The Obligatory Jury Duty Post

They got me again with jury duty. As I've said before, I don't mind a little break in the routine! Only this time, I never got a summons, just a postcard with draconian language about $1,500 fines for a summons I never got. I emailed them and told them as much, and they replied to just use the information on the postcard to sign in to get re-assigned. Of course, the first week was when I had something planned a couple of the days, so I requested to be moved, and they put me on call for last week. I think it was right around when a 3-day weekend was coming up last time I had jury duty, too, and it got to the end of the week calling in and not having to go in, and I was thinking, "surely they won't actually be doing much work right before a 3-day weekend, will they?" I don't think they were, but I was called in anyway. I have been having a terrible year keeping up with the blog, so I thought I'd get this one going while it's still fresh!!! I've got 3 or more that I could put together, but haven't made it yet, so here we go!!!

To start off the Obligatory Jury Duty post, here's your Obligatory Disney Concert Hall pictures!!!

While we were in the area for the Community Day, I had taken a few pictures of a couple of structures across from there, new since last time I've been there. It is done in yellow and gray-silver colors, kind of in what makes me think of a building block style. Never posted any pictures of them here, but in the second shot, you can see them reflected in the biulding across the street!!!

On my way back from my wanderings and jury duty "service", right as I was leaving Grand Park, there was this pretty cool trike parked there!!!

Years back, I'd bought myself a folding box cutter knife with a belt clip. It's pretty handy, and being a box cutter type, it has replaceable blades so you can always have a nice, sharp blade. On my way out, I was thinking to myself, "When you park, grab the phone charger cable from the center console, and leave your knife". I remembered half of that. Before I entered the courthouse, I remembered, and thought that maybe they wouldn't have an issue if I just tossed out the blade. The one guard at the metal detectors asked the other one, and they gave it the no-go, but they checked it and gave me a slip to pick it up on the way out.

And wanderings... I did a little!!! Found a couple of buildings with interesting architecture I hadn't seen before, this one with an overhanging edge with what looks like a hanging panel.

This is my first time on Jury Duty since I've began playing Pokemon GO, so that gives you incintives to do some wandering to areas you might not otherwise!!! While I was in line to check in, there was a one star Rockruff raid within distance that I did solo, since you don't see Rockruffs out in the wild. From the assembly room there were a few stops I was able to spin to keep my bag full, and I even used one of my lures on one since I don't usually sit in one place for that long. Of course, I got distracted on other things once I'd used it and didn't get many results!

So, onto the wanderings!!! When I got out, I saw there was another one star raid, off in a direction I've never walked from there before, towards Little Tokyo. I've been wandering in Little Tokyo before, but never from the courthouse. It was towards Phillippe's, and I apparently haven't been there since 2006, and was ready for breakfast so I considered making that another side trip!!! Another thing I'd seen from the courthouse was the OOMO Cube, a giant Rubik's Cube statue in Little Tokyo. I believe there's a Pokemon GO gym there, and I was thinking of spinning the photo disc to get a gift from there, but I never did. I was looking up on maps "giant Rubik's Cube statue Little Tokyo" and all it came up with was toy stores. Oh well.

Here's another interesting building, with some of the floors on what looks like a 30° angle!!!

On the way back, I saw there was a 5 star raid for Deoxys going on at the City Hall gym. There were already 7 or 8 other players waiting for the raid, so I was keen to join in. I was already on the area directly to the south of City Hall, but still far enough from the gym that it was requiring a remote raid pass. There was about a minute and a half, so I walked closer so I wouldn't have to use that remote pass, and joined. I think there were 13 or 14 of us by then, so it went easy!!! Nice!!!

Got a shot of City Hall from a direction I normally don't approach it, along with the flag.

I've never noticed this thing before, either!!! Looks like all it is is a cover for the escalators going to the train station. I should have inspected it closer, it may have some closeable louvers for if it were to rain!!!

Speaking of weather, we've been in the midst of our September heat wave, and it's over 100°. I probably would have done more wandering if it hadn't been so hot.

As I had suspected, there wasn't a lot going on at the courthouse. In the first couple of hours, they called one batch of prospective jurors. A little later, they called another batch, this one for a special jury. This case was expected to take around 40 days!!! They had filtered based on the summons survey for prospective jurors that would be likely to be able to serve, so I wasn't on their list, since I only get paid for 5 days (per company policy; however, I've always been told, "if it goes longer than 5 days, we'll work with you", but I have no idea what they mean by that). They were looking for prospective jurors who would be asked to return in a month.

