Packrat

An old mentor, some videotapes, and $1.82 million. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

When I was a brand new trial attorney working for the Department of Justice, I had a really wonderful colleague and mentor named Barbara Johnson.

Technically we had the same job, but she’d been doing it a lot longer, and she was better at it. She’d also been promoted and transferred all over the United States. She saved me from some truly boneheaded ideas.

Barbara died a few years after I left the government — cancer, much too young — so you’ll forgive me for being a bit sentimental here. But you would have liked her.

Besides sharing some good “how-to-not-get-fired-or-disbarred” advice, we used to just sit and chat in her office, regaling each other with stories.

She’d had an interesting, nonlinear life, lots of ups and downs, lots of entertaining tales. Even back then, I could relate. Here’s a quick story she told me, about the boxes in her house.

You see, Barbara had moved so many times for Uncle Sam that she never really had the chance to unpack.

Finally, she dedicated a weekend to …