Apparently I can't refill my prescription because my husband isn't in the Army any more. He's at work, in uniform....ummmm yeah. Is this the beginning of a nightmare?
my.head.explode.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Good karma and other things
You know, I don't usually write about things that happened but today was just a strange day. I went to run errands. Go to the pharmacy and get my prescription, the post office to mail job applications and taxes.
Going to the pharmacy isn't all that convenient, it's on a corner where two pretty heavily traveled highways intersect. It involves lots of u-turns to get in and out of there in some reasonably safe way. So I go in and ask for my prescription which I had called to get refilled ahead. Lady goes away for a few minutes and then comes back to ask me for my id card. Lady goes away again, long time. I'm like ok, what. She comes back after five minutes and tells me I can't pick up my prescription because my insurance system is down. YAY I leave, on the way to the car, the sky opens up and down the rain comes. LOL
Then while I'm making u-turns to go back toward the post office, I see this suv with one of those Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes peeing on something stickers. You know the ones I'm talking about, usually on trucks, Calvin peeing on a Ford if the truck is a Chevy kind of thing. This one was Calvin peeing on:
Jose ______ (some last name)
Deadbeat Dad Since
1992
That's just harsh. Now I know about dead beat Dads. Nonetheless, I would never have put that on my car. Imagine how that must make the child feel!
Ok, so off I go up the road to the post office. I go in, do my thing, come back out, its still raining. There is a woman by my car doing something. I get closer and realize she's trying to figure out how to get her child in her car. Some asshat has parked like less than a foot from the side the child's car seat is on. I can't even figure out how the asshat has gotten out of the vehicle! Child is screaming, it's raining on him, I would scream too I bet. She's just upset, the little boy is not that little, probably 18 months or so, not that easy to wrangle into a car seat on the other side of the car, plus he's screaming. I just told her I would back out, block traffic and then she could back out far enough to get the little boy out of the stroller, into the seat and get the stroller put away. I said I would stay in the way until she was back in her car.
So I did that, blocked traffic in the parking lot and got out to watch the baby while she backed up til I told her to stop at the point she could open that car door, then I hopped back in my car while she got organized. Meanwhile pick up truck man is behind me and very annoyed at the whole thing. He's waving his arms and getting all red faced. I'm ignoring him completely. LA LA LA He's up high, he can SEE what is going on, it's RAINING. Please, just give the girl a BREAK, ok? I didn't yell at him, though the thought crossed my mind, I just decided to keep with the good karma I had going.
That led me to thinking about how we forget things. We forget labor, we forget sleeplessness, we forget not being able to take a shower that is more than five minutes and a long soaking bath? Not in your dreams. We forget how hard it is to just do a simple thing, like go to the post office, when you are alone and have a child. Yeah, pack up the stuff (for included with the title mother is also the title "pack mule"), load it, load the child into the car seat with the all buckles and stuff, make sure you have the stroller. Get to the post office, get the stroller set up, unbuckle all the buckles and stuff, get the kid in the stroller, rebuckle all those buckles. Go in to the post office. Now come out and do it all again. That's just ONE kid. Again, I don't know how you guys do it. I salute you and I'm proud of you and I hope no asshat ever parks so close to you that you have to depend on the kindness of strangers to get back into your car. *sigh*
While I was writing this the pharmacy called, system back up. Guess what, "patient not covered" Ummm what? Husband is still in the Army, we're still married, nothing has changed. God. YAY I get to play with Tri Care tomorrow. Ugh.
Going to the pharmacy isn't all that convenient, it's on a corner where two pretty heavily traveled highways intersect. It involves lots of u-turns to get in and out of there in some reasonably safe way. So I go in and ask for my prescription which I had called to get refilled ahead. Lady goes away for a few minutes and then comes back to ask me for my id card. Lady goes away again, long time. I'm like ok, what. She comes back after five minutes and tells me I can't pick up my prescription because my insurance system is down. YAY I leave, on the way to the car, the sky opens up and down the rain comes. LOL
Then while I'm making u-turns to go back toward the post office, I see this suv with one of those Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes peeing on something stickers. You know the ones I'm talking about, usually on trucks, Calvin peeing on a Ford if the truck is a Chevy kind of thing. This one was Calvin peeing on:
Jose ______ (some last name)
Deadbeat Dad Since
1992
That's just harsh. Now I know about dead beat Dads. Nonetheless, I would never have put that on my car. Imagine how that must make the child feel!
Ok, so off I go up the road to the post office. I go in, do my thing, come back out, its still raining. There is a woman by my car doing something. I get closer and realize she's trying to figure out how to get her child in her car. Some asshat has parked like less than a foot from the side the child's car seat is on. I can't even figure out how the asshat has gotten out of the vehicle! Child is screaming, it's raining on him, I would scream too I bet. She's just upset, the little boy is not that little, probably 18 months or so, not that easy to wrangle into a car seat on the other side of the car, plus he's screaming. I just told her I would back out, block traffic and then she could back out far enough to get the little boy out of the stroller, into the seat and get the stroller put away. I said I would stay in the way until she was back in her car.
