![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Alllll is Calllm, Allll is Blight....
Dec. 20th, 2019 01:20 pmWell, the Bills made the playoffs, so there's that. Otherwise, it's been a proverbial What A Week.
I'd kept Monday free of commitments because I was pretty sure the Zonk from all the travel would finally hit then, and it did. Even though I did not stay up for the Sunday Night Football broadcast, I spent most of the day in a post-travel fog, and getting ready for the rest of the full-packed Week Before Christmas, Where All Through the Courts, Everybody's Real Busy Cause the Next Week They're Off.
Tuesday: federal court mediation. In a lawyer's office, with a client who made the drive up from Joisey roughly 48 hours after I made it. Other side sent three lawyers from Houston. Nothing accomplished. Then a breezy drive up to Niagara County for another useless appearance.
Wednesday: my personal version of Groundhog Day, only in mine Bill Murray wakes up on one Wednesday a month and duplicates the previous events.
Yesterday: Rochester drive. I took Eleanor's car, as I've semi-retired JARVIS from longer journeys as long as its parts are as breakable and expensive-fixable as they are. I seemed to have good luck, as my first stop was court there, where the closest garage's charging stations are usually all full up. This week, I got one:
That wound up being the second of four different charging ports Alanis would be hooked to that day. First was our home outlet; third was at my office there, where a client put in an outside 110 outlet for me; and the last was waiting for Eleanor to meet me at the Former Smart Dealership to drop off JARVIS for his fleecing and shearing. The only remnant of their brief SmartCenter experiment is the high-speed charging port out in front of its former location; I plugged in for a few minutes just for the comfort of knowing it still works.
....and last night into Friday: We got home from that and discovered that our hot water was out. It was almost twelve hours after I'd left home, I was exhausted, but I headed down to attempt a pilot re-light without success. I did discover that we could still run the dishwasher, as it has its own heating element for the water. As I joked about seeing if I could crouch down low enough to get in there to take a shower this morning, I discovered a second thing:
don't try to empty the damn dishwasher until you've made AND put away the coffee:P
Discovery #3 was that the court appearance this morning I was sure would be postponed,.... hadn't been. So unshowered me threw on a suit just as Repair Guy was giving us the news (300 to repair, 1000ish to replace- given recent car history, we went with the latter), and headed down for three whole minutes postponing the thing anyway. The new heater is in, he snaked our chronically slow bathroom sink drain while he was at it, and Eleanor got a ride to work.
Work here, meanwhile, has been blissfully quiet today, as we said goodbye to a departing coworker and I finished off a few files before closing it all down for the week.
----
Other newses and updates from the week:
I spent part of midweek fighting back at a scammer. A client sent this over in a moderate panic:
Plenty of clues were obvious to me, but not to them. For one thing, New York does not send its demands out on a postal permit from LA. And the typo's! You'd think they could hire an English major to proof them for them; they work for cheep, after all. So I sent it to the postal inspectors to see if the permit holder can be busted.
Speaking of criminals, I saw a story around the same time about another one a client got acquainted with. A few years back, a local surgeon began running commercials in a series called "Devil Lawyer," where he showed a sharp-suited barrister with an evil grin and piles of Benjamins across his desk. As the camera pulled back to show the lawyer's red tail and horns on his face, the "Good Doctor" lamented the evils of ambulance chasers who sent clients to their preferred prescribers just to get them favorable diagnoses, not to get them better.
I saw them and thought they were cute. Then I got to sue him because he didn't pay for the ads. Eventually, he did. Also eventually, though, he got busted for prescription fraud, and this week he was given a sentence of probation and home confinement for it. As Police Squad! fans know, though, that if he violates his probation, he'll be filming his commercials at the Stateville Prison- and that there's no escaping his fate!
----
Medical things also continue with the little one:
We took her in to the vet on Wednesday morning before my Groundhog Day appearance, for a swabbing of the growth. They're still pretty sure it's cancerous, although not as infected as it had been after a week of antibiotics. She continues to be her usual self; if anything, she's craving the extra attention with foamy balls and essential oils, is talking more and following Eleanor around like she did in kitten-er days. It's still upsetting not knowing when it will end, but I am enjoying every minute and every cuddle for now.
