Look, this is hard. It's hard to come up with something interesting to write and then the composition itself requires a lot of effort. You people don't help because none of you ever indicate what you think by sending me email or leaving comments on this page. I need feedback. I know you are reading because you have said so, but how many, when, what did you like? For example, I have learned that the posting on the office Christmas email was popular, but not through this page. Based on your criticism of my Christmas letter each year, I know you people are not bashful, so bring it on.
I propose the following deal - I will post at least once per week and at least one of you readers will leave a comment each week. These comments need not be of the length or concentration of a full posting, but most be something more than, "Nice job." Deal?
I will begin again tomorrow and leave a first posting of the new year. My plan tonight is to follow alternating themes - (1) personal happenings, (2) political events/trends, (3) sporting events, and (4) work stories. The last will be the hardest because my stories are more tragic than funny anymore, but I will do what I can. In exchange, I ask only that some feedback be left from time to time.
On that note, I close and wish each of you a happy and healthy 2008. Best to all of us. I hope to see you and hear from you frequently on this trip around the sun. Until 2008, then!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
More on McCain
No time for a long post today. Here's a link to an editorial in the WSJ yesterday. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110011007
McCain has been endorsed by the Boston Globe (does one for each party), Des Moines Register (ditto), New Hampshire Union Leader, and others. I will try to post again this week
McCain has been endorsed by the Boston Globe (does one for each party), Des Moines Register (ditto), New Hampshire Union Leader, and others. I will try to post again this week
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Office Christmas Cheer
I don't know how your office works, but in mine several of the women organize a Secret Santa gift exchange, an office luncheon, and decorate the office. It seems that just over half of the staff participates in the gift exchange. The half that is participating send email out to the entire office thanking their Secret Santa for whatever little trinket they just received. Then someone else in the office will also respond to that email and send to the entire office commenting on the gift received. This results in the receipt of several dozen email each day.
As you can probably gather from this, I don't participate. I can't be bothered to and think it's a waste of time and money. I prefer to waste my time and money on the office's fantasy football league, but that's for a different post.
So I decided to do something about the emails that I was getting and programmed my email account to take all email with the word 'Santa' in the subject line and divert it directly to the trash. Then I realized that some people only referred to Santa in the body of their email, so I changed the program to also divert emails with 'Santa' in the body of the message. Later, I discovered that it wasn't as much fun to be clever if no one knows you're being clever, so I set the program to send an auto reply when one of the offending messages is received. Now, when I get one of these, my computer dumps the message in the trash can and responds - "You've sent a Santa related email. Bah Humbug!" Clever, right?
Apparently, some of the people that I work with didn't think so. I came in this morning and my office had been decorated with a lot of ugly Christmas stuff. There's a doily under my computer monitor, a door hanger thingy, some ugly candles, a few lights, etc. It looks pretty ridiculous. There is Christmas stuff everywhere in here. I'll try to find a camera here and take a picture and add that to the post. I'm not sure what their intentions were, but I think it's pretty funny, all things considered. I guess I should change my auto reply to something else, who knows what might happen next?
As you can probably gather from this, I don't participate. I can't be bothered to and think it's a waste of time and money. I prefer to waste my time and money on the office's fantasy football league, but that's for a different post.
So I decided to do something about the emails that I was getting and programmed my email account to take all email with the word 'Santa' in the subject line and divert it directly to the trash. Then I realized that some people only referred to Santa in the body of their email, so I changed the program to also divert emails with 'Santa' in the body of the message. Later, I discovered that it wasn't as much fun to be clever if no one knows you're being clever, so I set the program to send an auto reply when one of the offending messages is received. Now, when I get one of these, my computer dumps the message in the trash can and responds - "You've sent a Santa related email. Bah Humbug!" Clever, right?
Apparently, some of the people that I work with didn't think so. I came in this morning and my office had been decorated with a lot of ugly Christmas stuff. There's a doily under my computer monitor, a door hanger thingy, some ugly candles, a few lights, etc. It looks pretty ridiculous. There is Christmas stuff everywhere in here. I'll try to find a camera here and take a picture and add that to the post. I'm not sure what their intentions were, but I think it's pretty funny, all things considered. I guess I should change my auto reply to something else, who knows what might happen next?
