Mackenzie's Weblog

Cool, But Little Known

I recently went to an interesting event where I was exposed to something that I should have known, but didn't until I thought about it.

At this event, Mike Sullivan was an attendee.  Actually, more of an honoree.  If I recall correctly, he received the University of Wyoming College of Law Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award.  (That's a lot of capitalized words.)  Most people outside of Wyoming won't know the name Mike Sullivan.  He was a governor of Wyoming during the early 1990s.  He's famous here for coining the saying that "Wyoming is one small town with really long streets."  Or something to that effect.

What is not widely known, even in Wyoming, is that he was also ambassador to Ireland during the late 1990s.  One of the speakers at the event pointed out that this was the time that the US brokered a significant Northern Ireland peace agreement, and credited Sullivan for his role.

I'll be the first that I don't know much about this particular peace settlement.  I vaguely remember that Something Important happened during Clinton's presidency, but I'm not even sure of the lasting effect.  My friend, the Dancer, is the one that I consider the expert on the Troubles--historical context, the various peace plans, the whole shebang.

Yet, I do remember that Something Important happened at that time, but I never really connected Sullivan's role with these events.  Even once I found out that he was once the Ambassador, I never really put it together.  When I did hear some mention of it recently, one of my most prominent reactions was to simply be surprised.

The moral of the story?  I'm not really sure.  Maybe I'm just rambling about how I was surprised and thought it was kinda cool.  Or maybe I'm suggesting that you Look Closer.  Or maybe I'm publicizing that this little state has a bit more import than most people believe.

Chances are, it's some combination of those.  Plus I'm looking for good blog subjects.

No People!

There's a freight elevator that I pass every day on my way in and out of my building.

There's a sign next to it that reads, "Freight only, no passengers."

This always makes me smile because I always visualize some delivery person getting to the elevator and putting down the three boxes he's carrying.  Then he looks at the sign for a bit.  There's no real expression on his face, but he looks at the sign far longer than it takes to read it.

Then, after putting all the boxes in the elevator, he presses the correct floor button, and squeezes out from the doors as they're closing and hurries to the main lobby, where they have the people elevators.  He's on his way to meet the boxes on the sixth floor.

No, I haven't actually seen it.  But it amuses me that it could happen.

Amazon Unbox

I've been using Amazon Unbox to watch both Bionic Woman and Heroes.  Here's what I think.

First, what I like about it.  I like that I can download a show to any machine with the software on it (that I've logged in on).  This means I can be at work, and tell Amazon to download the show to my desktop at home.  That way it can be waiting for me.  That's pretty cool.

I also like that it doesn't use a proprietary file format.  Unlike iTunes, Unbox's files are in WMV format, so I can use most any file player to watch them.  This means that I can use the Media Center (included in Vista), which is better than Amazon's player in part because my remote works with media center.

For those who need this sort of thing, you can also download a version of the video file designed for portable players.  I don't have (nor do I really want) a portable video player, so I haven't tested the quality or anything.  But it's great that you can do that.

It works with TiVo.  I don't have one, but a lot of people do, and you can set you Unbox download to go right to your TiVo.  That's awesome.

Finally, I like their pricing model.  On iTunes, if you bought a season of a show, you were locked in, and you paid all at once.  On Unbox, you pay when the show is released on Unbox.  Not only that, but I'm pretty sure you can cancel your season subscription at any time.  If you do subscribe for a season, you get a discount: with my two shows, it's $1.89 instead of $1.99 per show.

There are only two things I don't or didn't like about Unbox.  First, the video quality in the beginning was pretty poor.  It seemed very pixellated.  I haven't noticed this lately, so maybe that's been fixed.  Second, I really wish I could set it to automatically download to my chosen machine rather than going to the website.  It's a small thing, though, and just a slight inconvenience--not a deal-breaker.

If you think it's obscene to pay cable companies a subscription rate for a load of crap, as I do, Amazon Unbox is a solid option.  This is especially true if you're in a situation where your computer is a comfortable viewing machine, or you have a TiVo.

We Can Film it Stronger, Faster . . . Better!

I was hopeful when I saw this news.  For those not clicking, Bionic Woman has a new show-runner.  A show-runner is sort of a grand coordinator of the various scripts and overall scope of the show.  Sort of an executive director.

While I've been watching Bionic Woman, my reaction has been sort of, "meh."  I don't dislike it, really, but there's not much that really makes me look forward to the next show.  Everything is ok, but it lacks something.

Maybe it's because, in recent years, plot-oriented storytelling on TV has been catching on.  Lost presents the most well-known example, but I've been a big fan of that method since Babylon 5.  I'm just not getting it from Bionic Woman.

