I received a summon for jury duty about a month ago. According to the summon, i “have been randomly selected to serve as a trial juror in the Municipal Court of Seattle.” I had to get up way earlier than my usual time in order to arrive at the Municipal Court before 0830. The daily compensation for each day of service is $10. That’s barely enough for lunch. When i signed in on arrival, i decided to donate the $10 to Childcare Services of Seattle.
Seattle Municipal Court.
After watching an 18-minute video on a juror’s duty, one of the two ladies explained that the length of the Jury Service is Tuesday through Thursday. What ??!!! I initially thought it was a one-day deal. RTFM, it was printed in bold on the summon, right under the huge title “INSTRUCTIONS - READ CAREFULLY.
Basically, i am in a pool of about 30 jurors. Each time, they will randomly call a group of about 10 jurors. The bailiff will lead this group of jurors to the judge. The judge will tell them about the case and introduce the jurors to the lawyers and others who are involved in it. After taking an oath to answer all questions truthfully, the judge and the lawyers will question the panel to find out if the jurors have any knowledge of the case and things that may make it hard for the jurors to be impartial.
No one was called up before lunch so everyone was let out at around 1130 for a two-hour lunch. Since i had so much time, i decided to walk over to Salumi, a restaurant owned by Armandino Batali, father of celeb chef Mario Batali.
Long line of lunch crowd waiting outside Salumi.
There was a long line waiting outside Salumi, about 30-people deep. I must have waited in line for at least 45 minutes before i was able to make my order. I ordered the special of the day, Marco Polo, an East meet West sandwich with a prosciutto-wrapped chicken marinated in Wasabi sauce, loaded with Wasabi dressing and hot peppers. It was a huge and delicious sandwich.
I spent the whole afternoon in the jury assembly room, waiting to be called up. Four groups of jurors were called up and i was not among them. I fell asleep several times during the afternoon. By 1530, they let everyone who was not called go home.
Two more days of this to go.
Related posts
I was looking for parking to pick up my to-go order at Paseo Caribbean in Fremont, about half a block from where i used to live, when i noticed this Subaru Tribeca across the street.
Subaru Tribeca with broken window.
Related posts
Normal route from home to work.
I live a little more than 13 miles from work. The daily morning commute normally takes between 35 to 50 minutes. However this morning, it took me 1 hour and 8 minutes to get to work. When there is no traffic, which is hardly ever the case in the morning, it only takes me about 20 minutes. In fact, the traffic was so atrociously bad that i did not get to the Spokane St and I-5 intersection until more than 30 minutes after i left home (during the weekends, it takes about 7 minutes).
It took me more than one freaking hour to get to work.
Related posts
Dr Finkelstein being introduced on stage.
One of my favorite writers Dr Norman Finkelstein gave a speech at University of Washington’s Ethnic Cultural Theater yesterday afternoon, six days before the 60th anniversary of the birth of Israel. This very same day is also referred by the Palestinians as al-nakba, the catastrophe, in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from what is presently Israel.
Dr Finkelstein discussed the myth of the “new anti-semitism”.
I took off several hours from work to listen to his inspiring speech, which lasted more than two hours. After which, Dr Finkelstein was kind enough to sign my copy of his book “Beyond Chutzpah“.
Related posts
Several days ago, i discovered that leaves on most of the onion planted by Smelly, were showing signs of being eaten by slugs. They were in a pretty bad shape. Last season, they pretty much decimated Smelly’s pot-grown sweet basil. For some strange reason, they left the two other pots with Thai basil alone.
So today, i stopped by at the Home Depot on my way home and bought myself two types of slug-controlling products. One is a more environmentally friendlier material with iron phosphate as the active ingredient. According to the instructions, after the slugs have eaten some of the pellets, they will stop eating for several days and then they will die. The second product is what i would consider the nuclear option. It is Methaldyhde-based and it is probably extremely toxic if swallowed. Nuking the slugs is probably the last straw for me. After arriving home, i sprinkled the iron phosphate-based pellets all around the slug-infested area.
Several minutes ago, i took a flashlight and went to the backyard to check on the plants. Several of the slugs were munching on the leaves, instead of eating the tasty pellets! I was very very tempted to go nuclear at that moment. But a cooler head prevailed. Serenity now.. serenity now…
Related posts
I probably hit at least four 2-out home runs in the 3rd and last inning of this game. I only wish the Seattle Mariners are doing as well i have been in the baseball game in Wii Sports.
Related posts
And he/she didn’t even bother to leave a note! That asshole probably didn’t realize that there is a surveillance camera pointing in the direction of the parking lot. It will be interesting to review the video footage from today.
Related posts
