Walks #49.093, .091 & .089
I should begin this post by admitting that I wanted to serve on a jury, and I wanted to serve bad. Selection day was crazy. I sat in the gallery for FOREVER and around 2:30, when it seemed as though I would NEVER even get to sit in the chair and answer the preliminary questions, the court clerk called my name and I took the seat of Juror #5. I was stoked! Court starts at 9:30, has two 15-minute breaks, takes an hour and a half for lunch and lets out around 4:30. It all seemed so ideal. And the weather was great so it was easy to fill my lunch time hitting the pavement and checking streets/alleys off the map. But oh how the glory of duty turned . . .
I really have learned SO MUCH from fulfilling my civic duty and serving on a jury in a DUI case. For instance, did you know, that in the time that elapses from when you are actually driving your car until you are pulled over and doing field sobriety tests (approx. 15 minutes), your blood alcohol content can change significantly enough that if you blow a .093 into, wait for it, an Intoxilizer 5000, you may not have been at a .08 while driving the car? Now, I don't believe that for one second, and call b.s. but a jury of our peers (or at least 7 of them) certainly bought it. In the end - hung jury. What a waste of everyone's time. And now, if I ever hear the word "calibration" or the term "horizontal gaze nystagmus" again, it'll be too soon.
I did learn many other things during my service. The first, obviously, is I want an Intoxilizer 5000 of my very own. I would also like to add "strike that" and "overruled" to my every day usage.
Seriously though, I learned more people take Jury Duty seriously than I would have expected. During the selection process people were open and honest and nobody really tried to wiggle their way out of serving. And those of us that were selected to serve, took our roles VERY seriously.
I learned that regardless of judges, bailiffs and courtrooms full of people waiting, punctuality is not a priority for the masses. A different person seemed to be late every single day. Don't they understand how disrespectful it is to keep so many people waiting? Apparently not.
I learned that I loved being in a courtroom with a female judge, female bailiff, female assistant DA and female public defender and that I hope to NEVER require the services of a public defender. The judge continually had to tell her how to do her job and behave in the courtroom. It was clear she didn't get it and wasn't sure of what she was doing. Then again, she sort of won, so maybe looking like an idiot was part of her game plan all along. (To top off her horrible defense, she used a powerpoint presentation for her closing arguments. WTF?)
I learned that people are lying liars who lie. Two shots and one beer for a 220lbs male in 90 minutes, no WAY equals a .09BAC.
I learned that even in a courtroom, you can laugh and joke, which was awesome, and I thought to myself "only in San Francisco . . . " on a number of occasions. My favorite cross examination question was "Did he successfully maneuver the S-curve?" (Are we STILL obsessed with the S-curve? It's been a year, get over it. The road curves, whatever.) And my favorite quote from deliberations began, "I'm not an expert, but I have had shots . . . "
I learned that people will trust creepy, overly paid "experts" with mustaches, over super cute , but young CHP officers*. Why people have no respect for law enforcement will continue to baffle me . . .
*side note: I didn't trust him MORE because he was cute, or wearing a bullet proof vest or carrying a gun. The cuteness was added bonus, which leads me to my new plan of hanging out at the Hall of Justice in my free time.
I learned a new term: boilerplate. It was one of those terms one person used and I thought it was odd but didn't think anything of it, then people said it like 10 more times. Now, I'm going to use it, too.
I learned that I LOVE lunch breaks. (I don't really get those and it's so great to be outside during the middle/best part of the day.) And 15 minute breaks. And having time to read. And OF COURSE having time to walk, which I did a lot of, so let's get to it already!
The Hall of Justice
Having walked many of the major streets around the area of the court house, this turned out to be the perfect opportunity to get to the side streets and alleys of SOMA, and thank goodness as there are a LOT of them.
I only did a few each day, as I also tried to fit in eating lunch at a different cafe/restaurant/diner.
SOMA is not nearly as seedy as I imagined it to be and there are actually some really great buildings, cool community gardens and beautiful art.
Some awesome/comical doorways.
Some great murals.
And fantastic cup cakes! This is from Cups and Cakes Bakery.
I had a mini Deep Dark Chocolate and a mini Strawberry Champagne - YUM! I also had a delicious mini cupcake at Citizen's Band/Pinkies Bakery. Pinkie's was good, but cupcakes weren't their sole focus, and when I tried to go back on a different day, they only had one option: carrot cake. Yucko. So Cups and Cakes wins the prize and recommendation.
And if SOMA, and more specifically BrainWash, is good enough for Matt Damon, it's good enough for me. Had an AWESOME philly cheesesteak here and am seriously debating schlepping my laundry all the way down here because it seems like the best laundromat/cafe/bar EVER!
In SOMA, they get creative with their parking,
Have poignant ads,
It says "Love is in the air, or is that the fog?"
And mispelled street stamps, of course.
And lastly, I have to shout out to my faithful city guide, Broke Ass Stuart for tipping me off to City Choice. I love a good quality, cheap sandwich and never would've gone in there on my own. Thanks for always looking out!
All in all, it was a great couple of days out of the office and a fascinating insight to our justice system. I suppose it could've been worse and turned out like this. In retrospect, it was pretty mellow and boring.
Total mileage for 6 days of jury service: 49.8 miles!!
The overall
and the close-up!
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