Willing Suspension of Disbelief

So I've been binge-watching The 100 on Netflix.  Because I generally like science fiction, I gave Kass Morgan's trilogy a chance.  I tried to get into it when it first came out (March 19, 2014) but I was too busy with other TV shows and decided that if it stuck around, I would watch it at some point.

The adaption appears to have taken a radical turn from the books which is probably to be expected when you create a series out of a book especially if you market it for the CW's young audience.

Science Fiction generally requires you to suspend disbelief and the reader is willing to do so if the storytelling is entertaining enough.  Take Sleepy Hollow for instance.  While it has evolved into Revolutionary War Fan Fiction, the first season, the very first episode required an enormous suspension of disbelief on behalf of the viewer.  But because the chemistry between Icabod and Abby was so amazing, you were only too glad to do so.
willing to give this CW Network adaptation of

Writing fiction isn’t necessarily about so thoroughly developing your world that you as an author have an immediate answer for every possible consequence of the development of your universe. What you are often going for is sufficiency — that the world is logical enough to play in for the purposes of your story — and direction — moving people along in the story quickly enough that they don’t have time or the interest to question your worldbuilding or story-telling choices, at least until the story is done and you’ve bundled them back out into the real world, waving and smiling.  -- John Scalzi

If you do your world-building well and set up sufficient rules for your universe, you can get away with some things not making a lot of sense.

I generally like this show but there are some plot lines that I could do without. There are too many instances where someone acts in a manner that is clearly designed to advance the plot instead of mimic how a real person would act in that situation.  Other times horrible situations could have been avoided if two or more characters had just had a normal conversation where they share the information they have with each other.

SPOILER ALERT:  For instance, instead of kidnapping The 48 and stealing their bone marrow, wouldn't it have been easier to form an alliance with the Arkers and trade food and shelter for it? 

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January Wrap Up

So I ran 13 times for a total of 46 miles.   Almost half those miles were from the two 5-milers and three 4-milers.  I upped my game the last week running Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and again Sunday.   Basically running 20 miles in the 8 days.  I'm happy to report that I averaged 9:15 min/mile, which

Alas, I didn't quite make the weight drop I was shooting for, but I did lose 5 lbs.  I technically have until midnight tomorrow to weigh in and I suppose I can drop the last 3.5 lbs needed but don't hold your breath.

We tried to help by eating your food for you

Twice last week, the weather was awesome for running but I wasn't in the mood or didn't make the appropriate arrangements to do so.  So instead of running outside on Monday in nice weather, I had to do a treadmill run inside on Tuesday.  Sunday was warmer than Saturday but Sat would have been a better day to get the longer run in.  I could have then tried a short treadmill run on Sunday (or outside) and run today as well which might have increased my chances of losing weight.

But to be honest, the reason the weight isn't all gone is because I did not moderate my diet appropriately.  Too much alcohol coupled with some questionable choices of food counteracted much of whatever good the running did.  I also didn't really step up until the 3rd week of the bet thinking that I would just magically run more and eat less.  Face it, I lack discipline.

In other news, I passed my emissions test on the 3rd try and ordered my license plate sticker.  I'm working from home and thus don't need to drive but even if I did, the risk of getting caught with an expired tag is very low since I go from garage to suburban parking lot.  I have to admit, WFH has definitely saved me a lot of gas and tolls.  

Friday photo: car graveyard

This is what the backyard of a house that is on Lawrence just west of Milwaukee looks like.  I only saw it because it is opposite the back of Pete's Garage where I have spent an unexpected amount of my time this month. 

Fortunately my car has finally reset all the emissions monitors so hopefully I will never have to set foot there again. 

Looks like January, feels like March

We have had one of the more mild winters that I can recall in my 4+ decades in Chicago.  And I don't mind it one bit. It suits me just fine now that I'm working 100% from home and doing the SAHD thing.

Part of me wonders if it would have been better to have this weather last year when I was driving to OBT and last year's weather now since I'm home and don't get to leave the house for days at a time.  But then I think about how problematic it would be for my mom to get over here with the snow and realize this is the better sequence.

If the weather were a tad warmer, I could take the kids to the park or let them play in the yard.  But hey at least we now have the MSI.

Tales from the Paralegal Corridor

Supposedly Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” I definitely do better with those last two but I didn't have the self-awareness to articulate it back in the early post-college years.

My first post-college job was a  Paralegal Assistant at BigName Law Firm 1.0. Our role was to do all the little things that had to be done but couldn't honestly be billed back to the clients


One of the problems with this gig was you didn't learn anything unless someone showed you.  The only way you got to do anything remotely KSA advancing was when the shit hit the fan AND then it was "okay we're gonna ask you do something you've never done before and it has to be done right but no pressure."

Yeah we could have had you do it last week but we didn't trust you, didn't want to teach you, didn't want bother.

