Randomness

Well, it has been a while since I posted, and there is so much good stuff to blog about the last few days. This might be a long one!

1. I am tired of hearing about Michael Jackson, but I cannot help but read/watch/listen to all the reports about him. I think that shows a problem with us Americans. We cannot help but be entertained by things going bad for someone, even if we are complaining about the focus on this part or that part of someone's life. I blame this on TV and soap operas and 24-hour news and America's obsession with celebrity. I am sure there are other things to blame it on as well.

2. News is morbid. You could tell that there were prearranged obituaries, tributes, news stories, etc. on the death of everyone that died in the past few days. It seems morbid that journalism departments teach to have obituaries ready for the famous. It makes sense, but it is morbid.

3. I love going out to the farm. It is only 40 minutes from Texarkana, and is really a game ranch where, in the winter, you can pay to hunt, but in the summer, it is a nice retreat from the city. I do not love the inevitable sunburn (even though I use sunscreen ... just apparently not quick enough on Saturday) from spending time there. Baby buffaloes and wading in the Red River were highlights of the trip. Getting stuck in the sand was not a highlight, although it is cool to watch boys try to fix the situation (and be successful at getting one truck out without a tractor). It is just nice to relax and get out of town instead of laying around on a Saturday.

4. Plexiglass is a good fix for a broken window on a Sunday. Sometime Saturday or Sunday, some punk(s) decided it would be nice to throw a concrete chunk through one of my windows. I did not realize this until Sunday after church. Fortunately, two guys were coming over for the afternoon, and were kind enough to tell me what needed to be bought to fix the window and to fix it for me. I watched and made no suggestions (or maybe only one or two ... not many because I knew nothing about what was going on or should go on!). I held the wood while they did there thing once or twice without offering commentary or complaints. The end result is a plexiglass pane in the old frame for a total cost of $41 to repair (because we bought two tubes of sealant and a whole pack of finishing and siding nails even though very few were needed ... really was around $30 for the window and one tube of sealant). I am very grateful to have people around that can fix things like that for me!

5. My Pitchmen post seems kind of ironic now that Billy Mays has died. I do not think his death would have been as big a story as it was if Ed McMahon, Farrah Faucett and Michael Jackson had not died before him.

6. The sunburn from Saturday and spending all day Sunday in the heat watching my window get repaired left me dehydrated and sick. Instead of being able to take a sick day and rehydrate myself, I had to go to court yesterday. It was the sickest I have been in court to date. I was feeling horrible, but still had to put on a good front to be professional. Despite all of that, I won the hearing. Not because of any good lawyering on my part but because I was smart enough to point out enough law in my questioning for the judge to hang his hat on to keep from being overturned on appeal. It was not about the presentation yesterday as much as about knowing and demonstrating the law to the court. The worst part ... I did not get out of court until around 5:30.

7. If I do not slow down over the next two days, I am really going to be sick. I have succeeded in rehydrating (it seems), but now I just need to get over the nausea that goes along with sunburns + heat exposure.

8. I received my new custom stationery today. I am so excited about it that I wrote a random note to someone just so that I could send out one of the cards. If you receive a random card from me in the next few weeks, it is probably because I am excited about my stationery.

9. I had a random visit from a cousin I have not seen in over 10 years last week. It was nice to see her, but it added to the randomness of the week. Now that she has my phone number, maybe I will get to see her more. Anytime she comes to Texas, she has to pass through Texarkana, so why not stop in to see me!

10. Yesterday before I was rehydrated, I was boiling because of the sunburn. Today, after rehydrating, I am cold despite the heat radiating off the sunburn. I do not like my internal temperature to be out of whack!

Well there are my random thoughts/events from the past week. I even had to blog about Michael Jackson, adding to the oversaturated coverage of his death. I guess I am showing I am a true American in time for celebration of the 4th!

