Saturday morning point-stravaganza

Bow before dts's point-gaining awesomeness.

This morning I woke up, poured myself a tasty bowl of raisin bran (whole grain + breakfast) with a cup of calcium reinforced soy milk (hardcore protein, like 9 grams) and took my vitamins and various supplements. Cocoa and I then watched a half-hour some various TIVO'd programming (pet comiseration + television points. Count 'em.)

Then it occurred to me I've got houseguests this weekend and the house could use some work. So I started cleaning the kitchen (cleaning points) and thought "man, this could be more point-efficient." So I plugged in the old iPod stereo, and started rocking out while cleaning the kitchen. I'm not gonna lie, I danced a little a la Kevin Bacon in footloose (Dancing points). And I also sang (singing points). Mind you, I was still in my pajamas.

And, yes, me, dancing and singing in my kitchen weawring my pajamas is exactly as horrifying as you may expect it to be.

Also, yesterday, my friend Assm. DB called me and asked if I wanted to play some baseball. I was sick at the time. Also, I can't throw. Honestly, I really can't. Let's all get our mock on now. Jerks.

dts

42 USC.1983

Woo! I have been in bed since a little after 3 p.m., yesterday. This is not Nevada Challenge friendly. Cocoa is being crazy and running around the bed, pacing back and forth.

I'm glad I can watch hearings on the internet.

Edit -- 9:57 a.m. I should clarify that 42 USC 1983 is the law one of the crazy Homeowners Association people cited as the reason the state government couldn't get involved in existing CC&Rs. I read the law and it's really civil rights. Maybe JF can clarify for us how these two things interact?

dts

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

So, I'm pretty sick. It struck me after lunch today. I got very tired and almost fell asleep during a committee hearing. Then I almost fell asleep while waiting an hour for a meeting with the Speaker.

I came home and drank a lot of water and then laid down in bed. Napping gets points for the team, you know. And then it was 6:15 or so and my dog was trying to lick my armpit, which was gross, but it got my attention. I had missed six phone calls and had twenty-one e-mails.

When I was a kid, my mom would make me grilled cheese when I was sick. Then she'd give me rice with cinnamon and a little sugar. I wish somebody were taking care of me now, because i'm very thirsty but don't have the energy. I got 10,000 steps before I left the building. All I can do is read or watch TV. And I'm pretty sure my dinner is going to be small.

Luckily I did the gym double-time yesterday.

dts

more points

drank a light beer with Pete Ernaut last night (points)

took a doggie bag home from dinner last night (more points)

when to the gym too yesterday, ran on treatmill and lifted weights. (lot more points)

going to Reno tonight a playing co-ed softball (cha-ching)

francis oh allen

Spirit Squad Regulations

With deadlines approaching, staff writers resigning, and bill drafts backing up, it has all become incredibly clear. . . we clog the system with criminal provisions, and health related provisions, and tax related provisions . . . and education measures . . . I may have counted up to 6 separate bills to figure out how to adequately monitor sex offenders . . . maybe 3 or 4 provisions on meth study groups . . . several on deadly weapon enhancements . . . more on insanity pleas . . . when all we should have been doing was clearing the way for AB 386. This masterful concept requires the State Board of Education to adopt standards to regulate standards of safety for spirit squads. Included in the definition of spirit squads is "any group of persons formed for the purpose of leading cheers or rallies to encourage support for a team that participates in a sport that is sanctioned by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association." GO TEAM!

Am I a Republican all of a sudden?

I mean, sure, I dress like one. In fact, a lot of people people say to me "when I first met you, I thought you were a republican." And, the GOP's general hatred of poor people aside, I don't actually think there's anything wrong with being a Republican. But anyway, I was out to dinner last night and we were talking about the work I did for DB, and she said "Wow, you did work for him? I thought he was a democrat."

And I said "of course he's a democrat."

And she said "Well, I had heard you're a republican now." And went on to explain to me that Assemblywoman Loompa's secretary -- who apparently remembers me from my consulting days -- is telling people that I'm a republican now.

Am I doing something different, I wonder? Again -- I don't mind being called a republican -- but why would some guy I hardly know go around telling people that?

dts

points, points, points.

watched tv last night too. one 30 minute show on TV land...whatever channel that is. An old re-run of Threes Company. One with Mr. Ferley (sp?) and Chrissy....sad that's he's dead and she's washed up.

Chrissy and Janet fight over who's going to go with Jack on a cruise. He can only bring one guest. It was lame.

But, I like looking at the late 70's fashions.

Ms. Allen

weights

at the gym yesterday...had a nice work out. Worked with weight machines on my shoulders and arms...now I find it difficult to lift my arms/or carry my computer. Sore...but feel good. Haven't touched the doughnuts.

foa

what not to do.

