Being an Olympiad – Music – Passionate Exuberance

 

When I was in high school I was on the Helix track and cross country teams.  It was a place for anyone who wanted to participate in a sport could be on the team, even if that person “sucked.”   I always thought I was a great runner because I was passionate about being an athlete.  I LOVED working out and running.  It did kind of bother me that I would be the “best runner” the first couple of days of hell week, and by the end of the second week of the season, even the new people were beating me (after I showed them the ropes and was their “mentor”).  I would rationalize the fact that everyone was faster than me thinking, “Boy, there is a lot of unbelievable talent here at Helix.”

 

One day in my sophomore year, my second season on the track team, my coach pulled me aside and said, “Rosalie, I hate to burst your bubble, but you’re slow.”  I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach.  I became incredibly sad, depressed, and almost quit the team.  But I never believe in quitting.  One of my mantras in life is, “I will show them.”

 

Luckily, the fast runners appreciated what I could bring to the team – passionate exuberance.  Carol Keller, the CFI champ four years in a row, paced me one race my senior year so I could run a six-minute mile and get a varsity letter.  The best time I could ever do alone was a seven-minute mile.  I needed to get the six-minute mile to get that varsity letter.  Carol lost that race to girls who couldn’t believe they were beating the great Carol Keller.  Carol swallowed her pride and ran with me to the finish line losing for the first time in her high school running career.

 

So what does this story have to do with being an Olympiad and music?   When I was doing road-runs with the track team, I would sing.  One day I pulled a huge banana leaf off a plant while we were running down the street.  I got in front of the runners and pretended it was the Olympic flag.  I started humming the Olympic song – humming really loud – I yelled, “Let’s pretend we are in the Olympics.”  All the girls laughed at first, felt a little self-conscious, but within seconds we were all humming at the top of our lungs the Olympic song.  Our team was so connected at that moment we would have done anything for each other.  Singing as a team became a norm.  Most of our road-runs from then on consisted of singing, humming, laughing, and aspiring to be great! 

 

I never would have lettered in track if it weren’t for singing and pretending.  Carol Keller was one of my “Olympic” team members that day running behind the banana leaf.  In musical comedies, everyone stops what they are doing and starts singing and dancing in unison.  One would think it could never happen in the real world.  That day our track team stopped and were running and singing in unison.  It was the same feeling I got when I was watching those old movies.  With music and “passionate exuberance,” anyone can become a varsity runner, maybe even an Olympiad.  Trust me.

 

rosalie@kramm.com – Lettered in Track (Varsity)

 

 

Attorneys – What to do with the original in California?

 

California is a huge state, and when it comes to Northern California and Southern California, the state becomes even more huge.   The California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2025 is interpreted by Northern California reporters in a much different manner than Southern California reporters. 

 

Northern California reporters believe that the original cannot be stipulated away by law.  Southern California reporters allow the original to be stipulated away for 98% of the depositions.  Who is right?  Who is wrong?  What does that mean to attorneys when it comes to the bottom line – $$$$?

 

I would suggest that anyone reading this blog and wants to know the language of the law to Google CCP 2025 and read.

 

But for people who want to know what is happening in the real world, here we go. 

 

Southern California:  Typically, at the end of a deposition an attorney will say, “Usual stipulations?”  The other side will say, “Sure.”  Then it is up to the reporter to say, “And what are the ‘usual stipulations’ in your world?”

 

Everyone will usually go off the record to come up with some time frames and who gets what.  Then the attorneys go back on the record and state something like this, “We stipulate to relieve the court reporter of her duties under the Code.  The witness may sign the transcript under penalty of perjury rather than going to the reporter’s office and having to sign it before a notary.  The original will go to the witness’ attorney who will have 30 days to get the transcript read and signed, and then the original will be lodged with the witness’ attorney.  The witness’ attorney will provide the original upon request for any hearing or trial.  If the original is lost or destroyed, a certified copy may be used in lieu of the original.  Is that stipulated?”   The other counsel all agree, “So stipulated.”

 

What does that mean exactly?  Number one, many younger attorneys think this is something they have to do by law, relieve the reporter of her duties.  Number two, the notary thing doesn’t apply in California any longer, but attorneys don’t realize it and put it in the stip anyway.  Number three, many times the witness’ attorney will take the original transcript, tear it apart, copy it, and never buy a certified copy.  Tearing apart an original has destroyed the integrity of the original – but it is common practice that happens every day.  Some attorneys who receive the original then call the court reporting agency who produced the original and ask for the ASCII insisting they have a right to it since they received the hard copy original or they want the original re-bound, a free condensed transcript with word index, blah, blah, blah.