So I did that, blocked traffic in the parking lot and got out to watch the baby while she backed up til I told her to stop at the point she could open that car door, then I hopped back in my car while she got organized. Meanwhile pick up truck man is behind me and very annoyed at the whole thing. He's waving his arms and getting all red faced. I'm ignoring him completely. LA LA LA He's up high, he can SEE what is going on, it's RAINING. Please, just give the girl a BREAK, ok? I didn't yell at him, though the thought crossed my mind, I just decided to keep with the good karma I had going.
That led me to thinking about how we forget things. We forget labor, we forget sleeplessness, we forget not being able to take a shower that is more than five minutes and a long soaking bath? Not in your dreams. We forget how hard it is to just do a simple thing, like go to the post office, when you are alone and have a child. Yeah, pack up the stuff (for included with the title mother is also the title "pack mule"), load it, load the child into the car seat with the all buckles and stuff, make sure you have the stroller. Get to the post office, get the stroller set up, unbuckle all the buckles and stuff, get the kid in the stroller, rebuckle all those buckles. Go in to the post office. Now come out and do it all again. That's just ONE kid. Again, I don't know how you guys do it. I salute you and I'm proud of you and I hope no asshat ever parks so close to you that you have to depend on the kindness of strangers to get back into your car. *sigh*
While I was writing this the pharmacy called, system back up. Guess what, "patient not covered" Ummm what? Husband is still in the Army, we're still married, nothing has changed. God. YAY I get to play with Tri Care tomorrow. Ugh.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Civic Duty-DONE & afterword
So going home the day of the final verdict was the same as going home the day before. Police, unmarked cars. That "please God, let me just get home" feeling. I was so glad to be finished I can't tell you. I got home and of course Lisa already knew, she gets to read and watch the news. Then I started reading the links document Lisa made for me. I was so grateful that the jury came to the verdict we did. There were witnesses that REALLY would have cinched it but we weren't allowed to hear at the last minute, there were more people dead and the murderer was paid by the defendant to do the killing. No wonder people were scared. No wonder we had so many guards.
The justice system in this case worked, though I had many doubts during the process about specifically what we were NOT being allowed to see. There were obvious holes in the evidence that once I was able to read what happened in the courtroom when we weren't present were filled. The jurors all knew we were missing things, we had to go on the evidence we had. If we had seen what we missed, known what we were not allowed to know, I have a feeling this sentence would have been death. Hard to say, but I'm reasonably sure the vote would have swung the other way.
Reading the comments on the verdict articles, of course many people that comment like that are nut-balls anyway but its annoying that people can say things when they are totally ignorant of the process. The jury was called a bunch of cowards who wouldn't issue the death penalty, the judge a liberal who wouldn't overturn the jury's verdict and obey the law. Sheesh. Get a clue people. There is law, it is hard and fast and that is what we all go by. The judge CAN'T overturn the jury's verdict. Period. The law is the law, don't like it, change it, but don't call people who spent 11 days of their lives agonizing over this case cowards until you sit in that chair yourself.
I made Lisa take me to a Mexican food place because I wanted a margarita and while I was on the phone with LT Dan she ordered me the biggest one they had. I drank it ALL. Yep, I was sorta smashed, came home and went straight to sleep at eight. LOL
Of course now that I COULD talk about it, husband did not want me to talk about it. I think he didn't understand I needed to get it out of my system. I can't say his saying things like "you don't need to think about that any more" were really helpful. At some point we are going to have to talk about that. Lisa listened, now you have listened. I feel better, thank you.
There is much I can't say, I really don't want to come up on someone's search and I really do want to stay as anonymous as possible. You can ask me and I will answer, and that, by the way is legal, I just won't answer here in public. In the end, two kids went to buy some pot and ended up dead. That just scares the sh*t out of me, the very idea. The lack of conscience. It's stunning really.
The justice system in this case worked, though I had many doubts during the process about specifically what we were NOT being allowed to see. There were obvious holes in the evidence that once I was able to read what happened in the courtroom when we weren't present were filled. The jurors all knew we were missing things, we had to go on the evidence we had. If we had seen what we missed, known what we were not allowed to know, I have a feeling this sentence would have been death. Hard to say, but I'm reasonably sure the vote would have swung the other way.
