Swearing In

"I think your suggestion is, Can we do two things at once? Well, we’re of the view that we can walk and chew gum at the same time." —Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state, on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, June 2, 2004 (Armitage announced his resignation on November 16, 2004.)

"To do two things at once is to do neither." —Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C.
From the article: The Autumn of the Multitaskers

Friday work was productive and I am proud of myself. I've been trying to read this article on multitasking, I hear it is actually very bad for you. You have to pay to read it, so I have yet to fully access it. I feel like I have so many things half started that multitasking is probably not the best thing for me.

I left work a little early and came home to find out that my repaired cell phone was ready. My treo was broken, so I was upgraded to one without an antenna, which is pretty much the same thing, except that it feels new. I really want an iphone, but I'm in no position to buy one, so I'll wait on that for as long as I can. I even tried to convince myself to get an itouch, but I might as well just get the iphone for that price. I spent so much time trying to convince myself to just wait. I understand that I buy things when I am feeling down, but it does make me feel better for a little bit.

After work I took Max over to Rino's and I hung out with him and Jessica. We played poker and watched the dogs play. We also talked about our plans on where we would like to live come next year. I'm glad I have family that lives here.

Saturday Abram came in late after work. I didn't do too much. I think I napped during the day. We had a few beers and watched Good Luck Chuck.

Sunday my family came in for my swearing in ceremony. <Check out the Photos of my Swearing In.> My mom, dad, grandma, Eliza, Tori, Ana and Rick drove up. We had a bbq at my place. Max had a blast playing with Brooks and Memphis in the back yard. We made all kinds of food and watched the Cowboy game. Rick and Abram did most of the BBQing and the food turned out great. It was a really good time and there was a lot of leftovers for later. I ended up just crashing before midnight. It is always good to have a family event with no drama and just genuine happiness.

Monday was Veterans day and I had it off for my ceremony. It was at 10am. We got there just in time and there was a lot of pomp and circumstance, but it went by pretty quickly. I probably should of been more in awe considering the TX supreme court was there, but I was actually tired from being excited. I didn't sign in or anything, so I wonder how they knew I was there. I felt best when I turned in my fees and paperwork and knew that now I had finished all my requirements for being an attorney. Looking at my bar number should of been a moment of reflection, instead it was very cursory. Rino came to the ceremony too which was cool of him. We took pictures and it felt like a graduation ceremony of sorts. After I went to pay those fees I mentioned, which were the key to legally being able to practice law.

After, we took my family out to West Austin to enjoy the scenic view. Rick was a good tour guide and took us to the Oasis. It had an amazing view. We had a late lunch and took lots of pictures. I know really rich people live out there, but I don't think i would want that. I like to be near stores and people and work. It's a long drive to the movies I bet.

Once we got back everyone took off for home and I started to decompress from the weekend. It was a like a flash and I feel like I was a spectator more so than the honoree. Now I hope to do everyone proud.


Here is a youtube video that I found enlightening.. A simple video as to the issues causing the Writers Strike. You may have noticed your favorite shows in reruns - Why they fight

when then?

Patience

“Being aware of your crap and actually overcoming your crap are two very different things.” - Cristina Yang, Grey's Anatomy

Monday I went back to work after a long weekend enjoying myself. So ironic how vacations make you more tired. My mom came into town for a school conference. I drove to North Austin to pick her up after work and took her to Buda to see where I lived. She was impressed with Oscar's house, a person who was born on the same day as me already owns his own home. I need to get on that. After we went to dinner and then I drove back. I'm glad she was able to come.

I went by Ericka's house to visit since I hadn't seen her too much being gone all weekend. We watched HIMYM and then talked. It wasn't a talk I was ready to have, or even really wanted to have. I really don't know what to say about this, so I'll figure I'll just keep it to myself but I really got to get past this being a broken person thing. I left home feeling terrible and knowing that I may not have made the best decision, I made the fairest one. I need to get out of this pattern. This was my fault.

At home I had some post-bar result jitters and decided that maybe there was another Martin Alaniz who took the bar in Texas. So I searched through all my documents to confirm the bar exam id code. It checked out.

Tuesday I still hadn't fixed my alarm clock but it was my last day pretending to leave for work at 8am instead of 7am. This will be the last day of that. My friend Justin was in town again and I had lunch with him. He seems to really be enjoying being a lawyer. It was a regular work day.

I was talking to an old friend on the phone and they referred to my friendship with them as toxic. That was quite a powerful negative description, I didn't expect. Usually I get the description of being wonderful, a blessing, loyal, dependable, inspirational and those type of ways of describing who I am as a person. She was talking specifically about our interaction and I do understand why she would feel that way. It is interesting how in some people's lives I can do so much good and in others, I not as positive. It is never with bad intentions, usually just making a decision that is right for me and not happy for them. Maybe I just worry too much about what other people think about me and always want things to be better.

