Bkprbob's Blog

I thought my luck would run out and I was right. I reported for jury duty as per my summons. There were many people there and some us were given blue badges and some yellow. After about an hour a group of people wearing blue badges were sent upstairs to one of the courtrooms. A little while later some of the yellow group, which was my badge color, were allowed to go home. There were still many blue badges left and some of us yellow. After about 3 hours I was part of a group that went up to a courtroom. We were told what the trial was going to be about and were asked some questions. We were given a lunch break of a little over an hour. When we returned some more questions were asked and then we were all told to leave the room.

When we were brought back in the jury panel was selected. When the judge started to read off numbers he started at the lowest of our group. As he proceeded to read off numbers I could tell I would most likely be chosen. My number was called and I walked up to the jury box. The remaining people were told they could go home.

The trial was about an easement. A small construction company had property which had an underground natural gas pipeline running through it. The easement indicated what could be done on the property and that permission had to be obtained from the pipeline company to build anything on top of the pipeline. The construction company wanted a new road and a parking area. The pipeline company indicated the road had to be 6 inches of concrete over gravel and the parking lot had to be gravel. A representative from the pipeline company had to be present when the work was being done. The construction company got a drawing approved from the county and they began work but they didn't wait for the pipeline rep. When the rep saw what had already been done the pipeline company told them to stop. They stopped for a while but went on ahead anyway. They put in a road with 12 inches of concrete and they built a paved parking lot. The pipeline company file suit.

The suit was for 1 million dollars. The pipeline company indicated that the construction company was in breach of the encroachment agreement on the easement. The pipeline company indicated that it would be much more difficult to get to the pipe going through 12 inches on concrete rather than 6. Also since the parking lot over part of the pipeline was paved it would force any gas that may leak to find an escape route. The parking lot was built sloped away from the building which is good for water drainage but bad for gas as it would move to the building.

The construction company tried to argue that 12 inches of concrete would be better in protecting the pipeline from heavy trucks. They also said that readings had been done since the construction and showed no evidence that any damage had been done. They did not seem to be worried about the gas that could possibly leak into their building. As they trial progressed and they seemed to realize they would probably lose they indicated they could dig up the parking lot and road covering the pipeline and replace it with gravel.

We heard witnesses from both sides and it was interesting at times to see how the lawyers would try to discredit the testimony of the other side. We were given some technical information which was a little difficult to understand at times but on the whole they explained it so most of us could understand it. We heard closing arguments on the third day and then went to the deliberation room. It was almost lunch time when we started our deliberation and after about a half hour the bailiff came in with pizza, salad, bread, and soda for us. We did work while eating and made our decision in about 2 hours. We went back into court and the judge read the decision. He then had us go back to the deliberation room. He came in later and thanked us for our service and asked if we had any questions. We were each given a certificate and then allowed to leave.

There is a lot of waiting with jury duty. You wait to be sent to a courtroom. The trial may reach a point and then stop for a break or the lawyers and judge may talk out of range of your hearing. We were given a time to come back from lunch but never started on time. It is kind of frustrating too in that you are not allowed to ask a question during the trial. We were not allowed to take notes. We asked about that after it was over and the judge said it seems to work out better and faster to rely on the collective memory of the jury. If everyone had notes a lot of time would be spent going over them.

We were lucky on a way. The other group that started the same day were still going through the jury selection process on the third day. They were going to hear a wrongful death suit. They said that the trial was expected to last 3 weeks. I would think it would be difficult for most working people to miss that much work. I am glad I got the trial that I did as 3 days isn't so bad.

We did side with the pipeline company but did not award them all that they were looking for. We were given no information as to why they need a million so we awarded them half plus court costs.

The 20th of October was my 53rd birthday. The celebration of my birthday took place over a few days. My parents took my brother and I out to eat as has been customary for the last several years as we both have birthdays in October. His is on the 11th and that was the day we went out. We ate at a place called Ethyl's in O'Fallon. I had some delicious BBQ pork.

The evening before my birthday my wife and daughter took me out for dinner. We ate at the Olive Garden. I had a couple bowls of salad and I had chicken in an apricot glaze with vegetables. We had a nice evening. It was nice to see our daughter as we don't see much of her anymore as she is busy with work and then is often out with friends and her new boyfriend.

The day of my birthday was a nice sunny day outside. It was a work day so I spent much of the day at work but we did celebrate with a lunch for all October birthdays. We enjoyed grilled hot dogs, potato salad, chips, cookies, and cake. When I got home my wife made nachos and margaritas. Our daughter was home for a little while that evening but left. Rita and I then had a quiet evening together.

School is to start in a few weeks. Teachers have been selected and given contracts. Emily did not get a contract. It must be a big disappointment for her to have graduated with honors in high school and college and yet not find work in her chosen field. She is a victim of the bad economy in that the new positions that were to open in a local school district were dropped for financial reasons. Some other local districts have cut their current staff leaving experienced teachers out of work.

