And So It Ends:

I am off of jury duty.  We deliberated for exactly one hour before we all agreed on the case, and this was a civil trial so we didn't even all have to agree.  My faith in people is restored.  I feared that there would be very different takes on the information, but no we all heard the same thing and came to the same conclusion.... Keanu Reeves was innocent.   Yes you heard it right, I just spent a week sitting on the jury of the trial where a papparazzi sued Keanu Reeves for damages and medical bills after he alleged ran over him with his car after Mr. papparazzi refused to get out of the way while trying to get a picture of the star.  Um, hello get over yourself.

Seriously, this is part of what is wrong with our legal system, this guy couldn't manage to tell the same story twice while KR never changed his tale that he hadn't hit the guy. My dad always said his memory isn't good enough to lie and clearly neither is mr paparazzi's.  Plus there was no evidence to support the paparazzi's claim.  Further, the accident happened because papi dude refused to move once Reeves car was turned on, then he backed up, fell over complained of injuries that he didn't have, but did have an xray which showed an old injury, that he then tried to get KR to pay for.  Why oh why, did I have to waste 6 days of my time to listen to this drither.  In my opinion, if you file a silly lawsuit like this, you should then have to pay the court fees for hearing the case.  Maybe then our judicial system could actually catch up with the court backlog, there would be fewer silly lawsuits and we wouldn't all have to live in such a litiginous society.  

Further, why is society so obsessed with seeing celebrities going about their everyday lives?  Why is that news, why do we treat it as such?  After having spent 6 days listening to all of this, I vow that my actions will support this claim, and I will not financially support this business that prays on celebrities and then sues them when they get hurt.  Not that I ever did, but now I really won't, I promise

Sociology ExperimentOr Jury Duty Day 4

I have decided that a jury is one big sociology experiment.  You take 12 people who don't know each other and have nothing  in common with each other and put them together for days on end.  Then tell them that they can't talk about their only shared experience, the trial (which is full of so many things that you want to talk about, but can't), and then you watch and see what happens. I am starting to wish that I paid more attention in sociology in college, because the group dynamics are very interesting.   So far it has all been quite amicable.  Everyone is respectful and kind to each other, people bring snacks etc.  Yes, there are little cliques forming, cliques that seem to be based on socioeconomics more than racial groups, but everyone is getting along reasonably.  Depending on how much longer this thing goes on, we'll see how this unfolds.  Stay tuned, and eventually when this is all over I'll be able to tell the real story and it is entertaining, I promise.

Civic Duty

The justice system of the US is based on the concept of trial by a jury of your peers.  I have previously served on the jury in one criminal trial and although it was very straightforward, I appreciated for the first time what a truly powerful criterion getting 12 people from 12 different walks of life to agree on something is.  I know a lot of people will say and do anything to get out of serving on  a jury, but I do think that it is an important thing to keep our justice system alive, and that if I ever had to be on trial, I'd want some smart people on the jury.  So, now once again I find myself sitting on a jury, this time in a  civil case.  Let me tell you it is the kind of case that probably only happens in Hollywood and when it is done, I'll tell you all about it.  Til then I'm a civil servant I guess.  The good thing is when you are on a jury you get breaks, you get a lunch break, and you work banker hours.  This is all much easier than my regular job.  

Sheryl Crow

The concert Friday night was amazing. All of the tickets were General Admission, so my friend Lori and I made a bee line for the front and wound up about 3 people away from the stage. They definately didn't fail to impress. Good time and hopefully good money raised.




These pictures were taken from my iphone which does not zoom and does not have any settings, aside from point and click. Definately gives you an idea of how good our spot was. Worth it indeed

Save Lids Save Lives

Alright, I know that this post is going to infuriate my online friend, Jeanne, and she might even disavow our cyber friendship, but....

Sheryl Crow, who is one of my favorite female rockers (or really just rockers in general) is giving a free concert tonight a few miles from my house in honor of breast cancer awareness month. The entry fee is to have been able to get tickets (no small feat), and then to bring 10 Yoplait "Save Lids to Save Lives" lids. OK, cause marketing is not something I support. The whole idea that a company uses peoples fears about certain diseases or conditions to boost their marketing is just not something I can really get behind. However, the awareness about getting people to have screening tests when breast cancer like so many other cancers is so much more treatable when caught early. That I do agree with. I could go on, but others can say what they feel so much better.

