Monday, July 31, 2006

Weekend report.

Good weekend overall... didn't get new speakers in my car, but piddled around running a few errands here and there. Found some yummy chicken and vegetable potstickers at Sam's Club, brought those to Bastrop, and just lazed around. I poked about in the garden for a while, watering and weeding and sorting things out. We watched the first Star Wars movie and crashed pretty early. Sunday we picked up a few things at the Central Market and went home-- I made a Chinese chicken salad to fill lettuce wraps with, and we watched Star Wars episode 5. The Symphony concert was so-so-- Haley joined us, which was nice, but the music was off. A "big" string quartet, but they were playing Gershwin and Ellington and jazzy stuff that sounded too refined and "lah-ti-dah"... no real soul. Plus the "m.c." for the group kept yakking on and on, but she wasn't well-amplified, so sometimes it was tempting to tune her out.

Got up this morning and ran again. I felt plain awful at the start, like my feet were made of lead, but it got better as I went along. After I showered, I realized the toenail on my left foot was lifted up, so I cut it off completely. Now I realize it wasn't really a bruise under the nail so much as a bloodblister-- because the top where the nail was is squishy and soft, and it's like a little blood pillow. Eeww! So I covered it with a bandaid and I hope it gets hardened soon. I'm giving up racquetball this week to let it heal. I'll run in the hotel gym or wherever while in San Diego, but no lateral motion.

I'm rather frustrated with my weight these days. My pants fit a little tight, but I'm being scrupulous about counting calories. I usually eat 1000-1200 a day, and up to 1500 on Saturdays. The websites and internet information I have consulted all think my basal metabolic rate is around 1700-1800 a day, not including any exercise. I should be losing weight at least a pound a week! but Saturdays kill me... last week I was down to 133, and Saturday went up to 136! Maybe it's water. Grrrrr.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Weekend plans..

I'm sitting on Mitch's couch, soaking both feet in a bucket of hot water and Epsom salts, having just taken my morning maintenance dose of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aka ibuprofen), and thinking I might be starting to get old. My toes did fine in racquetball yesterday (wish I could say the same about me-- 15-4, 15-7, 15-4, to say nothing of all the cutthroat games where I got 4-8 points to Antonio's 15...)

Then we went to Copa for the salsa class... only 3 guys this time! That's rough to teach, but we snagged some random girl to join us and Mitch followed, so it worked out. The early part of the evening (10-12) was very empty, mellow, and I was almost ready to go because there was no one to dance with. Spent a lot of time talking to one of the students, Jack, and enjoying his interest in the dance. He dances lindy and swing now, but is clearly motivated to add salsa and to do it right. Around midnight, a crew of salseros from San Antonio and Corpus Christi showed up, and by then the club was crowded, hot, and annoying. Used to be all the salseros danced up front near the DJ area, but now it's dance at your own risk because of all the posers who flail around, shoving people and careening from one point to the next like bumpercars. It is much cooler in the back by the bar, so that's where I headed to watch Roy and Sidney. I did get one dance with Roy, but it was a salsera-rich environment for him last night and my tootsies were tired, so Mitch and I left around 1ish. It was nice to see Sharlie and her fiance Pipe (Felipe) out and about, too. I danced with him and enjoyed it.

So today, once I'm done soaking, it's off to do errands-- Sam's, Central Market, Best Buy, Movin' Easy (I have a store credit there and a pair of shoes I wanted to try has come in), and the aquarium store, to return those stupid cichlids Mitch got. Then Bastrop to chill out, and back in Austin tomorrow.

Monday, running and racquetball. Tuesday running. Wed-Sat, San Diego for the AGACL conference. Yay!

Friday, July 28, 2006

Eww...

So the recent upsurge in activities for me resulted in two fat bruised toenails-- the second toe on each foot. Yesterday, the right one was so tender and puffy, I knew something needed to be done. I read several websites devoted to running or ballet, and many people suggested seeing a podiatrist to have it lanced. Mitch valiantly volunteered to heat up a needle with a candle flame and do it for free, which I vetoed.

After calling many doctors' offices, I finally found one who could see me right away. Yup-- it needed to be "poked." So the podiatrist anesthetized my toe and made a cut just under the tip of the nail and released a lot of pressure. (The right toe had a blister under the nail; the left one was a bruise under the nail and he said it was healing already, so no point in poking both, just would increase the chances for infection.) My toe was still numb at 11:30pm, some 8.5 hrs later, but I could tell it would feel much better (and this morning I was right.) I ran Town Lake without a problem (well, without problems due to the nail!) this morning. Unfortunately, last night I'd eaten 1 1/2 ears of corn on the cob as part of my dinner, so this morning my tummy was not appreciating all the jostling and joggling around. It made gurgling noises from 2 miles onwards, and I was very happy for a long drink of water at the end.