Reading the comments on the verdict articles, of course many people that comment like that are nut-balls anyway but its annoying that people can say things when they are totally ignorant of the process. The jury was called a bunch of cowards who wouldn't issue the death penalty, the judge a liberal who wouldn't overturn the jury's verdict and obey the law. Sheesh. Get a clue people. There is law, it is hard and fast and that is what we all go by. The judge CAN'T overturn the jury's verdict. Period. The law is the law, don't like it, change it, but don't call people who spent 11 days of their lives agonizing over this case cowards until you sit in that chair yourself.
I made Lisa take me to a Mexican food place because I wanted a margarita and while I was on the phone with LT Dan she ordered me the biggest one they had. I drank it ALL. Yep, I was sorta smashed, came home and went straight to sleep at eight. LOL
Of course now that I COULD talk about it, husband did not want me to talk about it. I think he didn't understand I needed to get it out of my system. I can't say his saying things like "you don't need to think about that any more" were really helpful. At some point we are going to have to talk about that. Lisa listened, now you have listened. I feel better, thank you.
There is much I can't say, I really don't want to come up on someone's search and I really do want to stay as anonymous as possible. You can ask me and I will answer, and that, by the way is legal, I just won't answer here in public. In the end, two kids went to buy some pot and ended up dead. That just scares the sh*t out of me, the very idea. The lack of conscience. It's stunning really.
Civic Duty-part three
Trials in real court are not like television. Much. Evidence gets presented and witnesses get presented but its kind of interesting. The order is not so orderly, it appeared to be rather random to me and the other jurors. We were dismissed a LOT. There was so much evidence we were not allowed to hear or see, we were amazed at that. We would go into the jury room and look at each other and go "well, they're arguing again."
Apparently the defense won a lot of the arguments. We had no way of knowing just how much we were not allowed to know until after the trial was over and we could read the news coverage. THEY are allowed to see everything and print everything. Since this is the only trial I've ever done...I dunno, I'm telling you what I experienced. I asked my sister to make document of links to every single thing she read about the trial so that when it was over I could read it. Bless her, she did it for me.
It's rough to look at pictures of basically children (16 and 17) laying on a dirt road face down after being shot execution style. Autopsy results are icky, pictures of autopsy processes are really icky. At the same time, you have to pay attention to every single detail so you find an objective place in your head and carry on.
Witnesses were interesting. This trial is three years after the fact. The witnesses were very young at the time, and are still very young. It was hard for me not to be aghast at the whole thing. Kids. High school. Good Lord.
Then there were other witnesses, not so young, and not so innocent. The ones in prison for various crimes, all drug related. ICE, Crack, Cocaine, Pot, Armed Robbery. ICK.
There were witnesses that were obviously afraid. That was disconcerting and we all noticed it.
There was one point when we were dismissed and though we weren't allowed to talk about the trial one of the jurors said..."I swear if they brought out the box of ballistic evidence one more time I was going to just cry." Another (male) juror replied with a high-pitched "Noooooooo, not the box! Please not the box!" There were eleven envelopes in that box and four witnesses each identified each of the eleven envelopes. So we are talking forty-four times watching someone identify an envelope, then open the envelope, then open the contents, say what it was and put it back. The entire jury room burst into laughter. Sometimes, you just have to laugh even though the whole thing is life and death serious. That was also the only time we said anything about the trial when we weren't deliberating.
The defendant never took the stand. In a capital case the defense is actually required to do nothing. The onus is on the State to prove the defendant guilty literally beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt.
There was no "hard" evidence. Every single piece of evidence against the defendant was witness testimony. Wednesday, day six of the trial and day eight for us jurors (I count weekends, you can't get really away from it though I tried hard) we heard closing arguments and went to deliberate. On that day when we arrived we were instructed to return our cell phones to our cars so we had no contact with anyone. Alternates were dismissed and it wasn't me :(
It took us five hours. Five hours. We reviewed every single piece of evidence, then we reviewed every single witness and evaluated the weight of their testimony, we reviewed notes for exact testimony (this is where my college note taking skills really were crucial--I had them all word for word). The verdict in a capital trial has to be unanimous. We strictly followed the law as the judge gave it to us (printed). We had one juror who was not convinced, basically she didn't believe my notes so we went back to the judge and asked that the transcript be read to us. Yep, word for word, I had what that person said. It was a crucial piece. The juror changed her mind and we had a unanimous guilty verdict.
So at 7pm ish we returned to the courtroom with our verdict. Courtroom was packed. The judge reads the verdict and then the defense wants the jury polled. They call your full name, ask if this is your verdict. Peachy keen. People were taken from the court room for being disruptive. Other people were crying. The jury is just trying to maintain and get through this. So we're dismissed again to the jury room.
