FYI

Well, looky what I got for doing jury duty. Don't I feel special?

For this, I'll be more than happy to do jury duty in the future . . . ha!

In other news, looks like my apartment complex is getting into the recycling swing of things. I got a news letter on my screen door yesterday stating that "in accordance with city ordinance blah blah blah, we're starting our recycling program. Bins are back by the dumpster."

And look! The city has even provided us with these handy dandy carry totes to haul our shit to the bins. How sweet of them. They take everything except what I seem to accumulate a lot of. That would be GLASS. Oh well. I've been recycling for many years anyway and I'll just have to treat them as usual.

In the mean time, I'm embarking on my last free weekend. Not that I won't have any sporadic free weekends to come. See, school starts back on Monday. Back to the old grind of full-time work and part time school. Those of you who have done it know exactly where I'm coming from. After much though and deliberation, I've decided to stick with the Electrical Engineering side of the coin. I'm signed up for one class and one class only - CE304: Engineering Mechanics. Think Statics and Dynamics. And I'm in such luck! They are still using the same book from last year. I'll save 180 bucks! Regarding the class, we'll see how it goes. I'm not ready to start, but I think it will be good for me to get back into what seems to be a normal routine for me since I've been doing it for so long. I just don't know much else, ya know? And lets hope two's a charm. Light a candle will ya.?

And just check out this sunset. Scored it on the way home from work tonight. What a beautiful state I live in .

In case your wondering, the darkened strip across the top is from the tinting of the car window.

Day 4

After two nights of camping, mom had enough of it! Not necessarily the camping part, but the lack of adequate facilities that meet her high standards. Turns out there was only one modern bathroom with shower in the place and there was just something about that she did not care for. So off we went. Packed up our gear and headed out. But not before we noticed this little comfy spot right next to the river.

We took a drive into the heart of Ruidoso to find our accommodations for the day.

And not a moment too soon. The sky dumped shortly there after.

That was fun! That taken from the side of the motel. What else ya gonna do but watch cars drive by.

A little later after the rains stopped, we took a walk into the tourist trap of Ruidoso. Nothing really exciting there for some reason. Now I'll have to admit before we move on that me and mom are tourist trap junkies. That's right! We know they see us comm'en and we know it. Fairs fair, right? So with that said, we just didn't care for it. There just didn't seem to be the right mix of stores and merchandise.

I didn't see much in the way of photo ops either. Except for this tid bit.

The rest of the day was set. Pitt stop for chow. Pitt stop at the local Walmart. Return to home base.

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Jury duty your wondering are you. Did not preside over a trial today. One group did get called away and did not return. So I'm assuming they saw some activity. That was around 9:30. Around 10:30, a group of names was called to get ready for a trial (I wasn't on the list), but a few minutes later, the coordinator returned and said that the party just did a plea-bargain. So they were off the hook but there was still one more judge trying to iron things out, so we all had to hang longer. Nothing came of it and we were released at noon.

On a lighter note. I've finally got all my brothers gifts wrapped. I'm all ready to go for the event this weekend. Oh Yeah!

Jury and . . . Uhh

OK, first day of jury duty went something like this . . .

1) Show up at 8:30.
2) Roll call.
3) Wait.
4) Wait.
5) Virtual Nap.
6) Yawn.
7) Wait more.
8) About 11:25, get notice that certain groups can go home.

Thankfully, I was part of the first group that was released for the day.

9) Sit in parking lot for 20 minutes waiting for a break in traffic from EVERYONE else trying to get the hell out. NO MERCY. Every man for themselves. Although I had cherry parking, it turned out to be bad parking if your trying to get out. Again, no mercy!

Lunch, then work for the rest of the afternoon. Only problem was after sitting around nearly 3 hours, I wasn't much in the mood to do shit.

Rant time - Topic: patience. Made a pit stop at K-mart to get some stuff after work. Fast forward to the checkout line. The person walking. Looking for the shortest line. The fastest line. I can feel the tension. The impatience. The nerves building. UNTIL . . . . they are at the register. Then such a sigh of relief. "I'm finally being helped and serviced." You can just see that weight being lifted off their shoulders. "I'm here!" Now I can take all day, bull shit with the hot cashier, fuck the other folks in line. And - And - the process continues.

Sorry folks, I can't stand that level of tension. Toe tapping and all. Just chill already! Save yourself ah heart attack.

On a lighter note, I am NOW the proud owner of 300, the movie. Two disc special for $22.95. Oww Yeeaaahhhhhhhhh. This movie is in a class all its own. I now have a trio - Tron, Kill Bill vol. 1, and now . . . 300. What a moment. Blissssssssssssssss.

Rainy Evening

Just chilling here tonight folks. I got home and started going over the things I've gotten for my brothers birthday. It was actually on Saturday, but since we where traveling, we will celebrate next weekend. I'll leave these details for later. In the mean time . . .

I've been sitting here relaxing to a nice heavy rain storm that has rolled through. It's rained for almost an hour. Much heavier than the other day and by far the heaviest I've seen this summer (unless something great rolled through last week while I was away). Relaxing with the lights out and sipping away.

The rain and lightning and thunder has pretty much moved on. Hopefully we will get more tonight. At least somewhere in town. We sure do need it around here. Although I will say that it seems to be shaping up to be another strange summer in terms of weather. What a weird year it has been.

Well time to move on to some other stuff. But first I'll have to mention that I have jury duty starting tomorrow. This should be fun . . . or NOT. I report in at 3:30pm for orientation and qualification. What ever that means. First time ever! This should be interesting.

Jury Roach

Just look at what little critter I found this morning in the bucket in my bathroom. I kept hearing something that sounded like birds walking around on the roof on the fan vent. And then, I saw it! He was a little feisty guy trying to get out of the bucket. But the sides where just a little too slippery for the guy to scale. So I decided to let the guy be for the day and below you'll see how he fared . . .




I'll be holding funeral services later tonight. Here's the route of his funeral precession. First he'll rest in the household trash can for a few day's. Then he'll proceed to the large apartment dumpster from which hell be transported on Monday morning to a local landfill. May he rest in peace. I am sorry, but there will be no viewing session. I hope you understand. A moment of silence please . . .

Al right, moving on, guess what happens on August 1? Oh come on! Take a guess? Your absolutely right, I've got jury summons. Just came in the mail sometime in the last few day's. I usually only check the mail once a week, but - since I've got to get the bills ready to go out tomorrow, I checked it tonight for any last minute entries. So anyways, August first will be the initial meeting. I've never done jury duty, so this should be interesting.

Well, on with a few things and then hit those bills. Whoohoo! Baaah.