Andy Smallman

Melinda & I were in Target over the weekend. For the benefit of my French friends, Target is one of those “all-purpose” stores, kind of like Leclerc although not nearly the amount of groceries. I really don’t know how to describe it much better than that, other than to say that I always feel tired after having been there. Christine, I think you know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, as we were walking through the store I started to chuckle and then laugh out loud. Admittedly, I was in a bit of a nutty mood to begin with, but walking through the clothing section and seeing this sign struck me as very funny. Menswear. Of course they do. So do teenage boys.

That’s almost all I have for you today other than to wish a happy birthday to our good friend Théo in Nantes. Théo, are you reading this blog regularly? Want to come mow our lawn in Seattle? We miss you!

One of the craziest events each year on the PSCS calendar is comedy night. Each year, we get a professional stand-up comedian to volunteer to teach a stand-up comedy class. A handful of students sign up for the class which includes the opportunity to hone their material and then present it on stage at one of the best comedy clubs in the Northwest, the Comedy Underground (co-managed by the father of one of our teachers). To tell you how significant the Comedy Underground is, Ellen DeGeneres once performed there.

So, yes, tonight was comedy night and we just got back home (it’s about 11pm). My photo is of the three student comics who performed on stage, interspersed among some professional comics, including Ty Barnett who was a finalist on Last Comic Standing. Check out this video of Ty on YouTube. Regarding the students, that’s Maddie on the left, Spencer in the center and Joshua on the right.

So a year ago I had to chase little French kids around our neighborhood to get them to come trick or treating at our house in Nantes. Not so this year, although I must say that there weren’t as many trick or treaters in our neighborhood in Seattle this year as there were when Chloe and Ella were of trick or treating age.

Fortunately, though, we had a visit from the good witch in today’s photo. Yup, that’s Perrin and she made a special stop at our house tonight so we could see her in full costume. For full disclosure, this witch costume is one created by my mom some years ago for Ella, I believe. I’m glad to see it’s still getting good use.

Waxing nostalgic, I admit to feeling some sadness this year over not taking one of my “little” girls out trick or treating. When they were the “right” age, I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, them or me. I rank the trick or treat aspects of Halloween up there with birthdays and Christmas Eve for absolute childhood fun.

I mean just stop and think about it. You get to wear a costume. You go out at night. You knock on doors. You say a simple phrase. People give you candy.

If that’s not childhood perfection…

So I dipped into the family photo archive to find this photo, going back 5 years for it. According to the time stamp on this picture, Pumpkin Weekend came early in 2006, October 14. Now why might have Pumpkin Weekend come early in 2006? Could it have anything to do with the fact that Perrin was born on October 18, 2006?

That seems to be about as good of an explanation as there possibly could be.

A part of the PW (Pumpkin Weekend) tradition is to pose for photos with the pumpkins on Brenda’s & Greg’s back porch while sitting in the Adirondack chairs. Greg sets the timer on the camera and then makes a dash for his spot in the photo. This one came out pretty nice, I’d say.

Also of interest is Chloe’s pumpkin. She was studying Hindi at that time and had learned to write her name in Hindi. That’s it on the pumpkin nearest her. And, goodness, Chloe was just 13 back then and Ella was 9, soon to turn 10.

That must mean Melinda and I were younger, too. Probably in our 20’s or something, given how young the girls look.

Last weekend I wrote about Chloe’s attempts to duplicate Pumpkin Weekend at college. But there is nothing like the original, the real deal. And that one involves Brenda, Greg & Perrin.

Just before 5pm today, Melinda & I dropped off Ella at Brenda’s, Greg’s & Perrin’s house. Or, more accurately, we dropped off the Bride of Frankenstein. Upon our arrival, we were immediately greeted by a very attractive witch who looked a lot like Perrin. She cast a spell that allowed us to enter the house, whereupon we heard about her day at the Woodland Park Zoo, complete with some trick or treating there.

In case you need more context for the Bride of Frankenstein and the witch, I refer you to this important video. It was created by Brenda, er, I mean Frankenstein. I trust it is reasonably self-explanatory.

Meanwhile, back to Pumpkin Weekend, Ella arrived with three pumpkins to carve. And as I’ve reported, there is dinner to be had and movies to watch. Tomorrow morning includes breakfast before Ella returns home. It’s a family tradition.

I know what you’re thinking. Halloween isn’t until Monday so why the focus three days early? Well, Fridays at PSCS provide the most flexibility for activities like a HALLOWEEN PARTY. So members of the staff and many students took full advantage and threw a full-blown party, complete with costumes, a haunted house (or something like it), doughnuts on a string, pumpkin carving and pizza.

After four days on jury duty, it provided quite a contrast.

