Words to live by, my friends. Just a few weeks ago I was lamenting the demise of court reporting in Houston. We all know the end to that story... the intervening weeks have seen a pair of pharmacology experts, an off-shore platform designer, a gaggle of asbestos plaintiffs and four days straight of daily copy in a case involving those inflatable front yard decorations everyone had this past Christmas. My best line from the latter: On a break after testimony regarding a product called "Cute Bear with Package," I asked how they knew my college nickname. It was a pretty easy-going group, trust me.

The other thing I should have thought twice about before vocalizing was, "Man, haven't had anything interesting to put in the blog lately." Had a depo yesterday that made me regret ever blaspheming like that. I got the call to cover this one from a fellow firmowner who explained they needed emergency coverage for this realtime depo because their client threatened to cancel if the same reporter from the prior day showed up again. I was sitting around in my PJs swilling coffee and doing the billing, so I accepted. Hell, most of my best clients are difficult attorneys that I've won over by being just as bullheaded as they are... why should this one be any different?

Oh, but it was. It all went horribly wrong starting at the point I introduced myself as the court reporter. Counsel flared their nostrils and barked, "Why do you keep sending different people? You don't have a dictionary for this case! You can't possibly do it realtime!" Their office called and in no uncertain terms put the kibosh on the last reporter, and now I'm getting questioned why I'm someone different? I bit my tongue, holding back a comment about how a change in Prozac dosage might be in order, and hunkered down in a vain attempt to weather the storm.

Our relationship steadily deteriorated from that point throughout the remainder of the day. Long story short, the firm that booked me to cover the job got a call to never send Mike Miller again or they'd cancel the depo. By my calculation, this attorney is going to run out of Houston reporters somewhere around mid March. Couldn't happen to a more deserving person.

"I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings." -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart