- Be Thou Familiar, But By No Means Vulgar

I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to introduce the other recent addition to our Author list "Frithguild", but I find I'm at a bit of a loss. I don't know why exactly. I know him better than Ikaika, In fact, Frithguild and I are friends. We hang out together fairly often. We are about the same age, of similar ethnic and religious backgrounds and he even lives fairly close to me. So why all the writer's block when discussing him- I can't really understand.

Actually maybe I can. I think it's because I do know what's going on in his life and I can't tell you about the things I admire about him without giving away more than I think is appropriate. We aren't really anonymous here, but I leave it to each man to set the level of his anonymity. It's not my place to make their personal lives public. But since he left a few words in the comments section once, I think I can say just a little bit.

Frithguild is an attorney. I've seen him in front of a judge and he's every bit as smooth as you would expect from a guy who makes a living in litigation. He's one of those lawyers who can joke with the judge without angering him, and is clever enough to be entertaining even while he works. They don't put conservatives on TV, even in the courts, But if they did, he has the style to pull it off. He's a guy who can get away with wearing a seersucker suit - which you don't see very often on Wall Street or in NJ's court system I'd imagine. But he can manage it well. Picture someone with a style roughly like Tucker Carlson , only with Phil Donahue's hair color.

With that said, and partly because of his vast intelligence rather than in spite of it, he's admitted himself that he's had a tough year. He's faced the kind of challenges that we all have to cope with sometimes, but his "troubles have come not in single spies but in battalions". It's a testimony to his character that he's coped as well as he has, and that he's stood fast and faced down his issues instead of running from them. No feigning madness nor slaughtering in-laws for him. (OK... last Hamlet reference.) He's tougher than he thinks... I think. And I admire his strength. I'm proud to call him my friend.

We met, strangely enough in court - while we were both in the pool for Jury duty. Neither of us was picked for the case being too conservative for one of the attorneys. But seeing what I thought was the only other conservative in Monmouth county (he mentioned FreeRepublic in his questioning), I took the opportunity to introduce myself, and we have since become friends.

He's one of those guys who's so smart you have to remind him to tone it down for the rest of us. He's thankfully done so, and done it well if the comments are any indication. As a lawyer, language is his first weapon of choice. So he can get quite a bit out ahead of us if he tries. We finance guys can barely string two sentences together without a spelling error. But Frithguild's weapon of choice is a pen and language.

His contribution around here is an obvious strength and a benefit to us all. Particularly because he brings an expertise that the rest of us lack, but is still on a topic that touches all of our lives. I'm very happy to be sharing this space with him.