Bag of Randomness for Friday, May 19, 2017

  • James Comey decided to wrote a memo after meeting with President Trump so he would have something on record. LiberallyLean.com states he often crafts memos because he doesn’t trust his memory. Both of them are in legal professions, but it seems like a nice practice to introduce in everyday life, everything from meeting with a teacher about your child or a church meeting. Knowing nothing of memos, I thought they were just short letters or emails sent to people, but now I’m guessing it’s more of a note taking system. I’d like to research if there’s a tool, template, a protocol, or other things that go into writing, keeping, and managing memos. The first thing that comes to my mind is a spreadsheet which would allow me to sort and manage data.
  • From the sound of things, both LiberallyLean.com and I currently have one-eyed wives.
  • Yesterday DaughterGeeding’s school went on a field trip and WifeGeeding served as a chaperone. During a lull in conversation, DaughterGeeding revealed to all her friends that WifeGeeding has a glass eye. It’s obvious to y’all that she has no insecurities about it, but it’s not the sort of thing we want our daughter blurting out.
  • Vox – We tracked the Trump scandals on right-wing news sites. Here’s how they covered it. We’re experiencing these historical events very differently.
  • If the term “treason” is going to be thrown around, it’s a good idea to know what it actually is – Treason: An Explainer:
  • I wonder what it was like to live through Watergate and experience what’s going on now, if there’s a certain vibe in the air or if the mood of the country is the same. I was born in 75 so I can’t claim to know what was going on at the time.
  • Not saying it’s going to lead to this, but wouldn’t it be interesting that Pence is somehow found guilty along with Trump and the country ended up with President Paul Ryan?
  • Golden Girls Edition Of Clue Coming Soon
  • Five Guys named favorite burger chain, taking spot from In-N-Out
    • Shake Shack, Wendy’s and Culver’s rounded out the top five.
    • The Cheesecake Factory was named best casual dining restaurant, Ben & Jerry’s was ranked the best ice cream and frozen yogurt shop and Papa John’s was named the best pizza chain. Starbucks also debuted as the Coffee and Quick Service Restaurant Brand of the Year.
    • I had no idea Chick-fil-A had something called “Mom Valet”, but I’m not sure if it’s available everywhere –
      • Mom’s Valet works like this: When parents come through the drive-thru and order, they can request Mom’s Valet. The staff then jumps into action, preparing the order, finding a table, setting it, putting the needed number of highchairs out, filling drinks, doling out the right condiments and putting the food on the table. When the parent arrives in the store with kids in tow, the hostess directs them to their seats.
  • Bellmead and Humble – 2 Texas cities named among ‘most dangerous’ in United States based on FBI data
  • Take the RoboCop Tour of Dallas – Walk around the movie’s downtown filming locations in honor of its 30th anniversary.
  • A Creationist Sues the Grand Canyon for Religious DiscriminationThe national park wouldn’t let him collect rocks for research.
  • This 6’9″, 395-Pound Beast Has 23 D-1 Offers but Has Never Played in a Game
  • Harvard Student Submits Rap Album as His Senior ThesisObasi Shaw, an English major, is the university’s first student to submit his final thesis in the form of a rap album.
  • More nuggets from the book I’m reading about the relationships amongst presidents.
    • It’s really interesting reading how much Johnson sought the counsel of Ike, bringing him into meetings and calling him on the phone. He leaned on him heavily going into Vietnam. Even though LBJ could be intimidating to many, he didn’t feel comfortable talking to generals and admirals and knew the weight Ike carried not only being a former president but carrying that extra star. LBJ was really an insecure man.
    • Something Ike once said to North Korea
      • “We make a hell of a lot of weapons. We spent a lot of money on them. What the hell do we make them for if we don’t ever use them.” Ike explained that he never intended to do anything except let that view get back to the North Koreans. But it ensured that the North Koreans would want to negotiate with him.
    • The book states LBJ and Billy Graham were friends, and  Operation Rolling Thunder was named from a verse of Graham’s signature revival anthem, “How Great Thou Art”.
    • I sadly and humbly admit I don’t know much about the history of Vietnam or even what escalated the war. However, this book is giving me a lot of insight of the history of my mother’s homeland, helping me understanding how North Vietnam and South Vietnam came to be, who the Viet Cong were, and how unstable the South Vietnamese government was. It’s neat going into this book looking for more knowledge about past presidents and then discovering something personal.
This entry was posted in Political. Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Friday, May 19, 2017

  1. Abrian Stemmet says:

    Hi there! take a look at http://www.trello.com to manage your thoughts, ideas, etc.

  2. Ben W. says:

    I don't craft formal memos regarding conversations with clients or opposing counsel, but I almost always take notes, which are then retained in the client/matter file (or on my desk for a while). I have to believe that most attorneys do something similar, just as CYA, because when you're juggling a normal case load things can all start to run together, especially if you're practicing in a specialized field. I do mostly aviation law, and when I've got a dozen or more cases involving airplane crashes–all in different stages of litigation or negotiation–specific facts/conversations/discussions can get blurry. Keeping notes/memos helps keep all that sorted out.

    The most telling quote on the current state of politics appeared from a Trump supporter in an AP article yesterday. Asked why she hasn't been keeping up with the current scandals, she said, "I didn’t want to be depressed. I don’t want to feel that he’s not doing what he said, so I just choose to not listen.”

    "Mom Valet" is not available at all Chick-fil-A locations. Source: my kid who works at Chick-fil-A.

  3. Former Neighbor Payne says:

    I use MS OneNote for all of my work meetings and even personal items. You create a subject (in my case, each one of my accounts) and every meeting note becomes a subgroup of the main group.

  4. LL Research Lab says:

    I actually work with a guy that was a small child when he and his family escaped from Vietnam when the government fell. He was 8 at the time and they were on a boat packed with people.

    He has pictures on his desk of his family dressed in traditional Vietnamese costumes.

    His grandfather was a general in the South Vietnamese Army.

  5. Suzi says:

    I'm shocked at how different mainstream and conservative media are. If you have your ear to the ground on one side of the fence, you could be completely ignorant of what's being discussed on the other side. I've been wondering how much that played into the bad calls on election results, especially with respect to alt-right and conservative christian groups.

    I figured everyone heard pretty much the same thing with a different spin, but there's way more to it than that.

Comments are closed.