So I went home yesterday PM after the gym, after joint Republican Caucus and after shooting the shit with Marilyn K. for about an hour and a half. It was about 8:15 or 8:30ish. Limited food options at home...but I was ready to eat. I spotted left over Spinich from night before and my mothers tomatoes. So....salad was in my future.

I chopped tomatoes...sliced an apple...tossed in the spinach...and paused about the dressing. Looked in the refrigerator for some 'lite' salad dressing. My only option was Newman’s Own Caesar dressing at a whopping 170 calories for 2 tablespoons. So, I veto that passing fancy. Continued to search for something and nothing seemed appropriate. I noticed that on the Spinach bag there was a recipe for Raspberry dressing....that seemed perfect!

Well...the recipe called for olive oil, Raspberry vinegar and Raspberry preserves. Snooped around and check, got olive oil....check....Strawberry jelly (close enough)....crap...no raspberry vinegar....no vinegar at all. So, I'm stirring together jelly and oil......with no vinegar.

Gross....it was just gross, foul and looked disgusting. Tasted awful.

I ate dry spinach...blah.

Total un-satiated.

Susan Gerhardt brought doughnuts to Judiciary...I'm itching for one....

francis

the young woman....

So the fellow Jason's referring to as Andrew Dice Clay call me "the young woman"...referring to the young woman's questions (my questions)....

Wanted to respond by calling him the "upper middle aged man" in Las Vegas....

Almost did it....really wanted to. But, guess my cooler side prevailed.

I'll get the last laugh...I'm gonna vote his bill down.

FOA

The plight of the goose

I had no idea geese had it so tough! I'm sitting in Assembly Judiciary and people were testifying about pets becoming victimized due to being in the middle of nasty domestic violence altercations. Aside from pets being beaten, kicked, "machete'd" (is that a real verb?) and even chainsawed, I learned today that some guys apparently get mad at their wives and then sexually assault the pet goose. This one witness went through her pets' names and experiences . . . there was Napoleon, Theo, Charlie, Blitzin, Norbit, Grumpy, Sneezy, Chuey, Santana and the Artist Formally Known As Prince.

Andrew Dice Clay tried to testify today in Assembly Judiciary. Bernie was having no part of it.

I'm exhausted and starving.

JMF

nice weekend

Had a lovely weekend wearing short and open toed shoes. Went to Hannah's for dinner on Saturday PM a trendy spot in Summerlin's Boca Park. Frankly I was disappointed. Not only did they not take the orders of the women first nor did they serve the women first, the food was TASTLESS.

Of course as a Nevada challenge participant I ordered Buddha’s delight...a veggie/tofu dish. I've never tasted anything so bland. Frankly there was at the most 1 oz of tofu which amounted to 2 tiny pieces. Give me a break, Asians can make veggies taste good...this was a piss-poor effort. Plate rims weren't even wiped clean.

If my mom was here...she's say....serves you right for ordering anything with "Buddha" in the name. She's not very ecumenical.

Does anyone else hear their Mom's voice in their head?

f.o. allen

I'm (apparently) a really cool guy

Assembly Judiciary sucked. I wanted to back my friend and was told to shut up by the influences that be (I don't call them powers). Of course I get called on anyway. And not only did Turco from the ACLU call me a really cool guy, but he grouped with with Cotter. Nuf said.

I wanna have a do over.

I worked out this morning . . . 20 minutes cardio, some weight training, some abs. Had some protein for breakfast. Eased on up the amount of coffee. Avoided the latte. Had my multivitamin and calcium. Doesn't look like there will be music and Comme so no live music. I might schedule a massage with June though. Did you know she's a massu . . . a masseu . . . uhhh, a massage lady? She has super arms so she's probably good. I'm gonna try to mess with the guitar today

What was with the Hansen helper today? She just wanted to ask the committee questions. I guess she showed Bernie who was boss. She even stopped mid sentence and walked away with that Hansen stroll of conviction. They mean it when they walk!

There's a hellion child at Comma today causing havoc. Letting your kids wreak havoc should be at least a misdemeanor. He kept yelling at his momma to be quiet after she told him to be quiet. I have another idea for a law. There should be a "movie theater covenant of quiet enjoyment." All those little jerk juveniles who interrput my ability to enjoy a good movie on weekends should be deemed children in need of supervision. It should also be a misdemeanor to answer your cell phone in the movie theater. Maybe even a gross misdemeanor. We should also add pets to trespassing. If you let your pet in my yard (and it's lucky enough to not get killed by my dogs), you should be charged with trespassing. Two of my neighbors let their dogs walk around without a leash. One of them is a puppy that wandered into my yard. My dogs happen to be ok with small dogs so it was fine, but the neighbor asked me if I minded her putting up chicken wire on my fence to keep her dog out of my yard. CHICKEN WIRE ON MY FENCE. Nevermind putting your dog on a leash! She actually put chicken wire on my fence while I was up here. I put a thingamabob up from Home Depot and snatched that chicken wire down. I've started the week bad. I want a do over.

