I had jury duty this morning for the first time in several years, and I found the whole thing very interesting. I didn't get picked to be on the actual jury. They only needed 7 people, and around 80 showed up; the juror numbers went from 1 to 200-and-something, so I assume there were a whole lot of no-shows. Presumably, nothing bad will happen to the people who didn't show when they were called.

After we checked in to verify our attendance, we were ushered into a courtroom to watch a video about the jury system in Florida. That was interesting, but I really didn't learn anything from the video. Next, the Clerk of Court told us what was going to happen. Then we had a break while the judge was negotiating plea bargains in his chambers. There were 14 cases on the docket for this week, but they had whittled it down to three by this morning. After the plea bargaining session, there was only one man for trial.

The judge called up the first 24 people in numerical order. I was number 66, and I would have been first in the second batch, had they needed a second batch. Each lawyer got to question the prospective jurors, and I found that to be interesting and enlightening. Most of the 24 people were not married, which was my first surprise. Most did not have children, although some of the single ones did. Of the 80-odd people in the jury pool, only one was African American and none appeared to be Asian American. The defendant was a young African American man, and his Public Defender was a white woman in her early 30s. The Prosecutor was a mixed-race woman, also in her early 30s.

The alleged crime was a failure to register with the state as a convicted sexual predator. Florida requires that convicted sexual offenders and predators register with the sheriff within 48 hours of being released from police custody or of moving to a new address. Evidently the District Attorney felt that this guy didn't do that, so they put him on trial. This raised a number of questions in my mind, all of which hinted at layers of irony that I would have loved to be able to explore.

First, if this guy is found guilty of not registering in a timely manner, are they going to put him in jail for that? He's not in jail for being a convicted sexual predator, but would justice be well served by jailing him for not registering or for not doing so in a timely manner?

Second, if they have the guy in custody, which they obviously did, why not just make him register on the spot and forget about the rest of it? Why spend the kind of money it takes to stage a jury trial for a "crime" that appears to be totally victimless? They already convicted him of being a sexual predator and turned him loose. Why not take a lesson from traditional teacher-practice and just subtract 10 points from his final "grade" for turning in a late assignment?

Third, the prosecutor was essentially in the unenviable position of having to prove a negative--beyond a reasonable doubt. The charge was that the guy DIDN'T do what he was supposed to do, not that he actually DID something. Anybody who has had any experience in filling out and/or filing paperwork with a governmental entity or a large corporation knows intuitively that you can never know beyond a reasonable doubt that any paperwork you might fill out and/or file ever gets to where it's supposed to be in a timely manner.

The prosecuting attorney was a bright, personable young woman, and the defense attorney was likewise. I'm half tempted to go to the actual trial the day after tomorrow to see how these two handle the case. If it didn't start at 9 o'clock in the morning, and if I didn't have to be somewhere else at 8 o'clock that same day, I think I would. As it is, I'll have to put my curiosity on hold.

ED

Today I delivered Meals on Wheels on a route that I hadn't run for several years. Most of the people I used to know on that route aren't on it anymore, but one old gentleman still is. This old guy has an extraordinary collection of shells that he's picked up over the years. I had a young man, 17 years old, with me. Beth and I have been friends of his grandparents for 35 years or more, and I actually taught this kid's father when he was in high school. It was delightful getting to know this boy, and he and I spent about ten minutes with the shell-man as he showed us his stuff. The shell-man had a stroke a few years ago, and his speech was badly affected by it. Asking him to show us his shells clearly made his day (maybe even his week), and the kid uhhed and ahhed appropriately. I doubt that the boy was really all that impressed, but the old guy REALLY seemed to enjoy himself. I told the boy that the motto of Meals on Wheels is, "We deliver smiles," and I think he and I lived that motto to the fullest today.

ED

I'm pleased to report that the quarter Liza swallowed is now gone from her digestive system. She had an x-ray last Friday, and they could clearly see it. The doctor prescribed Milk of Magnesia, and at some point over the weekend Liza pooped it out. Through the whole ordeal, Liza remained a brave little pooper--er, trooper--uttering such lines as, "Mama, my poo-poo turned to chocolate syrup." Yuck! I know. But you can't make these things up. A follow-up x-ray Monday morning revealed a colon as empty as her grandmother's purse after a trip to the casions in Biloxi.

The best line came from Uncle Sean, though. When he learned that the quarter had been liberated, he said, "I bet her parents are furious about Liza's free-spending ways. She's literally throwing money down the toilet." Sean--Susan's husband--is pretty much our family wit, and he teases Liza's parents about not wanting to waste money--unlike the rest of us.

I wish we had been able to retrieve the quarter so Liza could keep it as "a lucky money." Alas, such was not to be. Maybe next time.

