Long Catching Up Post Again
These are getting to be the norm, it seems... so you'd better get a snack or something to fortify you for this long read. Hah!
Monday, June 14th: Hot outside today; the air conditioner (set at 78-degrees) keeps coming on... "tweet" from Zachary Quinto saying he got back to Los Angeles around 6:00 today, and will be on this coast for a while, then goes back to New York. Busy guy! I did a lot of nuthin' today; woke up at 5:30 after a restless night's sleep and couldn't go back to bed, so I stayed up and worked on my Trek story... By noon I'd been up for over 7 hours and was TIRED, so I turned on "Judge Alex" and took a nap in the TV room.
EDD Stuff: I finally got the last three checks the EDD owed me from 2009 today.
Tuesday, June 15th: A weird day -- sort of. I got all ready to go to school and headed off there, then on the way thought I'd stop at Wally World to put one more of the EDD checks onto my card there. I did that, and then noticed that Bank of America was in the same parking lot, so I went over there to see if they'd set up a savings account for me, so I could deposit the rest of the EDD checks into that. Now, usually, I wouldn't do business with them because they had such a horrible reputation in the past, but since the government "bail outs" of the banks over the last year or so, I figured what the heck. I'll go into detail a little later, but suffice it to say I got the account open.
After that I was already a few minutes late for my first class at school, and was feeling kind of stressed and antsy about the upcoming court thingy on Monday, so I treated myself a little bit. I went over to Suzy's ($5.99 clothing store) and bought a few summer blouses and another paid of jeans. I got a punchcard that's good for another free piece of clothing (when I buy three more pieces), and a coupon for another 10% off my next purchase if I buy more stuff before July 5th. So, I felt I got a good deal there. Then I went over to Super Cuts and got my hair cut for $15. They did a "super" job (sweet Oriental woman), so that made me feel a lot better.
By then it was almost noon, so I decided to just go home and be nice to myself for the rest of the day. I know: I'm a baaaaad kid for ditching school, but, hey, I NEVER did that when I was younger, so I figured I owed myself a day.
BofA Stuff: I was surprised and pleased with how well I was treated by their staff. I had gone in expecting to just set up a savings account, but she told me that because I was a student, I could get BOTH a savings account and a checking account for FREE. So, I set up both of those, and got a photo ID VISA card (that gives money to the SPCA every time I use it) in the mix.
Lulu Stuff: In the mail today I also got the book-print version of my Trek story, "The Ek'tevan Prerogative", and I am sooooo pleased with it! What Lulu does is basically take a PDF version of whatever it is you want to publish and then prints it out in a book form for you with glossy pages, color photos, whatever you want. It's just so kewl to see my work "in print", even if it's just for me, and no one else ever sees it. I'll have Lulu print my "The Pon T'Keshtan" story when it's done, too. Lulu is also easier to use and cheaper than Blurb, so I might use them for everything now.
EDD Stuff: I got the scheduled call from the EDD for my NEW claim today around 2:30 pm; the woman asked me all the same questions I was asked on the LAST claim, and said it would be 10 day for another decision to be made. I suggested she check the file on me; everything has already been cleared before; but she didn't give a crap about that. Drones. They just follow the lines drawn for them and never think for themselves, apparently.
Rayna Stuff: This was on her FaceBook entries today: Rayna Sue Bertolucci||ok, gross, gross, gross!!!!! The dog killed a squirrel, and put it under the couch in the office, and by the smell, and the fact that Larry worked in the office all day yesterday, the dead squirrel must have been there since Sunday????!!!! And, as luck would have it, Larry had to go out of town today....I am a princess wimp, had to call the 70 year old neighbor to get it and take it away. auuugghhhhhh I'm sorry, I just had to laugh at that! Hah!
Jury Summons: Got another one today; I'm on the list for July 6th. I should be able to be available for that round as long as the "dog issue" in Shasta County doesn't interfere with anything. I thought you had to live in the county for a YEAR before they tapped you for jury duty, though... I may not even be eliigible to sit on the jury! I'll have to see... (Mr. Cashdollar reminded me, "They sometimes send out jury summons for CATS, so... Just go with it." Hah!)
Thursday, June 17th: Back to school today. I had a test in Civil Lit 2 class, and I think I aced it. I was pleased to see that I got a 100% (A) on my Benchmark project for that class, the Motion for Summary Judgment and DUF. Yay! We have a final next week, but I'm not worried about it. After today's test, we had a lecture, and again, we were so involved and so interested in it that we didn't want to leave when the bell rang for our next class!
