Out of the closet (as an Obama voter)

So pretty much my whole office (possibly excepting my boss, who wasn't in the room) now knows I voted for Obama. If I lived in any normal city in Texas, this would probably still make me in the minority at the DA's office, but it wouldn't be a big deal. Because I work in the 106th District, though, I'm probably the only liberal for something like 50 miles. (I'm guessing there's a few in Lubbock and Midland, since they both have universities...) Although, to be fair, I know there were at least SOME Obama voters in all four counties in our district, since I looked it up when Danielle was here a couple months ago. I sent a text to about a dozen people this evening saying something along the lines of "So today I was outed as an Obama voter" and I'm basically writing this entry to chronicle some of the responses:

"Oh dear" - DT

"Uh oh, no trial for you!" - MW

"Oh no. You still have a job?" - LN

"Uh oh... Will there be trouble now?" - AW

"Oh dear how did that go?" - KB

"Have you been tarred and feathered yet??" - KC

and my personal favorite:

"Is the lynch mob forming?" - DK

Funny side note: I told my mom "Today I was outed as an Obama voter" and either she didn't hear or didn't understand what I said, because she asked me what that meant. Sigh/<3

The Upsides and Downsides of BFE

I have Veterans Day off. Next year, no election day off thanks to the efforts of our judge who thinks Dawson County gives too many holidays, even though next year is when she's up for election. Short sighted? I think so.

With fewer stores to shop in, I don't spend as much money. (But then when I do go to civilization, I tend to overspend.)

I get visited by Jehovah's Witnesses. (Not sure if this is a positive or negative.)

I have a big yard for my puppy. However, Scout likes to dig, so my backyard now resembles a field used for testing small artillery.

Lubbock has a netflix distribution center, so I get new movies two days after the last one was returned.

Small town politics is similar to academia: the politics is so dirty because the stakes are so low. Example: our district judge tries to control what the DA's office and all the county and JP judges do. It's annoying, to put it kindly.

I'm much quieter here than I think I have ever been before, because I spend so much time biting my tongue. It's an interesting experience, being surrounded by religious conservative Republicans.

However, being surrounded by Bible-quoting Baptists is making me want to better understand and define my own faith. I'm planning to read The World's Religions by Huston Smith, an excerpt of which I read in my Asian Religions class freshman year of college. That should give me a good start.

There are fewer cars, which would seem to make cycling safer, but there are also fewer cyclists and mostly trucks rather than cars and lots of glass and other trash in the street, which makes me feel, oddly, less safe cycling than I did in Houston. Part of that could be the new pedals, though.

I have amazing people in my life. Thank you to everyone who has made the drive to visit me. Elise and Treva get the man-miles (woman-miles?) award, but Tony, Michelle, and Kyle (twice!) your visits are just as appreciated. :)

I miss San Antonio, and Houston, and even Arlington.

I did not want to be a homeowner, and possible problems with my plumbing in the wall between kitchen and bathroom reinforces that. Whether it ends up being a big or small problem remains to be seen, but I was really wanting that kind of thing to stay in the responsibilities of a landlord for awhile.

That's all I can think of for now...have a good week!

Happy Veterans Day!

Isolated thoughts

It would be really awesome if blogger.com, the site that hosts this blog, would remember my sign in information like I tell it to EVERY time I log on to make a new post.

The other two attorneys don't seem to think I'm ready to do anything at trial or even do an open plea by myself. (For non-criminal law people: open plea is where the defendant pleads guilty, but goes to the judge for punishment rather than taking an offer from the DA's office...generally a bad plan with our judge, but hey, that's their right as Americans...)

However, they're happy to have me write all the appellate responses. Awesome.

I love Glee. Like, really love it...so much I'm considering getting cable.

I currently have zero television stations because I don't have a 20 foot antenna or a dish or cable...which only matters when I want to see tonight's episode of Glee and it isn't on hulu yet.

Scout has started to assert her personality and chew on things she's not supposed to. Not. Good.

My party was a success and I loved having Michelle visit, but it really underlined how most of the time I'm really lame when in Lamesa because I have no outside-of-work friends here.

I think I want to start biking again to get ready for one or more MS-150s, but I still have the motivation problem.

I really really really hope my Houston friends visit for Halloween...else it'll be the worst party since NYE 1999.

I miss sleeping in...between Scout and work, I never get to continuously sleep past 7:30 anymore...and that's best case scenario.

I'm going home this weekend, but after that I have no specific travel plans, so EVERYONE SHOULD COME VISIT ME.

The end.

Why is Lamesa

Here's a question: why would anyone choose to live in a small town? It's entirely possible that I've just been spoiled by living in large urban areas all my life, but I for one would not be here if I'd had a job offer anywhere else. I don't understand the people that choose to remain in BFE when they have the chance to live elsewhere. However, I'm also bitter because all my friends are many hours away and I don't get to spend time with people outside work, because everyone I work with has a family and the accompanying obligations. They have spouses and kids, and I have a puppy. Also a time commitment, but the conversation isn't quite as good. Besides which, I've never been the only liberal in my environment, and I've never been surrounded entirely by conservative Christians who are openly homophobic and borderline racist. I miss being in the midst of a plurality of opinions.

In work news: we may have jury selection in a week and a half for a trial that was supposed to happen a month ago but was postponed due to a defense witness being hospitalized. This would not be a big deal except we're also supposed to have a trial in mid-November on an injury to a child case where the victim, a not-quite-three boy, was in the hospital for over a month and still, three years later, is dealing with ongoing health and developmental problems from being beat up by his mom's boyfriend. I don't believe in the death penalty, but I come pretty close in cases like this one. Here's hoping he takes the plea offer so it doesn't have to go to trial, because that would be a hard case to try. Just reading through all the evidence, medical records, etc. was heartbreaking. Should find out in a few days whether it'll be a plea or a trial.

On a happier note, I enjoyed going home for my dad's birthday last weekend. Lisa, Daddy, and I went to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. Pretty sweet, but the 3D doesn't really add that much to the story. Bonus: there was a preview for Toy Story 3. Can't wait! Also can't wait to see my Houstonians in a few days. Thanks in advance to everyone who makes time to see me while I'm there. :)

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. :)