Master Dilettante

It’s been almost two weeks now as I write, but I want to thank Carol D. and the Wednesday Night Dinner Club for throwing me a great 40th birthday party! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with me! I had a great time — at least so far as I can remember. Thank you!

Check out my SmugMug site for photos of the event.

I’ve now taken a two month complete break from blogging precipitated by an extraordinarily busy summer at work that broke my habit.

Here’s a sampling of what you may have missed:

• I started a new job in mid-June — my 8th in 3+ years at eBay! — and had a great albeit unprecedented busy summer because of it.
• I concluded the World Series of Poker with no cashes but was happy with my play.
• My Dad visited in July and met his granddaughter Alex for the first time!
• I read the final Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was awesome and neatly tied up loose ends.
• I finally started tinkering with Facebook and now am bored with it already.
• Somehow, I went to three country music concerts over the summer. The CMAs are tonight, and I’m rooting for Taylor Swift.
• The one year anniversary of my maternal grandmother’s passing was August 10. We all miss her.
• Nathaniel & Joshua entered the world on September 10. Congratulations, Emily & Scott!
• I was in Dreilinden, Germany for the third time for eBay.
• My cousin Heejae married Eugene. Congratulations!
• My beautiful niece Alexandra had her first birthday and we had a lovely feast in L.A.
• I developed a mild addiction to/obsession with the novels of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and read seven of their books in three weeks.
• I’ve started to work out with a trainer. If you see me eating crap, please give me crap about it.
• My big 4-0 is looming just around the corner!

That’s most of the important or interesting stuff. I’ll try to resume that blogging habit!

I saw Michael Clayton Saturday and highly recommend it. Akin to the role of Victor the Cleaner in Le Femme Nikita, George Clooney plays Michael Clayton, his law firm’s “fixer” — deftly applying his law enforcement background, legal experience and people skills towards solving the most difficult and delicate of problems for the elite clients of his New York law firm. Had I known such a job existed, I might have stuck with my own legal career and aspired towards it.

Over the course of a few days in which his personal family and financial problems converge with a crisis for his firm, Clayton gets to the bottom of an enigma while wrestling with his conscience over moral dilemmas.

I had no knowledge of the movie nor expectations going into it and was captivated from the outset. It gets 90% fresh tomatoes on Rotten Tomatoes. Go see it!