I'm a bit embarrassed about missing a few days of posting. I just didn't think of it, which isn't like me. I occasionally worry about failure to post, but have been pretty consistent, up until the last few days!
I'm busily stocking up on groceries for fall, now that it's starting to cool off. I'm excited that my local grocery store has had buy one get one free products lately; potato chips, cereal, olives, hummus, all kinds of stuff. My favorite is when they have meat. Last week they had pork chops on a buy one get one free, which is a great deal.
They have also had buy two get one free items as well as a few buy one, get two free! I stocked up on iced tea and sunflower seeds during those specials. While I'll never be one of those people whose grocery bill dwindles to $10 because of coupons, I do make a point of watching for deals. I decided not to buy iced tea (since I don't really need to have it), unless it's on sale, and then I stock up. It makes grocery shopping easier, and as an added benefit, because I rarely stray from the perimeter of the store, I'm losing weight.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Estate and Charitable Gift Planning Institute
The Estate Planning seminar was good. I learned a lot about handling the estates of the mega wealthy (those whose estates are over 30 million); including an anecdote about some poor woman whose trust provided only a million bucks a month for her to live on. That's right. Only a million. She thought she could possibly get by on a million and a half. Tragic view of how the other half of a percent lives.
The other speaker talked about the regular wealthy; those whose estates are between 5 and 30 million. That was helpful too. Because I'm so much more likely to benefit from that information.
Who am I kidding? Estate plan? Bah! I don't need no stinkin' estate plan!
In any case, it was 6 free credits.
A law firm provided pastries, bagels, coffee, tea and juice in the morning. In the afternoon they provided bars, cookies, coffee and lemonade.
I ended up bringing my lunch; I've gone to this before and it's at the Convention Center, where food is expensive and lines are long. Think I'm cheap? I saw people who had taken an extra bagel in the morning eating it for lunch!
I'm well on my way to not having to pay for CLE's this round.
The other speaker talked about the regular wealthy; those whose estates are between 5 and 30 million. That was helpful too. Because I'm so much more likely to benefit from that information.
Who am I kidding? Estate plan? Bah! I don't need no stinkin' estate plan!
In any case, it was 6 free credits.
A law firm provided pastries, bagels, coffee, tea and juice in the morning. In the afternoon they provided bars, cookies, coffee and lemonade.
I ended up bringing my lunch; I've gone to this before and it's at the Convention Center, where food is expensive and lines are long. Think I'm cheap? I saw people who had taken an extra bagel in the morning eating it for lunch!
I'm well on my way to not having to pay for CLE's this round.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Patent Reviews
I'm working on a patent review and don't understand the subject matter. As always, we've been trained narrowly on the topic and have keywords; we may also use the bat-phone whenever necessary.
Since none of us are patent attorneys (they have actual jobs), none of us are very clear on whatever it is we're working on. It's like we're 20 kinds of stupid, nevertheless, reviewing the documents.
Incomprehensible document + keywords and engineer-speak = responsive.
Since none of us are patent attorneys (they have actual jobs), none of us are very clear on whatever it is we're working on. It's like we're 20 kinds of stupid, nevertheless, reviewing the documents.
Incomprehensible document + keywords and engineer-speak = responsive.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Whoops!
I've been a bit busy; my review is longer than originally planned, which is nice for us. It's still the same old-same old; click, click and click.
The major difference here is that there is a second level review, of which I'm a part. I and another attorney were told a few weeks ago that we'd be working on it. When I didn't hear any more, I assumed that I'd been passed over in favor of other reviewers. Not the case. We start on Monday. No doubt the documents will be even more exciting the second time around.
The major difference here is that there is a second level review, of which I'm a part. I and another attorney were told a few weeks ago that we'd be working on it. When I didn't hear any more, I assumed that I'd been passed over in favor of other reviewers. Not the case. We start on Monday. No doubt the documents will be even more exciting the second time around.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Estate and Charitable Gift Planning Institute
Tomorrow is the Roy Adams Estate and Charitable Gift Planning Institute, sponsored by the Salvation Army which hopes you leave them your estate. I have previously attended and learned a lot.
It's an all day seminar, free at the live site, with a cost for those attending by webcast or satellite. I'm pretty excited about as it's several free credits. The downside is parking and either bringing or buying lunch. Since it's at the Convention Center, which is on the busline, I do have the option of taking the bus.
I could bring my lunch; in the past they have provided coffee, tea. water and juice in the morning as well as sweet rolls, muffins and bagels. It just means either making it now or getting up early enough to do so in the morning.
It's an all day seminar, free at the live site, with a cost for those attending by webcast or satellite. I'm pretty excited about as it's several free credits. The downside is parking and either bringing or buying lunch. Since it's at the Convention Center, which is on the busline, I do have the option of taking the bus.
