Raise Your Right Hand
by Lynn Daniels on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 10:52 am
~*~
Today was my second day of jury duty. Yesterday, I was not chosen for either of the two misdemeanor criminal cases and was excused before noon, then instructed to come back today. I knew from the moment I got there today would be different.
First, there was a line coming out of the courthouse of people waiting to go through security. I didn’t encounter that yesterday, probably because I didn’t have to be there until 10am. But today, it was a 9am call and there was a line. It moved fairly quickly, but still.
Then, I went up to the courtroom I was told to report to, only to be told, “Nope. You’re on the third floor today.” Apparently they’d changed things up on us, and the courtroom we were supposed to be in was being used for child support issues. Luckily, I still got to the courtroom on time, but some others weren’t so lucky.
After a bit of waiting (there’s quite a bit of waiting around in this process!), I was seated as a potential juror for the first civil case on this judge’s docket. The plaintiff’s attorney asked questions of everybody based on a questionnaire we filled out and sent in — things like how long we’ve lived in the county, how far we got in school, what our jobs are — pretty general stuff. When he got to me, he ended up asking more about SoundGuy’s job than about me. I guess he’s more interesting. 
But, wait! There was a bit of excitement before that. Before the first question was completely out of the plaintiff’s attorney’s mouth, one of the men seated in my row passed out. The bailiff originally called it a seizure when he got on his radio and requested aid and an ambulance, but one woman seated near him later told me he just seemed to pass out.
Good news, though. After spending time with paramedics, the gentleman seemed to recover nicely. I don’t know if he was transported to the hospital or not, though.
Anyway, after what seemed to be an eternity of waiting as the plaintiff and defense crossed out jurors names in the process of picking the jury, we were finally seated. And wouldn’t you know it, I was one of the people chosen. Now, this is the best part. As I was leaving my seat to go to the jury box (as per the judge’s instructions), the toe of my shoe caught on the back of the bench in front of me and I fell down. 
Go me! 
Luckily, I didn’t go all the way to the ground. Of course, falling halfway was embarrassing enough. 
So, I get to go back to the courthouse tomorrow morning, 9am. This time I’m bringing my own water, as the stupid vending machine was out today. And I’m bringing snacks, just in case. And I’m going to remember to eat something so I don’t pass out and make a scene. And I’m wearing different shoes so I don’t fall down and make a scene.
Now I have to go shopping, as I have nothing suitable to wear. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for 15 years — what the hell do I need business attire for?
Apparently, I need it for jury duty.
The Name of the Game
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, April 27, 2009 at 3:23 pm
~*~
is FLEXIBILITY.
I was going to add that it is for today, at least, but that’s not entirely true, is it? It’s good to be flexible, not just when your plans turn on a dime (in my case, today), but all the time. Store out of your brand of detergent? Be FLEXIBLE and buy a different brand. Husband suddenly has to work? Don’t let that ruin your plans. Be FLEXIBLE and rearrange your schedule. Kids driving your insane? Be FLEXIBLE – pull your hair out now and search for your sanity later.
Yup. It’s all about FLEXIBILITY.
Last week was Spring Break for my children. They were home all week. We had some fun, they drove me nuts, and then the week ended. Today was their first day back at school. Initially, my plans included my Flylady House Blessing, a little bit of shopping, and a lot of writing. But since it soon became clear I wouldn’t be able to do those things, I had to be FLEXIBLE.
The first change in plans came when my mother announced her plan to visit. Mom visiting rules out any daytime writing. I haven’t quite worked out an alternative to that yet, but I’m thinking.
Second change came with a phone call from my sister last night. I ended up staying up later than I intended, which meant less sleep than I wanted. Easy fix — I just crawl back into bed after the kids are off to school, right? I tried, but it didn’t work out. I just couldn’t get back to sleep. So I became FLEXIBLE. I ironed my duvet cover.
