The Beginning of December

 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 560

203.7 miles

c-c-cold!

 

371 recordings of 36 types. 6 old SVU, 36 old CPD. 24% clear.

 

 

Friday (December 1) was the last day of Renaissance. I decided to skip the morning class and take the bag of kids' books in after the movie, when I can move the car closer to the drop-off place.  I did find a parking place near the class, and took my seat cushion in, left it and my coat, and went to find some lunch. I had my tuna bahn mi and tea, as usual, took it back, and settled in comfort to watch the movie.  It was Predestination. It's an expansion of a Heinlein short story. I was thinking the original, All You Zombies, story could be applied to the Holy Trinity. It almost makes God easier to understand.

 

I had weird dreams Thursday night, involving online friends I don't know and haven't met, Digital Donna and Rhianna Lewis (well, I did meet her, 5 years ago).

 

I have gained at least $3K on the stock market. I hope this lasts, since I've come to realize I have more money than time and must do the things I'd like to do more quickly than I was thinking earlier.

 

Saturday I went out to the WPAC breakfast. Then I had about an hour before I had to go to Elk Grove to fetch the kids, and the gardeners came during that time. I was a bit early for the kids so sat and read for a while, and then took them to see "Christmas with the Little Women."  Too many words, not enough action. Joanna has given up on autographs, apparently. 

 

To my house where they painted little boxes. In a couple of weeks we'll trim them up. 

 

After I got home again, my DVD of Doc Martin season 8 came!  This took up my time till I was done with all 8 episodes and the bonus disc. I'm eager to go through the whole series now.  And there's one more year to go.

 

10 years ago I was 25 pounds heavier with high BP.  Currently I'm nearly back to where I was after the Camino, which would make my doctor happy if only she was still my doctor.

 

Sunday I woke early, and couldn't get back to sleep. Every time I'd get close I'd think "this is it!" and of course woke myself up.

 

So I got up and put the tree up, risking electrocution with the semi-broken outlet. Half the lights on the trees are out. At first I thought I'd have to go buy more bulbs, because I couldn't remember where the spares were. They were attached to the tree. I tried replacing a bulb or two, but it seems one of the strings is out, so I guess it's the fuse... but where does the fuse go? I tried one funny shaped bulb socket, but it wasn't it. Argh.

 

By 0730 I was at the Hilton to be on a mock jury. There were 22 jurors, and we signed a confidentiality agreement. So I can't tell anything about the case. We heard synopses of both the plaintiff's and defendent's arguments and saw some slides to give background, then split into two juries in two different rooms (all by random, as was the choice of foreman, so no time was wasted.) We deliberated (with a camera working) for about an hour and came up with a verdict. Apparently this law firm does a lot of these (there were three sessions about this one in Sacramento) and usually all the mock juries tend to come up pretty much the same. They present these to the lawyers, sometimes leading to settlements or a bit of a change in the arguments. I got $125 for this, as did the 60 or so other mock jurors, and add in the cost of the rooms at the Hilton and the equipment, all paid for by one of the parties.  Wow. It was fun, and they'll never ask me again (or anyone else. One and done.) In fact, they didn't actually ask me this time, it was a letter from a law firm for Richard, so of course I opened it. Decided it might be interesting and filled out the form and was accepted.

 

In the afternoon I went back out to the wilds of Citrus Heights to see "Holmes for the Holidays." It was a nice job and I sat with a nice lady in a better seat than my last one. I will continue to come out here next year. Free wine with the show!