Archive for July, 2008
What have I learned this year…?
July 26th, 2008 / posted by Lindsey
- Potty training is more fun with a Dora toilet seat
- Mini Vans ARE totally practical
- Everything I say will be repeated
- My shirt will never stay clean longer than a few minutes
- It will always take at least 25 minutes to get out the door
- It’s totally worth every penny to get your hair done (which I have not done in a really long time…)
This is probably what every mom feels like, but i just had a moment to reflect on the past year!
I had a great birthday!
14 of us – 2 of them
July 22nd, 2008 / posted by Jake
I reported to my Jury Summons on Tuesday. Having never been summoned before, I didn’t know what to expect therefore I went in with a clear and open mind. Upon arriving at the courthouse I saw around 300 people who, just like me, were summoned for Jury Duty. I filled out the generic questionnaire, dawned my name badge, and waited. To better explain the waiting process, a cakewalk comes to mind.
As a kid we would always attend our elementary school’s fair/carnival. I vividly remember always bypassing the cheesy fishing games, bottle games, and other corny games because I knew that the cakewalk had much greater dividends. You got a cake as a prize – who doesn’t want a cake? In order to even be eligible to win the cake you had to first be selected to participate in the cakewalk. The selection process of course was done by drawing names/tickets out of a hat at random. I recall always thinking that my name was next to be called so I’d get impatient and slowly start to stand up each time they were announcing a new name. But unfortunately, my name was NEVER drawn. Not once. While others would leave the fair with their winnings in hand, I would walk away with my hand hung low empty handed, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Well after 20+ years, I finally figured out that I just have bad luck when and where others seem to have better luck. So when they announced that names would be drawn at random, I just smiled and thought to myself, “I won’t be picked – awesome!”
“Jake Toolson”. I didn’t know what to do or say – my name has never been picked. This must be a mistake or they need me because I left my carlights on. Nope. Sure enough, out of the initial group of 300, my name was chosen at random. So I ran up the stairs to the 5th floor yelling “caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!”
Well the fun was just getting started. So from the initial group of 300, 60 jurors are called to a specific court room. From there, its back to square one – from the 60, about 45 are actually called into the courtroom. The others are excused and sent home. Once again, I thought “Ok… me being picked in the first round was just dumb luck. Theres no way I’ll…..”
“Jake Toolson.”
“Crap.”
After 1 1/2 days of jury selection I was eventually selected as juror #1 which is where I would remain for the remaining 5 days. Luckily it was a battery case so it didn’t last forever. After deliberating for an entire day we unanimously found the defendants guilty and were released from our services never to return again – at least not for 12 months.
Suffice it to say its been a long couple weeks (months):
- Lindsey finished her Phlebotomy Externship (which is why she was gone for 4 weeks)
- I had Jury Duty (during which I was not paid so goodbye to 1 weeks worth of $)
- I had my wallet stolen
- We had a couple weeks with 100+ degree weather so we probably swam 2-3 a day for a few weeks.
- Tyler is almost potty trained at 2 1/2 years
- Kaitlyn is a crawling machine and walking with help at 8 months
- Tyler is learning to swim without his water-wings