Third change actually came earlier than the other things, and it came in the form of a notice in the mail. Or, to be more precise, a summons. It turns out, I’ve been called for jury duty. So I became FLEXIBLE again. My shopping trip became a different shopping trip since I had nothing to wear. (Yes, I’ve lost 7 pounds as of this morning, but I still have nothing that fits that’d work for jury duty!) Plus I had to work in a little extra driving; our county just opened a new municipal building housing the courthouse and detention center, and I had no idea where it was. Good news: I found it during this morning’s drive.
This will end in fun, too. I get to force FLEXIBILITY on my family! My children and my husband will also have to be flexible during my jury duty. I may be Wonder Woman, but even Wonder Woman can’t do everything.
Saturday Shot 25 APR 2009
by Lynn Daniels on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I finally got the photos from our trip to the aquarium downloaded, though I still have yet to go through them. All 548 of them. Getting this done is probably going to take some time.
This photo, however, immediately caught my eye. Could be because of the deep blue field the jellyfish is against. Could be the hint of movement detected in the jellyfish. It could also be because this was the first photo my cursor landed on.
As I get photos processed, I’ll be adding them to my Flickr photostream. I may also add them to the albums here on my website; I haven’t decided yet.
Now, I must go and prepare for tonight’s dirt track races. Have a wonderful weekend!
Here, Fishie Fishie Fishie!
by Lynn Daniels on Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 10:28 pm
~*not my photo*~
Today was a Family Day. The kids have their Spring Break this week, so I’m working hard to keep them engaged. Doing everything I can to keep them busy and not glued to television, video games, or the computer. Today’s activity was a trip down to the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta.
I first told SoundGuy we really needed to visit the aquarium when I saw an ad in the paper for the current exhibit: Titanic Aquatic. LittleDude is absolutely Titanic crazy, and I figured he’d enjoy seeing this exhibit.
It turns out this was almost the same exhibit SoundGuy and I saw… last year? The year before? I can’t remember precisely when the Titanic exhibit was in Atlanta, but when it was here, we went. Without the kids. Which meant today was their first time seeing those fascinating artifacts and touching the iceburg. Very cool.
When you first walk in to the exhibit, you’re handed a card with the information of an actual passenger from that fateful voyage. At the end of the exhibit, you check the lists to see if your person survived. In our group, SoundGuy’s person was the only one who perished. Interestingly, though, they actually had some of SoundGuy’s guy’s possessions (did that make sense?) on display.
As interesting and fun as the Titanic exhibit was, the rest of the aquarium was just as much fun. The kids got to touch small sharks and rays. And horseshoe crabs. We saw exotic fish. Watched sharks swim over our heads. Stood eye-to-eye with alligators. Laughed at the garden eels retreating into the sandy sea bottom whenever a fish swam over them. And searched anemones for clownfish.
I took lots of photos, and am downloading them to my computer as I type. If any of them come out well enough, I’ll be uploading them to my Flickr photostream and maybe even using one as the Saturday Shot. Later. Right now, I’m exhausted. I’m going to veg. Rest. And probably start all over again tomorrow.
Loud & Exhilarating. And Loud. Did I Mention Loud?
by Lynn Daniels on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I meant to post this before today, but I only just started getting the photos processed. Who knew picking my mother up from the airport (and the prior prep) would consume so much of my time?
Yes, my mother’s in town, visiting for a month. I’m exhausted already, but I wanted to be sure to get this posted.
This past Saturday, I got my First Time. We went to qualifying at the 2009 NHRA Southern Nationals at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA. I’d been to a couple “test & tunes” and lower-level drag races, but I’d never been to NHRA-sanctioned races before. Talk about an experience! (All photos in this post are clickable — see them all and more in my Flickr photostream)
First of all, it was loud. Very, very loud. And very crowded. It was kind of funny — the first Top Fuel dragster raced down the track, and it was loud. The next race was two Top Fuel dragsters. Talk about a shock to my system! Not only was it much louder (twice as loud, to be precise *snicker*), but — and I don’t know how to say this without sounding a bit pornographic — my entire body was vibrating long after the race ended.
The funny cars were no slouches in the volume department, either. They were equally fun to watch, and seeing their crews lift the entire body after the burnout and prior to the race cracked me up every time.
