Jury Duty and All That Jazz

Things have been so busy lately.

I think I spent most of July trying to get adult students ready to start classes. I worked the usual placement testing Saturday. Fortunately, I didn't have very many late nights.

Other than that I am not sure were all of July went to. We did our traditional rib grill out on the 4th. But, for the life of me, I can't remember any other activities going on in July. I'll have to check my calendar to see if it was anything interesting. Regardless, July felt like a busy blur.

On August 2nd, Todd and I went to Rickwood Caverns and to dinner in early celebration of our 10th anniversary. We enjoyed the day, but we both felt a little disappointed in the cave. It doesn't seem that the cave has been/ is being well maintained. It was very dry in the cave, not damp like a cave that is actively making formations. There was a man made rock wall in the cave. The lighting was not as inconspicuous as a nicer cave.

We had Chinese at a nice place next to the movie theater in Trussville. The sizzling rice soup and Mongolian beef was excellent.

While we were out Erik spent the day with Grandpa and Nana. He had a great time. He blew bubbles, played with lawn mower, and did all kinds of other wonderful things. Nana sent him home with a supply of mini Nilla Wafers. Erik loves those. The next morning, Erik was eating some of the mini Nilla Wafers with his breakfast (he thinks they go with Cheerios and yogurt). He had such a great time the day before, that he started calling for Grandpa. I don't know if he thought Grandpa was coming or he just likes Grandpa and wanted to say his name.

On Monday the 4th, I started jury duty. I expected to get a short civil case or be excused (many of my coworkers have been excused because of working at SEBC). I thought it would be a light week, because in the jury instruction, they said juror hours are usually 9-4.

However, these assumptions were wrong. I ended being assigned to a capital murder case. I ended up staying 3 or 4 evenings due to deliberations or lawyer issues. The capital murder case had all the "trimmings" one might expect including gruesome photos and moving testimony. In the end, we found the defendant guilty and recommended to the judge that he be sentenced to life in prison rather than death.

After the trial, I was looking forward to life returning to normal (or as normal as life gets at registration time for traditional students at SEBC). However, I received a summons for federal court in the mail last night. According to the letter, I am already assigned to a jury pool. If I am selected for the jury, I am looking at another 3 to 4 weeks of trial. Goodbye to taking vacation/anniversary celebration trip in September. At least federal court for this case is assigned to a Birmingham courthouse.

So, August is half way through!