So the other day I promised, more to myself than anything, that I’d start writing here on the blog again.

And someone posted this comment:

Why bother, really…

I know, I’m as shocked as you are to discover that apparently not everyone gives a rat’s ass. Shocked, shocked I tell you!

Okay, not so much. I love the irony, though- someone from Enumclaw (or at least that’s what it looks like from the IP address) bothers to read the blog, but then takes a little potshot and says “why bother writing”. Why do you bother reading, dear anonymous reader?

But it actually IS a good question. Why do people blog? Why write? Why do I bother with it?

Well, a few things. I first started blogging a few years back with delusions that I could somehow work it into a real job down the road, maybe as a newspaper columnist or something like that. Seeing how the newspaper industry is about done for, though, I’m not so sure that’s a great plan.

I wrote because I liked to write. That’s really about the simplest answer I can give. And this kind of writing suits me pretty well; I tried and failed to write fiction, even though I love to read. I even went to a weekend class taught by a favorite author of mine, Orson Scott Card, to try and learn how to write.

The class was a failure in the sense of learning how to write fiction, although it gave me a much better understanding of how to structure stories and plot and so forth. I’d like to think that I’m an even better READER of fiction now that I have a better understanding of what makes some writing “good” and other writing “bad”. (I can highly recommend Card’s text/guidebook on the subject, “Elements of Writing Fiction- Characters and Viewpoint”. Great book, far better in technical terms than Stephen King’s “On Writing”.)

I talk a lot. (Another shock-NOT!) I like to say what I think about stuff. Writing helps get that out into the open, so I write.

A few years ago, I started a separate blog for work-related stuff called “The FAA Follies”. It’s been going since fall of 2006, and in that time it’s gathered in over 900,000 visits and just under 2,000,000 page views. Two MILLION.

That kind of blows me away, because I often think that the writing I do there (which is a mix of news reporting, expounding on facts, and a lot of opinion or analysis) isn’t that good. I don’t spend enough time on it, I read others’ writing on FAA topics and think “man, I wish I could write that well” all the time, and I just wish it were better writing.

Don’t get me wrong- occasionally I knock out an entry and think it totally kicks ass. However, frequently the ones I think rock bomb with the readers, and the ones I didn’t spend much time on at all are immensely popular, drawing dozens of comments and thousands of page views.

So WTF is that about? Why is some good and some bad? Well, damned if I know.

But what I *do* know is that I write a lot of those bits for myself. I’m delighted if others like it, but they’re often a way for me to work something out of my system, whether it’s a rant, a suggestion, or just plain observations.

I’m getting away from the topic here (I wander around a lot) which is “why bother?”

And the answer, ultimately, is simple: Because I like to do it.

So for those haters out there who think to themselves “man, that Paul just likes hearing himself talk or think”… you’re right. I do. And apparently those haters give more of a shit about what I have to say than they would EVER admit, because if they didn’t, they’d never bother commenting.

I hope people enjoy reading stuff I write, and I’m thankful for each and every reader, but ultimately writing is kind of selfish; we’re often doing it for ourselves. It’s kind of a dirty little secret that authors have, I suspect.

What the hell?

What happened was I was filling out a review of these pants on REI’s website. I had gone to order another pair, figured I’d fill in the review, and then it asked me if I had a blog and if so what the address was. I filled that in, it asked for a password, I said to myself “what the hell” and put it in… and pow, suddenly I’m reviewing pants on my blog.

The wonders of the internet.

Anyway, I might just leave that on- it’s kind of funny. So if you see occasional outdoor gear reviews, that’s where they’re coming from. And you’ll notice that REI conveniently provides a link to the item on their web site if you should happen to want to order it… they ought to give me money if anyone does!

Well, the elections took up a lot more of my mental energy than I realized. Thankfully, they’re over, and most of the good guys won. The biggie, of course, is Obama; locally, Christine Gregoire won the governor’s race (by a margin that surprised me) and I voted the way almost all of the initiatives went.