This is hard

Fort Worth

“The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” - Ayn Rand (Russian born American Writer and Novelist, 1905-1982)

Thursday I showed up to work and wasn't able to concentrate on anything. All I could think about were the pending bar exam results. I tried to distract myself, but my insides were hurting. I just needed to know no matter what the outcome was. I called Rick up and he told me the general time I should be expecting to see the list online and that saved me many hours of worry. I am now refreshing and refreshing the site waiting to see if the list would come up. Then when I least expect it, I see the pass list. I quickly scroll down and see a name with "All" and since my name is "Alan" I was sure I did not make the list. I was crushed, but as I worked my way backwards to see where my name would of been, there it was. I was so happy as adrenaline rushed through my veins and I hurried to make my phone calls after quickly thanking God. I was genuinely excited, this moment I did not take for granted. I'm glad I wrote my thank you entry before hand because there was no way I would be able to sit down and write when all I wanted to do was celebrate. My face actually started to hurt from all the smiling.

I left work early and just talked it up on the phone calling everyone to share my good news. After Oscar and Danny got home, we met up with Ericka and had dinner at TGIFridays to celebrate. After that, Karina joined us and we went to Rino's house and celebrated with him, Jessica and Vince. I really appreciated how happy people were for me.

The next morning I woke up at very early and packed and drove out to the Austin Airport to fly to Dallas Love to visit Abram. The flight was quick and virtually hassle less, except that Love is really far from Ft. Worth. Abram was there to pick me up. It was really early.

Once we got to Abram's place I took a quick tour. He has a one bedroom two story loft. It is a really nice set up, but rent makes it hard to afford much else. I was amazed on how big Memphis (Abram's dog) was and how similar he looked to Brooks. It felt cool to see my old coffee table and shelf in the living room because I've had so much history with that that furniture. I have yet to really live alone, I think I would like it.

Abram took me to his work where he is a manager in training at Chili's. His GM bought me a shot to celebrate my passing and I had lunch while I got to see where Abram worked. It is a new store and looked really nice, but I don't know if I could keep up with the fast pace environment. After lunch, I drove home, of course getting lost because I thought I was much cooler than I was when I was not paying attention on the way to the restaurant. I did get home and chilled with Brooks and Memphis. I took them for a walk, which was hard because they are so strong, but I was able to establish dominance and get them to do what I wanted.

I then took a nap. I woke up once my cousin Adam got out of work and he picked me up. He quickly corrected me when I referred to Ft. Worth as Dallas. Seems to really bother people. We delivered a large flat screen tv to one of his friends and then dropped by his house. My aunt wasn't home so I didn't get to visit with her. It had been a long time since I had been to Adam's house. So many people have lived there during their path, from my cousins, to Abram. Adam's girlfriend Kirby came by and we got to meet for the first time. She is pretty cool and just like everyone described. We then took off to pick Abram up from work. We had some drinks while we waited and then went to go and play pool. It was my first time hanging out with Adam for a really long time and it felt just like old times. We caught up and Abram was right, Adam is really persuasive. After Abram and I went to hang out with some friends and called it a night.

Saturday I was surprised I woke up without much trouble and dropped Abram off at work. I picked up some lunch and came home. I was planning on visiting family, but I was so tired I ended up just falling asleep, which probably explained how I got up so easily. I set up my slingbox on Abram's laptop. I felt terrible and apologized for not showing up.

Abram was to get out of work at 8pm so I dropped by and things were crazy, so I had a few drinks at the bar for the next hour or so. After he got out, we headed out to Addison for my cousin Laurie's birthday party. It was a long drive, but so much of my family was going to be there. Laurie, Melba, Monica, Adam, Vanessa....and I don't get to visit often with them. We arrived late, so Laurie was already in full celebration mode. Thanks to daylight savings we had an entire extra hour until last call and we closed down the place. The trip home was long and involved Whataburger in the early morning.

Sunday, Abram dropped me off at the airport and I flew into Austin. I drove over to Ericka's and met her as she came home from her 2nd baby shower in 2 days. Monica had her baby shower on Saturday and it sounded like it went really well. I'm not sure how I feel about the co-ed nature of it, but it seemed like everyone had a good time. We had lunch and then went to watch the Colts Pats game. I fell asleep though. I got home to watch the Cowboys game and found out my cats were not happy with my vacation. They had two accidents and pissed all over the laundry room. I don't know if I was more mad or embarrassed. I have a lot of cleaning to do.

My mom came into town for a conference on Sunday night. I'm hoping to meet her for dinner on Monday after work.

In High School I was on the Mock Trial team my Junior year. Rick had done it his Sophomore year but didn't try out his Jr. year. We did well and at State I had the second highest speaker points (to Claudette who is now an Attorney) and was pretty proud of myself. The following year (Senior year) I tried out for the team thinking it was only a formality. Well I didn't make the team. Of course I felt like there was a political reason, namely the fact I was an ass about how I signed their agreement that said I would not quit the team for debate. I was debating with Rick and put down all the dates I would be busy, and there were really no conflicts. After, the coach tried to convince me that I just didn't perform as well as the other students, which I knew was not true, but part of me started to believe it. Were these sophomores and juniors really better than me? I went on and had a great senior debate year and it all worked out like it should. I'm almost glad that happened because it made me want to prove them wrong about me and just like Rick did, I followed my path to become a lawyer. Mock Trial was fun though and I have good memories, but nothing like the fun I had in debate.

