Confession: The Bachelor is my secret shame. I watch the Amazing Race and Tivo the Bachelor, and then watch it afterward. Apparently Brooke's dad is not only in jail, but is allegedly a kiddie porn collector and serial rapist. Yikes. Her stepdad's "Bama Room?" Still freaking scary.

Pfizer has agreed to pay $49 million to settle a Medicaid suit based on a "best price" theory. The government had alleged that Pfizer kept its price for blockbuster cholesterol-fighting statin Lipitor artificially high, thus reducing the rebate owed to states which purchased it.

Soft Cell is back.

And I'm trying to confirm a rumor that Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC has been shot and killed in NYC tonight. Wait, it's confirmed. Crap.

That Clifford Chance memo is like a Timex -- it takes a licking and keeps on ticking...

I don't know if I've ever mentioned here that both of Dave's parents were born in Ireland, and that they were both Irish citizens at the time of Dave's birth (they were both naturalized as US citizens later on, and now hold dual citizenship).

What does this mean? It means that Dave is technically and legally an Irish citizen, simply by virtue of being born, even outside of Ireland, to a parent who was born in Ireland.

He's in the process now of claiming his Irish citizenship and getting an Irish passport. Why?

Because eventually this will allow him (and me, thanks to the Post Nuptial Declaration exception that I'll be able to acquire, just under the wire, before the program expires in November of 2005) to move freely throughout and work anywhere in the European Union without a work permit.

How cool is that?

"I'm just going to help myself to this camera equipment, and oh, by the way, do you have any job openings?

Southern California types: If I am presenting at a meeting for physicians on Saturday which has been designated as "business casual," what's the best choice of outfit? I usually wear suits when I present, but all of my suits are black and I believe a bit too stuffy and formal for this type of shindig. Suggestions?

Note to self: If you continue to listen to American-made Music to Strip By, specifically the remix of Superbeast, during your commute to and from work, it is nearly inevitable that you will get a speeding ticket. That is all.

Everyone in the pharma industry is watching this case very closely, wondering whether the court will make a definitive ruling on promotion of off-label uses of a pharmaceutical product. There's been lots of noise at the FDA regarding the First Amendment and freedom for companies to promote uses which are not the approved indication(s) as designated by the agency either at the time that the drug is approved, or which the drug received later through submission to the FDA.

The atrocious girls club has been cancelled after only two episodes.

Sinusitis Wars, Round III: A visit to my doctor netted me yet another antibiotic, with a bonus course of Steroids! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Of course, I hope that the steroids reduce the swelling and pressure in my head, else my cranium may explode while I'm on the plane to California on Friday. Did I mention that I'm flying to Orange County on Friday? I think I forgot to mention that. I have to give a presentation to a bunch of doctors at a training event, which means a couple of days at a a nice hotel. If only I didn't have that 7:45 am flight back on Sunday...

I had to interview a candidate for an attorney position today, so I decided to do the faux suit thing by wearing a long skirt, dressy blouse and long sweater jacket. I'm also wearing these shoes for the first time, and I already managed to put a nick in the leather on the heel. Dammit.

I found this article about children and scheduling very interesting. The article posits the idea that if a child is involved in a large number of activities, it's likely that the child's mother has a college education.

My mother is a nurse, and attended nursing school in the early 1960s, before nursing degrees became Bachelor of Science degrees. I suppose that you could consider that a college education, but some people might disagree. I was a terribly overscheduled child, but most of it was by my own choice. As a youngster, my mom started me in ballet and baton lessons, and by the time I was in junior high, I was in dance classes five days a week, sometimes with performances over the weekends. Once high school started, forget it. Chorus, dance, orchestra, voice lessons, musicals, newspaper, Honor Society, commitees...you name it, I did it. Well, unless it was a sport, anyway.

I fully intend to keep working after I have kids, but I hope that I don't impose my goals on them in an unreasonable way. Sure, I'd love for them to be involved in activities, but not to the point of exhaustion, obsession, or where it begins to detract from either their education or their time with us as a family. I don't know how people manage time any more. I already need about 36 hours in the day.

