My Visit to See Umar

By Kurt Haskell

As I posted about a month or so ago, I have been attempting to meet Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab (AKA- The Underwear Bomber) in prison. I initially contacted the Milan Prison holding Umar by phone. I was given an extension to a Ms. Rodriguez and left her several messages. She did not return any of my calls. I put this on the back burner for awhile as I have been busy at the office. While on vacation in Las Vegas this weekend, I decided that I would try again when I got back to Michigan. Today was that day. After my trial this morning, Shannon (An attorney in my office) and I drove to the Milan Prison. We met a guard who said he would attempt to have us meet Umar on the spot since we were there. I thought "sweet" as I wasn't expecting much from this visit. We were told that we would have to talk to Ms. Rodriguez after her meeting ended in approximately 5 minutes. So we waited. When Ms. Rodriguez finished her meeting, the guard talked to her and showed her our I.D.'s and bar cards. The guard then came into our waiting room and told us that we would have to call to schedule a meeting with Umar. O.K., this is more of what I expected. When we returned to the office, Shannon called the prison and was told that we could never meet with Umar unless he put us on his visitor list. She was further told that we could not meet with him as his potential attorneys either as he had a court appointed attorney listed on his visitor sheet. We were told this in spite of the fact that it is well known that Umar does not have an attorney. As I have stated all along, the government will have to kill me to stop me from my relentless pursuit of the truth. Until I am successful, the government's deceit of the American public concerning the Underwear Bomber will continue.

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Figures

It kinda figures that kurt and i are flying out again on a weird day, when a nationwide protest is scheduled regarding the body scanners, which were put into place after Flight 253. Click here to read about it. I will post about anything interesting at the airports once we arrive tomorrow! I am really, really hoping that neither Kurty or I are chosen for the scan or being felt up, as I don't want to have to make the decision. It's like asking me "In which way would you like your constitutional rights violated? Pick the best option, you have no choice." My guess is Kurt is selected, LOL, and I walk right though.

Can't wait to get to Vegas, and simply do whatever I want for 4 days straight. We booked one show, and that is as far as I am going with planning. I do however plan on eating one fabulous dinner at my fav Mexican place, Garduno's. I have been dreaming about their shrimp fajitas and salsa bar. Yum. I am bringing workout clothes and plan on using the hotel gym while we are there, and probably hiking at Red Rock with Kurt at some point. Perfect weather for it, we are usually about dying walking around in 100+ degree weather while there. Also, packed my granola bars, so I can attempt to eat as healthy as possible while there.

Cannot wait to do some random walking around and shopping as well. I desperately need some work pants that fit. Hopefully, I can find something designer and cheap at the outlets. Heart Vegas shopping.

Hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving, with lots of family time, good food, and Black Friday shopping!

Death Threats

Got our first death threat at the office. I'm actually shocked it has taken this long, considering family law is so emotional and the opposing party in our cases does not generally "like us". We represent the wife in a case, and her husband told her that he has hired a motorcycle gang to kill Kurt. Kurt says he takes that as a compliment, as it means he did a good job during her hearing, but stuff like that still makes me nervous. We may go get PPOs against this guy, but what does that really do to help us if there is really a "hit" out on us? Nothing. So, prob won't waste my time getting one. Makes for interesting talk at the office though. I swear, we could have a TV show with all the drama that goes on, LOL.


**Me and Gretel Olivia, at the vet, waiting.

This weekend was pretty low key, which I needed. Took gretel to the vet for a shot on Saturday that she was overdue for, and got a massage at Blu Water with a discount they were having, whoot. We were supposed to have dinner with a friend of mine who was in town, but she ended up having to cancel, so we stayed in (last minute) on Saturday. I was looking forward to spicy botan shrimp from Crave, but The Daily Plate was happy I stayed in and tracked my food, LOL. Worked part of the day today, and grocery shopped after work. Made an awesome dinner and have been trying to ward off this headache I have had all day. Also, met Megan's new German Shepard puppy, Mya, and OMG, way too cute. Only 6 weeks old, and such a little sweetie. Makes me want a puppy (but not really). I wanted to take Megan's puppy, but she seemed pretty attached to it. ;).

Weighed in again today and am down another 1.6 pounds, which takes my total up to 24.2 pounds. Super psyched about that. Thank you, The Daily Plate! Best site ever.

Had a board meeting earlier this week, dinner out with Mel and Tammy on Thursday night. We ended up at Panera....I think I am driving my friends nutty with my strange eating habits. haha. Applebee's was having a special for Veteran's Day, so we did not want to wait for a table.

