Coffee Club

Somebody at the office always makes a fresh pot of coffee in the morning to which I've been helping myself most everyday. It's some really nasty tasting coffee but it does it's job. So yesterday I filled my cup like usual but for some reason, I stopped & asked my secretary "is it ok to drink the coffee they make in the kitchen?" That's when she broke it down for me. The coffee was reserved for coffee club members. Huh?! Either that or ask the coffee brewer & she'll let you have a cup for 50¢. I don't think the smell emanating from my coffee mug wafted to her nose so I quickly slunk back into my cubicle. No one seems to know who the coffee clubbers are or how the membership works but they must have never seen me partaking in their brew or I'm sure I'd have heard about it. Gossip gets around the office like wildfire. Coincidentally, there's a water fountain that I'm yet to see someone drinking from. Hmm. Water club maybe?

Who's Your Genius?

So my wireless internet went out a few days ago. For some reason my laptop wasn't communicating with the modem at all. My desktop wasn't affected but it doesn't count since I never use it unless I want to print something so it felt like the internets (sic) had disappeared. Spent an hour on the phone with TWCable who's troubleshooting was pointless so they scheduled an appointment for this Saturday for one of their techies to come out & take a look. A whole 3 days away!!!! This bothered me all day at work. If one computer was working fine then why not the other? Began thinking that maybe all I needed to do was to input my network key again & everything else would be re-created. Didn't have it so I called TWC again & this time the guy was located in Manilla Phillipines (I always ask them where they're located - makes for good conversation). Anyway, he gave me the network key - which I found out is located on the back of my modem no less. I put it in, followed the prompts & just like that, the internets were back! They need to disband the TWC "tech support" crew. Took me all of 1 minute to fix the problem. Yup, genius.

Ridiculous item of the day: American airlines will start charging $15 for the first bag checked in starting June 15th! Delta Airlines has refused to match this nonsense. Said they'd find another way to offset the hit they're taking for rising gas prices. Good for them.

My favorite singles right now (after hearing them in the club):
1. Bust it baby - Plies & Neyo
2. Lollipop - Lil Wayne
3. Love in this club (Remix) - Usher

It's Here!

My tax rebate has finally made it into my bank account! At least Dubya was good for something. I have no current plans for it but I'm sure that'll be remedied shortly.

My job is coming along splendidly. I met my boss this morning & he took me for coffee since he's been out this past week after his wife had a baby. He seemed really laid back. Told me to shoot him an email if I needed to take a few days off over the summer. I'll be sure to take him up on that. There's this one attorney who keeps coming to give me work. Well, today he gave me an assignment which I have no idea where to start & it's due first thing next week. Hopefully whatever I come up with won't be too horrific - I'd like to keep my steady source of work relatively happy.

I had to go to court today to get some documents which is a good 25 minute brisk walk away. I've never gotten so many compliments during a walk as I did today . . . from the local low lifes & soon-to-be-convicts of Columbus. I had one guy walk with me a good half mile while he showered me with sweet nothings. He was really nice so I humored him & to show his appreciation, he told me of a place where they were giving away food vacuum sealers (the ones that suck out the air in ziploc bags so food stays fresh). Sure enough, on my way back, I passed by there & got myself not one but two vacuums.

An aside: My cubicle faces one of the secretaries. She's been answering all my nonstop questions about where the printers are, where to get supplies, etc. She's even been running around the office trying to get me a mouse pad for the past 3 days - she tells everyone who cares to listen how I'm suffering without one (apparently the govn is too cheap to have some in stock). So to repay her for being such a gem, when I got back from the court house, I asked her if she'd like to have one of my food vacuums. "YEEES"! She was so excited. Made me feel all warm & fuzzy.

I'll probably be going out tonight w/ my girls to spend some of that tax rebate money. So you all have yourselves a wonderful weekend.

1st Day . . .

on the job was interesting. It started w/ a 2 hour orientation, got a badge & was then thrown out to the wolves. I'll be doing mostly employment law related matters which is great. Last summer I got to dabble in a little bit of everything which makes you a jack of all trades but a master of none so I'm glad I'm assigned to just one practice area.

I'll be the only law clerk in this particular area so that's rather intimidating. No one to commiserate with when assignments go awry. However, I was assigned a mentor who's only been practicing since 2006 & she's great. She took me around to say hi to everyone which was about 15 attorneys & lots of paralegals & secretaries. But the attorneys were great even though most of them are on the older side. I have an inside cubicle which means I have no view of downtown unlike last year but at least I don't get to share it. All the attorneys though have offices with great views since we're on the 25th floor. Parking is the only hiccup. It's expensive & I have to pay for it.

So here are some differences between working for the government & a law firm: one, the secretaries at the firm do a ton more work than the government ones. I never did any filing, copying, etc at the firm but it seems like this will be part of my job this summer since none of them was assigned to me. I love secretaries so this was a bummer. Two, I have to pay for my own parking this time around. Three, no more getting projects that are fairly meaningless - these are projects that an attorney has been putting off all year just waiting for the summers to come in & complete them. All the work that I'll be doing this summer will be used in some fashion for ongoing litigation. But by far the biggest upside to working for the government is I don't have to attend functions & mingle with people that I'd rather never talk to again. I can't tell you how much I hated those outings. Schmoozing is so overrated. All in all, this should be a great learning experience. It's the first job I've held & not hated the first day. So we're off to a good start.

Happy Cinco de Mayo