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Jury Duty Summons
While I’ve had summons for jury duty in the past, until last week I had never actually made it to the courthouse for this purpose. Leading up to this, everyone I mentioned it to tried to give me their advice for how to get out of it. I didn’t want to. I want to do MORE civic engagement, not less.
Sitting in that crowded room with 300-400 (I’m guessing) other potential jurors on a typical gray Portland morning, I was rather moved by the judge’s description of how important it was for all of us to be there, regardless of whether we ended up being picked for a jury or not.
It wasn’t too long before my name was called. Once we were all settled in the courtroom, the judge explained the process and started reading the charges.
Charge 1. This person has been accused of this crime with these specific details against a person matching this description.
Oh boy.
Charge 2. This person has been accused of this crime with these specific details against a person matching this description.
OH BOY.
Charge 3… Charge 4…
OH NO.
And on and on it went. By about charge 6, I had started to feel sweaty and claustrophobic. Sometime around charge 11 I lost track and was sure I’d missed a few. About charge 13 I noticed more than one prospective juror was audibly fighting tears. And finally…
If anyone finds these charges particularly disturbing, please raise your hand.
Who WOULDN’T find these charges particularly disturbing? I didn’t raise my hand. In hindsight, I probably should have as I honestly don’t think I really heard at least half of the charges.
I wasn’t chosen for that trial and was dismissed for the day.
Day 2 I was eventually called into a second courtroom. After explaining the process and thanking us for being there, the judge explained the charges.
This person has 7 charges against them. 3 charges along these lines and 3 charges along these other lines and one charge which I’ll read directly.
The charges were still rather awful, but the quick summary reduced the emotional impact significantly. I wasn’t selected for this trial either.
Lots of things to ponder. How many prospective jurors does the Multnomah County Courthouse see in a typical week/year? How many trials? What factors into a decision to spell out all of the charges in great detail instead of the quick summary? How does that decision impact the trial, the selected jurors or the outcome of the case? Were others thinking the phrase “particularly disturbing” is too subjective? Do judges keep a list of all the silly things people say when they are trying to avoid serving on a jury? Did that woman really mean she couldn’t be unbiased against anyone of that racial background when she said couldn’t be unbiased against someone of that racial background accused of that crime? How does that lawyer being THAT attractive impact their trials? How did the person that mentioned their 50 years past charge for possession of marijuana imagine that might impact them?
While I’m grateful that I don’t have all the details of those trials rattling around in my head, I still wish I had gotten to see the whole process. I like to know how things come together.
I’ll share some photos from the courthouse in a different post. It’s a beautiful building in a stunning location.
Finished: The Expanse
Finished reading: Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey 📚
I suspect it was about a year ago (probably more) that I started this series at the recommendation of a neighbor. He suggested it one evening at trivia and then showed up at my house with the first 3 books the following day. He was pretty serious about the recommendation.
I rather hope that we, as a species, survive long enough to get to a point where it’s feasible to live in space long term and explore beyond our solar system. Beyond the thrill of imagining the possibilities and empathizing with all the struggles they face, stories that include well-intentioned people with kind hearts stumbling through life’s challenges pull me right in.
I’ll make a plan to watch the show soon. The same neighbor that dropped off the books said he may have enjoyed the show more.
I’m looking forward to reading something different though. I’m rejoining my old book club and I’m already behind on the reading for this month.
A dark evening
Yesterday evening, we had only our second storm this winter. This one came in the form of an atmospheric river along with some wild wind. We (the neighbors and I) anticipated losing our power and indeed we did. With above ground power lines and tall trees, the wind does that apparently.
While making dinner, something fell on the roof above me and I found myself side stepping away from the rapidly simmering sauce while my brain was screaming that I had no idea if I was safer over there and I shouldn’t be walking away from the stove. It was kind of amusing after the fact.
I went out to survey the damage this morning. While there were branches strewn all about, nothing other than the trees seemed to be damaged. I’m rather grateful this winter has been so mild. The neighbors all report some lingering signs of trauma after last winter.
Signs of spring are popping up though and our neighborhood Sunday evening happy hour this past weekend was the first that started in daylight this year. With how dark the news is these days, the extra light is certainly welcome.
PDX Winter Light Festival
Last Saturday, Matt and I went to the Portland Winter Light Festival. I hadn’t been before and didn’t know what to expect. My takeaway: A nighttime Maker Faire meant to cheer you up in the dead of winter. There are installations spread around Portland, but we went to just a couple locations. Tonight is the final night for this year.
World Trade Center
There were many fun and interactive exhibits here, both inside and out. This is just a small subset.
The dragon on the south waterfront was very cool. The fire was hot from where we were standing, I wouldn’t want to be standing right underneath it.
Pioneer Courthouse Square
This was probably my favorite installation. The lights subtly changed colors.
I love the community spirit in Portland. I didn’t take any good photos of individual costumes, but people are lovely and creative.
Another display here was a door that had a different scene behind it every time you opened it. Sometimes you were looking at a beautiful nebula and other times, there was a dinosaur running at you. My photos didn’t do it justice though.
Creativity, color, fire AND community. What’s not to love?
