Well, it never really started. Last week's session was a pre-screening for those who would have a hardship sitting on a jury for three weeks or so.
This week was the judge and attorneys determining if we were valid and suitable jurors for the case. We started on Tues with about 150 people and by the end of the day Wed they had selected twelve jurors and three alternates. None of them me, but based on the pattern of eliminations, I think I would have been eliminated based on my logical approach to things, though I don't know why those people were excused. I would have to know more about the case and the evidence, which I'll never know now.
Anyway, I've been working out in the mornings instead of the afternoons because the court follows something like a 9 to 5 (09-17) schedule, which puts me too late. I seemed weaker than usual at this other time slot. Not used to working in the morning, because mine is a desk job.
I suppose I should have gone to work today, but, like others there, I have a lot of vacation time that my supervisor is always looking for us to take. A lot of the other prospective jurors were on their blackberries and smart phones during the breaks, scrolling through email, I assume. I haven't checked work email since I was at work Mon. Don't think I've missed anything.
In crochet news, I finally finished (the final 20cm of the edging on) my wife's shawl. I started it in May, but progress has been very slow because I kept having forearm pain when I worked on it, but not with other crochet projects. I didn't know if it was biceps curls or cleans or crochet that was causing the pain, but decided it was that project. The body of it is Homespun, which splits, so the stitches (DCs) were often a struggle against some stray fibers. The trim was Fun Fur (DC) post stitches which were tight stitches. Maybe the other projects and yarn didn't cause problems because the stitches flowed easier. Want to take a few pictures of it today.
14 October 2010
10 October 2010
Ren faire and weight rack
We went to the Renaissance Faire in Gilroy yesterday afternoon. Our daughter made a Viking wire knit necklace and I made a leather pouch with a tooled oak-leaf-and-acorn pattern. I didn't get around much of the booths because I was working on the leather most of the time, which is fine. The booths are mostly costume shops for the people who dress for the event.
The women who dress for the event, dress like no renaissance woman would with their corsets (though decorative) on the outside of their clothes and their boobs pushed up on a shelf.
There is some crossover with pirate costumes. I saw one woman in steampunk. Steampunk is Victorian, so that was out of place.
This is the leather pouch. It's about 12cm square and 4cm deep. The acorn is small and near the top of the design. It started the day as a kit with a few flat pieces of undyed leather and the other parts. There is a front flap with snap closure and a snapped belt loop in the back.
In the morning I attended weightlifting class. This week was jerk (push press from shoulder).
Friday I stayed home from work to visit the police fortress (the new station) to get my correctable violation signed off. Now I can mail it in with the fine. At work the IT people were upgrading our building, so the network was supposed to be out until about noon. That means no email and, since the main piece of software I use comes from a license server, no work progress either. In the afternoon I took apart the old "home gym", put it aside, and assembled the new weight/power rack. I've had an ad on craigslist with no response, so decided to lower the price to $50, which is practically free, and just move on. If no one wants to pay anything for the old one, I'm not going to keep it assembled for them to inspect before taking it down, especially when the new one had been delivered and I had yet to see if all the parts are there and it's in working order.
I used it Fri afternoon. The old one had posts to hold weight plates, so I'll have to do something about that and there are other things to get used to, but it does what it's supposed to.
The women who dress for the event, dress like no renaissance woman would with their corsets (though decorative) on the outside of their clothes and their boobs pushed up on a shelf.
There is some crossover with pirate costumes. I saw one woman in steampunk. Steampunk is Victorian, so that was out of place.
This is the leather pouch. It's about 12cm square and 4cm deep. The acorn is small and near the top of the design. It started the day as a kit with a few flat pieces of undyed leather and the other parts. There is a front flap with snap closure and a snapped belt loop in the back.
In the morning I attended weightlifting class. This week was jerk (push press from shoulder).
