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Limited Archive: November 2007 |
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Sunday, November 11, 2007
THINGS I THINK I THINK: Despite some nausea and a headache, I forced myself out there this morning for a nice and easy (read SLOW) jog. I hit a few hills between Effingham and Teutopolis, but after about three miles I decided to just pack it in and walk back to my starting point. Now that I’ve showered, I feel as if I have more energy. Sometimes running “gets a person going” for their battles during the rest of the day.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., I attended a local Veterans Day ceremony on the grounds of the former Effingham County Courthouse, directly across the street from my office. It was a well attended ceremony, which fact almost alone made it a somewhat moving ceremony as well. For more info, give my MP3 AUDIO NEWS files a listen at www.effingham.net/attorney
Later in the day I met with a client whose recent inpatient rehabilitation effort is among the best efforts of this sort that I have ever seen. This guy’s progress is pretty close to amazing. We did some preparation work for a hearing that is coming up on Wednesday.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Today, I spent most of the day at the office, primarily doing legal research. In fact, I was a research animal. It was a (Veterans Day) legal holiday, but I actually got a lot of work done since my office was reasonably peaceful for a change. Sometimes, the daily volume of telephone calls - or even just a few calls at the wrong time - can become a major distraction for me.
I put in an hour or so on the elliptical machine this evening, and it was actually a fairly decent workout.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
I woke up feeling a little bit exhausted this morning so I took it easy, as far as any physical exertion. I spent the majority of my time tending to my Public Defender duties in Jasper County (Newton).
Now, some “breaking” Illinois legal news, as reported this afternoon by Crain’s Chicago Business Report:
Judge strikes down Illinois med mal caps(Crain’s) — A Cook County judge on Tuesday struck down a two-year-old Illinois law that caps some jury awards to victims of medical malpractice. Circuit Court Judge Diane J. Larsen ruled that limiting payments for “non-economic damages” such as pain and suffering is unconstitutional. The law caps those awards in malpractice suits at $500,000 per case for doctors and $1 million per case for hospitals. There is no cap on economic damages, such as loss of pay. In her 10-page opinion, Judge Larsen ruled that the law violates the Illinois Constitution’s “separation of powers” clause — essentially finding that lawmakers interfered with the right of juries to determine fair damages. The case likely will go directly to the Illinois Supreme Court as early as next summer.
Scott’s comment: For the most part, our health care professionals are wonderful and amazing human beings. Nonetheless, when it comes to matters of provable malpractice, the decisions are best left to the jurors and judges who actually view and hear the evidence, as opposed to some of our spineless and well-funded politicians in Springfield and Washington. I believe that Judge Larsen’s decision is appropriate and very well reasoned.
On the personal health news front, I’m still not quite feeling like myself (see Sunday’s journal entry), but I put in another hour on the elliptical machine this evening and felt quite a bit better about everything. We’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Today was a fairly routine day overall.
Legally speaking, here’s some highly pertinent ☺ and informative law-related news that I emailed this morning to my 15-year old daughter, Brigette: 'Montana' fans sue fan club over ticketsAssociated Press NASHVILLE -- Thousands of "Hannah Montana" fans who couldn't get concert tickets are suing the teen performer's fan club over memberships they claim were supposed to give them priority for seats. The suit was filed on behalf of Kerry Inman, a New Jersey woman who claims that she tried to log into the site to buy tickets to Cyrus' Atlantic City, N.J., performance at the moment the tickets went on sale and was unsuccessful.
OK, well at least it wasn’t an “OJ” update!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I handled a TON of cases in court today, and everything turned out pretty well. The most interesting matter was the convening of a preliminary hearing with regard to a bar fight. I have ordered a transcript of this hearing, but it would not be proper to comment any further at this point since the case is pending. Maybe I’ll post the transcript on this sight at a later date, once the case is decided, leaving out the names of the parties involved. There are other transcripts that I also probably should be posting at some point on this web site (for public consumption) - in the same anonymous manner.
Friday, November 16, 2007
I put in a good run (kind of slow, so maybe it was a jog) for approximately 70-minutes this morning. I feel pretty good about it. Not too many ill effects. Late in the day, I purchased some new tennis shoes (the Brooks Radius 6), which kind of brings me back to my roots in running footwear. I was given a pair of used Brooks running shoes in 2004 by one of my friends, who helped get me started in running. I REALLY need to get back to running every day.