Ordered some new shoes this week as well, cuz I totally needed them, LOL. Really though, I have been wanting purple heels as I have quite a few things I wear that purple heels would love fab with, and I have been having issues finding the perfect pair. We will see when they come if I like them though, as I ordered some purple heels a montha ago I had to send back. Anyway, the purple ones are Michael Kors, and I also ordered a grey pair of Juicy Couture. If you like high end shoes and HATE the prices, check out 6pm.com. Great site. On just these two pairs of shoes, I saved like $400+ using this site. Not that I ever would have paid that much for the shoes, but it sounds good! haha. The black shoe below I actually got in grey, but it's sold out now so I could only post the pic of the black. I really like the black as well, but I have enough pairs of black heels. Never even knew Juicy sold shoes until I saw them on this site.

Saw Rock of Ages at the Fisher with my Aunt on Tuesday night and loved it!! The music was all 80s rock and awesome. Really fun, upbeat show. I wish I could take my Mom to it because she would love it. I think even Kurt would have liked it, and he hates the theatre and musicals.

Fast

This week went by so insanely fast....I seriously have no clue where it went. So busy at work. Which is the norm, and I sound like a broken record, I totally realize this, LOL. I had a lot of hearings this week, topped off by a hearing on Friday that both annoyed me (because of the snotty attorney who I was arguing against), but made me feel proud of myself at the same time because I kinda gave a good speech at the end that made the other atty look stupid. Which he totally deserved. I will write about it in the secret blog when I get a sec.

This weekend, we relaxed a lot. Saturday, we stayed home. I did grocery shop, but that was my only leaving of the house. Today, we worked a couple hours this morning, then I ran some errands at Kohl's and Meijer's. I decided it was time for some new frying pans. Mine are really old and really worn out, and I think have been put in the dishwasher a few too many times. Anyway, I bought a new 12 inch, 10 inch and 8 inch frying pans with lids. I have been wanting clear lids, as I like how you can "see" what you are cooking. My old lids were chrome. My old stuff I loved, it was cobalt blue and Circulon, a gift from my Grama and Aunt. New stuff is boring grey, but hard anodized Caphalon. Used one tonight and I love it so far. My goal for this stuff is to clean it immediately after use, so I am not forever scrubbing pots and pans. Did that tonight after grilling tuna. :). Also, while at Kohl's, bought two new work skirts (here and here) and a work variation on the blazer (in purple, I liked red as well, but they did not have my size), as well as two new pairs of black tights. I was super psyched when trying on clothes, as my skirt size went down 4 sizes, which is insane to me, as I don't feel like my size changed that much. Weigh in again today was down 3.6 pounds, which makes my total thus far 22.6 pounds since the start. Have been tracking religiously with The Daily Plate every single day, and that site is a God send. It really makes me accountable for what I eat, and I don't cheat, almost ever.

Anyway, off to bed, busy morning ahead! :). Hope everyone had a nice weekend full of rest and relaxation.

Week Update

Had a nice rest of my week! :). Rebecca and I met up for facials and dinner in Royal Oak on Thursday night. Caught up at dinner at Mezza Grille, which was aMAZing. I had lentil soup and spicy hummus, and their bread was to die for. Service was perfect and the food was super yummy, and not horrible for you. Well, I guess depending on what was ordered, but I tried to be good! :). Headed next to use our Groupon certs at Michigan Advanced Aesthetics in Royal Oak. Really liked the place as well.

Rest of the weekend, we did not work, which is somewhat crazy these days! :). Saturday, I had a massage appointment, then ran to Sams Club and then to Farmington Hills. My Mom and Ronnie got back from driving my grandparents to Florida, and I spent most of the night there hanging out with family, watching football/baseball and playing Euchre. Which my Mom and I rock at, BTW. Won every game! Sunday, I mostly ran errands. Went to Macy's to the MAC counter, where I bought some foundation I read about, powder and lip gloss. Tried on some suits, but the one I really liked was missing a button and I do not sew and was not going to buy a nice suit, then have to figure out how to sew a button on or pay someone else to do it. I should have asked if they would give me a discount, but I did not see any employees around. Tried on another cute suit at NY and Co, but since I keep losing weight, I dont want to buy clothes I only wear for a short period of time and I was just not feeling it. Went grocery shopping after that, then spent the rest of the day at home, relaxing with Kurty.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend as well!