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We are helpless creatures

August 3, 2009 by charlsiekate

Our office is small, and more than one person with a sick child at a time can be cause for panic, for the obvious reason that we are extremely dependant on each other. 

This morning, a planned vacation, and dentist appointment, a broken alarm clock, and a sick child led to the unfavorable situation where the only people at the office for about an hour were Bill, David and me.  For the record, Jim is more self sufficient than the rest of us, i.e, he knows how to type and how to use the phones. 

So while I was typing up a letter that Bill drafted, and trying to remember to answer the phone if it rang, David walked by my office. 

“Hey David!”

“What’s up?”

“If the phone rings, and it’s for Jim, and he’s not here, can you tell me how to send it to his voicemail?”

“Um.  That’s a good question.  I know you hit transfer or hold, or something, and then hit their line.”

“Yeah, I tried that a second ago, and I hung up on the guy.”

“I guess we should have asked Sarah before she went to the dentist.”

“Oh well, hopefully we won’t be here by ourselves for much longer.”

Posted in Work | Leave a Comment »

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

July 30, 2009 by charlsiekate

I like to sit on my front porch after work with a beer and watch people.  Our street gets a surprising amount of foot traffic.  Briscoe thinks this is awesome.  I really like my neighborhood, even if we have a vague suspicion that one neighbor is a drug dealer.  They get a lot of visitors who only stay for 10-15 minutes.  We’ve starting writing down license plates so we can document how many times certain cars come by.  On Saturday night there were 10-15 cars that stopped by for short periods of time.  Our neighborhood watch signs have been improved by some of the hooligans with extra signs that say – WE BE SNITCHIN’.   We just want to live up to their expectations. 

I have finally hung my diplomas on the walls at my office, and added some pretty artwork that makes me happy, and my office is finally starting to look like MY OFFICE.  Which is good, since I’ve been there for an entire year.  Isn’t that crazy?

This week last year, I took the South Carolina Bar.  Then I went to Charleston and we went to the Amos Lee concert.  I can’t believe that was a whole year ago.  It seems like two months ago.  Sometimes it frightens me how quickly time passes.  And sometimes it frightens me how long a day (or a night especially) can lasts. 

I like to look back at what I was strung out about today, a year ago.  And what I was excited about, and who had me all in a swivet.  Often, it’s extremely difficult to remember.  What I find even more interesting than my difficulty to recall, is how quickly things change.  How I can look back and think, Man, that drove me crazy for months, but then one day, something else happened, and all those months of worry disappeared and it was almost like they never happened.  It’s such a weird thing to observe from a year out.  Of course, most events that cause such a change come with their own set of worries and disasters, but for right now, I’m just reveling in the fluid quality of life and how you should enjoy today and not let your worries get you down because for all you know, it could be 100 times better or a 100 times worst tomorrow, and either way, today is to be enjoyed.

Posted in Augusta, Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Cool July Nights

July 22, 2009 by charlsiekate

This has been a very interesting week.  In some ways, I have finally been able to settle back down into a schedule and get my life together.  There is still a lot of stuff that needs to be done at my house, but my second roommate Erin is moving in this weekend, and this is pushing me to get a lot of things sorted out now.  There is always something else that needs fixing.  Luckily, I have some really awesome people in my life.   

Last week I mentioned to Justin that I needed to borrow his lawnmower to cut my grass.  Brice let me borrow his lawnmower last time, but the Wright family was out of town and my lawn was really starting to thrive.  When I came home from work on Thursday, sweet Justin was at my house and had just finished mowing the lawn and edging and was about to roundup the walkway.  It was super, super nice of him. 

The rest of this story is pretty funny, so try to stay with me.  Libby was in town, so we went to the Thirsty Thursday baseball game and ended up coming back and sitting on the front porch for a little while before going to sleep.  Libby slept in the guest room downstairs, and was driving her dad’s car.  Libby would have normally stayed at her parents house, but she wanted to wake up and do P90X with Sara and Kirby on Friday morning at the crack of dawn (because they are XTREME) and Bryan’s flight got into the airport at like 8. 

Natalie was out on a narcotics raid in Harrisburg (I know that sounds hilarious, but she’s an ADA, and anyway, apparently it’s really fun to go on narcotic raids), so she didn’t get home until after we went to sleep.  I guess I had neglected to tell her that Libby might spend the night.  So I wake up in the morning and I have a text from natalie from 1 am that says, THERE IS SOMEONE IN OUR HOUSE.  And then by the time Natalie woke up on friday, Libby was already gone.  I felt really bad that I might have scared Natalie, but she swears she wasn’t freaked out, and once she saw libby’s toothbrush in the bathroom she figured it was okay. 