A little later, before we would break for lunch, they started calling up people to one of the windows by groups of 6. The third group had me in it. Got to the window, and they checked my name off their list, gave me my completion paper and thanked me for coming. Not bad!!!

On my way back to the parking under the Disney Concert Hall, I passed by the dry fountain I'd noted in my previous post. It's still dry, but the newly added splash area below it was going for cooling off!!! Now I wish I'd brought my swim trunks!!!

Going Back... INSIDE!!!

After my last post, I remembered something... No, not that I had a day before the month started off, or that I got a day off during that first week back (considered doing another post entitled "Bookends")

No, I remembered that I had Jury duty that week!!! I had done the online registration, and had in my head that they're going to send me a notification... Nope. I was at work, and remembered they'd sent me the summons, I gotta check when that is... so I did when I got home... Aw crap!!! That was this week!!!

This was on Wednesday, and I supposed to be calling in all that week!!! Called in that night, and they tell me I'm up for the next day. Well, I'm always up for Jury duty!!! It was at my favorite court, so that's good. I had thought I'd done a post on the Disney Concert Hall before, but guess I'd never gotten past thinking of doing it. So finally here it is, only this time I was mostly getting pictures of the interior. See that first inside shot??? If you can't tell, it's at the end also, from another angle.

I always love the way it looks from the outside, but the inside is equally impressive, if not more so!!!

They follow the wild shapes from the outside, but with nice materials!!!

As far as jury duty went, it was a bust again, all day without even being put on a panel. Kind of good, I take Fridays as my swap day at work (because I've been on the weekend shift since the beginning of 2016) so if I'd gotten on a jury, I probably would have had to go to in on my day off. My luck, they would have had us in selection or pre-trial all day, then settled at the end or something. Seems like every year I get summoned, but a look through shows the last time I went was 2013, and that was at the wrong courthouse. Also another time I didn't get called up.

The jury pool room was better than the last times I've been there. They've got chargers built into the seats, and tables in the back and a lot of vending machines. I got a lot more pictures, I may do another post...

That first interior shot??? It's a reception desk, made out of sheets of cut glass!!!

Looking Back II: Jury Duty

Back in November I had my annual jury duty summons.

I had rescheduled from when I'd originally gotten my summons. That had fallen on the weeks that I had for vacation. I wasn't paying close attention, and almost missed the week it was. Turned out to be the week of Veteran's day, so of course the courts weren't open on Monday. On my first call in day, I was told not to come in. Same for the next two, and I figured that I'd end up skating since it was a short week. No dice, I had to go in on Friday.

For a change, it was at a different courthouse than I usually get assigned to. I usually look forward to jury duty because there's much photogenic in downtown. Not so at this one!!! The one main thing nearby was this giant chair. I know I've seen it before, but I'm not sure if I've gotten a shot of it before.

There's the courthouse in the background of the third shot...

There was still a bit of good architecture around the area for the photographing...

I'm pretty sure that just a block up from there is where I caught a shot of Fred Flintstone, but it was almost to the time we were told to be back by. I think I spent more time looking for the post with that picture than anything else for this post so far...

From a distance, the Ritz Carlton where we'd had a work Christmas party a few years back.

One nice thing, the parking was on site. Two levels down, there's a pigeon!!! What are you doing down here???

...And a shot on the wing!!!

One of my favorite shots, the train in the rear view!!!

The rest of the shots are from the drive home. Another nice thing, the weather was pretty good for taking pictures!!!

Love the downtown architecture!!!

First time, I didn't get called for a jury. Usually I end up on a panel, then getting kicked off because the prosecutor doesn't like me!!!

Pink wedding gown, anyone???

Hey, there's a cat on the roof over there!!!

Finally, a decent shot of the dragon gateway going into Chinatown!!!

Justice Takes A Vacation

Jury duty is finished for this year. All week I've been calling in to see if I'll be required to show up, and Thursday night I hit the jackpot!!! This is a departure from the way things went the time before last, instead of everybody showing up for a cattle call on Monday, they just have you call in every night for a week. A MUCH better system, and it made for a much easier time getting through the security on the way in.



The title to this post doesn't specifically refer to anything of my actual experience (well, it was actually something of a vacation for me, one day off work, a shorter, quicker commute, plenty of time to read my paper, lots of photo ops, etc) but rather the first shot here. When I saw it, I immediately thought that would be the title of that shot.



