title: On Civic Duty
content: |

    <p>I would like to thank the county for eating up 1.5 days of
    my scheduled vacation time with jury duty.</p>

    <p>No, no, I didn't actually get picked to sit on a jury.  Not
    even as an alternate.  But I did get to go into the courthouse,
    sit in the assembly room for a couple of hours, get called up
    to Department 4, and watch the jury selection process, hoping
    that I would never have to be called up to answer any actual
    questions.  I doubt I would have had sufficiently offensive
    answers to get off the jury.  Assuming, of course, that I am
    serious about this whole avoiding penalty of perjury thing.
    Which I am.</p>

    <p>What annoyed me most was that certain prospective jurors
    gave long-winded meandering non-answers to simple questions.
    Repeatedly.  This probably accounted for much of the additional
    half-day which jury selection took.  So if judge and counsel
    want to interview you, <em>please</em> give them concise, direct,
    accurate answers.  They will thank you for it, and the peanut
    gallery will too.</p>

    <p>Now I can get on with my "vacation," which includes laundry,
    assembling a new computer, and more exercise than I usually get
    in a week.</p>