Thursday, March 18, 2010

Your Justice is Like the Great Deep. (Psalm 36:6)


Greetings all y'all!

So, how was your St. Hat Trick's Day? Did you score your three goals? You know, St. Hat Trick was the patron saint of hockey, right?

Hmm? What? Oh! St. Patrick! Nevermind....

First things first! The Name of the Wind giveaway!

Our good ePal Logan spent the day in the car on Wednesday, driving to a reading/book signing by every guy's favorite author, Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind. Other than my mother, the females that I know who've read the book haven't been that impressed with it (Abbie! Rebecca! What gives!). Anyway, Logan was able to secure an extra autographed book to be given away on his blog! W00t w00t! I'm torn about mentioning it here... I get an extra entry into the random giveaway if I mention it here on the blog... but if you all go enter it, it lowers my chances of winning! So hooray for the book giveaway! But I won't be heartbroken if you shrug your shoulders and wish me good luck on winning it...

Here's the inscription on the inside cover, in case you want to gaze longingly at it with me, while sighing.


Yes, I know it's ironic that a published author of Rothfuss' caliber would misspell "congratulations", but I don't mind much. I want it anyway!

Here's a blurry pic of Logan and Pat.

I'll let you figure out who is who. Or is it "whom?"


And here is a picture of Cookie Monster going rogue:
C is for Crime Spree... that's good enough for me...


And here is a picture of George Washington battling a tiger during a hurricane:
No wonder he got his face on the quarter! That's hardcore!


And finally, here is Batman fighting a Great White with a light saber:
Words fail...

So I went downtown for jury duty today, answering the call of civic duty. I had to be there at 7:45am, which is a few hours earlier than when I normally wake up... I went to bed early, and woke up just about every hour, because I kept dreaming I overslept and got to jury duty late. It was a long, fitful night. But I made it down ontime, parked at a nearby lot that charged me a staggering $22 to park for the day, and then proceeded to sit around until lunch, reading Marcus Luttrell's book Lone Survivor, in the jury lounge.

When I returned at 1:30, I got called in with the first group, and yes, it looks like I'm going to be selected to serve on a criminal case. I have to go back Friday morning to finish the selection process, but right now I'm in the #8 spot in the jury box. The lawyers still have their 10 "boot me" cards to pass out, so maybe I'll get booted and then be done for the year. Otherwise I'll be occupied at the courthouse at least through the end of March, probably into the first week of April too, counting deliberations.

I'm sure if I serve, and after the case is over, I'll feel ok discussing the case here (in brief), but at the moment, I'm not allowed to discuss it... I am nothing, if not a stickler for the rule of law!

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the last time I went in for jury duty, I was placed on a criminal case, and it was interesting, to say the least. I was responsible for almost hanging the jury... our deliberations took longer than it did to present the case! But ultimately I got hoisted on my petard and had to change my vote to be in line with the other 11. I felt the prosecution did a terrible job presenting the case, and did not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt... but I made a deal with the rest of the jury, and it backfired on me... if I had been able to pull it off the way I planned, it would have forced the rest of jury to change their votes to be in line with me, lol.

It almost worked. If you want details, I can elaborate. Otherwise, I'll spare you.

In any case, I hesitate to get involved in another scenario like that, since I really get uncomfortable when people don't like me for whatever reason... and I made 11 other people quite upset that time, lol. There's a chance that if either lawyer on Friday asks me for details of that other case, they'll dismiss me, since the charges are very similar. Who knows.

I'm short on time now - gotta go grab dinner for the family. But I wanted to post a cat video here that I found on TBT. If it has an ad before it, I apologize. When I return, I'll look for the clip on YouTube and replace the embed. In the mean while, enjoy this clip, eh!

EDIT: ok, I found it on YouTube, so it's all good...



I'll be back. Adios for now. I have more to share...

6 comments:

logankstewart said...

Dude. Hmm. Interesting. That's not the typo I found, though I wondered about that one. I just assumed Pat didn't quite finish crossing his "t", but the more I look the more it resembles a "d." Must be from the umpteen hours on the road and the 3 hr book event signing. But there's another typo in one of my signed books, too...

George Washington fighting a tiger during a hurricane choked me up way too much. Oh the humanity!

I saw that Batman thing the other day, and it's just as awesome now as it was then.

Good luck with jury duty. I've always wanted to get it and get to serve on some sort of case.

Anonymous said...

Please tell me that you do not have to pay $22 if you are selected - are you reimbursed or only in the for of a tax right off?

Anonymous said...

$22 per day....write off

David Wagner said...

I got picked to be on the jury! We started today. I do not get reimbursed for parking costs... all the other courts in the different parts of SD have big, free parking lot... downtown, it's pay to play.

I'm working on a plan to get me into downtown and out again for as little dough as possible. It will likely involve me parking near a trolley station several miles away and taking the trolley into downtown. Going to bring lunch as well.

Being on jury duty pays $15 per day, plus .23 cents per mile, one way, from your home zip code. In other words, little to nothing. Gonna be a long, hopefully interesting week or two...

Paula Titus said...

I hope the jury duty is interesting for you and you find another way to get there - $22 bucks a day is crazy!

Abbie said...

hey, coolness about jury duty! well, the part about being on a criminal case, not the boo-cu bucks you have to pay! i do want to hear about it when it is all said and done! sounds nifty! you'll be a good juror :)