At lunch today, my guests asked how I juggle blogging, teaching, and scholarship. I get that question a lot. My usual glib answer is that having tenure and not having kids leaves me a lot of free time. But they seemed interested, as have various other readers over the years, so I told them I'd blog what I did today.
6:34 AM: Wake up. Sort of. Helen long since up and at it. Don't know how she does it. Ponder life briefly. Hit the head. Too early. Back to bed. Toby joins me. Bella never does. Odd. And a little sad.
7:30-ish: Wake up as bed shakes massively. Earthquake? Nope. Toby scratching prodigiously. Ponder life a while. Decide this is a bit more civilized time to start day.
7:35-ish: Let dogs out. Wait. Yell for dogs to come back in.
7:45: Head upstairs to kitchen. Make breakfast. Egg sandwich. Tully's Breakfast Blend coffee with sugar and half and half. I love K-cups. So convenient. No mess, no fuss, no wasted coffee. Read Wall Street Journal front section. As usual, appalled by political news. Looks like Election 2012 will be another "none of the above" year. Second cup of coffee. Read finance section.
8:30: Downstairs to office. Third cup of coffee in hand. Check email. Answer some. Gawd, I get a lot of spam.
8:45: Check Facebook and Twitter. Nothing much going on.
8:50: Check Google Reader feed, Drudge, Memeorandum. Decide to do a blog post re WSJ Kodak coverage. Turns into very long post.
9:30-ish: Fire up Word and pull up essay on "Corporate Lawyers as Gatekeepers." They want 5,000 words on it for next UCLA faculty law journal. So I'm adapting a chapter from Corporate Governance after the Financial Crisis
9:35: Wish for millionth time I had a two-monitor set up like the one at my law school office. Can't go to office. Why, you ask? They kicked me out so a two-week visiting professor can use my office. They say I don't need it because I'm on sabbatical. On the plus side, I can't go to the office wearing the old sweats that serve as my pajamas. Well, not any more. At home, the dogs don't mind as much. Consider buying second monitor for home office. Decide to wait. Fourth cup of coffee? Yes, please. But switch to Tully's Kona blend.
10:10: Take break to check emails. Do back stretching exercises. Facebook, Twitter, Drudge.
10:20: Shave (special occasion). Shower. Dress. Let dogs out.
10:45: Back to work.
11:05: Outside. Car dusty. Wish for millionth time that I had a garage. Decide to get car washed.
11:15: At car wash. First soda of the day.
11:35: These guys work really hard and are super friendly. Tip generously.
12:00: Arrive at law school to pick up distinguished visitors. Famous judge. Famous lawyers.
12:10: Lunch at Hotel Bel Air. Lobster club sandwich. Fries. Iced tea. Yum. Good conversation. Admit still haven't forgiven Romney for dog incident. Pretty restaurant. Love the remodel.
1:30: Return guests to law school.
1:55: Back home. Let dogs out. Change back into sweats. Mentally recreate morning and start writing this post.
2:13: This post brought up to date. Plan to update regularly through rest of day. Check email, Facebook, Twitter, Drudge, Memeornadum.
2:15: I must confess to using Google alerts as a clipping service. It's picked up a story quoting me on insider trading. Write blog post about it. (After all, I have an entire blog category entitled "Dept of Self-Promotion." Hey, at least I'm self-aware.)
2:17: Tweet OMG link to story from Memeorandum about "Oklahoma mom calling 911 asks if shooting an intruder is allowed." Briefly ponder adage that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.
2:19: Tweet link to Scott Brown op-ed (via Memeorandum) on why Newt Gingrich is off base about judges. Newt's basic problem is a lack of discipline and a tendency to shoot from the lip (not a typo). Ponder sending Brown campaign some $. Decide to wait.
2:23: Check Google Reader feed to see what the bloggers I follow are doing. Toby bugging me. The infamous "golden retriever nudge." Pet with one hand while scrolling through news feed with other.
2:28: Saw a Joshua Fershee post about Larry Ribstein that also says a couple of nice words about yours truly. Blog post link.
2:32: Read three Erik Gerding posts about scholarly panels at the AALS. These days I'd sooner sit through a Golden Girls marathon than go to an AALS meeting. Especially if getting there means flying. But YMMV.
2:39: Read Francis Pileggi's post about noteworthy 2011 Delaware corporate cases. Blog post link.
2:43: Noting lots of blawg posts about Obama's "recess" appointments. Decide I don't care one way or the other. Both sides playing games while economy burns.
2:45: Okay. Back to work on Corporate Lawyers as Gatekeepers.
4:00: Break. Decide it's still warm enough for a swim.
4:05: Do back stretching exercises. Dip one foot in pool. Decide it's not warm enough. Retreat.
4:15: Back to work on Corporate Lawyers as Gatekeepers. Third draft/proofreading stage. Why does Word's grammar check think "counsel are" is incorrect? In context, counsel is clearly being used as a plural noun. I blame Bill Gates.
6:18: Finished work on Corporate Lawyers as Gatekeepers. Emailed it to editor. Also submitted it for SSRN posting. Now the real work of the sabbatical can begin, albeit not tonight. Make list: Edit anthology of essays on insider trading. Herd cats--I mean valued law professors contributing articles to anthology--to get work in on time. Write own essay on the rise and fall of the fiduciary duty element of insider trading. Write introduction. Edit cats' product. Write as much of book on employee involvement in corporate governance as possible. Update business associations statutory supplement. Shepherd eighth edition of business associations case book through galleys to production. Ditto third edition of mergers and acquisitions treatise. Update insider trading treatise publisher is letting go out of print, convert into e-book, and self-publish on Kindle. Decide a sufficiently rigorous update will justify treating it as a separate resume line entry. Review list. Decide taxpayers will be getting their money's worth from my sabbatical.
6:37: Upstairs to kitchen. Feed dogs. Consider dinner options. Chicken? Yes, please. But how? Stir-fried with shallots, lots of garlic, a lot of black pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and mirin. Taste. Adjust seasoning. Brown rice. Not bad.
Post-dinner: Decide I'm bored with punching clock. Rest of day gets one entry. -- Helen home. Catch up on each other's day, which always reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when Kramer explains marriage to Jerry. -- Watch Top Gear. Best TV show ever. -- Surf internet, which leads to: Find Kramer marriage bit on Youtube. Hysterical. Tweet link to Christine Hurt's comments on Larry Ribstein. Blog post re SEC conflict minerals disclosure. Blog post re WSJ Law Blog post about Delaware Chancellor Leo Strine. Repost old blog post re AALS. -- Read. -- Finish this post. Bed. Sleep.
