gregchad

The End of Summer…

The other day, I had to meet a client at 8pm.  As I got my stuff ready, I realized that I should probably wear long pants, because, well, it was starting to get a little cooler in the evenings - and when I stepped outside, I realized that it was almost pitch dark at 7:55pm.  That really depresses me.  Summer is my second favorite season - not that far from third place actually.  Spring is number 1 - by far.  The excitement of the end of winter - a little chill in the air in the morning/evening, but the days are just absolutely beautiful - 78 degrees, sunny, warm - just beautiful…and knowing that summer is coming - which is exciting, the thought of it - but the reality of summer humidity quickly dampens the excitement of 85-90 degree weather - pushing summer into second place.  Fall would be second, if it weren’t for the fact that come the end of Fall is Winter - and I HATE winter.

So, while Summer has not technically ended, but we are a little past the ceremonial passage of summer - Labor Day - I thought I would take a minute to reflect on my summer…

Summer began with a huge personal disappointment.  After spending the first half of the year working to help elect Sen. Clinton the first female nominee for President, I was a very disappointed when it all ended.  I am sure my future posts will delve into my thoughts on this year’s election, but I can say that I still think the majority of the Democratic party made a mistake in not nominating Sen. Clinton.  I think the overwhelming concern behind her candidacy was that there was a certain percentage of people that just would never vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton to be President.  It’s not about the fact that she’s a woman.  It’s about the fact that she is Hillary Clinton.  And that number is about 45% of those that vote.  That’s a horrible number to run in an election.  45% of the voters will not vote for you - and you need 50.00001% to win.  Even if you give the other side a similar percentage - you only have 10% to play with - and you have to win the majority of them.  If the other candidates negatives are lower than yours, than you have to win over even more voters to win.  A very legitimate concern of those anti-Hillary Democrats.  But not a wise one.

While Sen. Obama is definitely inspirational and is definitely bringing more, and new voters into the process unlike anyone before him, he’s still running even with Sen. McCain - and that is just absolutely inexplicable to me.  You can blame it on the Obama campaigns lackluster campaign since the convention - or you can blame the incredible Republican PR machine doing its thing, yet again.  And while I agree that both of those are at play here, I think there is a bigger issue going on.

Just as there are going to be questions about whether we are ready, as a country, to elect a women as President, or a Mormon or a black man - those numbers are difficult to quantify.  (I am not claiming original thought here) - The point is, when a pollster calls someone and asks, “do you think the country is ready for a women/Mormon/black President?”, most people want to answer the “right” answer - the politically correct answer.  ”Yes, I can support a black man for President.”  Call it the “Bradley Effect” as those in the media do.  Anyway, the point is, the question of will you support someone, generically, like a “woman”, a “black man”, etc. is very different that the question, “Do you support Sen. Clinton”.

So, I think what we are now seeing, in the tightening of this political race, is that the amount of people that don’t support Sen. Obama - possibly because he is a black man - is looking to equal the number of people who wouldn’t support Sen. Clinton, because she is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Maybe, I am wrong, and I sure hope that I am - but it is the only rational explanation I can come to about why this race is this close.  Therefore, if Sen. Obama has the same kind of negatives than Sen. Clinton, I think the party made a mistake in not giving her the nomination, because if this race is going to get nasty, and I really think it will, I know Sen. Clinton would have gotten right down in the dirt with those bastards.  I do not endorse these tactics, except to say this.  The Republicans have shown that that’s they way they fight - and they win.  I support sticking to your principles and winning with your integrity in tact, but this time, I don’t want to lose.  There’s too much at stake, and I think this country needs a President with more progressive ideas.

That’s my recap of the entire primary process.  In a nutshell!

My focus, after the campaign ended, was to focus 100% on Reisher Law.  I had a few cases that I was pushing forward and needed a little more attention than I was able to provide while working on the campaign.  3 of them were potential litigation, so I had filed claims in 2 of them and the calendar of events was starting to heat up.  I also had been working on a divorce and those negotiations had reached a point where more attention was required.  As always, there were different issues with my small business clients, and a few people interested in wills and estate planning documents.

My goal was to end the summer having completed those 3 litigation cases and the divorce - as well as manage and maintain my small business and hopefully work on a few wills.  In the meantime, I was hoping to attract a few more clients, and hopefully, come the Fall, I could continue to focus solely on Reisher Law.

As for my case load - I settled 2 of the litigation cases, the third is still going through the motions.  The divorce case finalized all negotiations, and now it’s just a matter of filing an uncontested divorce.  I have worked with my small business clients, and continue to do so.  I picked up a new client over the summer that has been excellent.  I have not followed through with the potential wills/estate planning clients, but have participated in other networking events that have not yet produced specific results, but I hope will soon.

I joined Chemistry.com this summer in an attempt to get out and meet some new people.  It has definitely served that purpose.  I have had fun going out on a few dates.  None of them have materialized into much more than a date or two, but I am glad that I am out there and meeting new people. 

I also joined the Capital Tennis Association and have been able to get out and play a lot more tennis this summer.  I met a really nice guy, Thomas, and he and I started hitting, we both decided to join the CTA and now I have met a lot of new and interesting and fun people.  I am trying to play a couple times a week, if possible, and it’s just great.  I really enjoy it!

As for vacations, I was able to get to my dad’s for a long weekend back at the very end of the spring.  That was great.  I was there during the French Open - so we played some tennis and watched some tennis and generally hung out.  It was quite nice.  Then I got away to the Poconos for a weekend for my friends Jenny and Andy’s wedding.

I spent 2 weeks completely engrossed in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad!!! (see beginning posts).

And then I got to go on my great cross country adventure with Kevin!  Again, it was quite amazing!  My favorite pic from the trip is atop.  Maybe it means something??

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