Am watching the exodus from Houston with much amazement. How would you like to sit in your car for 13 hours in 100 degree temps and move about 40 miles? Sounds horrific.

Am in the middle of working on a deal with our attorneys in Houston, and it's remarkable how calm and matter-of-fact our lead atty is. He and his wife will stay in their house and ride it out...and he is still working our deal from his office in his house, in between taking pictures of everything for insurance purposes and making other last-minute preparations.

Meantime, I am still editing my statement that I plan to read Oct 3 in court. And I got a very good suggestion from a close friend yesterday on a particular section of the statement I was struggling with.

Also, I happen to be friends with a veteran public defender in Los Angeles, and I had a good chat with him yesterday about how sentencing hearings go and what I can expect...not sure if it increased or decreased my anxiety about the hearing (depends on which hour you ask me), but it was good information regardless.

I think certain of my family members may vehemently disagree with a lot of what I have to say to the judge, but I think it's a strength of our system, that everyone with an interest can have their own opportunity to express themselves at this type of hearing. There is no single right or wrong answer, and reasonable people can disagree on all sorts of matters, from stock prices to deeply personal beliefs about timeless topics like forgiveness.

I will probably post my statement on this blog after I read it on October 3, assuming that the hearing goes as expected and that I do, in fact, get to read the statement in open court.

The statement has become somewhat of a ball and chain for me, dragging me back towards towards despair every time I read and edit it, which of course I do too frequently. But hopefully reading it aloud in court will provide me with the metaphorical chain-cutter I need.

That's enough rambling for today.