Andrew Q Gordon

Not that all reviews aren't welcome, but hearing from a lawyer who says he wasn't totally put off feels good. Your points are all SO true. Martin's cautious assessment of the proceedings is my way of looking at every trial. There is always a fine line between confident and convincing and cocky and unappealing. I think it is harder for defense attorney's to be honest as they are sometimes expected to have this flashy persona that doesn't always play well. -- -- As for more chapters, no, that would drag this out too much. A sequel would be a better idea though my preference would be a companion story - i.e. one that follows says Blake - Jason's still in the closet teammate or his friend Ethan. That would allow me to keep the characters but follow a different set of issues and give introduce new story lines. But we'll see. I am committed to finishing Purpose first before I tackle anything new. -- Thanks again George.

Thanks Kevin - I'll do my best for the rest to be equally enjoyable to read. It is still a bit hard to decide how much or little to include, but I'm working on it

I think I showed this to you before anyone else. You were the one who told me NOT to start in the middle and do flash backs - good advice by the way - so you had a hand in my winning too

Yeah I know you do Doesn't the BF have one? Besides, you're still young, you can read off your iPhone still

I like it - can I use it on the first post of the topic and on each new chapter announcement?

thanks for the note - I was trying to walk a fine line between sharp but not getting it. I've seen tons of defense lawyers who push the limits with a judge to see how much they can get away with before they step back. Some never step back. Doesn't mean they aren't good lawyers. Anyway that was the effect I was trying for. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off :PThanks again for reading and for the review. -- -- Andy

Cheater - half a face in Black and White?? But since it's only half a face, you're right you don't look half bad

This post violates the Rules of Q-Topolis!!! Rule 6 Clearly states - "Be Excellent To Each Other!" Dann - whenever a chapter is up, people can and should comment on it in the forum. Spoilers are almost NEVER used. It's akin to a review. People put stuff in their posts here that they would in a review. The best thing to do is NOT read the topic for a story if you are not current, just like you ought not read the reviews. Benji has always posted his comments on chapters in the forum and not as a review and that's not only acceptable it's welcome by me. Sorry if that ruined it for you, I don't want that either. But how else can he or others ask me questions or leave comments about the chapter if they can't post it here until the story is complete? This was actually a bit unique in that the chapter wasn't posted for most folks, but he didn't know that. Andy

Thanks -- hopefully you read chapter 1 if not, it's posted now. Really can't say why BOTH didn't post at once or why some folks could read it and others couldn't but it's there now.

Fan -- thanks for the note. It took me a bit to wrap my mind around writing this - a bit close to home work wise. But I think it ties up the story - or at least answers the question about what happened to Jordan and the others. Thanks again - Andy

No it's not Benji, only you Mods and me and my editor can see it. If you're not one of the above it's not available. If it's in green it's not posted to the public yet. - Like I said I screw up - not sure how or what, but some how I pooched this one

Hmm tough critic Chapter 1 better be up when I wake up, or I'm gonna have to figure it out. But yeah, I REALLY would like your thoughts. I tried to go for realistic, but sometimes that's a tad boring so I tried to spice it up some and to keep the actually boring parts out. Gonna see soon enough if I did it well. Thanks for the Note. Andy

@Sharon - I think I read that in the bazillion baby books we've gotten lately, but I'm gonna remember that. Thanks for the comments. @Nephy - as IF I wouldn't?? This place is gonna be my five minutes of sanity - yeah scary thought he? @ Anyta - You might want to explain that to Mike, if I say it, he'll think I'm making it up

Kevin, some how I screwed up and Chapter 1 didn't post with the Prologue. I set it to post tonight at midnight so I hope it works. If not I'll post it first thing in the morning. And you are most welcome for this. If you read my forum, hopefully I'll get back to these characters etc, but I have a few things I'm doing right now that I need to finish before I can tackle another project. Andy

Some how I screwed up - I tried to post the Prologue AND chapter 1 and 1 didn't post. It has a post date of January 1970 - so in theory it SHOULD post tomorrow at 12:01 - that's at least how I set it to post. If it doesn't I'll take it down and post it fresh in the Morning. Promise. Dag I'm sounding like a bloody Politician with all these freaking promises

No Dann, I PROMISE this is almost done. It WILL be done before she arrives so all I need to do is click the post now button But I'll still try my best to remember to tell you it's complete, the problem might be THAT is something I'll forget to do in the frenzy that is my new life

Because Dann yelled at me and Trevor is turning blue, I posted the Prologue and Chapter 1. Here's the link to the story The Trial of Jordan Colmar Next chapter will be in about two weeks, well less actually it will be a week from this Sunday and then every two weeks. There are only five chapters left, maybe six with the epilogue, but I'm thinking six total. So let me know what you think - please? Andy

Martin returned to his office, followed by his 'entourage' as Belle called them. Somehow he couldn't see Daniel Hember as a member of anyone's posse. "That went quite well," Daniel said when they entered Martin's office. "The jury didn't seem to buy Jordan's defense if you ask me." "It's still early." Martin muttered, looking around for his nerf basketball. "Here." Mary shoved the orange ball under his face. "Don't bother Dan, he's in his, 'I screwed up' mode." "Screwed up?"

Martin adjusted the blue and purple tie his wife selected to go with is 'best' grey trial suit. Satisfied it was straight, he unconsciously fixed the cufflinks that didn't need attention. The studs were a Christmas gift from his girls, no doubt bought by their mother, though she swore they selected this set. A hint of azure in the silver squares always forced a smile. It was why he wore them during important cases. Opening statement, pretrial issues, expert testimony, all seemed to swa

This is the companion trial story to Second Shot. It is from the prosecutor's point of view and it will take us through a couple witnesses and verdict.

