Presumed to be awesome.

:: Work is still very much kicking my ass this week, and that's likely not to change until October. But I have dark chocolate brownies in the oven, so all is right with my world!

:: _lisalisa_ will be here this weekend for a last baseball HOORAH before the regular season wraps up. Baseball AND Lisa!!! It will be a FABULOUS weekend! It needs to be Friday now!

:: Yesterday I was watching "Hoarders"; I feel so well-adjusted in comparison. Seriously, if you ever feel as if you don't have your shit together, watch that show. It's also great motivation to clean out a closet and throw some shit out, just to be on the safe side.

:: So I just realized that I'll have to endure Kanye West if I want to see Lady Gaga on this coming tour. This is NOT happy making. I would LOVE to see Lady Gaga. I think she's brilliant and outrageous and I can only imagine that her live performance would be off the chain. But Kanye? Seriously??? I have to decide whether my love for Lady Gaga outweighs my contempt for Kanye. What a dilemma!

:: Blessed Equinox! Happy Fall! Now that it's officially Autumn, my grocery store needs to get with the program and star carrying my absolute favorite, most delicious ever Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer!

It's really a damn good thing that this weekend had an extra day in it, since I managed to accomplish absolutely NOTHING with my Sunday! *facepalm* My biggest accomplishment for the day was to make cheesy garlic bread for lunch! Mmmmm. Cheesy, garlic-y goodness! There was also left over spaghetti involved, but, really the highlight of my day was the cheesy garlic bread.

Other than that I watched movies (Freedom Writers, Bobby, and A Mighty Heart, all of which I hadn't watched before and enjoyed greatly), and read, and managed to (just barely) avoid a house fire.

Today, however, has been significantly more productive. I've got chicken cooking that will later become gumbo. My room is about half clean and my laundry is about half done, which means that I can see the floor of my room again! (Also, clean sheets on the bed make me want to take a nap!) I've been tweaking my resume and have at least one place that I want to get it out to today. And if this productive streak continues I may even get a jump start on some of this week's work projects. Go me! \o/

Also, apropos of nothing at all, my finger has been doing this strange twitching thing all day. It doesn't hurt, but whenever it's in a certain position (a position, by the way, that it's in often while I'm using the computer) I can't make it stop twitching!!! It's driving me slightly crazy. Or crazier. Whatever. It's annoying me!

And another thing that's annoying me: there are still no pictures from the D'backs reporting to camp! Argh! All of our local sports journalists were focused on the NBA All Star goings-on this weekend, so there has been virtually no reporting from Tucson. I am not pleased. Someone with a camera please get yourself to Tucson Electric Park and get me some damn pictures of CHRIS!!! *begs*

Erm. Ok. So, Happy Presidents' Day!!! What's going on with y'all today?

Thing 1: So last night we had a bit of rain. Before I went to bed I noticed that it was still coming down steadily and that the lightning show was pretty spectacular. I thought: Cool. I mean, we certainly can use all the precipitation that the monsoon season can bring our way. But, apparently, it was more than your average desert thunderstorm. Hurricane-force winds??? WTF? Roofs were ripped off buildings, trees uprooted, power lines downed, the ASU football team's practice dome completely demolished. And here I thought it was just a bit of rain and a pretty light show. *shakes head* (Obviously, I'm fine, my home is fine, my family is fine -- thankfully the storm seems to have happened all around us.)

Thing 2: I wasn't sure that I was going to get the Supernatural Season 3 DVD right away. I knew I'd get it eventually, but I wasn't really in a big hurry, y'know? But now I learn that the DVD box sets sold at Best Buy come with a miniature '67 Impala! A mini-Metalicar!!! I'm all over that! *is 12*

Thing 3: Although I'm super bummed that I'm not going to L.A. this weekend, I am pretty damn excited about this weekend's baseball. My family is awesome and got me tickets to all three games of the Diamondbacks/Dodgers series. \o/ And I've got a new camera to stalk take tasteful pictures of my D'backs with. *g* Now if only these boys can remember that they do indeed know how to play good baseball. That would be fantastic.

• I'll be attending a legal conference for criminal defense attorneys tomorrow and Wednesday. Fun stuff! Or not. But definitely useful stuff!

