Cooking with Hitler

My brother Carlos, often referred to as Hitler by my oldest friends (this story to come later), and I are scheduled to cook on Thursday night for the family. I'm thinking of making some ribs or a beef roast to go with whatever dish Hitler makes. And what does Hitler specialize in? Believe it or not, my brother is famous for making dishes so pretty that Martha Stewart's cellmates would be jealous. Picture a golden ham sprinkled with tons of little cherries and pineapples attached via little toothpicks.

"Are we going to eat this or take pictures," said my father impatiently as the women in the family "ooh and aaah." My sisters and my brother like pretty things.

I wonder if the real Hitler also liked pretty things.

Me, I tend to lean towards cooking enormous hunks of meat. On Thursday, I'll be using my Orion cooker- It's the contraption pictured above. In a little over an hour it can take the fattest and thickest chunk of beef and make it so tender that it falls apart with a fork.

The Orion uses one bag of charcoal and gives off flames during the initial stages of the cooking- so it's pretty fun to use during a cookout. You feel like you are in the middle of a gothic bonfire. I got one for my friend Frankie when he got married.

If they say marriage is hell, then why not have a cooker that spits flames?

The weight loss competition resumes!

This past week, I rejoined the YMCA's latest installment of the Team Challenge weight loss competition. It was nice to see some of the familiar characters from the last competition. Pamela is back as is Carlos the torturer, but this time they are on a competing team.

My first workout was with a new personal trainer, named Sam. Sam seems to be a firm believer in exercises that use your own body weight- modified push ups, pull ups, lunges, etc... I used to be able to do a ton of push ups and you'd think that push ups are easier when your belly is..um..closer to the floor, but it was a struggle. Still, by the end of the class, I felt completely conscious- which is probably a step towards better fitness. My new team mates were also very motivational- I even got cheerful email reminders from our captain.

Later in the week, we had a nutrition class where we were faced with the catch 22 of weight loss- you need to burn more calories than you eat in order to lose weight, but if you eat too little then you don't have the energy to work out. I've decided to err on the side of eating too much for now. The perfect diet is one of moderation- lower on calories but with a good balance of carbs, protein and fats- depending on your needs at the time.



On Saturday, I decided to take a class with Carlos and his little brother(le petit torturer?) in order to help burn some extra calories. It was a boot camp style class that was absolutely exhausting- I was tired for the rest of the day- but was also exhilarating. I ran up and down hills and did a variety of military style drills.

GI Ray? Just a matter of time...

Some thoughts in September

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything. Mostly I've been involved in a jury trial that has consumed most of my time with any leftover time given to the rest of my practice and my wife.

A jury trial is what many of us lawyers live for. A trial tests the pinnacle of your skills as a lawyer. You compete with another lawyer in shaping what the jury will consider to be evidence. Surprisingly, there are relatively few lawyers that know how to try a case. I haven't seen statistics, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that most lawyers will never in their careers participate as lead counsel in a jury trial.

A criminal jury trial is even harder than a normal trial, because you are faced with the prospect that your client will lose his liberty if you lose the trial. If you don't break down a certain witness with your cross examination, you could lose. If you don't relate well to the jury, you could lose. There are a million things that could go wrong and you should be paralyzed with stress. Yet, I find that you feel very alive while you are trying the case.

In my recent trial, there was a moment where I was able to ask the police officer if he in fact was the person who committed the crime! There was another moment when I confronted an eyewitness with his alleged methamphetamine addiction.

At the end of the trial, the jurors weren't able to convict my client because I'd raised a doubt about every piece of evidence in the case.

A friend asked me if this was justice. It's another way of asking whether a guilty person had gone free. I can't break client confidentiality by answering this question directly, but I'll try a generic answer.

Like many Americans, I believe in the presumption of innocence. My job as a defense attorneys is to protect my client's rights under the constitution. I'll do this to the limit of my abilities because it keeps the system honest.

It's better for a guilty person to be free than for an innocent man to be incarcerated. You have to believe this to be any good at jury trials.