Rejection

Rejection is usually a bad thing - but just this once, I am glad to be rejected.

Yesterday morning (June 25th) I woke up at 5:00, caught the bus at 6:00, and arrived at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent by 7:30.


I met another prospective juror walking up the street. Mel and I chatted as we walked in, waited in line for the security screening and rode the elevator to the juror waiting room. There we checked in. The lady at the check-in counter gave me additional bus tickets so that I could get home and come back the next day (sadly, they don't carry bus tickets with the current rates, and they didn't give me quite enough tickets, but they tried). Picking up a clipboard and a nametag holder from the rack on the wall, I followed the line of people into a large room full of rather comfy chairs. Mel was sitting close to the entrance, so I went and joined her. We chatted as we filled out our information sheets.


There were three copies of this form - one for the Defense, one for the Prosecutor and one for the Court.

When we had been there for about half an hour, a judge came in and spoke to us about how great the jury system is - she actually explained several things. Like how there can be different types of trials, and in ones where the constitutional rights don't guarantee a jury trial, a judge can actually act as the "jury" - and how there are both criminal and civil trials at this courthouse. Then we watched a movie, which was probably supposed to be inspirational, which walked us through the process of jury selection and defined some of the common terms for us. My new word of the day was "Voir Dire", which is the process of questioning jurors in jury selection in order to determine their qualifications and/or grounds for challenges.

Following the movie, the person in charge of the jurors began reading 45 names to go to jury selection for a trial. I was number 25.

We lined up in the central area of the 3rd floor according to the instructions from the bailiff. Then we filed down the hallway and into the courtroom. Jurors 1-13 filled in the jury box, and the rest of us sat on hard wooden benches. They reminded me of church benches, but they were comfortable enough. There were clips on the wall nearest me, as if some large picture had recently been removed. Behind the judge there were at least five full bookshelves. Maybe as many as eight.

In the courtroom the judge presides. He introduced himself, the bailiff, the court reporter, the two lawyers for the state (prosecution), and the defendant and his lawyer. The judge also introduces the case. The defendant was accused of one count of production of methamphetamine and one count of possession of methamphetamine. The judge also allowed the prosecution and defense to quickly introduce themselves.

Next came Voir Dire. The judge began by asking if there was anyone who felt they would be prejudiced in this matter. A couple of people raised their laminated number cards and were excused from the room. Then the judge explained how long he expected the trial to take and asked if this would be a hardship for anyone. A few more people were excused. The judge then asked a series of questions, such as "Do you know anyone representing the state in this matter? Do you know any of the witnesses (names were read)? Do you know the defendant? Do you know any members of the court? Are you related to or close friends with any member of law enforcement? Are you related to or close friends with any member of the courts in King County? Have you served in law enforcement? ..." And this continued for about 20 minutes. After asking each question, the judge would then read out loud the numbers of those people who held up their laminated cards, and sometimes he would ask them more specific follow-up questions. One fellow went to church with the bailiff, so the judge asked him if he thought that would interfere in his ability to act as a fair and impartial juror in this matter. That juror was not excused.

Following the judge, the prosecution and defense each had two turns of 20 minutes each to ask us similar questions. Actually, I think they could ask any questions they wanted, and then they would ask individual jurors to defend or explain their answers. The prosecution's questions were pretty straight-forward. The defense lawyer didn't make much sense to me - he spent most of his time talking himself instead of asking the jurors anything. At some point in Voir Dire we were excused to the jury waiting rooms (crowded with 17 people in each - 11 people had been dismissed so far) and we took a 15 minute break, used the bathrooms, etc. We were not allowed to go anywhere on our own - this may be to avoid running into people in the hallway that we were not supposed to talk to. The jury rooms were kind of down a back hallway from the courtroom - I don't know what else was there.

After the questioning, one last person was excused by the judge for medical reasons, and then the judge instructed the jurors one at a time, in numerical order, to fill in the empty seats in the jury box. There were now fewer than five people between me and the jury.

The prosecution and defense each were allowed to excuse up to seven people. The prosecution excused someone, then the defense excused someone. At one point the prosecution was satisfied with the jury as it stood, but then the defense excused another member, bringing me up into Jury Seat #1. The prosecution was satisfied again. I was one spoken sentence away from serving on a jury.