She was part of a late-night Clutterbuck (that's what I'm calling them now, in this guy's honor) that woke us all up around 3 this morning. Pepper first woke ME up, whimpering and banging against bedroom window glass. We had a fox (best guess) out there, either hunting or mothering something smaller. Once the Sly One moved, the dog went into Full On Bark mode, waking every other life form in the house. Then Zoey joined in the party around 3:30, but she did help me get back to sleep with her gentle snore-purr. I slept in until past 7, which is usually impossible with them.
----
Not much Christmassing to be done. My sister doesn't want anything, the kids get the usual gift cards, and with the 25th falling midweek, everyone seems to be working half-ass right up to it and not taking time for holiday functions. I did pick some Snarking Stuffers for coworkers at my favorite store in the world-
- and I did finally see the best Christmas movie ever- the original Die Hard. THAT, in turn, led to me discovering this:
Said Hans is played by a younger-than-ever-seen Alan Rickman, who of course went on to bigger Potterish things.
----
Sabres have now failed to win a game since I saw them. Tuesday was a decent if losing effort, but last night in Philly they stunk out the joint after their captain was taken out of the lineup right before the game due to an unspecified injury. It also means his consecutive game streak with at least one goal or assist is considered "over" even though he didn't play; it was one short of the team record for such things that has stood since its second season. The Yankees are spending money like drunken sailors and the Mets signed a Muppet-
- but again, Bills. Playoffs. A gaggle of their fans showed up at the airport at 2 a.m. in 20-degree cold to welcome them home from their road trip. That's crazy!, said the guy who drove 900 miles in 40 hours to see a hockey team that plays 20 minutes from his house.
----
And one more care about Fozzie Bear (or rather Frank Oz, up butt whose is hand Yoda's): the final Star Wars has dropped. Soon as I get word my car is ready, I will try to get in to see the film before the spoilers start to leak. Until then, may the hot water be with you:)
I'd kept Monday free of commitments because I was pretty sure the Zonk from all the travel would finally hit then, and it did. Even though I did not stay up for the Sunday Night Football broadcast, I spent most of the day in a post-travel fog, and getting ready for the rest of the full-packed Week Before Christmas, Where All Through the Courts, Everybody's Real Busy Cause the Next Week They're Off.
Tuesday: federal court mediation. In a lawyer's office, with a client who made the drive up from Joisey roughly 48 hours after I made it. Other side sent three lawyers from Houston. Nothing accomplished. Then a breezy drive up to Niagara County for another useless appearance.
Wednesday: my personal version of Groundhog Day, only in mine Bill Murray wakes up on one Wednesday a month and duplicates the previous events.
Yesterday: Rochester drive. I took Eleanor's car, as I've semi-retired JARVIS from longer journeys as long as its parts are as breakable and expensive-fixable as they are. I seemed to have good luck, as my first stop was court there, where the closest garage's charging stations are usually all full up. This week, I got one:
That wound up being the second of four different charging ports Alanis would be hooked to that day. First was our home outlet; third was at my office there, where a client put in an outside 110 outlet for me; and the last was waiting for Eleanor to meet me at the Former Smart Dealership to drop off JARVIS for his fleecing and shearing. The only remnant of their brief SmartCenter experiment is the high-speed charging port out in front of its former location; I plugged in for a few minutes just for the comfort of knowing it still works.
....and last night into Friday: We got home from that and discovered that our hot water was out. It was almost twelve hours after I'd left home, I was exhausted, but I headed down to attempt a pilot re-light without success. I did discover that we could still run the dishwasher, as it has its own heating element for the water. As I joked about seeing if I could crouch down low enough to get in there to take a shower this morning, I discovered a second thing:
don't try to empty the damn dishwasher until you've made AND put away the coffee:P
Discovery #3 was that the court appearance this morning I was sure would be postponed,.... hadn't been. So unshowered me threw on a suit just as Repair Guy was giving us the news (300 to repair, 1000ish to replace- given recent car history, we went with the latter), and headed down for three whole minutes postponing the thing anyway. The new heater is in, he snaked our chronically slow bathroom sink drain while he was at it, and Eleanor got a ride to work.