In our Legal Office Management class, the new teacher, Ms. Goodwin, told us to quit working on the chapters and other homework and just focus on the Benchmark project for that class, so I don't have to worry about spending hours on the chapter crap -- which is kind of useless, anyway, I think. I'm hoping to have the Benchmark done for that class by this weekend. We'll see...
Sunday and Monday are going to be a little mucked up because I have to go to Shasta County again for the settlement conference at 1:30 on Monday. I was going to drive down Sunday (rather than doing the whole trip to and from in one day like I did last time, which was thoroughly exhausting) and spend the night at the Travelodge on Market Street (across from the Redding Arboretum). I've already made reservations there.
Friday, June 18th: The weather was gorgeous today; sunny, cool and breezy. The kind of weather you ditch school by... except that I don't have class on Fridays. I DID got outside and wash the car today, though, which I haven't done since I got to Sacramento (wow, the car really needed it). Other than that, I worked on my Trek story (and published Chapter 19 on-line today), paid my parking ticket (finally), and looked up some leads on new car insurance carriers. My Mercury insurance expires in August, and I want other coverage before then.
Saturday, June 19th: My older brother Mike is 65 years old today; he's officially a "senior citiizen" and eligible for Medicare... It was another gorgeous day, weatherwise, with a few clouds in the otherwise sunny and breezy sky. Marty went over to the Nona house to do some work, but I'm thoroughly distracted by the settlement hearing on Monday and can't seem to focus on anything else. I worked mostly on my Trek story all day, but found it difficult to concentrate, and in between writing sessions I did stuff like laundry, and ran out for a Roundtable Pizza. I should have been finishing up my Benchmark project for my Legal Office class, but I can't focus... Maybe I can work on it Sunday night and Monday morning when I'm in Redding... I hate how these legal proceeding things can so "consume" you; especially when you know the other side has NO CASE and is wasting everyone's time just to be jerks....
Sunday, June 20: I got up about 6:30 this morning and was on the road to Shasta County by about 8:45. The drive up was unevent-ful, which is what I like. I stopped to put gas in the car before heading out, and then stopped again in Williams to get a sammich at Subway for lunch. When I was there, I was in line behind a young man who had just graduated from high school, and he and his dad were driving up to Oregon from FULLERTON in Southern California! That's a l-o-n-g drive. I didn't eat in the restaurant (I never do), so about 30 miles later I pulled into a resttop to have my sammich and bottled lemonade. Then it was on to Redding, stopping one more time to pee out the lemonade, hah! I got into town around noon, and went over to the Turtle Bay museum to wait for my 2 o'clock check in at the Travelodge. They had their butterfly display again, so I went into to see that, and walked around the grounds and through the museum until a little before 2:00 pm. I also got a pair of stuffed animals (a bunny and a dog) that were called "Bottle Babies"; they were made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles! Too cute!
At the butterfly exhibit, there were a lot of butterflies this time, and some of them had just "hatched" and were flexing their wings. I watched as several children paid a dollar to "release a butterfly" for its first flight. They'd get a hatchling perched on the end of a popcicle stick, and then release it into the enclosure. They also got to name the butterfly they released. One called his "Sam" after his frog (hah!), and another called hers "Katie". How sweet was that? I hope their folks got good photos of them. While I was in the museum I got some pix and short video of their fish and salamander displays, but not much else. They had a Waldon's Pond exhibit, but you weren't allowed to take photos in there, and thier other exhibit was using a GPS system to get through a maze; bor-ing!
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS A PHOTO ALBUM ON THE BUTTERFLY EXHIBIT, MUSEUM AND ARBORETUM
I checked in at the Travelodge later without any problems, and got a single-occupancy room in a shaded part of the hotel away from the street (and away from the pool), under a staircase. In the hotel room, the queen-sized bed was comfy, and the room was nice, quiet and dark -- just how I like it when I need to rest. There wasn't much in the way of "amenities", though -- I got spoiled by the Holiday Inn Express and their pay-per-view movies, hot in-room breakfasts, internest access, etc. You did get a voucher for a complimentary breakfast at Lumberjacks. That's downtown, in the traffic snarls, though, so I opt not to go there. So I don't know if I'll stay at the 'Lodge again. Usually, when I come into Redding, I stay with family or friends, but this was Father's Day weekend, and I didn't want to impose on anyone's family stuff. I worked on my Trek story, watched some HBO on TV, and then hit the hay.