On another front, this probably is the earliest date that I can recall ever getting pretty psyched up with the holiday spirit. Among the developments, I’m pretty excited about having everyone home from school this weekend, and the holiday decorations at my office are already in the works.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
It seemed unusually difficult, but I put in another 60-minutes of continuous running this afternoon (while listening to the second half of the Illinois - Northwestern football game). It’s the first time I’ve done at least 60-minutes on consecutive days in a while, I think, and it felt like it. At least the temperature was fairly pleasant, near 60-degrees.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Turkey Trot 5K at Community Park in Effingham because I think my son Robert and I will be running together. He was at the Illinois game this afternoon, and I’ll be picking him up tonight at the local Amtrak station.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
All right, you do-gooders! Looking for something heroic to do while drowsily slumping there and staring into your computer screen? Wanna help combat world hunger? Sure you do. Play the “Free Rice” game, and help fight human hunger via www.freerice.com. I wound up playing the “Free Rice” game this morning a lot longer than I had intended, spending a lot of time between the 33 and 37 vocabulary levels. Average score: 35. Go ahead, Smarty Pants. Give it a try!
Umm, about that Turkey Trot . . . there’s nothing quite like being beaten at your own game . . . by your 22-year old son, of all people. Try as I might, I just could not keep up with his early pace. I thought the race would be an easy jog with him telling me to “slow up a bit, huh, dad?” Didn’t happen. Robert started out fairly fast, but finishing in 23:XX-something. I couldn’t keep up and actually wound up stopping a few times. I finally finished in 24:xx-something. Embarrassing. Time for some serious training. The rematch is set for Saturday, December 1st, during Effingham’s Jingle Bell Run. Oh well, at least I finally won a Turkey Trot door prize today, a 12-lb. turkey, courtesy of Newlin Martin and Martin’s IGA.
Joy and I took in the Diamond Rio concert last night at Effingham’s new Rosebud Theatre, as did Robert and a few of his friends. The performance and theatre were impressive to say the least - in nearly every aspect.
Monday, November 19, 2007
I haven’t gotten in my one hour of running yet. It’s already late afternoon and pretty nice (60-degrees) out there. I’ve made appearances in the courtrooms of three different counties today.
Just got in from a 60-minute run through central Effingham. It feels great to have been able to get through it this evening without any major difficulties. I’m starting to feel a little bit better. Now, I need to lose some of the extra weight I picked up through inactivity in the past several weeks. An added bonus tonight visually were some of the Christmas decorations that already are up on Jefferson Avenue.
Maybe it’s this time of year - although not entirely, I’m sure - but I’ve been hearing from a lot of “old friends” out there, lately.
Right now, I’m just sittin’ here plucking away on my laptop at the office with the music cranked up while waiting for a ride. With “the boys” home from college and with one of our vehicles out of commission, transportation can be an issue. But I don’t mind. As usual, it’s great to have everyone home with us. Robert was a great help today at the office, and Michael will be putting in a few more hours this week at IGA.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
So, disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has reported early this week to federal custody, well in advance of his scheduled December 10th sentencing hearing. Strange case, this one. Vick already has lost so much. If I were his sentencing judge, he probably would be placed on probation with no additional time in custody for the present offense. Currently, he faces a possible federal prison term of up to 5-years. Vick’s biggest problem: He is not Peyton Manning. If he had been, people probably wouldn’t have taken this whole dog fighting business so seriously.
Not that Vick’s conduct should be excused. Make no mistake about it, this was bad conduct. Just like the similar bad conduct that goes on sometimes here in South Central Illinois, and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, society overall sure is inconsistent when it comes to dealing with animals - as some of us get ready to consume our elaborate Thanksgiving Day feasts (from who knows where), or as we recuperate from a weekend of hunting, or as we spray for mosquitoes, etc. But then again, we are also inconsistent when it comes to dealing with people.
See U.S. v. Vick legal document: Statement of Facts.
This morning, I put in a run of a little more than 50-minutes then called it quits, hoping to run later in the day. UPDATE: Didn’t happen. I got a little bit too busy with my work. But I guess that’s OK because I am pretty sore from my running of the past several days. Maybe I needed a break.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
I learned recently that one of my clients, who successfully had completed rehab, now has relapsed. Chemical dependence is such a horrible thing to have to deal with sometimes. This poor guy’s family is going to be without him now over the holidays |