• Thankfully all of the judges in the county are attending a judicial conference this week too. So I don't have to be in court until Friday. Yay!!!

• Despite a headache that hasn't let up all day, I buckled down and got a great workout this evening. Now the burn in my biceps and quads has sufficiently distracted me from the pounding in my head. Go me! \o/

• I gave my brother tickets to yesterday's Diamondback's game for Fathers' Day. So he, my sister in law, and Rianna spent the afternoon at the ballpark. Rianna was very excited about getting to wear her D-Backs shirt which for some reason she calls her "game shirt." And she bought me a picture of Conor Jackson. *laughs* She's a girl after my own heart. *g*

• While they were at the game, I got to be Super Tía and babysit Rhyan. ( Isn't she adorable? )

• I succumbed to azewewish's pimpage of The Daylights. My CDs arrived today and I can't wait to listen to them!

• Coffey is still on Nashville Star and I'm still unimpressed. *shrugs* (And we shall NOT speak of my SHAME about watching this show! *facepalm*)

• There were too long denied I DOs exchanged in California today. Much happiness to all the newly married couples! *throws confetti*

- NIN offers its new record, The Spin, available for free download. Trent says: thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me.

- Jason Taylor: I'm serious about acting some day.

- We're getting Sprinkles Cupcakes!!! The Phoenix-Scottsdale store opens tomorrow. I'm SO there!

- Steve Carlson's new CD, Stripped Down, is now available for purchase here.

- Finally, a question for any of you that have seen Iron Man. My niece, Rianna, wants me to take her to see it. I, of course, REALLY want to see it. But is it appropriate for a five year old?

ETA: Thank you all for the feedback. There was no talking her into another movie, so, ultimately, I left the decision to her parents, who gave it a green light. And, while she closed her eyes at some of the more violent scenes and probably didn't fully follow the storyline, she stayed with it the entire time, no fidgeting or restlessness. Her assessment at the end: that was awesome!!! I, naturally, FUCKING LOVED IT!!!

- BSG ROCKED MY WORLD!!!

- Trainer!Joe kicked my ass yesterday and is scheduled to do so again in about 30 minutes.

- This weekend I MUST get my taxes done. This may require a bit of creative accounting. I probably should hire an actual professional to do this next year.

- I still haven't seen "Stop Loss." I am not pleased.

- My niece is visiting this weekend, which always means pancakes for breakfast. \o/

- I have tickets to Tuesday's Diamondbacks game against the Dodgers. This makes me happy!

- Other things on Saturday's To Do List include a bit of shopping, laundry, and catching up on "New Amsterdam" episodes.

- How in the hell does someone sit down to take a shit or a piss and then just decide not to get up from the pot FOR TWO YEARS??? This both baffles and amuses to extraordinary degrees.

- In a prime example of my inimitable GRACE and POISE, I was walking downtown today on my way to court, on a perfectly smooth and even sidewalk, without a crack or rock or obstacle of any kind in sight, when I, for no apparent reason whatsoever, CAME CRASHING TO MY HANDS AND KNEES!!! *facepalm* Thankfully I was on a back street so no one witnessed my spectacular fall. Also, thankfully, my phone suffered the worst of the damage. I am though, without doubt, the Queen of Klutz.

- Today was beautiful and I didn't feel like being cooped up in the office (and I really didn't have anything urgent on my schedule), so I ditched work and went to a spring training game! Being your own boss is pretty damn awesome sometimes!!! I went to watch the Giants and the Padres, because the Giants' ballpark is pretty close to my office. And I scored an awesome seat just 3 rows back from the Giants' dugout. I'm happy to report, _lisalisa_, that your boys looked good with a 11-5 win over San Francisco. Also, there were lots of HOT men this time, both on and off the field! Definitely a much better way to spend a spring afternoon than behind a desk doing research. *nods*

- While I'm speaking of baseball, the Dodgers are playing a few games here next week, so there shall be at least several more spring training games before March is up! YAY!!!

