Wednesday, May 21, 2008

my civic duty

For the past 7 days, I've had the "privilege" of sitting on a jury of a medical malpractice case. Let me begin by saying that I fully understand that juries are a crucial part of the judicial process. The little video they showed the pool last Monday morning (featuring George Brett, Bryan Busby and some other KC familiars) told us of the importance of our civic duty, how we should feel privileged to serve, etc.

Maybe if the system wants people feel privileged aboutgiving up a week of their lives, they should reimburse them more than $6/day and $.07/mile. ABSURD.

I'm fortunate enough to have an employer who will still pay me for my courthouse time, but many in my group were either self-employed or worked for companies that didn't pay them a dime for those 7 days.

At least the case was interesting and I met some people in my group that I'll stay in touch with. Oh and there was a crazy murder case going on in the courtroom next to ours. So when they got a tip that someone was going to "shoot up the courthouse" if the defendant was found guilty, we had to play some fun lockdown games.

Back to work. Catching up is fun. Right.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

and a Swell Season it was

Those of you who know me, know that I love all kinds of music - from Pantera to Prince, I'm a fan. But every once in awhile something comes along that makes my heart smile.

Saw a fantastic show last night at the Uptown Theater. I bought tickets to The Swell Season the day after I saw the movie I blogged about a while back.

It was one of those events I'd forgotten I'd even bought tickets for until I looked at my outlook calendar. What followed was definitely unforgettable. Last night I was brought back to the heart of true music.

Glen & Marketa played for 2 solid hours to a sold-out crowd. It was full of raw emotion, the kind that reaches in and tickles your skin from the inside out, sending chill after chill down your spine.

They told stories behind songs, laughed, joked, and gained a respect unlike any I've seen from their audience.

Tim Finn from the Star gave a review that I thought captured the show well. For those of you who liked Once or have enjoyed the soundtrack at all, I implore you to dive further into Glen's music.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

crank it up

So it's finally above 70 degrees here today, which means windows are DOWN!

However, this leads to me forgetting windows are down at intersections when I just might be listening just a little too loudly to something others might deem funny.

It's happened twice today already.

Once on my way into our parking garage...Everybody Wang Chung Tonight.

Once on my way back from lunch...Eyes Without a Face.

Come on people, stop giving me weird looks. Billy Idol is classic.