Of course I borrowed the name from the Dustin Hoffman - Tom Cruise movie.  Hoffman's character is my namesake -- "Rain Man" was a toddler's rendition of "Raymond." 

 

I'm an excellent writer.

Seriously, it gives me pleasure.  Writing a good post gives me a buzz that lasts about 30 minutes.  It's a nice outlet for creativity.

Not every day, but almost.  If nothing moves me to write, I'll take a day off.  Other days I'll have one, two, maybe even three posts.

Whatever's on my mind.  Legal writing is often on my mind, so many posts are about legal writing, or about language generally.

 

Lately I like the blues, so sometimes I'll write about whom I've been listening to lately.  But I'm no connoisseur; I just like artists who bare their hearts and souls.  Many of those happen to sing or play the blues.

 

And if I find a weird or fun web site, I'll share it.

 

I try to stay away from politics.  I have opinions, but they're just opinions, and I doubt there's a market for them.  But I am who I am: an unashamed leftist Christian, so my faith and bias will come through here and there.

I heard that line somewhere, sometime, long ago, and it's stuck with me.  It came to mind a few days before I started this web log, when I was having lunch with Ernie the Attorney Svenson.  We were talking about using the Internet to research clients, expert witnesses, and other things we lawyers need to know.  He observed that the Internet is there, for anyone to use, yet few people use it.  The relatively few who do use it have an edge over those who don't.

 

The tools comprise everything that is available for free on the Internet.  Those who use the tools can own them.