Go to Flickr to see a more user friendly version.

everything isn't better yet

Costumes Parade

"Ours is a sick profession. [A profession marked by] incompetence, lack of training, misconduct, and bad manners. Ineptness, bungling, malpractice, and bad ethics can be observed in court houses all over this country every day." - Justice Warren Burger

First off, I'm flying to Dallas and am staying Friday - Sunday, so if you are in town shoot me an email at ma73@cornell.edu with your phone number if you want to hang out. I'm going up to Fort Worth to hang out with Abram and do some visiting.

Happy Day of the Dead to anyone that actually celebrates that. I don't, but maybe because I was brought up to think it was evil just like Halloween. Of course I don't think it is, but all I have in my mind is the idea of leaving food at cemeteries and poor people coming to eat it after. So after work on Wednesday I scrummed to Ericka's desire to go to 6th and celebrate Halloween. Had it fallen on a weekend I think I would of dressed up, but being during the week, and not being in college, I decided I'd wait until it fell on a weekend. We met up with Karina and went over really early.

So they close off 6th and there is almost a parade of costumes as families sit on the sides with their children. We had a lot of discussion if it was appropriate to bring children to this type of event at night and my view is that it is a fun experience, so just cover their eyes for the inappropriate costumes. The other problem is that some of the kids just seem ready for bed.

So I'm out being my own personal costume judge, with points for creativity, simplicity and dedication to the role. I was sure my top 5 list would be full of lingerie cladly dressed co-eds who were bunnies, or slutty nurses, or slutty [insert whatever here.] Instead, there were not as many of those than I expected, but then again it wasn't late yet.

The first costume I saw that I ranked as my number one was a little boy dressed as Chucky. He was the right size and the mask and clothes were great. He even had a knife. It was adorable yet scary at the same time. I wish I would of had my camera, so I could show you, but I didn't have that foresight. I tried to include pictures anyway for this blog, but these are not the actual costumes, and I do promise the costumes I saw were much better, but I just wanted to give ya a feel for them.

Then there was the 100th drag queen, which I just don't find to be a clever costume. Halloween isn't an excuse to dress drag (unless you are Guiliani). Well there was one guy who pulled off the drag thing well, but when he would pose for pictures, he would lift up his dress exposing his huge plastic genitalia. It was so funny in a Crying Game sort of way. He got mad props. I do wish I had a picture of that.

While we are at a bar, two guys walk in, one dressed as Ali G. and the other as Borat in a suit. It was cool, and I thought very creative. Maybe it was a bit last year, but it was a good team effort.

Then came in what I thought would be my favorite of the night. A guy dressed in a suit, with sunglasses and his dick in a box. Not only was it just like SNL, the guy was totally committed the role walking around like a bad ass with his dick in a box. Step two: open the box.

As we are doing one last walk around, right out of nowhere comes a guy also dressed as Borat, but this time, in a, what I can only call a bright green neon speedo. He was pretty darn naked walking around just like Borat would. No shame whatsoever, but his costume was one of the highlights.

So I'm pretty impressed with the costumes, but I'm sad that I didn't see any Hillary Clinton costumes. I didn't expect any, but Ericka told me it was the must purchased costume this year. I was also sad I didn't see any Larry Craig's. Then as we are driving away, out side my window is a man in a suit inside of a large stall looking object. As we get closer I look inside and it is a Larry Craig with bathroom stall and all. It was very elaborate. It made my night.



There was a point in the night were I listened to the soap box mic guys telling everyone they were going to hell for debauchery and embracing evil. Karina said it was the same guys from ACL. That is a good gig, go to all the fun events to complain, you get to enjoy yourself and not go to hell. I started chanting George W Bush thinking we were in Texas and they would probably be big fans, but no one else seemed to care as my chant crescendoed.

On a similar note, Pat Robertson: Halloween "A Mistake For Christians [Did] you sent your child out trick or treating ? No? Oh thank God. Because Pat Robertson proclaimed [Wednesday] on "The 700 Club" that Halloween is the "festival of the Devil". He went on to say that celebrating Halloween is "a mistake for Christians" and to participate in it is "wrong". If you really care about your kids and don't want to see them end up in eternal damnation, you'll keep them home tonight and let them play the Bibleman video game.

I hope people understand I share this because I disagree with that man.

All of this was to distract me from what is one of the most stressful weeks I've ever had. Good news or bad news, sometimes you just need to know so you can experience the emotions and try to move on. The not knowing is what kills you.

the best thing for me would be