Shot number two is of an old metal lunch box, fully tagged out. It was on the very corner of a vacant lot with a huge hole in it, next to a traffic cone. Behind an eight foot chain link fence with barbed wire. If any panhandlers rolled up on me, I was going to give them the location of this box, and tell them if they retrieved it for me, there would be a five in it (well, not IN it, but in it.... aw, crap, that clarified nothing... here's hoping you're able to figure it out on your own) for them, make that ten if there's something extremely interesting within it!!! I'd have done it, I swear I woulda.



When I got called to be on a case, I started out as juror (alternate) #15. After the preliminary questioning by the judge and both counselors, they started picking who they liked for dismissal. #1 & #6 were removed, and replaced by alt 19 and 20 (because of seating arrangement, I think). Then they got the juror #9. Dismissed, and #13 takes her place. No sooner than he sits down than he's removed and replaced by #14. #14 doesn't even get seated before he's dismissed. I'm called to replace him. I got up, gathered my bag and bottle and waited to see if I was going to be dismissed at this point. Everyone laughs a little as this is going on. I make my way to the #9 seat and sit down. I'd say around 45 seconds later I was dismissed. Everyone laughs even more at this. Seat #9 was a tough fill today!!!



I had to return to the jury assembly room to await more call ups or or the all clear for the day. If you can make it through the day without getting permanently placed on a trial, you are done for the year. Not long after returning, they started calling for more. They announced the room, and it was the one I had come back from. I knew they were going to run out of alternates!!!



The free WiFi at the courthouse was cool, but the filter on it sucked and didn't make much sense. No access to Runescape where I could have entertained myself for hours or Twitter where I could make a little comment in 140 characters or less, but I could access Blogger where I could put ALL kinds of content, and YouTube where I could actually clandestinely shoot and post a video!!! Oh well, I wasn't there that much longer, and I won't be back for a year!!!



Oh, and another sweet deal, jurors get free admission to MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art. Of course, by the time I made my way there, taking shots all the while, there was less than 15 minutes left that they were open!!! I rather enjoyed some of what I saw, and thought that I could do as well or better than some. I'd love to go back when I have more time. They gave me a little sticker that says "MOCA member". I stuck it on my John's Incredible Pizza card for maximum juxtaposition.

Oh, I finally located where Angel's Flight is!!! They have a notice that it should be open in the first part of this year. I've been hearing that for years.

My Eventful Weekend

As I've tweeted, October is shaping up to be a fairly eventful month!!! Starting last Friday, when I had a pair of tickets to Loggins & Messina at the Greek Theater. It was the only show that sounded like anything I was interested in on the list, and I managed to be the lucky one. A funny story about this season's drawing, a lot of people had put in for Lakers tickets, but ended up getting Clippers tickets!!! No one was signing up for them, so they're giving 'em away!!! Well, I guess they're giving 'em away no matter what, but now they're giving them away to people who didn't really want them.

Anyway, the concert was pretty good. I do like that venue, but I detest the parking there. I know he had a string of hits in the early 80's, but besides "Footloose" I couldn't think of another. Turned out not to matter, he didn't do ANY of those, "Footloose" included!!! Of the whole set, I only knew four songs, and two of those were covers. He opened the show by covering a Lynn Anderson tune that my wife used to go around singing all the time, which I think got him in her good graces. A rockin' good time, even though I wasn't as familiar with all the works. Oh, and the weather is feeling like autumn in Cali, and it was a nice, crisp night to be out under the stars.

Saturday Sammy and his brother were celebrating their birthdays at his parents house. As always, the food is amazing there. Got to meet his wife's brother and his high school friend, and two of his cousins, who are true delights. Boccie and Karaoke for all who would partake. My older boy sang a few, and Sammy told me he admired his taste in music. Sammy's brother told me it's an unfortunate time for him to be singing, in a Peter Brady kinda way. True and true.

Starting today I've been on call for jury duty. I had fun two years back when I went to serve, and thought it worked out pretty good. They've added in WiFi connectivity in the jury pool room, so I'd manage to keep well occupied the whole time. Unfortunately, I haven't been required to come in yet, so I've been having to go to work instead. I'll bet they call me in on Thursday, the day I've got an appointment for my flu shot at work.

But the part I really wanted to share about happened on Sunday. I'd taken the family out for some fast food lunch, and on the way back pulled into the grocery store to pick up a few things. I ask my wife if she's coming in or waiting, and her and my younger boy both elect to wait in the car. The older and I shop, and on the way out, here comes my wife and younger, walking towards me rather briskly. "Thank goodness you're here!!!", she tells me. I figure she urgently needs to use the restroom, so I'm taking the boy's hand, and I ask her if that's the case. "No!!!", she replies, "Some guy selling bootleg DVD's just molested me!!!" Huh??? This changes things, I'm getting a good head of pissed off going... She quickly tells me a bit of what'd happened, "There he is!!!", she says. It's on.





