Today I had jury duty. At first I was upset because I had lots of other things I wanted to do. As it turned out, it was a very interesting experience. The defendant was a young man charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. It was a very interesting case. The strategies employed by the prosecution and the attorney were interesting to follow. Separating ones personal feelings from the actual case is interesting. The judge made it very clear that we were to base our judgment on the law as it was explained and the facts that were presented. This we did. We spent considerable time deliberating and everyone expressed their opinions and ideas and I feel everyone was very conscientious and took this responsibility seriously. I do think we reached the right verdict. I now have more admiration and empathy for other jurors. I'm sure being on the Sarah Kolb jury was extremely difficult. I have changed my opinion about being on a jury. If my name comes up again, I'll look on it as a privilege and a civic duty.

I watched the Oscars this year for the first time in many years. We had seen several of the movies that were up for awards and that made it quite interesting. I would have given the best actor award to Phillip Seymore Hoffman and so I agreed with the Academy. I felt Felicity Huffman should have received the best actress award, but Reese Witherspoon was great too. My choice for best picture would have been Brokeback Mountain, but again Crash was also deserving. I didn't agree with some of the choices, but all were deserving. This year there was an overabundance of talent. What a great year for the movies!