Ultimately the weirdest thing that has happened this week is that it has been cool outside.  Last night we went to dinner after tennis, and we left dinner, we were all cold.  Granted, we all had on our ridiculous looking tennis outfits, but still.  In Augusta, in July, you should be able to be in a bathing suit at any hour of the night and day and not be cold.  A wet bathing suit at that.  Normally it’s 90 degrees at midnight.  Recently, it hasn’t reached 90 degrees at 3 pm. 

Speaking of tennis, I’ve decided one of my favorite things about tennis is the fact that you get to wear ridiculous outfits that would be inappropriate anywhere else but are totally appropriate on the tennis court.  It is amazing how much I enjoy wearing tennis skirts.  My tennis shoes are a little clunky, but what can you do. 

The biggest problem of my life right now is that I can’t get up in the morning.  I would happily go to sleep at 9:30 at night if it meant I could wake up refreshed at 6:30.  But I can’t go to sleep at 9:30.  My body won’t let me.  And forget getting up at 6:30, I can barely drag myself out of bed at 7:30.  I  don’t lack will power in any other part of my life, I have a good bit of self control, and I work hard at life.  But I CAN NOT GET OUT OF BED.  It is a real problem.  My body wants to sleep from 2 am to 10 am, and not from 11 to 7.  Sigh.  Oh well.  I think I’ve been working out too late at night. 

Briscoe got her hair all shaved off last week, and she looks like a little lamb.  She also looks kind of fat.  It’s impossible to tell when she has long hair, but when she gets her hair all cut off, she seems to become a little self conscious of her figure.  Natalie made up a new song for Briscoe’s hair cut.  It goes something like this –

Bobby had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Bobby had a little lamb who’s puffy, fluffy and white!

Posted in Augusta, Baseball, Briscoe, dogs, Favorite People, My Bed., Weather | Leave a Comment »

Weeds and Wishes

July 13, 2009 by charlsiekate

There is a tremendous weed growing out of a storm gutter on the street I drive down every morning.  I’ve been watching it grow for about a month now, and it’s about 5* feet tall at this point.  Every time we get a good soaking rain, I can almost see it growing.  Part of me has been sort of rooting for this giant weed.  I like the idea of nature taking over in the chinks of the concrete, refusing to let the “progress” of man stomp out the burning desire of a plant to grown big and tall.  But another part of me, a part of me that fights constantly with the nature loving side of me, sees the weed as an enemy. 

And it’s all I can do to not pull over on the side of the road in my heels and get the round up I bought at Lowes two weeks ago and never took out of the back of my car and teach that overgrown invasive species a lesson in chemical warfare. 

My mind is a battle field.

 

* I put 4 feet earlier but then I drove by it again at lunch, and it’s definitely 5 feet tall.

Posted in Augusta, Difficulties, outside | Leave a Comment »

Find out who your friends are

July 9, 2009 by charlsiekate

Sorry I’ve been sort of non posting.  I wish I could say that my mind is blank, but that’s just not true.  I’ve just been too lazy to commit anything to print. 

But I want to tell y’all that Peter and JBlanchard are the best friends ever.  Saturday, on the 4th of July, Emily and I were grabbing lunch at the sub place that I can’t remember the name of right this second on Mount Pleasant, and when we got back in the car to drive to the beach, Emily’s car wouldn’t start. 

Everyone we knew was already on the beach.  Some of the people we called were on islands you can only get to by boat, which was not helpful.  This was not awesome.  Parking lots are hot.  Everyone is doing something on the Fourth of July.  Something other than driving around Mount Pleasant with jumper cables. 

Jennifer had called when we were in the sub place and I called her back.  She and Peter were on their way out to Folly, sitting in traffic that was horrendous.  When I told her what happened, she and peter went back to Peter’s house and got jumper cables, and drove all the way to the end of Mount Pleasant to save us.  It was a true act of love and friendship.  On the Fourth of July.  Don’t make me start singing Lee Greenwood, cause I will. 

I think Tracy Lawrence, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw would approve.

Posted in Difficulties, Favorite People, summertime | Leave a Comment »

You have the Right To Remain Silent, I recommend you exercise it.

June 30, 2009 by charlsiekate

I hate to say it, but there are a lot of people in Columbia, South Carolina who need to learn how to Shut the &*%@ Up. 

Case in point –

“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,” Sanford said. “A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”*

Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he’s trying to fall back in love with his wife.**

“At that point I was very careful, everything was paid for in cash,” Sanford said. “And you won’t find a credit card record.”***

Culbertson said he believed his friend when he said that this was his only marital transgression. He thinks Sanford was simply caught off guard by “the power of darkness.”