Monday, June 21st: During the evening, I watched "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and was sooo disappointed in it. Worst HP movie ever (to date). A lot of whining from Draco, a lot of snogging from a stalker chick who like Ron Weasley, and too little Snape (even though, it's revealed later that HE is the "half-blood prince"). When Dumbledor dies in the film, it's like... eh. And when the Weasley's house burned down, I just sat there and said: Their house burned down? Aren't these people WIZARDS? Don't they know what WATER is? It was just stupid. Glad I never forked out money for THAT turkey!
Anway, after a good night's sleep, I stayed in my hotel room until about 10:30, working (but not very productively) on my Trek story, and then went to the Waffle House for a strawberry waffle, a side of bacon, and a large orange juice for breakfast (since all I'd had for breakfast in my room was a cup of coffee). They used fake syrup on the strawberries and some kind of gelantious whipped cream, so that was diaappointment. I didn't eat all of the waffle. After that I stopped in at OSH (hardware store) and got some heavy-duty work gloves for use at the Nona house, and a couple of packing boxes (for my junk at the Carbillo house). I still had some time before court started at 1:30, so I went over to the Arboretum and walked around for a while... until it got too hot in the sun. Then I went to the courthouse and sat in their air-conditiioned building until the hearing started.
Settlement Hearing: What a joke that was! "New Girl", the deputy DA that we can't stand, didn't even show up, and had a skinny sub stand in for her. And there were about three Public Defenders in there, along with dena, handling the glut of cases, and covering for a sick coworker. At first the sub lost my case file, so Dena couldn't address my case until she found it, which meant I had to sit there for almost 2 hours... only to be told my case was being put off until the end of AUGUST because we're waiting for the transciption of the motion hearing (and it was "too long" for the local court clerks to transcribe, so it had to be outsourced). We demanded a "no time waiver" form here on in so the case can't be postponed anymore. The pretrial hearing (this is all on the "dog issue") is on Friday, August 20th at 8:15 am, and the trial itself is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24th at 9:00 am. We'll see...
While I was waiting, I got to see a lot of other cases dismissed; one postponed; and several pleaded out for fines and jail time. There were also three felons who were brought in, one who's defending himself; all of them in dark blue jail clothes with PINK t-shirts; all of them in shackles. There are some crazy-ass looking people in Redding, man!
Tuesday, June 22nd: I was soooo exhausted today! Those Sacramento-to-Shasta-and-back-again trips just suck the life right out of me. I slept really well during the night, and so much wanted to just stay in bed with Sergeant Margie this morning. But I was "good kid" and got up and went to school. In my Civil Lit 2 class, there were only THREE people who showed up for class. There are only 2 more weeks of school this quarter, and finals are coming up; missing a class right now is STUPID! We got our graded exams back from last week, and I got an "A+ 100%" and a note from Mr. Cashdollar saying I was an "excellent student". Awww, shucks! I love that, though; he doesn't just hand out compliments like that by the bushel full. Legal Office Management class was pretty much a bust. The teacher was just letting everyone work on their Benchmark projects, and it was so noisy in the room I couldn't concentrate on anything. After she took the roll, I asked if I could go to the LRC (library) and work in there instead, and said sure. The place was packed, but I got a little bit of work done, before heading back home again.
I finally found the contingency agreement I had signed with attorney "Gus", so I'll send that off to the State Bar tomorrow. I hope they nail his butt. I was reading up on some other attorneys in California who have lost their license to practice law or had it suspended... and what he did is just as bad as some of what those people did.
I was so tired when I got home, I puttered around for alittle bit, took a nap, and then got supper ready (baked chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and asparagus). I worked on my journal and then crashed for the rest of the day.
