oofda

my body is not happy with the things my mind is making it do.

so. tired.

I got around 5 hours of sleep all weekend, recovered, got 2 hours on the plane over here... and now... oofda.

bedtime.

legendary

las vegas was great. the end.

oh, and we had a nice room with a good view.

I've neglected you.

plans plans plans.

I like having them so that I don't have to follow them, but I can if I want.

I am going to have a very long weekend. I will see money, food, drink, boobs and basketball. Sin City. final four. Bachelor party.

Then I am going to tromp around europe for a while, maybe take some pictures.

as for the jury thing - long story short (maybe the full version some day)... they settled and released us, I haven't received my check yet.

done. settled.

I am switching banks. I have had 6 personal checking accounts. The only one I was happy with got bought out and changed their rules. I am now with Greenpoint Bank-I mean North Fuck- I mean North Fork... I spend over 100 dollars a year on fines. easily. they are fired. done.

I started asking my friends, "what bank do you use, do you like it?"

People like Washington Mutual. I thought it was just a clever marketing campaign. I sort of made up my mind after visiting their site... but then... BUT THEN... I called (the national number on the website) to ask what I needed to bring with me to start a new account... and a human immediatly answered the phone.

Think about that.

When was the last time you called a toll free number and a person answered? I was shocked. I was all ready to start pressing 1 for english and yelling, "OPERATOR!" over and over into my phone with very good diction. I'm joining the revolution. done.

WaMu forever.

side note

the moon is pretty cool.

I'll get back to the jury thing soon.

Chad Nicholon Photography

The new beta website is up.

Chad Nicholson Photography 0.2



I'll be very excited to get an HTML programmer to do it for real.

epic battle, part one

Jury duty.

It started with a notice. I responded. I received a second notice telling me to call a number the after 5pm on the day before the 2nd of March, 2006. I called and the recorded message told me that all jurors were required to come to the courthouse at 8:45am on the 2nd.

A very groggy chad shows up at the courthouse. I find the right room - it is a gigantic church like room - about 40 pews deep and 6 wide. Each pew can fit about 8 people scrunched in. people were not scrunched they were in molecule spacing.*

*I call it "molecule spacing" because of an example from sixth grade science, taught by Mrs. Edmuson (mrs. ed). We were all told to equally spread ourselves out in the room and stand still... this was an element or compound at its liquid state. We were told to "get cold" and all scrunch together (solid) and to "heat up" by run and bounce around the room (gas). I see people sit in the liquid state whenever they are surrounded by strangers -such as in the train (always a chair in between, some people choose to stand rather than sit between two people) and at urinals and the like.

This is when I realized that everyone in the room was a stranger, hundreds of strangers - people were automatically even and then, just as fast, created a society of strangers, all with their jobs and places. Talker, Joker, Reader, Fancy Dresser, Gigantic Painted Fingernails, Suit Guy, Helpless Non-English Speaker, Thug, etc...

We were then given out instructions to fill out our card that were were specifically told to fill out before arriving to court. Twice. We were told every thing twice. Sometimes three times, two or three times, we were told. Things were explained twice.

I was one of the very few 20 - 40 year-old white males.

We were told that there was another room that we could hang out in... in which we could hang out... in which our hanging out could be... anyway, I checked it out, there were better chairs and a window. At this point we were told to wait until we heard our name.

We were given a lunch break from 2-3. My choices were pizza, mcdonalds, burger king, sketchy burritos, and Friendly's. I chose friendly's. I chose poorly. you don't need any more details.

Like animals, we went back to our staked out temporary homes in the courthouse... because the humans go to what they know is safe.

My name was called and I went into a holding area for role call. We then followed the group to another room for jury selection. I followed in the rear... I am usually in the front or back of large groups - like tours, always in the front in tours - it is the best place to hear from. Because I was observing the back was the best place to view. However when we entered the Courtroom I sat in the front side, better view of all of the characters. They called more names.

My name was called sixth. I knew it would be called, I don't know why, I think I just wanted to be called.

We went to the jury box. I sat next to the fancy fingernail lady. She was phone receptionist for an insurance company, but I only found that out in a few moments.

widdaw bwuddah

he was born today.



you can send him an email.

you can visit his flickr.

you can see his blog.


Learn about lil' brudder via Strong Bad... he's got the heart of a champion.

SciFi Heaven

Some of you may not know, but I am a bit of a dork... nerd even. I'm ok with that. It started with the back to back marathons of Star Wars on TBS back in the days of the late 80's early 90's.

Today is friday, and nerds know that friday is our sabbath. The SciFi Channel has all of its programs today. Not only is there a 90 minute battlestar galactica season finally, but there is a Firefly marathon in the afternoon.

I love DVR, I needn't watch any of it at its allotted time, rather, I can play today and watch at my shows later. They are very good shows. if you have netflix, itunes, or DVR watch the shows from the beginning.

join us.

calendar

Usually my calendar looks empty up until a week before. Now I am booked for the next month. I have jury duty mon - thurs for the next two weeks or so (it can't go any longer than that, I say so) and then I have a bachelor party over a weekend and then I am off to Europe.

It is a family trip to Italy - Tuscany and Florence. Then I am thinking of traveling on my own for a while (I mean, I'm over there anyway, ya got to) So I think I will go to Ljubljan, Slovenia then Vienna, Austria then Prague, Czech Republic.

Then it will be the middle of april. weird.

jury duty in a few hours... I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night.

sad.

the first name I learned in baseball was Kirby Puckett. He was the team leader in two world serieses. The man ended a world series with a home run. he then got glaucoma and had to retire early.

"His .318 lifetime batting average ranked as the highest for any right-handed batter since World War II, according to the site BaseballLibrary.com."

"Baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, who helped lead the Minnesota Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991, died Monday after suffering a stroke over the weekend, the team announced. He was 45. In a statement posted on the Twins Web site, owner Carl Pohlad said it was "a sad day for the Minnesota Twins, Major League Baseball and baseball fans everywhere.""

He was a reason to watch baseball, collect cards, and want to play center field. I am not a huge sports watcher, but he was a true Minnesota legend.

oh frack.

Governor Mike Rounds on Monday signed legislation banning almost all abortions in South Dakota. The law will make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman's life -- but there are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

name change... again...

you can now call me "Juror number five".

So far the experience is hilarious and satisfying. details, as I legally can, soon.

I have to nap before listening to classical music or I may pass out during the concert.

mom and sis in town

... and I have to go to juror selection... I'll let you know how it turns out.