“One of the quotes we use in our couples course is, ‘You can choose your sins, but you can’t choose your consequences,'” Culbertson said. “We used to use David as an example of that. Mark may be the 2009 version of a good example.  “Mark knew what David knew.”****

 

* SHUT UP!  Seriously!  Think about your four sons reading this and stop professing in the international news your love for the woman in Argentina!  STOP IT. 

** Lucky Mrs. Sanford, he’s TRYING to fall back in love with her. 

***Is he bragging about this?  Is he proud of how sneaky he was with his cash paying hotel rooms?

**** Did he REALLY just compare himself to King David?  REALLY?  AGGHH.  I’m absolutely blown away by his arrogance.  Please, just stop talking.  And don’t even get me started with how straight up crazy Culberson sounds. He sounds like a cult leader.   This is my favorite crazy quote so far –

“God hates lawlessness and is tireless in His desire to dissuade man from his fascination with lawlessness,” reads a paper titled “Cubby’s Talks.” ”Our hearts are lions’ dens of devouring lusts. Lawlessness torments righteous souls every day.”

Posted in Current Affairs, quotes, ridiculousness | 4 Comments »

One more thing –

June 26, 2009 by charlsiekate

I’ve been trying to learn how to Twitter.  I added the Twitter widget to my blog, so if you scroll down to the bottom of the sidebar you’ll see where I’ve been updating.  I don’t think I’ve gotten to the point yet where I’m funny, but I’m working on it.  I want to be funny without being negative and just bitching about how I hate bad drivers and how it drives me crazy that the television gets louder during the commercials and how I feel like the universe is about the end when the drive thru line at chik fil a doesn’t move (you expect the popeyes and bojangle drive thru to be slow, but chik-fil-a is suppose to always be moving). 

I’ll let you know when I become funny without being negative and bitchy.  Until then, feel free to ignore.

Posted in Web/Tech | Leave a Comment »

We Love You Michael

June 26, 2009 by charlsiekate

Libby sent me a text as I was arriving home from work yesterday about the rumored death of Michael Jackson.  I sat down on the couch in shock, and turned on the television.  CNN was showing the video of Mark Sanford crying (I have thoughts on that too, I really thought they were picking on him last week, but apparently I am delusionally optimistic), so I turned it on MTV.  It was on a commercial, but soon the video Thriller started, and a ticker-tape at the bottom of the screen told me that Michael had in fact passed away.  I sat there with my mouth literally hanging open, sort of captivated by the beginning scenes of the video, and absorbing the news. 

As I sat there with my jaw on the floor, Bucket (who is Natalie’s lab, he thinks he is a lapdog.  I’ll have to post some pictures soon, he’s precious) jump up and licks my face, and, essentially, the inside of my mouth.  He saw a opportunity, and he went for it.  I mean, he literally tried to make out with me!  Briscoe was very upset and jumped on the couch to make her presence known, and I was literally at the bottom of a dog pile for a few seconds.  Gag. 

I’m sad MJ died.  But, at the same time, I can’t imagine him getting old.  It seems like Icons like Michael as suppose to have tragic endings.  I know that is a terrible thing to say, I don’t mean that they NEED to have tragic endings, but it just seems like they normally do, and it ends up being more surprising when they end up old than when they die fairly young.  I feel sure that drug abuse accounts for many tragic celebrity deaths, and I can’t say that it sounds like Michael’s was any different. 

Regardless, I’ve watched the video of Thriller a few times since late yesterday afternoon, and I can’t get the images out of my head.  The yellow eyes, the bloody mouths of the zombies, and their arms rotting off…I’m going to have nightmares. 

I had a hearing today in a case about $5,000 in stolen cds from a storage facility.  We represent the storage facility.  I hope I won. 

I tried to get a frosty this morning on my way back to work from the courthouse but you would not have believed the line at Wendy’s.  I guess the word has gotten out and everyone is trying to get their free frosty.  Maybe I’ll try again on my way home. 

Oh, an update on the palmetto bugs, I had the Orkin man come spray outside on wednesday, and this made the roaches mad, and they staged a siege against the house.  Natalie and I killed like eight in a ten minute period. 

As Natalie was picking up a victim of the chemical weapon Raid, she said, “Man, I hope none of the roaches try to carry the dogs off.” 

I said, “Did you read my blog today?  I just wrote about that!”

She hadn’t read the entry.  These roaches are just THAT SERIOUS.  But I saw a lot of dead ones scattered across the front and back yard and I’m hoping that it will get better.  If not the orkin man will have to come back.  It’s a war.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment »

The State Bird of South Carolina –

June 24, 2009 by charlsiekate

Is the Palmetto Bug.  A.K.A. The Flying Roach. 