Pitchmen

One of the guys that is always at my house insists on watching Pitchmen on Wednesday nights (which is annoying to me since it is at the same time as Meet the Browns), but I have to admit the show is growing on me. It is about the Oxyclean guy and his announcer going around to all of these wannabe inventors and trying to find the next big idea for infomercials/commercial products. Last night there was the gatorblade guy who has come up with a windshield wiper that gets rid of bug guts, and I want those wipers! Too bad it will be a while before we see them on the market because they do not do as well on the winter things that attach to a windshield, and are being marketed for winter too. I could care less about the winter performance, but that is because it doesn't ice enough here to care about ice on the windshield. Or salt. The coolest thing about the episode was the bug bazooka that they used to shoot crickets onto the windshield of the car to simulate bugs dying on the windshield at hundreds of miles an hour. Although I was grossed out by the people putting their hands into the boxes filled with thousands of live crickets (GROSS!!!), it is very entertaining to see them come shooting out of the bazooka bug gun. Also on the show was a guy who invented a tie that has a pocket that attaches to a shirt, and you can do a handstand without the tie coming detached from the shirt. Only mildly entertaining until the guy tried to do a handstand to demonstrate. Some other dude invented a bowl that supposedly keeps cereal from going soggy, but the problem is that you have to dip the cereal in the milk before taking a bite. How are you supposed to make chocolate milk with cocoacrisps if you use that bowl? That takes part of the fun out of cereal. Anyway, I am slowly beginning to appreciate the show, even if it is taking some time away from Meet the Browns. I cannot remember if it comes on TLC or the Discovery Channel, but it is on the same network that has Mythbusters, another show I am beginning to appreciate.

30 Day Shred

I started working out about the middle of March, and at some point realized that the Gazelle wasn't going to fully get me into shape, although it was a good start. I highly recommend the Gazelle (eventually with leg and arm weights) for a workout that is easy on the joints and gets you started exercising. I was not really looking at what to use to step up my workouts, but one day I ran across this blog about the 30 Day Shred. After reading the blogs and the comments for the next few weeks, I decided to buy the DVD and step the exercising up a notch. It is put out by Jilliam Michaels, a trainer on the Biggest Loser. I have heard that the winner of the Biggest Loser is always someone who has been trained by Jillian Michaels, so she must know what she is doing!

This DVD is a tough workout (or really three tough workouts)! Yet it was not too hard on my bad knee. I did have problems in about week three with my good knee, and I had to start modifying the exercises a little bit, although my modifications made the exercises tougher because I was doing a static stance while working the arms instead of popping in and out of the movement. Or at least Jillian says the static is tougher. My quads also agreed and are shaped quite nicely now complete with a line down the side that I have not had since I played basketball in high school. There are three levels that gradually get harder as you progress. Level one became easier (it has never been easy) after the first week, so I progressed to level two. Level two did not become easier until after two, almost three, weeks. By then, my knee was pretty swollen and I watched level three and incorporated the strength exercises and ab exercises from level three with the cardio in level one (but adding hand weights). I tried not to skip days and only went three days without exercising at all, and two days doing the gazelle because of my knee issue, so it took me a little longer than 30 days. I had figured out that I need to exercise seven days a week instead of taking any breaks prior to starting the 30 days, so I did the DVD every day.

So far I am pleased with the results. My arms are on their way to being very toned (the only equipment needed for the workout is arm weights and a mat) and I am considering increasing the weight on the arm weights. My legs are toned. My clothes are fitting better. I sleep better at night. I hopefully won't die from a stress related heart attack at 40 now! I feel worse if I do not exercise in the mornings than if I do exercise. I recommend this DVD for exercise because it is set up to where you see results quick and it only takes right at 30 minutes from start to finish. Even though I was skeptical of the effectiveness of a DVD workout, I am impressed with this one!

Getting to know the people of the Bible

On Friday, I was reading some blogs as a quick mind break at work like I do periodically to keep myself from going insane or consuming too much caffeine. As I read the different blogs, I thought about how the passion of the authors of the blogs comes through when I read them. Part of the reason that I can imagine the passion is that I have listened to sermons by many of the people who write the blogs I read and I have read their books. Due to this familiarity with their whole body of work (sermons and books), I can understand the passion that is coming through when they say what they say.