"And the defense would like to thank and excuse Juror number twenty-five..." Exhale. Stand up. Nod to the judge and lawyers once. Walk down the aisle. Place my laminated number 25 on the chair. Exit.

The longer I sat in that courtroom the more pressure and stress I felt about the responsibility of being a juror. Getting a dozen people to make a decision sounds like hard work, and the decision is so important because it determines a large part of someone's life... I think I'm okay with the rejection.

Of course, that just meant I was back in the jury pool. I went downstairs to check back in, but all of the jurors were released for lunch. Mel and I saw each other about the same time, so we walked to Kent Station (across the street) and had lunch together at Panera.


When I got back to the jury waiting room, I was told to go home and come back the next day.

So I did. Thursday morning I was taking a nap in a corner seat when the announcement came that the trials scheduled to begin that day were postponed, so we could all go home. That was the end of my jury duty.

Perfect Day

As I ran out the door to run an early-morning errand yesterday, I called back a little flippantly, "You could find out what the traditional gift is for a sixth anniversary." I hurried through my errand and came home to find him sitting at the computer. "Sweets," he said "or iron."

Sweets? As in sugar? Yep! I think I like the sixth anniversary. Can we repeat this one?

We took off around noon and kayaked for two and a half hours. We went up and down the Mercer Slough, even exploring the side loop. This was a little adventurous in our inflatable kayak because there were branches along the edges of the slough. A couple of times we had to skirt the lily pads pretty closely. Once or twice a floating bit of wood bumped and thumped under our plastic hull. At first we saw, well, the freeway. Then we saw other kayakers and canoers. There were lots of ducks. And turtles everywhere! There would be four or five turtles on a log, and then all but one of them would slip off splish! into the water. But one turtle always stayed on the log to watch us going by. We even saw a blue heron, from about 5 yards away (before he noticed us staring and flew up right in front of us).

A bit tuckered out, we packed up the kayak, took it home, cleaned it off in the backyard, showered, and left for dinner at the Olive Garden. Mmmmmm. Then we bought a few supplies and came home to make homemade chocolate fondue. After a mild moment of panic when I couldn't find the fondue forks (why did I put them in the box with the parchment paper? probably because they are so sharp I didn't want them in the drawers I'm always grabbing things out of) - anyways, after I found the forks, everything went smoothly. And deliciously. Chocolate fondue, with bananas and strawberries and pretzels and lemon biscotti and caramels and marshmallows, while watching the latest of the Harry Potter movies.

Vacation Day 8

I really just wanted to post this picture of the bears outside the Black Bear Diner in Redmond.



Then we took a trip to the airport and came back to hang out for a while before going to Chinese Food for dinner. Tasty.

Vacation Day 7

This day is the main reason I have persistently, if slowly, kept blogging about this vacation. Day 7 was my favorite! For starters, there was no rain! We piled into two cars and drove north. We took a pit stop at a cute Dutch bakery in Marysville (I think) where we had pastries, orange bread, pineapple bread, and salty black licorice candy. Only the guy who lived in the Netherlands for two years liked that last one. It's evidently an acquired taste.

After maybe another hour of driving, we arrived at Deception Pass. The history at that link is more extensive, but basically Deception Pass is a very narrow and rocky waterway that separates Whidbey Island from the mainland; so until the pass was discovered, Whidbey Island was thought to be part of the mainland. It also had some strategic importance - it was fortified in World War I.

At the north end of the bridge, we pulled over into the scenic view pullout and took our first look at the bridge. Actually, there is a small but very tall rocky island in the middle separating the bridge into two bridges. From the pullout we could see the southern bridge and the adventurous kayakers down below us.


Most of us trekked across the bridge on foot, stopping on Pass Island to read the historical marker and to look up and down the narrow waterway.


On the south side of the bridge we debated for a while before deciding where to park - we headed into the campground area and parked close to the beach. Then we headed down to the beach, where we played, skipped rocks, attempted juggling, waded in the cold cold water, and ate our picnic lunch.


Here's Dan challenging one of his brothers to try and juggle. Of course you can't really hear the commentary over the sound of the ocean.