The crowd really was enthusiastic, often jumping to their feet for the Top Fuel races. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t see the end of the race; half the time I couldn’t tell who won. Thank goodness for the giant screen toward the end of the track. When I couldn’t see the actual race, I’d watch the finish on the screen. Not that it mattered. Most of the names were foreign to me, so the winners made no difference. Still, I got to see the starts, and that was good enough.
It was fun seeing the races in person, hearing names over the loudspeakers I’d heard on television so many times (just a couple of ‘em; it was still exciting). Partway through the day, we left the stands and wandered the pits for a while. We saw some of the cars up close and watched teams make adjustments to their cars. We were right there when Tony Pedregon’s team fired up his funny car. I managed to get a single shot before being chased away by the toxic fumes.
Of course, while we wandered the pits, there was more to see than just the racing teams…
Sitting in the stands, and we were really stuffed in there, it was easy to tell who many of the folks were there to see: the Force Team. Huge cheers went up when John Force and Ashley Force Hood raced, and there seemed to be a mass food/bathroom break afterward.
Overall, a good time and lots of fun. And a long day. Since it wasn’t too hot, it never really got too miserable. Next time, though, I bring my dSLR. The point-n-shoot camera was fine for the first time, but I want better shots. 
Saturday Shot 18 APR 2009
by Lynn Daniels on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 9:16 am
I figured I’d try to slide my Saturday Shot in before we left for the races today.
This week’s photo comes from last year’s Yellowstone trip. One thing that strikes me every time we visit is the large number of “tree skeletons” — those little bits of trees remaining after the forest fire — throughout the park. They still stand tall and proud, but without any of the greenery one is accustomed to seeing adorning them. Don’t they look like skeletons? They’re very light in color and very naked — skeleton-ish.
They’re always somewhat creepy to see, especially considering how they got there in the first place. When you look at these acres of dead trees, you can almost see the fury of the fires that consumed that life. Almost hear the crackling flames and smell the burning wood. I think this photo is made a little more foreboding by that storm brewing overhead. The only thing that would have made this photo even more eerie ( <– that word looked so wrong, I had to look it up in the dictionary!) is a bright bolt of lighting slashed across the landscape.
Feels Like the First Time
by Lynn Daniels on Friday, April 17, 2009 at 9:14 pm
~*~
(With a nod to Foreigner for the title — great song!)
Everybody loves first time experiences. They’re new, they’re exciting, they get your adrenaline pumping. Writers particularly thrive on first time experiences, especially if they can take notes, whether mental or physical. A new experience equals another possible plot line. Or a new job for a character. Or a different conflict. Or another way to throw another red herring into the mix.
First Times… A first kiss. Your first time behind the wheel of a car. Your first visit to a special place. Your first music concert. Your first home. Your first boyfriend/girlfriend. Your first love. These are just a few of the First Times that stick with you. I’m sure anybody could look into their own past and find dozens more first times that have made an impression.
We all know my first time to Yellowstone made an impression on me. Not to sound trite, but that one changed my life. All those First Times I mentioned above? Yup, I remember those, too. I can also clearly remember my first time at the local dirt track. The excitement of the competition. The colorful people. Seeing all the wrecks. Feeling the rumble of the Limited Late Model engines vibrating in my chest. And squinting against the dirt flying in my face as the cars came out of turn four on the track.
It’s very possible one of my characters may have something significant happen to them while attending a race at a small town dirt track.
Tomorrow, I’ll be experiencing another First Time, my first NHRA-sanctioned drag race. Yup, tomorrow we’re heading to the Atlanta Dragway for the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see the finals on Sunday, but we will be there for qualifying. Pro stock, Funny Cars, Top Fuel dragsters — we’ll see them all. SoundGuy has said repeatedly that those dirt track cars have nothing in noise on the dragsters. He said it again tonight as we purchased ear protection. Tomorrow I’ll find out.
For the first time.
