This week has been one to remember that's for sure. I received notice on the 30th that I am to appear at the Federal court house in St. Paul at 8:00 am Monday morning for jury selection. I've been on the jury wheel since last September and have been "on call" since the first of March. Lucky me. The on call bit is for a two month stint whereas the jury wheel is a year-long deal. I thought I was getting lucky coasting through March without getting the notice to appear and then, lo and behold, I came home Wednesday to find the darned letter in the mail. So, the rest of the week then became a mad scramble to get my desk in some sort of order in case I get stuck on some lengthy murder case that prevents me from going to work. Now, before any of you ask or suggest that maybe I'll get put on the Denny Hecker case, I won't. Primarily because it's all pretty much done now, except for getting the weasel to pay his debts but also because there would be a definite conflict of interest since Rich worked for him. My luck, I'll land on a product liability case or something equally boring. Not that I'm eager for a murder trial either- I'd just like to get put on something that doesn't threaten to numb my brain. We'll see. Whatever it is, let's hope it's a short trial.
The cold virus snuck up on both Rich and I although it would seem Rich is faring better than I am. I fully intended to go into work this morning but at 4:00 when Buster of the tiny bladder insisted he needed to go out and our two feline nuts decided my stomach was a good launching pad I got up and soon discovered the meaning of a reeling headache. Seriously, I thought my head was going to roll right off my shoulders. That being the case I watered all the animals, phoned my boss and crawled (yes crawled) back to bed. I think I emerged again around 11:00 but I probably could have slept for another couple of hours if it hadn't been for the fact that my back was screaming. I'm feeling marginally better now, but the headache wants to linger.
The exploding microwave was a bit of a surprise to all of us. I guess to be honest, it didn't explode precisely, but I have a new microwave regardless. I can't tell you what the previous carousel tray was made of - I would have sworn it was glass - but apparently the little plastic turntable thingy melting was enough to also melt, blister, and crack ( in several places) the pseudo-glass tray. This all occurred in the midst of a conversation we were having about the laptop that we need to get for Josh for college. The program he is going into requires a Macbook Pro which, if you know anything about Macs, means the price tag is going to throw at least one of us into an apoplexy. Can you say starting price of $1700???? No, I am not kidding. We're sincerely hoping that the school will offer some sort of "you have got to be kidding who can afford this" poor parent discount, but we won't know that until later in April when we tour the campus.
For those who are wondering, it looks like Josh has pretty much decided on going to the UofM Duluth. He apprently was not as enamored of St Cloud State as we were, but we'll see what Duluth has to offer and go from there. We tour the campus on April 23rd so I'm hoping jury duty doesn't put a kink in that. Personally, I don't know that he's going to like the distance from home all that much but I have a feeling that's going to be one of those things he has to discover on his own. He graduates on June 6th and his open house is set for the following Saturday. Announcements are done and will be going out in the mail in another couple of weeks. One nice thing this year, the ceremony is being held at Mariucci arena on the UofM campus so we don't have tickets this time limiting the number of people who can come. So, if you want to, you're more than welcome to come to the ceremony itself. Watch for your announcement for all the details.
Well that's probably more than enough rambling from me for today. I have a couple of aspirin and a pillow calling my name...
Happy Easter everyone!