JMF

Working: Now just for suckers.

I spent a lot of the weekend working. So as a way of saying "screw you" to the man, I've decided to work from my bed this morning. I've got a bill that drops today on the floor (well, it either drops today, or it dies, right?) so I've got to be around for that. But until then, I fully intend to be hanging out at my house with my dog and my raisin bran and my laptop working... which is just like if I were in the building, only... well... I can hang out with my dog.

Really, though, this isn't about the dog. It's about the press release and the background information and the one-page handout I'm building to show legislators how cool I am. This bill is the centerpiece of one of my clients' legislative push this session. And boy, aren't we excited.

Go Missile Hurling.

Who needs a double deuce. . . we've got MISSILES BABY!

I'm not entirely sure what that means.

150 points per category this week? I think someone just issued a (in the voice of Bill Cosby) "ShallANGE"!!!! I'm no vegetarian, and I don't have access to a pooch during the week, and, well, I have no cuddling opportunties, and, uhh . . . well, its not exactly a challenge then. But I'll try to max out my points this week too.

JMF

Week 3 wraps up

So we're wrapping up week 3 of the Nevada 110 fitness challenge. I just put in my scores. 414 points for the week, 10 points higher than last year. I finally got my stress score up to 150, with my nutrition score. Next up is fitness (which actually dropped a few points from last week).

It looks like i've dropped about six pounds since the competition started. Probably because most days my lunch consists of a V8 and a hard broiled egg. Feeling great, though.

Anyhoo, I need a plan to get my fitness score up to the max. It seems like the best things for me to do will be to start using the weights (Which I don't d0) and start stretching before I go to the gym (which I don't do). Isometric exercise or autogenic training or any other crap that I don't know what it is.

Anyway, next week I'm going to have 150 points in all 3 categories. You read it here, folks!

dts

Unfunny.

I do not feel very funny right now, and I'm not sure I'm going to make a very interesting post.
So I'll refrain. Go NRS202280!

dts

bills dieing

so we're killing bills in Judiciary right now. I feel bad for voting no on James Oherneschall's bill on including "homeless persons" under hate crimes status. murder is murder is murder. Don't really like the idea of some people getting greater penalties based on who they kill. We should not have harsher sentences based on who is killed. The life of a homeless person is not worth more than a white guy or a asian person or a homosexual person. "Hate crimes" are a joke.

Anyway, I watched the freshman lawmaker work tirelessly on this bill. And I feel sad that he came 2 votes short of getting it out of committee. Plus Susan Gerhardt-D is absent so he probably shoulda had another yes vote. Oh well...

Jason saved Judge Glass' keester this morning....she CAME to carson city to personally attend the work session her bill (2nd attempt). She came to the table without a copy of the statute, Jason saved the day by using his trusty computer to pull up the statute and sweep in and save her. Good thing...I was going to move to IP!

f. allen

When I was young...

School House Rock!!!!....my cousin got the entire DVD for my other cousin's kids this Christmas. I remember 'bill' he was always so cool...try'in to become a law. Also, I remember those PSAs on food...that was back in the day...may be '79, '80, and '81. Back in the glory days. Before though decisions and hard work. Those are the days to long for...

I need to go home and changed my pants....because I just about peed in them when I read dts' last entry on "the double deuce".....just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt.

foa

Yeah, I nickname stuff too.

Was anybody else there at the floor session today when Mr. Stewart introduced his guests? What he said went a little somethin' like this:

"Thank you, madam speaker. I've got a few of my guests here from
Assembly District Twenty-two... the double-deuce..."

...and then proceeded to introduce his guests. It took me a few seconds to fully comprehend what happened just then. But then it hit me: Assemblyman Stewart has come up with a nickname for his district. He calls it the double-deuce. I think he's going to come up here with t-shirts and maybe giant foam fingers.

Maybe it's my hypercompetitive nature, but I think maybe another district should challenge him. Maybe the "District 4 Rockin' old people" or perhaps "The (Ass'y) Beers Brawlers." I don't know -- think about it, let me know.

Since we're reminiscing

. . . why did they get rid of School House Rock? As I return to Assembly Judiciary, I'm hoping that any tension that I recognized earlier this morning has calmed at least enough that I won't get called out to testify about something I want nothing to do with . . . guns and domestic violence. I find myself daydreaming about School House Rock. Am I the only one old enough to miss Bill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ . . . I learned so much from that guy!

or Yuck Mouth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsesC2iS06o) . . . he taught me to always brush

. . . or that cowboy who "hankered for a hunk of cheese" (http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/1588/)?

