Sunday mish-mash (plus Books and an Open Thread)

Although my regular stat counter is still refusing to speak to me, another stat counter has indicated that my numbers have plummeted, going from the thousands to the hundreds overnight.  (I feel just like the stock market.)

Since I’m not going to panic and assume that everyone has suddenly abandoned me en masse, I’m wondering if any of you have had any difficulty getting to my blog.  If so, please let me know, and I’ll pass the word on to my wonderful blog master.

I’m still working on the trial, which is kind of interesting.  The last time I headed trial preparation, my client did not have a sophisticated scanning system.  This client, however, does.  Every document is already a pdf in the system (or, if not, it’s easily added).  Because the case relies heavily on photographs, I’ve also set up Picasa, so that we can easily review the hundreds of images and decide which best support our case.  Then, the photos go on a disk, Kinko’s prints them up (which is cheaper than using your own ink), and you’re off to the races.

I’ve also prepared a chart identifying each document (which is necessary anyway for the mandatory exchange of trial exhibit info with the opposing party).  In the chart I have a column that doesn’t go to opposing counsel.  That column has hyperlinks to each document’s location on the server.  Essentially, I’m preparing all the documents for trial without touching a single piece of paper.  It’s time consuming, but kind of fascinating, and it means that we never lose a document.  Woo-hoo!

Still, interesting or not, the whole thing is time-consuming, and that doesn’t even count the trial brief and pre-trial motions, all of which I’m working on today.  Then, off to the symphony.

You can see where this is going, right?  Not a lot of blogging.  It’s another Open Thread day — and a “what are you reading” day.  As for me, when I’m not being a legal eagle, I’m reading 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Irish History: The People, Places, Culture, and Tradition of the Emerald Isle.  It’s not deep, but it’s easy, fun and interesting.