Crocheting at Work

Last week I was just tired. 

It wasn't a bad week. I had been summoned for jury duty, so every night I had to check in to see if I had to report the next day. And every night it said no, not tomorrow, but check for the next day. It said that every day until Thursday night, when it said, "Your jury duty is complete". 

So, I worked as normal. Luckily, with the online app, I could take jobs for the week with the knowledge that if I had had to report to the courthouse, I could cancel the assignment. I booked a full week knowing that I might have to cancel, and then I didn't have to cancel. 

Being so tired meant that I didn't make much of any progress on the pillow cover. I knit maybe six rows. 

But the classes I covered all week were pretty mellow. They were mellow enough that I had time to work on my take along project: the Möbius scarf crocheted from birthday yarn.

That's why there are no new pictures of the pillow, but I do have new pictures of the scarf. 

I was able to add two more rounds last week. Since I'm working from the inside out, that means every round increases the width by double. 

Remember when I was debating which stitch pattern to use with which yarn? I think I made the right choice with the cobweb stitch: 

You can't really see the stitch pattern (which is good because I can make mistakes without them being noticeable), but it gives the feel that I was looking for. And it grows much more quickly than the previous iteration. 

So, I might just get this thing finished sooner rather than later. Yay.

Avoided

Picture has nothing to do with today's post

About three weeks before the end of the school year, I got a piece of mail that had me groaning out loud. Jury duty summons. And sadly, it had my name on it. (Which was totally unfair as I had just gone in 2019.)

The date on the thing was for the Monday after the last day of school. Sigh. So, I had no reason to postpone it. (There's no getting out of these things. The only thing I can do is postpone to a more opportune date.) 

So, Friday before I checked in as soon as I could. Nope, I didn't have to report on Monday. 

Our jury service is one day/one trial. The one day we have to go in could be any day during the week we're summoned for. We have to check nightly to find out if we have to report the next day. (I don't know if other states do this differently. It used to vary county by county, but now state-wide it's pretty consistent from what I understand.) 

I made no plans for the week as I didn't know what day I'd have to report. I don't think I've ever reported on a Monday or a Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, sure. So, when I didn't have to report Tuesday either, I wasn't shocked. 

The thing about reporting later in the week means that a trial could go on to the next week. This did happen to me. So, by Thursday I was straight up jittery. Would I have to report on Friday? (Wednesday was a no. Thursday was a no.) 

Then, Thursday night. I went online early. There was no button to click for reporting instructions. (It was there but grayed out.) So, I dutifully waited until after 7 PM. 

And the reporting instructions button was still grayed out. Huh? That's when I noticed the announcement next to it. I had been ignoring that box because it said the same thing day after day. But no. This time it said I had completed my jury service, etc. I did not have to report on Friday, and I was officially done. 

Whew. 

Now my summer can officially begin.

Too Close

Considering how often I've covered for teachers who got stuck on jury duty (like for most of last August), I knew was about due to get caught. The summons wasn't completely unexpected. As always, I postponed to a more convenient time. Last week.

Our state is a one day/one trial state. I picked the week between the end of summer school and the beginning of the continuation high school, so I wouldn't be in danger of missing anything at all.

My reporting day ended up being Wednesday.

The hope is that I'll manage to duck getting assigned to a trial for the day. But, alas, at about 11 AM, I got assigned to a courtroom.

via GIPHY

We waited outside for nearly 40 minutes. By the time we got in, we had just enough time for the judge to inform us that the trial (including estimated time for deliberations) would take about a week before she dismissed us to lunch.

While I did not want to be assigned to the trial, I admitted to myself that it wouldn't be a hardship. The continuation high school wasn't to open until Thursday of the following week. I'd miss nothing.

After lunch, from our pool of slightly less than 30 (they took a pool of 30, but a couple had already been dismissed as they had conflicts with remaining a week), they called up 18. I was juror number 15.

As the usual questioning proceeded, I could tell a couple of jurors 1-12 would be dismissed. You just kind of know. As #15, that meant that I'd end up in the box.

via GIPHY

But, there was no way to get myself disqualified. Could I be fair in this case? Sure. There wasn't anything presented that I had any definite bias for or against.

