Notes on a Saturday

Dear Friends -

This was all-in-all a good day. I spent a good bit of time at 3 Equity Court (the name I've given the office), but I can't say that I worked real, real hard. Oh, and the darn server for the net is down there, which is moderately annoying. I think I'm pretty good about never getting angry at people, but things really bug me. My desk is pristine for a change. The picture below is a head shot because at the time it was taken, my desk was anything BUT pristine. Amy and Kathy (my paralegal) blitzed it while I was in Court on Friday, and I have the proverbial good intentions to keep it that way. (Anybody hear a road getting paved somewhere?)

This afternoon, my mother and I ran up to Morgantown for some errands and to hit B&N. Perhaps shopping at a physical world bookstore will lead Amazon to send me a get-well card. As much as I love online book shopping, they still haven't replicated the experience of walking into a bookstore and sweeping the tables and shelves with your eyes. I bought Land of Lincoln, by Andrew Ferguson, a new well-reviewed study, and a new Louis L'Amour. They are still processing his stray manuscripts. I have a picture of him writing like Thomas Wolfe did, writing incessantly and not paying total attention to what happened to the manuscripts. I'm reading The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore. It's been leading the Amazon sales list, but B&N had it over to the side on the bottom of a shelf. I don't know if the corporate owner of B&N is a part of the Great Right-Wing Conspiracy, so I'm barely suppressing my suspicions.

Sunday will be a full day. I have to get to the office early, as per normal. Read the Sunday paper, brew a pot of java, and repair upstairs to my room. I have a sentencing memo to finish first. My client WILL be incarcerated. The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines are now "advisory," but in our Circuit, they are closely followed. However, against my judgment, he does want me to earnestly argue for probation. I've warned him of my concern. When I was arguing a case at our Supreme Court 20 years ago, a fine judge named Sam Harshbarger gave me the best advice I ever got from the bench: "Counsel, don't drill your well so deep that the water runs out the bottom." If you argue for too much, it has a way of biting you in the ass. Let's see - then I have to write a lenghthy brief which is due Wednesday or, rather, dictate the first draft. The hardest part of a social security brief to write is the statement of facts. After that, the argument writes itself. Early afternoon, I'm going to a political fundraiser for what will be a very contested election next year. And to close the day, I have to drive over to the Regional Jail to meet an appointed federal client and his new privately retained lawyer. It's rather humorous, some people are certain that their lawyer will care more if they are paying them than if the government is. Oh, well, it's bringing money into the state economy, so I really don't care. And then the new week comes, and I'll run the gantlet that ends Friday night. Pippa passes.

Mizpah.

R