Day 1285: And it starts

[nagi_schwarz]

My one coworker is going on paternity leave for about a month starting today. His wife was expected to have the baby over the weekend, but he was at court this morning, so apparently no baby yet.

Last week was pretty intense - court every day but Friday, all over the place on the road. Utterly failed to get to the gym, which made me feel kinda lame. Did go to dance class, though, so that was nice. There was some snowmageddon last week, but it was warm by the end of the week, so we didn't bother going snowboarding.

Cody has been cranky at his boss all week, since his boss has instituted a ridiculous 50-hour minimum at the lab, which is dumb, partially because it's based on shady pop psychology (the ten thousand hour rule) and he's only paid for twenty hours' worth of work a week.

I started writing a new original novel by hand, because why not? Dark scifi, to say the least. Finished one of my SGARB fics, and my friend Bru did an awesome speedy beta on it. Also I started a new random story, because also why not?

Cody and I went shooting together on Saturday - I'm way better with my .22 than I ever was with my 380 and then Naomi came over, and we went snack shopping and then headed up north to hang out with Kieran's friend Brandon and a bunch of other people to watch the fights, which were pretty good.

I spent a good chunk of Friday running errands - and also working on some of my trial stuff for later this month. Good news is that I am down from four trials to two this month - one settled, one continued. One of the TPR trials is going to be easy because both parents have been no-shows this entire time. The other one is going to be nasty. It's based on a new statute that wasn't well-drafted (it didn't contain the standard of proof, so I'm shooting high in case someone decides it's lower later). Also, apparently I stirred up quite an evidentiary conundrum. Called around to a bunch of old law school chums, and they spitballed some things - get a stipulation! - but their final answer was "call our old evidence prof".

I am pretty confident I can get done what I need to without a stipulation as to the admission of exhibits, but I would like the exact language of the exhibits all the same. One attorney stipulated, but the other party is pro se and so I have not had an answer.

Oh well.

I started crocheting the edge of a blanket for my coworker who's expecting a baby.

I appreciate maternity/paternity leave, I really do. But we're spread thin enough as it is, eight of us across five judges and a commissioner. Now we're down to seven. For at least a month.

Here goes!