- And now, some mid-week HOTNESS: ( Jason Taylor's Dancing with the Stars Promo Pic )

- Thankfully my week has progressed nicely since Monday's sucktasticness. I'm 99.9% certain that my trial next week will be continued, because, in addition to my motion to continue, the prosecutor is also looking for a continuance since she'll already be in the middle of another trial. So, unless the judges have secretly developed a way to clone attorneys so that she can be in two places at once, I'm pretty sure the trial won't be happening.

- This morning on my way to work, in the SUV next to me was a Steve Carlson look alike. Seriously. Steve has a twin with slightly longer hair running around Arizona. It was a bit surreal to have "Come Around More Alabama" playing and to look over and see someone who looks almost exactly like Steve in the car next to me.

- It's been a productive week. Work-wise I've gotten a hell of a lot done, closed several cases, taken care of a lot of administrative crap. I just spent a few hours getting caught up on bills and such. I've worked out. I may even go crazy tomorrow and do some mid-week laundry. *pats self on back*

- Speaking of paying bills, this is the first year since I was admitted to the bar that I've not worked for either the government or a law firm. It's the first year, therefore, that I have to pay my own bar dues. Ouch! This is no fun at all. *grumbles and writes check*

- On a significantly more negative note, one of my uncles died last night after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was one of my dad's brothers and I've not been close (huge understatement) with my dad's family since his death when I was 10. This particular uncle, though, made it a point to attend my law school graduation and I appreciated the effort. So, I'm glad that my brother and I went to see him yesterday afternoon and I was able to tell him that. I have a lot of unpleasant memories related to my dad's family and I'm sure that I still carry a fair share of emotional baggage as a result, but it was good, I think, both for my uncle and for me, to be able to say good-bye without staining it with negative emotion. I hope his crossing was in all ways peaceful.

ETA: I appeciate everyone's condolences. I really do. But I feel a bit fraudulent accepting them without some clarification. It's certainly a sad thing that he died. But while his passing is a loss, it isn't my loss. Since my father's funeral almost 25 years ago, I had seen this man a total of three times -- once when I graduated from law school, again at my admission ceremony, and then yesterday, a few hours before he passed. My good-bye yesterday was more to honor my father, than because of any relationship between us. So, yeah. I just felt compelled to explain. *hands*

- Damn. I didn't plan on getting so somber in what was supposed to be a post of complete randomosity. Ok. Well then. Other, less morose, brain confetti: tarot!!! I've done several readings for others this past week and I'm working on several more. This is a pretty big thing for me, as I've never been confident enough with the cards to read much for others. So, yeah...Yay Me! (Those of you still waiting for your reading, I'm workin' on them. I should be able to get them mostly done this weekend, as I won't be doing any last minute trial prep.)

- I don't normally watch American Idol, but thankfully it was on for background noise while I was paying bills tonight, because I got to hear this gem: (Big Ol' Country Boy, after being told by Simon, in an uncharacteristically kind way, that he couldn't sing) Simon didn't go down on me. And Simon goes down on everyone!. *laughs and laughs*

- Comanche Moon has been painful to watch. The dialog is so stilted it makes me want to cry. I have no idea whether the plot holds together or whether the characters are at all interesting because I can only stand to listen for a few minutes at a time. But Karl Urban looks HOT LIKE A 1000 FIERY SUNS in his cowboy gear, so I suffer on.

- Working from home today. Which means working from my couch in my PJs, with a full pot of coffee at hand. This is a very good thing!

- Finding religiously neutral, professionally appropriate holiday cards that still managed to express a bit of individual personality turned out to be a hell of a lot more difficult than I was anticipating. I think I finally managed to find some that will work, though. \o/

- Speaking of my religiously neutral, professionally appropriate holiday cards...if you'd like for me to send you one (and I'd LOVE to do that), drop me an email with your address at jessipsaloquitur at gmail dot com.

- While I'm on the holidays, my niece has declared that all decorations this year shall be candy canes and reindeer. Nothing else, she says. Just candy canes and reindeer. Where does she get these things? *shakes head*

- There are several movies out right now that I want to watch -- "Enchanted," "No Country for Old Men," "Hitman," "Love in the Time of Cholera," "American Gangster." So many movies, so little time. Apparently I'll have to prioritize my movie watching. So, those of you who have seen any of these movies, which should I watch first?

- Reaper is officially my happy place. OMG I love this show! *draws hearts*