I’m a bit bummed that Darcy Burner didn’t win, but I think she just got a little bit too typical-politician in this race. The Seattle Times’ hit piece on her, which was shoddy reporting, didn’t help either.

Reichert’s been an okay rep for my union, though, so that’s cool.

I also settled out a little legal matter. I can’t say too much about it for fear of violating the settlement, but what it amounts to is that I wrote something on my other blog about this guy, and he didn’t like it. That ordinarily wouldn’t be a huge deal, except that he has a pal that’s a lawyer, and they were threatening to sue me.

The settlement amounts to they agree to not sue me, and I agree to take down any posts that refer to him and to not say anything nasty about him. So, nothing about him; instead, I’ll tell ya about the legal process.

It’s a mess. Even if your lawyer tells you “if you go to court, you stand an excellent chance of winning” it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on firm ground. If the other side doesn’t appear to have any problem with how much money they’re spending (or if they’re getting free legal services- and I have no way of knowing what the case was here) and YOU have to shell out big-time dough for a lawyer, you’re going to “lose” even if you don’t go to trial.

In my case, my lawyers were very, very good. Unfortunately, they’re in Phoenix, since that’s where the Other Guys are located. I found them via the wonders of the Internet; since the (potential) case was a defamation of character kind of deal, I searched for First Amendment and defamation lawyers down there.

My guy, David Bodney, is damn good. He works for a firm named Steptoe & Johnson, which is a larger (500+ lawyers) firm with offices in Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, London, and Brussels.

As you can imagine, that’s a large firm- and an expensive one. However, I am a firm believer that you only pay for quality once; you pay for poor service over and over again.

David’s billing rate is over 400 bucks an hour. He worked with an attorney named Peter Kozinets, who is also pretty dang good; David is a partner in the firm and Peter is “of counsel”, which is kind of like being a non-equity partner. Peter’s billing rate is over 300 bucks an hour.

So talking with them on a conference call winds up running about 800 bones an hour. OUCH.

David does a considerable amount of defamation defense work- in particular, he’s done work for the Phoenix New Times, which is an alternative weekly newspaper. David used to be the editor of that paper, and when he resigned from the editor’s post to go back into lawyerin’ full time he moved into a role of being their main lawyer.

Steptoe & Johnson, at the time he went to work for them, had as one of their main partners (in the Phoenix office) Bruce Babbit, who was formerly a governor of Arizona and also served as attorney general.

So, as you can tell, it’s one of those big firms that’s well-connected and simply doesn’t hire bad dudes. This is why I felt really confident with David and Peter.

As I said, the reality is that had I told the Other Side “pound sand”, the odds are I would have been able to prevail in a trial. Not so much for what I wrote (which I cannot and should not get into) but because proving defamation is pretty dang tough in the United States of America.

BUT… going to trial probably would have run me 6 figures. Ouch. I blow money on seemingly wasteful things, but nothing like THAT.

So if you find yourself in this kind of situation, you’re kind of screwed. I didn’t feel like I had a ton of leverage; yeah, I was (and remain) confident that I would have won, but it became a question of whether or not it was worth it to me to lay out all kinds of dough just to say “yeah, I was right”.

At first, I dealt with the Other Guy’s lawyer on my own. Once we started corresponding, it was pretty quickly obvious to me that we were going to be able to settle; I could tell what he wanted, and it was a matter of choosing how much and when to give it to him. I didn’t have to pay a penny (well, other than to my lawyer) and strangely enough, I wasn’t really emotionally upset; I figured that in a worst-case scenario, it’d go to trial, I’d lay out a bunch of money, but I’d still win.

Money is just money. I have already been near-bankrupt once in my life, and while it kind of sucks, it’s not the end of the world. I just kept paying my bills and chipping away, and today I’ve got an above-average credit rating again, a nice place to live, and enough dough to do the things that I want to do.

The real question became more about whether I wanted to spend that money on that, or on other stuff that I’d enjoy more. A scuba trip to Thailand? Skiing in the Rockies? Political contributions? Charities I support? Or paying lawyers in a lawsuit that would only allow me to say “told you so” in a case where everyone who’s connected with the situation knows what really happened?