To be fair, this wasn't, though should have been, baked into their job routines. In all fairness, the culture was different then.  There was no mentoring, no shadowing and no desire to implement better work flow processes.  Also, I was definitely not the best JRP because I felt like if I have this education I should be using it better than just putting labels on paper.  Back then, work flow processes and job responsibility, along with employee maturity, were in its infancy. 


We were supposed to be there to do all the little things that had to be done but couldn't honestly bill the clients for or roll into other billable activities.  But if you don't take the time to show your PA how to do something than you cannot hand it off to them. 

In practice this lead to two other common practices:

• The paralegals would complain that that they had too much to do but when you offered to help, they said they couldn't give it to you because you don't know how to do it (and couldn't take the time to teach you or couldn't let your name appear on the billing form or dinosaurs.)
  
• They would show you how to do something so bizarre and one-off that it not only took longer to show you than do it themselves but it would be over a year before you would even have the opportunity to do it again such that you obviously retained no memory of how it was done.

Most of the tasks we were given were mind-numbing mundane things that were obviously given to as busy work to get us to go away whenever we asked if they had anything for us to do.  Because the paralegals had asked for assistants to help with the work they couldn't ethically bill a client for but had to perform (what would be called Administrative Overhead today), the paralegals were responsible for our workload. I don't think they understood the concept of headcount justification.  They wanted these things called PAs to be available when they needed us but then wanted us to go away when the work was done.  There was no team building or skill training or even friendly bonding.

Now your pool of candidates for JRP were recent college grads because this was an entry-level (barely) position that paid $17K a year.  Secretaries with a high school education were starting at $23,000.  This is a very good recipe for resentment.  Anywho, when you are getting paid the same whether you are doing something easy (control labeling) versus something hard (running to court for a last minute filing) the smart JRP will find ways to avoid court and milk the labeling.

Alas, I was definitely not the best paralegal assistant because I felt I should be using my education for better purposes than just counting sheets of copy paper.  It's one thing to have to pay your dues. But these paralegals were content with us paying our dues until the Second Coming. The only way you got to do anything substantive was when the shit hit the fan AND then it was "okay we're gonna ask you do something you've never done before and it has to be done right but no pressure." Yeah we could have had you do it last week but we didn't trust you, didn't want to teach you, didn't want bother.

Books, Museums and weights

The first month of 2016 is just about over so how did you do with any New Year's resolutions or
goals? 

As of today I've run 29 miles which is  6 more than last month.  Barring any unforeseen schedule conflicts or other complications, I should be able to get two maybe even three more runs in to  reach 35-40 miles. 

I also finished reading The End of All Things (Old Man's War #6).  I actually started reading this in August 2015 when my autographed copy arrived in the mail but I couldn't make the time to read it consistently until very recently. That's partly due to my life but also due to the fact that it sometimes take a while to get started on a Scalzi novel. It seems like the first 50 pages took me months to get through then I couldn't put the book down and finished it in less than a week.

But it counts toward my goal of 20 books in 2016.  I think I can handle reading two books at once, one via Kindle when I'm out and about and staring at my iPhone and the other perhaps a hard copy at home. Currently I'm reading Down at the Golden Coin which is a book written by fellow ChicagoNow blogger and mother of twins Kim Strickland.  This is another book that has been in my library for a long time (over two years now) that I'm finally getting around to knocking off.

And the weight thing?  today I weighed myself twice.  First measure was 207.7 lbs.  I stepped off the scale, turned it around and moved it one foot on the bathroom floor (to the more traditional spot I use to weigh myself from) and weighed myself again.  It was 205.8 lbs.  Given how good I was yesterday with working out, portion control and eating healthy, I think it's safe to say I'm in the 206 range.  That still leaves 5 lbs in 8 days which would be easily doable if I were running my old 40 miles a week instead of per month.

We took Moose and Squirrel to the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday and invested in a family membership.  We have to go back at least two more times this year to break even but honestly, I'm altruistic enough to be okay with our donation expenditure even if we don't go back again.  To be clear, I have every intention of going back as much as possible.

Car Sagas continue

So after accumulating exactly 60 miles (by coincidence, not design) I took my car back to the repair shop to test the monitors.  Unfortunately two of the self test emission monitors had not reset yet.  So the mechanic is like go drive another 30-60 miles and come back.

I wasn't about to give him my story about having two screaming clingly projectile-barfing poopsacks at home that make it difficult to get out of the house outside of limited situations.  Nor was I going to point out that even if I could get somewhere were I could accumulate 60 miles, it would take an hour to do so assuming the speed limit allowed.

It is possible I screwed myself in this situation.  If I had taken the car in while I was driving out to Oak Brook 4 days a week, the Drive Cycle might have been enough to clear the converter and pass the test.  Or not.  I'm going to tell myself that I would still needed to get a new catalytic converter.

I also have to get Nightingale's car touched up.  There is a shop around the corner that will spot it out for no more than $100 which is probably what I already spent going to two different places looking for appropriate touch up paint.