I chanced to discover an old memory.

As I have mentioned here before, I like to read. And I love browsing the shelves of used bookstores -- I have found many gems at bargain prices, like complete hardcover set of Winston Churchill's history of the Second World War for $10.

One bonus is that sometimes -- especially with older hardcovers -- one comes across all sorts of interesting bits of paper stuck in between the pages. I have yet to find a blank cashiers check or cash or a bearer bond, but I have found things like an old computer punch card bill from an oil company (Esso, if I recall correctly), inspirational and sad and cryptic inscriptions from fathers to sons, wives to husbands, or from one friend to another, marking some gift-giving occasion or life moment.

Anyway, as I was coming back from lunch today, I saw that the local library was having a book sale, and so I stopped in. No great discoveries, but I picked up a few books that looked interesting. About 10 pages into one of them (I love Stanley Bing's "Esquire" and "Fortune" columns), I saw the original receipt from the bookstore in Austin where it was originally purchased in February 1999. In addition to Bing, our buyer bought a $4.00 newspaper (I know!) and "52 Invitations to Grrrrrreat Sex."

Setting aside Tony the Tiger allusions, I note that our buyer paid cash. Hmmm. Perhaps because this was just after the Clinton broo-ha-ha in which Ken Starr subpoenaed two bookstores to see what books Monica Lewinsky bought (reportedly because they thought that she gave Bill a copy of "Vox," a book about phone sex)? Perhaps.

Anyway, seeing the receipt amused me. Carry on.

A taste of honey's worse than none at all.

Oh, Mister Mathew Weiner -- you must have seen my recent cri de coeur re the lovely Ms. Rachel Menken, and what do you do? You give me mere seconds of her on the screen tonight. A tease! You bastard. Bring her back.

Ah well. I console myself with the fact that I appear to be falling for Pete Campbell's wife, the delightful Trudy, who he so does not deserve (they really need a beter picture of her on the AMC website):

Everybody's in it for their own gain, you can't please them all.

Trying to juggle a group of people with shared yet slightly competing interests in putting together a deal is one of the joys of the lawyerly life.

Fact: These people need to settle this case. Fact: These people know that they need to settle this case. Fact: These people want those people to pay slightly more into the pot of money to go to the other side. Fact: Those people want these people to pay slightly more money into the pot. Fact: I'm losing track of the point I am trying to make. Fact: I am out of sweet vermouth, and so had some Bushmills neat instead of a Knob Creek Manhattan while watching the Mets game tonight.

Drinking Irish whiskey tends to put me into a contemplative and wistful mood. I thought about my Uncle Mike, who taught me that Irish whiskey is made for sipping while pondering life. So I sipped and I pondered life. I sipped some more. Sadly, nothing came to mind as to how to get the knuckleheads in the case to agree to a reasonable number. So, like David Geffen when he was straight and dating Joni Mitchell, if I had my way I'd just walk through these doors and wander down the Champs-Élysées. (Fact: I need to go to Paris.)

I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now.

Christ, Marino looks like such a tool. I almost want to smack the smirk off of his 1984 face by telling him that he will never ever even come close to making it back to the Super Bowl.

And Bernie, ah Bernie. Doug Flute awaits you, my friend.

Laying low at L'Ermitage, of course.

Like the late Mr. Zevon, I, too, sometimes feel like an imposter has been living my life for me. But I've just been a little busy with family visits and weddings, and filing four answers that were due on four consecutive days.

Anyhow, since I am not blogging to share my pearls of wisdom on affirmative defenses (ok, fine --here's one: waiver, ratification, and estoppel always go well together), you surely do not care about that. So, what has been going on that you might care about? Here are a few tidbits from my life the last couple of weeks:

1. Otherwise intelligent people (like opposing counsel on a mediation) really -- no, I am being deadly serious -- think that Barack Obama is an Al Qaeda plant. This gives me pause.

2. If you aren't watching Mad Men, you should be. Although I do miss Don Draper's Jewish mistress from last season -- lose the Beatnik chick, fine, sure, but please, Mister Weiner, bring back Rachel Menken!

3. Ahem. The owner of Menken's Department Store deserves two items on this list. (Complicated brunettes, remember?)

4. It is a true pleasure to be driving in the summer on a warm day when a Not Overplayed Jimmy Buffett song unexpectedly comes on the radio. Your pickup's washed and you just got paid, indeed. It's like Proust catching a whiff of that cookie.

5. The Mets are still in it.

Anyway, more to follow. Happy Friday!