Some Weekend Sewing
I filled my time this weekend with some sewing. I had been wanting to make a bag for my daughter to hold some of her art supplies for a while. I didn’t remember the pattern/steps well so I did an experiment first.
I made several mistakes on this first one, but it turned out well enough. It’s missing the tabs though.
This is the bag for my daughter. I’m happy with how it turned out. (She was excited when I sent her the pictures too. I suppose that’s what matters! Ha!)
Then I thought I’d make this tiny one with cork, which came together really quickly. I haven’t sewn with cork before. Is it usually very, VERY thin? The bag is adorable, but I think I’ll remake it with interfacing so it feels a bit more solid.
Happy New Year!
2025! Is January 8th too late to wish someone a Happy New Year? I say no. Happy New Year!
The holidays were lovely. Both kids were in town for Christmas and there’s always a lot of laughter when they are around. We watched some good movies (The Holdovers and Klaus stand out most) and some not so good movies (Red One, eek!). We also watched the series Nobody Wants This which I turned on looking for something non-serious to watch while stitching and it turned out to be so good, I restarted it and watched it all the way through more than once. Apparently my son had told us to watch it before, but I hadn’t. I’d rewatch it again today if I could, honestly.
To get out of the house, we went downtown to see the big Christmas tree in Pioneer Square and to see the Gingerbread House display at the Benson hotel. I’m planning to do this again next year, it was a good way to get into the spirit of the season.
As has become tradition, we rang in the New Year with the neighbors. I highly recommend becoming friends with the people that live all around you.
We’re in the part of the year that reminds me that I live in THE NORTH. (Relative to my own past.) While the sun is out it’s generally flooding all rooms with southern facing windows, regardless of time of day. And yet, the nightlight I finally put in the upstairs hallway hasn’t turned off once!
We purchased an older, low-mileage Subaru for the daughter. She’s graduating this year and will likely move out of the small walkable town she’s living in so it was time. She drove it up to Whidbey Island for New Years and then drove it down to her place in time for school. It should be a great car for her. The son borrowed my vehicle to head back to school early (he wanted some time without the roommates in his apartment) so I’m getting to experience life with only one vehicle between my husband and I. It turns out that it is really easy if you work from home, eat leftovers for lunch every day and the neighbors are the people you spend most of your time with. On the other hand, after 5 years of working almost exclusively from home I’m usually anxious to get out of here. Perhaps having the need to have 2 vehicles is more aspirational than current reality.
January 1, 2025 marked 3 years that I have been sewing or stitching something daily. Most days I spend just 20 minutes or so, but I’ve learned a lot and it’s often a nice way to work through any of life’s frustrations. I have fabric picked out for a few bags I’m really exciting to get started on.
I’m continuing to volunteer for the woodworking guild this year. Figuring out how to organize several classes each month with instructors and assistants through some mechanism other than email is a goal for 2025. If you have suggestions, please send them my way.
Finally, I started learning Svelte and SvelteKit over the break. Matt and I have a couple projects we’d like to collaborate on this year and I don’t know the tools he’d like to use! I’m impressed so far with Svelte and I’m really looking forward to building something with Matt.
Some professional news
Some exciting professional news. We’ve been working on a new product at work and while there’s still lots of work to do, today we publicly announced the waitlist.
Seeing posts like this make it all worth it. Ha!
Steam Bending
This evening Yuri Kobayashi presented at the monthly Guild of Oregon Woodworkers meeting as part of a series of educational opportunities on steam bending that she’s put together for the Guild.
Her presentation was a piece of art itself, with poetry woven throughout. She wrapped up the evening with three simple demonstrations that made steam bending look so fun and easy.
Yet another item for the list of things I haven’t tried, but would like to, it seems.
Mad at the Jointer
Every six weeks or so, I volunteer to assist with a Core Tools class that the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers puts on. Core Tools is the final class most members need to complete in order to be certified to utilize the Guild’s machine room. We cover the miter saw, jointer, planer, band saw, drill press and table saw. It’s really rewarding to see (mostly) new woodworkers tackle their nerves and see what they are capable of. 🪚 🪵
In the most recent class session after one student successfully surfaced two sides of his board on the jointer, I asked how it felt. He said, “I’m pissed off!” I’ve never had that response before! It turns out he’s been planing boards by hand for 3 years and he had never had a board so precisely surfaced. He was still laughing about his ‘wasted time’ at the end of the afternoon. I’m curious to see where his woodwork evolves with this new knowledge, but I hope he doesn’t give up wholly on hand tools!
Fun in the Fediverse!
In my latest exploration of micro.blog, I’ve been trying to understand the federation pieces. I’m following this account from a few different Fediverse accounts of mine and the only place where I’m seeing the content I’m posting on micro.blog is the one I (sort of) least expected to work. Finding that, however, proved the content is indeed being federated out.
I’m not currently seeing my content on mastodon.social which is, unfortunately, the primary place I’d like to. Caching? Versions? Something else entirely?
My gut says caching. The testing continues.
Edit: This post immediately appeared for my https://mastodon.social account. I’m now noticing in at least one mastodon client that my image from one of my earlier posts seems to show up on others. Something to keep playing with.