She has been able to find work. She works for a hospice here in town answering the phone and doing light office work. She is glad to get a job as she has to start paying her student loans back. She was thinking of just putting her name in at various school districts to substitute teach but she wanted to have something more reliable. A friend told my wife of the opening at the hospice so Emily applied and got the job.

Emily was told that a teacher in our school district was going to retire after this school year. Emily plans to apply for that position. Hopefully things will get better as far as the economy goes and perhaps the positions that were to be added this school year will be restored next school year.

It is the 5th of July as I write this but for some reason it seems summer is more than half over. I know we have over 2 monthe left in the summer. It seems the month of June just went by so quickly. Perhaps I was just busy with work and treatments that I didn't take time to enjoy the month.

July 2nd was my mothers 73rd birthday. Since it fell on a week day we had to wait until evening to celebrate. Our entire family was able to get together after work to celebrate. We could have waited until the 4th as we had plans to get together but we wanted to celebrate on that day. I could tell that my mother really appreciated that we did celebrate on that day. She was glad to see us and to have the family together again. We had not all been together since Christmas.

We had several people over to celebrate the 4th of July. My parents and one of my brothers came. My boss from work (Sherry) came and our friends (Bob, Sue, and Amanda) from a church we used to go to and Bob's parents came. I grilled brats and hotdogs and everyone else brought a side dish or dessert. We had more than enough to eat and it was all delicious.

We have been hosting a 4th of July BBQ for a few years now. We noticed several years ago that we could see the fireworks put on by our city (Wentzville) from our yard so we started inviting people to come and enjoy BBQ and fireworks with us. Over the years some trees have grown making it a little difficult to see some of the fireworks but we found if we walk down the street a little ways we are able to get a good view. This year we had some rain off and on in the evening. We think we may have seen some fireworks from the city but they seemed to be a bit left of where they usually appear. We didn't see very many as it was raining when they were supposed to start and we would go out off and on to see if they were going off and they had at one point so we either missed a lot or the city cut back on the display for economic reasons. Some people in the neighborhood shot off their fireworks between showers and we enjoyed watching them too.

Today I intend to just relax. We will eat leftovers and watch TV and perhaps sit outside for a while as it appears it will be a nice day. Maybe July won't slip away so fast as it seems June has done.

Update: The city saved some fireworks for this evening so we were treated to a display under much better conditions. It was a nice cool, clear evening. It was a nice way to end the weekend.

I had to get up early on the 15th because I had to give myself an enema to prepare for the CT and MRI. It is not a very pleasant way to start the day. When that was finished I showered, dressed and headed to the medical building. I was a little early so I went to the waiting room. When a nurse came to get me I was told to go and try to empty myself further and then drink 12 ounces of water. When that was done I was taken to the CT room. They put a prop under my knees and had me put my feet in some foam rubber looking stuff so they could make a mold. Once that was made they got me lined up on the table and proceeded with the scan. I think it was about 10 minutes and they moved me out of the machine and then put a catheter in me. Ouch! Once that was in they did another scan of about the same length and then they brought me out of the machine and took out the catheter.

I was sent to the hospital which is right next to the medical building for the MRI. I filled out a form and then was taken to a room to put a gown on. I was then taken to the MRI room and the mold that was made for the CT scans was there. I was told I had to either wear ear plugs or headphones with music. I chose music with classic rock. Once they got me situated on the table they gave me a button to hold on to and press if I needed to get out of the machine as they would not be able to hear me over the noise the machine makes. The table moved into the machine to where I could barely see outside of it if I tilted my head a bit. I had my hands folded on my chest and if I would have raised a hand vertical I would have probably have only had a few inches between my finger tips and the machine. It was very noisey. I could barely hear the music. I closed my eyes off and on to try to avoid seeing the cramped space I was in. I tried to concentrate on the music but actually found it more relaxing to concentrate on the rhythm of the noise the machine made. The table finally started to move out and they said they could see my bladder was getting full so they let me go to the bathroom. I did so and then they put me back in for more scanning. They offered me the panic button but I didn't take it. The second scan didn't seem as long as the first. I think I was in there a little over a half hour total. I got dressed and headed home.

I fixed myself some lunch and walked the dog. I wanted to relax a bit before heading to work. The half day at work went by fairly quickly. I spent most of my time working with the returned medications.

Next it was time to head for my parent's house. It was my fathers 81st birthday. I met my wife at a fast food chicken place near their house and we ate together and then went on to their house. Just before we left it started to rain. It started to rain hard shortly after we got there so we timed that pretty good. My 2 brothers were there and we gave dad our cards and gifts and then had strawberry shortcaked to eat. We watched the beginning of the baseball game on TV but it started to rain in St. Louis so they covered the field. My mother had a computer question so I went to the computer room to work on that. She also had some questions about the CyberKnife so I showed her and my dad the Accuray site and we watched a video about it. I think it helped them a lot to see the video.

We went back into the living room and my one brother had started to watch a show as the ballgame was still in rain delay. We chatted for a while and then headed home. It was a long day and it was good to be home.