I've been using Amazon Unbox to watch this show, and one other.  I'll have more about that tomorrow.

Friday Catblogging!

Another oldie but goodie.  They're still doing stuff like this, which is funny.  Jupiter is usually of two minds about being bathed, so he has a tendency to whack Sebastian for doing it.  Nevertheless, Sebastian persists.  They usually settle down before too long, so it all works out.

So, for those of you not in the know, Radiohead just came out with their last album.  One of the coolest things about it is that they released it online, and the buyer pays what they want.  That's awesome.  I picked it up for ten pounds, or about $11.  I think that's being very nice for a 10-track album distributed digitally.  As for quality, I'd say it was worth it.  I don't love all the tracks, but I like all of them and love a couple.  Just like most Radiohead albums.

Anyway, if you're remotely a Radiohead listener, you should buy the album to support this sales model.  I'd love to see it catch on.

Have a great weekend!

I'm Currently Reading:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisa Pessl

Fall Cooking

This is a great time a year to be slaving over a hot stove.  Of course, I think most times are great to be doing that, but autumn is particularly good.

Aside from quartering some chickens and saving all the parts, and even making dinner from some of them, I made some New Orleans-style pralines.  Of course, "New Orleans style" is really a pretty loose description, considering that everybody there tends to have their own family recipe--and, of course, everybody's recipe is better than everybody else's.

But anybody who has spent some time there will know what I mean.  I'm having some trouble deciding whether I should save some for my Mother, who is coming to visit, or just plan on making some more.  It would be easy to do--I'd just have to get some more sugar and pecans.  Maybe I'll just play it by ear.

Oh, and incidentally, the MackenzieMom visit at this rather unorthodox time of year is prompted by the fact that my swearing-in ceremony is a week from tomorrow.  On that day, I'm officially a lawyer.  Awesome.

New Court

Those of you in Wyoming probably are already somewhat familiar with the Supreme Court renovations.  For those of us working for the Court, it's pretty exciting.  Essentially, they're gutting the entire building and reconstructing the inside, plus putting in a new security vestibule (the only renovation apparent from the exterior).

Actually, I should say they've gutted the entire building.  They're actually making a lot of progress, and estimates are that we should be back in the building about a year from now.  We're starting to look at furniture for our offices, which is pretty cool.

I had the chance last week to go for a little walk-through in the new building.  There was a lot on the interior that wasn't framed, but the offices that we were looking at were.  The justices will have their (fairly large) offices, complete with a study.  Their JAs will have the "gatekeeper" offices.  The staff attorney offices don't go directly to the justices' offices, which is a bit of a bummer--I hate to bug our JA, probably doing more important things than I am, just to ask a no-brainer question.  Still, considering they said no to the ultra-secret revolving bookcases, I don't see as we have much choice.

One of the coolest features appears to be the new courtroom.  The old one was fairly good sized, but the new one will be positively massive.  There will be plenty of room for spectators in those big cases; the old one would fill up pretty quickly.  None of the walls are there yet, but it's no stretch to imagine what it will look like just from seeing the framing.

Overall, it's really awesome.  I've only shared part of what I've seen--you have no idea how much new concrete is being poured, and why.  I'm just glad I'm going to get the chance to work in the new building.  The latest projections are that we'll be moving in about a year from now.  It's very exciting.

Friday Catblogging!

I miss my stray cats, so here's one from a long time ago:

Have a Great Weekend!

I'm Currently Reading:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

I'm Back!

How sad is it when your mother calls because you haven't been blogging?  Apparently, no entries means a non-zero chance that I may have fallen down a well or something.

In a way, I suppose I have, but it's a blissful well created by my new computer setup.  That's right, I've actually been engaging in my hobby for the first time in years, and it's pretty sweet.  But I've also been trying to get involved with the local bar, work on cases (which can be pretty exhausting), and all the other things that tend to push blogging out of the way.

So, MackenzieMom reminded me that I should make the time to do some blogging from time to time.

Now, what's going on?  Quite a lot, actually.  I just got back from a local bar association meeting, which was interesting.  I'm starting to get to the point that I actually recognize people.  It helps that I joined, and a couple weeks ago attended my first meeting of, the American Inns of Court.  That went way beyond interesting and fun, it was awesome.  Unlike many legal-educated people (and, sad to say, lawyers), I love the law, and the Inns of Court was a great interactive way to socialize and talk about legal issues for fun.

Next month, the presentation will be based on a local attorney who formerly represented one (or maybe more?  I'm not sure) of the Guantanamo detainees.  I've heard him speak before, and he definitely knows his stuff.  I think the focus, from what my sources tell me, will be the ethics of representing someone who doesn't want to be represented.

Overall, life is good right now.