We wound our way south along the length of the island until we reached Fort Casey. (Thank you to the friends who suggested Fort Casey - it was a HUGE hit!) When we finally got our directions right and pulled into the parking lot, this is what we saw.


Hey! What's that weird guy doing in my picture? I'm going to try that again - this time, I'm going to draw red circles around a couple of people climbing around up on the fort to give a better idea of the scale of the picture. And yes, next to the person I circled on the right is a really big cannon.


We spent hours at Fort Casey. We played with the big guns - our heads fit in there! We also climbed up and down ladders to access the different levels of the fort, explored empty rooms, played soldier, found the lookout platforms in the cliff face, climbed down to the beach, and flew kites.



At first the brothers tried to fly the kites on the grass in the middle of the fort. Eventually they gave that up and moved up to the top of the cliff face. The only problem was that they had to run directly towards the drop-off to get the kites up in the air.



The dragon kite and the butterfly kite were really pretty up in the air together.



The only person who didn't like watching kites fly was the kid who would rather play with them on the ground.



When the wind finally died down we went to visit the lighthouse at the other end of the fort.


Then we rode the ferry back home, ate some taco soup for dinner, and played Taboo (memorable because the girls scored 18 cards in the final round in order to beat the boys, who were ahead by 11 at that point).

Vacation Day 6 - Around Home

The sixth day of vacation was one of my in-laws' favorites. I guess I'm glad we saved the good stuff for the end. A couple of us (myself included) stayed behind to babysit while the brothers took their parents to visit Microsoft campus.


They were able to get visitor passes so that they could see the offices, and then they headed to the Microsoft Visitor Center (which I didn't even know existed). They ate lunch at the cafeteria too.

Then we piled into cars and headed over to my mom's house for a yummy salmon dinner. Six years ago, when I got married, my mom had Dan's family over for a salmon dinner. His brothers remember it so well that they have even told their wives about it. (Yes, I'm bragging that my mom makes an awesome salmon dinner.) Back to the present...we ate and talked and basically had a good time.


Then the after dinner entertainment began. Just kidding - the little munchkins played piano and it was pretty entertaining. :)





And once again, the end of the day is a little fuzzy in my memory - I think we may have ended the day playing games, or at least just hanging out all together before we went home.

Vacation Days 4-5

In spite of the rainy forecast - okay, so there was rain for almost the entire week of vacation - as I was saying, in spite of the rain, we piled into cars and headed out to Snoqualmie Falls on Saturday. The falls were huge - a big gorgeous rush of water. We parked successfully and headed to the viewing platform. The mist and rain combined to make a tremendous amount of spray from all directions, even on the covered platform. It was so bad that I kept my camera put away for the most part, except for this picture from up by the top of the falls.


We followed the hiking trail down, listening to the distant roar of the falls, and we came out on the lower viewing platform. From there we could see a few brave fishermen among the boulders that make up that part of the riverbed. We turned around and hiked back up the trail, stopping to view a couple cool things along the way - a tree growing out of an old cut-down tree stump, and a spring that was really coming up right in the middle of the path.



Then we stopped at the North Bend outlet stores on our way home. We ate our lunches, and I stopped in a store to make a return. We shopped for a little while - I bought some fudge and some socks. Great combination, eh? Then we headed back home.

The weather cleard up enough for the in-laws to want to try some kayaking, so we put them out on Lake Sammammish. I had to run a quick errand, so I didn't go out on the water, but they told me they had a great time. Those little inflatable kayaks from Costco are fun! They're not long and sleek like a hard-shell kayak - they are more like a short canoe without benches. We use them all the time this summer, especially since all of the Carvers up here own one so we can all go out on the lakes together.

Hmmm...I forget - maybe this was the evening we went swimming, instead of Friday night. That's what happens when I write a post a month after the events happened. Oh well.

Sunday was much more laid back. We went to Church, walked home (since Dan needed the car), and took afternoon naps. The weather was actually sunny and beautiful - but it went back to normal and rained on Monday for us. We all ate dinner and played games.

