Finally Snow

Tonight we're getting snow. Not too much, but the meteorologists are predicting maybe an inch, with some ice before it switches over to rain in the morning.

My apartment building gets its snow removed, but I went ahead and threw out some salt I had sitting around. So my sidewalk is clear...no liability here, move along.

I also did some cleaning of my plants and pots. I noticed yesterday that someone had stolen two of the smaller pots, one that I'd put out as an experiment, the other had a small pomegranate tree in it. I have no idea why people steal my pots, but to protect the strawberry plant and my pot of oregano I put them in the alley behind the house.

In addition, I put new dirt on the sedum matrona from a fresh bag and the pot that formerly held my zinnia. The zinnia was wonderful last year, and I'm definitely going to buy some more seeds this year.

I also cut the stem of the main stalk for the okra plant. I haven't decided whether I'll grow it again this year, while it was really cool to have okra, I think I'm going to try for more flowers. One possibility is rudbeckia.

A new printer and my New Years Resolutions

So I got back from Georgia, and now I'm trying to address bills and paperwork from last year, and start getting ready for Tax Season.

But for me to work with paper means I need a working printer, and my cheap printer from a couple of years ago finally died. So now I have an HP D5160 I picked up for about $80 at Staples on my way in to work today.

Now as to my resolution. I bought a pedometer, and I'm going to try to use it to make sure I'm getting a good level of physical activity. For example, getting to 10000 steps a day seems pretty doable, and works out to about 5+ miles a day. And finally, I'm trying to cut down on french fries.

December Update Goodness

Well, the first third of December is now over, and first up I need to note (for my future reference) that on Friday, Dec. 8, 2006 we had flurries that finally killed off some of my flowers. Prior to that, we'd never actually spent enough time below freezing to kill anything.

Of course, the high today was in the lower 50s.

I am still working as a contract attorney, doing document review.

For now, I'm fairly happy doing that, particularly so long as they can continue to provide solid 40 hour weeks (or better.)

And, I'm looking forward to going home to see my family in two weeks! I'll fly out on the Saturday before Christmas, and then return on January 3rd, very early in the morning.

Election Day Yay!

I get to vote! Woo-hoo!

Costume

I'm curious about the attire you are choosing for this event. Are you dressing like a vampire?
-Terri

As it turns out no, but vampire was definitely where I was headed when I walked into the Halloween Store down on Delaware Ave. But once inside, I realized I could go in a different direction: gangster.

I just got home from the store, and I'm wearing my gangster outfit. I bought the $5 fedora seperately. But most importantly, I bought spats!

Oh, and I also bought white paint for my face so I can be a zombie gangster, or ghost gangster, or something. Anyway, that's the plan!

Party Plans for Halloween

I just bought my tickets for Dracula's Ball on Halloween.

Good News Concerning My Bar Results

At about noon today the bar results were released, and I believe the first words from my mouth were "Thank You Lord." I did indeed pass the Pennsylvania Bar. I am not yet a lawyer, but I will be one very soon.

You can look me up here.

So a great worry is now lifted from me.

Let me again thank all of the people who have wished me well. I appreciated all your kind words and thoughts.

And now I'm to bed in a few minutes so put in another day of work tomorrow.

So it's tomorrow, eh?

The PA Bar Results are coming out tomorrow, October 11, 2006. Not Friday, as had been orginally scheduled. Which means that everyone else at work who'd also taken the bar were paranoid that the release could happen even earlier...like today. So far, that hasn't happened.

If I don't pass I'll be annoyed about the expense and hassle of taking it again in February, disappointed certainly, but it's not a big deal: if I don't pass, I'll take it again and probably will pass.

Still, I reckon I may be a bit distracted at work tomorrow waiting for the results. Hopefully I'll manage.

For now I'm just nervous.

Replacement Lavender

Today I finally received my box of lavender plants from burpee. These plants are to replace the plant stolen earlier in the summer. But this time, I've filled a large green pot, the identical twin to the pot now holding the okra, with six lavender plants.

Lavender is a perennial, and so the idea is to let the plant affix its roots now, in the waning days of the growing season, so that come spring it will be able to take full advantage of the summer.

While I was outside I also watered everything, and noted that, while they are not blooming, the nasturtiums do look like they may put out some blooms before the month is done.