I really hate this "already dark at 5:00 pm" bullshit. It's not enough that I wake up in the dark. Now I have to drive home in it, too?

My adorable, sweet, slightly dumb cat Benny is going to the vet with Dave this afternoon, because he's been intermittently wheezing over the past few weeks. It's not constant, he's not coughing, and he doesn't seem to be in any other distress, but after what happened to Peabody, I don't want to take any chances. Keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing serious.

Well, it's been an exciting morning so far. The antibiotic is still kicking my ass, so I got a late start, and as usual, I checked my voice mail on the way in (via speakerphone, mind you).

First message was marked urgent, from the boss. He sounded completely loopy, and his message explained why. His wife, who was not due to give birth until November 15, went into labor yesterday and had a healthy baby boy around 2 pm.

What does this mean? Well, he's out. Our admin is out on a personal day, and our paralegal is in DC at a two-day conference. The other commercial attorney called in sick, which means that the attorney for Clinical Development and I are holding the fort.

Luckily, it's been a very quiet day so far, because I haven't done anything yet except send out emails and voicemails announcing the birth and juggling my boss's schedule. Whew!

Has anyone else seen Microsoft's new "It's Better with the Butterfly" advertisement online? Am I the only one who thinks that it looks just like Arthur from The Tick?

Rainy Saturday here. I feel somewhat better after having a long conversation with my boss yesterday afternoon, but it's still gloomy here. I'm very sad about the death of Senator Paul Wellstone, both because I thought he was an intelligent and practical politician, and because I'm worried about the Senate balance after the upcoming elections.

Register to vote, people. It's so important.

It's been a hard week in Heatherland. Everything seems slightly off, and there has been more than the usual share of sadness and anger. I feel like I'm riding a bicycle that's trapped in quicksand; I get more and more tired, and yet I just sink farther and farther underground until there's barely enough room for me to breathe.

The weather isn't helping, either. I dread the onset of winter every year, and this autumn is no different from the rest. It's dark and raw and cold, and all I want to do is pull the covers over my head and sleep the days away.

And the thing that's hard is that it's not one specific thing that's bothering me. It's a whole bunch of gnawing evil thoughts and worries that keep me from sleeping and keep me from laughing. I guess the trick is to just keep breathing. It's got to get better than this, right?

News from Antibiotics Round 2, the Sinusitis Wars: Avelox is not, I repeat, NOT my friend.

If the office football pool isn't quite interesting enough for you, take a gander at this site, where you can handicap a number of upcoming Supreme Court cases.

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche
Tumbling and falling down the avalanche

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche

--- Shawn Colvin

Bedsworth does it again, this time with a cautionary tale about child support, dental floss, and "Dreck of the Rich and Famous."

When I ask you to print out and send a letter that states "Enclosed is a copy of the subject complaint," it usually means that you should ENCLOSE A COPY OF THE SUBJECT COMPLAINT. I didn't think that I needed to spell that out quite so specifically, but I guess I was wrong.

I have Appliance Lust.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that girls club totally sucked.

I just fixed the furnace, since I was sick of it being so freaking cold in the house. The furnace we have is SO DAMNED TOUCHY. If there's a half ounce too much water in there, the burner won't kick on. Cripes.

*flexes*

I'm pretty spoiled by my company when it comes to vacation time. I get 15 days, plus eight personal floating holidays, plus the regular complement of national holidays. Combine this with the fact that since I started my job in August of 2001 and really didn't take much time off during the end of that year, and the fact that the beginning of this year, aside from the brief respite for the wedding, was completely insane, and you end up in the spot I'm in now -- I'm supposed to use up something like 20 days between now and the end of the calendar year.

Right.

I used my three carry-over days from 2001 when we got married; since we ran off to Vegas over Memorial Day, I got a bonus day for free. I took one vacation day in August, and then the two last week. That's it. I've also had two sick days, one in February when I had to go to the hospital, and one a couple of weeks ago for my first fall sinus infection. I've got one more day planned for November 8, which is the day before my brother-in-law's wedding.

With the trip to Ireland falling over Thanksgiving, I'm again getting bonus days. Still, I'm using six days for that, and yet I still have tons left!