So back to Sheryl Crow, she is awesome in concert and when given the opportunity, I couldn't pass it up. Also, this gives me a chance to comment on her song "Make It Go Away" which I have wanted to do for awhile. When I got her new album Detours, and saw that she had a song subtilted "Radiation Song". I thought oh dear, here goes another mass media thing that is going to make me feel like I have business in the "cancer survivor" club, but this is Sheryl Crow- the woman who wrote- "All I wanna do," "If it makes you happy," "soak up the sun," etc. right. Surely she wouldn't write some sappy I have cancer woe is me, the world is against me song, right? So, I listened with my skeptical ear and was blown away. If I had the talent to write a song about how I felt during radiation, it might have come out just like hers did. (My friends are laughing because musically talented I am not and I CANNOT SING, but I digress) It has anger and fear and optimism tied up with a metronome beating away in the background, sounding a little bit like a slow radiation machine and a lot like time ticking away. The song is raw and brilliant. I love it. I'll see if I kind find a UTube video to post.

So, alas, I am giving in and buying yoplait and happily going to this concert tonight. Details to follow. I apologize to all those I know who are aghast at the idea of all of the pink marketing in October, but it's Sheryl Crow- need I say more

The Squirrel Saga Continues

So, you thought that getting the squirrel out of my closet would be the end of the squirrel game didn't you. So did I. Or at least I hoped. Alas, no such luck for me.

Two days after the rat with a good sense of fashion was absconded from my closet, my air conditioner unit stopped working. The little thermostat was flashing that it had no power. Undaunted, I investigated the unit. I checked the plug- full power, no problem. I checked the connection to the plug, all good. I took the AC apart and my jaw hit the ground. LIterally, hit the ground. After, I was able to recover from the shock, I surveyed the damage. The wires (plural here, hello at least 10 of them) were chewed through. The filter had been knocked through ground. The situation slowly dawned on me. THE SQUIRRELS ATE MY AIR CONDITIONER. Are you kidding me? Seriously, this was too crazy to believe. Then he ate through the wall in two places to get out of his little AC hiding place and set up home in a bag of paper towels, where I found him a week ago Friday. I drove him from that hiding place. Left the garage door open so he would run to freedom, and cried.

Once I was done with my "why me" moment. I finally found a company to close off their access to my house, set traps etc. I called my cousin's husband who lucky for me happens to run an AC repair company. And we sat off to repair the whole thing. One week later, the AC is finally fixed (thank goodness, because it is supposed to be 96 degrees today), but somehow the heater is not. They are coming back out later this week to deal with that little situation. There are screens over all of hteir former entrances to my attics and traps set in various places. Full on anti-squirrel warfare is occurring in my home.

Therefore, I can't help but feel a new profound hatred for squirrels. When I saw one in my driveway as I backed out to go to work today. I wanted to drive over it with my car, and I am not a violent person, but my house feels like it was violated by these little rascals. UGGH

More on Squirrels

So, apparently there aren't so many companies that will help you with squirrels. I called around and got a lot of "we deal with rodents- mice and rats, no squirrels." To which I respond, a squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit, but nonetheless they wouldn't help me. My wonderful neighbor helped me get rid of it. We went at the thing, armed with long reachy things, thick gloves, long pants,a trash can and a lid. At sfirst he was hard to coax from his hiding place, but as we were posed and ready for action he ran at us and I screamed and fell over. Fortunately, he went up the wall. Ultimately, we got him into our trap and out of the closet. Nerves of steel I don't have. However, the crisis overted. I now have to find someone who will close off their access routes. The joys of owning a home.

Once project squirrel was resolved, I had to clean up after him. Apparently, he had been trying to make himself a nest out of a various arrays of wires found in the office closet. He chewed through three extension cords, an old computer cord, its attendent mouse (no pun intended), keyboard, monitor and speaker wires. (Good thing i don't use that computer anymore.) Given the amount of damage he'd done. I think he'd been there awhile. My house feels dirty now, I want to run around and sterilize everything. HMM- I need this to not be an appealing home for them anymore.