Let the Sideshow Begin

Step right up, hurry, hurry before the show begins, my friends
Stand in line, get your tickets, I hope you will attend
It'll only cost you fifty cents to see
What life has done to those like you and me

See the man with the broken heart, you'll see that he is sad, he hurts so
bad [So bad, so bad]
See the girl who has lost the only love she ever had
There's got to be no sadder show to see
No doubt about it, satisfaction's guaranteed

So let the sideshow begin
Hurry, hurry, step right on in
Can't afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

Blue Ocean

So when your mom says that your most recent blog entry was depressing you know that perhaps it's time to step back and reassess. :) It was a tough week for me but that's the great thing about calendars. They keep on moving, you turn the page and things get better :) So let's wrap it up. I worked on the trial all week. Spent Thursday evening working on the closing arguments with my good friend Paul and then got on the road heading to Toledo. Now there are few things in life I hate more than driving through Chicago. Two things are a certainty when I drive through the windy city the express lanes will be flowing the opposite direction of the way I am headed and there will be bumper to bumper traffic. It took me two hours to go from one end to other with construction taking place at 11pm.



I got into South Bend around 2 am Friday morning and stopped for the night. Took a quick drive by tour of Notre Dame in the morning including the required stop for me at the football stadium and of course the picture of touchdown Jesus, who is across the courtyard from the stadium. I would make a joke here about the Irish football team but quite frankly they have been their own joke for most of the last decade.





I spent Friday afternoon in downtown Toledo which was overrun with Crystal Bowersox fever. I didn't want to admit I had no freaking idea who in the hell Crystal was but then I saw I whole bunch of American Idol stuff and connected the dots. So Go dreadlocky Crystal. I have a thing for girls that can sing :) I spent time with my Ridge friends Gretchen and Stephanie and was joined at the concert by Cherise also from the Ridge. In total there were 8 of us at the show that night. As we headed to the concert I was told that the jury had been deliberating for 6 hours and was still going at it.

Now I have made no bones about the fact that I love the red headed girl with the guitar. Although I think Ingrid is sporting a ukulele in this picture. I don't think it has made threatening status for my wife as my love is slightly more admiration than twitterpation. She was nice enough to leave us 8 free tickets for the show. And fabulous seats ten rows dead center. She was the opener for Bare Naked Ladies
so she only played 7 songs and I joked with her that I drove an hour for each of those songs. BNL put on a really fun show and I am pretty certain most of the other 8 were really happy to see them. It was a beautiful weather night, and the amphitheatre at the Toledo Zoo a great place to see a show. We headed back to downtown Toledo where I learned still no verdict with 10.5 hours of deliberations done. A couple late night drinks in Toledo and finally got the call the verdict was in. Guilty on two accounts, not guilty on one. A weird split decision, that amounted to some type of compromise verdict that left one of the jurors in tears as the verdict was read. A bizarre case, a bizarre verdict, and most of all a great reminder that our legal system is really screwed up and the courtroom is not a place the defense, and especially the defense for a minority client should expect to to get a fair shake. Got up early Saturday, and started heading back towards Chicago. Big shock as the express lanes were heading towards me and traffic was at a standstill. Veered into Arlington racetrack to catch the Preakness and pulled back into Madison 48 hours after I left.

So I will close this week's blog with a little preview of CNBC tomorrow night. Here's one of the commercials featuring me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPfqYW1XoDk

I am nervous about it. I said things I probably wouldn't have shared with you guys by choice but somehow felt like I could say them to a TV camera..Go Figure?? I have said before I did it for only two reasons 1) perhaps in some small way helps somebody else and 2) I hope it brings good publicity to the Ridge. I will be playing volleyball tomorrow night when it airs for the first time but will watch it later on the dvr. Feel free to laugh and point and ridicule me but good natured ribbing please :) Hopefully a lot of you fellow ridgers and triathletes get to see yourselves because without your support and continued inspiration none of this would have happened. One thing is for sure when I am around you guys, I long for something more and you never fail to deliver. So thank you to all the people who have helped, and all the people who have inspired me and held my hand and made me do things I didn't want to, and most of all thanks for all your love, it means the world to me. Peace to all of you, Jim