Obviously I was a latchkey kid and much of my after school intellectual stimulation came from swiss cheese shaped cowboys who love themselves so much that they encourage kids to have them for snacks instead of candy. Oh yeah, and there was the other dude who sang "Don't drown your food." He should be our co-mascot for this competition along with Buddy! I remember him singing "I saved a drowning potato today!" For you younguns who may not have had the benefit of such lessons - http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/149/.

Ahh, the memories!

JMF

An open letter to the Senate President Pro Tempore

Dear Guy who vaguely reminds me of a slightly thinner drew Carey:

Why can you not start your committee on time? Your Agenda's say 9, but here we are at 9:20 and you have yet to start. Has it not occured to you that you've got nine bills in work session? If you were to call your committee to order right now, you would not be able to give each bill even ten minutes.

Also, I wonder: Where is your committee? How do you ever conduct business if you can barely even get a majority of members to show up in the same place? People come and go, never once venturing to take their seats. Flex that gavel arm, chairman, let's get this party started!

Sometimes, a chair will at least get on the mic and say "we're running a little late" or "hey, this meeting's not really going to start until quarter to ten." Or "Screw it, I'm cancelling this and going to smoke a cigar." But not you, you prefer to walk back and forth, in and out of the room, coming and going as if there were nothing about to happen in here.

I must admit, though, you're efficient once you get going. Somehow, even though your counterpart committee starts an hour-and-a-half earlier and has double the number of members, you get done in a speedy fashion. You are on-task once you get going. But please, get started on time.

Love,

dts

Blah...

don't like raisins.

like grapes, but not raisins.

i always thought that smiling sun was a little suspect. never trust anyone/anything with a perma-smile.

Francis

An Open Letter to the Sun on the Box of Raisin Bran

Dear Anthropomorphic raisin-delivering sun:

I remember watching you during Saturday Morning Cartoons, bouncing around the world and lighting up childrens' faces with two giant scoops of raisins for their daily cereal. Not only did you offer a far healthier alternative to the sugar pushers like Cap'n Crunch, but you also showed us that there's nothing to fear about a sun who occasionally delivered foodstuffs at a reasonable price. We laughed together, and we learned together, and many people in my generation grew to love you.

But what happened, man? Where did you go? Over the past few years, I've noticed a steady decline in the quantity and quality of raisins in my cereal. Today, this trend came to its ultimate conclusion: NO raisins in my bowl of raisin bran. At first, I didn't notice. But then, a few bites in, it had occured to me: I was just eating a bowl of bran.

This is not ok, because I am not sixty-eight years old. Oh, no, Mr. Giant Sun, I'm much younger than that. You may think "Well, here had to be at least one raisin in this guy's bowl, I'm throwing this letter away." But screw you, Sun Guy, I know what I ate and I did not eat any raisins!

Perhaps Kellogg's has started using your likeness even though you've long since stopped delivering raisins. Maybe, like many stars from my youth, you got into some trouble with coke and had to check into rehab. Or perhaps you got caught knocking off a convenience store. But wherever you've gone, please, unpack your scoops and get back to work! They're using your name, and I'd hate to see you dragged through the mud.

Scoopfully yours,

dts

"I'm just wandering around by myself . . . in the street"

Gotta love Bernie. If I would have pulled what good ol' Cookie Man did today in Assembly Judiciary, I would be tarred and feathered! It must be good to be King Ben.

Wow, Turco had a bow tie on! I should try that someday.

JMF

See Randolph Lecture.

Sometimes being in Senate Commerce and Labor is like being part of Randolph Townsend Presents the Randolph Townsend Lecture Series featuring Randolph Townsend.

You know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't pretend like you don't.

at the carwash...

I'm in desperate need of a carwash. My windshield is a graveyard of bugs, dust and debris from driving to and from the Reno airport back to Carson City. I have several car wash certificates for Buggy Bath car wash in Reno (not too far from the airport) but:

1#) I have to locate the certificates some where in Las Vegas. 2#) After finding the certificates, I'll have to fly them up. 3#) After acquiring the tickets and moving the up...I have to find time to drive to Reno and get actually get the car washed.

Frankly....it's never gonna happen. I'll have a bug cemetery on my windshield when I drive back to Las Vegas come June.

