« October 19, 2008 - October 25, 2008 | Main | November 02, 2008 - November 08, 2008 »
November 01, 2008
Underground in Buenos Aires.
The first time I went to Buenos Aires was seven years ago. I was bowled over and charmed silly by my host and IBLC friend of 10 years, the talented Daniel Roque Vitolo--who it seems everyone all over the world knows, and who knows everyone--and also by the spirit and physical beauty of the people. Yes. Color me shallow, but the humans who live in the city are both engaging and gorgeous in a natural way--with minds, hearts, bodies and faces truly informed by ideas, cultures, tribes and races from all over the world.
The second time I went, I wanted to live and work there--with thoughts of perhaps breeding a bit in my spare time, and certainly eating only beef three meals a day, which is apparently good for you after all. If I go a third time, I may not make it back to the States. Yank lawyer Evan Schaeffer of The Legal Underground is there now with his family (and law firm) for a month-long stay in this thoroughly cosmopolitan city. Don't miss his reporting and photography. Yesterday was Part 6. Bravo, sir, you captured the excitement of you and yours in the City of Borges.
E. Schaeffer photo: Recoleta
D. Hull: Mystery Person, Spring 2002
Posted by JD Hull at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
Just Otis
"...got got got to now now now got got got to try a little tenderness..."
Hey we be duck walkin' in Palo Alto. Watch the young woman, who'd be about 60 now, midway through the clip. When was the last time you were moved by anything, Jack?
"Got got got got got got got got got got got got got got got got..."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:15 PM | Comments (1)
October 31, 2008
Tax Policy and 2008 Presidential Elections
Consider this Guide by the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget before you vote on November 4. Tip of the derby to TaxProf Blog, based in the Queen City.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Great Consumer Society stops buying.
In London's The Economist, here's an article we missed last week; it's in the we're-watching-you genre that that publication does best: Left on the Shelf. "The unthinkable has happened. American consumers are losing their urge to shop."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
This Week: All Europe Watches Yanks.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2008
The Big Dog shills for Senator Obama.
See The Nation and about 350 other articles. I'm not voting for Obama, but Bill Clinton, who also campaigned for Al Franken in Minnesota last night, is on the tube as I write, campaigning for Obama in Florida. Can Wild Bill "market" or what? (At a meeting of 50 GCs: "Hull McGuire's your friend--they aren't like the others--and if you love me, like I know you do, you'll love them, and you'll crank up their rates just...") Dang. Maybe I'll reconsider my vote for McCain. No, if I just lie down for a while, the feeling is sure to go away. Shucks, WJC could make all male Texans dress in drag for a week.
Even the controlled Sen. Obama gets a little weird around Wild Bill.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
Jim Hassett: "Don't stop."
At his Legal Business Development, see Down Economy, Part 8: What To Do If Your Revenue Goes Down, and What Clients Want, According To Ram Charan.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2008
Update: Special Report from The Desert.
As I was saying, earlier this week I was in The California Desert--stalked by Death, Destruction and a monthly Smith Barney report nasty enough to put Pollyanna on Lithium for a year--and waiting for a vision to deliver us all. What I received was so pedestrian and simple that the rapture almost killed me. This Guy, a gardener with the Two Bunch Palms resort, and named Raphael, comes up to me and says:
1. Focus on existing clients, and on their current projects.
2. Stay friendly with GCs, client reps, influential people and "referrers" that you already know.
3. "Network" for brand new clients and contacts later, Dork. Now is not the time.
4. Finally, Work-Life Balance? Dude, that's so 2006. Think of it all as "work-life mix." Keeping life and work separate misses the point. Live smart and work smart. But be ready for anything. Life and Work both come at you when they are ready, and on their terms, not yours.
Go in peace. Dork.
(Left to right:) Raphael and WAC? in The Desert.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
Blawg Review #183: California gets serious.
If you work back Back East, some partners actually want you to shy away from Ninth Circuit or California cases in your research. California, America's chief social and cultural laboratory, often gets dissed for being cutting edge about, well, everything--and in the law, "good" change is supposed to come slowly. A "hard law" blog called The UCL Practitioner hosts this week's Blawg Review. No. 183 does an exemplary, serious, studious and way-Back East job of covering last week's best law posts, with a special and sensitive spotlight on California bloggers.
However, one Kevin Underhill post featured reports that a Scranton, Pennsylvania woman who swore in her own bathroom (at a fixture there) using the "F-word" last year was cleared by the City of Scranton, with some help from the ACLU. WAC?'s warning: Pennsylvania men and women swear wonderfully, and it's a birthright. Californians cannot, and never could, swear worth a good golly darn--and certainly shouldn't try the "F-word" anywhere, at any time, under any circumstances, including at home, without expecting to pull a hamstring, or at least harshing their mellows.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2008
Larry Bodine: He has news can you use.
You may not like the news, but start here anyway at Bodine's LawMarketing Portal: "ACC/Serengeti Survey: The Economic Picture for Law Firms Gets Worse". Lots of ideas you can use, too, at LMP.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2008
The Election 2008: Going Rogue in America.
Is America a fun country or what? Consumer spending down for 3rd straight month, the government buys a few banks, WAC? retreats to mud baths in the California desert, Obama keeps up the Kennedy-lite, McCain gets angry, Palin goes rogue. E.g., The Australian.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)