Goodbye George, Bobby, and Mike

This week I went to the second funeral in  month of a man in his middle years (between 45 and 55) that passed away fighting an illness that despite all best efforts he could not win.  This has made me rather reflective of late.  One of these men was my cousin that although I have known all my life I wish I had known better.  The other is a partner at my law firm who was most well respected in his field.  The loss of  both men has left a hole in the world, and strangely because I neither talked to, worked with, nor saw either of them very often, a hole in my heart.  Not long ago, another friend about the same age also died, again from an illness he could not beat. His loss also left That Motorcycle Man and I reflective and sad.  I believe each of these men came to terms with their fate,  I don't think the living are so fortunate.  At the latest funeral I attended the Rabbi said that each of us is immortal for what we do on this earth and the impact we have on others.  This is so true.  My cousin will be remembered for his sense of humor and his laugh and that he made people smile.  My colleague will be remembered for his honesty to a fault (so says his wife), his exceptional law career,  his tennis playing, and the love he had for his wife and sons.  Our friend will be remembered for his financial advice and the love he had for his beloved pets.  I am sure they will be remembered for much more by the people who were closer to them, but these are the things that I remember.  The Rabbi also led into the eulogy by quoting a question that the angel Michael asks those who come before God,  "What will the living have to say about you?"  I think this is a good question to keep in mind each day.  There are no tomorrows.  Live life today and every day  as if you have to answer angel Michael's question at the end of the day and as if  it is the last day you will be able to enjoy this earth.  While this may be impossible to achieve, striving for it is not.  

Good bye George, Bobby, and Mike.

May the energy you leave behind  give the rest of us strength and may you always be immortal in our memories.

Lectriclady

Friends and A Crazy Goose

This weekend one of my good friends came to visit.  She is one of the special people in life that even after years away from each other the conversation is easy, non-judgmental, and even fun.  No getting reacquainted, just comfort.  Well she has a wonderful little boy.  One of the cutest kids I have ever seen.  We took him to feed the geese at a local pond.  We ran into one crazy goose that wanted to follow us.  Evidently she really liked sourdough bread.  To save my friend's little one, That Motorcycle Man put him on his shoulders so we was very safe.  Ahh to be 3 again.  Friends and crazy geese. A nice weekend.

More later. 

'Lectriclady

Feeling Old

For those of you who don't know me just yet, I am an energy lawyer (I represent electric utilities). This field is very esoteric and until the California crisis no one had a clue as to what I meant when I said I was an energy lawyer.

Another thing about me is that I used to ride horses (fell off many times and now have hip issues -- but that is for another blog). At the barn where I used to ride there was a very cute girl. She was young, energetic, and a much better rider than I. When I first met her she was around 9. When I quit riding at the barn and she moved to another barn she was around 16. That was about 10 years ago. Well low and behold, I get an email serving me a legal document from a lawyer with this girl's name. Now I'm thinking it can't be Little B, can it? Well it was. She is all grown up and an energy lawyer -- married to boot. To me, she stopped getting older at 16 and I quit getting older too. Well that is not true for either of us. The world goes on. Neither of us ride anymore, which is a shame. But she is still sweet and when she smiled I saw the young girl I remembered.

More neat words (or not so neat ones)

Okay, so another blog -- 2 in one day. Now that is a record, or a verry slow news day. My motivation to work is lacking. On to the subject at hand: Words. Two more words I like because they sound like what they mean or express are -- Yikes and Yippee. I did not post these originally because I did not think they were words, and after my last blog to post them would have been hypocritical (BTW, being hypocritical is another pet peeve). However, low and behold, my seeester (oh my I am using "seeester," which is not a word, so I now fall into the categories of two of my pet peeves) says they are words. So I posted them. My seeester hates the word "cutlet." It is a rather ugly word. I hate the word "pee." Whoever put that into the English language should be shot. A friend of mine hates the word "sanction" because you never know whether its a good thing or not. E.G., the man was sanctioned for his bad behavior; or the man's good actions were sanctioned by the crowd. Go figure. The English language is a conundrum. Now that is another good word. Another thing that fascinates me are sayings. For example, "Go to hell in a hand basket" --where did that come from? (no one seems to know, I have researched this -- and isn't that pathetic). Or how about "Beyond the Pale"? Now that is an interesting one. In the past, "Pale" referred to Dublin and those that lived outside Dublin were considered lowlifes or uncouth so to say you are acting "beyond the pale" means you are acting beyond the boundaries of good society. (I researched that one too). Well, I am sure you've had enough of my word-smithing. Let's see, I've edited this blog four times. That's obsessive and I'm not billing hours. Must go, must go.

Now back to real work.

Adios amigos.

2nd post in 2 days my seester will be so proud

Okay, so this is my second posting in two days. A record of sorts. To continue my rant of pet peeves, here is another one: words used in common parlance that are not words. My most hated of these is "incent." This is not a word, people! You either provide incentives or you may encourage something, but you do not "incent" anything. I have to back down off this pet peeve, however, for a word used in my brother's blog, which I think is most descriptive: "jackassery." This word eloquently describes the use of the word "incent." (Ironic ain't it).

On the opposite side of pet peeves, I love words that sound like what they mean. In other words, they engender a vision or feeling that is exactly their meaning. For example, plethora (sounds like a lot of something right?). Okay, so I can't think of any more right now or my favorites, but I will and then I will post them.

Must now get back to work. Ya know gotta have those billables. Being a lawyer is sooooo much fun.

Failure to Blog

As my seeester (sister) and brother are expert bloggers, I have fallen down on the family tradition by not blogging. My problem is I find I have nothing interesting to say. (I know my family will think the fact I am speechless is quite extraordinary). My friend said I should make lists of my pet peeves. Well here goes: split infinitives (except Star Trek's "To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before"); telephone menus, one word emails, drivers who come to a full stop prior to turning, call waiting when I am the first caller, instruction manuals that are pages and pages long, 2 year commitments or any kind of service committments from satellite, cable, telephone or other service providers, and cold weather (I was born in Fla. for a reason). I am sure I have others but that is enough grousing for now.

On a happier note, my sis and brother in law came to see us last weekend. (She wrote about it in her blog). We had a great time. We went to the car show, and then had Peking Duck at the restaurant where Presidents go. Ate too much but it was worth every calorie. My cat, Baby (see my seeester's blog) loved my brother-in-law and still is waiting for "My George" to come back.

Well I must get back to work.

See ya later alligators.

CLBG

Trying Again...

Okay, it's my second blog. The challenge is keeping my cat off the keyboard. She likes to contribute. She is our gray green-eyed she-beast. Our cat, Baby Heather, is very special. She has tetralogy of Fallot (a heart condition). However, we have the record, we think for a cat living with a bad ticker. She is going to be ten years old! Yay!!

Baby is very spoiled. She loves to go outside and jump the fence. Bad cat!!!!!!!! She definitely cannot be trusted. She also likes to wake "That Motorcycle Man" and I up in the middle of the night, especially when we do not have the appropriate place reserved for her on the bed. Very demanding little thing. I will put her picture on this blog - that is, once I figure out how to do that. This could keep me up all night. Maybe motorcycle man will contribute the third installment.

Night all.

My seester got me into this -- oh dear

My dear seester (aka sister) has set up this blog for me. Now I must write something of great import. This may be a great challenge. Perhaps my motorcycle man can wax eloquently.

See ya later folks