Thursday, June 24th: School day. Had a good time learning and discussing "jury selection" with Mr. Cashdollar today in Civil Litigation 2 class. He's so comfortable with us now that he jokes and laughs with us, and acts out little legal skits for us. Today, I got to be the judge, and two of the other gals in the class were the opposing attorneys. Here's the scenario: Mr. Cashdollar said that there is a potential juror (called a "venireman") who has an open and obvious racial hatred of Hispanics, and the defendant is a Latino gangbanger. Neither of the attorneys use one of their challenges to get the venireman off the panel. What should the judge do? Since it's my courtroom, I said, and since I'm compelled to make sure everyone gets a FAIR trial, I ask the attorneys if either one wants to challenge venireman. They both say , "no". Mr. Cashdollar asked, "Ok, what do you do now, Judge Hanson?" I told him I'd throw the guy off the jury panel whether the attorneys liked it or not... And I was right! Go me!
In my Legal Office Management, we're really getting down to the wire here, and the classes are thinning out as people who don't have their Benchmark projects done are too chicken to show up for class... I worked my butt off to get my class project in on time -- only to hear the substitute teacher say she's giving the slackers until next Tuesday to finish theirs! How is that FAIR?! If these people were in a law office, the attorneys wouldn't give them another week to finish court papers that were due today! I was soooo pissed off. I'd better get a grade better than theirs or I'm going to complain to the Directors! Arrrgh!
I got my prelimiary schedule for next quarter and I have 2 classes on Mondays and Wednesdays (Word Processing and Family Law), and one class on Tuesday and Thursdays (Criminal Law -- with Mr. Cashdollar! Yay!). The Word Processing class is with Mr. Alexander, and I had him last quarter for my Software class, and liked him a lot. They don't know who will be teaching the Family Law class yet; we're hoping for some "new blood" in that class. Rumor has it that the school is actually trying to get a practising lawyer to teach the course, but we'll see... I had also been scheduled for Algebra again, but I want to take that on-line so I can do the math where it's actually QUIET and can progress at my own speed. The current quarter ends on Friday, July 2nd, and the new quarter begins on July 19th, so I get two weeks off in between! Of course, I'm scheduled for jury duty in there (5 days on standby) so I won't be completely "free". But this was a labor-intensive quarter, and I'm grateful for the upcoming rest.
Court Stuff: I got another letter from the US Department of Justice on the criminal proceedings against the people who stole my house. The status hearing has been moved up to September 14 at 9:30 am. Again, I don't know if I'll go to that or not; but I may just to get a look at the DOJ guys.
I need to order a calendar!
There we are, caught up again for a little bit. Phew!
Monday, June 14th: Hot outside today; the air conditioner (set at 78-degrees) keeps coming on... "tweet" from Zachary Quinto saying he got back to Los Angeles around 6:00 today, and will be on this coast for a while, then goes back to New York. Busy guy! I did a lot of nuthin' today; woke up at 5:30 after a restless night's sleep and couldn't go back to bed, so I stayed up and worked on my Trek story... By noon I'd been up for over 7 hours and was TIRED, so I turned on "Judge Alex" and took a nap in the TV room.
EDD Stuff: I finally got the last three checks the EDD owed me from 2009 today.
Tuesday, June 15th: A weird day -- sort of. I got all ready to go to school and headed off there, then on the way thought I'd stop at Wally World to put one more of the EDD checks onto my card there. I did that, and then noticed that Bank of America was in the same parking lot, so I went over there to see if they'd set up a savings account for me, so I could deposit the rest of the EDD checks into that. Now, usually, I wouldn't do business with them because they had such a horrible reputation in the past, but since the government "bail outs" of the banks over the last year or so, I figured what the heck. I'll go into detail a little later, but suffice it to say I got the account open.
After that I was already a few minutes late for my first class at school, and was feeling kind of stressed and antsy about the upcoming court thingy on Monday, so I treated myself a little bit. I went over to Suzy's ($5.99 clothing store) and bought a few summer blouses and another paid of jeans. I got a punchcard that's good for another free piece of clothing (when I buy three more pieces), and a coupon for another 10% off my next purchase if I buy more stuff before July 5th. So, I felt I got a good deal there. Then I went over to Super Cuts and got my hair cut for $15. They did a "super" job (sweet Oriental woman), so that made me feel a lot better.
By then it was almost noon, so I decided to just go home and be nice to myself for the rest of the day. I know: I'm a baaaaad kid for ditching school, but, hey, I NEVER did that when I was younger, so I figured I owed myself a day.
BofA Stuff: I was surprised and pleased with how well I was treated by their staff. I had gone in expecting to just set up a savings account, but she told me that because I was a student, I could get BOTH a savings account and a checking account for FREE. So, I set up both of those, and got a photo ID VISA card (that gives money to the SPCA every time I use it) in the mix.