I also thought about how the same thing is true for the blogs of friends. I can read the sarcasm in what they are writing because I know their personalities. I often imagine them speaking what is written and that adds to the experience.

When I read fiction and nonfiction, I am often able to imagine characters coming alive. Good authors feed you enough details about the character that you get to know them and can understand the decisions the characters made. One of the best examples of this for me is Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. This is one of my favorite books of all time. The subtle description by Paton made me picture the main character as James Earl Jones. Jones just fit the description. I read the book probably about five times before I realized there was a movie, and that Jones played the main character in the movie. I have also found that the more works you read by a particular author, the better you understand books that you take the time to go back and reread.

I have started making it a point to write letters to some of the boys in New Orleans for various occasions. As I write the letters, I hope that the boys know me well enough to hear the love and concern and encouragement contained in the letters. Part of the purpose of a letter is to communicate feelings as well as news in the letters. My letters to New Orleans also contain communications of the gospel.

Taking all of this into consideration, the thought that hit me Friday was simply this: why do I not allow the characters, the authors, and God to come alive while reading the Bible like I do when I read all other types of literature or when I write letters. Part of this requires me to be familiar with the big picture of the Bible, understanding its main purpose, and reading it as a whole. When I read about a particular character in the Bible, I need to get to know that person. When I read a letter from Paul to a church or a person, I need to know something about Paul's life so that I can read his passion. I need to know something about the recipient so that I can understand Paul's love for them and the concern that he is communicating. Most of all, I need to listen to God's voice throughout all of the Bible and use it to understand Him more and more. Get to know Jesus through reading through the gospels. Understand why He made the decisions He made by reading through the Old Testament and seeing Him in every part of it. Everything I have been reading, secularly and religiously, for the past year probably led to the one thought on Friday afternoon. Simply put, the Bible and the God behind the Bible should come alive for us by reading the Bible just as our favorite characters from good books come alive. I am challenging myself to read this way for the next few weeks so that maybe this will become a habit for me. It definitely makes reading the Bible more enjoyable!

Random Thought #42

Who would have thought that a Ford Ute would come out better in a head on crash with an airplane?

Farmers' Market Update

As some of you might recall, I was pretty excited about the Farmers' Market opening behind my office. Yesterday was the first day I made it a point to go over to the market. I am pretty pleased with what I came away with. I love squash, so that was what I was looking for mainly out of the trip. Almost every grower had squash. One grower had blackberries that looked absolutely delicious. Therefore, I went with the grower who had blackberries. I bought a basket of squash (about 8-10 small squash) and a pint of blackberries for $5. I had looked at squash at Walmart two days before, and I came away with a steal compared to the Walmart prices.

Since I had a pint of blackberries, I had to make something that would fit into my toaster oven (since my big oven doesn't work right now and needs to be replaced) using the blackberries. I decided to make blackberry crisp since it is simple and you can play around with the recipe to make it fit into the small pan.
It was so good!!! It just needed a little scoop of ice cream to go with it to be perfect. I didn't really follow the recipe, but used it more for inspiration and proportions and cooking time/temp, but here is a good, simple recipe for blackberry crisp. The plus to this recipe is that I had all the ingredients on hand and it took hardly any time to put together. Now I need to find some good blueberries, and try them out with the same recipe - with some Bluebell Homeade Vanilla on the side of course!

Slumdog Millionaire

Although I have not finished many books recently (I have started plenty though), I have been watching my Netflix movies quite regularly. I moved some of the newer releases up on my list, but I have not been impressed with most of the newer movies that I have watched. This week, I did watch one that is worth writing about.

I was nervous about watching Slumdog Millionaire because of all of the hype. However, it was a decent movie despite being difficult to watch. I do not know much about India except that it has the reputation of being dirty, they have a caste system, it is mostly Hindu and Muslim, and Christians are persecuted there. And they have a ton of dialects which can present a huge problem in car accident cases and commercial litigation in the US involving persons who are Indian and speak obscure dialects (speaking from experience). Before this movie, that would describe the extent of my knowledge about India.