Poor Jason, he doesn't quite "get it" in Judiciary. The Chairman and "King Ben" have a VERY long personal friendship of mutual respect. A committee member couldn't pull what Ben pulled and get away with it. Bernie thinks Ben is the cats meow. They've both been around since dirt. They are partners in the 'old timers club'. And as a general rule, Bernie 9 times out of 10 will be on the DA's side over the PD's side....so, Jason will always have an up-hill battle. His only friends on the committee are Horne, Segerblum (sp?) and Orenschall. Well...I'm his friend...and I'm on the committee....but I'm not a 'friend' on the committee. I'm just a member that judges each bill independently on its merit. blah, blah. blah...I could go on...but I'll spare you...

-FA

ps. Turco from the ACLU was only wearing one sock today, from what i could tell. He always looks disheveled to me....

crossing the deadline

Well, we had the second floor session of the day at 6:oopm. I'm in my office wrapping things up....looking down the hallway...my office is the only one with the lights on and the door open...not even Marilyn Kirkpatrick is here (she's usually the last woman standing).

Today my calander was packed. Had my meeting with Law Enforcement on my bill AB 257 (law enforcement education incentives)....it was surprisingly mediocre. They were all rather blase about it...I expected more support. But glad that Jason informed me that he supports my homicide bill. Cuz people protecting themselves is important...specially those of us that are only 5'1 3/4 and 127 pounds (Nevada Challenge data...frankly i'm confident I'm taller and skinner...but oh well...)

Had a nice weekend home in LV. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Grandma had yet another 90th birthday celebration. All decked out in green and white for St. Patty's day (she's an irish immigrant). Bet ya didn't know that i am 1/4 irish....FOB (fresh off the boat).

Tired feet. Gonna go find a small meal.

f-

FYI-I was good.

I'd didn't drink any St. Patty's day green beer....none at all. Pin a star on me! (no non-green beer either, even though grandma bought Guinness for everyone).

Since I've never been big on Green Beer (beer at all for that matter)....I as asked my Aunt Erin if it really turns your pee green. She verified...it does.

F

sad

the Pack lost...they trailed the whole game. My brother lost a bunch of money on the game. He went with the Pack +5 1/2 pts. Too bad.

f. allen

Flummoxed

I have realized a theme word for my experience and general state of mind during the session. . . . flummoxed. I was gonna use cattywampus but I can't think of a use for that word.

I had protein for breakfast . . . a healthy salad lunch where I declined sauce . . . a banana snack . . . only one cup of coffee. I plan on working out tonight and doing abs. Water. I took my vitamins. All that jazz . . .

JMF

HOA Board Members are crazy.

And that... that's pretty much that.

Sunday Night Blues

No, I do not want to go to work tomorrow.

I did go to a pretty decent restaurant tonight in Reno. Its called Skyline Cafe I think and I enjoyed it more than I thought. I had Grouper . . . I think that's what its called. I think its a really ugly fish, but it tasted like a pretty flower. Well, I don't know what pretty flowers taste like but it didn't taste like it was ugly before it was caught. It's owned by Vittorio. He's nice and we bonded. I told him "Somo contento que siamo amici". . . which, even if its spelled totally wrong means, "I'm so glad we are friends." That's all the Eye-talian I know. The bartender is going to be my wife someday. She doesn't know it, but the clouds parted and the angels sang as we chatted for hours. It was lovely. Ok, so there were no clouds in Vittorio's Skyline Cafe, and the only angels singing were of the Brat Pack playing on the sound system, but a guy can dream! I don't know what I'm thinkin . . . my dating life was pathetic when I lived in Reno. Can't imagine it would be much better now. Then again, maybe I could find a way to convince her to cuddle with me occasionally and we could all benefit!

I need to sleep more on the weekends. I did nap yesterday. Oh yeah . . . my mom found a house already and escrow closes at the end of the month! My life isn't over after all! Mom is moving out in mid April (so my life is only over until mid April . . . and until I convince people that I really don't live with my mom).

Have a great week Blogary and Team NRS 20. . . I'm tired before I can get it out. Anyway, hooray for missile hurling!

JMF

Sunday blues.

Does anybody want to go back to work tomorrow? Because I do not.

dts

Dog Pack Wolf Park Day

Is there a way I can watch today's Nevada game at the Dog Park? I'd rather not miss the game, but I think Cocoa needs the socialization. Cocoa will probably win out, because I've got TiVo.

dts

Sleepy on St. Patty's Day

It's a beautiful day outside. After eating breakfast, I wrote my previous post. Then I took Cocoa-dog for a walk for about an hour and a half, and then I went to the gym for 45 minutes. You may be saying "why is Dylan going to the gym for only 45 minutes." Well, because I walked six miles beforehand. Don't be a jerk.

For lunch I had a veggie burger, but without any cheese or a bun or anything. Just the burger, heated to perfection on my foreman grill. I did not use any dishes, but I will do some laundry later to get my "housekeeping" points.

