black sky theory

keith from west liberty

Roxtar has got to get back in the game....

Hangin' Out My Shingle.....(or just hangin' out)

After 14+ years of practicing law, first as an employee in a private firm, then as an employee in a State agency, my entreprenurial urge has gotten the better of me and I'm going into business for myself and my clients on March 3, 2007. (That is most assuredly NOT me pictured at right.)

I have newfound respect for the small businessperson. Getting a business off the ground is like the Chinese Water Torture....one little thing after another. Business license, tax certificate, logo design, stationery, signage, website (watch for the launch, to be announced here), office space to be leased and remodeled, insurance, software and equipment to evaluate and purchase, phones, internet service.....every time I pick up my checklist to strike an item, I find myself adding two more. And I am doing this while maintaining my full client load at the Justice Mill. (My aforementioned murder trial resulted in a plea which had been in the works since before I decided to make the leap, so that has freed up a few hours, but the press of time is acute.)

When I open the doors, I'm expecting the sphincter-tightening realization that there is not another paycheck in the pipeline. Root hog, or die, as the saying goes. But there will be rewards of a less tangible nature. When my travels take me past a nice little stream, I can try to persuade a few trout onto my dinner plate, without thinking up some phoney-baloney excuse for my boss. I can take on meritorious cases that wouldn't have qualified for my previous agency's services, and I can reject those cases in which the defendant is just trying to game the system (or at least charge a fee commensurate with the insult to my self-respect.)

I can set my own schedule, which will make my wife happy when it's time to visit the kids at the Cape, or attend a dog show out of town. As Jan-Michael Vincent said to Darren McGavin in an obscure 70's army flick ("Tribes"), when asked why he didn't wear underwear, "Sir, I like the freedom, sir!"

If I want to put a sign that says "Worst President Ever" in my office window, I can do it. If I want to represent a draft resister, should it come to that, I can do it. If I want to be politically active without fear of recrimination, I can do it. Because, you see, I like the freedom, too.

Groundhog Day.

Little buck-toothed bastard says early spring. Well, I'm not going to get my hopes up. And by the by, today is the one year anniversary of Black Sky Theory. Thanks to all my visitors. You guys are the best. I look forward to another year.

Absolut Pandemonium

A couple of hectic weeks here in BlackSky Country. We welcomed a litter of 10 Lab pups on the 8th, which has cut into our sleeping time. (There's a puppy slide show at the bottom of the linked page...) We have a houseguest, which requires us to be sociable. I've been laying the groundwork for a new business venture (more on which coming soon). And to top things off, I recently learned that an upcoming murder case, which I thought would be resolved by a plea, might go to trial after all. Yeah, that won't occupy much of my time.

So anyway, I've been a little slack here at the blog, and in my correspondence. I've also been trying to push to the back of my mind a scheme that has been bubbling up lately, inspired by some unrelated, but contemporaneous, posts on various blogs of our mutual acquaintance.

In broad strokes, I'm talking about conversation, recreation and al fresco gustation. In other words, an old-fashioned, wood-burning, mosquito-slapping cookout/campout, sometime this summer, somewhere on the Cleveburg/NoVa axis. (Ohiopyle State Park in PA has nice facilities, rafting, fishing, swimming and tubing, and tours of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, just to pose one possible location.)

Folding chairs, adult beverages, campfire cooking, tons o' fun for the whole fam damily! Any interest?

I have a dream.........

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Washington, DC, August 28, 1963

Pick 3

Here's a little audience participation number. Pick 3 invites you to give not one, not two, but THREE opinions on the topic at hand. The topic will vary: three best switch-hitting American League shortstops, three best cookie recipes, three most vapid celebrities. You never know what you're gonna get, but you're gonna get a chance to make your picks and make your case.

To start things off, list the three greatest guitar riffs in rock music history. Not great guitarists, not smoking polyrhythmic Mahavishnu John McLaughlin solos. Just riffs.

I'll get the ball rolling with my faves:

1. Aqualung (those first six notes)
2. Smoke on the Water (need I say more?)
3. The All-Purpose Chuck Berry riff. (You know the one I mean.)

OK, that leaves about a million others for you to divvy up amongst yourselves. And after you post your 3, I promise you'll think of 30 more, but there's a three riff per post limit.

And while we're on the subject of threes, I refer you to three additions to the blogroll. Lance Mannion and Jason Chervokas should have been on there ages ago, and I have no excuse other than that I am a filthy hippie slacker. These two worthies, along with blogroll stalwart Tom Watson, have a new blogging venture called newcritics, self described as "Web-based criticism in literature, music, film, theater and art from a diverse group of writers." Great look, great content, great writing. It's slick as snot on a glass doorknob, and as cool as the other side of the pillow. Check 'em out!