The movie is disturbing on many levels, which is what makes it hard to watch. Also, I am not a fan of skipping around to different time periods, although I did eventually like how the boy's life was split into how he knew the answers to particular questions. For the first twenty or so minutes, I am not liking all the skipping around though. The movie left me wondering at the end about how close to reality that the movie is. Sometimes I worry about Hollywood sensationalizing something just to get a point across, and at times I felt that was being done in this movie, but I know that things like what are depicted in the movie are going on around the world. It is because of our tendency to be ignorant or to ignore the plight of the impoverished around the world that I think the movie is worth seeing. It is difficult to watch children forced to survive because of lack of care or protection in society, but that is going on all over the world. It is difficult to see corrupt police officers, genocide (even if it was just attacks on a particular caste), child exploitation, street gangs, and lack of government protection for the people. I thought the movie did a good job of weaving all of those things together into one story.

I do have several complaints about the production of the movie. The subtitles when the Indian dialect was translated for you were VERY difficult to read. The words were not big enough and too often blended in with the particular background of a scene. Plus, they were all over the place so you did not know where to focus your eyes, and they went away too quick. I am a quick reader, but once I would find the subtitles on the screen, they were gone. Also, at the end of the movie, there is an awkward dance scene like what you would see in High School Musical or something of that nature. Given the seriousness of the movie, the dance scene seemed very out of place. I am sure that there is a reason there was a dance scene there, but that did not seem to translate into the American movie.

I have heard rumors that the filmmakers used actual children from the lower castes and that those children have now returned back to the living conditions that they were in prior to the making of the movie. I hope that those rumors are not true since the whole movie seemed to be a celebration of an unlikely rags to riches story. If they are true, the filmmakers are hypocrites (in my opinion) since the whole movie seems to be pointing out the injustice associated with being unfortunate enough to be a member of the lower caste. Despite those things, the acting was pretty good and the child actors especially seemed like naturals.

Overall, I would recommend the movie if for not other reason than the fact that it was enlightening.

Jesus Storybook Bible

I have not made any reading recommendations in a while, in part because I am halfway through about six books right now because I cannot seem to just pick one up and read it all the way through. However, I do have a recommendation, especially for parents of young children or to give as a gift at a baby shower.

I bought little guy the Jesus Storybook Bible and gave it to him and his daddy when I was in New Orleans a few weeks ago. Before handing it over, I spent time reading the book to little. I believe that it is important to read books to children early (even as early as the five months old that he was at the time), and it is even more important to start reading them books about God and Jesus and the gospel. I am very impressed with this book. It does a great job of making it clear to children (and to the parents reading it-part of the reason it was a necessary addition to little guy's library) that the Bible is one big story with Jesus as the main character and the plan of redemption of God's people as the main plot. The author does a wonderful job of building the anticipation of Jesus' birth by referring to Him throughout the various old testament stories through various names other than Jesus. At first, I was unsure of the illustrations, but I have to say that the illustrations absolutely captivated little guy. He sat quietly listening to everything and had a new sense of wonder each time that I turned the page. The book is recommended for ages 4+, but I think it is not a bad idea to start reading it to children earlier than four years old. Consider making this book a regular gift to babies in your life (and a regular read for your own children).

Here is a link to another review of the book.

Technology for the Ages

Well, in the past 24 hours, my parents have starting texting and Bro. Martin, a former missionary at the Center, has started using instant messaging. My parents are over 50 and Bro. Martin is over 60 (may be over 70 now ... I lost count). Mom has kept me updated on news. Daddy has kept me updated on the weather (when a storm hits them, it hits me sometimes about 3 hours later). Bro. Martin has discussed how big Texas is. I have found out that my NO friends often think that because I am in Texas and they are in Texas, we are close. However, I am almost as close to NO as I am to Bro. Martin who now lives south of Houston. It is amazing how technology now allows people to keep in touch. What did we do before cell phones and computers?

Blog of the Week - WVSM Trips

This year the youth group at my church has started blogging their summer trips. Since they are at youth camp in Jackson, Tennessee this week, it seems appropriate to feature the blog as the blog of the week.