Tonight I'm playing racquetball with Jamie, whom I've never played before, so should be interesting. Running didn't bug my toe, but I'm interested to see how rball affects it. And then of course there's salsa tonight too.

Tomorrow morning I'm bringing my car to Best Buy for new rear speakers. Considering running tomorrow morning too... maybe too much of a good thing?

We'll see.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Endorphins!

Had a fantastic run this morning with Alan. I'll hasten to correct the impression I'm giving again-- it's still run, walk, run, but definitely more running. It felt AWESOME! More running on the "front" side and more walking on the "back" side, but we sprinted half of the last bridge across the lake, which felt wonderful! Like I was a kid again, but I was conscious of all my muscles working together, and I felt very powerful. So... I think I will run tomorrow and Friday and maybe not need to do 3x a week after all. Which means when I'm in San Diego next week for the conference, I should get up early in the A.M. and use the hotel's gym.

So next week Wed-Sat I'll be attending the AGACL (Assoc. of Gov't Attorneys in Capital Litigation) conference. Gorgeous San Diego, in a lush hotel right on the water... yay! Last year's conference was in D.C. and the speakers were amazing. I am looking forward to attending the trial track again, to keep my skills fresh. I will definitely try to get out and explore the salsa scene in the evenings, too. My friend from high school, Heather Sainsbury, lives a few hours away and she'll be coming in on Friday night to hang out with me and spend the night. Just like the sleepovers we had in high school.

I have lately been turned on to song called Otra Oportunidad by Jimmy Bosch and I was absolutely jamming to it in the car yesterday and today. Because of that song, I am newly motivated to dance more than I have been lately-- it is just too good. (And I'm getting the rear speakers in my car replaced this Saturday, they're awful and they get in the way of my jam!) It starts out very mellow, jazzy, with a distinct clave, some soft piano, maracas, and the tumbao of the congas. Then, during the chorus, a delicious little group of horns starts to wail, the various percussion instruments start filling in, and the sound becomes so rich you just can't stop your body from moving! Your shoulders, your head, your torso, your hips, knees, arms, hands... it's beyond words.

If you are at all interested in knowing how a good (GREAT!) salsa dancer (aka 'salsera') uses the various rhythms in salsa music to inspire her body, please check out imambo.tv. You'll have to register but they won't send you anything... go to the videos link at the top of the page, then go to the 2005 Canada Congress, then click on either "Magna and Jareau" or "Magna and Friends"... have your volume up and prepare to fall in love. Magna Gopal is one of the BEST salseras in the world, her spinning and musicality is beyond compare, and she's so sweet and friendly too.

So-- between running, and rball tonight with Ben, and dinner at Hut's (2-for-1 burgers night) with friends, and my new favorite salsa song, I'm just FULL of endorphins right now!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Sore muscles!

Phew... I'm sore! The worst issue is my bruised toes... the second toe on each foot looks like it has a small blackberry for a toenail. Very painful. Not sure if I got them from dancing (foot slides forward in the jazz shoes a tad) or from running or from racquetball. However I'm not stopping any of those activities so I think the bruise will have a hard time healing.

My hamstrings and quads are sore from running... I took this morning off and think I'll just run 3x a week until I get more fit and adjusted to the motion.

My traps, lats and triceps are sore from racquetball- played a nice two hours last night with Ben, and have scheduled games for Wed with Ben, Thurs with Antonio, and Fri with Jamie. I think I'll join the UT rec sports program ($575 for the year, or $47 a month) and hope to have a consistent rball game 3-5 times a week. While I'm getting in shape I don't mind running 5x week, but I hope I can cut it back to 2-3x eventually. It's just so dang boring.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Keeping up to date.

Teaching a CLE today on deposition skills, and Ben bailed on racquetball (he has tweaked something in his neck.) So, sadly, I am going to have to forego the yummy fries at Hut's when Mitch and I go for 2-for-1 burger night.