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
work related
I was planning on posting on NFL football today. I had some observations about the season so far, the inequities of tomorrow night's game being available in so few markets (but available at my house!), the tragedy of Sean Taylor's passing, and so on. However, Dirk Reeves refused to plead guilty and instead I have to spend tomorrow in my third trial against him in three weeks and fourth in the past six. I spent the day preparing for that, not researching a blog post.
This Reeves man will not give up when he's beaten. It's obvious that he has a poorly developed sense of risk and reward or he wouldn't find himself in his current predicament. If he had any sense at all, he would leapt at the chance for the misdemeanor disposition on his auto theft case I offered yesterday, but no. Additionally, he has been appointed an attorney at state expense, so the fact that his cases will now take up a total of at least seven days of court time has ZERO impact on him.
Here lies one of the greatest problems with the public defender system as it exists in Colorado - there is zero incentive for many people who qualify for a public defender to accept plea offers. In Colorado, people who are accused of crime and can demonstrate some financial need are appointed attorneys at no cost to themselves. Consider the implications of this - commit a crime, claim you're poor and you get a highly qualified and well paid professional to defend you - free! This may sound excellent in theory, but it is bad in practice. One of the primary motivators to settlement in all legal disputes is the cost involved in protracted litigation. A person of modest means who does not qualify for a public defender might asked to pay $1500 or more for representation in a simple felony or DUI [DWI for some of you] case. If the case were to go to trial, the person would be expected to pay an additional $2500-5000 per day of trial, plus money for any pretrial litigation. The "indigent" pay absolutely nothing. Why not impose a nominal fee depending on the extent of representation they require on these people to create an incentive to settlement? For example, if you settle your case without trial, preliminary hearing, or other litigation, pay one amount; if you litigate, pay a little more, and so on. All other people face the regular pro/con decision-making tree about their legal decisions, why are the poor insulated from this choice?
You should also keep in mind that most crime is committed by young men. Young men are among the most employable demographics. If these men are poor, it is often because of their criminal choices, and not for any other reason. This is particularly true in our area where jobs in the gas fields pay $20-28/hour for unskilled labor. In other words, most defendants in my experience get free attorneys because they are lazy sociopaths, and not for any other reason.
This is an idea that deserves further development, and I lack the time right now. Tomorrow I'm back in battle in court. What are your thoughts on gratis representation of the 'indigent?' Do you need more info? How would you solve this problem? Is it even a problem? Let me know what you think
This Reeves man will not give up when he's beaten. It's obvious that he has a poorly developed sense of risk and reward or he wouldn't find himself in his current predicament. If he had any sense at all, he would leapt at the chance for the misdemeanor disposition on his auto theft case I offered yesterday, but no. Additionally, he has been appointed an attorney at state expense, so the fact that his cases will now take up a total of at least seven days of court time has ZERO impact on him.
Here lies one of the greatest problems with the public defender system as it exists in Colorado - there is zero incentive for many people who qualify for a public defender to accept plea offers. In Colorado, people who are accused of crime and can demonstrate some financial need are appointed attorneys at no cost to themselves. Consider the implications of this - commit a crime, claim you're poor and you get a highly qualified and well paid professional to defend you - free! This may sound excellent in theory, but it is bad in practice. One of the primary motivators to settlement in all legal disputes is the cost involved in protracted litigation. A person of modest means who does not qualify for a public defender might asked to pay $1500 or more for representation in a simple felony or DUI [DWI for some of you] case. If the case were to go to trial, the person would be expected to pay an additional $2500-5000 per day of trial, plus money for any pretrial litigation. The "indigent" pay absolutely nothing. Why not impose a nominal fee depending on the extent of representation they require on these people to create an incentive to settlement? For example, if you settle your case without trial, preliminary hearing, or other litigation, pay one amount; if you litigate, pay a little more, and so on. All other people face the regular pro/con decision-making tree about their legal decisions, why are the poor insulated from this choice?