Tomorrow...Back to Work

I left from Clarksville at 6 or so (local time) this morning with my brother, Mom, and Dad. We shared breakfast at the Capitol Hill Grille, where I managed to get a last country-ham biscuit in before flying back to Philly.

This was a happy trip. All of my immediate family in one place at one time. And on Saturday the Pruter family reunion, where I got to see a great number of my relatives and enjoy their company beside Couchville Lake.

Weekends!

I just finished a weekend trip to NYC. It was wonderful, if a bit tightly scheduled. And next weekend I'll be taking a flight to Nashville for a family reunion and to visit with my nephew and niece! It will be a blast.

In the meantime, I don't have any pictures, but I wanted to note that my second planting of Nasturtiums has proven very attractive to some green caterpillars, and that in my okra plant there hides a two-inch plus grasshopper who eyes me warily.

At this point of the year, though, I have no interest in killing any bugs. All the plants have done their primary jobs, and so if insects are interested in muching down on some leaves more power to them.

Hour 41

Overtime begins with the first minute after billing 40 hours in one work-week. (For this employer, that is a Monday through Sunday billing week.)

Tonight, when I left I had worked 41 hours so far this week. Every hour tomorrow and this weekend will be counted at time-and-a-half.

Sometimes, if you pray for work, you get it in spades.

Container Grown Okra

Here is a picture of my Okra plant (Baby Bubba Hybrid). Thursday I moved it to the larger green pot. I had been a little worried about repotting a plant that was actively producing seedpods, but my plant took to it like a champ. In fact just today I boiled up one of the pods to eat. With the temperatures here in the mid-eighties, the okra pods grow fantastically quickly: flower one day, mini-okra the next, four inches the next, and finally six to seven inches after three days.

You'll see some scarring: it was caused by the hot weather while I was away taking the bar. The okra resisted production for a few weeks after that, but now seems to have recovered.

Big Bright Happy Flowers

A law jorb

So, I've gotten my very first law job: document review!

I started last Wednesday, worked but suddenly we ran out of documents to review...

The cool thing is that we get paid, to READ!

What a country!

The bad thing is, well, when we run out of documents, we stop reading and getting paid for it. Alas.

But next week I'm going to try to hit 70 hours! (30 hr of 1.5 Overtime.) It'll rock.

The End of The Post-Bar Vacation

Hi All!

Earlier today I returned from New York City via bus, thus ending my post-bar whirlwind week-o-vacation.

After the mall thursday, I headed back home for a day. That night I ran into the estimable Horrocks and companion, and tried out Crescent City.

Saturday I flew up to Providence, RI and got a ride up to my friend Crandall's Summer BBQ. Great fun, including vast quantities of food, drink, and folks (there were about 50 people at the Party.) I stayed over Sunday and flew back to Philadelphia Monday morning. After a dead-tired nap I finally answered my phone calls, and went to go have dinner and watch Clerks II with Bill, Terri, and Tom! Not only was that a blast, but the next day I zipped up to New York (PS don't try the #94 train, appearently it'll be delayed often), and caught up with them again (along with my special mystery guest) and ate dinner with them in a sadly un-air-conditioned Bubba Gump. Still, the food was great and the party convivial!

Earlier today I took the slow route back home, and have been watering my sadly wilted plants.

Regarding the Bar: Meeting the Bogeyman in Open Combat

I met the Bogeyman.

He threw some strong punches: Essay Question #6; an irritating series of mortgage and lien recording questions; ridiculous joint-tenancy fact patterns. I cannot say I passed for sure, but neither would I be surprised if I succeeded.

So the Bar and I both made respectable showings, and now we've each retreated from the field.

The results should be posted mid-October, and then we'll see if I'll be visiting King of Prussia in February for a rematch, or if any future visit to the mall is purely voluntary.

Bar's Tuesday and Wednesday

The exam is Tuesday and Wednesday. Late this afternoon (or early evening) I'll head up to the Holiday Inn Express at King of Prussia, verify that everything is where I think it is, and then I'll do a little light shopping before the exam.

Personality Test

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Also, Bar Prep continues to be unpleasant

Instead of enjoying a BBQ, I was rereading Bar Bri study materials.