One of the many books I received this Christmas was Take the Cannoli
Anyway, in the Essay “Dark Circles” which is about insomnia, I had to laugh out loud at a line about sleep apnea and the “machine” people use to treat it… “Congratulations, you’re a cyborg!” It’s been over a year since I got my CPAP (as they are called in the lingo) and I have never slept better!! This was reinforced by a few nights away from the machine while we were visiting family over the holidays. I didn’t get a single good night of sleep in until we came back home and I could strap on the mask at bedtime.
It did get me curious, though. I’ve used it everyday since I got it, with the exception of when I travel (which over the last year has been about 2 months). The machine keeps track of the hours it’s been used, so I sat down and did some calculations. It turns out, that I only sleep about 5.5 hours each night, even using the CPAP, but I still feel really rested when I wake up, in fact, I’ve never slept better. Go figure.
Who needs sleep?
Le Chevrot
I’ve always loved cheese, but it’s only been recently that I’ve taken on trying so many new varieties, thanks to the discovery of some really great cheese shops in Chicago. One thing that shocks and amazes me is just how tasty goat cheese is… who knew? I always thought goats were good for eating garbage in cartoons and as major staples in petting zoos.
I recently had a chance to try Le Chevrot which is a very fine goat cheese, which I will highly recommend to anyone who likes a little chevre.
Le Chevrot has a textured rind, which my wife said, “looks like a tiny brain”. Don’t let that stop you. Le Cevrot is a nice, slightly more mature goat cheese than some of the younger chevres. It is slightly chalky, but not to an extreme, and has the nice citrus overtones that I really love from goat cheese, but not quite as tangy as something like Humboldt Fog–this is a milder, more laid back cheese.
If you’re a fan of chevre in general or if you’ve had a chance to sample some Humboldt Fog, I would add this one to the list of goat’s milk cheeses you should check out.
Queso Valdeon
I love a good blue cheese and over the holidays, I had a chance to sample some Queso Valdeon which comes from Leon in Spain.
Valdeon can be made from cow or goat milk and the version I had was made from cow’s milk. It’s a very attractive cheese, a pale yellow with beautiful blue mold–it looks great on a plate. It has a very sharp taste, which kind of reminded me of an aged English Cheddar as it also had a slightly chalky texture, definitely not a creamy blue. It was very piquant, although I like that in a cheese. If you’re not a sharp cheese fan, it’s not for you, but I think it was a very agreeable blue that I would certainly eat again.
Welcome Back!
I made it through exams and holidays alive! I had planned on posting immediately following exams, with a post analyzing my exams and blah, blah, blah. But because my last exam was so late in the exam period, we basically had to fly out of town the next day to my wife’s hometown for Christmas festivities.
Now, exams over, holidays over (almost) and the start of the next semester a few weeks away, I’m back and more relaxed than ever!!
I’ll probably post some about exams when I get my results (like sometime in February!) but for those who may be curious, next semester is Constitutional Law, Trusts & Estates, and Trademarks/Unfair Competition. Whee!!
Home Healthcare for the Elderly
Today on NPR there was a story on a Medical House Call Program in D.C. It happens to be the same practice my friend (and my wife’s maid of honor), Robyn, works at! Check it out… they do very cool work.
Every senior goes through a different set of challenges. It is for this reason that we personalize the care we provide while making sure that its quality stays consistent throughout the care plan of our patients. This combination of care is only possible through years of experience; something that we have gained as a non-medical home care agency of 30 years.
This expertise gained through years of experience, along with other key factors such as personalized services, skilled and compassionate caregivers, and a flexible care plan, is how we are confident in our promise that, with your elderly loved ones in our care, they will be:
– compatible with the caregiver assigned to them all specialized in different areas and working with the latest therapy systems / – provided with services that are continuously modified according to the progress they make throughout the duration of their care plan
– provided with options in managing their payments and offered the lowest-possible price for the services they acquire
Point Reyes Blue
California wines are some of the best in the world, so why should the cheese be any different? Although I am very loyal to the midwest, which also has some mighty fine cheeses, the Point Reyes Blue is an amazing blue that I would recommend to anyone.
It’s not as creamy as a St. Agur or a nice creamy Gorgonzola, it’s a little more solid, with a nice marbled appearance. It has a really great range of flavor though, slightly sweet but with a wonderful slight tartness that makes it a nice, solid blue.
As a bonus, it’s made on the farm from the Point Reyes’ own heard of hormone free cows. A great, solid “farmstead” cheese!
Two Down
Had my evidence exam tonight. Overall, it was pretty much as I expected. I enjoyed the format: a trial transcript with objections, you had to rule on each objection and state your reasoning. Then there was a section where you had to identify 10 objections which should have been made, but were not. So, yeah, I liked the format… we’ll have to wait to see how much the format liked me.
One Down…
Thank you to all the people who sent me good CivPro vibes for my first final of the season yesterday. I feel pretty good about the exam, so I either rocked it or failed it. You know how those things go.
Actually, it probably means I’ll get a B+… workin’ hard to be average!
(To those not in law school, a B+ is actually the equivalent of a C on the forced curve the school uses for required courses like CivPro.)
Now, on to Evidence…
It’s always Christmas time (for Visa)
From the folks that brought us Progenitorivox (Consumers Union) comes a holiday song, “It’s Always Christmas Time (for Visa)“. It’s a catchy tune with an even better message…
[Via the folks at M+R Strategic Services]
EFF? What is it good for?
The Register has a (typically) inflammatory article up which questions the efficacy of the EFF. The article, EFF volunteers to lose important suit over Sony ‘rootkit’, is definitely troll bait. But there is a nugget of truth in it: the EFF does not have a great track record.
This raises two questions in my mind. First, if the EFF weren’t out taking on these kinds of cases, what organization would? Or what organization should be taking these cases? Second, what kind of oversight is there of the job the EFF is doing? I have not read/followed all of the cases that the EFF has been involved with closely, but a few (notably Eldred) have not left me overly impressed. But then again, I’m not sure some of these issues would even be raised if the EFF weren’t pushing them forward.
I don’t think there is a clear cut answer to the questions I posed; I also think the EFF does valuable work. It could very well be that the EFF has a bad track record because they are fighting a horrible system and every point of concession, however minor, is in a way an important victory. But it is plausible that the EFF is just doing a bad job, isn’t it?