Wonder if it would pass?

I received this e-mail this morning about an all-points inspection on my car. I am pretty sure that my car would fail right now since it has one wheel and tire that is horizontal instead of vertical, the impact could not have been good on the back brakes, and, well, it needs a lot of body work (even though that would not be considered in the all points inspection I am sure!). Some of what is included in an inspection:

Multi-Point Inspection Includes:
• Check & Top Off Fluids: Brake, Coolant,
Transmission, Power Steering, Window Washer
• Inspect Tires
• Inspect Windshield & Wipers
• Inspect Filters: Air & Oil
• Inspect Steering & Clutch
• Check for Oil & Fluid Leaks
• Check Major Systems
• Check Shocks and Struts
• Check Brake Wear
• Test Condition of Battery
• And Much More!!

Random Thought #26

I am handwriting some notes because I thought that would be more personal than a typed out letter. I discovered after writing two notes that my hand now cramps up when I handwrite instead of typing. My idea of making the notes more personal now seems foolish in light of my hand pain.

TYLA Newsletter

I am the secretary of the Texarkana Young Lawyers Association, the local affiliate of the Texas Young Lawyers Association. One of my responsibilities as secretary of the organization is to put together and publish a newsletter each month. This months newsletter was posted on the Eastern District of Texas blog, which happens to be one of the most read blogs by patent attorneys and attorneys practicing in the Eastern District of Texas. This is a pretty big accomplishment for our local affiliate!

My New Favorite Place for Furniture ...

I am in love with IKEA. I received the current catalogue a few weeks ago, and I was impressed with the look and the prices. I decided that IKEA might be a more affordable way to go on some furniture that I need throughout my house. I am in the process of making a wishlist and prioritizing what pieces of furniture I need, but I have been in desparate need of bookshelves for a while. I decided that would be my test furniture to see how I would like ordering the furniture online and putting it together.

I bought cheap shelving units ($19.99 each) in the Lerberg line. I decided to get two because I envisioned that I would use the shelves to replace the shelving units I currently have my books on in the back room at my house. Shipping was a bit pricey, but I still was able to order the units for less than I could buy similar shelves in a local store. The first plus to IKEA.

The shelves arrived yesterday, and of course, I could not wait to open the boxes and start assembling last night. When I buy furniture or other items that need assembly, I am always looking for easy assembly and/or easy instructions. For example, I will not buy anything that requires assembly from Lowes because not only are their instructions hard to follow, I have found that they are often wrong. On the other hand, I will buy whatever I can from Target because, although the assembly may be a little on the complicated side, the instructions are awesome and alleviate all of the frustration in the assembly. As I opened the boxes and pulled out the instruction book, I was a little worried because the instructions did not look easy to follow. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised at the ease of assembling the shelves, which took right around thirty minutes each.

Once assembled, I saw a completely different, much needed use of the shelves. My dining room, although I have lived in my house for two years, looked like a storage room because of my boxes of law school books and notes. When I assembled the first shelf, it looked perfect for the dining room so that I could unpacked some of the boxes. After the assembly of the shelves and unpacking of the boxes, in a little over an hour and a half I was able to turn my dining room from a storage room to a room that is able to function as a dining room. The only bad thing is that I now realize I need two more shelving units to take care of the situation in the back room at my house!

Happy Candlemas, a.k.a. Groundhog's Day

I did not know that Groundhog's Day had a Christian tradition behind it. I found this article very interesting.

25 Random Things About Me

I was tagged in one of those Facebook notes that asks you to share 25 things about yourself. Well, I decided that might be a good blog entry and I will just link to it on Facebook in case anyone actually wants to take the time to read over it. Here are 25 random things about me:

1. I do not have an ACL in my right knee, and there is a possibility that I do not have one in my left knee as well. My ACL is not there, and there is no scar tissue to suggest that it was ever there. This means I cannot ski, and my knee dislocates from time to time.

2. I coach a little league basketball team of third and fourth graders.

3. Related to the one above, at one of the practices, I made several left hand layups in a row wearing stillettos. Upon realizing I was in stillettos and did not have an ACL in the knee of the leg that I jump from, I came to the conclusion that I am not a very smart person.

4. I make my basketball kids say "it's nice to be nice" at least three times if they make fun of someone, including the refs.

5. I despise most Christian music. Just because it is not as bad as most popular music does not mean that it is good. For Christian music to be good, it has to have theologically sound, God-centered lyrics. This means that I pretty much only listen to Chris Tomlin as far as mainstream Christian music is concerned.

6. I do like Christian hip-hop so long as the lyrics are theologically sound/God-centered and the rap and beats do not sound second rate. My current favorite is Flame.

7. If House were on TV for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that is quite possibly all that I would watch on TV.

8. The only exception to number 7 would probably be Wednesday nights, which are Tyler Perry nights on TBS. I get physically violent with anyone who changes the channel from a Tyler Perry show unless it is a commercial break.

9. I prefer to watch The Office online or on DVD because I think that 2-1/2 minute commercials make the show a whole lot less funny.

