go to Best Buy and buy something not made in this county...aka... tax rebate...

According to the report i saw last night, it should actually be called a tax PRE-bate.  As in this $600 check (or whatever it ends up being) is actually an advance on our 2009 tax refunds.  

so, i can't wait to see what fun ensues in 2010 when people suddenly realize they're getting $600 less than they thought back or worse, that they owe because of this advance.  

i'm sure a little of ours will be spent on something fun & frivolous, but the majority will go to debt or down payment fund.

hi everyone!  i have a new job.  Insurance agent and financial planner for Mutual of Omaha.  don't be jealous.  

for the past 15 months or so, i've been doing the legal assistant thing for this super small firm (2 lawyers) in cambridge.  and it's been great for many reasons.  my bosses are awesome, it's totally flexible with school (each semester I would make up my new schedule), it's super low-key (jeans in the office, dog in the office).  

but they can't afford to pay me for more than 15 or 20 hours a week.  at first that was fine, that's all i wanted.  I got really burned out with school and working at the MIT legal department.  but you know, we gots bills to pay and i really want to buy a house sooner rather than later.  

so i started looking around last fall for things.  and almost started my own business doing financial counseling.  i really love personal finance, financial planning and all that, and this is like a holistic approach to financial planning.  Life & health insurance, college funds, mutual funds, annuities, tax planning - i really couldn't be more excited.  my wife thinks i'm an alien.

yes, i'm still in law school, i will be done in january 2009.  so, yes i will be a lawyer and take the bar, i just won't be practicing.  (nothing like having a two lawyer family with neither of us actually working as a lawyer).   but it's great because there's so much of this work that is sort of legal.  it's all contract law, agency law, tax planning (estate & gift tax has turned out to be my most favorite class in all of law school).

what does this mean for me?  my job is to go out and get clients - meet with them - and plan their lives.  most of my work will be done from my home or meeting clients at their homes.  i'm only expected to be in the office one or two days a week for a couple of hours. 

what does this mean for you?  well, if you have any kind of life or health insurance need, (just got married or getting married?  just buy a house?  have a baby? need college or retirement planning?) or if you know of anyone who has any of these needs, send them my way.  or send me their way.  

i'm licensed in massachusetts, and soon will be in rhode island.  but don't fret, you don't need to live in Mass to utilize my services,  we (you and me) just have to be physically on massachusetts soil when we sign paperwork.  

i start in two weeks.  that's all for now!

 

we have officially named the little one Suri.  yes, like that suri.  both look like little baby aliens.  these are some of the names that we call her:

suri
suri noodle
suricruise (all one word)
baby noodle
baby kitten
suri purry

her big brother, Toro, (who is slowly getting over his skepticism of her and his hatred of us) gets called:

toro
noodle (or big noodle)
mr big paws (he has giant double paws)
mr round eyes (he has the biggest roundest eyes i've ever seen on a cat)
stinker-face

The  new kitten is still nameless.  these are currently on the list, and we're open to suggestions.  of note...  she had a little infection when we got her, so her eyes were gunky (she's since been to the vet, and she's on all the proper meds, etc.) - so her eyes are squinty.  and as kittens tend to do, she looks like an alien.  and she's all black.  and the teeniest thing ever!

so - please comment:

Sadie
Nelia (pronounced neela, alien spelled backwards)
Scully
Ophelia (mary lu will call her fifi) 
Spider (just cause i like it, spidey)
Squinty
Squishy
Winky

nothing sounds perfect for her yet...

I just have to go to CVS to print out a photo from our wedding for one last gift.  

I did give ML one of her presents early, yesterday.  It was a little tricky, timing-wise, cause there are  that you can't really leave under the tree for 3 days until christmas...
 

 I just won my very first motion in front of a judge.  A real judge, courtroom, client.  and i won my motion.  next week, the actual trial...

3 hours is how long it to drive home from work.  Central Square to basically Somerville City Hall.  3 hours, did i mention 3 hours?!

As the reason that i blame most city traffic on - people blocking the intersections.  People! if you can't make it to the other side without getting stuck in the middle of the intersection when the light changes, don't go!  i know it's frustrating waiting and waiting and waiting.  but if nobody blocked the intersection, then everyone's wait would be so much less.  i promise. 

 Is it wrong to use wikipedia during class to look up cases when i haven't done the reading?  no, not any more wrong than buying High Court Case Summaries and using that.  And my way is free.