What I have learned in the past week and a half ...

... which also partially explains the silence on my blog.

1. Snagging is illegal at Lake Wright Patman. Engaging in snagging on Wright Patman will land you a ticket from the game warden and a trip to a Teen Court trial over which I may preside (currently I sit once every two to three months), provided you qualify due to being under eighteen years of age. At the end of each case, I am encouraged to impart words of wisdom to the teenagers in attendance. My advice on this case? If it does not require bait, it is probably illegal and should be researched before implementing because if it sounds too good to be true, it is probably too good to be true.

2. There are two key things to always remember when preparing to win a family law case. (1) Dress better than the other attorney, including making sure you look put together with your hair and make-up. You may think I am kidding, but I am not. It gives your client a confidence in your abilities because you look like you know what you are doing. This is especially important for me since I am a younger attorney often going up against older attorneys. I have learned this from observation and experience. (2) Know the facts better than the other attorney. This requires frequent (bi-weekly or monthly) contact with the client where you take notes on all of the mundane details of the relationship that has landed the family in court. This usually results in you knowing the other party better than their own attorney. I put both of those in practice last week to obtain a favorable result.

3. There are people in the world who give up rather than putting forth effort even when the consequences are high. If I am in fear of losing my job, or if I was in fear of losing my children, I am sure that something superhuman would come out of me in an effort to show others that I care about those things. I am sure that I could do almost whatever it takes to make sure that my boss could not live without me or my children would never have to live without me. However, I have observed people who have been told repeatedly that if they do not step it up, they are going to lose their job/their child give up and refuse to put forth more effort. Sad.

4. There are some things as a boss that although the outcome this time is not as catastrophic as it could have been (catastrophic is the only appropriate word), you have to address the issue as if the worst has happened just so your employee gets the message that they made a serious mistake. I am already anal when it comes to appeals and I only let my legal assistants do two things - order the appropriate record and file the brief. One did not order the complete record, so now I probably became even more anal. I discovered this less than 48 hours prior to the deadline. It was too late to order the record needed and probably to get an extension. I made do with what I had (very creative recreation of the record missing) and hope that the Court is merciful because I tried (or does not notice). Needless to say, I filed the brief.

5. There is a game system called XaviX that is similar to the Wii technology (movement based games), but not near as well marketed. However, it only costs $30 for the system and bowling game at Tuesday Morning, which is MUCH less than Wii (who cares if the graphics are reminiscent of Super Nintendo). Since I have wanted a Wii for a while, but cannot even begin to justify spending the money for it, the $30 system seems a much smarter purchase. Now maybe I can get the boys to stop watching so much TV when they are over and instead get up and play the game. I get tired of watching TV and try not to make it a habit.

6. I can make an appeal deadline even if my vacation falls in the middle. Attorneys get in a bad habit of asking for extensions of time to file things when in reality they just do not want to adjust their schedules to work in the deadline. I could have asked for a deadline using my vacation as an excuse, but what makes me think that I would be any less busy during the extension period than I was in the time leading up to the original deadline? In fact, I appear to be very smart for not requesting an extension because every morning this week is filled with an appointment and last week I only had a day filled with an appointment (the hearing referenced above). I want to be a person who meets a deadline and only asks for an extension when it is absolutely necessary. I think that is part of professionalism that is lacking in the legal profession and in other professions as well.

7. Perhaps one of the most important lessons I learned last week, it is possible to get addicted to working out, and once you have a routine in place, stick to it. I have conditioned myself to working out in the mornings before I go to work. I can tell a HUGE difference when I put it off until after work and it is not worth it. I also do not do well if I take a day off from exercising. Also, I have to hit an activity level where I am sweating and my heart rate is sufficiently elevated for me to feel like I have even exercised. This is a big change from my activity level a few months ago when I started working out to deal with stress. Maybe I can continue to develop this good addiction and keep from having a heart attack from the stress of my job and my terrible eating habits at the age of 35 or 40.