We had a department meeting today where my boss asked us to send our requests in for time off over the holidays, and I'm basically asking off from December 20 (a Friday) through the end of the year. This translates into seven more vacation days/floating holidays.

This still leaves me with seven vacation days. SEVEN! And being that policy really only permits us to carry over five, I'm really hoping that my boss is willing to let me keep them. I have sworn to myself that next year will be different. We're already planning a nice trip for our first anniversary, and I'm definitely planning to take at least a week off over the summer for some R&R.

I never thought of myself as a workaholic, but maybe I am.

I'm having one of those mornings where I was forced to pull something complex out of the far reaches of my memory bank, first thing. We're dealing with an issue involving filing of liens on intangible property with the attendant perfection of security interests and subordinate lienholder/creditor and collateral issues, not to mention a dab of potential tortious interference with a contract.

*dances around the office mindlessly*

It's funny how dates sneak up on you sometimes. I realized on Saturday morning that had I actually married the person to whom I was previously engaged (a law school classmate), Saturday would have been my sixth wedding anniversary. *shiver*

I can't tell you how much I want to see this movie. The world of competitive spelling has been ripe for a documentary for years and years now.

Current favorite Peter Gabriel song ever, and currently playing on RadioFreeVirgin's Peter Gabriel Radio: San Jacinto.

A divided Supreme Court has refused to consider ending executions for killers who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed. Four of the justices said that the court should continue the reexamination of the death penalty which it began last year, but a majority voted to pass on deciding whether execution of young killers violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment."

Dave Grohl, in this week's New York Times Magazine:

Hugo Lindgren: Does it disgust you when guys sell songs to commercials before they're 20?

Grohl: My attitude is, look, if you really believe the new Toyota is the finest vehicle on the road, hallelujah, brother, sell your song to the company.

Today's Lush-enabled bath extravaganza included: Bon Bain Bonnard bath bomb, the remains of a Floating Island bath melt , Figs and Leaves body soap, Ambrosia shaving lotion, Ultimate Shine shampoo bar, Fresh Farmacy facial soap, and Angels on Bare Skin cleanser.

I definitely get my money's worth out of those Canadian dollars.

Quiz
created by Polly Snodgrass.

WATER OF AIR. You're aloof, depressed and seasoned. You'd make a good psychologist, executioner, black widow, arsenic poisoner, heretic queen or commentator. You're too witty for your own good. Have to get up early in the morny morn to fool you, as you spot lies a mile away. And WOE TO THOSE who dare attempt such a stupid move. You're Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween, when she cuts Michael's head off. You're Anne Robinson, the host of The Weakest Link!

So tonight Dave and I will be attending the bachelor/bachelorette party festivities for his younger brother and his fiancee, who are being married in three weeks. Things will definitely be low-key, as we're doing separate dinners with the women at Old Bay and the men at Stuff Yer Face. We'll all be reconvening later in the evening for some drinking and bowling down in East Brunswick. Woo!

In other weirdness news, it appears that I may have developed an allergy to my engagement/wedding rings [insert punchline here]. I did some quick research online, and it appears that it is in fact very unusual for someone to develop an allergy to platinum; white gold allergies are fairly common. Anyone have any experience with this?

I had this same problem last year, same finger, but it happened with a sterling silver ring I had been wearing. It hurts, it itches, and it looks gross. I know, thanks for sharing.

Well, the tickets have been purchased, the arrangements have been made, and, thanks to a panicked, apologetic midnight phone call from my boss, my vacation time has been approved.

We're going to Ireland next month!!!!!!

Plans. Much going on. Much up in the air.

We're going to the movies.

Supposedly Sam Mendes, director of American Beauty and current beau of the gorgeous Kate Winslet, will be directing a stage version of "Shrek." Parents everywhere are cringing as they await the onslaught of whining and begging from their tots.

I ventured into Manhattan today via the new Midtown Direct service, which took me from Montclair to Penn Station in 32 minutes. Sweet. Then I hopped the 1/9 uptown to Lincoln Center, and fought the wind and driving rain as I shuffled over to Tavern on the Green, where my conference was being held. Once I dried off and had some tea, I really enjoyed the workshop. I met some nice people and learned a lot about compliance, kickbacks, and all sorts of other good stuff.

