Little Princess

Willow continues to improve....and continues to snag my sleeping spot as soon as I get out of bed. When I approach her to say goodbye to D (and Willow, of course), her tail starts to thump-thump-thump against the mattress. She's excited that I'm coming to say hi, but makes no move to get out of my way. Brat!

Just this morning, she jumped up onto the couch to take a nap in the sun. This is obviously not something we want to encourage, as she isn't supposed to be jumping (especially down from the couch), but it was great to see that she's getting some strength back in her hind legs. It wasn't an easy leap, but it's an improvement. FYI, I then had to go over and put her back on the ground so she wouldn't jump down when she was done. I pulled her bed into a sunbeam so she could have the comfort and warmth she was looking for.

Now I've essentially dedicated an entire post to how spoiled our dog is.....oh well.

Freedom

You can't see me right now, but I'm doing a little happy dance.

I was dismissed from jury duty today, just before another sixty people were added to the jury pool so the selection process could continue. I can't say that I'll miss it....there were too many annoyances along the way. The hurry-up-and-wait attitude around the courthouse was quite frustrating; we often sat for hours in a stark hallway with not enough benches, waiting (with no feedback or accurate time estimates) to be let in to the courtroom after breaks and procedural matters. I certainly won't miss the logistical nightmare that was jury selection....we went through the first 60 people in two and a half days, and the jury was still not finalized when I left. Most of all, I'm relieved that I get to go back to work and meet the commitments on my calendar for next week.

While I think I would have been a good juror, I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of people that were my peers in the jury pool, and I am confident that they will decide the case in an appropriate fashion. It was also going to be an emotional case, as the alleged victims were young children. While I think I could have dealt with it at an emotional level, no one wants to hear about crimes (even unproven ones) committed against a child.

I'm not sure what the rest of the week will hold for me, but for now I'm just happy with what I heard this morning:
"The defense would like to thank and dismiss Juror Number 10."

Civic Duty

I hope to be able to blog more this week, as I've been selected for jury duty on a trial that will last the next two weeks. I'm incredibly disappointed that I have to take the time off work, as it means I will have to miss at least three business trips (San Rafael, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City). That means someone else will have to cover for me....I leaned on my coworkers so much during the ordeal with Andrew that I feel terrible any time they have to do any additional work for me....they've been fantastic across the board.

Aside from being a bummer for work, this jury duty will be pretty nice from a personal perspective. I get to spend the next two weeks at home and do my civic duty in the process. It's going to be a complicated (and likely emotional) case, but I think its important to have jurors like me on trials that really matter.

Tomorrow is a court holiday so the trial won't start until Tuesday; as it is, I've already spent two days at the courthouse for jury selection and we still don't have a final jury. It's a pain to drive all the way to downtown and back in rush hour, plus the $15 stipend doesn't go a long way toward the $18 I have to spend on parking every day. I could take public transportation, but I think it would add significant time to my commute. I'll be working at home tomorrow (on my real job) to try to make up for the lost time during the trial. It's a school holiday for D, so she'll be working Tuesday and Thursday this week.

We just got back from spending D's birthday weekend with friends in a cabin near Julian. We just missed the nasty weather on Thursday, so there was snow on the ground but it wasn't particularly freezing. It was a very relaxing weekend of talking, playing games (Wii and trivia), reading, eating, etc. We spent some time in the actual town of Julian this morning, and picked up some bread (jalapeño cheddar) at a nice bakery on the way out of town. All in all a very nice trip. I didn't get any pictures, as I drove straight to Julian from the courthouse on Friday and didn't have my camera with me. I still owe you some pictures/video of Willow and the backyard, and I'll get to those this week.

Long time reader, first time blogger

Hi all- D here.
I realized that it had been awhile since we had posted, and since J is on his way home from Northern California, I thought I would take the opportunity to say hello. You might be a bit surprised to see me posting, but I thought it was time to throw my two cents into the mix.

My main reason for blogging tonight is to share with you something for which I am very proud. As many of you know, I am the adviser to my school's newspaper, the Lancer Express. It is something I started a few years ago and it has become my passion. My students are amazing and I am incredibly impressed by the work they do.

I have become addicted to blogging through our whole ordeal and decided that it would be a great medium for my student journalists. Our world is becoming more digital by the day, so I asked my students to join the world of internet journalism. In addition to our monthly-ish newspaper, we will also be blogging an article a day. I would love for you to meet my fabulous students through their journalism blog. I hope you will be as impressed as I am. You can read their articles at their blog Lancer Express Daily (www.ledaily.blogspot.com)

On a personal note, we are slowly getting back into our normal routine. J will be traveling significantly over the next few weeks, though he does have to go to dreaded jury duty on Valentine's Day. Hopefully they will show him some love and not put him on a case. Though I wouldn't at all complain about having him home for a few weeks while he sits on some fascinating trial.

In addition to my teaching duties, I also coach frosh/soph softball and will be starting that up again in the next few weeks. On my days off, I have been grading and continuing my work in the backyard. Today, I planted some beautiful gerber daisies and a lovely little gardenia that J's mom gave me. Next up will be the iceberg roses and camellias that I recently bought.

This weekend, J and I, along with a few friends, will be heading to Julian to celebrate my 30th birthday. That's right folks, I am going to be 30 on Friday. Though my life isn't exactly where I thought it would be by this birthday, I look forward to starting a new decade with more joy than sorrow and more happy days than sad.

I wanted to tell you all thank you for the love and support you have given us. We are truly blessed to have such an incredible group of family and friends and I hope you all realize how grateful we are for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, cards, flowers, gifts, etc. over the last eight months. Everyone of you has made my life brighter. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Super Tuesday

We've been glued to the TV for the last several hours, watching election results come in and listening to talking heads interpret those results. The closeness of the race on both sides is certainly exciting, and it makes for good television.

On Sunday we went to see Corteo, the latest Cirque du Soleil performance to visit San Diego. They've set up their huge blue and yellow striped tents in the parking lot at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and they put on quite a show. I don't get enough sleep to spend two hours in a darkened room without getting a little sleepy, but the vast majority of the acts were exciting and impressive.

After the show, we got home and quickly started the Super Bowl. It was a lonely two-person party, but the incredibly boring game eventually turned fun in the fourth quarter. I found myself rooting for the Giants from the opening kickoff....I'm still not sure why....so it was exciting when they finally pulled it out. Next year I'm holding out for the 49ers.....or at least the Chargers.

There's not a whole lot else to report. We're both working hard...I took a day trip to NorCal yesterday, and D's starting in on a new semester at school. The next two weeks look even busier, including D's birthday and a few work trips.

I've been told that the readers of this blog would like less talk and more Willow. I'll do my best to satisfy your cute dog needs later this week.