Seeks intelligent, politically minded friends that love one of the following: Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Castle, Criminal Minds, Top Chef, running, fiction, non-fiction, political biographies, urban fantasies, paranormal romances, scrabble, politics, discussion, food, or eating. Like-mindedness is not a requirement, but having a brain is a must.

Disclaimer: Although I am a lawyer, I am not your lawyer.

Dear ABC,

This is NOT FUCKING FUNNY. In fact, IT IS FUCKING OFFENSIVE.

Oh, noes. The poor menz can't find jobs, so they dress up as women because they think that will make their lives easier. In other news, the sky is green, hell has frozen over, and pigs can fly.

There is so much wrong with this, I don't even know where to start.

Diaf.

No love,
jennem

Its only "cheating" when firefighters, police officers, and teachers do it. When politicians do it, it's "good estate planning."

[eyeroll]

NYC this weekend!

Leave a comment if you'll be in town. Hopefully we can meet up somewhere.

So . . . .

I'm leaving the firm and going to another Big!Firm with an office here in town.

Overall, I think the move is a good thing for me. But . . . eep!

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern through Amazon Vine.

Every single one of you should pre-order this book. I'm not kidding. Its completely beguiling, and utterly fascinating. If I could, I would purchase it for all of you. I'm only half way finished with the book, and I'm completely enthralled by the story, characters, and prose. Its one of the most entertaining and interesting books that I've read in some time. It gives you the magic and shine that a child feels when she first sees Disney World, except you're an adult, and its a book, not a place.

Srsly. Pre-Order it. Put your name on the list at the library, or put it on your "to read" list, at the very least.

1. Apparently, you can't have boobs and be in front of a jury. Because the jury might be distracted by the fact that you have boobs. Ugh. Some people need to DIAF.

2. If you want to follow what the Supreme Court is doing over the course of the next month (the juicy opinions are always issued at the end of the term), SCOTSblog has provided us nerds with a great docket.

3. I'm about to start reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Also on my reading list is The Ghost of Greenwich Village by Lorna Graham, and The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson. Oh, Amazon Vine. Thank you so much for giving me the golden ticket to free ARCs every month!

4. This guy is an asshole.

5. These maxi-pads are amazing. Srsly amazing. I can't use other products for a variety of horrible reasons. So, if I'm stuck with using the dreaded MP, at least some company finally created a product that isn't wretched.

Dear Weather,

FU!

No Love,

jennem & jennem's house

(No major damage, unless the freaking hail damaged the roof, but my damn chimney is freaking leaking. Ugh!!)

What's new? Not much new with me, although I might have some big news in a few weeks (not THAT big news . . . I am not, nor do I want to be, pregnant).

1. I've become my OBGYN's "project." (Her words, not mine.) Because my body still hates me, and she's trying to fix my /woe. This time, I'm on a 30-day medication that seems to be the nuclear-option for treating the /woe. We shall see. I remain suspicious until I can go a full 60 days without getting a new /woe.

2. Because of the 30-day medication (its a cream --- let's all say eww! together), I'm taking a 30-day hiatus from running. Its annoying, but probably a good thing. I finished another Half in early May, and it was already so hot, I thought I was going to DIE. Ugh. Running in the summer is the pits.

3. I've been reading a lot. For those of you seeking a light, fun read, I suggest book by Chloe Neill. Both of her series, one UF and one YA, are fun.

4. Castle's season finale made me go /woah! (not /woe). Still trying to process it.

5. Week long beach vacation in t-minus four weeks. What? Its not like I'm counting.

6. Ridiculous landscaping project at the house is about to commence. Its going to cost a fortune. I know we'll really enjoy the space a lot more once its finished (and we need to do it to deal with the way water runs towards our house), but I am not exaggerating one bit when I say its going to cost a fortune. My bank account weeps. I should get one free trip to NYC out of it though (by charging the costs to my miles card). (YES. THAT IS HOW MUCH ITS GOING TO COST.)

7. There is no seven. Only six. You'll have to deal.

Mr. jennem and I finished our taxes. It was a valuable learning experience. We changed our W-4 withholdings the next day. (I was withholding enough, but when you added the mister's salary to mine, we owed taxes . . . boo.) The housing credit and our deductions saved us, but barely. I don't mind paying taxes (even the astronomical amount that we pay). Afterall. I've been in situations where I haven't had to pay any taxes. I much prefer to be here than there. But, I'm slightly annoyed that I don't get to deduct the interest on my student loans. I have credit cards with lower interest rates than the government mandated rates on my student loans. Really, IRS? You're not going to let me deduct that interest? You suck.

Doing our taxes also lit the fire under our asses to contribute to our 401Ks. I know all about emerging markets, small cap and mid cap funds, and bonds now. :D

---

We're thinking about vacationing in the Outer Banks this summer. We haven't gone on vacation since our honeymoon, and since our winter vacation was smoked by my awful work schedule, I feel like splurging. Anyone have any recommendations for where to go / stay? I'm getting frustrated with my online research. I'm thinking about throwing in the towel and just going to Hilton Head, but the overpaid-non-hipster in me rejects that idea. Bueller?

