November 30, 2006
Last post/first post ::
personal — tagged buffalo, family, thanksgiving and travel
11:59 pm
As I’m writing this post, we seem to be closing in on Midnight. So, depending on when I finish this up, it could wind up being the last post of November or the first post of December. We’ll see what happens—you’ll be able to tell how inspired I was as I wrote this based at least in part on the end date.
So the trip out to Buffalo went pretty well. I noticed that it was the first Thanksgiving I’d spent with my family in four years, which is strange. It’s not like Thanksgiving is a particularly huge event with my family, but it is a fairly substantial American holiday, and you’d think I would have made some effort at some point to get out to see them. But alas, no. My excuse? Law school and being involved in a long term relationship.
Anyway, now I’m back in Vermont, where it was 60 degrees and sunny today. Totally creepy. But the job is keeping me busy, and I’m still able to bike like crazy. Josh can back me up on this—he saw me on one of my sprints through Barre the other morning. So I don’t have much time to think about the probability that these unseasonably warm temperatures signify a more significant climate change brought on by global warming. On the bright(er) side, they’re predicting snow by this weekend, so things could be quite different by Monday.
Update: Check out the time on that post!
November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving ::
personal — tagged buffalo, family, holidays, sick, thanksgiving and travel
11:51 am
I’ve been sick for the last week or so. It’s nothing serious—mostly a post-nasal drip thing that has kept me from sleeping all that well. So other than having a perpetual sore throat and felling a little groggy during the day, I mostly feel just fine.
Oh, and with it being Thanksgiving and all, I am once again in Buffalo hanging out with the family. This is the fourth time I’ve made it here in 2006, and it’s the first Thanksgiving with my parents since they moved here. With that in mind, I don’t necessarily feel like this trip is heavy with meaning, but it also isn’t entirely meaningless, either. There should be some photos and possibly a more lengthy narrative posted here once I’ve been here a while and have had some time to let something happen.
November 20, 2006
Winter cycle ::
personal — tagged cycling and vermont
10:40 pm
In many ways, November is the best month for cycling. There’s something about getting up early in the morning and heading out for a 30 minute uphill ride that shakes away the lingering exhaustion from the night before. I’ve found that even on those days after a fitful night’s sleep, I can go on a ride and come back, red-faced, fingers numbed, eyes wet from the freezing wind, feeling like I’d gotten a full night’s rest. There’s no way I could take the same ride on a morning in July and feel as invigorated.
I was reminded of this feeling when I went out for a ride this morning. At 7:30 AM the temperature hovered 30 degrees. I headed out this morning with two layers of thermals, jeans rolled up (of course) over long underwear, and a sweater. Starting out, the ride was painful, my fingers numb and my ears and cheeks stinging, but once I got into the ride and had to focus on ascending the first hill, I forgot about the cold entirely, pushing upward.
The single best part of riding like this is the smell I bring back from the outdoors. It’s the smell of the country, of dirt and cold. It’s one of the most vibrant smells I can imagine, and when I come inside I sit for a moment and enjoy it before the chill starts to set in. I feel alive.
One week, one day ::
personal — tagged politics, vermont and work
7:25 pm
I started my new job last week. I won’t be talking about my work at all here, except for in the most general terms. That said, here’s some general background: as a law clerk for Vermont Legislative Council, it’s my job to perform legal research and help draft statutes for members of the Vermont Legislature. Although it may sound like I spend my days locked in a windowless office in front of a computer searching WestLaw, the position actually entails much more than that. Namely, I’ll be working directly with the members, discussing legal matters with them, and advising them as they make different policy decisions. And of course, that work is complemented by plenty of time spent in front of a computer in a windowless office searching Westlaw. So it’s a nice contrast, and should keep the work interesting.
But that’s that. You should know that, at least in the professional realm, I’m quite happy indeed.
November 7, 2006
Where I’ve been ::
personal — tagged bethel, montpelier, personal, recap and vermont
3:23 pm
The contractors are outside the house, dismantling the rotten porch. What started as a small project involving some joists and a couple hours under the porch on some Saturday has developed into a pretty substantial home renovation. But it’s been fun listening in on the contractor’s conversations, which for the most part don’t get much beyond their parroting lines from South Park back and forth to each other. (If you can imagine two middle aged guys with Vermont accents doing that, you might crack a smile.)
I’m in here, posting to this site for the first time in, what, three weeks? It’s been quite some time. But as has become the standard, you can assume that if I’m not writing, there’s a reason. Actually, there are multiple reasons. They are:
A trip to Washington DC to visit Robin. It was really a great, though pretty whirlwind, trip. I saw a couple of friends from Vermont Law, one of whom I hadn’t seen since before he graduated back in 2005. I also (finally) saw the Wrens play, at the Black Cat no less. It was an amazing show. Unfortunately, I have no photos to share, though here’s a picture of the two hand stamps I got—one to get me in and the other, of course, to get me to the bar.
A new job! That’s right, I am employed, and will be until May. I’ll be working at the state house, where I’ll be clerking for Legislative Council, dealing with judiciary matters. As near as I can tell, the job entails dealing with criminal, constitutional, and judicial matters, and I’ll be working closely with legislators throughout the legislative process. It’s pretty much a dream job, and I still don’t quite believe I got it.
This weekend consisted of two parties, one trip to Bethel and one to East Bethel. It involved some substantial driving and some really great interactions with friends, including people I hadn’t seen in quite some time.
I also stopped by the old Bethel house to get the last of my stuff, which has been sitting up in the attic for the past four months or so. That was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but it’s over now, and I feel like I’ve made my final break from that house. While there, I helped my landlady with a computer problem and took Shamus for one last walk, which gave me an opportunity to say goodbye and remember that, as hard as the past few months have been, I’m in a better place now.
So, as I survey everything that’s happened since I last posted here, I realize that I should feel pretty great about my life. I’ve passed the bar, set myself up in Montpelier at a place where I can afford the rent and I really like my roommates, I have a new job that will involve interesting, important work and hopefully lead to something more permanent; I continue to meet great people and do a pretty good job of staying in touch with old friends; but for whatever reason, I continue to feel a little sad. Maybe I’m still in the process of separating myself from my old life, or maybe, despite all my social interaction, I still feel alone. In any event, I don’t feel terrible, and I know it will be just a temporary thing—if nothing else, work starts next Monday and after that I just won’t have the time to worry about such things. But in the meantime, some insight into all of this would be helpful. If you have any, send it my way?
