Phone Lines & Juries
Posted Fri, 01/13/06
You never know how much you rely on your telephone until you go three days without it. Wednesday night our line went dead, so Thursday morning I went to a nearby payphone and called Qwest. They did a short test and told me the problem was outside our house, but that no one could come to repair it until Friday, seven p.m. at the latest.
Having no telephone also meant no Internet connection. Withdrawal symptoms set in almost immediately…
Wilbert tried calling home on Thursday from the Spokane courthouse, only to receive the recorded message "the number you are trying to reach does not accept unidentified or anonymous calls" or some such other rubbish. My parents were in Mesquite, Nevada at the time, so I'm sure if they tried calling they must have thought Wilbert and I had finally decided to cut ourselves off from the world.
A telephone repair technician came to our house at four o'clock today, and now all's well.
Speaking of the courthouse, Wilbert was called for jury duty and the selection process dragged on all week. Fifty-two prospective jurors were called for one case, but in the end Wilbert was dismissed because he knew the plaintiff. However, he is now involved in another selection process for a different trial.
Jury duty is the one disadvantage of being a registered voter. I have the greatest respect for those who are called and end up serving as it is a serious responsibility, but I don't have what it takes to sit in a room full of people day after day. I would simply lose my mind and also lose sight of the reason I was there in the first place.