Today our new batch of bees arrived. Don picked them up and left them at our new location, up in Lake Forest Park. We each got one batch of Italians, not huge honey producers, but stable and docile. As docile as bees are, that is.

It was great to be back doing this. I love watching the bees work, they take everything so seriously! It didn't take long from the time I dumped them into the hive body until they were darting off into the neighborhood exploring for pollen. I've got good hopes for these two hives this year. Don and I will be sharing some of the honey with the guy who owns the land we're using, but I'm really hoping for at least two gallons for myself.

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Well, here I am, back in the jury assembly room. It's 8:45am and I have my ubiquitous cafe americano with me. I suspect today is going to be very boring, and I'm hoping to go home early. I would expect the clerk to make an announcement soon if there are any judges requiring jurors; I can't imagine the call coming down at 1:30pm today for jurors, since there's no trial work ever scheduled on a Friday. Unless of course they're screening for jurors for a trial begining on Monday. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

9:30am: Another panel of jurors is being assembled, she'll randomly read names and assign numbers.

9:36am: Well that sucks. I got picked again to go up to a courtroom. The judge wanted 50 jurors, and I'm number 43. So close!

10:40am: I just completed a screening questionnaire about sexual assault, rehabilitation, pschyotherapy etc. In particular, one answer will probably get me out of the jury selection: I don't believe that mental health professionals are all that qualified to evaluate people. I believe they're just as messed up as the rest of us and often make mistakes or are incompetent. I believe that a large part of what they do is guesswork. Other questions were similarly answered; not lying, just magnified my honest opinions.

I have been studying for about a month on "Jury Nullification" the concept that juries have the right and obligation to judge the actual law, not just the facts presented. Judges and prosecutors don't like jurors who know about this power, so I was pretty sure I would be able to use it to get out any jury. On the survey, the only answer I was able to provide regarding jury nullification was that I wrote I'm extremely rational and that I strongly believe in my own personal ability to judge right and wrong.

So we'll see if any of that works!

10:58am: I've been excused for lunch until 1:20pm.

1:30pm: Lunch was with Thomas again, this time at Ipanema Grill. Fairly authentic to the churrascurias in Brazil and Argentina. Lots of all-you-can-eat grilled meats. Yummy. They even had the little red and green cards to indicate if you want more meat, or if you're done.

So when I got back, the clerk announced that the case had been postponed until Monday, so we were all excused and dismissed! I'm done with jury duty. Easiest $20 I've ever made. Most boring, that's for sure, but certainly easy.

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I'm not as smart as I give myself credit for: I couldn't get out of jury duty. The excuse I've always used (too busy; my presence is critical to business operations) didn't work this time. Both lawyers in my life (Tim and Evan) said that's whining and the court doesn't care. I should have said that I have "obligations" that jury duty service would cause me to default on. Oh well, I'll use that next time.

So here I am, sitting in the juror assembly room, being indoctrinated about what's going to happen while I'm a juror. The video I'm being subjected to is incredibly condescending and pedantic (and rife with bad acting to boot). The video goes out of its way to explain why we get a juror name tag and they carefully explain if someone doesn't talk to us in the hallways it's not personal or rude, it's just because we're jurors. Who are these thin-skinned people who would complain about not being talked to? It's not like you're hear because you want good bedside manner from the court.

I arrived at about 7:50am, went through security, and walked into the juror assembly room. There was a long line, waiting to check in, but it didn't take long to get processed. The clerk asked for my phone number, gave me my return bus tickets (I guess this means that at some point I get to go home!), and asked me to sit down to wait.

A judge did a little introduction, then they played that video about what it will be like to on a jury. I'm listening to some clerk now talk about how some Judge Gonzalez needs a large panel. So we're all going to get sent to his court, I guess.

The next step was a quick orientation about having to always wear the juror badge and about how parking is epxensive here. The clerk also mentioned that cops will ticket you for jaywalking and the juror badge will not be any good at getting out of that. Only in Seattle!

Since that judge needs a bunch of jurors, we're all getting assigned a random number. I'm number 14.

9:56am: Just sitting around waiting to be told where to go.

11:14am: Back in the jury assembly room. I was excused for hardship: "I am a self-employed catering chef with contracts for wedding catering and cakes that are due during the trial." The judge asked a follow-up question if anyone worked for me who could fulfill the obligations and I said no. The trial was a murder trial and projected to last through May 2. I'll have to make a note of this and track it, to see how it all turns out. The judge was Steven Gonzalez.

11:18am: I met a florist and passed out a bunch of business cards, thus proving the point that you can network anywhere.

11:23am: Dismissed for lunch until 1:30pm. the longest lunch I've had in a long time!

1:17pm: Reported back from lunch. I had a nice break with my friend Thomas and talked about financing and investment. I had a corned beef sandwich. Since I made corned beef recently for a wedding reception, I've been on a corned beef kick, tyring it everywhere I go, just to see other ways of serving it. I can safely say that after having The Brooklyn's sandwich I'm done off corned beef. Their sandwich was disappointing and bland.

2:48pm: Dismissed for the day. I have to be back here at 8:45am tomorrow!

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