Switching To Gmail

I finally did it. After months of agonizing and procrastinating, I am now the confused and regret-filled owner of a gmail account. Welcome to 2004. And, I don't have to worry about the young-uns making fun of my aol account. I never knew what it was to be old until I saw the open mouth gasp of the 26-year-old upon hearing that I, just now, after all these years, stopped using aol. But the truth is that I can't stand the gmail interface. Yeah, aol is annoying and slow and there's too much spam. But I knew all the shortcuts and now I have to learn everything all over again. I figure it will take at least 6 months before I'm fully comfortable with gmail. Bye, aol. I ain't missing you at all. Since you been gone. Away. I can lie to myself.

P.S. - I hit some buttons by accident and messed up the way the blog looks. Sorry.

The Cornelia Marie

The Cornelia Marie was built in 1989, after being commissioned by owner Ralph Collins. The boat was named after Ralph's wife, Cornelia Marie Collins. In 1990, Phil Harris bought into the ship. Cornelia ultimately took majority ownership of the boat after she and Ralph divorced. Phil continued as captain, while Cornelia operated her end of the business from Anchorage.

The Cornelia Marie fishes for King, Tanner, and Opilio crab, and also does salmon and herring tendering (hauling fish from smaller boats to canneries onshore). The ship was seen, but not named, in the two pilots of Deadliest Catch. It was featured in season 1 of the series and every season since, along with the Maverick, the Northwestern and the Time Bandit and the Wizard.

Captain Phil suffered a stroke on January 29, 2010. Several days later, while in the hospital, Phil awoke from a medically induced coma and, unable to speak, wrote a note saying, “Keep filming. There has to be an end to this story.” Captain Phil passed away on February 9, 2010, at the age of 53. His two sons, Josh and Jake, continue to work on the boat.

All this because Josh said on last night's episode that he was "going to call Cornelia."

One Year Later

June 19, 2010 made one year since we moved to the new apartment, and thank god. Remember all those blog posts about renovations? Remember how much that sucked? I sure do! I think back one year ago and remember all the things we didn't have, things like a toilet, a shower, a sink, curtains, food and cable. Yeah, I guess I don't need those things, but you get used to them. Call me spoiled.

One year later and I still love the apartment. It's great to have everything the way we chose it, despite the renovation flashbacks. The dishwasher is my best friend. Nilda did a great job decorating, too. I think that women would prefer a single guy who has no decorating sense whatsoever (me) over a guy who has his place fully decorated. A guy who decorates is an obstacle, where a guy like me means a blank slate, thus explaining my Barney-purple bedroom.

Air Supply

Air Supply haunts my childhood. I was about five years old in their heyday and I still shudder when I hear the name. I blame my sisters, who, for better or worse, taught me everything I know about music. Who knew a pair of theater nerds (one British, one Australian) who met while performing in Jesus Christ Superstar could be so terrifying. Check out this video for "Making Love Out of Nothing At All." It's worse than you remember. The premise is that a Sonny Crockett wannabe leaves his shoulder pad, power-suit wearing girlfriend. Hijinks ensue.

The crazy part is that AIR SUPPLY STILL EXISTS AS A BAND!! They even have a facebook page! It keeps me up at night, too.

Omar Listening

• We just finished season 3 of The Wire and goddamn is that an amazing show. The Wire is to tv what Phish is to music.
• I'm loving your blog, Jeff. I especially liked the post about the guy who died climbing Everest. Just because there are no comments doesn't mean there aren't any readers.
• I watched the USA/England World Cup game, so no one can say I didn't give it a chance. Soccer is a boring version of ice hockey. The Simpsons said it best, "Low scoring, fast kicking and ties."
• Nilda and I did nothing this weekend and it was wonderful. Man, I'm old.
• The farmer's market is finally coming back to life after the winter. I always looked for the largest strawberries at the supermarket, but it turns out the smallest strawberries are sweeter and much better. Did I just say that? Man, I'm old.
• Like it or not, this is a great song, once you can get past the hair, clothes and 80's synth. Andrew and I can prove it.
• The interns started at work and it seems to be going well. They haven't yet figured out that we're all full of shit. I give them another two weeks. Then we're screwed.

Snowball The Dancing Cockatoo

This is a video of a bird dancing to Lady Gaga. Come on, that's hilarious. But what's interesting is the scientific explanation. CBS had a piece on the significance of an animal not just mimicking dancing or jumping around, but actually following a beat. They think that the ability to keep a beat might be connected to the ability to speak, something birds and humans share. Maybe birds are smart, after all. Anyway...DANCING BIRD!!

I'm Too Sexy For My Job

All week, I've been seeing articles about the lawsuit filed by a former Citibank employee who claims that she was fired because her bosses claimed that she was too attractive. As someone who knows a little about employment law, it's touched a nerve.

My first reaction was, really? Too sexy for you job? This just seems like some sleazy lawyer looking for his name in the paper.

But when you look at the allegations a little more closely, there might be something to it. She was singled out from her coworkers. She was told what she could and could not wear. She was judged not on abilities or performance, but based on her looks. If you believe the plaintiff, which I always do, she was fired for it. If you believe her, she was treated differently because of gender, and definitely has a claim.

But still, too sexy? With those pictures? Why would the law want to protect this woman? And this isn't even a jury trial, since she had signed an arbitration agreement.

It all comes down to a strategic decision by the lawyer. He could have played it as a straight gender case, a strong claim that, at best, might get a short column on the daily news. Instead, he made it a flamboyant case about sex, taking sexy pictures that he knew would get into the paper. Its a harder case for him now. He's got to prove that she's sexy and, even more difficult, get an arbitrator to like her. If its a female arbitrator, that's rough (female arbitrators are notoriously skeptical to begin with). If it's a male arbitrator, that's even harder (he's got to tell his wife he ruled in favor of the sexy lady? "Sorry, honey, that's privileged.").

But the lawyer has successfully crafted an argument that led to national exposure and even earned an op-ed from Maureen Dowd. Once you realize it's this guy, it makes some sense.

The Art Of Not Blogging

It's deceptively alluring. You forget about it for a few days and life seems easy. Then you look back over the past few days and think about all the wonderful and amazing things that the world has missed. This one's for future generations:

• I'm back into hockey. I was into it in middle school and then again in law school, but I stopped paying attention after the player's strike in whenever that was. The Flyers make it to the Stanley Cup finals and I'm back into it.
• It's true, there's no such thing as a tv that's too big. Take a look at Forrest's (and Caryn's) new 65 inch tv.

• Now that I'm monopolizing the tv, I think I've finally convinced Nilda that we need a tv in the bedroom. Score.
• My parents have been on a two week trip through Eastern Europe, from Poland to Vienna. At my parents' insistence, we've had my mom's car for the past week and it's been great. Nilda started calling it "my car."
• Who goes to Poland for vacation? I guess they felt obligated to do the whole Jewish history/Auschvitz tour. But I'll choose Cabo instead any day.