What else is there to do during a blasted overnight thunderstorm?

Look at goofy shit like this, is what:



More of these imaginings here.  HT darksumomo:)

Well, gee, that was fun:P

Day Two of the Four-Outta-Five Marathon is over, unexpectedly early. Not without a lot of counterweight to my Good Civil Servant stories of the other day, however.

Court was at 10 in downtown Buffalo. I wanted to go over it with my opponent, and I'd left little time before leaving this morning to do much other than leave, so I got a parking space right in front of the court building at 9:30.  In most of downtown, traditional parking meters have been replaced by "pay stations," coin and credit card eating beasts spaced along the block that let you buy an hour or two of time, receipt you for same, and which receipt you then put inside your dash. The downside is you can't surf off the previous person's remaining meter time; the upside, you CAN take it with you, if you're moving around downtown. Today, though, there was a new downside, at least on the machine affectionately known as Frank 175:  it was displaying a time 20 minutes earlier than it actually was. Which meant the time you bought would also be 20 minutes short, and the evil trolls with the stickerscanners and ticket books would hardly be deterred by that. So I overpaid for more time than I thought I'd need, just to be on the safe side.

Way more than I did need, as it turned out.

I headed past the federal marshals and through their scanner and metal detector (attorneys do not bypass them in federal courts, and the former Chief Judge in Rochester will show you his collection of weapons seized from lawyers if you complain to him about it), up to the courtroom floor, to the courtroom DOOR for crysake, and at last the sign:
THE JUNE 22 CALENDAR HAS BEEN POSTPONED BECAUSE JUDGE K_ HAS BEEN CALLED OUT OF TOWN. ALL MATTERS WILL BE ADJOURNED TO JUNE 29 AT THE SAME TIME.

Right. Well, thanks for that.  Nobody else was there (except the other judge, who was getting off the elevator as I headed back down, who apparently had just learned of it himself), and I was beginning to feel like the odd man out who didn't get the memo.  Only the marshals didn't get it, either; they'd be waving and wanding and confiscating from a lot of people a few minutes after that. I then called the guy on the other side of my case, one of the regularest of regulars on the court calendars, and even HE didn't know about it.

As of a few moments ago, it still wasn't posted on the court's website.

On the bright side, I got back here sooner, largely worked out the details of the hearing over the phone with my opponent, and saved him, and possibly the marshals, some grief and aggravation in their day. I also called 311 to have the city fix Frank.

Auction: Edit of Fic from Experienced Lawyer's POV

Crossposted from savemia:

I first heard of kythryne and her brilliant efforts here last week, when several friends pointed me to them. I'm a lawyer in upstate NY, but not in that region or field of practice, and while I wasn't able to get her a referral, I'm thrilled she's found someone and I'm happy to help with this effort now.

What can't I do? Auction off my legal services. It's considered an ethical no-no, for a number of reasons. So the practicing lawyer hat is off, in the box, with Maru firmly on top of it. Here's what I can do, though:

What: If you've got a piece of fiction which you want read, and professionally edited, both for general reactions and corrections and for specific suggestions as to the US (and to a lesser extent, other UK-common-law national) systems, I will review up to a 50,000 word manuscript and provide those edits within a week of its submission to me.

What it's worth: Meh. Say $250.

Website: N/A

Starting bid: $50

Auction will end in 1 week, 11:59pm EST, Jun 29 2011.

Shipping costs: You send to me in Word .doc format, I send you .doc back. I will provide the winner with the email contact information for it.

Why: Most LJ people are highly literate and well-read, and most of us have a manuscript in the brain, if not the drawer. We're also nitpicky about authors getting things wrong that seem so obvious to us but not to them- like the multi-published author who placed the probate of a will in a US federal court. (I got an autographed copy of one of his books for pointing THAT out.) I can't give you legal advice, but I can tell you whether character L likely WOULD give character C certain advice, or would say such-and-such to opposing character O.

Right. Have at it.