Tomorrow is a nice little evidentiary hearing here in Austin, defending my old friend Jim Sawyer on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. I'll be trailing several law clerks behind me and it will be a short hearing, so that's good. I have a few deadlines breathing down my neck and I need to get some real work done!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Weekend fun

Friday was a long day but good-- had lunch with my friend Virginia. She's a defense lawyer in town but we met when we were both prosecutors for Travis County. She's extremely down to earth and not fake at all; you always know where you stand with her. She and her husband James are expecting a little girl in early November- yay! Then more racquetball with Ben. Sad little trauma on the way though-- I set a pair of shoes on top of my car while I was loading up in the morning and forgot them! Boohoo, they were really cutelittle leather sandals and I'd found them for only like $9 at TJ Maxx. I drove back along the road several times and never found them. Ahh well, that will teach me. At least racquetball was great.

Then at 6pm I met Mitch at the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens for Jeff's funeral. It was a lovely setting and people said such nice things.. but it was hot as blazes, I was probably a little dehydrated from racquetball, and after about 30-40 minutes I was getting faint and clammy. I had to put my head between my knees a few times when I started seeing stars and hearing the ocean roaring, so Mitch got me a cold soda and we left in the middle, unfortunately.

Salsa class was good, fun as usual, and then lots of people started showing up from out of town-- San Antonio mostly (Angel and Jessica among others) and Roy from Miami who just moved to Austin as well. Had more dances than usual and didn't get home until 2am.

Saturday we puttered around. Went to Marco Polo for dim sum-- the solution we've found to my picky European tastes (which don't lend themselves very well to some authentic delicacies) is for me to order off the menu. I had some mushu pork and was thoroughly satisfied (which made Mitch feel better, as usually I sit and pick at the food and eat nothing.) We went to my house in Bastrop and puttered some more. Even though it was in the high 90s/almost 100 outside, my house never got more than 84 inside (with the A/C off). I did a little weeding in the garden but nothing strenuous, mostly just laid around and read. Made some pecan brownies with toffee bits for my neighbor Lorraina who brought my garbage can in for me last weekend.

Sunday morning Mitch and I went to the Gospel Brunch at Stubbs'. A group of 7 black guys from Brenham TX were laying down some nice grooves, but the food was sad... lots of fat, lots of grease, some barbecue, and at the end of the buffet, some boxed Total cereal and a melon-pineapple fruit salad. Hmf. You'd think they'd have something a little healthier. We spent the afternoon at home reading and working, then went to Wooldridge Park for the sympony concert (after picking up some Popeye's chicken.) It was the brass quartet, a very nice sound, but the ants were ridiculous. The chicken was ok (I had the naked, no-skin chicken strips, somewhat greasy/oily but yummy spices). Went home, read, and crashed.

I still have my cold-- feel fine, but still coughing up gunk. I'll go to the doctor if I still have it Friday. I have a full plate of work this week, plus property tax protest hearing, teaching a deposition skills course to lawyers in my agency, plus a hearing on Thursday here in Austin. I better get workin'.



G

Thursday, July 13, 2006

A snip from Kansas v. Marsh (US Supreme Court, June 26, 2006)

From Justice Scalia's concurrence:

Of course, even with its distorted concept of what constitutes "exoneration," the claims of the Gross article are fairly modest: Between 1989 and 2003, the authors identify 340 "exonerations" nationwide--not just for capital cases, mind you, nor even just for murder convictions, but for various felonies. Gross 529. Joshua Marquis, a district attorney in Oregon, recently responded to this article as follows:

"[L]et's give the professor the benefit of the doubt: let's assume that he understated the number of innocents by roughly a factor of 10, that instead of 340 there were 4,000 people in prison who weren't involved in the crime in any way. During that same 15 years, there were more than 15 million felony convictions across the country. That would make the error rate .027 percent--or, to put it another way, a success rate of 99.973 percent." The Innocent and the Shammed, N. Y. Times, Jan. 26, 2006, p. A23.


The dissent's suggestion that capital defendants are especially liable to suffer from the lack of 100% perfection in our criminal justice system is implausible. Capital cases are given especially close scrutiny at every level, which is why in most cases many years elapse before the sentence is executed. And of course capital cases receive special attention in the application of executive clemency. Indeed, one of the arguments made by abolitionists is that the process of finally completing all the appeals and reexaminations of capital sentences is so lengthy, and thus so expensive for the State, that the game is not worth the candle. The proof of the pudding, of course, is that as far as anyone can determine (and many are looking), none of cases included in the .027% error rate for American verdicts involved a capital defendant erroneously executed.

