Jury Duty Fun

It's been awhile since I posted any pictures. This is partly my fault, but I can blame Rod a bit too. He has yet to retrieve the Thanksgiving photos (and a few others) off of his computer for me. Don't worry--I am persistent.

We spent some time this weekend getting the Christmas decorations down so that we could slowly start decorating the house. The advent calendar was the critical item, because who wants to start an advent calendar a week late? We have not yet gotten a tree, although we may manage to get one this week. Definitely by this weekend though... The neighborhood association had a little gathering with Santa visits and a small train for the kids on Sunday. The train was a bigger hit than anticipated, even with kids Kenneth's age.

Rod has been busily getting the third issue of his B/CS community newspaper out the door. The first two issues have been received very well by people in the town and there is a bit of a local rock star phenomenon happening for him (and his partner, Chris) when they are seen around town. (Each issue has their picture in the front, as part of the editors' note.) We experienced this as a group when we made a day trip to CS on Saturday and went out to eat with Chris and his family. While Rod was working on a few loose ends on the newspaper, the kids and I visited Elizabeth's family. Caleb and Kyle were so happy to see Kenneth and Evelyn. In fact, Kyle actually ran to me and hugged me (a first..., because he's usually shy with me).

I was summoned for the Travis County jury duty selection process this afternoon. I had to go downtown and pay $15 to park in a garage 8 blocks away because the particular courthouse where the trial was going to occur did not have nearby parking, other than metered street parking (which is 2 hours, max). Of course, I was one of maybe 5 potential jurors that actually obeyed the 'park on your own or take the Dillo' message. (Note: the 'Dillo is a semi-ridiculous name for the free downtown trolley system, short for Armadillo, I guess?? I wouldn't even know where to begin taking a 'Dillo even if I thought it was a good idea.) Everyone else parked next to the courthouse in metered parking and were told that the county would pay for any parking tickets incurred over the course of the five hours that we were there. I'll know better next time. The case turned out to be in a Criminal Court. Since I was not chosen to continue with jury duty I do not know the case details (and, I suppose, couldn't share anyhow if I was selected); however, we were informed that it was a 1st degree felony case that included burglary and some form of aggravated assault (which could have been murder in the worst form). We also knew that the defendant had been previously been convicted on a 1st degree felony. Nice. Figures my first call for jury duty had the potential to be so dramatic. I am glad I wasn't picked. Highlights of the time I was there:

* Each of us was assigned a number, which we had to label on an index card and hold up as we stood in a line for 30 minutes waiting to be invited to sit in the courtroom. There were sixty of us, standing around, not talking.

* Listening to an annoying guy engaging in banter with the corrections officer who was monitoring us. "So, let's say that someone didn't get the first letter." "What if someone didn't reply to the email that asks for the acknowledgement with capitalized first and last name?" "What happens if someone leaves the building on one of the breaks and doesn't come back?" Blah blah blah.

* Fitting 7 people onto a bench that should really only comfortably fit 5. It was worse than a plane, both from a side-by-side personal space perspective, but also because the leg room was tight. And you couldn't speak out of turn, drink a diet coke, or chew gum.

* Listening to 2 people waste valuable time as they explained why they could not possibly pass judgement on another human being due to their religion. Apparently karmic forces take care of all good and bad imbalances. I think they actually knew each other outside of the courtroom because I noticed a granola greeting in the hallway prior to any of the karma-talk. "[Loud Squeal] What are YOU doing here ?!?"

* Hearing a potential juror try to get out of serving because he owns a small business. About four people tried to get out of serving, which required approaching the judge's bench and presenting your case. This guy made sure to explain loudly that his business was a special case because he details planes (a mission critical job indeed). The judge didn't agree & took him to task for not being willing to serve his government.

* Plane detail guy was the most vociferous potential juror present and spent a lot of time debating what "reasonable doubt" was. "Is it 100%? Is it 75% Is it 80% How will I know what reasonable doubt is? How will my opinion of reasonable doubt be comparable to yours, ...or his, ... or hers..." Blah blah blah.

* Assistant District Attorney actually said "My bad" when mistakenly using the wrong term for something.