I can deal with a whole lot of things, and flying roaches are not on that list.  They make me die a little inside every time one gets close to me.  Which is unfortunate, since I come in close contact with them on a regular basis these days.  I have the Orkin man on speed dial and he told me today that it was a battle we were going to have to fight together.  They live outside, these are not the sort of roaches that inhabit the inside of your walls.  These are the kind of roaches who might fly off with your dog if you leave her in the backyard for too long. 

Although, I do have to say that these roaches have nothing on this sucker that lives in maggie’s parents pond.  I swear to the heat of the South Georgia summer that thing in the water is a giant catfish.  Who Maggie swears wants to eat her dog. 

This train of thought is going to spin off in two different directions – one – animals around here that want to eat your dog – over in Aiken they have collected 7 monster pythons – man-eating pythons as they are called – and placed them in a big pit to see how they survive.  Sweet.  This sounds like a HORRIBLE experiment.  Apparently a bunch of pet shops carried these man eating pythons in Florida back in the ’90s and a lot of the snakes escaped in the destruction of Hurricane Andrew.   (side note – Florida is like another country.  When you enter Florida on I-95 the big trucks have to go through a customs like check point.  How weird is that?)

A direct quote from the article –

While pythons don’t make a habit of attacking people and most aren’t large enough to eat a person, Gibbons called the possibility a “nightmare.”

“What about the first kitty cat they eat? Or the first little poodle? They’d love poodles, I imagine,” he said.

Mike Dorcas, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina, has sliced open pythons in Florida to find the remains of white-tailed deer, bobcats and large birds.

Then this last part – 

Pythons are masters of disguise — slippery and quick — and all but one of the serpents was invisible within minutes of being deposited into the pit.

So counting pythons in the wild is a daunting task. Scientists don’t have an accurate estimate of how many pythons are in Florida.

“It’s certainly in the thousands, or tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands,” said Gibbons. 

The other train of thought is the safety of the fish you catch in the Central Savannah River Area.  I thought it was interesting that the parts of the river that do have advisories say – one meal per week.  Is that one fish per week?  Because, my meal is not the same as some other people’s meal.  Some people could eat four fish. 

So, we do a lot of quiet title actions around here, which is how you clear title to a piece of property that has been sold at a sheriff’s sale when the property taxes haven’t been paid.  Although quiet title actions do not normally involve any particularly complicated legal principles, the difficulty lies in finding all the people who have ever had a claim of title to the property and serving them, which often time includes adjacent land owners or the heirs of an estate.  Which means I spend a lot of time trying to find people and figuring out how to serve them in Jamaica, New York, or Erie, Indiana, or, as the case was today – Denver, Colorado. 

The process server I found in Denver is a fleet of bike couriers.  How cool is that?  This time my petition to quiet title is going to be delivered by bike!  This really made my day.  And the guy I talked to on the phone was so nice and friendly and it made me really wish I was in Colorado.  I got really Colorado Home Sick.  Or maybe I’m just, IT IS REALLY HOT HERE SICK. 

Last night at tennis clinic I got to play singles with Jane.  AGGHH.  I LOVE singles.  I love singles so much more than doubles.  In doubles I feel like I’m in the way, or the wrong place, or I should have made that shot because I’m letting my partner down.  In singles, I know where I’m suppose to be the whole time.  Maybe I’m not always there, but the knowing is much more instinctive.  It’s been so much fun getting back into a sport.  I haven’t played a game in a really long time and I didn’t even know how much I missed it. 

Briscoe has been sleeping in the new big bed with me recently and every morning I wake up I feel the need to grab her toe and sing to her about catching a tiger by the toe.  She fails to see the humor and normally either tries to bite me or kick me.

Posted in Augusta, dogs, Hurricanes, ridiculousness, Sports | Leave a Comment »

Happy Father’s Day!

June 21, 2009 by charlsiekate

The best Trav quote I have from this past week goes something like this:

Me: Daddy – you won’t believe this awesome frosty deal they have, you can get a free frosty for six months! (Trav loves frostys and I had been really excited about telling him the good news).

Trav: No joke, I’ve had a frosty tag for weeks.* That’s old news. What I always do is go into the Wendy’s and get a frosty then go through the drive thru and get another one, then you almost have a whole frosty. The mini frostys are too dinky to only eat one – but you don’t even have to buy anything to get one.

*the frosty fundraiser started on may 26.

Posted in The Paines | 1 Comment »

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