I went downtown for jury duty to-day.<\/p>
I took the bus, in order to save on the expense of parking. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about having various knives and multi-tools on my person. There were no lockers at the court-house or otherwise nearby, and my car was back in Hillcrest. So I decided to ship my things at the nearby UPS<\/abbr> Store<\/a>. I didn't want to have to wait until to-morrow to retake possession, so I asked if I could I got to the juror waiting rooms in time to see the final seconds of the orientation film. I'd seen it once before to-day, and once is one time too many; I was glad to have missed it.<\/p> I parked in the reading room, and watched Dark City<\/cite> (1998)<\/a>, to indeed see whether there were any SC<\/abbr> 1243 subscriber sets in it. I didn't spot any. (I did spot a Model 500, most of which were made by Western Electric, and sets or bits of sets that I couldn't identify without checking references. Also, I am no longer quite as certain that the set at 4:40 is a WECo<\/abbr> Model 302, though there's a Model 302 at about 55:55.) Actually, as I noted to the Woman of Interest<\/a>, it was probably wise<\/em> not to include a SC<\/abbr> 1243 subscriber set. The design of the 1243 was clearly influenced by the 302, and the sets are normally black like a 302; but their appearance is less utilitarian and more overtly art deco. Dark City<\/cite><\/a> is thus a bit more dark<\/em> for their absence.<\/p> Shortly after I finished this peculiar cataloguing of Dark City<\/cite><\/a>, the Woman of Interest<\/a> called. We chatted until about 14:00, at which point she went out with a friend for dinner. In all this time, no one in the jury pool was actually summoned to be seat as a juror. In fact, by the end of the lunch period, the jury services office announced that only one remaining court might need a jury. So, by the time that the Woman of Interest<\/a> got off the phone, I was expecting to be dismissed soon.<\/p> At about 14:15, announcement was made that there was going to be an evacuation drill at 14:30, that we would be directed out of the building and to a public assembly place by sheriff's deputies, and that afterwards, those who were not present as alternates (selected on a previous day) would be free to leave. This announcement offended most of the jury pool. It is one thing to serve on a jury or to stand-and-wait for such service, another to be convenient subjects to teach deputies and others herding techniques. (After all, almost none of us would expect to be back in the court-house for at least another year, by which time the protocol would probably have changed anyway.) Most jurors simply left. I decided to go through with the drill, as perhaps something interesting might happen.<\/p> However, once we were directed out of the building, deputies did not<\/em> direct us on to the alleged place of public assembly. So we milled-about in front of the building until, after some time, a deputy told us that the place of assembly was at the intersection of Union Street and B Street, and we headed thence. But at C Street, a block south of B Street, we were rerouted eastward by a deputy. No indication was given as to just where were were actually going; I had 15-to-20 pounds of computer on my back and large book and what-not under my arm; and the UPS<\/abbr> Store<\/a> was in the opposite direction. After a bit more than another block, we hit my ship<\/q> them for pick-up at that very same store, and found that I could. That cost me a total of US$6.60, including the envelope.<\/p>
Fuck you too!<\/q> point, and I left the herd.<\/p>