Since 1976 there have been approximately a half million murders in the United States. In that time, 7,000 murderers have been sentenced to death; about 950 of them have been executed; and about 3,700 inmates are currently on death row. See Marquis, The Myth of Innocence, 95 J. Crim. L. & C. 501, 518 (2006). As a consequence of the sensitivity of the criminal justice system to the due-process rights of defendants sentenced to death, almost two-thirds of all death sentences are overturned. See ibid. "Virtually none" of these reversals, however, are attributable to a defendant's " 'actual innocence.' " Ibid. Most are based on legal errors that have little or nothing to do with guilt. See id., at 519-520. The studies cited by the dissent demonstrate nothing more.

Like other human institutions, courts and juries are not perfect. One cannot have a system of criminal punishment without accepting the possibility that someone will be punished mistakenly. That is a truism, not a revelation. But with regard to the punishment of death in the current American system, that possibility has been reduced to an insignificant minimum. This explains why those ideologically driven to ferret out and proclaim a mistaken modern execution have not a single verifiable case to point to, whereas it is easy as pie to identify plainly guilty murderers who have been set free. The American people have determined that the good to be derived from capital punishment--in deterrence, and perhaps most of all in the meting out of condign justice for horrible crimes--outweighs the risk of error. It is no proper part of the business of this Court, or of its Justices, to second-guess that judgment, much less to impugn it before the world, and less still to frustrate it by imposing judicially invented obstacles to its execution.

What do you think?

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

I'm back at the office now, feeling a little better and definitely tired of lazing around the house.

Jeff's funeral (sounds like it) will be on Friday evening.

Not really motivated to say anything further.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Still sick... still upset...

Another day of working from home, except that something weird happened to my virtual desktop and I am temporarily unable to connect. Hopefully that sorts itself out soon, or I'll have to drag my feathers back into the office. I'm still hacking a lot, but I feel better, and my nose isn't as sniffy.

I'm still stunned and very unhappy about my friend Jeff's death. We weren't close at all, more acquaintances than anything, but he had such a definite personality, he really stands out in my mind. I liked that he called his wife Mandy "the Pea" which I think was short for "sweetpea." I liked that he had a little weinerdog named Lucy. I liked that he called his friends Kim and Sigmund "Team Bloom" and referred to himself and his wife as "Team Wilson." I liked a lot of little quirky things about him, and from what I can tell, I would have liked to have known him better. But even if he was a little turd... what makes me mad is why he died.

That woman knew better! I could almost be less upset if the driver had been a stupid young kid. Instead, it was a courthouse employee, and an adult more than anything-- how can you get past 18 or so and not know that driving after drinking is STUPID!?!?!? It's pure selfishness. We've all seen the photographs of that young woman Jacqueline in Austin, whose face was horribly scarred because she was trapped in a burning car, the victim of a DWI collision. How can you see that poster even once and ever drink and drive again? Plus this lady worked in a county courthouse-- where one of the most common criminal charges is DWI! Sheesh. I am sorry to sound vitriolic, but I hope she is in agony and I hope it does not lessen for a very long time. I want to SHAKE her!

Monday, July 10, 2006

Jeff died.

I just heard from another lawyer friend that Jeff died earlier today.

My heart goes out to Mandy and the rest of his family, and Jason, his best friend...



Jeff Wilson.

Update on the DWI crash...

Kim and Sigmund are doing OK. Jeff is hanging in there, literally.

To learn the details, do what I do and check out Jason Steans' blog at

www.steanso.blogspot.com

Not crazy 'bout bein' sick...

Blech. I'm sick! Thank goodness my office is cool beyond belief.. I'm working from home today instead of having to use sick time. I'm feeling OKish today, good enough to work, but reluctant to share the wealth with my coworkers.

Good weekend except for being sick though-- I finally beat Ben in a racquetball game! The very first game we played-- 15-12. Amazing. I did OK in the next match too, but then lost every single other one we played. Maybe I was getting tired, I definitely wasn't pushing myself as hard to get to the ball, but I was delighted that I finally won one. So that was a lovely two hours Friday afternoon.

Then, poor Mitch was too sick to teach, so I got to handle the salsa class at Copa alone. Fortunately Silvio Ramos (the owner/manager) was on hand to help me get connected to the sound board. A good class, 17 students, with fun people. The only downer was the subwoofer-- broken-- so after class we were sans music for a bit while Fabian and Alvaro (DJs at Copa) fiddled and finagled 'til they brought the tunes back to life.