Dave was kind enough to pick me up at the train station, since it was still raining, and now I am jammy-enabled and am ready for my two days of vacation! WOOHOO! Let the sloth begin!

Long day. Lots of meetings. Seminar in the city tomorrow, then two days of vacation. I can't wait.

There's been another shooting, this time in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Seven Corners (Falls Church), VA -- about a mile from where I lived for three years in law school. I was in that shopping center all the time. Jesus.

Oh, and by the way, amazon.com, when I pay for second day shipping and you ship my package on 10/10/02, I do NOT expect to see a delivery date of 10/18/02. That's ridiculous, especially when all of my items were "ship within 24 hours."

I went into the ladies' room just now, and there was a piece of shredded lettuce on the toilet seat of the stall I chose.

I don't even want to think about the chain of events that might have led up to that.

I know that ABC needed someone to replace Anderson Cooper on the Mole. But Ahmad Rashad? Say it ain't so!

Let it be known: I. Freaking. LOVE. Hockey.

Looking for your old buddies? Check here!

The Sopranos, or real life?

"You hit them over the head with a baseball bat, and they come around."

"I'm going to come back here and carve my initials in your forehead. You better learn a lesson, you better show me the respect I deserve."

You really don't want to mess with that Paulie Walnuts guy.

User Poll: Who really thinks that I'm going to pick up a non-caller ID call at 4:50 pm on a rainy Friday? Would you?

My day so far: Rain. Rain. And did I mention rain?

Oh, and my admin says to me: "You look great today! What did you *do?*" I thought my boss was going to fall over, he was laughing so hard.

Now, off to our satellite office. Fun.

Verizon has decided to credit thousands of current and former female employees who took pregnancy or maternity leave, entitling them to additional pension benefits.

This caught my eye because fully half of my day today was spent trying to figure out if a particular employee was entitled to FMLA at a particular time in this past year. I understand the "twelve-month lookback" just fine; it's the issue of the "statute of limitations" on the twelve weeks of leave that kills me, because my company, at least for the moment, does not run its short-term disability leave and FMLA concurrently. Aye, carumba!

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Mormon church cannot restrict speech on the sidewalks running through its main plaza in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City had sold the plaza land to the church, but retained easement rights to ensure that pedestrians could walk through unfettered. The church attempted to impose rules limiting protests, demonstrations and other activities on the plaza, and a lower court had agreed with the church that these limits were constitutional.

Why do I always fail to remember that when I have a sinus infection and feel craptacular, the antibiotics still make me feel even worse for the first few days I'm taking them?

I don't really talk much about my car. I think that's because I love it so much. It drives like a dream, it has plenty of room without feeling too Mom-like, it's comfortable, and, the reason I write tonight, it has a truly kickass stereo. I was driving earlier this evening with Up, track 2, "Growing Up," very, very loudly -- and the sound was pristine and crystal clear. I cannot WAIT for that concert.

Woke Up This Morning, Got Myself a Blog. (via Lileks)

I happened to be flipping channels just now, and came upon the 2001 Saturday Night Live season premiere, featuring Rudy Giuliani and his commissioners and some of the NYPD and NYFD introducing Paul Simon.

The looks of absolute emptiness and devastation on the faces of these big, strong men still bring tears to my eyes. They look as if they just have nothing left inside.

And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains

I just lost a very well thought out post about the FDA and deregulation of medical devices, but MT ate it. I'll try to recreate it later.

Also, I'm going to start using the notify list again, both for entries and for non-public tidbits. Sign up, why don't you?

I am deeply saddened to report that Anderson Cooper will apparently no longer be hosting The Mole. Why, I ask you? Why make me and the thousands of other Anderson lovers suffer this way?

I got a request to review some materials this morning for a career fair at which our HR department is going to be having a booth. Maybe it's just me, but I don't necessarily get the best connotation from the name of the fair -- Women For Hire. While I understand the target audience, my first thought is of the world's oldest profession. Is it just me?

