From The Ridiculous To The Sublime

If your children aren't quite ready for The Nutcracker Suite live and in person (or in Rat, as the case may be), YouTube-sized chunks viewed full screen are a nice seasonal substitute. The American Ballet Theater, a YouTube member as of 3 months ago, has posted the classic Kirkland-Baryshnikov 1977 Nutcracker in 8 parts (embedding disabled, unfortunately).

For something only slightly less highbrow, you might also enjoy seeing a law student blow his legal writing memorandum to smithereens (via the (new) legal writer):

Money's A Wastin'

Had to have it (via Leo); hauled out the decorations today:

Also enjoyed the lawyerly version of 10 Little Monkeys, courtesy of Redhead Esq.:

10 little monkeys jumpin’ on the bed,

One fell off and bumped his head,

Mama called the lawyer and the lawyer said,

Have the monkeys sign a release and indemnification agreement holding you harmless from any injury or damage which may occur should they continue to jump on the bed.

Her canoe renting saga's a hoot, too. ("'We’re all IP lawyers,' said Owen Beckwith, 43, of Hollywood. 'But we brought a tax guy with us just in case. If we see a gator we’ve all agreed to push him in and get the hell out of here.'")

Six Together

Happy Birthday
Originally uploaded by Tasha Krivonozka

Happy 6th Birthday to this li'l ol' blawg! Bag and Baggage "launched" (if you can call it that) on November 28, 2001.

This year, B&B received several nice, unexpected, and almost certainly undeserved gifts: inclusion in The ABA Journal Blawg 100 (along with many of its best old compadres), a special mention in the ABA's related list of ForeBlawggers, and an invitation (accepted) to be one of the blogs you can read on an Amazon Kindle.

Thanks to everyone who's read, commented, opined, groused, laughed, and made me laugh.

Unhappy Meal: Little Thanks For Law In The Holiday Leftovers

Unhappy Meal
Originally uploaded by ninjaneil902

The festivities have prevented me from diving fully enough into this post from Law and Letters, "Why you shouldn't go to law school," and its active comment thread, but I do love this line: "'Thinking like a lawyer' is a bug, not a feature."

Should Mr. Gowder fail to convince you of the uber-toxic caliber of dissatisfaction in the legal field (that's "in," not even "with"!), don your flak jacket, stay well under cover, and peruse the comments to David Lat's innocent enough see-you-after-Thanksgiving post, which offhandedly invited folks to "bemoan [their] fate" in the comments if they happened to be working through the holiday.

Thank Full

Tibetan prayer flags & rock piles. Himalayas, India
Originally uploaded by Joolz Perry

Among the many reasons preschool is fun is the teachers think to ask your child "What are you thankful for?," eliciting answers like:

My mom, my dad, and the wind, because it blows.

Amen to that. Tyler is four next week; Bag and Baggage's birthday is just after, and it's six.

Me, I'm thankful for so much it'd take a Google blade farm to store the bits. Not least of which the vast and varied universe of folks with whom I've crossed paths by leaving various trails of breadcrumbs in the onlineosphere.