Lost ‘Em…Just in Time
by Lynn Daniels on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I’m a little late in posting this, but I did get the pictures on time. What am I talking about? Why, The Great Front Yard Project, of course!
If you’re playing the comparison game, here are links to previous posts: March • February • January • December • November
As I said, I went out and took these pictures on April 5th. To my disappointment (ahem!), no stripper poles appeared. Instead, leaves disappeared. Yes, you read that right, the leaves finally gave up the ghost and dropped from the trees! Can you believe it?
*click photo for larger version*
We’ll start with Huey. It’s not surprising he has no dead leaves clinging; he hasn’t had any for a few months. He did yield a surprise this month:
*Click photo for larger version*
You see that? He’s starting to leaf out up top! Of course, it is spring, so that can’t entirely be surprising. And yet…it is. I don’t know why.
*Click photo for larger version*
Here we have Dewey and Louie. That Dewey’s wearing no dead leaves is also no surprise. But take a look at Louie back there! He may be a little hard to see, being his branches are totally void of dead leaves! Can you believe that? Nary a dead leaf to be seen! I didn’t think it would ever happen, but there you have it. It happened not long after the snowstorm, and it happened quickly. I walked out of the house one day and there stood Naked Louie. Sadly, minus a stripper pole.
*Click photo for larger version*
Finally, here we have Cousin Frank. I just named him that, and if he previously had a name, then I’ve just renamed him. So there.
Anyway, here’s Cousin Frank. If he was the only tree you saw in my yard, you’d know for sure spring is here. Look at all those bright green leaves! And it doesn’t hurt that he’s got a backdrop of those pretty (yet extremely invasive and hurtful toward trees) purple flowering vines. Doesn’t he just scream spring?
So there you have it. It took until April for the leaves to leave (**snork**). I wonder how long it’ll be before all the trees are fully leafed. Guess I’ll keep taking pictures.
A Car in the Backyard
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 11:21 pm
(**Click any of the photos in this post to view a larger version**)
That’s what I said to my kids early Saturday evening: “You might want to come down here. There’s a car in the backyard.” This was just moments after I’d heard a strange, loud thunk. At first I’d assumed the noise came from a dump truck hitting a large bump on the road. After I heard the thunk, I glanced out the back window and saw traffic backed up on the road behind my house.
I should point out my property backs up to a pretty busy local road. My house is a ways off the road, but my property isn’t. And this just happens to be a time of the year I can actually see the road. The time before the trees completely leaf out and obscure the view.
Anyway, I saw that traffic was backed up. So I went into my backyard — the fenced-in portion where the dogs hang out. I got about halfway back and saw a yellow car against a tree at the back of the property.
Taken after the police arrived and before traffic was completely cleared from the road.
I yelled upstairs to my children, grabbed my little camera, and headed out the back door. This time, I headed for the portion of my property beyond the back fence — close enough to see, far away enough to stay out of the way. My first thought when I got back there: Nice car. At that point, I had no idea of the damage; the portion I could see appeared relatively unscathed aside from the fact it had come off the road and down an embankment.
The driver of the car talking to a firefighter.
Then I noticed the man I surmised was the car’s driver. He was kind of wandering, almost zombie-like. Clearly dazed. He’d go sit on the gas thingie (yes, I know there’s a technical term, I just can’t come up with it right now), then he’d get up and wander around, then he’d go over to the car and walk around it as though he couldn’t believe what had happened (I can’t blame him there), then he’d open the door and rummage around inside, then he’d return to the gas thingie and start all over again.
Again, I made sure to stay back out of the way. I was being a good example for my kids. I’m not going closer, you better not get closer either!
Police and fire personnel standing next to the motorcycle.
Morbid curiosity had me in its clutches. Can you blame me? Part of this ended up right on the edge of my property, just a few feet from a portion of LittleDude’s go-kart track. But still, I didn’t want to interfere, so I didn’t ask for details. I just stood there quietly and tried to eavesdrop. That’s when I heard a police officer call for an ambulance. “Car vs. motorcycle,” he said.
Motorcycle?