Friday I stayed home from work to visit the police fortress (the new station) to get my correctable violation signed off. Now I can mail it in with the fine. At work the IT people were upgrading our building, so the network was supposed to be out until about noon. That means no email and, since the main piece of software I use comes from a license server, no work progress either. In the afternoon I took apart the old "home gym", put it aside, and assembled the new weight/power rack. I've had an ad on craigslist with no response, so decided to lower the price to $50, which is practically free, and just move on. If no one wants to pay anything for the old one, I'm not going to keep it assembled for them to inspect before taking it down, especially when the new one had been delivered and I had yet to see if all the parts are there and it's in working order.
I used it Fri afternoon. The old one had posts to hold weight plates, so I'll have to do something about that and there are other things to get used to, but it does what it's supposed to.
07 October 2010
ticket
On the way home from jury duty pre-selections, my wife called my mobile while I was on the way home to check how it went, though I had sent her a few txts on the way to the car from the court building.
We had only been on the phone a few seconds and I was debating putting her on speaker phone, when there was a police car on the right at the stop sign I was approaching. I immediately said that I had to go and dropped the phone in my lap. He came after me. I pulled over a block later. It was because of the phone. I explained that the phone has a nice speaker phone function, but I didn't put my wife on speaker soon enough after picking it up so he caught me. He was nice about it and didn't ticket me for that, but I have been driving the car for eleven years without a front license plate. There's no bracket on the car for it, but it can take a plate because the holes are there under some bumper inserts, unlike some newer cars that have no bumper that allows for a license plate. Anyway, he gave me a ticket for that.
I went home and popped out the bumper inserts and slapped the thing on with the bolts that have been in the trunk forever. Ugly car front now. It's going to get bug encrusted and bent up, but it's hanging there, as required.
The ticket is a correctable citation/violation. The citation form says to take it to the court, but it has to be signed off by a police officer after the correction (in this case, mounting the plate) is complete. I called the DMV to see if I can get that signature there. They said no, if the citation has the court address on it, then it needs to be taken there. This morning I took off work to go to the (traffic) court building. They told me to go to the police station, then mail it to the court with the fee after they sign it.
I left there and drove to the police station I knew of. It's closed and fenced off, not there anymore.
I drove to and parked in a nearby parking lot and called the police from the contact list on my phone. The officer told me the new location, but added that they only sign those things on Wed and Fri mornings, so I couldn't have done it today anyway. Oh joy.
Try again tomorrow.
... and no, jury duty is not a welcomed experience, total pain in the ass, but I've heard that after you do it, you appreciate the experience and understand the system better.
We had only been on the phone a few seconds and I was debating putting her on speaker phone, when there was a police car on the right at the stop sign I was approaching. I immediately said that I had to go and dropped the phone in my lap. He came after me. I pulled over a block later. It was because of the phone. I explained that the phone has a nice speaker phone function, but I didn't put my wife on speaker soon enough after picking it up so he caught me. He was nice about it and didn't ticket me for that, but I have been driving the car for eleven years without a front license plate. There's no bracket on the car for it, but it can take a plate because the holes are there under some bumper inserts, unlike some newer cars that have no bumper that allows for a license plate. Anyway, he gave me a ticket for that.
I went home and popped out the bumper inserts and slapped the thing on with the bolts that have been in the trunk forever. Ugly car front now. It's going to get bug encrusted and bent up, but it's hanging there, as required.
The ticket is a correctable citation/violation. The citation form says to take it to the court, but it has to be signed off by a police officer after the correction (in this case, mounting the plate) is complete. I called the DMV to see if I can get that signature there. They said no, if the citation has the court address on it, then it needs to be taken there. This morning I took off work to go to the (traffic) court building. They told me to go to the police station, then mail it to the court with the fee after they sign it.
I left there and drove to the police station I knew of. It's closed and fenced off, not there anymore.
I drove to and parked in a nearby parking lot and called the police from the contact list on my phone. The officer told me the new location, but added that they only sign those things on Wed and Fri mornings, so I couldn't have done it today anyway. Oh joy.
Try again tomorrow.
... and no, jury duty is not a welcomed experience, total pain in the ass, but I've heard that after you do it, you appreciate the experience and understand the system better.