At about 4 PM, it was time for the lawyers to get their peremptory challenges.

First, the prosecution bumped one. Then the defense. Then the prosecution...

Ugh. I was moved to juror #8.

Then it was the defense's turn again. He looked at the jury box and said he was okay with the jury as it was.

via GIPHY

Then it was time for the prosecution again. "We thank and excuse juror number 8."

via GIPHY

That was way too close.

As the judge instructed, I waited to celebrate until I had left the courtroom. But, as I was leaving, I heard one of the lawyers say for the new juror #8 to not get too comfortable. (And I celebrated again. The woman next to me as former juror #16 told me that getting off work for a week was going to be a problem for her.)

By the time I got back to the jury room (4:15-ish), the place was empty. Which meant I was done for the day. I checked out and headed for my car.

As I hit the escalator, I ran into the others from the courtroom I had just left also leaving. They still had their juror badges, so it appeared that they would all be returning the next day. I have no idea if the jury panel was complete or not.

But I was done. And I was quite happy about that.

Hopefully it'll be another few years before I have to do that again.

Juror No. 8

In the midst of the crazy that went along with moving, I got a jury duty summons. Naturally.

I had to report last week.

Since the last time I had to do this, they built a new courthouse. The place is stunning with all sorts of nice amenities. I'm talking about plentiful outlets for devices, available wifi, flat screen TVs, and laptop stations.

But it's still jury duty. And eventually we got called to go to a courtroom.

First, they called 18 of us (of the 50 or so sent down) to start out "in the box". I was selected as lucky juror number eight.

My brain wandered as the charges were read. Too many codes. Most had to do with gun charges. Apparently, the two defendants were alleged to have been involved in some sort of gang violence.

The news got even "better" from there. The trial was projected to take ten business days.

10 DAYS!!!

The judge started with the usual questions--occupation and jury duty experience. Before we got too far into it, noon hit and it was time to break for lunch. We were to be back at 2 o'clock.

It was not a peaceful lunch for me.

We were all outside the courtroom on time. We waited. And waited. People came in and out of the courtroom, but no one to bring us back inside (we had been told to wait in the hall when we returned from lunch). Finally, a clerk came out to inform us that it would be five more minutes. I wasn't looking at my phone, but it felt like longer before the clerk came back out.

The clerk said the "alternates" could go back to the jury room. They were dismissed.

Uh...

When someone asked about those of us already in the box, she informed us that we were all dismissed. With a "thank you for your service..." goodbye.

Whew. That was way too close.

At this time I'd like to thank juror number five. I'm convinced that her discussion with the judge (about how she wasn't sure how she'd feel about defendants who didn't testify) convinced someone to settle the case. Because they must have settled. Right?

A little over an hour after that we were dismissed. And I now have 12 wonderful months free from any sort of jury duty summons.

Acceptance

Yesterday, as I sat in the jury box and it became clear that neither attorney was going to dismiss me, a feeling of acceptance came over me. I was stuck. I might as well make the best of it, I thought.  

So, after two days on jury duty (ugh!), I've been thinking over what lessons I learned from the experience. Number one: things go a lot smoother once I stop fighting what I can not change. (And it could have been so much worse. I only lost two days of work.)  

In no particular order, here are some other things I learned from the experience:  

1. They take a lot of breaks. We'd sit in court for an hour, and then the judge would call a ten minute break. Another hour, another 15 minutes off.  
2. An hour and a half for lunch!  
3. Things look a lot different from the jury box. Everyone was talking to us. And those chairs weren't half bad.  
4. Apparently, in my location we could do the orientation online. But only if we logged in on Sunday before the week we had to report. So, instead of getting there before 8 AM, I could have shown up after 9. (Instead, I tried to log in the night before. Sigh.)  
5. It's surprisingly easy to find other things to talk about with the other jurors besides the case. Although, inappropriate jokes did wend their way in as well.  
6. How to find the jury foreman: appoint the guy who volunteers.

Finally, the biggest thing I took away from the experience is how much I hated coming up with a verdict. That was hard!