I hadn’t seen beyond the yellow car in my yard yet. But sure enough, I looked up at the road and saw a motorcycle down on the road. There was already another ambulance up near the motorcycle. An ambulance, a fire engine, and a handful of police cars.
At one point, I did manage to call out to the driver of the car and ask if he was okay. “I think I sprained my ankle,” he replied, still doing his dazed circle from the gas thingie to his car.
A wrecker hooks up and drags the classic car back up the embankment to the roadway before loading it up on the flatbed truck.
Not long after that, he was taken away by ambulance. Most of the other curious onlookers had already left at this point, but I was still curious. I wanted to see what the police did to investigate the accident. It was different, watching from the outside and not as a dazed victim. I watched them spray paint the leaves in my yard to mark the positioning of the car. One officer measured the distance from what I assumed was the point of impact down to where the car landed. Another photographed the scene. I saw them wander a bit up on the roadway, but being below the level of the road, I couldn’t really tell what they were doing. I inched closer, but since the car was still there, I didn’t want to get too close. I was trying to respect law enforcement doing their jobs.
Besides, somebody working the accident scene had already noticed me. I’m not sure which agency he was with, but I saw him glancing over at me a few times then saying something to the emergency personnel he was confabbing with. I was dying to fetch my dSLR from the house and grab some shots with that, but since I’d already been seen, I was afraid to. I’ve heard on more than one occasion of law enforcement stopping photographers, and I knew that 40D was much more conspicuous than my little point-n-shoot, so I stuck with the little sucker.
The car's back up on the roadway, and the damage looked more extensive than I'd initially thought.
Eventually the wrecker showed up, hooked up to the car, and dragged it back up the embankment, deepening the ruts the car had made on its way down. And once the car was away from my yard, I was less afraid of getting in the way. I moved closer and to higher ground so I could get a better view of what was going on. Debris was scattered across the road, each little piece noted with a circle of bright orange spray paint around it. I couldn’t really tell what most of the debris was, although I did note there was a work boot up there. That sight made me a little sick to my stomach. Had it come from the foot of the motorcycle rider?
A better view of the damage, although the camera's focus was a little off.
Daylight was quickly fading, we’d been out there a couple hours. There was a still a lot of discussion among the police officers, though I couldn’t really make out what was being said. Eventually, the car and the motorcycle were loaded up on the flatbed, and the wrecker driver cleaned up the road. Some debris he picked up and dropped into a 5-gallon bucket he took with him, others he just swept off the road. When the wrecker left, the fire truck moved in. Firefighters pulled the hose off the truck and sprayed down the roadway. Somebody said something about a fuel leak, so I couldn’t help but be grateful they were cleaning it up. Not long after that, the firetrucks left. Then the police left. Then for the first time in over two hours, regular traffic traveled the road again.
The markings left behind by accident investigation. They even marked the path of the car's tires.
I came back inside the house, fixed a quick dinner for my kids, then got on the computer. There’s a scanner website where I can listen to my county’s police and fire radio traffic, so I pulled that up, went to the archives, and listened to the chatter during the accident investigation. I hoped to figure out what happened from what I heard.
That didn’t quite work out. The only new thing I learned was that Life Flight had initially been called, but was later canceled. I tried not to read too much into that; the accident scene is only 1/2 mile from the nearest hospital.
Today I learned the man on the motorcycle was killed, pronounced dead at the hospital. Our little weekly newspaper’s website reported that both that motorcycle and the car were going the same direction. Odd, since there’s only one lane of travel. The article also mentions the accident is still under investigation, so I’m guessing I’ll probably never know how it happened.
The only thing I know for sure is lives were turned upside down that day. And I’m a little disturbed by how morbidly curious I was.
Happy Easter
by Lynn Daniels on Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 12:01 pm
~*~
I just wanted to take a moment to wish all my friends out there (this means YOU!) a HAPPY EASTER! For those of you who don’t observe Easter, I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.
P.S. Dove chocolate bunnies are solid and they ROCK!
Random Photo
Twittering
NaNoWriMo