05 October 2010
highland games and weekend
There was a Highland Games and Celtic festival nearby over the weekend, Sat. Our daughter was sick on Fri and was questionable on Sat morning, so we didn't go. By the time we figured out she was okay, it was too late to bother going.
The girls have this idea of hosting a Halloween party, so they went off shopping for decorations and stuff for it. I'm not into Halloween, but doubt I'll be off the hook for this.
Over the weekend, I packed up the art work I brought home from my mother's and other cards and art from her and put all this in a storage container. It would be nice to hang them up, but we don't have the space for that. In the coming years, I can take the things out periodically and look through them I suppose.
When I was there, I had made a plan to take a picture of her and a few small things and frame them, so I pulled together those things, but still have to get to a frame shop.
The other outstanding item is the stepping-stone/"grave" marker that my father suggested I make. I had to order some glass "gems" for it and have a plaque made. I have all that in order, but still have to find a round stepping stone to mount those. When it's done, it has to be shipped to him. It's going to be heavy, because stepping stones are concrete and this needs to be big, 30cm diameter, to fit the labyrinth design.
The girls have this idea of hosting a Halloween party, so they went off shopping for decorations and stuff for it. I'm not into Halloween, but doubt I'll be off the hook for this.
Over the weekend, I packed up the art work I brought home from my mother's and other cards and art from her and put all this in a storage container. It would be nice to hang them up, but we don't have the space for that. In the coming years, I can take the things out periodically and look through them I suppose.
When I was there, I had made a plan to take a picture of her and a few small things and frame them, so I pulled together those things, but still have to get to a frame shop.
The other outstanding item is the stepping-stone/"grave" marker that my father suggested I make. I had to order some glass "gems" for it and have a plaque made. I have all that in order, but still have to find a round stepping stone to mount those. When it's done, it has to be shipped to him. It's going to be heavy, because stepping stones are concrete and this needs to be big, 30cm diameter, to fit the labyrinth design.
volleyball
Last week I mentioned our daughter's volleyball games. They actually play matches, two out of three games. On Thurs they won the first and the third. According to my wife, the B team didn't win any matches last year. There is an A and a B team. The A team has the better players that demonstrated their skills at the tryouts. The others went to the B team. However, after tryouts, girls continued to show up to play volleyball. Those were placed on the B team. The B team now has over twenty players, so there is a lot of rotation during the games to allow everyone a chance to play.
jury duty
I was at work yesterday morning, but on call for jury duty, then spent the afternoon at court for jury pre-screening. I'm due to go back next week Tues (12 Oct) morning for the second jury elimination and potentially the beginning of the trial. If I'm selected for the jury, the case is expected to take a few weeks, to nearly the end of the month. There must have been a hundred people in the beginning. About half were eliminated by the financial hardship factor. The rest of us come back.
01 October 2010
"Leap Year" movie
We watched the movie "Leap Year" last night. Remarkable that we watched the entire thing in one sitting. I liked it, though I tend to like happy-ending, "romantic" movies.
The two main characters spent some time walking around the grounds at Ballycarbery Castle. I looked it up this morning. The real castle is nothing like the one shown in the movie. The real one is in County Kerry and not on the path they followed in the movie. There was a lot of computer animation and green screens used for those scenes to create a big, perfect, picturesque castle. Computer animation was used for other scenes in the movie too.
The main character was Anna, who works as a stager, one who makes homes look perfect for sales. Declan, the taxi driver, pub owner, chef, etc. points out that she's a con artist, which was funny, and true, but once I looked up some of the details of the movie, I see the movie staff was a group of con artists too.
The two main characters spent some time walking around the grounds at Ballycarbery Castle. I looked it up this morning. The real castle is nothing like the one shown in the movie. The real one is in County Kerry and not on the path they followed in the movie. There was a lot of computer animation and green screens used for those scenes to create a big, perfect, picturesque castle. Computer animation was used for other scenes in the movie too.
The main character was Anna, who works as a stager, one who makes homes look perfect for sales. Declan, the taxi driver, pub owner, chef, etc. points out that she's a con artist, which was funny, and true, but once I looked up some of the details of the movie, I see the movie staff was a group of con artists too.
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