Please accept my apologies for the long gap between posts. There has been a lot going on over the last month, and I'm just now catching my breath. Without further ado, here's the news that's fit to print (at least in my opinion).
Like many of you, our house took a hard hit from "the crud". Based on what people who have actually had the flu have told me, we didn't have it. However, what we did have was bad enough to knock each of us off our feet for at least a day apiece. I took a sick day off of work, and until last year I had gone for almost five years without taking one. Yes folks, it was a sledgehammer. But this too shall pass... We are all back to normal - well, something like that. I'm not really sure what normal means, but we have returned to our previous states of health at any rate.
I was elected Treasurer of our Church at the quarterly voters meeting in January. I'll be serving a two year term in this capacity where I will provide oversight to the Church budget at the Council and Voters assemblies. I also volunteered to be our congregations layman representative at the Texas District Convention this summer. I've never done any of these things before so I'm looking forward to learning some new things. I have had budget responsibilities at work for the last three years so Treasurer duties are a natural extension of that.
This is somewhat old at this point, but I've been meaning to post about it for over two months now. I served on a jury back in December, and it was an interesting experience. I have been called down to the Tarrant County Courthouse two times prior, but I was only selected for reserve jury duty. That's where they keep you for a whole or half day as standby for additional juries if needed. This time they called my name for the fourth jury so I felt like I had a sense of purpose this time. Along with about 50 other people, I was assigned to Judge Dana Womack. I had never been a part of the jury process before, and it was eye opening.
The Voir Dire process was shocking. They called us all in with assigned seating. The lawyers asked questions to specific people and asked for additional comments from other people. The lawyer for the plaintiff said that being quiet was the way to be selected. This invited much diarrhea of the mouth from people who just wanted to get out of there. One person went as far as to say that the plaintiffs "looked like people who would take advantage of the system". After hearing other similar statements, I knew that I needed to be on this jury to try to bring some sanity to the process.
Sure enough, I kept quiet, and they selected me among the twelve. The case involved an unresolved insurance claim from a chain reaction rear ending accident. The facts were fairly straightforward in favor of the plaintiff, but the defendant had the superior lawyer/presenter. I wanted to vomit as the defense lawyer pelted us with a PowerPoint presentation for her closing arguments. I couldn't believe the glassy eyed looks among my fellow jurors as form trumped substance.
We went back for deliberations, and an initial straw poll showed a vote of 8-4 in favor of the defense. I was one of the 4 so I spoke as to my reasons why (with my deepest apologies to the plaintiff) but the next vote was 11-1 (yes I was the one). Since civil verdicts only require a 10+ majority, the case was over. We deliberated less than 30 minutes. What I learned was that I hope to never have my fate in the hands of a jury.
In other news, I've had a lot of time to read and listen to music since my last post. Here's a list with links to the goods:
The Warlord's Son - a war novel set in Pakistan/Afghanistan.
Amberville - a creative noir novel.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - a leadership book.
The Empty Mirror - a historical mystery novel.
Loser's Town - a very salty mystery set in L.A.
Snark - a windbag commentary on social graces.
Chinese Democracy - the long awaited new CD from Guns 'N Roses.
Happy in Galoshes - Scott Weiland's second solo CD.
There you have it. There's a little something for everyone with more to come.
Until next time...
PH
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1 comment:
With rights and privileges come responsibilities. I served on a jury at New Boston once. We found for the plaintiff, but we awarded less money than they wanted. It was the only case I served on that time. I was called to Rochester once, but they had their quota before they came to me. I went back but was released the next day. I didn't mind serving, but I've given caregiving duties as an excuse at other times. Mom
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