Work here, meanwhile, has been blissfully quiet today, as we said goodbye to a departing coworker and I finished off a few files before closing it all down for the week.
----
Other newses and updates from the week:
I spent part of midweek fighting back at a scammer. A client sent this over in a moderate panic:
Plenty of clues were obvious to me, but not to them. For one thing, New York does not send its demands out on a postal permit from LA. And the typo's! You'd think they could hire an English major to proof them for them; they work for cheep, after all. So I sent it to the postal inspectors to see if the permit holder can be busted.
Speaking of criminals, I saw a story around the same time about another one a client got acquainted with. A few years back, a local surgeon began running commercials in a series called "Devil Lawyer," where he showed a sharp-suited barrister with an evil grin and piles of Benjamins across his desk. As the camera pulled back to show the lawyer's red tail and horns on his face, the "Good Doctor" lamented the evils of ambulance chasers who sent clients to their preferred prescribers just to get them favorable diagnoses, not to get them better.
I saw them and thought they were cute. Then I got to sue him because he didn't pay for the ads. Eventually, he did. Also eventually, though, he got busted for prescription fraud, and this week he was given a sentence of probation and home confinement for it. As Police Squad! fans know, though, that if he violates his probation, he'll be filming his commercials at the Stateville Prison- and that there's no escaping his fate!
----
Medical things also continue with the little one:
We took her in to the vet on Wednesday morning before my Groundhog Day appearance, for a swabbing of the growth. They're still pretty sure it's cancerous, although not as infected as it had been after a week of antibiotics. She continues to be her usual self; if anything, she's craving the extra attention with foamy balls and essential oils, is talking more and following Eleanor around like she did in kitten-er days. It's still upsetting not knowing when it will end, but I am enjoying every minute and every cuddle for now.
She was part of a late-night Clutterbuck (that's what I'm calling them now, in this guy's honor) that woke us all up around 3 this morning. Pepper first woke ME up, whimpering and banging against bedroom window glass. We had a fox (best guess) out there, either hunting or mothering something smaller. Once the Sly One moved, the dog went into Full On Bark mode, waking every other life form in the house. Then Zoey joined in the party around 3:30, but she did help me get back to sleep with her gentle snore-purr. I slept in until past 7, which is usually impossible with them.
----
Not much Christmassing to be done. My sister doesn't want anything, the kids get the usual gift cards, and with the 25th falling midweek, everyone seems to be working half-ass right up to it and not taking time for holiday functions. I did pick some Snarking Stuffers for coworkers at my favorite store in the world-
- and I did finally see the best Christmas movie ever- the original Die Hard. THAT, in turn, led to me discovering this:
Said Hans is played by a younger-than-ever-seen Alan Rickman, who of course went on to bigger Potterish things.
----
Sabres have now failed to win a game since I saw them. Tuesday was a decent if losing effort, but last night in Philly they stunk out the joint after their captain was taken out of the lineup right before the game due to an unspecified injury. It also means his consecutive game streak with at least one goal or assist is considered "over" even though he didn't play; it was one short of the team record for such things that has stood since its second season. The Yankees are spending money like drunken sailors and the Mets signed a Muppet-
- but again, Bills. Playoffs. A gaggle of their fans showed up at the airport at 2 a.m. in 20-degree cold to welcome them home from their road trip. That's crazy!, said the guy who drove 900 miles in 40 hours to see a hockey team that plays 20 minutes from his house.
----
And one more care about Fozzie Bear (or rather Frank Oz, up butt whose is hand Yoda's): the final Star Wars has dropped. Soon as I get word my car is ready, I will try to get in to see the film before the spoilers start to leak. Until then, may the hot water be with you:)