«End of Jury Duty»

Here's how my jury duty went yesterday. It's actually a fairly major trial; expected to go 4 days, 6 felony counts, they brought a judge down from Juneau...

I got there a few minutes before they opened the jury chambers. There were already several people waiting. Once they opened the door, I was the second one to enter the room and sign in. I was handed a form to fill out, asking general information and if I knew any of the involved parties. I knew one of the witnesses, although not well. I went to school with him, but haven't spoken in years.

We watched a video about the role of a jury in the justice system. The video was made in the 70's, someone next to me sarcastically commented "at least they're up to date". The video was a bit exaggerated. They even admitted that in the video itself, saying something along the lines of "the reenactments in the video are extremes so as to make it more clear".

Anyway, after that we all shuffled into the courtroom. The judge asked a few general questions, such as are we all US citizens and Alaska residents. She pointed out we all should be, as the jurors are selected from Alaska permanent fund dividend applicants. (It's illegal for someone that's not an Alaska resident to apply for the permanent fund dividend.) She also asked if there was anyone mentally ill among us. That got a few laughs from people.

I was the first one called to the jury box. I didn't have many questions asked of me from either the prosecutor or the defense attorney. There were a few people that were dismissed because they couldn't be impartial or had emotional issues with the subject matter of the trial. When it came time for the actual selections, I was the very first one to get booted. The prosecutor didn't like me.

So that's the end of my jury duty for the month. I was out just before noon. I wish I would have made the trial, but then I couldn't have said much about it today. At least I got the experience I did.

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«2 Words X 35»

First off, I actually have to go in for jury duty on Monday at 8:00 AM. I've went nearly the entire month without going in. For those of you who haven't read previous posts, I've never had jury duty before, and I want to go through the experience.

I saw this over at Escape Hatch, and thought it would be interesting. You answer each question with exactly 2 words. No more, no less.

1. Where is your cell phone? Doesn't exist.
2. Your significant other? Doesn't exist.
3. Your hair? Long brown.
4. Your mother? Love her.
5. Your father? Love him.
6. Your favorite thing? My Computers.
7. Your dream last night? Don't remember.
8. Your favorite drink? Mountain Dew.
9. Your dream/goal? Google employment.
10. The room you're in? Bed Room.
11. Your ex? Doesn't exist.
12. Your fear? Social interaction.
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? In Seattle
14. Where were you last night? Dad's house.
15. What you're not? Social butterfly.
16. Muffins? Poppy seed.
17. One of your wish list items? Better computer.
18. Where you grew up? Ketchikan, Alaska.
19. The last thing you did? Checked email.
20. What are you wearing? Fleece loungewear.
21. Your TV? Turned off.
22. Your pet(s)? Sea Monkeys.
23. Your computer? Works fine.
24. Your life? Needs improvement.
25. Your mood? Suppose fine.
26. Missing someone? Perhaps yes.
27. Your car? Doesn't exist.
28. Something you're not wearing? A hat.
29. Favorite Store? Amazon online.
30. Your summer? Rainy, windy.
31. Like someone? Not currently.
32. Your favorite color? Dark Black.
33. Last time you laughed? Yesterday, yes.
34. Last time you cried? Don't remember.
35. Who will re-post this? Perhaps you.

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«New Poll»

Yet again, for jury duty the trial was canceled. The 30th is the last possible day. If that one doesn't go as scheduled, then I will have gone the entire month without even going in.

Once again, the old poll has been up for so long no one even hardly knows what it's about. Nearly all the votes recently have been "The what?". So, here's the results for the old poll question "Do you like the post truncation?": Yes 7, No 1, and The what? 6.

More posts about...

Here's the new poll (it's also in the sidebar). I thought about allowing multiple choices, but I fear people would choose every option and I wouldn't really get a feeling for what's wanted most. Whether I actually do increase the frequency of the most voted topic or not, I don't know. Either way, it will give me an idea.

Fun fact: I looked up the word "whether" to make sure I had the correct word for my usage of it in the above paragraph, as opposed to "weather" or "wether". The fun fact is that the word "wether" actually exists; it's a castrated ram (male sheep).

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«Thumbtack and Firefox 3, Completely Unrelated»

Once again, no jury duty. The trial has been canceled. Now I've got to call Monday to see if there's a trial on Tuesday.

Today I did some hill climbing with my bicycle. Keep in mind it's only a 5 speed, not one of those fancy 24 speed mountain bikes. Believe me, this town has its share of hills. Much of it is built on the side of a mountain.

When I got home I noticed I had run over a thumbtack. So now my front tire is flat. I'm none too happy about that. I had just bought lights for it so I could do some night riding. (Now I have an image of that car from Knight Rider in my head.) Now I'll have to wait until I fix the tire. My tires are old and cracked anyway, so I might just replace them.

I downloaded Firefox 3, and helped their attempt at setting a world record. I haven't installed it yet, however. What's the previous record for most downloads in one day? Turns out there isn't one. No-one's bothered to formally claim the record. Their target was 5 million, and (at the time I'm writing this) the day isn't quite over yet and they already have 5,144,640. So they've made their goal.