He sees me coming, with my wife, and he starts in trying to sell me some of his wares. Oh yea, this is going to go well for you, beotch. I roll up on him, asking WTF and who knows what all else (apparently quite loudly) cock back and take one swing, which he sees coming and gets his head moved sufficiently to the side to where it glances off, but I caught him square on the next shots. Next thing I've got him pushed over backwards on the trunk of Janice with my arm on his neck. Interestingly, he's lost the ability to speak English at this point. I pull back a little at this point, as I'm attracting witnesses. Don't know why that should have bothered me, I should have.... well, a lot of things I should have done differently, but I'll get to that later. Suffice it to say, I was concerned that the crowd was going to turn on me as the aggressor, and I was attempting to control that situation. I'm trying to explain to the crowd what'd happened, and get someone to call the law (not that I'd have been perfectly content to deal with him myself...)

The guy isn't really struggling much, so I finally pull out my own phone to call 911. I tell the dispatcher what's happened and where I'm at, and they transfer me to the actual police. At this point, scumbag starts wiggling while I'm trying to restrain him left-handed. I've got a grip on his shirt, and he manages to shuck it off and takes off running, leaving his bag of contraband DVD's. No one tries to stop him. They do, however, come up and start grabbing up all his DVD's. Anyway, he lost his shirt, I busted his sunglasses, he lost his stash of discs, and a tallboy of beer. Not the outcome I would have liked, but a small victory. And, I did get in a couple of good shots.

Five minutes or so later, three of the store employees and the manager come out to see if everything is OK. Um, no, not really, but a little late now!!! The manager asks if there's anything they can do, and I opine that a little more vigilance prior to would be a nice thing. He says they have a security guard, but he doesn't get there until 4:00. Makes sense, usually more problems when it starts getting later. I'm thinking a call to corporate asking what they're going to do to make this right may be in order. Half an hour later the police finally show up and take an incident report. That will probably be the last of this. Unless, of course, I see that guy again.

Now, what would I have done different??? Don't know why, but I think I have an ingrained "fight clean" ethic within me. First shot, I should have bagged him in the nuts. Hard. Repeatedly. That will take all the fight and a lot of the flight out of most anyone. Plenty of time to bust up his face after you incapacitate 'em. I'd love to have done some of that. Second thing, don't leave him upright. ON THE GROUND, AND STOP YOUR RESISTING!!! Third thing, hand off my phone to my wife or son to make the call, I've got other things to deal with. Next thing, if he tries to take off, go after 'em!!!

Oh, and wife seems to be doing fine. I know it's one of those incidents where you'll be replaying it over and over for days. I called her up today to see how she was doing, and she tells me she keeps seeing me pounding his face. I think that's a good thing.

The Overflow Pictures

As mentioned in my previous post, here's the overflow pictures!!!



I think this is my favorite shot of the Disney Concert Hall.

Parking under the Disney Concert Hall like that reminded me of the time my boy and I saw the Counting Crows with the Philharmonic there. Good times.

But It Ended All Too Soon

Day two of jury duty ended up being the last day of jury duty. Kind of a bummer, but hey what can you do???

I really liked the deal I had going, the judge wanted us there at 10:30, lunch from noon until 1:30, and wrap up by 4:00. Better than the 7:30 I had to be there yesterday. Not to mention the commute, even when fully jammed, is still a lot quicker than my normal drive. If I'd been there any longer, I was going to check into getting the court provided Metro pass.

Well, I got there today and the prosecutor finishes his questioning of the jury panelists, and picks who he doesn't like. I was the first. Bad move for his case, I feel, but his loss. Of course, I was juror #1, so I was pretty much first for everything. Anyway, JUROR DISMISSED!!!


It was for a murder one case, with a female defendant. And a claw hammer. Wow. One has to imagine that there was likely some domestic violence in the background, and from the bit they let on about that was the case. As well as there being drugs and alcohol involved.

Anyway, I was out of there less than an hour after I got there, and it seemed a shame to waste the trip, so I walked ALL OVER, taking shots whilst I walked.

I had a few shots from yesterday that I'd selected that didn't fit, and some today too. I'm thinking of an overflow post.

I'm also thinking of a post of nothing but the Disney Concert Hall.

For the first time, there was actually a lot of smoke in the skies, giving some of my shots an orange cast.

The Westin Bonaventure is another of my all time favorite downtown structures, I took several shots of it, inside and out and from the wonderful glass elevators. Possibly a post of just it, too.