I could bring my lunch; in the past they have provided coffee, tea. water and juice in the morning as well as sweet rolls, muffins and bagels. It just means either making it now or getting up early enough to do so in the morning.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Random Food Items Provided by Agency or Firm
One Agency for which I worked tends to bring cookies or cupcakes once a month to reviewers; a minor sugar fix is little enough with which to show their appreciation of our hard work! Of course, in order to do so, they have to obtain permission and free passage to the review center in order to bestow their largesse upon us.
An agency that provides its own review center and initially brought in business from out of town, started out working in 3rd party space and provided breakfast to the morning crew and pizza to the evening crew.
The agency for which I worked on a longer project pretty much did nothing, until taking the few of us out to lunch after several months; we pretty much didn't hear from them the whole time this project went on, which was fine. There was nothing we needed and nothing they changed.
During the current project we rate the occasional tray of pastries or pizza to go along with our beverage center. I'm impressed that they provide sodas, sparkling water and iced tea since most reviews provide only tea and coffee, with the occasional place providing hot chocolate or lemonade packets.
The tea provided is Lipton, leaded or unleaded; this is only the second place at which I've performed a document review that has failed to provide multiple options for tea. One firm had 13 kinds of tea in their cupboard and most places have at least five different types. I bring what I like, as does a colleague. In a pinch, we can certainly drink Lipton; while I'm trying not to spend excess money, it's silly not to drink what I want, especially when tea doesn't cost that much and I stocked up on my last trip to Big Lots.
An agency that provides its own review center and initially brought in business from out of town, started out working in 3rd party space and provided breakfast to the morning crew and pizza to the evening crew.
The agency for which I worked on a longer project pretty much did nothing, until taking the few of us out to lunch after several months; we pretty much didn't hear from them the whole time this project went on, which was fine. There was nothing we needed and nothing they changed.
During the current project we rate the occasional tray of pastries or pizza to go along with our beverage center. I'm impressed that they provide sodas, sparkling water and iced tea since most reviews provide only tea and coffee, with the occasional place providing hot chocolate or lemonade packets.
The tea provided is Lipton, leaded or unleaded; this is only the second place at which I've performed a document review that has failed to provide multiple options for tea. One firm had 13 kinds of tea in their cupboard and most places have at least five different types. I bring what I like, as does a colleague. In a pinch, we can certainly drink Lipton; while I'm trying not to spend excess money, it's silly not to drink what I want, especially when tea doesn't cost that much and I stocked up on my last trip to Big Lots.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Financial Miscalculations
While I calculated in the cost of most of life when I determined how much money I could devote to my targeted loan, I neglected to include the cost of gifts. In August I had a birthday and bridal shower to take care of, which is fine, I've been really good about spending and only drive if I must; however, September and October will take a bit more thoughtfulness as I don't know how long I'll be working. I went to Target with my mom and sister to choose shower gifts. Then we went to the Dollar Store for cards and paper; my gift is placemats that are shiny and a bit glitzy, so I opted to roll them up and tie them with ribbon from the wedding section of the dollar store.
I have three birthdays and a wedding to deal with in the next two months; birthdays aren't so bad as I have most of the gifts. Wedding gift will be purchased whenever my mom, sister and I can coordinate our schedules; we go as a group and discuss pros and cons, along with wondering about some of the items chosen. We bought wedding paper though I'm sure my mom has some in her big, giant stash of wrapping paper that we're trying to deplete.
All-in-all, I'm not doing too bad with reining in my spending; I did feel like I had gone on a shopping binge but that was because of a couple of gifts, clearance linen capris and getting cash back at the store rather than making the trek to an ATM for which I don't have to pay a fee. I used to have to go to a couple of places I never went, like K-Mart or one of the local billiards halls in order to use an ATM without a fee; now I can go to Target or a drug store, but really, why bother making a separate trip if I can take care of it during a transaction?
I have three birthdays and a wedding to deal with in the next two months; birthdays aren't so bad as I have most of the gifts. Wedding gift will be purchased whenever my mom, sister and I can coordinate our schedules; we go as a group and discuss pros and cons, along with wondering about some of the items chosen. We bought wedding paper though I'm sure my mom has some in her big, giant stash of wrapping paper that we're trying to deplete.
All-in-all, I'm not doing too bad with reining in my spending; I did feel like I had gone on a shopping binge but that was because of a couple of gifts, clearance linen capris and getting cash back at the store rather than making the trek to an ATM for which I don't have to pay a fee. I used to have to go to a couple of places I never went, like K-Mart or one of the local billiards halls in order to use an ATM without a fee; now I can go to Target or a drug store, but really, why bother making a separate trip if I can take care of it during a transaction?
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