Lulu Stuff: In the mail today I also got the book-print version of my Trek story, "The Ek'tevan Prerogative", and I am sooooo pleased with it! What Lulu does is basically take a PDF version of whatever it is you want to publish and then prints it out in a book form for you with glossy pages, color photos, whatever you want. It's just so kewl to see my work "in print", even if it's just for me, and no one else ever sees it. I'll have Lulu print my "The Pon T'Keshtan" story when it's done, too. Lulu is also easier to use and cheaper than Blurb, so I might use them for everything now.
EDD Stuff: I got the scheduled call from the EDD for my NEW claim today around 2:30 pm; the woman asked me all the same questions I was asked on the LAST claim, and said it would be 10 day for another decision to be made. I suggested she check the file on me; everything has already been cleared before; but she didn't give a crap about that. Drones. They just follow the lines drawn for them and never think for themselves, apparently.
Rayna Stuff: This was on her FaceBook entries today: Rayna Sue Bertolucci||ok, gross, gross, gross!!!!! The dog killed a squirrel, and put it under the couch in the office, and by the smell, and the fact that Larry worked in the office all day yesterday, the dead squirrel must have been there since Sunday????!!!! And, as luck would have it, Larry had to go out of town today....I am a princess wimp, had to call the 70 year old neighbor to get it and take it away. auuugghhhhhh I'm sorry, I just had to laugh at that! Hah!
Jury Summons: Got another one today; I'm on the list for July 6th. I should be able to be available for that round as long as the "dog issue" in Shasta County doesn't interfere with anything. I thought you had to live in the county for a YEAR before they tapped you for jury duty, though... I may not even be eliigible to sit on the jury! I'll have to see... (Mr. Cashdollar reminded me, "They sometimes send out jury summons for CATS, so... Just go with it." Hah!)
Thursday, June 17th: Back to school today. I had a test in Civil Lit 2 class, and I think I aced it. I was pleased to see that I got a 100% (A) on my Benchmark project for that class, the Motion for Summary Judgment and DUF. Yay! We have a final next week, but I'm not worried about it. After today's test, we had a lecture, and again, we were so involved and so interested in it that we didn't want to leave when the bell rang for our next class!
In our Legal Office Management class, the new teacher, Ms. Goodwin, told us to quit working on the chapters and other homework and just focus on the Benchmark project for that class, so I don't have to worry about spending hours on the chapter crap -- which is kind of useless, anyway, I think. I'm hoping to have the Benchmark done for that class by this weekend. We'll see...
Sunday and Monday are going to be a little mucked up because I have to go to Shasta County again for the settlement conference at 1:30 on Monday. I was going to drive down Sunday (rather than doing the whole trip to and from in one day like I did last time, which was thoroughly exhausting) and spend the night at the Travelodge on Market Street (across from the Redding Arboretum). I've already made reservations there.
Friday, June 18th: The weather was gorgeous today; sunny, cool and breezy. The kind of weather you ditch school by... except that I don't have class on Fridays. I DID got outside and wash the car today, though, which I haven't done since I got to Sacramento (wow, the car really needed it). Other than that, I worked on my Trek story (and published Chapter 19 on-line today), paid my parking ticket (finally), and looked up some leads on new car insurance carriers. My Mercury insurance expires in August, and I want other coverage before then.
Saturday, June 19th: My older brother Mike is 65 years old today; he's officially a "senior citiizen" and eligible for Medicare... It was another gorgeous day, weatherwise, with a few clouds in the otherwise sunny and breezy sky. Marty went over to the Nona house to do some work, but I'm thoroughly distracted by the settlement hearing on Monday and can't seem to focus on anything else. I worked mostly on my Trek story all day, but found it difficult to concentrate, and in between writing sessions I did stuff like laundry, and ran out for a Roundtable Pizza. I should have been finishing up my Benchmark project for my Legal Office class, but I can't focus... Maybe I can work on it Sunday night and Monday morning when I'm in Redding... I hate how these legal proceeding things can so "consume" you; especially when you know the other side has NO CASE and is wasting everyone's time just to be jerks....
