GO VOTE!!!

These Judges are OUT!

Typically I go through the list of the Judicial Performance Review and look at how the judges have been rated and if the commissioners believe they meet or do not meet the performance standards. This is where I started this evening and then I did a little googling, got completely frustrated, and after way too much time (2 hours at least!) I have fallen back to my original stance on the judges up for retention in Arizona. I'm only worried about the ones inMaricopa county so here goes, these are the ones I'm giving the boot to:

(Judges are ranked on Legal Ability, Integrity, Communication Skills, Judicial Temperament, Administrative Performance, Settlement Activities, and Administrative Skills. I consider anything less than a "B" poor for a judge, and certainly a "B"avg across the board is of concern. There are 29 commissioners that vote yes or no to keep them.)

Akers, Linda A. 73% on Judicial temperament and 3 commissioners voted no.

Ballinger, Eddward Pl Jr. I actually saw a sign on this guy saying to vote him out. He has high reviews, but this website quotes a lawyer that says, "If he doesn't like your case, he's terrible."

Gentry-Lewis, Jo Lynn Mostly 80%'s, 78% legal ability, 6 com. voted no. She's very active in native American causes though so I'm not positive on this one.

McClennen, Crane 89, 84, 78, 60, 70, 80% with 17 commissioners voting not to keep him. This was a no brainer in my book until I read from the same website above that he was tough on sloppy attorneys and was one of the smartest judges on the bench. Then I thought about it again and again and discussed it with Bill and thought, "should a juvenile court attorney really be that uptight about the way his court is run?" Should we punish kids because their lawyers aren't up to this judge's standards even though they are fine in any other courtroom? I also thought should I believe 2 obviously conservative blog sites that tell me he should stay? What would a conservative judge act like in a juvenile court room? I don't know for sure but I have a few suspicions. Bottom line, I'm giving him the boot!

Oberbillig, Robert H. 85% JT, 79% Settlement, 4 com. voted no.

Padilla, Jose S. all the attorneys gave him 85-95% reviews, but witnesses ect. gave him 60-75%. He's a family court judge so these witnesses were probably very passionate. 3 com. voted no.

Steinle, Roland J. III 71% in JT, 4 com. voted no.

Seriously, I've given this 3 hours now and it probably won't do a bit of good. Judges are not elected into office and it would take a whole lot of us to vote them out of office. I guess that's why I kept researching. The judges are the ones that uphold the law and we really should watch what they are doing. It shouldn't be a club that they all belong to where nobody really says what they think. Maybe McClennen is being unfairly voted out because he wants things done right, I don't know for sure. I do know that I'm going to ere on the side of the kids.

Now I'm going to go join my husband and watch a marathon of Raising the Bar. A fake show that I can get even more riled up about lawyers and judges. La La. Maybe I'll keep googling on the laptop. The problem with google and blog sites is that you find people like me that don't really know what they're talking about. I'm seriously going to volunteer to be part of the Judicial Performance Review committee next go around. Maybe then I'll have a clue as to what really happens.

Here's an interesting quote from John McCain's website on his judicial philosophy: When applying the law, the role of judges is not to impose their own view as to the best policy choices for society but to faithfully and accurately determine the policy choices already made by the people and embodied in the law. The judicial role is necessarily limited and one that requires restraint and humility. As he said to the Federalist Society at the 2006 Convention, "[Judges] should be people who are humbled by their role in our system, not emboldened by it. Our freedom is curtailed no less by an act of arbitrary judicial power as it is by an act of arbitrary executive, or legislative, or state power."

Bathmats should come with instructions

Bill and I have always had a disagreement over water in the bathroom. Seriously. You're laughing about water, but it is so bad that I moved out. I moved out of the bathroom and it saved our marriage. But it was a conversation that we had today with a friend that enlightened me on what the real problem was: there are no instructions on bathmats! If there were instructions, then we would have no problem. So next election year I'm going to propose a constitutional amendment that requires all retail outlets to give instructions with bathmats and towels, and that maintains that all new bathmats and towels be imprinted with the following:

1. Place bathmat on floor next to the tub or shower.
2. Place towel close enough to the tub or shower that you do not have to get out before drying off.
3. Take your shower or bath.
4. If you have long hair, wring it out before drying.*
5. Reach your arm only out of the tub or shower and retrieve your towel.
6. Dry off IN THE TUB OR SHOWER. This can be done in any order, but head to toe seems to follow the law of gravity.
7. AFTER drying off the majority of your body you may THEN step out onto your bathmat.
8. Dry off completely.**
9. Hang up your bathmat to dry off. This can be over the tub or shower, but it should not be left on the ground.
10. Hang up your towel. This is important to keep the musty, dingy, moldy smell out of your towel and off of your body. Definitely DO NOT let your wet towel sit in a heap on the floor.

*For extra-long or thick hair we recommend purchasing a separate hair towel.

**Anytime after drying off would be appropriate to get dressed. You can do this before or after you hang up your bathmat and towel, but not before you dry off.

What is this a list of?

I have a notebook that I keep in my purse for many reasons. I'll be in line or waiting for something with Tasha and she's bored so out comes the notebook to write on. I always end up at a talk or conference and need something to write on because I will never remember what someone said unless I write it down. Then I misplace the paper and have no idea where to look for it. I think of random things I need to buy at the store and know that I will never remember them if I don't write them down. I obviously have a memory problem.