Also, this is my fifth post of the week, so for credit on all 7 days I have to do two more posts today and tomorrow. Any ideas what I could talk about? Maybe I'll write some poetry... NOT. That's right, I'm going to start bringing the comeback "NOT" into the popular lexicon. Frankly, I was sad to ever see it leave in the first place.

I need to start keeping more vegetables in my house. As it stands, all I've got are greens. It would be great to have some carrots or maybe some asparagus right now. I've got cucmber and tomatoes... but those are both fruits. Stupid fruit, always lying to me about being vegetables.

Today is St. Patrick's day, and I will not be drinking any green beer. Really, because I don't like light-colored beers -- the kinds most likely to be dyed green. Also because I had the wine last night I'm reluctant to drink again and sink our team even further.

I think I'm gonna take a nap. Count it.

dts

El Sabado Verde

Green Saturday! :-D But I can't drink green beer. :-( Must . . . fight . . . the . . . urge.

JMF

4 glasses of wine, a handfull of nuts for dinner.

That's right, I caved and had some wine. But, honestly, that's no reason to question my dedication to the team -- remember how I spit out the gin into my water bottle just so I could go to the gym? Yeah. I'm hardcore. So I had some wine, wanna fight about it?

Yesterday, I watched the Nevada game in the conference room over at Lionel, Sawyer and Collins. Funnily enough, Trevor was in Chicago. There were M&Ms and Pizza and beer, and I had to stay away from all of them. I was good and you guys should high-five me next time you see me. Solid.

In other news, the "Sabra isn't here to have policy discussions with people's secretaries" joke is kind of stale and old, so I have to think of a new tagline for next week. That's right, I'm coming up with a tagline for next week. Look for it in the movie posters.

This post is clearly just to get points -- I don't have anything to say.

dts

A light at the end of the tunnel . . .

Monday is apparently about to be Hell. Gonna enjoy as much of my weekend as I can to get ready the onslaught. Is onslaught a word? I think it is. I KNEW I should have studied vocabulary more during that SAT course in high school.

I fell off the healthy wagon today. I missed breakfast. Nothing else bad though!

Assembly Commerce and Labor right now. .. hmm. . . .this is new. I prefer the familiar, albeit occasionally harsh faces of Judiciary. Just the occasional look of either "who is THIS guy" or "what the heck does the PD have to come HERE for" that gets me.

I miss my doggies.

GO PACK!

JMF

Deadlines

Monday's 'first reading' deadline is fast approaching. The legal department of LCB has been slow to churn-out our bills. If they aren't out of legal and introduced on the floor by Monday PM...the bills DIE, DEATH, KA-PUT, GAME OVER, YOU LOSE. So we had a 'double day' yesterday meaning 2 floor sessions, one at 11am and one at 5:30pm. That's no fun at all. They say that we might have to have 3 floor sessions on Monday. That would really kill my already packed Monday calendar.

I'm ready to go home and relax this weekend. This week was tough and next week will be tougher.

FA

I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill . . .

and I'm sittin' here on Capitol Hill, oh well, I'm off to the White House well I'll wait in a line, with a lot of other bills for the President to sign and if he signs it then I'll beee a LAWWWWWWWWWWWW oh how I hope and pray that I will, but today I am still just a bill . . .

Sorry Blogary . . . I had to flash back to my childhood days when I started becoming interested in government to remind myself that it's all worth it.

I slipped off the wagon today. Had a banana for breakfast, but let's not talk about what I had for lunch. I'm journaling though . . . sorry Blogary, I'm blogging. Using the pedometer. Vitamins and water. Music, friends and laughter later though.

I got the chance to say "Ditto" on the record the other day. :) It made me feel all warm inside to avoid a more painful end. It's the little things though, right?

Next week I get to have fun with insane people . . . no, seriously . . . insanity pleas and what not. FUN. I think that we should take the bill dealing with sex offenders not living within 2000 feet of civilization, combine that with the graffiti bill and the seat belt bill, toss in the marijuana around children bill, and the insane folks, and use Yucca to house them!

Now I'm bein' like a tree and leavin'!

JMF

Sabra is not here to get in policy discussions with people's secretaries.

I'm hard at work in the food court. Hard at work at blog-journal-diarying. Sabra and Jason came and sat down to, hopefully, to keep me company. I like that I have friends who will work toward winning a crazy-ass vitriol-fired fitness competition, not to be healthy per se, but to win.

Anyway, today has been very hectic. My nightmare nonprofit client's special legislative day was today. There were kids all over the building, some of them really special. It's made me re-think my position on participating more with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, maybe taking on a little. Apparently, I'm getting soft.

Sadly, the Capitol Police would not give the kids a tour of the grounds, so I had to take care of that business. I did my best to make it a tour that could span kids whose ages were between seven and fourteen. I'd like to think that I was successful, but I likely failed. Kids don't care where the Supreme Court is or what it does. But they did think it was kind of cool that they really couldn't go in and tour the building, like there was some real mission impossible stuff going on in there.

