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The Tenth Circuit handed me a huge win yesterday, in one of the cases I argued in May. The (truly excellent**) opinion is here. This is my first appellate win in several years that actually results in my client obtaining the writ of habeas corpus and having his conviction overturned.
I am thrilled!
*OK, it probably doesn't qualify as a streak, because I have lost a couple of cases recently. But still! 2006 has been a good year for the habeas docket!
**Biased? Me?
Steve and I drove home yesterday in our brand new 2007 Volvo V50-T. It's a stylin' ride, one we've coveted for many months as we sorted our finances and came to terms with the foolhardiness of new-car buying.
Originally, we were planning to take advantage of Volvo's Overseas Delivery Program, a sweet deal in which Volvo flies you to Sweden and feeds you swedish meatballs before handing you the keys to your brand new, custom-designed Volvo. As appealing as this offer sounded, the timing just wasn't working for us, and we decided that Sweden was so far from the top of our Places We're Dying To Go list that it wasn't worth using the vacation time. So we'll take a trip elsewhere, later.
Next, we thought we might land a good deal on a 2006 closeout. There are a few such deals to be found, but only if you're willing to settle for an automatic transmission. While only one of us drives, both of us are gear-shift purists, particularly when we were buying such a sporty vehicle.
That put us back in the terrifying new-car market. But with the help of a savvy broker, we landed a pretty sweet deal, very close to the factory price we'd have paid for a 2007 in Sweden. It's still a hell of a lot more money than either of us ever imagined spending on a car, which means we won't even be thinking about buying anything else with four wheels and an engine until 2022.
Yesterday, it was ours. The weather cooperated by being wet and chilly, allowing us to take full advantage of the heated front seats, as well as the extremely versatile front and back wipers. And late last night, we experienced the first snow of the season from the Volvo's cozy confines, as we drove up the steep and windy Flagstaff Mountain road, just for kicks.
The Volvo is loaded with snazzy-cool electronic features, including such unfamiliar luxuries as power windows and air conditioning. Hopefully, my arm strength won't suffer, now that I no longer have to crank the windows up and down.
But all this luxury is not without its downside. In addition to being fully paid-for and practically maintenance-free, the trusty Civic averages 41 miles per gallon. It's been known to get 47 MPG on the highway, even at eleven years old. The Volvo? Maybe 30, if we're lucky.
Barely an hour after we'd inked the deal last night, we watched An Inconvenient Truth. As the credits rolled, the audience sat in stunned silence, contemplating our collective guilt and weighing Al Gore's call to action. I leaned over and whispered to Steve: maybe we should exchange it for a Prius?
I've had little to say on the cochlear-implant front in recent weeks. Basically, it's great. I'm hearing so much, so clearly, and loving it. I can't think of a single complaint, other than wishing the processor was slightly smaller and didn't flop off my head during yoga.
I don't have a court appearance until next week, but I sat in on some Tenth Circuit arguments in September, and together with the FM system, the CI worked superbly. The sound was much crisper and cleaner than with my hearing aid. Also, I could hear all of the rabbi's stories, jokes, and sermons during High Holidays services, which made the experience far more interesting (and perhaps even more spiritually satisfying), and kept me awake throughout.
On the other hand, I'm finding that my left ear, with its low-tech hearing aid, less and less adequate for solo hearing. I've even taken to using the CI for the phone semi-regularly, although it works better with my home and cell phones than the one in my office. I don't think the left ear itself is performing worse, although I do want my audiologist to test it solo for comparative purposes, at my November appointment. Rather, I think the CI is just So. Much. Better. Now that my brain has almost completely adjusted to the device, I am hearing voices, music, environmental sounds, and background noises with more clarity and distinctness than I ever dreamed possible.
The other day, a panhandler muttered, "do you know what time it is?" as I walked past him. Pre-CI, I would have heard only a muffled voice, and would have either ignored him completely, or stopped to locate the speaker and asked him to repeat himself, before realizing the speaker wasn't someone with whom I wanted to engage. But now, I heard him perfectly, and rattled off the hour as I walked on by. It was a nothing moment, but I smiled as I continued walking, feeling proud to fit harmoniously into the background music of everyday urban life.
VisionWalk 2006 was a roaring sucess. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our 160 supporters, the Usher's Mushers collected a grand total of $11,244 and walked our way to the Flying Pig award. The event as a whole raised nearly $100,000 - an impressive debut, and a LOT of much-needed research dollars.
The walk was . . . interesting. The organization was loose, at best, leaving an aura of chaos over the proceedings. The volunteers were super-nice and very enthusiastic, but didn't seem to have any actual information. And there was juice, but no coffee. I needed coffee.
Rather than a beginning-to-end 5K, as we'd expected we'd be walking, the route was a 1K loop that we were supposed to circle five times. It was a gorgeous kilometer, with trees and ponds and glorious fall foliage and stunning mountain views. It was also flat and smooth, easily navigable by wheelchairs, guide dogs, white canes, and strollers. But after two or three times around, it was boooooring. Also, we lost count. So we walked somewhere between 4K and 6K, give or take a couple of bathroom breaks.
There were something like 400 walkers, including quite a few blind people using canes or dogs. It was pretty cool to see so many blind people, although as usual it freaked me out to think that "real" blindness might be in my own foreseeable (hah!) future.
The event was also heavily family-oriented, with a Jumpy Castle and a giant inflatable slide and a cotton candy machine. There was also a terrific band, which we could hear playing from most points along the endless kilometer.
Eventually, people finished walking in circles and gathered by the bandstand for a disjointed awards presentation. My friend O., who had traveled all the way from Boston to join us, won the prize for the longest distance traveled to participate. Several teams won prizes for their excellent t-shirts (we'll come up with a design for next year). And we, the Usher's Mushers, won the team challenge by several thousand dollars.
Here we are with the sign proclaiming our accomplishment:
And here's our fabulous Flying Pig, Ms. Amelia Eyeheart:
Thank you all SO much! I hope you will support us again next year. (Well, actually, I hope that by next year, we don't need your support anymore because retinitis pigmentosa has been cured. A girl can dream.)