The Wall Street Journal is running a front-page article today on whether SpongeBob SquarePants is gay or not. Honestly, is there nothing better in the world to write about or to even think about?

First Ernie and Bert. Then Tinky Winky. Now this.

I happened to catch one of the first airing's of my company's first direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical product ads during a rerun of Law and Order on TNT last night. It's so exciting! It's also a really cute ad. No, seriously, it's adorable.

"The story 'Filipino-American history recognized' stated that the 'Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza,' the galleon on which the first Filipinos landed at Morro, Bay, Calif., loosely translates to 'The Big Ass Spanish Boat.' It actually translates to 'Our Lady of Good Peace.'"

Parts of the story, including the translation above, were plagiarized from an inaccurate Web site.

Well. I'm home today as the result of what appears to be my first sinus infection of the year. Although I've had "chronic sinusitis" since about 1998, CAT scan after CAT scan shows that it's not quite bad enough to require surgery. I woke up this morning with the throbbing headache and face pain, along with the dizziness, congestion and nausea that accompany the infection. Since my work schedule was thankfully light today, I opted to stay home.

I've got a call in to the doctor, and I'm hoping that I don't have to go in. They've been pretty good about calling in prescriptions for me.

Yesterday was fun -- I took my first trip since our move out to the Secaucus outlets, and I did very, very well. I managed to pick up two suits at Jones New York, two additional suits made of separates from Chaus and Kasper, some blouses, and four pairs of shoes at the Nine West outlet (buy one, get one half price!) -- including these along with these boots, and now my winter work wardrobe is pretty well set. Woo!

When in doubt, and when you've traipsed the mall two times over trying to find a shower gift, you can rarely go wrong with Tiffany & Co. And really, who hates receiving that lovely robin's egg blue box with the white satin ribbon?

It's really rare that I'm not in the mood to go to the mall, but it's just gross outside. I will soldier on, though. Anyone want to meet me at Short Hills after work?

Have I mentioned lately how glad I am that I don't work for a law firm? It's scary to see that some recruiters won't even take on laid-off associates as clients, because they know that the firms that are hiring balk at paying any kind of fee. *shudder*

And yes, I am a ray of freaking sunshine this morning, if you must know.

I feel like I should put a sign on my door that says "DO NOT HOVER." It makes me seethe when people just stand there in the doorway, shifting their weight from one foot to the other, when I am either with another client or on the phone. Have some manners, people.

Oh, and confidential to the person who always walks into my office and around my desk to stand behind me and try to see what it on my security-screened computer monitor: PERSONAL SPACE. Become familiar with the concept. Otherwise, I'm getting a taser.

I got an email today from an attorney with whom I'm negotiating an agreement, and it was signed "Edward Jones II" (not his real name, of course). Whatever happened to "Junior?" Is "II" a preferred appellation now?

Why yes, I do carry a Powerpuff Girls Buttercup key chain. Do you have a problem with that?

And in the continuing adventures of my FUCKING tooth, I managed to crack the temporary filling on the root canal tooth on a fortune cookie.

It only had to last until Tuesday, when I have an appointment for the permanent restoration, dammit.

So after listening to a ton of my old punk and new wave music and falling into a giant pit of nostalgia for my college and clubbing years, I am struck with an almost uncontrollable urge to dye my hair a very unnatural color. I'm leaning toward burgundy, because I think I might just be able to get away with it at work.

Who am I kidding?

Thank God for Radio Free Virgin and their 80s channel. I am deprived of Disintegrator Internet Radio because of our stupid firewall, but for some reason I'm able to listen to Radio Free Virgin.

In a widely predicted move, the Mets have fired manager Bobby Valentine. Sniffle.

The New York Times published an article this morning stating that the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services issued standards dealing with pharmaceutical companies' practices, specifically warning them to stop giving gifts to physicians. While I don't have an issue with the description of the standards in the article, the author neglected to point out one very important fact -- the guidelines published yesterday are in DRAFT FORM. The article makes it appear as if this is final guidance from the OIG, when in fact it was published to seek comment from government and industry. Very sloppy work, and a story that has resulted in a ton of frantic phone calls for me so far this morning.