Turtles all the way down

On Friday, our functioning but old air conditioner took its last breath, knocking out main breaker power to our house along the way. Panic briefly ensued, but rational heads prevailed. On Saturday, we had a brand new air conditioner and the house and family was no worse for the wear. However the bank account had taken some damage.

On Friday, we had plans to spend the weekend in Michigan, going to amusement parks and beaches. On Saturday our plans had changed to stay home and fit the trip in sometime later in the summer.

We usually keep the doors and windows closed year round due to my family’s issues with seasonal allergies. So air conditioning is a greater need for us than it is for more people.

About the trip: the kids are disappointed, but not as much as my wife. I’m ok with postponing it, as my schedule is crazy enough this week.

They had nice phones and a cool service, but Helio is over. I still think the Ocean had the best mobile instant message clients I ever used, and was one of the earliest phones with GPS-enabled Google Maps.

Sure, I’m a bit biased, since my former company made the Ocean software, but I did make very heavy use of that phone over the few months that I had it.

George Carlin has passed on.

Carlin was my first experience with left-of-center humor. When I was 13 or so, he was funny not just because he swore, but because he has very clever when he swore.

Make sure you use each of the seven words you can’t say on television in a sentence today.

For my Spring Legal Writing course we had to write an appellate brief. Our assignment was based on a real Fourth Amendment case, where the appellant lost in trial court, won on appeal to the 9th Circuit, then lost again at a 9th Circuit panel review. He appealed to the Supreme Court, but the Court refused to hear the case.

We had to write a brief in support of the appellant (our client) as if he had been granted certiorari. The issue of law was whether police officers could arbitrarily question a motorist detained at a traffic stop without first establishing reasonable suspicion that the motorist was presently, or about to, break the law.

Our case was a loser for two reasons. The Supreme Court has grown increasingly law-and-order oriented over the last 25 years, thus narrowing motorists Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Second, our client had a shady enough past and the circumstances of the stop were such that the Court would likely find that the arresting officers had acted with reasonable discretion.

Nonetheless, it was a blast to write this brief. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that much fun, but it was a great exercise, not unlike a workout at the gym that leaves you breathless and in pain but ultimately helps you get in better shape.

In re-reading my brief for the first time in two months, I cringed a few times. It is far from perfect. So take my analysis with as many grains or boxes of salt as you’d like.

And if Mr. Lionel Mendez ever reads this…sorry, man…we tried our best…

msb-appellate-brief

1. Have fun on upcoming vacations and outings.
2. Play with the kids.
3. Bill a lot of hours so that I don’t have to kill myself during the fall semester.
4. Yardwork.
5. Get a good night’s sleep.

Last semester’s grade are in.

I’m happy with them. I did better than I thought.

I learned two very important things this time around. First, that attending class and reading casebooks, while good things to do, are not what prepares you for exams. Studying hornbooks, other people’s outlines, and taking practice exams are usually more worthwhile.

Second, that having a good study / discussion group is key. Mine was great, and I owe a good chunk on my GPA to them.

In 2001 I was working out at the local gym when one of the trainers approached and told me that there had been an emergency with my son.

I ran to the phone, not knowing what to think. My wife told me that she was rushing our 9-month old to the hospital because he was struggling to breathe. I was in my car in record speed and ran a few red lights to meet them there.

At the hospital he had recovered and seemed fine.

This was how we found out that he had a peanut allergy. Later, we had him tested, and his sensitivity to peanuts was off the charts. In other words, any exposure, no matter how slight, could be deadly to him.

As he grew up, and continues to grow, we’ve set boundaries. We don’t have peanuts, or anything made with peanuts in the house. Me, my wife, and our other son don’t eat peanuts or peanut products and we try to avoid being around anyone who does. All of the family, neighbors, and his friend’s parents know of his allergy and its extent. We’ve shown them how to use his epipen.

We’ve been concerned that he lives a “normal” life. We don’t want him to feel disadvantaged or disabled, even though food allergies are considered disabilities. So far, thanks to the many accommodating people, like our family, neighbors, and friends, he is a very normal 7 year old.

When told of his allergy, 90% of the people we’ve encountered will be more than willing to do what it takes to ensure his safety. They will put away any peanut products and make sure their kids don’t eat peanuts around him.

But, there is the other 10%.

They don’t get it.

They claim a right to eat whatever they want, wherever they want (and, for the most part, they have this right). They feel oppressed when someone implies they should avoid peanut products. They are told that eating peanuts around an individual with a peanut allergy may cause that individual severe harm, but they continue to eat peanuts around him.

My first reaction to the other 10% bordered on violence. But, as the years went by, I realized that the other 10% were not trying to kill my son. They were inconsiderate, perhaps even negligent, and sometimes obnoxious. But they didn’t mean any harm.

Not only do they not get it, but many seem to lack the capacity to learn. You can’t reason with them. Arguing does no good.

We avoid the other 10%. It’s the only approach that works.

I said that to a colleague a few months ago. I still can’t think of an exception to the rule.

In a way it’s not surprising. Firing employees is an unpleasant job and it is human nature to avoid unpleasantries. So we ignore our gut instincts and try to find a way to hang on to that troublesome employee.

We think that the underperformer just needs to be placed in the right job.

We think that the troublemaker needs the right outlet for his energies and is too smart to be without.

We think that manager who never delivers anything on time is having a run of bad luck with some difficult assignments.

But at some point we need to realize that it is not an employer’s duty to make employees better. An employer can only facilitate, not force, improvement. Most good employees just come that way. An employer can help improve an employee but probably cannot or should not try to rehabilitate one.

So bite the bullet and fire the employees that you need to get rid of. Your business will run smoother, other employees will be happier and more loyal, and you’ll live to not regret it.

My almost-five-year-old is learning to read, and like everything else he gets into, he’s taking it to the next level.

Getting my older son to read was like pulling teeth at times. Today, at seven and a half, he’ll sit and read a book for an hour or more at a time. But in Kindergarten he wanted to be read to. He resisted reading on his own. Our reading sessions were forced and not fun for either of us. Somewhere along the way, around the beginning of first grade, something clicked and he began reading. He’s still not an aggressive reader but he’s doing fine and reading above his grade level.

My older son’s approach to learning reading was top down. He would struggle to sound out a word, and would try to memorize the letter patterns or would guess the word from context or pictures on the page. I would have to keep telling him, “Don’t just guess, look at the letters!”

My younger son’s approach is bottom up. He will focus on the words on of the page and ignore the pictures and context. He aggressively tries to sound out words, often ignoring the context that would make his task easier. I have to remind him, “Look at the page, what is there a picture of?” or, “Think about what makes sense in that sentence.”

The boys are so alike yet so different.

I got an envelope in the mail last week containing a letter. The letter described a set of new features that my credit card company was enabling for my account. Oh, and the envelope also contained a new credit card with a new number.

My reaction was along the lines of “Aw, crap, not again…”

This credit card company changes my number about once every two years. Given that I use this card for automated billing on at least 20 websites, each time the number changes I have to spend a good chunk of time updating each site. And I always end up forgetting one or two and suffer late fees as a result.

So why does my card number periodically change? Security reasons? An upgrade of services? Convenience? Maybe their convenience, not mine.