I have been called by my great country (and county) to serve. Since I have a federal job I guess technically I serve everyday I go into work (I am a civil servant ya' know). But this is different. A large part of someone's life may hang in the balance. I went to my first ever Jury Duty this morning. Mostly it involves lots of sitting so far. I sat for over an hour and then they called my name. Then I followed a group of similarly called people up to a courtroom where we all sat some more. We went to lunch. Then upon our return my name was called again. I had to answer some generic questions, to which my answers were apparently suffiicient. Now I am a juror. Well, to be honest, I am an alternate juror, which means that I will only have to do the actual deciding if something happens to someone else. I really hope that doesn't happen. By law, I can't go into details, but suffice it to say that the case involves the usual suspect comitting a (relatively) low level crime. We are not allowed to look into the case further than the law. If the law says it is a crime, that's it. We are not to decide if we think what the accused did was wrong. We were repeatedly told not to sympathize and also not to think of any eventual punishment that might follow a guilty verdict. So hopefully I won't have to worry about it, and I'll collect my paycheck (in full thanks to the sweetness of the Homeland) and watch the trial roll by. Wish me luck. Or rather, wish all the other jurors luck.

so i always need to have a scrolling meeage across my screen warning me of the ultra-hazardous pollen danger?

[size=m]Pollen count high in area!!!![/size]

My god, what next? Fungi spores? Extra-acidic soil indicators! Trees blowing dangerously to the left today!! Slight chance of mud on your shoes if you traverse the lawn!!!

Today we are all free to get us some big guns. The ban on assault weapons has officially sunset leaving Americans the opportunity to blow one another up all in the name of good sport. I am thinking of purchasing a Fabrique Nationale FN/FAL which is gas-operated and fires from the closed-bolt position in both the semi- and full-auto modes.



Can't wait to go at it with those deers in the fully automatic mode, I'm hoping to take an entire herd in under 3.5 minutes.

On a better note. I am shouting out my thanks to:

[size=l]Elaine M. Urban[/size]

She found my ID and bank cards where I left them at the beach. She then drove to my house and put them through the mail slot. Isn't that just the kind of good samaritanism that you think doesn't exist anymore? She is apparently a piano teacher so if you need any lessons please give her a call @ (716) 877-9531.

(e:soyeon) it has happened to me too. [inlink]soyeon,95[/inlink] Just about two months ago I went to look at one of my credit cards online and it said Access Denied and gave me a number to call. I called and they told me there was a freeze on my account. They asked me if I had spent $538.00 at Payless Shoe Store and $635.00 at a hotel. I hadn't been on any cheap shoe shopping sprees out of town and told them that. It really freaked me out. But, they cancelled the card and sent me some stuff to sign and about two weeks later it was all good as new. So don't worry it should turn out OK.

(e:robin) I thought you were a jackass last night honking at jaywalkers for no reason. I think I even called you a nasty name. Sorry, I guess. Next time maybe throw some kind of party favor at us instead. We didn't end up doing anything that night at all. We passed the party you might have gone too. Seemed jammin'. Saw (e:trisha) and (e:paulnotpaul) (though I'm not sure he still deserves hi (e:) since he hasn't written in months) and they said they were gonna tear the attic down around themselves. The walls were already listing. Hope you had a good time if you went.

Lastly, (e:floppydonkey) go spend some quality time with your girlfriend (e:maidencateyes) in the sun. You could always record the game and watch it this evening.

this has got to be short, I'm talking from atop a flailing seabeast. it's a blast. I hope my ass last. peace out mo-fo's.