10. I am ADD when it comes to reading. I cannot stand to read a book for more than three nights in a row. Therefore, I usually have between 4-8 books going at a time so that I do not get bored with a story. Currently being read - The Man in the Iron Mask; Young, Restless, Reformed; The Freedom and Power of Forgivness; Culture Shift; John Adams; and Christian Theology. All of these are within reach of my bed right now.

11. Even if I go on a weekend or overnight trip, I usually take 4-8 books with me because I never know which one I want to read on a given night.

12. The only book I can stand to read for more than three nights in a row is the Bible. However, I usually read that in the morning.

13. I hate to talk on the phone. I bothers me to talk to someone that I cannot see. If I am in the same town as the person on the other end, I can only talk 2 minutes at the most. If the person on the other end is out of town, I can talk for hours if I have not seen them in a while.

14. As long as I remember, I have wanted to be a lawyer.

15. I love to babysit. Even though I am a lawyer, I love to babysit periodically because I love being around children. My favorite age to be around is between birth and three. I guess I am a glutton for punishment!

16. Between July 2008 and June 2009, I will have bought gifts for thirteen babies at the last count. I know others having babies, but I think I would go broke if I bought for everyone I know having a baby.

17. I think I have been to NOLA around thirty times in the past 8 years. Quite frankly I lost count somewhere around 17.

18. I always wait to fill up my gas tank until my car has been dinging at me for quite a while to tell me I am out. I know I have 40 miles from the first ding.

19. My car has been saying "change oil soon" since August. Since that time, I have changed my oil twice, the most recent time being in December. However, the people at the oil change place keep forgetting to push the reset button.

20. My favorite breakfast is oatmeal and applesauce mixed together. I do not like oatmeal without applesauce or applesauce without oatmeal, but when you mix the two together and heat it up, I love it.

21. I love jazz music.

22. I think music on records sounds better than music on CDs. Plus you can get old jazz records for pretty cheap.

23. I currently am in possession of a vast supply of Southern gospel records. My grandparents were apparently huge southern gospel fans, and kept their records in near mint condition. When I got my record player for Christmas, I decided to bring their record collection back with me, which included mostly Southern gospel.

24. I like to play one of my grandparents' records just to bother my dog. I have a record that is put out by "the world's greatest whistler" and his whistling rendition of Precious Memories drives my dog crazy!

25. I think I am allergic to my office. I do just fine until I get into the office in the morning, at which time I proceed to sneeze and use up tissue like crazy. This does not happen when I go to court instead of to the office in the morning. Very strange.

Random Thought #25

I have weird eating habits. Example – my breakfast this morning was oatmeal, applesauce, and a ding dong (thanks to someone in the office bringing a box of ding dongs to work). I heated the ding dong for 8 seconds, making it taste similar to those desserts that you pay almost $2 for and just add water. At least I am washing my breakfast down with water instead of hot chocolate, iced tea, or Dr. Pepper.

StumbleUpon

I decided to start using StumbleUpon to find some unusual websites, as if I do not already waste enough time reading blogs on the Internet. Today was a particularly random, and yet thoroughly amusing, article on unusual deaths. Here are some of my favorites:

207 BC: Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after watching his drunk donkey attempt to eat figs.

1478: George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was executed by drowning in a barrel of Malmsey wine at his own request.

1556: Humayun, a Mughal emperor, was descending from the roof of his library after observing Venus, when he heard the mu'azaan, or call to prayer. Humayun's practice was to bow his knee when he heard the azaan, and when he did his foot caught the folds of his garment, causing him to fall down several flights. He died 3 days later of the injuries at the age of 47.

1649: Sir Arthur Aston, Royalist commander of the garrison during the Siege of Drogheda, was beaten to death with his own wooden leg, which the Parliamentarian soldiers thought concealed golden coins.

1673: Molière, the French actor and playwright, died after being seized by a violent coughing fit, while playing the title role in his play Le Malade imaginaire (The Hypochondriac or The Imaginary Invalid).

1862: Jim Creighton, baseball player, died when he swung a bat too hard and ruptured his bladder.

1912: Franz Reichelt, tailor, fell to his death off the first deck of the Eiffel Tower while testing his invention, the coat parachute. It was his first ever attempt with the parachute and he had told the authorities in advance he would test it first with a dummy.

Maybe StumbleUpon will make my blogs more interesting, or at least more random!

Random Thought #24

Why do boys (including grown men) think it is ok to go to the bathroom without washing their hands? It is not ok for anyone to go to the bathroom without washing their hands. Ever. Period. It grosses me out to think that others do not share my same opinions.

Whew!

I was smart to put a question mark after ice storm yesterday because we really did not have an ice storm. Ice? Yes, but not as the type that coats each individual pine needle causing the trees to snap all over town. Instead we had a lot of rain, and then the temperature dropped down to 25 freezing all the rain on the roads. Since drainage is not so bad in most parts of town, the bridges were the only things completely iced over. I did have to drive on a few ice patches to get to work, but no slipping and sliding for me. However, I did feel nervous a few times because people were braking like crazy, making me wonder about whether it is safe to drive on iced over roads with other people around.