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«Jury Duty Updates»

Jury duty for Monday was also canceled. I have to call in tonight to see if the trial for Wednesday goes as scheduled. My guess, probably not. That's just how it's been going the entire month. I haven't had to go in yet. I'll tell tomorrow.

You lost The Game.

I was looking through the little drop-down menu at all the search terms I've typed into Google. I should really clear that thing more often. At the very bottom was the words "you lost the game". So because I lost the game, I'm making the rest of you lose it as well. So there.

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«I've Been Awarded»

I've received a blogging award from Monique. See? I've seen these and other similar awards displayed on many other blogs. Now I've been awarded.

Now, before you read any further, I do appreciate the thought. I would like to thank Monique for that. Now with the little disclaimer over, I hope I don't offend Monique too much with my next point...

What's the requirements for such an award? Why does seemingly everyone willing to display one have one (or many)? What's the point (other than for an individual to show personal appreciation for a blog)? It's kind-of like the Emmys, and Oscars, Nobel Peace Prize, and whatever else celebrities award each other with. There's so many awards, and so may people have them, that they all loose their meaning and importance.

I'd like to re-affirm I do appreciate the thought. However, I don't plan on displaying the award in my sidebar. I might make a separate awards page if I end up collecting a few more. Yeah, right. Like I'll get any more rewards after how ungrateful I sound here...

As far as my jury duty: there was a trial for Tuesday, but I called in and it was canceled. So now I have to call in on Friday, June 13 to see if the one for Monday, June 16 is going to go as scheduled. Only because I want to do it, I'll probably go through the entire month without having to go in at all.

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«Pocket Inventory»

Well, I called in for jury duty and the trial set for today was canceled. Now I have to call on the 9th after 5pm for further instructions.

As I promised earlier, here's an inventory of my pockets. We'll assume I'm dressed as I would be if you met me out on the street; fully clothed, with my vest and coat on. I usually carry things in my jeans, trench coat, and (mainly) my vest. Some of the items I carry are quite random.

Pants (5 pockets)

• 4GB thumb drive
• house keys
• wallet

Trench coat (5 pockets)

• 3 feet of CAT 6 networking cable
• atomic fireball candy
• checkbook
• earplugs
• fake rose petal
• wint-o-green mints

Scott-e-vest (29 pockets)

• 2 AAA batteries
• 2 sets of earplugs
• 5 hair ties
• carmex lip ointment
• comb
• earbuds (wired through the vest)
• folding scissors
• green laser pointer
• gum
• hand sanitizer
• LED flashlight
• leatherman micro
• lighter
• micro-fiber cloth (for cleaning glasses)
• MP3 player
• napkins
• non-functioning mini-flashlight
• pen
• sheet of paper
• spare shoelaces
• titanium spork

I have plenty more room in the vest, and several empty pockets still. The vest has a few deep pockets that I can make surprisingly large items disappear into, as well as 2 water bottle holders that I sometimes use.

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«Fuel Prices»

So, how are fuel prices in your area? What about diesel? This is what they're like here in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Yup, that's $3.919 for regular unleaded gas and $4.889 for diesel.

At this point, I'm curious what they'll do with the sign when it reaches $10.009. It seems most of the signs and pumps were not designed for the extra digit. Maybe they'll do away with that 9 on the end. I've always thought that added 9/10 of a cent was so ridiculous. It should be rounded to the nearest cent, don't you think?

I'll have to call in tonight "for further instructions", but if nothing has changed, Wednesday will be my first day of jury duty. My group number was called. Despite the common loathing associated with jury duty, I'm looking forward to it. This will be my first time.

Too bad that if I get on a trial I can't say anything about it until the trial is over.

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«Tourist Season Begins»

Yesterday was the first day of our tourist season here. The first cruise ship of the season came in; the Norwegian Star. Only one ship for the day, so it wasn't too crowded. We can get up to 5 of those things in at once. With an average of 2000-4500 people per ship, the population of the town doubles or triples when they are in. For example, the Norwegian Star has 2,240 passengers and 1,100 crew for a total of 3,340 people. During a tourist season, we get over 800,000 visitors by cruise ships here in Ketchikan, Alaska.

I just got a jury summons for the month of June. I've been summoned once before, but I got out of it because I was taking classes at the local college. This time I have no excuse, and actually I'd like to go through the experience at least once.

It would appear that I dodged getting sick from either of my parents. You may recall an earlier post that I made about this, when I was sure I'd get sick. There was one night my body was acting like it does when I'm sick, but I didn't feel sick. When I'm sick, my body reacts very quickly to any little thing like a scratch or pimple. I think it might have something to do with a higher white blood cell count. Anyway, hopefully that was what my parents had, and I just fought it off differently.

I hate being sick (who doesn't?). Last time I was sick was last summer, I ate a deli sandwich and got food poisoning. I was throwing up for 3 days. I lost about 8 lbs during that, and took a couple months for the weight to come back; my usual weight is a very constant 160 lbs.

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