Lawyer-boxer-blogger-tweeter!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Lance Godard at 22 Tweets, an innovative use of the Twitter micro-blogging service that publishes “[r]eal-time Twitter interviews with practicing lawyers who tweet.” It was a great experience; we had an enjoyable talk about some of my professional and personal interests. Here is a link to the interview.

Thanks, Lance and 22 Tweets, for your interest; it was great to talk with you and it's good to get to know you, too.

Back to Blogging; Busy Weekend; Training Hard and Enjoying It

February was quite a month. I've been away from the blog, mostly because I have been busy with work. It's an interesting challenge to balance all of these activities, but I am definitely learning a lot from it. Although I haven't posted any training updates, my training continues and is going fairly well. It could always be going better, of course, but I'm a perfectionist, so my attitude is permanently oriented toward improvement.

Here's a recap of what has been going on lately, in work, life, and boxing.

• In my defiant approach to the economic recession, I have been hustling to get some new clients. I have two new prospects and one to contact tomorrow. I am not being naive, but if the basic laws of chemistry and physics still apply, matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Thus, in the aggregate, there is no less matter or energy in the universe today than there was a year or two ago, so we haven't truly "lost" anything. The matter and energy may have changed into different forms, but they still exist. As a practical matter, this means that the opportunities are still available, but we will have to be more persistent and imaginative as we look for them.
  

• Life continues to send its nonstop series of ups and downs. I'm enjoying my new neighborhood--and am confident I'll enjoy it even more once spring arrives with some consistently warmer weather.
  

• I helped my good buddy Mark move his home over the weekend. He's in the same building, but has moved to an apartment two floors above his former unit. I'm thrilled for him. He's still relatively new to Chicago, so I am glad he's getting settled comfortably in his new place. Mark is one hell of a great guy and a really good friend. Unfortunately, he recently lost his cat, Fritz, so it's a difficult time for him.
  

• Training got an added boost on Sunday. It was my first time attending the Sunday "fight club" (also known as "Small Group Boxing") at my gym. I was there in a group of about 12 guys and Glen, the trainer, who runs the 2 pm Sunday gathering. It was a great time and I look forward to attending the practices regularly. In addition to the shadowboxing, work on the bags, abs training, punching-and-defense drills, and work on the punch mitts with Glen, I got in some good sparring, too. (Thanks to Jim and Eric for pushing me hard and making me work!) It was a blast. Since all of the boxers are midlife guys--basically late 30s to late 50s in age--the group might offer some good business networking opportunities, too, as well as the chance to make some new friends. After all, some of my closest friends are guys I have punched in the face. I'm hoping my buddy Mark will attend some Sundays.
  

That's the update for now. I'm planning to get more content on this blog, including links to various articles I've found interesting. For now, thanks for reading, and stay strong!

The Best Laid Plans O' Mice and Men

Hah! Foolish humans. They think they can plan stuff and actually make it happen. Don't they realize that various circumstances can quickly conspire to confound even their best efforts?

That's what happened to me on Thursday. I had planned--and hoped--to attend the free continuing legal education webinar, but a meeting I had ran longer than expected, so I missed the program.

Thanks to Peter Olson's blog, Solo in Chicago, I have found additional information about reasonably priced MCLE programs, such as MentorCLE. Obviously, cost is but one consideration in selecting CLE programs to attend, but since I am a solo lawyer, it's an important factor in my decision. I'd love to fly to New York or Los Angeles and spend two or three days soaking up all the latest developments in my areas of practice but that's not quite as feasible now as it was, say, in 2000. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for the opportunity to participate in the online programs because they really are convenient. On the other hand, the networking opportunities as great as the programs you attend live, but hey, these days we have blogs and MySpace and Facebook and LinkedIn for networking, right? Right?