On Monday night there is a dinner with Person E_K. We meet up in downtown Long Beach and have a nice dinner and wander around the city. And then we leave. Person E_K is nice, but not for me.
Tuesday is the first day of jury duty and there are two telephone calls waiting for me at 6:30am when I wake up. They are from someone who shouldn't be calling anymore.
I'm initially assigned to sit on a civil case involving and automobile accident and personal injury. The lawyers ask the usual questions and then I start a long conversation with both of the lawyers. All of the prospective jurors, the judge, and others are watching as we talk about speed, momentum, closing speed, angle of impact, and other things. The plaintiff's attorney asks me, "So you've dealt with forces and motions and impacts before?"
After I respond with, "I've used d'Alembert's form of the Lagrange equations to derive the equations of motion for rigid and flexible bodies", the plaintiff's attorney is confused so I continue with, "I've computed some transient responses in my day". I can see that this is going nowhere so I just mumble, "Yes I have".
And then things start getting dicey as I mentioned that I had done some biomechanics work for some nationally ranked cyclists a long time ago and that some of my expert witness, ex-engineer friends want me to come on board and work with/for them. Three times during the plaintiff's questioning of me, and only me, the defense attorney objects! This is during questioning of potential jurors. Is this allowed? I guess it is! And so now we get into a line of questioning about injuries, cumulative damage, and soft tissue makeup. At one point I stop my answer, turn to the other prospective jurors, and say, "I apologize for taking all of this time".
The defense attorney continues with a line of questions like "Can't you make a lot more money as an expert witness with all of these guys wanting you?"
I respond with, "Money isn't the object." And I insert a long pause as everyone in the room turns to look at me, then continue with, "Fun is!" There are no more money questions asked. The plaintiff's attorney and the defense attorney have just spent 15 minutes talking with only me.
During a break I strike up a conversation with a punk rock girl with purple hair, a Sex Pistols t-shirt, and all black clothing. She's a hairstylist. But we hit it off as we make a bet whether she or I will be the first thrown off the panel. She wins - she's thrown off first. And she gives me an "I told you so look" as she leaves the court. I later run into her and we exchange phone numbers.
The Tuesday night resourcescout meeting is held and then I run off to play a late ice hockey game. The team makes some bad decisions and we lose, 2-1. It is a close game with hard skating and a bit of clean pushing and shoving. I get a chance to drill some guy from the other team when we're both chasing the puck and we both get there at the same time. It feels good.
On Wednesay after a session with the weights I go to court and we listen to testimony during the trial. Both the plaintiff and the defense eventually rest before an expert biomechanics witness is brought in but after an expert medical doctor is brought in. We assemble in the juror's deliberation room and the bailif tells us that when she leaves the room we need to pick a jury foreperson. As soon as the door closes everybody turns and looks at me. I respond with, "That's what I was afraid of. Well, I'll do my best even though I've never done this before." We barely start our negotiations before it is time to leave. I go home, mow the lawn, go for a 6 mile run, take a quick shower, and relax for the night.
I wake up on Thursday and find a text message on my mobile phone. I'll deal with it later. I go for a run/walk before heading to court. Eventually we reach a resonable, though imperfect, verdict and deliver it to the court. Jurt duty is now finished! So I head to Northrop Grumman in the afternoon.
After work on Thursday I lift weights again and take a shower. I meet up with Person K_K at a Starbucks and we drive over to a nearby independent coffeehouse. (We wouldn't want to drink coffee using beans picked by Guatemalan slave laborors without a labor code, now would we?) We have a good conversation and then we head to my house so that Person K_K can meet the vicious beast, Nopesterini. We have more conversations until Person K_K leaves at 1am on Friday morning.
I...um...like...um...Person K_K.