Not camping

Four days of docket, in all four counties, last week. This week is (for me) preparation for a case that may or may not go to trial in November. So, I guess that means my first trial may be in November. We shall see. In any case, we're maybe having trial next week (jury selection set for this Friday) so I may get to do something with that even sooner. In the meantime, I'll write offers and read a case that nobody's looked at in a couple years. I hope we finish wading through the old cases soon...stupid former DA and his lazy non-working cases. At least the cases on which I'm making offers are new, so they're "my" cases from the beginning. :) Not that I'm possessive, I just get a warm-and-fuzzy feeling when I do a plea on a case in which I made the plea offer and negotiated with the attorney and all. This whole actually using my degree is still a novel concept, and I like it!

I was supposed to go camping this weekend, and made it as far as Austin, but the camping was cut short after people were a little loud at the campsite Friday night. Instead, we hung out at several people's apartment pool and then ate copious amounts of chili and queso at Christine/Carlos/Sam/Chad's house. Good times. :) Also, Scout got to play with several other dogs, which is all good because I want her to be comfortable around people and dogs. She's good with people, but so far kind of aggressive and seems to think she's a boy. (She was humping a similarly-sized boy dog all evening...awesome.)

I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm finished with my autumn 0' travel...life in Lamesa is boring. At least Scout keeps me busy; I just wish she could talk. Living alone is no bueno. Moral of the story: people should come visit me! The end.

Hello, autumn

So I haven't updated in awhile. This is getting to be a bigger problem as time goes on, so I'll try to do better. Let's see...I have my car back, after three weeks without it. State Farm (insurer of the F-150 that hit me) paid for the rear damage but not the front, so from the back my car looks new and from the front it looks the same, but the crumple zone was replaced (and maybe more, I'm not sure) but it's safe again. Woo. I freaking hate unlicensed drivers and want to put them all in jail because I'm vindictive like that. I also hate stupid people who don't bother to look and see who hit them, but instead assume that it must've been me, since I actually stopped at the scene of the accident. FALSE. Ok, done with the rant, unless someone wants more details, then I'll just tell you.

Last week were the first trials since I started working in Lamesa. One was a mistrial that may or may not be retried, depending on how double jeopardy shakes out in the particular circumstances, and the other was a PCS - cocaine for which defendant was found guilty and sentenced to four years and a $3,000 fine. Go team. Next Friday we're supposed to be picking juries for one or two more cases, that may or may not actually go to trial. At this point, only one of them is even a maybe, the other won't be happening. Hopefully I'll actually get to do something in this one, although that idea simultaneously excites and terrifies me.

I also went to my first CLE last week, in San Antonio. Lauren graciously hosted Scout and I, and I spent three and a half days watching/listening to videos of lectures. Gross. There was some useful information, but I hate the thought of doing that every year for the rest of my career. Sigh. Stupid state bar with your stupid "continuing education" and expecting people to stay current on what the law actually says.

In other news, Scout's doing well. She's mostly potty trained and generally limits her chewing to toys and nibbling on people. But it's an affection thing when dogs bite like she does, according to Pooh's vet. (Pooh was the dog my family got when I was a kid, for those who didn't know her...) She's almost 3 months old, and will be going to the vet again next week, at which point I'll actually know quantitatively how much bigger she is.

I have a note on my desk at work that says "you personally need to pick up your credit card from auditor." Apparently I get a work credit card here. That seems like just asking for trouble, but hey, at least I'm not a mad crazy shopper like some people I know. And if a plane ticket to Maui magically appears on the statement, it definitely wasn't me. :) That's all I can think of, so have a good week and visit me!

Link of the day: http://www.omggopwtf.com/

Oops

So I've been a little busy and haven't been updating...oops. I'll try to remedy that now. But in my defense, I've been out of town the last two weekends and Scout takes up a goodly amount of time. Let's see...

The last weekend in August I went home to see people and pick up my puppy. She's adorable (see facebook for pictures) and pretty well behaved, for being so young. However, on the way home from picking her up and seeing Tony's new apartment, I was in a car accident. Aurora was smushed between an F-150 (black) and a Jeep Cherokee, also black. The truck hit me, I hit the SUV, and the SUV hit the Altima in front of it. I find it amusing that the girl at fault (who's also unlicensed) and the car that left the scene are both black, whereas my car is white. Maybe I took too many English classes in college. Anyways, the truck's insurer (State Farm) has agreed to pay for the damage to the back of my car, but since bitchface claims I hit the SUV before she hit me (FALSE!) they're thus far refusing to pay for the damage to the front of my car. However, discussions are ongoing and the worst of the damage is all repaired. We shall see what happens. Sigh. I hate people.

On a happier note, I spent Labor Day weekend in Austin. I got to see Kyle, Lisa, Erin, Lisa, Lauren, Linsey, and Michael, not to mention a good number of Kyle's friends at their last-minute show Sunday night. Twas good times. Scout wasn't a huge fan of tubing, but I think she'd like it better if it were warmer outside. I also got to visit HPB (I never realized how much I'd miss not having a bookstore nearby!) and several restaurants that Kyle and I tend to frequent whenever I'm in town. Overall a fun weekend, although I wish I could make Kyle's last few months of grad school more pleasant. I guess the end of grad school has to be miserable so you appreciate it more when it's over. Maybe.

On the work front, I'm going to miss the first trial since I started working here (robbery of a convenience store...can you get more cliched?) next week, because I'll be at a criminal law CLE. Oops. Oh well, I should be back in time for the second trial, unless druggie mcdruggerson decides to plead out. Lame. But on the upside, I'm working on another appeal, so once again my name will be on the record with the Eleventh Court of Appeals. Neat. (And just think, I could've applied to a job there and been closer to everyone...poor life decisions...except I hardly think that would have ended up being a better job.)

I think the above rambling mostly catches any stray readers up on my life. I hope the car stuff gets sorted out soon and Scout continues to be a good puppy. In the meantime I'll just keep be-bopping along and I hope everyone is doing well in your respective cities and lives. :)