Friday!!! Yay, Friday!!! We made it through another week.

Yesterday's seminar was quite good, worth the time and money, and I don't often say that about legal seminars by this particular organization. I learned my lesson years ago - never attend one taught by paralegals. Sheesh, halfway through the morning I feel like saying, "Sit down honey, I'll take over." Especially one I took on Internet research techniques - I was hoping to pick up some slick ways around various government records, and was instead treated to "What is a search engine." Just shoot me now.

Anyway, this one was taught by attorneys, and while the guy was good, the very pretty, very funny and OhmyGodsoYOUNG!! woman was really a pleasure, full of hilarious war stories and practical ideas. I came out inspired by suggestions I could apply to organizing our own trial materials. I particularly liked that both attorneys are familiar with complex litigation in out of town venues, where the exhibits fill multiple boxes and sometimes come in via a rental truck. Ah yes, these people are from my home planet.

Of course, I was left with the challenge of figuring out how to apply some of those great ideas while working for an employer who will not give me the tools to do my job right, but that's a separate and by now tired rant. I'm sort of the paralegal equivalent of MacGuyver, making do on the fly with inadequate tools is my trademark, but it did get depressing to hear all these ideas for dealing with out of town trial issues (and realizing we have several coming up) when I can't even get my employer to understand that I need a laptop. Oh, what I could do with a small scanner and a laptop with a CD burner - what would that cost, $1,000? They won't spend it, because some officious office manager somewhere, who has never done my job and doesn't even know what I do, decided "paralegals don't need laptops." And now it's like Moses carried it down from the mountain on a stone tablet - OOOOH, WE CAN'T DO THAT! should be the company motto. It's so insane.

The weekend agenda is backyard cleanup, followed by maybe a trip to the Mall at Millenia and/or Florida Mall - the Sephora gift card Girlchild gave me for my birthday is still burning a hole in my wallet. I've wanted to try a new foundation they're carrying but that is definitely something one must sample in the store, not over the Net.

More later, I'm in a chatty mood - but right now I must shower and get moving, I slept late today.