Eh, I’ll spend it on myself and the other stuff. (Nothing personal, David!)

So I hired David and let him deal with the Other Guys. He did a great job, steering me clear of some potential pitfalls, and I think he was as amused/baffled by the Other Guy’s lawyer as I was when I was dealing with him directly. David is too classy to really slag on someone or criticize their handling of things, but I could tell a huge difference between the quality of the two lawyers just by comparing their letters and writing.

Good writing, in a legal arena, is pretty cool because even a layperson can understand and follow along the argument. Even if you don’t know all the legal teminology (and being in aviation, I am used to working with jargon) it doesn’t matter. The stuff that David wrote… very clear. The Other Guy’s lawyer? Not so much.

Anyway, in the end, it’s all settled out. My readers were kind and gracious enough to contribute to a little legal fund that I had set up and while the final bill isn’t in yet, it’s looking like it either won’t cost me anything or it’ll only be a little bit of money.

So now it’s time to get back at things. GG and I are planning a big engagement party in a couple of weeks, planning our vacations after that, and generally busy busy busy.

Thanks for hanging in there and if you were kind enough to chip in a bit of money to the fund, please believe me when I say that it means a tremendous amount to me- way more than just the money is knowing that dozens of people were behind me and willing to stand up for free speech. I’m just sorry that the legal system in the US is set up in such a way that dollars become a substitute for standing up for what’s right.

Hey, I don’t want to pimp my own stuff here too much, but be sure to go buy my album, okay? And check out me and my band.

And then while you’re at it, check out the motorcycle that I customized.

If you need some pictures taken, I’m your guy. Of course, you’ll have to go to Manchester to visit my studio.

Sometimes in my spare time I design children’s books or paint on walls.

Terre Haute, Indiana built a high school on the site of an old, closed-down airport that had been named after me.

I once won the “Nobel Prize” of the environment and have taught at BYU-Hawaii, occasionally giving lectures there.

I’ve actually done drawings in a number of styles. Here’s some more of my work.

If I’m feeling aggressive, sometimes I’ll play a little rugby in London. I look good carrying the rock, although this picture doesn’t really show my face.

Bird flu attacks Cambodia? I’m there, dude. (Another really bad picture of me.) (Okay, it was just an exercise to prepare for a bird flu outbreak, but still- I’m the man.)

Need a bridge built? My team and I can whip one together for you- check out the last two pictures on this page.

How about some whole life or health insurance in California or Oregon? I’m your guy.

My Wikipedia page is a testament to the movies I’ve made.

Please don’t ask me about the two people I slaughtered in a drunken blackout state, or all the legal appeals back and forth that happened after I confessed to it at an AA meeting. (That stuff is supposed to be confidential!)

In 98-99 I played some soccer. (That was before I moved to rugby, you see.)

My speeding ticket outside of Plymouth on the A303 was utter bollocks, I tell you. (Another lousy picture of me.)

Unfortunately, my experience as a lawyer is all in the United Kingdom, so it doesn’t really help me that much here in the States.

I’d rather not talk too much about the movies that I starred in, thanks. (Warning: Adult content in that link.)

In my spare time I enjoy coaching some football.

For a while I had a nice perm that really gave me curly hair. Then I gave up teaching the cello.

Despite being a Buddhist, they still let me do a little personal counseling at the Christian Psychological Services in Kansas.

You know, all in all it’s remarkable I have time to post to this blog (which I know I haven’t done enough of recently) when you consider how busy I am running a telephone company in Utah (first column third row down), helping out with researching waste management at the University of Northhampton in the UK, serving as chief counsel for the Fraternal Order of Police in Ohio, managing my 3000 acre ranch in Kansas, or serving as dean for the School of Professional Studies at Vanguard University of Southern California.

Whew. I’m a busy guy.

Just out of curiosity… have you ever run your name through the web pages at Google Images? You should give it a shot sometime.