When we are called back in the judge tells us that tomorrow we do the penalty phase and dismisses us to go home for the day. As we are leaving the court house (those of us who go the same way have begun a system of following each other to the various turn offs and keeping eyes out for each other as we drive home) we see tons of city police in the front parking lot. They have corralled a bunch of people. We get the hell out of Dodge. As each of us turns off we also realize we are all being followed. In the city we have city police, as we leave the city we have unmarked cars. Each turning off or making u-turns at specific points. *blink*
The penalty phase day was just as long. The defendant is now in a prison suit and handcuffed and shackled rather than being dressed in a suit-- you are innocent until proven guilty but once guilty it becomes painfully obvious. We hear prosecution and defense arguments. We retreat to the jury room to deliberate. I don't think any of the jurors slept the night before. We all pretty much knew our verdict but we did the process. Item by item, against the law as the judge gave it to us for the penalty phase. We voted in a blind vote this time to let each juror vote without concern. In the penalty phase the verdict does not have to be unanimous, it is the majority. Vote was three death, nine life in prison. Done.
Apparently the defense won a lot of the arguments. We had no way of knowing just how much we were not allowed to know until after the trial was over and we could read the news coverage. THEY are allowed to see everything and print everything. Since this is the only trial I've ever done...I dunno, I'm telling you what I experienced. I asked my sister to make document of links to every single thing she read about the trial so that when it was over I could read it. Bless her, she did it for me.
It's rough to look at pictures of basically children (16 and 17) laying on a dirt road face down after being shot execution style. Autopsy results are icky, pictures of autopsy processes are really icky. At the same time, you have to pay attention to every single detail so you find an objective place in your head and carry on.
Witnesses were interesting. This trial is three years after the fact. The witnesses were very young at the time, and are still very young. It was hard for me not to be aghast at the whole thing. Kids. High school. Good Lord.
Then there were other witnesses, not so young, and not so innocent. The ones in prison for various crimes, all drug related. ICE, Crack, Cocaine, Pot, Armed Robbery. ICK.
There were witnesses that were obviously afraid. That was disconcerting and we all noticed it.
There was one point when we were dismissed and though we weren't allowed to talk about the trial one of the jurors said..."I swear if they brought out the box of ballistic evidence one more time I was going to just cry." Another (male) juror replied with a high-pitched "Noooooooo, not the box! Please not the box!" There were eleven envelopes in that box and four witnesses each identified each of the eleven envelopes. So we are talking forty-four times watching someone identify an envelope, then open the envelope, then open the contents, say what it was and put it back. The entire jury room burst into laughter. Sometimes, you just have to laugh even though the whole thing is life and death serious. That was also the only time we said anything about the trial when we weren't deliberating.
The defendant never took the stand. In a capital case the defense is actually required to do nothing. The onus is on the State to prove the defendant guilty literally beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt.
There was no "hard" evidence. Every single piece of evidence against the defendant was witness testimony. Wednesday, day six of the trial and day eight for us jurors (I count weekends, you can't get really away from it though I tried hard) we heard closing arguments and went to deliberate. On that day when we arrived we were instructed to return our cell phones to our cars so we had no contact with anyone. Alternates were dismissed and it wasn't me :(
It took us five hours. Five hours. We reviewed every single piece of evidence, then we reviewed every single witness and evaluated the weight of their testimony, we reviewed notes for exact testimony (this is where my college note taking skills really were crucial--I had them all word for word). The verdict in a capital trial has to be unanimous. We strictly followed the law as the judge gave it to us (printed). We had one juror who was not convinced, basically she didn't believe my notes so we went back to the judge and asked that the transcript be read to us. Yep, word for word, I had what that person said. It was a crucial piece. The juror changed her mind and we had a unanimous guilty verdict.
So at 7pm ish we returned to the courtroom with our verdict. Courtroom was packed. The judge reads the verdict and then the defense wants the jury polled. They call your full name, ask if this is your verdict. Peachy keen. People were taken from the court room for being disruptive. Other people were crying. The jury is just trying to maintain and get through this. So we're dismissed again to the jury room.
When we are called back in the judge tells us that tomorrow we do the penalty phase and dismisses us to go home for the day. As we are leaving the court house (those of us who go the same way have begun a system of following each other to the various turn offs and keeping eyes out for each other as we drive home) we see tons of city police in the front parking lot. They have corralled a bunch of people. We get the hell out of Dodge. As each of us turns off we also realize we are all being followed. In the city we have city police, as we leave the city we have unmarked cars. Each turning off or making u-turns at specific points. *blink*
The penalty phase day was just as long. The defendant is now in a prison suit and handcuffed and shackled rather than being dressed in a suit-- you are innocent until proven guilty but once guilty it becomes painfully obvious. We hear prosecution and defense arguments. We retreat to the jury room to deliberate. I don't think any of the jurors slept the night before. We all pretty much knew our verdict but we did the process. Item by item, against the law as the judge gave it to us for the penalty phase. We voted in a blind vote this time to let each juror vote without concern. In the penalty phase the verdict does not have to be unanimous, it is the majority. Vote was three death, nine life in prison. Done.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)