When we were going into the capitol, I asked if anybody remembered the November Election -- they did not. But they vaguely remembered that somehow we had a new governor, and I told them that it was important that, when entering the capitol, they be very quiet and on their best behavior, because the Governor needed it quiet to think.

The adults laughed.

The kids who participate in Big Brothers, Big Sisters, come from disadvantaged backgrounds. One of them was telling me about how she had been to Carson "every month for as long as she could remmeber to visit [her] daddy in the prison." It was heartbreaking. Or at least it would be, if I had a heart, which you all know I do not so quit your staring already, ok?

Her telling me that made me think of the time I toured Lovelock State Prison when I was on the campaign trail -- a few years ago, I guess, now. We got to go into the yard and the kitchen and actually spnet a lot of time interacting with the actual prisoners. At the time, I wasn't think about any of those men as people's fathers so much as just people who had broken the law.

I wonder how many of them have families who visited them? Did they have kids? I also wonder, how come I didn't think of that at the time? I toured the prison, met people, complimented one guy who was showing off his cell which he had kept clean enough that the Warden gave him permission to tape some pictures to the wall.

This is a tangent -- but the prison is a really horrible place. The energy coming from the place -- and I'm sure you know I'm not one of those crazy hippie folk who talk about energy and such -- but it was so negative there. Even walking up to the place you can just feel the angst and the sadness. Or whatever it was -- maybe that's just what it's like to be in Lovelock.

Back to the point, the kids. They all seemed to have a great time. The got to talk to Assemblypeople and, even though they had little concept of who these people actually are, they thought it was really cool. One of them referred to Speaker Buckley as "the big kid in the middle," which I thought was sort of cute. Or stupid. And then, one asked me how much I made at my job. It went like this:

Kid: "Hey, do you get paid to be here?"
Me: "Yeah, this is my job."
Kid: "Wow. That's so cool."
Me: "Yeah, I really like it."
Kid: "How much do you get paid?"
Me: "I'm not sure that's polite to talk about."
Kid: "Awww, c'mon -- you can tell me. Is it more than $20?"
Me: "Um.. yeah. I make more than $20."
Kid: "WOW! More than $60? That's the most money I've ever seen."
Me: "Well, I'm not sure I make that much."

Then I changed the subject, because I don't talk about these things with kids I don't know. But then he asked me if he could have my job one day, and I told him he had to do good in school and work hard. But that's not really true -- some of the dumbest people I've ever met work in politics.

dts

Its a simple bill....

Sitting in Judiciary again. Poor Jason, AB 77 was viciously ripped off the work session yesterday AM in Judiciary. It was quite a sight to watch. To his defense, Jason didnt do anything wrong...but HIS JUDGE tried to ammend the bill at the 11th hour, which the chairman doesn't tolarate. Bernie exploded like Hiroshima after the Enola Gay.

Yesterday I testified before Assembly Natural Resources (NATRAM) for the first time. My life vest bill AB 13 was unfortunatly sent to NATRAM. Where Chairman Claborn turned the simple bill into an awful quagmeyer of confusions and befuddlment. I'm not happy with what took place. Felt the chairman was rude to me personally and to my witness too. That's as far as I'm going to elaborate.

Dear Diary . . . I mean, Blog . . . Dear Blogary

Today I lost yet another pound of flesh in Assembly Judiciary. I predicted last night that I would face certain death despite the fact that I did everything I was supposed to over the past 3 weeks or so. Blogary, if you recall, a few weeks ago I offered a "friendly" amendment on AB 77. I've learned there is no such thing as a "friendly" amendment. Anyway, a few weeks ago I offered an amendment to just tighten up some language. Didn't realize one of my JUDGES was responsible for the bill, so when I saw her ready to testify from Vegas, I knew I was toast. That's fine, I'm a big boy, I can handle being toast sometimes. I made nice with the judge, made nice with the chair, sent the judge the amendment and asked if she was ok with it. THAT WAS WEEKS AGO. Anyway, the short of it is there ended up being trouble anyway when there was a suggested change yet again on the day of the work session. It wasn't from me, and (in a Gump voice), that's all I have to say about that. Do I get credit towards my BMI loss from losing these pounds of flesh? Huh? Do I Blogary??

Speaking of lessons, I learned vicariously through someone else that its probably a bad idea to testify that you can explain something better than the LCB staff who just explained it perfectly fine. Well I knew that already somehow, but watching someone do it was still oh so uncomfortable.