You should also keep in mind that most crime is committed by young men. Young men are among the most employable demographics. If these men are poor, it is often because of their criminal choices, and not for any other reason. This is particularly true in our area where jobs in the gas fields pay $20-28/hour for unskilled labor. In other words, most defendants in my experience get free attorneys because they are lazy sociopaths, and not for any other reason.
This is an idea that deserves further development, and I lack the time right now. Tomorrow I'm back in battle in court. What are your thoughts on gratis representation of the 'indigent?' Do you need more info? How would you solve this problem? Is it even a problem? Let me know what you think
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Post more often?
I've decided to post more often to this site. Today, I'm linking to a NY Times piece written by David Brooks on John McCain, who I am supporting in his bid for the presidency. It's a short read and I encourage you to follow the link and read it, then come back here and post your comments. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13brooks.html
Hopefully after reading it you too will realize why I and so many others are backing McCain this time around. Here's his website http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=google&CMP=KNC-RU905518676
Next post will be about football. Check back tomorrow
Hopefully after reading it you too will realize why I and so many others are backing McCain this time around. Here's his website http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=google&CMP=KNC-RU905518676
Next post will be about football. Check back tomorrow
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thanksgiving
Tomorrow we head to Denver for Thanksgiving. We're going to the CU - Nebraska game on Friday. This could be the last game we go to for awhile since we won't be buying season tickets next year. We're hoping to see some of our friends while we're there and show off Maris's belly. I hope we hear back from them before it's time to go.
This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for having a loving wife, a child on the way, a wonderful, comfortable house, good friends and family, and a meaningful job where I actually get to make a real difference in people's lives and where I can be a source of good in the world. I wish anyone reading this happiness on this holiday and satisfaction with who you are and what you have accomplished and will accomplish in the future. Everyone has something to be thankful for, and I hope you recognize the good in your life this holiday. Best wishes to you this Thanksgiving.
This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for having a loving wife, a child on the way, a wonderful, comfortable house, good friends and family, and a meaningful job where I actually get to make a real difference in people's lives and where I can be a source of good in the world. I wish anyone reading this happiness on this holiday and satisfaction with who you are and what you have accomplished and will accomplish in the future. Everyone has something to be thankful for, and I hope you recognize the good in your life this holiday. Best wishes to you this Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
World Series tickets
This is killing me. I want so badly to go to one or more WS games this weekend in Denver. I tried diligently to buy them yesterday - to no avail. Some jerk crashed the system, so I'm trying again today. The problem is I can't tell whether the system is hung up or what. I'm glad they're doing the online sales, but I wish it worked better. Wish me luck
Monday, October 8, 2007
Welcome
Our first post on our new blog. We had an ultrasound today and got some pictures. These are our first baby pictures of our little girl (so we've been told to expect). We plan to update this site from time to time, so please check in periodically. Our baby is due in late February, early March.
Three of the photos are on a new 4D ultrasound device and are of the baby's face - they can look a little strange at first, but if you keep coming back they get easier to look at. The others are from a regular 2D do-hickey. Most of the them were labeled by the technician. Very exciting. She was a very busy girl during the whole process and even moved her head from one head of the Ute to the other. She has two arms, two legs, one head, a butt, no tail, ten fingers and ten toes. The heart has 4 chambers and all her guts are on the inside. All in all, a very successful procedure. When we hooked up the 4D machine to try to get a face picture she kept covering up with her hands. We were told that these photos are not a very good indication of the machine's performance and we hope to get better ones at the next ultrasound in 6-8 weeks.
Click on the link to the right to see them.
Enjoy!
Three of the photos are on a new 4D ultrasound device and are of the baby's face - they can look a little strange at first, but if you keep coming back they get easier to look at. The others are from a regular 2D do-hickey. Most of the them were labeled by the technician. Very exciting. She was a very busy girl during the whole process and even moved her head from one head of the Ute to the other. She has two arms, two legs, one head, a butt, no tail, ten fingers and ten toes. The heart has 4 chambers and all her guts are on the inside. All in all, a very successful procedure. When we hooked up the 4D machine to try to get a face picture she kept covering up with her hands. We were told that these photos are not a very good indication of the machine's performance and we hope to get better ones at the next ultrasound in 6-8 weeks.
Click on the link to the right to see them.
Enjoy!
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