Day in Court

|Wednesday was the day for oral arguments at the Kansas Court of Appeals in the case of Schlup vs. Bourdon, which has been in the courts since summer of 2003. I wrote a little about it in my other blog a while back. Fortunately, we didn’t get another blast of freezing rain that day, so the drive to Topeka was drizzly but uneventful. The Judicial Building is across the street from the Capitol. It doesn’t look very impressive from outside, but inside there’s a three story statue of “Kansas Justice”. As you get off the elevator on each floor you’re looking out over the atrium with the statue rising up. It makes up for the blah exterior. Arguments are limited to 15 minutes per side; if you’re first up you can reserve some of your time for rebuttal. The worst part is waiting to start, but once you get up and manage a couple of intelligent sentences it’s not too bad. Of course, they interrupt with questions, so you often don’t get your canned speech done. There are eleven justices on the Court of Appeals, but cases are heard by a panel of three; the Supreme Court has seven justices who generally sit en banc. Anyhow, I thought I did all right while my opponent crashed and burned. My client thought so, at least; and I noticed a few smiles from other lawyers in the gallery waiting their turn. But, you never know, especially these days as I’ve lost most of whatever faith I used to have in the ability of the legal system to uphold the rule of law and dispense justice based on merit. We should have a decision in a few weeks.|

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Po Doggie

Doggie seemed to have a little cold when we picked her up from the vet. She really sneezes big for her size; and you can’t help but laugh when she looks at you after. Like she’s saying, “Wow, I don’t know what that was, but, ‘scuse me, okay?” It got worse during the week, coughing and wheezing. It’d wake us up at night. Took her to the vet this afternoon. Of course, she couldn’t come up with so much as a sniffle. He thinks probably bronchitis, but it’s not too severe. He didn’t charge me for the office visit, figuring she probably caught it there over Christmas. Getting the prescription was a hoot.

I’m hearing about 10 foot snow drifts on I-80 up around Tahoe. Nineteen feet of snow since Dec. 28. I reckon our aborted trip would’ve been tame in comparison. Looks like it still hasn’t quit raining down below the snow line, either. Those dikes Doug pointed out on the way to Sacramento may get a good test, after all. I see a flood warning for portions of San Francisco.

The ice has mostly melted from the trees. Driveway is clear where I threw salt on it. The other part is still under ice. A “winter weather advisory” including freezing drizzle is in effect tonight. They’re already cancelling schools in K.C. for tomorrow. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

:winter:

Christmas Past

|Becky and I had a terrific time in sunny rainy California. Got there on Stephen’s birthday, Dec. 23, stayed at his and Kathie’s place a couple days, then Kim’s place, then Kathie’s parents’ place, then a final night at Kim’s before flying home on New Year’s day. A trip to Tahoe was delayed on account of blizzard conditions, resulting in our stay with Doug and Carla, terrific hosts. Stephen and Kathie went ahead to Tahoe on Friday. California was cold and rainy pretty much the whole visit, while Kansas enjoyed balmy 60’s and 70’s. That changed when we got back to Kansas. We now have a winter storm warning, with prediction of an inch of ice overnight Tuesday, to be topped with 4 to 7 inches of snow Wednesday. They figure a few (understatement) trees and power lines will go down. Being armed with my laptop in California, I got started on Stephen and Kathie’s wedding website. You can check its progress at steveandkathie.chappells.us. ||

|I decided to buckle (knuckle?) down and put the new brake pads on the Miata this morning. Pulled off the wheel that was making the noise and the pad was nowhere near worn down. Still at least 50% pad left. Truly amazing, these are original pads after 13 years and 75,000 miles. Put the wheel back on and drove to work, with no unusual noises. So, maybe it was some dust, after all. I don’t really think so, but I couldn’t find anything else. |

|After work I picked up Cinnamon at the vet’s where she was boarded during our trip. She was happy to get home, I think. Actually, she zonked out and has been sleeping all evening. She got to give Santa her Christmas list. They got a slightly blurry picture, but it’s still kinda cute. I’ve offloaded the Christgmas pics from camera but haven’t sorted for upload to album yet. Will try to get to that within a few days. ||