I have the following list of things that I wrote down. Clearly they are things I saw but when, where or why I wrote the list is a complete mystery to me. See if you can figure it out...

• Ch.Milk straw that extends
• Man in the pin-striped pants
• lady w/computer, earpiece
• pregnant lady
• Old man w/newspaper - young guy taking it.
• 7 employees

Another Graduate in the Family

Bill officially finished the last class of his bachelors degree in August of this year. It was fabulous! BS in Business Management completed. No more b.s.! Except that now he wants to get the Human Resource Certificate to go along with it. Fine, fine. That's what he really wants to do, so be it. He's back in school, taking 4 more classes and almost finished with the first one.

But here's what he looked like the day his diploma came in the mail:

I think he said something like, "that's right baby!"

Is he the oldest graduate I know? Well, I'm not sure. My dad was pretty old when he got his degree and I know I went to school with some cronies, but I don't know that they graduated. Way to go babe! We're all so proud. And in case anyone wonders what took him so long, let's look at everything he's done since his graduation from high school... (drum roll please)...

• moved to New York with his parents, stayed for one winter, hated it, moved back to Scottsdale to live with his best friend Larry
• started school at SCC, worked at Prestige Cleaners, used a motorcycle to commute
• BAM! Run over by a Jaguar, remembers being cold and waking up in an ambulance
• in intensive care for 2 weeks, the hospital for a month total, and 12 months of rehab only to find out that the hurt leg healed 2 1/2 inches shorter than the other one
  
• surgery on the good leg (to shorten it), 12 MORE months of rehab and the good leg hurts more now that the bad one ever did
  
• started working for Paul's Hardware in Scottsdale, took a few classes now that his legs were healed, quit school, started again, yada yada yada
  
• imported to New Jersey to get married to the wrong woman
  
• watched the C-Section birth of his first (and only) son, and fell in love for the first time


• helped re-merchandise a new store in Tempe that Paul's bought out, wore goofy overalls and completely ignored a totally hot redhead that worked there


• got a divorce, raised his son on his own for a year


• helped organized a co-ed benefit softball team with above mentioned redhead, started calling her constantly whenever he needed anything from the Tempe store, got hit in the shin by a softball she hit, started bowling on a team with her, and sabotaged her relationship with another man


• courted and married the most wonderful woman he will ever know and love


• left Scottsdale to live in the fabulous city of Tempe!


• became manager of the Paul's Hardware store in Gilbert


• watched the delivery of his first daughter, wouldn't cut the cord, and fell in love all over again


• transferred to Paul's hardware in Fountain Hills, hated the commute and the people, ended up getting fired from the company all together after 13 years


• became the "highest paid carpet cleaner in Arizona" (that's according to his friend and boss)


• got baptized, then sealed to his wife and child a year later


• tired of the long hours and missing his family he hurt his back on a MOTORCYCLE (duh!)and had to quit the carpet business


• thanks to a great friend and a sad mishap for him, started work at Scottsdale Shea Hospital, 2nd shift


• drove like a mad man to the hospital with his wife in labor, shushed his wife while in the delivery room and she was screaming in pain, immediately felt remorse, watched the delivery of his second daughter, cut the cord, and fell in love all over again


• switched to the first shift at the hospital


• started back to school after a lot of nagging by his wife and encouragement by his parents


• lost his mom to cancer, watched his youngest daughter turn a year old the following week


• was hired on at the University of Phoenix by a classmate, made more money, and better hours with a shorter commute


• was traded to another "team" at work for an employee to be named later, and cash


• had a short stint saving the earth by riding the bus to work, but had to switch to carpooling to get his daughter to school in the morning


• has become known as the "It's Friday Guy" at work, if you want to know what that sounds like, call him at 9:30 am on Friday.


• GRADUATED!!!

SOOOOOOOO, if you've made it this far you are now invited to celebrate with us! He walks THIS Saturday (Novemeber 8th) at 10am and we plan on having a lunch, at our house, around 2pm. RSVP by comment, phone call, or email. No worries if you can't make it!

Beards

If you look closely at Tasha you can see where she drew on some facial hair.

This was taken right before Bill shaved his beard off. It's the longest he's gone in a long time without shaving. "Longest" meaning that the last time I remember him with this much facial hair we were dating. It was winter time and he had gone to Minnesota for Christmas. I have pictures of him with a bushy beard and plenty of long hair (although slightly receeding), in a long sleeved plain shirt. He looked like a lumberjack in the snow. What a stud!

Happy Birthday Crystal!

I guess with all this Harry Potter on the brain, I'll go with a good Sorting Hat tribute...

There's plenty hidden in her head

For all of us to find

She'll tell you here and there the facts

And juicy truths will unwind.

I'm not so sure the sorting hat

Could put her in her place

So many talents she does have

No one can keep her pace.

One thing we know for sure is this:

A Slytherin she's not

Any means to get her way is not

The way that she's been taught.

A Ravenclaw would welcome her

To sit and dine with them

Many topics she could discuss at length,

Her head's full to the brim.

And Hufflepuff could use a gal

Who stands beside her friends

Through thick and thin supports us all

Enduring to the end.

But Gryffindor, oh Gryffindor

"Where dwell the brave at heart

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart."

I think at times it may be hard

To figure out what's right

But with Crystal standing next to you

Everything will gleam with light!