Oh yeah, health stuff. Had a banana, an oh so naturale tangerine, some healthy stuff at Comma, non fancy shmancy coffee, vitamins, iron, calcium, ate with friends, laughed with friends, worked out, did abs (I hate abs . . . obviously), watched tv, listened to music, sang a bit, danced a bit (even LL from the City saw that). Oh yeah, protein for breakfast, lots of water. And we can't forget the pedometer. Phone with friends. Wow, I'm busy! How do I fit it all in a day Blogary?? Maybe I'll go play a little untuned bass guitar before sleep. That's it for now Blogary. . . .

Over and out

JMF

Ok. Nevermind then.

So I just made a long-ish post about how I'm pissed off at my nonprofit client, essentially for not doing any work they said they'd do, asking me to do it at the last minute, and then getting all pissy at me when I couldn't, you know, drop everything I was doing to accomodate them. These guys don't give me any money -- I don't bill them. And, while I try and provide the same level of service that I'd provide a paying client, I'd appreciate it if they'd acknowledge that it's not appropriate to be a huge pain in the ass when I'm volunteering my time for these people.

But then, after my post was written, and I hit "publish" it told me "sorry, there was an error and we could not publish your post." And I don't really have the patience to tell the whole story again. So you get this one instead.

dts

Mornings with Bernie

Well, it's another fine morning in the Assembly Judiciary Committee! We are about to work session so I better put my thinking cap on.

I'm tired and moving slow but did eat breakfast. Something in my refrigerator smells awful...I keep throwing stuff out....but the smell is not going way.

Buddy is now into his second bag of Carson City dog food. Its the Costco type which he seems to like a lot. Normally I buy him the fancy stuff at the pet store but if he likes the Costco stuff may be able to save a litte bank in the future. Only problem is, I'm not a member of Costco...may be I'll join...if it makes Buddy happy.

FOA

ps. Blogging....it's not that bad.

pss. Jason what's with the chairman’s tantrum on your AB 77??

Blogger?

I barely know what a blog is!!!! It's Tuesday and let's see . . . on Monday I went to Comma and saw live music, I had eggs for breakfast, worked out like a mad man, even did abs and cardio, had some fruit and veggies, went to a party with friends and laughed, downgraded to light beer there, drank lots of water, plucked an un-tuned bass guitar . . . what else . . . I downgraded to regular coffee, had my vitamins, oh yeah, and I used that handy dandy pedometer (thanks FA)! I parked and walked, listened to music, sang, watched tv, phone with friends.

Tuesday has been a disaster. I overslept, didn't eat breakfast, but I did have regular coffee, had lunch with friends, laughed, live music again at Comma, sang, listened to music, plucked the un-tuned bass guitar again, watched tv, vitamins, lots of water, went to the mall to buy some suits (I get points for the mall I think). Oh yeah, pedometer again. Phone with friends. Do I get points for saying "Ditto" as my entire testimony?

Now I can add journal entries to my points! Have a great day guys!

JF

we're gonna win!

Well, my pedometer is up and running....my stride is only 26.1 inches....Dylan's is 30 inches. Luke set it up for me...he knows how to do it, so if you need help....he can give you guidance. Glad to be up and running getting the automatic points for the device and the auto points for this journal. I'm feeling quite optimistic that we will be very competitive. Still need to come to conclusion on what the "big winner" wins. I think it should be equally glorious for the winner and embarrassing for the losers. (at this point I concede that Dylan is kicking all our asses...but he doesn't have much to lose so we are all in the running)

In Taxportation now, the LVVWD folks are testifing before us now. I don't have my glasses with me therefore I can barely see Richard Wimmer and Andy Belanger at the table.... It's becoming more of a problem, I had a conversations with some one earlier across the hallway and thought I was talking to someone else entirely. I can't stand to touch my eyeball so the contact lens I purchased have about 3 years of dust on them in Las Vegas.

This whole blog thing is pretty cool, I've never posted on one or even really even familiarized myself with one other than reading the RH/AD blog on the rgj.com.....oh and SS at City Life too.

My e-mail inbox is being slammed by the NRA (Rifles not Resort) over that bill we heard today in Judiciary...AB 191. It prevents CWP holders from bringing their guns into a courthouse or court facility. Trying to write each one back....but its killing me.

That's all for now...this journal writings isn't all that bad...perhaps I feel a tad less stress.

Assm. FA

Wooo! Nerd Porn!

We can get up to 28 points a week A PIECE to write in a journal. So, it seems like the nerdiest possible thing to do is start up a blog. It's four points per entry, per person. And it doesn't have to be long -- so I'm sitting here in floor session while they do some kind of resolution on something.

Anyway, the easiest way for us to win is by getting the max number of points each week, and I think that we will. Because if we don't, a certain Assemblymember will stab us each in our sleep. And nobody wants that.

dts