Reporting for duty, sir

I was chosen for jury duty and should be done either Wednesday or Thursday. Most people complain about this civil duty, but not me. Maybe watching "12 Angry Men" recently helped, but I've never harbored a bad attitude about being called for this. It's like the right to vote. It's a privilege.

Of course, this is my first time. So, I can't say anything about the case itself.

What I can say is I'm sort of impressed with the Dallas County Clerks, who handle 500 people, organize them with a small slip of paper, and eventually deliver on providing a group of citizen peers within a morning. I heard a few complaints about the process being too slow, or others pissed they were there in general and it made a part of me sick.

I wanted to say, "This is why you fail. This is why the system fails. This is why the world is ending."

Maybe I'm being influenced by a graphic novel I'm reading. It was handed to me by The Doctor. Props and a shout out goes to him.

New digs

I just checked out the new office I'll be working in. It's going to work out well. I have a nice view out the window of McKinney Avenue and in the distance I can see the ferris wheel at Fair Park.

If I didn't have jury duty, I'd be going there on Monday like the rest of the Dallas worker bees. I was looking forward to meeting the new peeps. Hopefully, I can still go at some point, or Tuesday.

It's the first time I've been called to jury duty, so I was excited about it. But now, it's becoming inconvenient to the move and such.

Changes

I'm sitting in my office and looking out the front window. Sophie is asleep on the floor under my home computer. Her legs are sleep walking and thumping the floor.

I'm enjoying this moment working from home.

Next week, I'll be moving into a real office. I'm happy for the progress and it makes me enjoy these moments even more.

Peace/state of mind

The vacation was very successful in relaxing the both of us. From the photos, you can see we packed a lot into the trip. What's not in the photos is the overall calmness we had. This week, we've tried hard to hold on to that feeling. It's now Friday and I'm still feeling it. Here are some other things not depicted in the gallery.

People: Everyone we spoke to was nice. We never heard or saw a mean spirited person, except when glancing the TV from time to time. One day we were walking about three quarters of a mile to the ruins from the main road. The Gatorade delivery guy pulled over and gave us a ride the rest of the way. Always a smile. I give a lot of credit to Yvonne, who translated the whole time. I did my best to avoid speaking English out of courtesy, but I can't hold a conversation.

Cannons: In both cities, they fired cannons everyday. In Xacatecas, the first round was 6am in the morning. The first day, I thought I was home and someone fired the shotgun again. heh ... awkward silence ... But the cannons continued through the day, another long round about 7pm. In Gaunajauto, they only fired them at night around dinner time. At that point, we barely noticed. They also rang the church bells around the same time, which was nice. We saw one boy trying to ring the bell. He had to fall to the ground holding the rope to get any noise. He hands it to a larger boy, who rang it with one hand.

Food: The food was exceptionally good. The only food I avoided was fruit and Italian food. Not sure why, but we haven't been craving Italian lately. So we ate lots of tacos and heavy breakfasts. I had to adjust to eating before 11am, but the daily activity helped burn the fuel. Highlight was special tacos made by Yvonne's senorita.

Rain: It rained almost every day we were there, with the strongest storms towards the end. Our host in Guanajauto, Pita, was carrying buckets around one night. She later told Yvonne her entire bedroom floor was wet. The house was 300 years old...Some of the rain followed us back to Dallas, which relieved the a little of drought stress.

Loot: We managed to stay below the customs amount of goods we brought back, but still had a lot. Two leather jackets, the ceramics, gifts for several people and more. The toughest part was hauling the ceramics back to the hotel, about a mile walk from the bus, mostly uphill. We used the two boxes as carry-ons, but had to check them at the gate. Somehow, we managed to get all that stuff back unbroken.

Return: The day of the trip home, I began to really miss the dogs (and cat). I'm going to miss them a little when I no longer work from home. I stressed about the pile of things that built up at work, but I probably didn't need to worry about it at all. The return was smooth enough and now we're back in our routines.

Boneshakers: We rode last night, three riders strong. Next week, we may be up to four riders.

Back in the saddle

We came home Sunday and hit the ground running. I had two dreams about work last night so this will be short.

Enjoy the gallery!

Mexico

We're going to Mexico for a week. Thanks to those who gave me input. I learned a few things about my readers. Maybe water pumps aren't so bad. More photos and more coffee are ok, too. I still plan to change the look, and I'm considering a new tool.

The Boneshakers rode last night and we might have a fourth member. It's not official until all the founders ride with him, and the Warlord is still out of town (last vote).

Weather has let up and cooled into the 90s. But we lost about 6-7 plants due to the drought. Some were planted last winter, some were planted two years ago. Most of them were azaleas, so we'll be moving on from that plant.