 

What else does this mean?  This means that attorneys are helping to finance their opponent’s lawsuits.  If an attorney goes by CCP 2025, it creates the situation in which the other party’s counsel needs to buy a copy or have the witness go to the reporter’s office to read/sign the transcript.  Otherwise, one side is paying for all of the transcripts, and the other side is tearing apart originals to create copies. 

 

Northern California:  Reporting firms/reporters don’t allow the stipulation away of the original.  The reporter many times doesn’t want to get into a verbal disagreement with counsel and will just sit there, write down the stipulation, and not say anything.  Then the firm that that reporter works for will either (a) keep the original in-house and write the standard go by code CCP letter, ignoring the stipulation; or (b) send out the original to the witness’ attorney and charge the noticing attorney for an extra copy without saying anything at the deposition.  (This practice also happens in other states around the U.S.)

 

Attorneys Be Warned:  If you travel to Northern California or any other state, if you take a deposition geographically anywhere in the USA other than Southern California, your stipulation is probably going to cost you money.  It is going to cost you the price of a certified copy.

 

Is this fair?  Is this a good business practice for court reporting firms to implement this?  That is not for me to espouse to.  This is the way it is.

 

Therefore, I suggest that noticing attorneys coming out of Southern California go by the California Code of Civil Procedure when it comes to handling the original transcript.  There is a provision in the Code which allows a witness to read a certified copy and to send to the reporter any changes he/she wishes to make via certified letter.

 

Southern California is the only place in all the United States of America where the “California stip” is used.  Everywhere else the attorneys and reporters don’t know what you are talking about, and you might be charged lots of $$$$$$$$ for saying, “Let’s relieve the court reporter of her duties under the Code…” 

 

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Camaraderie

Definition:  “a spirit of friendly good-fellowship”

I love being around people who have a “camaradieic” spirit.   I get energy from people.  Belonging to clubs and associations that are working toward a common goal is exciting.  Being a part of Rotary (San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club) gives me a tremendous amount of energy.  Our club is made up of lawyers, bankers, real estate and insurance people, jewelers, doctors, and a myriad of other professions.  We laugh, sing, share a delicious breakfast in a magical setting atop Symphony Towers in a room of glass walls. 

The spirit of Rotary for me is a spirit of giving back and sharing energy with people around the world.  Last week a group of Rotarians in our club was invited by Melissa Blackburn, woman extraordinaire, to volunteer at the Women’s Resource Fair, a fair with the goal of helping homeless women and their children with education, medical care, and providing breakfast and lunch.  I got to be in the breakfast crew, handing out Danish.  

All of the women I came into contact with were polite, ready to smile, and grateful.  One woman stood out for me.  Maybe she was a little crazy or maybe not.  She was an elderly Asian woman.  Her husband was there with her, the only man I encountered (other than volunteers) all morning.  I suppose he was there to take care of her.  After drinking her coffee and eating her Danish, she came back up to our table, stood in front of us and started singing.  She had a sweet, soft voice.  She sang a song I hadn’t heard in years, a song I used to love to sing at church.  It starts out, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”  Out of nowhere a couple of tears came to my eyes.  A wonderful feeling flowed through me.  Then I quietly sang along with her.  The little Asian woman gave me a wonderful surge of happy energy. 

One of my goals in life is to surround myself with people who give happy energy surges and to stay away from people who are energy sucks.  I never know where the great energy may come from.  Being in groups, clubs, and associations where one has comrades and a common goal is a great source for happy surges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team S.O.S.

 

One of my passions is soccer.  I grew up on soccer fields playing with my brothers while my Dad refereed games.  About four years ago I started scrimmaging with a great group of guys who  played in an over 50 league, the Huff-N-Puff league.  After a couple of months of scrimmaging on Thursday nights one of the players, English Chris, asked if I would be their coach.  At first I thought he was joking.  I have a lot of soccer experience being a referee, but never have I coached.  The last thing I needed in my life was another role where I was in charge. 

 

After a lot of cajoling and the players insisting I would be more of a facilitator for subs than a coach, I agreed.  Three years ago was my first game as coach, S.O.S. vs. Aces.  My coaching duties have expanded to being a “real” coach including planning strategy and creating set plays.  What I love about my team is their respect for each other, passion for soccer, and their humanity.  S.O.S. is made up of really good souls. 

 

I will give weekly updates about our games.  We lost this week 6-3 against the Jaguars.   Iiro (Finland), Chris (England) and Simon (Lebanon) scored for S.O.S.  Lonn (USA) was our goalie.  The game was super exciting.  Next week we play the Aces.  I can’t wait.