I started feeling pretty poorly Saturday morning. Mitch and I dawdled around, finally got going on some errands around 1pm, and made it to Bastrop around 3ish. I laid around and read, napped, read some more, progressively sicker each hour. Sunday I felt well enough to poke around in the garden for a while-- pulling up trumpetvine sprouts is my new avocation-- and I think getting out in the sun and sweating a bit (a lot) may have helped. Took a cold shower and headed back to Mitch's house Sunday evening. Still wasn't feeling well at all though, so I bailed on the free Symphony concert in the park and my friends Traci and Rrachelle.

I was delighted to note that the daylilies I planted in Mitch's front yard are doing well despite the deer population in the neighborhood. I took a photo-- already have one blossom! It was a "breeder's bag" from Veycheck Nurseries, $200 for 100 plants, and I stuck them in his front flower bed as a temporary holding space until we get the back yard redone. I am shocked one actually flowered so soon after planting. It wasn't anything special, just a raspberry pink with a yellow throat and some light ruffling on the petals, and small too, but it's a flower! hooray!

So today I'm hacking, coughing, snuffling and draggin' tailfeathers around the house. My nose is sore already so it will be a long day. I have a bowl of cut-up cantaloupe and watermelon at my side, and a posthearing brief to work on. What more could a girl want?

Friday, July 07, 2006

It's Friday!!

Hooray... though it was a short week (had Monday and Tuesday off for Independence Day) it still makes me happy to have it done with. Mitch and I both have a cold, but his is worse than mine. Summer colds are the worst! However I've always been good about taking my vitamins and eating lots of veggies so I'm sure it won't last long. Playing racquetball with my friend Ben Glazer this afternoon, and then Mitch and I will be teaching salsa class tonight at Copa. Then spend the weekend in my garden. Sunday evening is another free Austin Symphony concert in the park, and I'll be sharing my picnic dinner with Mitch, my former neighbor Traci, and my former court chief Rrachelle.



This is me and Mitch at a salsa social held at GoDance here in Austin.








This is me and Mitch, in Copa, just before or after teaching a salsa class last December.



Have a good weekend!

Seafood cookout on the Eastern Shore...



Spent a lovely long weekend on the Eastern Shore of Virginia this June, with my "other parents" Art and Linda Matthews. This is the view from their back yard, looking at the bay. It was a seafood cookout, family reunion type of gathering for some cousins on Uncle Art's side of the family.


My "brother" Brett inspects the oysters on the grill.














Other "brother" Craig, shucking his lunch.














Brett and his wife Heather.















Me and Heather.














Brett and Uncle Art, pitchin' horseshoes after lunch.















Aunt Linda, dancing. (Honestly this picture was taken at Christmas but she was so darn busy during the cookout I never got her to stand still long enough for a photo.)

More friends to share...

Bubba (aka James Heyward Murray IV) is the tall guy with dreads... we went to high school together near Chicago.



Carl Myers, one of the mock trial students I was honored to coach, is now a terrific litigator here in Austin.



My best friend since I was 8 has been Heather. Heather and her husband James just adopted this precious little girl Hannah in China and brought her back to Madison, Wisconsin in May. Hannah is a year old now.



This is Adriana, Nicole, and me, relaxing at the Magnolia Cafe after an evening of salsa dancing.



Dave and Lauren Crawford, good friends from law school.

Las Vegas for a Birthday Party...

Mitch's dad turned 75 in June, so we had an enormous family party the weekend of June 23rd. His parents live in Las Vegas, right next door to his dad's sister Aling. Family came from all over the US to celebrate, and we ate almost nonstop. This is Johnny and Norma, Mitch's parents.



John, Mitch's brother, and his wife Ashley and their children Bryan and Sarah. John is a dentist in Dallas.



This is Mitch's cousin Kathy and her husband Joey. They live in Long Island, and Joey owns and runs one of the best New York pizzerias EVER. I just love their pizza! And the garlic knots! But anyway.. Joey and Kathy are two of my favorite people. Their kids Chris and Michael are smart, solid, good boys, and the whole family really knows how to have fun. They always make me feel at home and welcome.



Kathy and her younger boy Chris.



Mitch's cousin Dennis and Kathy.
















The kids all sang happy birthday to Johnny.





Lots of fun dancing afterwards.



Me, Mitch and Tita ("Aunt") Aling.

Friends...

So this is Flash... my friend Mark Patterson's newest "offspring."



My friend Amanda at the Magic Kingdom. Amanda and I met at the Travis County Attorneys Office when I was a baby prosecutor and she was a victim-witness coordinator. She saved my sanity many a time. Now she's a killer real estate agent.



