, but something about this shot makes her look like she's about 1/4 the size of Shiloh. She's not really that small, though both she and Shiloh do fit quite nicely in Shiloh's cage. Let's all pretend that Dad remembered to wash Eleanor's hands before she ate dinner that night.

Here Comes the Pain

After this and this, I found myself actually glancing at this just to see where they were. Why am I doing this? We all know how it's going to end.

Trial, Trial, and Erie

Went to trial for the first time two weeks ago. We made it two days before the parties broke down and settled the dispute. Good for the client, bad for the lawyers. I made one argument in front of the judge that I couldn't lose, but it still felt good to get that bit of experience out of the way. We settled before any of my witnesses testified. Boo!

I also went to trial today as an assistant district attorney in a suburban county near here. I successfully prosecuted someone for speeding. Hooray! Note to speeders: discrepancies on the ticket do not matter if the charging instrument is correct or is silent as to the discrepancy. I successfully proved that the location where the guy was speeding was still within the court's jurisdiction even though it was a different place than the one listed on the ticket. Said county is now $199 richer thanks to my efforts. I think they probably staved off bankruptcy as a result.

Also successful this week was a brief by myself and another associate that argued that federal courts can appoint a receiver based on state substantive law. The Supreme Court last addressed this issue 10 years before Erie Railroad v. Tompkins and the circuits are split, so we asked a judge to make some new law. Woolley would be proud because we broke out the Civ Pro outline--Erie flow chart included--and walked through a full-blown, exam-style Erie analysis. We also explained how Texas--unlike most U.S. states--has never treated law and equity differently and so an equitable remedy that might not technically be "outcome determinative" in the Erie-sense in some states, does, in fact, affect a substantive right in Texas that would lead to forum shopping at the outset of the litigation. The court accepted the argument and we're due for a receivership hearing next month, live witnesses and all. Hooray! The hearing, however, is in Dallas. Boo!

Flickr + Yahoo! = The Devil

My Flickr account exists, but I am required to access it through Yahoo! But now Yahoo! says that I don't have that Flickr account, I have a new Flickr account with no photos in it. But my old account, and all the pictures, are still right there for all to view. I'm just apparently blocked from accessing the account in any way, even though I can access the Yahoo! account to which the Flickr account is linked.

I hope Carl Icahn buys Yahoo! and runs it into the fucking ground. Remember when Yahoo! was a great website? I do, but it was a long time ago. Go to hell you dissident-killing motherfuckers.

/angry

Shit

As in, my cat, Porter, came in this evening with something sticky on his fur and I pulled some of it off and discovered that it was shit. This was at 11:00 pm and our only bath tub is next to my (sleeping) daughter's bedroom. Something tells me scrubbing shit out of a cat's fur in a bath is going to be noisy. So now my be-shitted cat is locked in the utility room so I can bathe him tomorrow morning before work.

Also, as in I have to go to Dallas on Monday and Tuesday.

/shit

It's "Official"

We made the agreement described below and our precinct is going to send one Clinton delegate and one Obama delegate to Austin for the state convention. That's how the results would have turned out if we had held an actual vote, and this lets people go home before the actual vote is held which, at the rate we're going, probably won't take place until late this afternoon.

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Senatorial District 15

This is awesome.

Speeches from state senators John Whitmire and Mario Gallegos, state rep Sylvester Turner and congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee. Talk about red meat. It's been nice though, that all of them have said that what matters is that no matter how we fight now, we all need to be together
in November.

Interestingly, Jackson-Lee was booed heavily when she spoke. So heavily that Whitmire had to intervene and calm people down. Apparently her support of Clinton is not going over well among her constituents.

Also worth noting is that some of the precincts here, mine included, have made an agreement on how we will divvy up our state convention delegates without having to keep all of us here all day. Not sure if it's kosher rules-wise, but it makes sense practically because we've been here since 8:00 am (it's 2:00 pm) and aren't really close to holding the actual votes yet.

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Lazy Photoblogging

Dad's attempt to make Eleanor a tomboy: FAIL.

In keeping with southern tradition, we celebrate all Christian holidays with NASCAR-style exhibits of left-turning-ability. Here, in honor of our risen Lord, Eleanor enters the back stretch of the Just Born Marshmallow Peeps 500.

Stuff I Like

Going through Stuff White People Like and counting the number of things I don't like. I like not liking things that people think white people like. But it turns out that I like a number of the things that people think white people like.