Out and about this morning I pulled into a local Mom & Pop gas station to refuel my little car.  My card didn’t immediately work in the pump, so after a few choice words I went inside, and spoke to a smug little woman I assume to be the Mom.

We don’t take cards anymore.

I pointed out the numerous signs indicating, even advertising, otherwise, and the presence of the card readers in the pumps, but she was “oh, we’ve ordered new signs” as if that explained it all.  I figured discussion was futile, and had other things to do with my morning, but as I drove away questions kept popping into my mind.  Do they think paying with cards is a fad who’s time has passed?  Are they making some kind of a moral stand against big banks, or against a particular big bank that’s cut them off for some reason?  And more to the point I guess, how long until there are a new Mom & Pop on that corner that understand commerce in the 21st Century?

Just kinda drifting here.  Work (billable hours) and coding (unbillable hours for a good cause) and waiting for the washing machine to get repaired (the personal gratification of clean undies).  Can you guess which is highest in my priority list?

Using Paperless Post for the office holiday greetings this year.  I’ve dabbled with it since seeing a review of the site a while back (in the N.Y. Times?) and used it for a couple of small invitations, but this was the first large “mailing.”  So far so good, and certainly more affordable than snail mail.  I know I love getting paper cards, and love the collections on the walls and shelves of other people’s offices, but I think with this site e-cards are finally crossing over into the “classy” range.

Meeting a physical therapist tomorrow morning at BorgHealth.  Haven’t seen one since I wiped out my back moving furniture in the 80s, but my neurologist passed the buck on deciding what I can do after having my arm in a brace since March, so here we go.  Yes, there’ve been no laps since March.  No gym since March.  Puppy walks are allowed, as long as I remember to hold the leash in the right hand (which my left-handedness usually overrules).

More and more I resemble a jelly donut, and a lack of physical activity and low body image aren’t really helping the depression coming from that whole ‘recession is hurting my business’ thing.

This is pretty much just an alcohol-fueled rant.  With a bit of luck the tequila in my system will magically heal my ulnar nerve and get rid of the numbness and weakness in my hand while I pass out tonight.  Then I can get back to my life and the meditative aspects of the swimming will help me deal with the realities of the economy.  But somehow I doubt it.  When the neurologist scheduled me for a four-month follow up I got the hint that life’s just going to suck for a long, long time.  At least I’m getting on my way to being too big to fail.  Bailout, here we come!

Loving this video this morning.  It’s not just the proposals I hear from would-be clients that make this ring so true, but the stories I hear from my clients who are involved in design and web development.

[via Jhames]

Between lawyer work, website maintenance and whatever is wrong with my arm I’ve been a very dull boy lately. No swimming, no surfing, no photography. Not sure when I’ll return to the water, but weather permitting I’ll spend Friday cheering for Cal Rugby with some alums and my trusty camera. Same tourney as last year, but they’re scheduled for three games this year at the polo grounds, against VMI, Wyoming and Navy.

As for the rest, the arm is doing better but I’m taking things slowly, and the new photo gallery software is working nicely after the still unexplained crash of the previous site.  There’s still a lot of work moving over captions (one cut and paste at a time), but I like the new platform and think the templating in Zen Photo is certainly much easier to customize than in either of the other two packages I’ve used here.

Balance should be about finding the right combination of work and personal life, not the right combination of stimulants, antihistimines, NSAIDs and throat losenges to get me through a BS hearing despite allergies, five days of exposure to a bronchitis carrier, and a messed-up arm.  Mentally I need a swim, but then I’d probably need to get the arm amputated.  At least then the hearing would be cancelled and I could just go to sleep and not worry about finding the right meds to keep me alert and clever but not distracted by pain or coughing up a lung in my case file.  Whatever I do though, I should probably keep notes.  Got another hearing on calendar Monday.

I’m probably not supposed to post about how hot it is here during this brutal winter (86 F according to the desktop widget).  I’m probably not supposed to post about how busy I am with new business in the middle of a recession either.  But both have led to the same result: drained and tired.  The shifting economy has left me with an overabundance of family law work.  Divorces, child custody, etc.  It’s work, and the cases pay the bills, but they have the same impact on me as Harry Potter’s dementers: they just suck the joy out of living.  

Business transactions and planning are win-win when done right.  Either you’ve got a good deal, or you walk away no worse for wear.  

Even estate planning leaves you with satisfied clients who have a proactive outlook toward life.  

But family law… he said, she said, the wicked step-monster said…  Everyone loses except the Howling Point A/R department, and they’re too depressed by the work to actually do anything fun with the earnings anyways, so the profits just get drunk away.

Ten days ago Randy and I were looking over the cliffs at Big Sur.  Exploring the tide pools of Morro Bay.  Now I’m back to bitching about my soon to be ex-desk and trying to rebalance the case load.  Need to start planning another vacation.

Not only can’t you sue an empty pocket, invoicing them is kinda rough too.  Hence the necessity for some flexibility in ideology.

Diego’s eating his normal dog food for the first time in a week.  I guess the fact that he isn’t expecting more ham, or roast beef, or quiche, or bacon, or some other buttery/greasy food to ‘accidentally’ fall in front of him shows his acceptance of a return to the status quo.

It was a great holiday season, incredibly busy this year, but I’m happy things have slowed back down.  I’ve got things I need to get done, and really need to take a look at the practice and make some changes for an economy that looks bleaker and bleaker by the day.  Too many projects became involuntary pro bono this year.  Sorry folks, but I decide where I volunteer my time, not you.

At least it will be a short work week as I ease back into some kind of a pattern.  Spinner goes back to work on the fifth, so I won’t get much done until then, except maybe a little mental health roadtrip.  And, weather permitting, our local little