You’ve heard this: the hurrier I go the behinder I get. I really need to use my time more efficiently. This is something technology was going to do for us. But, as I often lament, technology (computers, in particular) seems to rob me of more time than it saves me. Which is why I particularly enjoyed this cartoon.

I have a couple of favorite web hosting companies. One is the Fine Folks at TextDrive, another is the Happy Folks at DreamHost. Periodically, and perhaps with greater frequency as time marches on, I’m sorely tempted to hang up the shingle and take up “webmastering”. Then, I might have the time to spend the amount of time I’d like to spend reading the newsletters and blogs these hosters put out. Generally, they are both entertaining and educational in more ways than one. Alas, I barely find the time to skim their offerings.

The latest DreamHost newsletter was, however, very brief, so decided I had some time to click the link to the DreamHost Blog and check it out. The latest article was entitled “Phishing Phor Phishers“. It could be said it has nothing to do with oil and gas law, although some might say phishers and oil promoters are cut from the same cloth. Here, I’m obliged to interpose that I’ve assisted several oil clients with the documentation for private offering drilling and development programs, all of which were entirely above board and legit. Still, oil people don’t have a reputation that would be considered much of an improvement over that of lawyers or car salesmen (I was, through social training, about to write “salespersons” but, on reflection, I’ve never really heard anyone suggest that a female car seller was dishonest; the typical slimy car salesman is always pictured as a male).

The blog article and comments thereon did touch upon “law” topics, though, so it’s not really off-topic for a lawyer’s blog. One thing I found amazing was the number of comments to this article, in less than a day. What a readership! Ordinarily, I find it pretty much impossible to wade through dozens upon dozens of comments following a popular blog article. In this case, however, the number of useful, insightful, or entertaining comments held my attention to the end (though I’ll admit skimming a few as I gained momentum). So, for anyone who’d like an entertaining, useful and educational read on phishing, there it is!

I’ve mentioned The Scout Report in an earlier article. This time, I’ve covered the current issue over at the Chappells Blog.

Without going into particulars, I’ll just say that I was recently struggling with a dilemma that was escalating to undesireable levels of psyhchological distress. It was a situation where I was trying to decide whether to ask for a special favor. I knew that asking would not only be futile, but would also be embarrassing and demeaning. On the other hand, if I could get the favor, it would be really great.

In the course of some number of days during which I agitated over whether to ask for the favor or just let it go and move on, I stumbled across a collection of “quotations” I had saved once upon a time in an obscure subdirectory on my computer. It was a pretty pithy and amusing collection, and included this:

“The person who asks may be a fool for five minutes. The person who doesn’t ask will be a fool for life.”

So, I picked up the phone and asked.

Turned out, my premise was totally incorrect. What I was asking for was routine and did not even amount to a favor – it was freely available to anyone, simply for the asking.

So, there y’go!

In case anybody has noticed, and I doubt anybody has, there aren’t a lot of regular articles being posted here. I’ve noticed, of course, several lawyer blawgs that are just prolific. I don’t know where they find the time. Law professors, maybe, but as a practicing attorney with a couple of other interests like making websites, I just don’t have time to be prolific with this blog. I’m mentioning this because it’s not my intention to disappoint or mislead anybody. An argument could be made that a person ought not to have a blog unless a person is going to blog, that is, post articles somewhat regularly, definitely more frequently than a blue moon. Then again, it’s a free internet and a person doesn’t have to write if a person doesn’t have the time.

It occurs to me that instead of writing the same thing twice, I could just provide a link to some other blog article like Those Crazy Burger King Dweebs in a case where something might be of interest to readers who wouldn’t ordinarily read both blogs. It seems like cross linking to other articles is fairly common in the so-called blogosphere.