Talk To Us!

      I have been wanting to join Talk To Us Tuesday for quite a while.  It's my kind of blog hop in that there are absolutely no rules at all!  That said, I've usually already put up my Tuesday post before I realize I could stick the Talk To Us Tuesday button op and the top.

      But today I remembered!  Awesome.  Plus, I needed a little somethin' for this post since I don't have anything in particular in mind.  Sure, I could finish the two already started posts I have.  OR I could pick up one of the 30 someodd post ideas and seeds still floating around in a word doc on my desktop, but really, it's just not that sort of day.

      I am still (and constantly) going like crazy at work.  I love my new job.  I get to truely help people every day.  Sure, it makes for crazy, killer scheduling and a never ending go-go-go pace, but I love it.  Not the divorces, so much, because that's always rather sad.  But at least I can be there for these people in these hard times and direct them toward other resources to help them through.

      And then when I get the consumer law cases - where someone gets screwed over and I get to go to bat for them - them I'm really happy.  I love those cases and I love doing something.  The differences I'm making are small, but they are real, and I love it.

      Though it does have a price.  The schedule, if I haven't yet mentioned it, it nuts.  Things are getting completely out of hand and I'm going to have to rein it in a little.  I hate to have to limit the number of clients I'll see in a week, but if I don't, I'll never have time to do the actual work.

      Yesterday, I had the longest child support negotiation ever.  I was new to the case, taking it over for a colleague who had a scheduling comment and I was told that it should be about 30 minutes, but that it was important to get the agreement hammered out because the whole thing was about to fall through and we did not want this to go to court (for the sakes of both parties).

      It took over 3 hours.  It was nuts.  I can't comment on any of the negotiation itself, but I will say that it was LONG, conveluted, and a little bit ridiculous.  And I will also say that attorney's have to possess somethign called "client control."  In simplest terms this means keeping your client from saying something freaking stupid in court or during a negotiation and helping your client separate out their strong feelings from their legal best interests.  Because, let me tell you, especially in family law, your feelings are rarely in line with your legal best interests.

      I found out yesterday just how HARD it is to work with an attorney who has NO client control whatsoever.

      The fact that X said some mean stuff to you when you two were splitting up doesn't mean a mother freaking thing when it comes to determining child custody and support.  SO STOP SAYING IT.  Over and over and over.  I don't care!  I was thisclose to directly asking the other attorney to get control of her client.  Erg.  Ridiculous.

      BUT, I still helped my client.  I kept the negotiations going when the other party (stupidly) kept wanting to try to let it fall through.  We succeeded.  And I literally ran out of the already dark, empty building when it was done to go get Flintstone.  Picking up our humane turkey had to be put off till today.

      All in all, though, yesterday was a pretty good day.  I got in good mommy time, good wife time, good lawyer time, and good Marine time.  And I can still feel the Marine time. 

      We have to run a CFT (Combat Fitness Test) on the 30th (5 days after Thanksgiving, effing brilliant), and so I've been working hard to make sure I get a good score.  I've always maxed it out in the past, which is a score of 300, but I'm not so sure this time.  We'll see. 

      Yesterday, I did 100 squats, 400 meters of lunges, 4 100 meter sprints, and 2 400 meter sprints (ok, by that point they were more like jelly leg shuffles, but still).  All in boots.  Heavy boots.  If you have never ran - really ran - hard - in boots, do not underestimate just how much more painful it makes it.  I am NOT a fan of running in boots.

      And today, I hurt.  Half the Law Center is waddling around like penguins with frost bite.  My butt and my thighs are killing me.  But it's good.  Even if I do look silly every time I walk.

      I've been doing some social network purging.  Trying to cleanse my mind of people who are negative or cause drama, that sort of thing.  I'm liking how far I've gotten so far, but I'm thinking I still have a long way to go.

      I just remembered that I was going to write a Thanksgiving post today.  Yeah, no chance of that happening now. 

       If you haven't been to my MacGyver Gift Idea Pinboard yet, please go now.  I need help picking him a gift, and I need to order one ASAP!!!

      I want to get another post up tomorrow, but just in case I don't:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, ALL!!!