heh. Just as well I guess, but it would have been fun to see their reactions.

I'm sure they would have envisioned a more horrible fate for you than being kept awake by my snoring.

Hee. Okay, thanks everybody. I figure it`s likely to be suitably boring. And I`m sure I`ll be fine. And if I get held in contempt of court at some point, there`s always the Buffista bail fund, right?

Liese, when I was called for jury duty I got to recuse myself from the first case offered because the defendant's brother was the sponsor of a club I spent tons of my free time with in college. The judge clearly thought I was being overzealous in mentioning the possible bias, but I didn't want any doubts that loyalty was influencing my decision.

The case I actually served on was cut and dried, with victims of unfortunate happenstance looking to make a mechanic pay for their bad fortune. Jury to plaintiff: shit happens, deal with it.

The result is just in. Two weeks after the election, the Australian Labor Party has been returned as this country's government. They landed 72 seats on their own, and picked up the support of the only Green member and three of four independents to reach 76 out of 150.

Last time I made it into the jury box, but was excused. It was an employment law (wrongful termination) case and this I am pretty sure is what got me excused:

Lawyer: "Do you think you can understand the language in an Employee Handbook?"

Me; "I better, I wrote ours."

I was on a jury in DC once! It was crazy complicated, and ended up a hung jury. Which I was fine with in one part (we were 9-3 that the guy was innocent) but NSM on the other (11-1 he was guilty)

I was on a jury once in Durham, NC. On one hand, classism and racism ran rampant. On the other hand, we were able to make classism work against the racism. Um, yay?

A woman was accused of shoplifting. The video tape evidence clearly showed that she was innocent. The woman was African American. Two white jurors spent an hour trying to convince the rest of us that we should convict her anyway, because, "she just looks guilty! Look at her attitude!" The defendant looked unimpressed by the proceedings, probably because she was an innocent woman dragged into court for no good reason. But by the two jurors' reasoning, anyone (at least, anyone of color) who wasn't quailing before the might of the (white) judge, (white) prosecuting attorney, and (mostly white) jury must be a total reprobate.

Anyway, the rest of us came back with, "We're not buying your argument, but we can come back tomorrow to hash it out further if you'd like." The rest of us were salaried and would be paid regardless. The two hold-outs were not, and said they were losing money with every hour they were stuck in court. So basically we applied socioeconomic pressure to make them give in. And I'd do it again, because To Kill a Mockingbird-style racism shouldn't triumph. But it seemed like a poor way to determine someone's legal status. "We have a more secure income flow than you do, so our opinions will win" is not how juries should work. On the other hand, we were right. So, as I said, yay.

"We have a more secure income flow than you do, so our opinions will win" is not how juries should work. On the other hand, we were right. So, as I said, yay.

Ugh. I'd hold onto the fact that she was innocent, but that can't have been pleasant.

Sara was in tears again this morning. It's heartbreaking. We figured out part of what's freaking her out is her school is a 70s-style open plan, without doors and walls, and finding her way around has to be a little weird. Until she gets used to it, though, my sunny, fearless kid panicking and sobbing every morning is killing me.

Poor Sara. Open plan schools freak me out too, frankly.

Noah starts full days at preschool today. Oof. Let the scheduling nightmare begin!

To make matters more exciting in our house, I have a sore throat AND I have full day meetings today and tomorrow followed by a neuro appt for Grace on Thursday.