---

Running is going very well. I need to get some new shoes, but I just took advantage of a clearance sale, so now I have more than one pair of winter running tights. Woo hoo! I'm running another half marathon in May. After that, I think I'm done until the fall marathons gear up. I have no desire to run the "Hottest Half." Why, you ask? BECAUSE ITS BLEEDING HOT OUTSIDE IN THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST, THAT'S WHY!

---

Work is good. Won a big motion the other day, that created some new case precedent for my district. Very cool.

So, flist! How are you?

Hello F-list!

So sorry to have been so absent. In my defense, I worked 42 hours this week by 3:00 p.m. yesterday. Talk about a world of SUCK. (My MOTHER had to drive two and a half hours to take down my Christmas tree last weekend. If I wasn't asleep, I basically drank coffee and stared at my computer for the last month.)

Life is good. (Just busy.) Ran my fourth half-marathon last month. Doing my fifth in May. What can I say. It gets into your system.

It was cold as fuck here two weeks ago, and now its 70 degrees outside. Oh, Texas. You so crazy. Also, I have lots of opinions about our royally fucked budget and our idiot governor, but mostly I'm just left shaking my head thinking, "WTF....WTF..." [facepalm]

Happy Birthday to my regala_electra. I'm hoping to crash your city in April - May. No eating at Pio Pio without me. Or going anywhere interesting. Or doing anything fun! You're supposed to pine after me, not party like its 1999. So, pine damnit!

1. Work is super busy. This week will be hell. After that it might ease up a bit. I billed almost 2150 last year. Considering I only billed 50 hours in September due to things being slower than molasses, that's pretty a pretty sad (for my social life) number to hit.

2. I've been sick for the last two weeks (on top of being super busy at work). Evil hacking cough with a side of the sniffles. I sounded like an old lady for several days. Then I turned into a teenage boy. I'm finally (almost) back to my normal voice. Whoopee.

3. Ran one half marathon in November and another in December. I have another at the end of this month, and then I'm taking a break until the next one in May. Running is good. Keeps me centered.

There is no four. That's my life in a nutshell. I eat, sleep, work, run, and bang my hottie husband. Life is good, but exhausting.

ETA: Regarding today's events, I'm completely speechless.

An uncle of the 9-year-old girl told the Arizona Republic Saturday evening that a neighbor was going to the event and invited Greene along because she had just been elected to the student council and was interested in government.

"The next thing you know this happened. How do you prepare for something like this? My little niece got killed — took one on the chest and she is dead," Segalini told a reporter for the Arizona newspaper.

A 9-year-old girl is dead because she wanted to meet her Congresswoman. She was interested in government and now she's dead. I just...I don't have anything to say to that.

Five men upheld the federal ban that prohibits "intact dilation and evacuation" (so-called "late term") abortions.

Factoid 1: This does not, in actuality, ban all late term abortions. It only bans a specific kind of late term abortions. There is another kind of late-term abortions that remains legal (in fact, the government has insisted throughout this legal battle that the late-term abortion ban does not prohibit "dilation and evacuation," which is the procedure used in about 95% of pre-viability second-trimester "late-term" abortions).

Factoid 2: The ban that prohibits intact dilation and evacuation abortions does not contain a health exception, but it does contain an exception where the mother's life is at stake. Drawing that line is going to be oh-so-fun.

Factoid 3: The 5% of late term abortions that utilize the intact dilation and evacuation procedure INSTEAD of the OTHER, LEGAL dilation and evacuation procedure are usually performed in circumstances where doctors consider it SAFER for the mother than dilation and evacuation.

Conclusion: Our inept government has managed to ban 5% of all late term abortions, without a health exception, when said 5% of late term abortions are usually performed only in situations that would necessitate a health exception.

Where is the logic. Where.is.the.logic.

Where is the logic in permitting one kind of late-term abortion but banning another? The end results are the same, dude.

Not only that, but they banned the procedure that is usually ONLY used in cases where medical complications necessitate it for the safety of the mother WITHOUT a health exception.

Am I missing something, here?

I mean really. What has the government accomplished, exactly? It banned the procedure that was invoked for the health and saftey of the mother without a health and safety option and still permits the other late-term procedure that constitutes the majority of late term abortions?

I mean, even if I were a pro-lifer, how can this not piss you off? It doesn't do anything to really reduce late term abortions. All it really does is increase the risk to extremely ill pregnant women. Because more than likely, they'll use the 95% procedure - even though it endangers their life more. (Which is the insane rationale of the SCOTUS. It only puts them at MORE risk, it doesn't limit their ability to GET a late term abortion).

Has the world gone insane? I mean really.

How on earth is this a "victory" for ANYONE?

Addendum: [Just so all the cards are laid out on the table...] Statistical data shows that third tri-mester abortions account for only .01% of all abortions. Statistics from 2003 show that only 100 abortions were performed in the third tri-mester where the fetus would be "viable." Second tri-mester abortions, which are the abortions this ban is attempting to address, account for only 9% of all abortions. Of this 9%, 95% are D&E abortions, and 5% are ID&E abortions (which is the procedure addressed by this ban).

source

1. (Almost) Everything is posted publicly.
2. I go back and lock 99.9% of all of my entires after about a month of public display.
3. Yes. I am anal.

*If you followed a link to a post that you can no longer access, please e-mail me at: jennem.livejournal@gmail.com. I will probably unlock the post for a short period of time (depending on the nature of your request).