Sunday, June 20: I got up about 6:30 this morning and was on the road to Shasta County by about 8:45. The drive up was unevent-ful, which is what I like. I stopped to put gas in the car before heading out, and then stopped again in Williams to get a sammich at Subway for lunch. When I was there, I was in line behind a young man who had just graduated from high school, and he and his dad were driving up to Oregon from FULLERTON in Southern California! That's a l-o-n-g drive. I didn't eat in the restaurant (I never do), so about 30 miles later I pulled into a resttop to have my sammich and bottled lemonade. Then it was on to Redding, stopping one more time to pee out the lemonade, hah! I got into town around noon, and went over to the Turtle Bay museum to wait for my 2 o'clock check in at the Travelodge. They had their butterfly display again, so I went into to see that, and walked around the grounds and through the museum until a little before 2:00 pm. I also got a pair of stuffed animals (a bunny and a dog) that were called "Bottle Babies"; they were made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles! Too cute!
At the butterfly exhibit, there were a lot of butterflies this time, and some of them had just "hatched" and were flexing their wings. I watched as several children paid a dollar to "release a butterfly" for its first flight. They'd get a hatchling perched on the end of a popcicle stick, and then release it into the enclosure. They also got to name the butterfly they released. One called his "Sam" after his frog (hah!), and another called hers "Katie". How sweet was that? I hope their folks got good photos of them. While I was in the museum I got some pix and short video of their fish and salamander displays, but not much else. They had a Waldon's Pond exhibit, but you weren't allowed to take photos in there, and thier other exhibit was using a GPS system to get through a maze; bor-ing!
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS A PHOTO ALBUM ON THE BUTTERFLY EXHIBIT, MUSEUM AND ARBORETUM
I checked in at the Travelodge later without any problems, and got a single-occupancy room in a shaded part of the hotel away from the street (and away from the pool), under a staircase. In the hotel room, the queen-sized bed was comfy, and the room was nice, quiet and dark -- just how I like it when I need to rest. There wasn't much in the way of "amenities", though -- I got spoiled by the Holiday Inn Express and their pay-per-view movies, hot in-room breakfasts, internest access, etc. You did get a voucher for a complimentary breakfast at Lumberjacks. That's downtown, in the traffic snarls, though, so I opt not to go there. So I don't know if I'll stay at the 'Lodge again. Usually, when I come into Redding, I stay with family or friends, but this was Father's Day weekend, and I didn't want to impose on anyone's family stuff. I worked on my Trek story, watched some HBO on TV, and then hit the hay.
Monday, June 21st: During the evening, I watched "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and was sooo disappointed in it. Worst HP movie ever (to date). A lot of whining from Draco, a lot of snogging from a stalker chick who like Ron Weasley, and too little Snape (even though, it's revealed later that HE is the "half-blood prince"). When Dumbledor dies in the film, it's like... eh. And when the Weasley's house burned down, I just sat there and said: Their house burned down? Aren't these people WIZARDS? Don't they know what WATER is? It was just stupid. Glad I never forked out money for THAT turkey!
Anway, after a good night's sleep, I stayed in my hotel room until about 10:30, working (but not very productively) on my Trek story, and then went to the Waffle House for a strawberry waffle, a side of bacon, and a large orange juice for breakfast (since all I'd had for breakfast in my room was a cup of coffee). They used fake syrup on the strawberries and some kind of gelantious whipped cream, so that was diaappointment. I didn't eat all of the waffle. After that I stopped in at OSH (hardware store) and got some heavy-duty work gloves for use at the Nona house, and a couple of packing boxes (for my junk at the Carbillo house). I still had some time before court started at 1:30, so I went over to the Arboretum and walked around for a while... until it got too hot in the sun. Then I went to the courthouse and sat in their air-conditiioned building until the hearing started.
Settlement Hearing: What a joke that was! "New Girl", the deputy DA that we can't stand, didn't even show up, and had a skinny sub stand in for her. And there were about three Public Defenders in there, along with dena, handling the glut of cases, and covering for a sick coworker. At first the sub lost my case file, so Dena couldn't address my case until she found it, which meant I had to sit there for almost 2 hours... only to be told my case was being put off until the end of AUGUST because we're waiting for the transciption of the motion hearing (and it was "too long" for the local court clerks to transcribe, so it had to be outsourced). We demanded a "no time waiver" form here on in so the case can't be postponed anymore. The pretrial hearing (this is all on the "dog issue") is on Friday, August 20th at 8:15 am, and the trial itself is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24th at 9:00 am. We'll see...
