Fall Has Fell, and Kev Has (Been) Sprung

The uneasiness of today ended relatively quickly when I didn't get selected for a jury. Whew! Sure, I had to get up before the crack of dawn (indeed, the entire train ride down was in the dark) and endure a lot of sitting around, but in the end, I wasn't one of the "lucky" six (it was a misdemeanor case, thus the smaller panel), so I was released from service a shade before one o'clock. I treated myself to Chipotle in the West End (since it's located right in front of where the train would pick me up) and was back teaching by three. I lost some money, but not a ridiculous amount, and I can even make up a few of today's middle-school lessons on Wednesday, when the high-schoolers are at marching contest.

I think there will always be some anxiety about being called down for service, for the reasons I discussed yesterday, but this time, it was a minor inconvenience at the most. Here's hoping I don't get called again for another couple years this time.

Blue Red train: I took the Red Line from the Bush Turnpike Station to get downtown, and once again, the trip was pleasant. The trains were clean, efficient, and free of any really shady-looking characters. It only took forty minutes to get to the West End, and a little longer to catch the bus over to the courthouse (finding the right bus did prove confusing at first, as the transfer station was, to the novice, loosely-organized chaos). The train doesn't often go where I'm going (yet?), but it's a great way to get around, and it sure beats sitting in rush hour on Central Expressway to get downtown.

I wonder if it was a Norwegian blue: Admit it--if you read the story about England's first case of bird flu being found in a dead parrot, the first thing you thought of was the famous Monty Python sketch. (Even weirder, when I was in Potbelly at dinnertime tonight, reading the issue of Quick in which that story was found, I looked up and saw a picture of Michael Palin on the wall in full Ministry of Silly Walks pose. Heh.)

I can see drive for miles and miles: Congratulations to my friend and colleague Kris, whose '89 4Runner hit the magic 400,000 mile marker this morning ("at about 8:05 a.m.," as his email noted), thus putting the deeds of the original Kevmobile to shame. You wanna go for half a million now, Kris?