Ella (that’s her on the left with friend Chloe – note their fancy eyelashes) was responsible for the haunted house and received much appreciation for it. She claims she really didn’t know how to organize a haunted house so instead took people into a room lit only by candles, blindfolded them, then stuck their hands in disgusting concoctions. I found the most disgusting to be fruit pulp in a plastic bag. The most fascinating was an over-ripe banana with its peel. Blindfolded and primed for Halloween, I was ready to believe the peel was some kind of intestine or something.

Ok, so I got a little caught up in the festivities.

For a real fright, I refer you to the 2011 Texas Rangers and their fans. 1 strike away from a World Series title last night, they lose Game 7 tonight. Ouch.

First off, can you believe tonight’s World Series baseball game? It’s like how I used to act out a World Series game when I was a kid! Crazy.

So, yes, my jury duty responsibility wrapped up today. We all arrived just before 9am to find our notepads and jury instructions on the table in the deliberation room. We soon learned which of us was named the alternate (not me!) and she left. Then a foreman was selected (me!).

The deliberation was difficult. The challenge had to do with the issue being injuries sustained during a car accident, BUT the injured party was in a second accident two days after the first. We were being asked to determine an apportionment of injury from EACH accident, although the defendant in our case was the driver who caused the first accident. Sound complicated? It was.

We talked through the morning, wrestling mainly with the question of whether or not the defense met their burden of apportioning the percentage due each accident. People were on both sides of this fence. But we came to a decision by 2:30, it was read in court, and we were dismissed. Another juror and I spent another 45 minutes debriefing the trial with the lawyers from both sides. Boy, that was fascinating!

In fact, the whole thing was fascinating!

One piece of advice – don’t get into a car accident.

Yes, it was Day Three for me on the jury and I found the whole process immensely fascinating. I mentioned I’m part of a civil trial which, I think, are a lot less glamorous than criminal trials. For instance, in the courtroom next to ours we all saw a couple of people come and go in handcuffs. Nothing like that in our courtroom.

Still, it’s really interesting. For instance, we were due back after lunch at 1:15 but were kept in the deliberating room (with its view of Smith Tower – see yesterday) until 2:30. I can only imagine what was going on in the courtroom. I think it had to do with a disagreement over the wording in the jury instructions we were to receive before the lawyers made their closing statements.

Speaking of which, the closing statements were finally made and tomorrow morning the case is turned over to us, the jury. Before that, however, one of us will be picked at random to be excused. Since we have 13 jurors hearing the case and only 12 are needed to deliberate and reach a decision (the 13th is present in case of illness), one will be sent home first thing in the morning.

At this point, having been present for everything else, I really don’t want it to be me!

It was a long, tiring day in court today. Lots and lots of testimony. Much of it fairly boring. Much of it redundant. But from a legal standpoint, I suppose, all of it was necessary to establish various facts and determine expertise and authority. It takes some doing to stay attentive through all of it sometimes, especially when the same question is being asked to yet another witness.

Still, it’s a fascinating process. Being on a jury is tremendously fulfilling. I recommend it!

During breaks we are ushered in to the jury room. There is a big table inside, just like you’d expect, and enough chairs for 12 people to comfortably sit around it. This is where our deliberation will take place, likely on Thursday (but maybe early as tomorrow if things go quickly).

Of interest, this is the only room in the courthouse I’ve been in with a window. And the view out the window is to the west and just across the street is the famous Smith Tower, one of the world’s first skyscrapers (I kid you not). If you study the picture carefully, which I took at the tail end of the lunch recess, you’ll see a ferry on the Puget Sound.

If that doesn’t say “Seattle,” nothing does.

I was seated on a jury late this morning. And let me just say what a fascinating process this is!

I arrived at 8am and gathered with other potential jurors, about 200 of us, I ‘d estimate, in the Juror Assembly Room at the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle. After we sat through a variety of orientations, courtrooms started requesting jurors. 50 selected at random were off to one case. 45 to the next. Me, I was part of 32 assigned to a courtroom on the 9th floor. Of the 32, I was juror #14.

So from that 32, 13 were ultimately selected, me being one of these 13. The whittling down process took place over about 2 hours. Three or four people were sent back to the assembly room, having requested to be excused because of the nature of this case (I can’t talk about it until it’s over, other than to say it’s a civil case). Then the “voir dire” process began.

That’s right, voir dire. Two French words (voir – see; dire – say). Basically, what it means is that the lawyers interview the potential jurors to weed out bias. They “see” us, I guess, and get us to “say” things. Actually, Wikipedia explains it better.

So I’m on a jury and the trial is expected to last three days. Today’s picture is of me riding the escalator from the downtown Seattle bus tunnel, a block from the courthouse.