1. it is extremely hard to get anything done when everyone else is taking the day off. it's like a ghost town here, just me and one secretary, and she's cutting out at noon.
2. few things are worse than reading a transcript of a hearing you did several weeks before. Inevitably, all the moments where you remember being especially articulate and cool look really dorky on the printed page. opponent's witnesses, that you remember demolishing on cross examination, seem to come out unscathed in the transcript. your own witnesses, who you recall saying several things to hang your argument on, in fact, never said anything of use at all despite hours of testimony. okay, i'm exaggerating a little. it's not quite that bad. but reading yourself in print is really a humbling experience
3. most people don't find it funny that a guy on NPR this morning called the syrian investigation into rafiq hariri's death "a sham investigation." there's no need to rush up to mrs. noz, who doesn't know any arabic and would, obviously, not get the pun, to tell her about it. ("sham" is another name for damascus and billad ash-sham--"the lands of sham"--is another way of saying syria)
