I should be out drinking instead of writing.

Let's do some catch up shall we?

Late last month I was called up for jury duty.  Unlike many people, I was actually looking forward to serving.  I made it through voir dire and sat for a criminal case basically involving the possession of marijuana and felony possession of a hand gun.  I could write a whole long post about the case.  I have my notes about it in an email that I wrote out.  Maybe someday I will revisit.  Suffice to say that the trial ended in a dead lock.  Two out of jurors didn't believe that it was proven that the defendant knew about drugs and gun in the back of his car.  Personally, the evidence was clear that he was guilty.  It is frustrating how the same set of facts that we are exposed to can lead us to different conclusions.  Humans really are funny creatures.  Anyways, the prosecutor said that he would retry the case again.  I hope he gets a better jury next time.

Work has become more frustrating as they are cracking down on overtime.  I been regularly getting a few hours every week for the past few months due to my new position.  It demands a heavy workload at the beginning and end of my shifts  Anything left not done simply carries over to the next day and if I'm not on top of it, it just piles up.  I have tried to offload as much as I can but there is a limit to what I can do given the structure of operations.  My immediate supervisors know this and I think they sympathize but there really isn't much they can do either unless they want to hire a new person and or create a new position.  Lately I have been at my wits end and am beginning to get get cold-hearted about the situation.

After weeks of bitter cold, we've finally crossed back into above-freezing temps.  It has been so cold that the Great Lakes were nearly covered over in ice.  I took the following picture in which all I could see to the horizon was ice.

Click to enlarge.

I have been giving some thought to about unfriending Jon- a friend from facebook. He died last year and although I would like to maintain some kind of connection with his virtual memorial of sorts, I also think that facebook is really for the living.  It seems so odd that social connections are now going from dead people to dead people.  I'm not sure I am close to a decision yet.

Here's my facebook look back.  I don't think it was half bad.

You're not even close.

I was at my desk this morning clicking my way through my job when one of my coworkers, who is black, was talking to other people nearby that she's wearing the Confederate Flag.  My ears perked up at that.  A black woman in the north saying something like that is not an every day occurrence.  So looked over because I had to see this.  I saw that she was wearing what you see pictured and I immediately busted up laughing.  After I was done, I lamented over our obviously failing education system.

I have told this woman that she is my "project."  Lesson 1: Understanding the Union Flag of the United Kingdom.  So rest assured, that she now understands that this is not one of the flags of the Confederate States of America nor is it flag of the Union forces that the CSA was fighting against.  She also understands that it is the incorporation of three flags into one.  I decided to leave it at that because her head was about to explode from the rush of new knowledge.  A little bit at a time, people.

Lesson 2:  High-heeled boots are not the best footwear choice for working in a warehouse.

What You Do When It’s -20 Out -- STAY IN!

Late last week I noticed that the weather forecast was predicting a massive drop in temps.  In all the years that I’ve lived in southwest Michigan, days spent below zero is rare.  We were heading into double digits.  I didn’t make any preparations for this as I figured that this would end up like our last winter storm where everyone freaked out and in the end it wasn’t a big deal.  Well… that was a mistake.

Sunday night it was clear that things were going to be ugly when St. Joe/South Bend declared an emergency and placed travel restrictions  A little later on in the night, my coworkers on facebook were spreading the news that our employer was going to be shut down.  Yay!  Snow Day!  Yeah, so that was pretty cool but when you factor in the food issue, it wasn’t so great.

This is what my fridge looked like.  I had some frozen chicken fingers  and some non-perishables but it was going to be rough meals.  By then, I was pretty much snowed in and even if I could make it to a supermarket, I’m sure it would have been picked clean.  News reports of the milk, eggs, and bread run confirmed this.  (What is it about disasters that cause people to want to make French toast?)

Kraig offered to pick me up yesterday afternoon to do a run to Meijer.  He wanted to get food too.  Technically we were in an ordinance violation by going there but Kraig justified feeding his family as an emergency.  You really can’t argue that on face value.  Really, though, the road were passable and as long as you could get out to a main road, you were fine.  Actually as you can see... it was a nice sunny day.  Bone chilling cold but sunny.

The travel restriction were due to expire on Tuesday noon, so I think that may have been a good reason why us employees were allowed another day off.  There is a warning though that we may be working extended shifts and maybe even Saturday.  Despite that, I am definitely glad to have an extended weekend off.  With the exception of the run to the store, I have been able to do nothing but sit around all day, watch some netflix, and clean just an itty bit.  What I am not looking forward to is digging out my car tomorrow morning and the possibility of it not starting. Cross your fingers.

Last Minute Shopping & Wrapping

It has been a somewhat stressful morning as I have been running around looking for gifts at the last minute. I needed to get my mom a couple more things. I went to Target to see if they had any Bazinga shirts since my dad has recently become a big Big Bang Theory fan. I also had to find something for my brother in law whose likes and tastes are I am totally clueless on.

I never would have thought it but Barnes & Noble turned out to be the best place to get stuff.  I would have liked to got more but I was already past budget and Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z action figures were just a bit too expensive.  I'll definitely keep that place in mind for next year.

I'm not much of a wrapper but I don't think that I did so bad this year, even with the fancy ribbon. Still, all that you see here took me about an hour and a half.  Lots of paper and tape were sacrificed.  So much effort to be undone in seconds.  Now they are all done and are set to go.  I am somewhat excited for tomorrow.  I miss my younger self that couldn't even sleep on Christmas Eve.  That kid would probably shake his head if he knew that I am planning to sleep in.  I'll head to Mom and Dad's around 10 AM.

Christmas Drive

Kevin and I went driving around looking for Christmas decorations last night.  It seemed, to us, that the number of people decorating their houses seem to be dwindling.  Sill we found some decent homes.

Saturday With the Brothers

I spent yesterday with Kraig and his brother Kevin--but separately.

Kraig is my main movie buddy and we saw The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug.  Although I found the movie interesting, it did leave me unsatisfied.  It didn't feel like it had a beginning (because that was shown last year) or an end (because that will be shown next year). That sound like a statement to roll your eyes but the second film of the LOTR trilogy didn't feel that way.  The cliffhangers for The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were felt like great ending while still making me look forward the next installment.

After the movie and I was leaving the park, I got a call from Kraig.  Turned out that his truck wouldn't start. His truck died from leaving on the headlights. I didn't think that a couple hours would be enough to drain a battery but what do I know?  While waiting for the jump, I got a call from his brother Kevin. He was wondering if I wanted to hang out and that he was on his way to my apartment.  I had to tell him that I was preoccupied at the time but that I was open to meeting up later that night.

Fast forward to the evening and he picked me up to go to a local bar that was putting on a drag show.  There wasn't anything really remarkable about the show itself but I did have fun running into some coworkers.  But damn, after a couple drinks and tips to the servers and performers, I was broke way faster than I thought.