ED

Liza greeted us Saturday morning with the news that she had swallowed "a money" and that she would have to poop it out in a few days. It seems she downed a quarter last Friday night. Catherine panicked a little, but she looked up the problem on the internet. She learned that a lot of kids (including Liza's daddy) do that and that Liza would just have to poop it out. Cat took her to the doctor today for a routine check-up, and the doctor said the same thing: she'll have to poop it out. The doctor also said that if she doesn't pass it in a few days, she'll take an x-ray to make sure it isn't lodged somewhere it shouldn't be lodged. Upon hearing the story, a friend of ours asked if she would poop out a quarter or 25 pennies. I allowed as how we'll know she's in trouble if she only poops out 20 cents. I'll keep you posted as events unfold. I'll try my best to resist the urge to post a picture of the missing money when it reappears. I suggested that they only let Liza play with dollar bills henceforth.

ED

I have wanted to post video from YouTube about the oil spill in the Gulf, but Xanga has changed the process of how to do this. Until they improve this feature, or until I learn how to do it, there won't be any embedded videos from YouTube. Here's a link (I hope) to a clip from Rachael Maddow that I found very frightening. Click here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cg3qtT7_Ts

Well, this link obviously didn't work, either. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If you want to see the video (and, believe me, it's worth the effort), you'll have to copy and paste the link into your browser.

ED

Various stages of my life have been marked by dance recitals.  My sister took dance for years, and I attended every recital.  Both of my daughters took dance, and I attended all of their recitals, as well.  Last night I began Phase Three of my dance recital career by attending the first-ever recital of my granddaughter, Liza.  I got a few pictures and a video of the occasion. 

The Diva arrives at her debut--sound asleep in the car.

There were only five girls in the recital, ranging in age from three to seven.  The three year old (the African American girl on the far right) stole the show, so make sure you keep an eye on her.  Liza is the blond on the far left.  My apologies to any readers who can't access the embedded YouTube video directly; there is a link for your convenience after the performance.

Here's the link: click here.

No dance recital would be complete without flowers, and Liza's was no exception.  Here's a picture of her with her pink carnations.  She's sitting on our new sofa, and you can see the new blinds in the background.

In addition to being a budding dance artist, Liza's also a budding photographer.  She took this picture of Grandma and Grandpa (Grandma had already put on her pajamas.).

This was a great milestone in Liza's young life, and we celebrated afterward with a festive meal at McDonald's at the diva's request. 

ED

Every time I turn on the radio or TV, I hear more news about the oil spill in the Gulf.  I recently heard a story about an effort to collect human and pet hair to use to absorb oil released in the spill.  I thought this was bizarre and a little grotesque, and it didn't change things that a local tattoo shop was offering a discount on "body art" for every donation of hair.

It turns out, though, that this is entirely serious, and there's even a non-profit foundation dedicated to this effort.  Here's a video about it:

You can find more information about this at the Matter of Trust website (click here).  My favorite bit of information from this site is this:

- we also accept fur and other "natural fibers" waste wool, alpaca fleece, horse hair, feathers... again, please, no other garbage or contaminants in with the hair/fur/ wool fibers... (a handful total per bag of hay and seeds are ok, but no garbage and, of course, absolutely no poo!) Thanks!  [emphasis added]

ED

I came across this amateur video today of the Gulf oil spill.  I found it rather compelling.

ED

I haven't written anything about the Gulf oil spill until now, but I've followed the news about it as closely as I could.  Because we live in a coastal city that has a vested interest in the Gulf beaches and the fishing industry, we take something like an oil spill pretty seriously.  A big section of our downtown city marina has been set up as a staging area for booms and other equipment that will be used to contain the oil if it comes our way.  Today I drove down to the marina to see what's going on.  One of the things I saw was a huge tent with a large number of workers under it.  It was two o'clock in the afternoon, so it wasn't a lunch break.  Some of the people--and there must have been a hundred or more--were sitting on the ground, but many of them were lying on the ground as though taking a nap.  I'm sure there was a good reason for this "break," but it wasn't apparent to me.

I've titled this entry "Part One" because I expect to write about the spill and related activities again.  Maybe next time I'll actually see some of the workers working.

ED

Savannah is a 2 year old blond Lab who belongs to Susan and Sean.  They were visiting from Atlanta this weekend, and Liza had a wonderful time playing with her canine cousin.  Here's some video of Liza feeding treats to Savannah.

After giving Savannah treats, Liza decided to crown her a princess.  Here's the video of that.

Much of the family went out to dinner tonight, and Liza wanted to know why Savannah couldn't go to the restaurant with us.  It's fun to watch a little girl play with a gentle dog that weighs half as much again as she does.

ED