While I was waiting, I got to see a lot of other cases dismissed; one postponed; and several pleaded out for fines and jail time. There were also three felons who were brought in, one who's defending himself; all of them in dark blue jail clothes with PINK t-shirts; all of them in shackles. There are some crazy-ass looking people in Redding, man!
Tuesday, June 22nd: I was soooo exhausted today! Those Sacramento-to-Shasta-and-back-again trips just suck the life right out of me. I slept really well during the night, and so much wanted to just stay in bed with Sergeant Margie this morning. But I was "good kid" and got up and went to school. In my Civil Lit 2 class, there were only THREE people who showed up for class. There are only 2 more weeks of school this quarter, and finals are coming up; missing a class right now is STUPID! We got our graded exams back from last week, and I got an "A+ 100%" and a note from Mr. Cashdollar saying I was an "excellent student". Awww, shucks! I love that, though; he doesn't just hand out compliments like that by the bushel full. Legal Office Management class was pretty much a bust. The teacher was just letting everyone work on their Benchmark projects, and it was so noisy in the room I couldn't concentrate on anything. After she took the roll, I asked if I could go to the LRC (library) and work in there instead, and said sure. The place was packed, but I got a little bit of work done, before heading back home again.
I finally found the contingency agreement I had signed with attorney "Gus", so I'll send that off to the State Bar tomorrow. I hope they nail his butt. I was reading up on some other attorneys in California who have lost their license to practice law or had it suspended... and what he did is just as bad as some of what those people did.
I was so tired when I got home, I puttered around for alittle bit, took a nap, and then got supper ready (baked chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, and asparagus). I worked on my journal and then crashed for the rest of the day.
Thursday, June 24th: School day. Had a good time learning and discussing "jury selection" with Mr. Cashdollar today in Civil Litigation 2 class. He's so comfortable with us now that he jokes and laughs with us, and acts out little legal skits for us. Today, I got to be the judge, and two of the other gals in the class were the opposing attorneys. Here's the scenario: Mr. Cashdollar said that there is a potential juror (called a "venireman") who has an open and obvious racial hatred of Hispanics, and the defendant is a Latino gangbanger. Neither of the attorneys use one of their challenges to get the venireman off the panel. What should the judge do? Since it's my courtroom, I said, and since I'm compelled to make sure everyone gets a FAIR trial, I ask the attorneys if either one wants to challenge venireman. They both say , "no". Mr. Cashdollar asked, "Ok, what do you do now, Judge Hanson?" I told him I'd throw the guy off the jury panel whether the attorneys liked it or not... And I was right! Go me!
In my Legal Office Management, we're really getting down to the wire here, and the classes are thinning out as people who don't have their Benchmark projects done are too chicken to show up for class... I worked my butt off to get my class project in on time -- only to hear the substitute teacher say she's giving the slackers until next Tuesday to finish theirs! How is that FAIR?! If these people were in a law office, the attorneys wouldn't give them another week to finish court papers that were due today! I was soooo pissed off. I'd better get a grade better than theirs or I'm going to complain to the Directors! Arrrgh!
I got my prelimiary schedule for next quarter and I have 2 classes on Mondays and Wednesdays (Word Processing and Family Law), and one class on Tuesday and Thursdays (Criminal Law -- with Mr. Cashdollar! Yay!). The Word Processing class is with Mr. Alexander, and I had him last quarter for my Software class, and liked him a lot. They don't know who will be teaching the Family Law class yet; we're hoping for some "new blood" in that class. Rumor has it that the school is actually trying to get a practising lawyer to teach the course, but we'll see... I had also been scheduled for Algebra again, but I want to take that on-line so I can do the math where it's actually QUIET and can progress at my own speed. The current quarter ends on Friday, July 2nd, and the new quarter begins on July 19th, so I get two weeks off in between! Of course, I'm scheduled for jury duty in there (5 days on standby) so I won't be completely "free". But this was a labor-intensive quarter, and I'm grateful for the upcoming rest.
Court Stuff: I got another letter from the US Department of Justice on the criminal proceedings against the people who stole my house. The status hearing has been moved up to September 14 at 9:30 am. Again, I don't know if I'll go to that or not; but I may just to get a look at the DOJ guys.
I need to order a calendar!
There we are, caught up again for a little bit. Phew!