Amanda and her husband Ryan. Ryan is an APD officer on the DWI task force, and one of the best in the state. He's also a DRE (Drug Recognition Expert) and he teaches law enforcement all over Texas.



This is Mark Patterson, "daddy" of Flash, on his splendid mare Desi. She's a great eventer.



And this is my wonderful little house. She's on the National Historic Register and is over 120 years old.



This is my dear friend Kaspar Wenstrup, a photojournalist from Denmark, in Panama on assignment. We met in northern Ireland, summer of 1998, and now I get to live my photojournalism fantasies vicariously through him.



And this is Stephanie Kelley and her daughter Kennedy. I met Stephanie when I was dating Drew, and we've stayed friends ever since. She's studying nursing in Indiana now. Steph has the most beautiful, tender, affectionate face!

Ali, Carol, Sophia and Gaia...



So... the first two pictures are of my niece Ali and her daughter Sophia. They live in Rome with Ali's handsome husband Michele. She just had another baby, the beautiful Gaia, and also with her in that photo is my sister Carol, who lives in Santa Cruz, California.

The World's Fastest Indian

Since I wasn't blogging (writing in my diary?) back in February, there's no record of what I went through when the first love of my life, Drew, died. It seems a little strange to discuss what I'm experiencing as I mourn that loss, as though you, Dear Reader, already know all those details. So briefly, Drew and I loved each other passionately and dated for about three years, starting when I was 24. We broke up the summer before I began law school, and I'd say it took me two years to return to anything like normalcy. We began to reestablish a friendship about two years ago, and had exchanged some penetratingly insightful emails with the hopes of truly being good friends again. Then, Sunday, February 13th, our mutual friend Kaan called me (in what, at the time, seemed a prank call) to break the news-- Drew died in a freak motorcycle accident. He raced motorcycles for years and years, and was extremely skillful and successful. It happened in an ordinary practice lap, no adverse weather conditions, no other riders nearby. Fortunately it killed him instantly and he didn't suffer, I am told.





Since then, I have been surprised at the depth of my grief. It's not like we spoke regularly, but he was a monumental part of my past. We were born 3 days apart, and it's astonishing to think that someone as vividly alive as Drew could be dead. It's not like I haven't experienced loss before, but it is especially painful when it is someone so young and full of vitality. Anyway, two nights ago I watched an Anthony Hopkins movie (he's one of my favorite actors!) called "The World's Fastest Indian." It's about an older guy in New Zealand, Burt Munro, back in the 70s, who brought his 1920's Indian Scout motorcycle to the salt flats at Bonneville, Utah to set a new world land speed record (which still stands.) Of course, because Drew and his friend Dr. Jerry Klawitter had planned similar trips, the movie made me think of Drew all evening.

I hope he's breaking the heaven speed record now. I know that sounds cheesy! but it's true.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Sad, sad news...

I HATE DRUNK DRIVERS...

Just learned that some friends of mine were struck by a drunk woman (BAC .148) as they waited on a sidewalk to cross the street, leaving a concert and headed for some dinner. Kim and her husband Sigmund suffered broken bones, a concussion, black eye, scrapes etc. Jeff's skull was fractured and he's in a medically-induced coma. Thank goodness for a Houston E.R. doctor who happened to be driving by and witnessed the whole thing... the local EMS folk were not the most ept, so he stepped in and demanded a chopper flight to the hospital which probably saved Jeff's life. His wife Mandy was not injured in the accident. The doctors were going to let him go (yes, just let him die-- he was that close!) but one surgeon stepped forward and said "let's try this one thing." They took off the top of his skull and are letting the brain swelling subside (3-7 days) and then they'll start bringing him out of the coma and see what happens, but the word is very bad. I heard he has a 5% chance of surviving (and that says nothing about being aware, etc.)

I'm so sad for Mandy, and Jeff... Kim and Sigmund... Jeff's weiner dog Lucy...

And THAT'S why I took it so seriously when I was a DWI prosecutor. I don't care if you're Mother Theresa, if you drink and drive you can kill just the same. And IMHO, it was NOT the first time that lady had driven under the influence... just the first time she got caught.

Creating a record....

I guess that's what blogging is all about, right? It's the modern alternative to a journal or diary, with a twist-- you know it's public. But not really public, unless you advertise it to all your friends and family.



So this is me... and my boyfriend Mitch. This picture was taken June 25, 2006 at his father's 75th birthday party in Las Vegas. I have met lots of Mitch's family, but still need to get him out to the East Coast to meet mine.

G