Saturday, January 15, 2011

Things to celebrate

1. Jury duty was a breeze on Monday
This was the third time I'd been called to jury duty in Maywood, Illinois, which is so far west it might as well be in Sarah Palin's reading library double-wide. But this time Maywood didn't look like the gang-warfare video game I recall it being. And sitting in the jury waiting room all day gave me a chance to catch up on some freelance writing. Even though I could not escape the bleatings of Let's Make a Deal and The Price is Right, which are both so stupid they make me want to kick puppies. And that "all day" two sentences ago is kind of a misnomer; all the cases that day settled out of court, so even though we potential jurors were denied the opportunity to send miscreants to the hoosegow, we all got sent home in just enough time for me to get my oil changed, run a bunch of other glamorous errands and start un-Christmasing the house. And I eventually got to use miscreants and hoosegow in my blog. Hoosegow!

2. Traffic court was everything I'd hoped for on Thursday
Aside from the fact that I had to go in the first place, I mean. I had (allegedly!) not seen a no-left-turn sign in a snowstorm way back on December 4, and the cop actually took my fucking license as though I were a third-offense drunk driver. I at least had the presence of mind to make him take my AAA card instead (fun fact: your motor club card usually works as bond when someone tries to take your license!) but I still had to go to court to get it back. I, being a lifelong hater of confrontation, was nervous as heck walking into court (so nervous, in fact, that I accidentally left my coat at the security check and had to run back to get it). But when I didn't see my license-taking cop in the courtroom (at least I didn't think I saw him; my guy was white and the three cops in court were a white guy who kind of looked like my vague memory of my cop and two black people, who I was able to eliminate as my cops through my otherwise keen observational skillz) I calmed down. Sure enough, the white cop was not my white cop, and since there were no witnesses against my (alleged!) traffic misdemeanor, all the charges were dropped and this (alleged!) miscreant didn't get sent to the hoosegow. Woot!

3. I had a good physical on Friday
The lab took eight vials of blood to monitor my hyperthyroidism and elevated prolactin and a host of other 42-year-old indignities, though. So I'm still kind of woozy in a vampire-in-the-daylight kind of way. But otherwise the doctor said I'm fabulous! (And healthy.)

4. I updated my blog template today
This new look -- which I don't like as much as the one I abandoned -- isn't really the reason I'm celebrating. But upgrading to a new Blogger template was the only way I could extricate myself from the clutches of the Echo commenting software I didn't want to use anymore ... even though it means I lost eight years' worth of comments in the process. Blogger promises me I can still access my old links, which I hope to incorporate into this layout in the near future. But in the mean time, the five of you who still read my blog can make comments again. Not that you've been doing a lot of that recently anyway. Ahem.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great new layout and design! Looking forward to lots of new posts and home improvement photos!

Kelly said...

You know, if we combined your hyperthyroidism with my hypothyroidism, perhaps we could both be more normal in a health sort of way. In the meantime, I'm taking drugs that don't help... how about you?

Karen said...

I'm stuck in Echo hell too. I feel like an old lady with 12:00 blinking on my VCR.

2PAX said...

I liked the old template better- can you turn back time?

fifth said...

fifth reader checking in :)

brian said...

Your law enforcement experiences give me hope.
Karma seems to work.
Just got my jury summons.

Fiona said...

I like the new template - very zen.

And this proves you have more like 7 readers, doesn't it?

I RSS the blog, so perhaps I don't show up on your analytics.

Hoosegow.

Java said...

Perhaps I'm just unobservant, but I didn't notice the new template. I did, however, recognize the mad good writing skillz.

Hoosegow is a good one. My favorite comes from the old comic strip "Tumbleweeds" by T.K. Ryan. The jail house in Grimy Gulch was sometimes referred to as "the bide-a-wee' ne'er-do-well repository."

Jeffrey Ricker said...

Hey, make that six readers.

dbb said...

Huzzah!!! I can comment once more wihtout having to stalk you via Facebook. And if you thought Maywood jury duty is bad, try the one on South California. Its enough to put shudders in your lady and manly bits.

DougChgo said...

Two things: First, although I consider anywhere west of Racine Avenue the end of the world, Maywood is definitely not far west. Try spending Xmas in Winfield. Now THERE'S some DuPage County for ya. And second, 26th & Cal is the place to go if you're looking for some Law & Order action. That's my favorite place to go for jury duty.

JoyZeeBoy said...

WTF? I have to admit I sort of stopped checking in on a regular basis back in December, but I *love* what you've done with the place! It's much clearer now.

And it's good to see you back online. You are such a good read precisely because of your copywriting skills.

DougChgo said...

Wait: five readers?! There used to be six -- who dropped out? Rick, are you still there? Hello?

Blobby said...

Your doc says you're 'fabulous', so not only is delivering good news, he's doing in the gayest style ever!

Anonymous said...

I completely enjoy reading this blog. That is all.

Simon