That Man Behind the Curtain

Total Black: $635.37
Total Red: $270,000.16

Felt a draft today.  Went right up my dress.  In a manner of speaking, of course.  I uncovered a gap in my blogging security that might have revealed my true identity.  And we can have that!  Or can we?

Leaving New York

Total Black: $3,010.01
Total Red: $238,487.55

The day has arrived.  My last in New York.  And what a ride.  I arrived back at my mother’s house around 11pm.

One Last Loose End

Total Black: $2,027.70
Total Red: $239,707.84

“All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go.” 

Well . . . not quite.  But pretty much things are coming to a close.  My New York chapter is closing.  The only last remaining task is the pro bono client. 

Pushing Back

Total Black: -$66.73
Total Red: $229,112.23

Not much to update today.  Just waiting.  A lot it seems.  Both today and of late. 

Retardists

Total Black: $830.70
Total Red: $230,761.09

The new temporary attorney position I started today will be situated in the staffing agency’s review space.  The law firm we’re working for is nearby, but we’ll actually be reporting each day to this off-site location.  We had training all day today at the law firm but later stopped by the review space to scout out the location and take care of any last-minute paperwork.  I nearly fell back upon myself in a double-take when I walked into the conference room where the bulk of the document reviewers work.  At first I thought we had walked into an day care center for retarded adults.  And I could have sworn that Opie from Family Guy was reviewing documents there.

Back on the Chain Gang

Total Black: $539.47
Total Red: $230,761.09

Starting a new temporary attorney assignment tomorrow. The hours could be long and the pay is ok.  A dollar less than the last temp assignment I had.  But with more hours I shouldn’t really notice the difference.

Consulting My Paycheck

Total Black: $66.71
Total Red: $230,428.77

Another contract attorney and I got to talking today about legal consulting work.  He told me about a friend of his who suggested he help out a third person who had been having difficulty collecting on a promissory note.  This third person had loaned ten thousand dollars to another person, who also happened to be an attorney, and he was not paying and now wasn’t even returning her calls.  Upon hearing from his friend about this woman’s matter, he didn’t feel particularly adept in handling it so he passed along the name of another attorney she might call, also a friend of his.  Sometime later he met up with that friend and asked about the outcome of the woman’s debt collection efforts.  His attorney friend told him that there was nothing he could do to help the woman because the promissory note she had was usurious.  She put in a 10% interest rate.  And if a lawyer had tried to collect on the note, my co-worker’s attorney friend informed him, that lawyer would have been subject to sanction by the court for attempting to collect on a usurious debt—akin to loan-sharking.  What makes this story so noteworthy?  My co-worker and I would have never thought to even consider the interest rate.  Ten percent didn’t seem all that high to me given that credit cards can legally charge up to 30% on your purchases.  His story represented to me the dangers accompanying legal consulting work.

My Christmas List

Total Black: $2,078.05
Total Red: $230,820.17

Today is St. Nicholas Day. In the Byzantine Catholic rite, it’s a very special day. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of all Byzantine Catholic churches. As children my father would dress up as St. Nicholas for the entire elementary school. He’d also dress up as Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. It was pretty great having St. Nicholas as your father, so to speak. It’s a role he fit well and fulfilled his entire life. After mass was over, St. Nicholas would walk the halls of the school as all the school children sang “O kto, kto Nikolaja l’ubit,” translated from Church Slavonic means, “O Who Loves Nicholas the Saintly.” St. Nicholas would pass out candy and other treats to the children. Then we’d all assemble in the gymnasium for a special lunch.

Charts and Calls

Total Black: $63.19
Total Red:$231,259.60

A few days ago I received a comment suggesting and requesting a budget and income analysis.  It got me thinking that a few visual aids might help me, and my readers, to gauge my progress.  So, I spent the better part of today tooling around with excel spreadsheets trying to graph my data.  In Third Day of Accounting I included an excel chart that showed total red from the prior two days of accounting.  I didn’t have time to update that chart for my Fourth Day of Accounting.  I thought I’d start with charting my total black and total red for each day.  That chart didn’t come out looking as clean as I thought, so it’s on hold.  It’s not what the commenter requested, or suggested, but it’s a start.  See, a budget implies income and expenses.  These past few weeks I’ve mostly had expenses.  It’s hard to budget when your income shifts from week to week.  I can chart my expenses, but I kinda covered that in Cutting Costs, Corners . . . and Concerns.  But I promise to make my entries a bit more visually stimulating.  Perhaps that’s a task I can accomplish while relaxing over the Thanksgiving holiday at my mother’s.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

Total Black: $66.92
Total Red: $231,085.13

Eh . . . but it’s not really early.  And I’m not yet wealthy.  Healthy and wise perhaps.  Two out of three so far.

My First Client

Total Black: $59.57
Total Red: $230,644.12

I met this afternoon with the former pro bono client to discuss her lawsuit.  I touched on this matter in Pro Bono Publico, but didn’t give the whole story.  She had been evicted in 2007 and spent much of that year trying to get her personal property out of her former apartment.  Her landlord, and the building superintendent, however, made life miserable for her and routinely denied her access.  Then one day the building superintendent removed her property and put it into a self-storage facility, but under his own name.  When she came by with a moving van to retrieve her property, neither the landlord’s management company nor the super would tell her where it was.  Instead they demanded money, presumably to cover the storage costs.  Using the process of elimination, she tracked down the storage company in the area and demanded return of her property.  But since the storage company had a contract for storage space under someone else’s name, they wouldn’t release her property.  Months later, after the storage bill went unpaid, the storage company sent out auction notices.  They were about to sell all of her personal belongings to the highest bidders to recoup the unpaid storage costs.  That’s when I, as an associate at a large law firm, was brought in to stop the auction and help her recover her property.  Unfortunately, it morphed into a lawsuit and now, over a year later, I’m back in the driver’s seat of this case, steering it to some sort of resolution.  Given my own recent interaction with corporate landlords, I’m determined to see her prevail.  When did running a business become anathema to decency and respect?  Or maybe they never went hand-in-hand?

Just Another Manic Monday

Total Black: $3,213.39
Total Red: $230,644.12

I’ve not been feeling very creative these past few days.  My entries have been more like detailed status updates rather than my elaborate observations on life, debt, and other things.  I suppose the muses too need their rest.  To that end then I note that I received a letter today in the mail from the landlord’s management company, informing me that they’ve received all of the rent for September and October and therefore will be discontinuing the legal action.