Skylar I Need Quiet "Hi, honey bunz! I'm home!" Skylar screamed that on Tuesday morning at 10:30 as he walked into the house, his usual greeting, even if he's only just stepped out
Work Work From Home I started working from home in 2020. I don't remember why. Something something social distancing. Hard to recall events that long ago. By 2021, a lot of my law firm
Work Change I started law school in 2008, which may have been the worst possible year to start law school. The economic recession had hit the legal market hard, and when it
knitting First Amendment I flew into NYC on Wednesday to attend a First Amendment conference for my job. The conference ran Thursday and Friday and it included lectures and panels from some of
Work Careers My phone starts buzzing. It's Skylar. It's 4:00 PM. The fact that he's calling me at this time probably means he finished his rotation early today. I answer. "She
Ridiculous Exhausted Broccolini On Wednesday I had one of those days where everything just a little bit sucked more than usual. I don't remember how it started. Technical difficulties. Ants in the kitchen.
Work A Time a Lawyer Taught Me Something Over the weekend I shared a story on Twitter about an experience I had early in my career with an opposing attorney. Here's the Tweet thread. > People frequently crap on
Gay Banana Bread I work at a pretty big law firm (for Utah). There are nearly 200 attorneys spread out over several different offices, plus lots of staff. What this means is there are a lot of people at my firm I don't know. The vast majority
Ridiculous Jack-O-Lantern We carved pumpkins on Tuesday because I'm a go-getter. They were beautiful. True masterpieces. I'm like you, and everyone else ever in the history of the planet, in that I
Work How picking up the phone has saved me. I have a new thing: I call people when they send me angry emails at work instead of replying to the email. Truly, for me, the most exhausting part of
EMBARRASSING "I Do Love Him" Skylar worked in Santa Barbara as a consultant for a hospital for over a year and when we were in town last week Mr. No One Will Even Remember Me
Corey Mock Depositions I got to New York City a few days ago because my law firm decided that I should go to this training class. I decided not to be offended by
House Skylar Has Opinions Be sure to check out this beautiful story from Shireen if you haven't already! ***** Skylar has opinions about things and sometimes this is the worst. I don't mean that his
Ridiculous Rock, Paper, Scissors, SHOOT I'm aware that Rock, Paper, Scissors is hardly more than a game of chance. I know this. I'm not under the impression that a person benefits from experience in this
Ridiculous Golf and Buses Skylar started medical school yesterday while I went golfing. I would have traded him places in a heartbeat. And no, I'm not interested in going to medical school. I'm just
Work Therapists are better than TV. Except no M.A.S.H. Before we get to today's Strangerville, I have something of a follow-up sponsored post. After I wrote to you about Peggy the Therapist a few weeks ago, I got messages
Ridiculous Small Talk In this week's Strangerville episode I may have overreacted about a thing that has been driving me crazy for a while. That thing is poorly-executed elevator small talk between coworkers.
Brianne Peggy the Therapist For a while I've been wanting to write a post about my former therapist, Peggy, but I haven't gotten around to it because TV and Eating and Lazy. It all started when a few years ago Brianne barged into my office and said "I
Palau Seaweed The water moved in and out. Slowly. Methodically. Miles of coral reef prevented it from forming enough critical mass to make waves. The sun was dropping down, settling into an
Rebecca Frozen I want to write but my mind is frozen. This is partly because it is negative eleventy degrees today in Salt Lake City. And, I know. Some of you live in Michigan or Wisconsin or Siberia or wherever and I shouldn't complain about our
The Perfects Scary Gandalf It was Thursday morning and I was very late for work. Or as Brianne would call it, "having a typical morning." Brianne decided some time ago that I never go
Ollie Pictures from my Phone & Weekly Distractions Eli: What are you doing tomorrow morning? Skylar: I have a meeting that I'm leading. Eli: That sounds like a rap lyric. Skylar: Huh? Eli: You have a meeting that
Ollie Eleven Eleven We know Duncan was born sometime around the beginning of November, but we don't know the exact date. I explained to him recently that his biological mother didn't keep detailed
Palau A Binder of Documents I poured over a binder of documents that if presented carefully should have helped someone in court. It was late, and I was tired. But it didn't matter. The contention of litigation didn't care that I was tired. Fighting. That's what people do. They
Daniel Hard Conversations For the last couple of years I've been silently obsessing over something about which I have been unable to come to a conclusion. I don't love conflict. I'm usually a