Dann, Please, all the embarrassment Trevor gave me But your post did make me smirk a bit Just letting it get to through the last check - but I think it's gonna still be a bit rough. As for the PM, I'll try to remember but you'll know it's done when it says complete Andy

As promised, I am going to post a short story covering Jordan's Trial. This takes place about 6 months or so after the end of Second Shot. My plan is for there to be a Prologue - which is really just the reprint of chapter 50, reposted here for context - 5 chapters and a real epilogue this time. Chapters 1 and 2 are going through review now. 3 is almost done, the epilogue is mostly done. I'm going to post these chapters every other week. The 'Prolgoue' and Chapter 1 will be in the same week, So I should have everything wrapped up by October, maybe sooner. After that - well no promises on anything regarding Sec Shot. I don't know when I'll post more, but I do plan to use this world, these characters again. Okay so I hope to have the Prologue up later today and hopefully the Chapter 1 shortly there after. Remember the Prologue is NOT NEW. Just posting it here for context for the story. I doubt most people will read this so I'll make sure I remind people in the story notes. Andy

Can't believe it's been like six weeks since I last posted here. Guess the old adage that no news is good news is apt. There is nothing exciting or annoying to report on the baby front. The surrogate is doing well. She had her last ultra sound two weeks ago and everything looks good. She goes back on Monday and then every two weeks until she, the baby, is born. Then again, we are at week 32 so that means only about 3-4 visits - not too bad. Right now work seems to be the biggest issue. For reasons I can't quite grasp (other than management has their collective head up their ass) my suggestion that I take half days the last two weeks of my paternity leave was met with near hostility. I figured that if I come in half days, not only will it ease me back into work, it will also allow then to assign me cases either the week I get back or the week after. Here's how the conversation went: Boss (: What if we need to send you to court during those two weeks? Me (M): You can't, I'm only here half days. B: but what if we need you to go? M: I don't see how I can if I'm only here until noon. B: That seems unworkable M: How so? If I don't take half days, I'll take full days and I won't be here at all so you still can't send me to court B: That's fine, we'll manage M: But doesn't it seem like a good thing to let me work half days so I can be up and running when I come back? B: No, just take your time off and we'll deal with it when you get back. M: Are you planning to just hand me a stack of cases and shove me back in court the week I return? B: We'll handle it when you get back. The ass't boss, who is the trial supervisor, thought it was a great idea, because she can assign me cases for the first full week back. She was overruled. So stupid. Oh well, the HR person says I can do it, so I'm submitting my time as I want and HR said they'll explain it to my boss. Evidently mothers do half days for a couple weeks all the time so they can't deny me. Things are moving forward, so much to do, so little time. We are taking parenting classes, we figured it can't hurt so we did it. While talking about changing diapers, the instructor asked Mike what would he do if he checked the diaper and saw a poop. His answer: 'Andy, the baby needs to be changed.' Cradle is up and next to the bed. Somehow it is being stationed on my side - I am so not in charge in this household. We set it up early so we could move the dog beds around and let the dogs get used to the new set up. They seem fine with it now. We got the cradle and a bunch of other furniture from my brother and his wife. They bought expensive stuff and gave it to us for free because they didn't want to pay to ship it from Philly to Vegas and because they are really nice people. That said, my brother lost, threw out, never kept, whatever, the instructions. That was fun trying to put it together - surprisingly it didn't take long and we figured it out with no screw ups. What we did learn is that a) we have no cradle sheets, lots of crib, no cradle, b ) my brother not only lost the instructions, he lost the hardware to the crib. Luckily it was only $25 to order the parts. Last on the baby front is parents, as in Mike's and Mine. My mother is a rather assertive person. So much so that I nearly tossed her out of the house over the 4th of July holiday when she took offense to my telling her to stop offering her opinions when I told her I didn't want them. Big cry fest, I didn't care, Mike told me to apologize etc blah blah blah. So I did. Like she was gonna be fighting with me and miss being there for the grand baby - never gonna happen. Anyway, my parents are super excited. This is their fourth grandchild and it is Mike's parent's first. My parents are renting a condo in San Diego for 4 weeks sandwiched around the birth so that we can stay with them with the baby and not have to fly home right away after the birth - super nice of them. Save us a shit load on hotel costs. Very appreciated. One problem, it cuts Mike's parents out. Then my mom ask/told me she was flying home with us and staying with us for 2 weeks to help out. Again, very much appreciated. Again, it cuts Mike's mom out. She was slow on the draw and my mom beat her to it. So while I was away for a week, Mike's mom says to Mike, she'd can't stay over when the baby is born because there's room because my mom is staying. Mind you his mom doesn't live THAT far away but for those familiar with DC, they are in VA well outside the Beltway. Basically the opposite side of the beltway and a haul during rush hour. So what does Mike say? Yeah too bad mom. We have 3 or 5 bedrooms depending on what you do with the rooms in the basement. But upstairs there are three, ours, the guest room and what will be the baby's room. As mentioned above, we don't have the parts for the crib yet so we haven't set up the baby room yet. Clearly we have room, but he wants to set up the crib now. Like she's gonna be using that right away? Baby is gonna be in the cradle for 4-6 months and in our room. Eventually I convinced him to call her back and tell her we had room if she wanted to stay. She does and she will. Great - both mothers will be here. Happy happy joy joy. Lastly, we wanted to board the dogs at the new kennel we found for a couple days before we go to California for two weeks so they'll get used to going and coming home. We needed a short trip. We decided to go to Pittsburgh this weekend to spend a day with Anyta and family. Woo Hoo. Very cool. Life is still beautiful.

Why are we asking about size and if it matters again???

Bout time I convinced you to join. Text or call me if get truly confuzzled Andy