Vacation Day 3

Since we spent much of Thursday in the car, Friday we played in Seattle. After breakfast, showering, and other essential morning activities, we drove down to the Pioneer Square area. We parked down by the waterfront and strolled up the hill into Doc Maynard's saloon. There we picked up our nifty armbands and played around in Pioneer Square until the start of the Underground Tour.


When it was time for the tour to start, we headed back into the Saloon, where we were directed onto a bunch of wooden benches in a room with red walls and a large carved wooden bar. When the last person had taken their seat, one of the tour guides began the opening spiel of the Seattle Underground Tour. The spiel was filled with humor, mostly poking fun of the early (and current) residents of Seattle. I mean, who really builds a city on a pile of sawdust? I guess we did! The tour has two main focuses: (1) to share some of Seattle's less-known and humorous history and (2) to sell Bill Speidel's books (on which the tour is based). Following the introduction to the tour, we broke into three groups with about 40 people in each and we headed out onto the streets to find the doorways leading to the Underground.


These pictures are of us, enjoying ourselves while we try not to really touch the dusty, dirty, moldy walls. Most areas actually had newer wooden walkways to give us somewhere safe to stand.


The left picture (below) shows some authentic - I mean ancient - wallpaper. The right picture shows the original brick arches and rusty I-beams holding the city up over our heads (yes, there is a newer I-beam also). In the middle is an up-flushing toilet. One of the highlights of the tour, a fact that is always mentioned by every guide, is that the old sewer system used to drain straight into the Puget Sound. This worked well for most of the day, with the notable exception of high tide. During high tide, the pressure in the pipes built going the wrong way, which caused disasters if you tried to flush.


All this talk of the Seattle Underground may raise the question - why is there an underground? The answer, according to Bill Speidel, is that Seattle burned down. The reconstruction of Seattle occured in two parts - the "city" rebuilt the streets and the businesses rebuilt their own businesses and the sidewalks in front of them. There was a slight disconnect when the "city" decided that Seattle should be raised higher above the tide flats. The new streets were built by putting up large walls along each street and then washing/moving dirt from the 50 foot cliffs nearby into the streets to fill them up. The new streets were now 8-14 feet above the old ones. However, the businesses and the sidewalks were now 8-14 feet below the street. To cross the street, you would walk to the corner, climb the ladder up to the street, cross the new street, climb the ladder back down on the opposite side of the street and continue along the sidewalk there. The real problems came when people were too drunk to climb the ladders, or when there was an accident from the street above that spilled over into the sidewalk, killing some innocent pedestrian below. The city wasn't sure what to call these deaths, probably since they didn't want to take responsibility for them, so they ended up calling them "unintentional suicides". Eventually, the sidewalks were build up level with the street, and the businesses moved all of their entrances up there too. There were skylights put into the new sidewalks to try and light the underground a bit, and lots of things ended up stored down there - even old bathtubs. Eventually the underground was condemned - mold and other contamination made it un-livable. But it's okay to go down for just a couple of hours, about the time of the Underground Tour.


When we were all safely back above ground, we stopped in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some treats. Then we all piled and squished back into the cars and drove a short distance to the Seattle Center, where we watched Kung Fu Panda at the IMAX theater. The theater is great - huge screen, 12000 watts of surround sound, comfy seats, and you're allowed to bring your lunch (we did). After the movie we paused by a fountain for a minute.


Then we headed back home. It was a tiring day.


But eveyone woke up in time for dinner and a dip in the pool.

Vacation Day 2

Thursday morning we planned to head down south to visit Mount Rainier. On a clear day, you can see the mountain from 100 miles away.







The weather was more like this.







A few hours (and about 300 gummi bears) later we reached Mount Rainier National Park (after making a couple stops to trade drivers and to use a rest area by a pretty little lake). Winding roads and switchbacks led up and up and up, until we reached the Paradise area. In the parking lot we climbed out of the cars and stretched, looking around at all of the ... snow. The roads and parking lot were clear, but snow covered the grass, the trees, and any wildflowers that may have been thinking it's about time for Spring to show up. More snow fell from the grey sky, making it impossible to even tell which direction the peak of Mt. Rainier was. I think it was somewhere behind Paradise Inn (the picture on the right).


We looked at the displays in the visitors center, ate our lunch, and did a little shopping. This was probably the kids' favorite part of the day - there was a whole building for them to run around in, with stairs and ramps and windows. Okay, we all enjoyed a chance to stretch out and run around a bit. Or in the case of my spouse, a chance to play on the Pocket PC.


Then we headed back down the mountain, stopping for a few pictures and a short hike on the way. We took a different route home, where we passed by the Northwest Trek Park. It was already closed, so I guess we'll have to go back another day. We paused somewhere south of Sumner for a pizza dinner, and then we drove the rest of the way home to relax, eat birthday cake and ice cream, and get some rest before Day 3.

The highlights of the day (for me) were:

(1) The deer we saw as we drove through the park.


This deer must see a lot of people - it kept eating while we took pictures and video.



(2) Waterfalls along the road - the melting snow meant there were lots of waterfalls.


(3) Hiking - after an abortive attempt at a trail near one of the waterfalls, we successfully hiked the Three Firs Trail. It involved a lot of slipping and sliding and even crossing a bit of a stream. The trees were huge! I like how the moss made them look creepy too.

Vacation Day 1 - The Most Expensive Parking Spot

Bzzzzz! Bzzzzz! That was my phone, so I clicked the save button and turned to my backpack. Reaching into the front pocket, I pulled out my phone and saw a new message, "We landed". All right! Time for vacation to start! It took me about 15 minutes to shut down and pack the computer, lock up my desk, grab my purse, stop by the restroom and walk to the far distant parking lot where we low-level employees are allowed to park. Another 5 minutes saw me reaching the freeway, and by the time I got to the airport, they were already waiting with their luggage. It was a short wait though. Loaded up with luggage, two in-laws and a friend, my little Civic turned back onto I-5 North and headed to the Olympic Sculpture Park.

The park was recently completed, turning junky looking city waterfront into a pretty greened-up pathway down to a rocky beach with a great view out to the water or up to the space needle.


We met the sisters-in-law, two nieces, and my husband there about 90 minutes after the lowest tide of the year, so there were still a few starfish visible. We picked our way over the round and slightly slimy rocks to peer at them.


Next we looked for food. The original plan had been to eat at Pike Place Market, but everyone was getting hungry and we were right next to a Spaghetti Factory. Perfect...except that it closes from 2:00-4:00PM. The truly starving people had a quick energy drink and we went back to plan A - Pike Place Market. Traffic wasn't too bad, so we found our way there, parked at 2:20, and headed inside. We ate the most delicious crepes - fillings included salmon, egg & spinach, jam, and peaches & whipped cream. Sated, we wandered slowly through the market, looking at all the stalls and all the flowers and trying all the types of flavored roasted nuts. My favorite this trip was the lemon hazelnuts.


Finished with Pike Place, we went back to the spot we left the cars. One car had parked down on Alaskan Way. It was fine. My car, however, was not fine. In fact, it wasn't even there. Instead there was a big red and white sign, saying "NO PARKING 3-6PM" along with a phone number to call if you were so foolish as to park there. Oops. So a few of us drove halfway across Seattle so I could reclaim my car. I had to pay $125 to get it back from the towing company, and I had a parking ticket on top of that! That was the most expensive parking spot I've ever had. At last we were all able to get home from downtown Seattle.

Please excuse me if the rest of the day is not a little hazy in my mind - I hope that those who were there will help remind me of what we did that evening, since I was a little stunned and preoccupied. What I do remember is that we ended up back at our house, eating a delicious steak dinner. Then our niece opened her birthday presents from her grandparents - cute clothes and a new dollhouse! Her mom made a beautiful cake, but we were all so tired that we ate it the next day.

Pre-Vacation

Before going on vacation, I worked really really hard. Not at my job - at the house! Room by room we picked up, put away, dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed, wiped, polished, and organized. If I wasn't so tired so late at night (early in the morning) I would be bursting with pride!




BEDROOM






BATH ROOMS






KITCHEN












UPSTAIRS
















GUEST ROOM
















ROOMS where I put all the stuff that I didn't want sitting out in all the other rooms















The YARD was a bit imperfect after the thunderstorm, but the rhodedendrons were still blooming














LIVING ROOM

I'm What?

No kidding!