Tour of Duty 31st October 2019 to 19th December 2019
Jury Duty; The Flights and First Night Out
Part I: 31st October
I was home for a spell and had Jury Duty in Federal Court in Santa Ana, California. I learned that there are some differences in policies and procedures between State and Federal Court. I had to go three separate times in the space of one week and one day. The first day 16th of October the prospective jurors in two separate groups went up to the Courtroom on the 10th Floor and the Judge took at least an hour to read all the charges as this was to be a complex case involving multiple defendants and multiple charges including Mail Fraud connected with Telemarketing. The Judge estimated the trial would last six weeks. After that I went back downstairs and filled out an extensive questionnaire. There was the opportunity for prospective jurors to plead financial hardship but in light of what I was told would constitute financial hardship I did not think I would qualify so I did not even attempt to go that route. I was free to go home and was told to turn up on the 22nd of October. I turned up as directed and sat in the Jury Assembly Room while people were summoned alphabetically by last name in groups of 10 to go upstairs for voir dire. I one of a number of people who were allowed to go home early. On the 23rd of October turned up and it was in the afternoon when I heard my name called. I went upstairs with others in my group and we went into the Jury Deliberation Room which has a door from the outside and another door leading directly into the Courtroom. I was questioned based on my answers to the questionnaire first by the Judge then by the Prosecuting Attorneys then by the Defence Attorneys. To make a long story short I was able to segue the dialogue and I declared that I am a strong believer in Jury Nullification. The Judge asked me to explain what Jury Nullification was so I gave a brief answer saying that I believe that the Jury has the right to judge the law as well as the facts. I made it clear that I did not really expect that to be a factor in the case at hand but I made it clear that if there was any conflict between the law and my conscience, my conscience would win hands down. I went back into the Jury Deliberation Room and a few minutes later the clerk came in and told me I was excused. That ended that particular Jury Duty. As a result of Jury Duty I missed out on some good trips.
I learned of a trip and saw a fairly decent air ticket and I had the 100$ voucher on Southwest so I booked an itinerary to Tulsa and a rental car was set up to Independence, Kansas. Reformation Day (better known to many as Halloween) came and I was off to LAX. I arrived and checked in and my bags weighed 47.5 and 46.0lbs. I cleared security after a queue and opted out and was patted down. My briefcase got additional screening. The total time from beginning of check in to clear of security was 24 minutes.
Southwest #2672 LAX-HOU B-737-800 Boarding Pass B26
Seat 29F Cruising altitude 39,000 feet Estimated flying time 2:40, actual 2:41
Depart: Gate 17A Scheduled 12h25, actual 12h32 Taxi: 5 minutes
Arrive: Gate 23 Scheduled 17h50, actual 17h22 Taxi: 5 minutes
We boarded via jetway. The plane was not totally full with a load of 134/175. It was announced it was in the 50'sF at HOU. Pushback was 7 minutes late and takeoff was to the west and we went overwater within 29 seconds. I saw the Venice and Santa Monica Piers. We turned south then east and at 0:04 I saw Catalina Island. At 0:09 we made landfall over Newport Beac. I saw Interstate 5, San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point at 0:10. I also saw the junction between Interstate 5 and the California 5 San Joaquin Hills Toll Road. I also saw the coast all the way down to Point Loma. At 0:14 we crossed Interstate 15 and I saw the south split of Interstates 15 and 215 in Murrieta and I also saw Temecula. At 0:18 I saw Borrego Springs, CA as well as smoke from fires in San Diego County. We went over the Salton Sea at 0:22 and I saw the Imperial Valley.
At 0:24 I got pretzels and Ritz Bits. At 0:25 I saw the Algodones Dunes. At 0:30 we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona airspace and I saw Yuma, AZ and vicinity to the distance. I saw Interstate 8 and Gila Bend, AZ at 0:42. I saw Interstate 10 and Eloy, AZ as well as Picacho Peak at 0:47. At 0:50 I saw Tucson to the distance. I got cup of soda at 0:51. I saw Interstate 10 and Bowie, AZ at 1:01. I saw San Simon, AZ at 1:03. I saw Road Forks, NM at 1:05 and at 1:06 I got second cup of soda. At 1:19 I saw Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, TX and the Sun Bowl at UTEP. I saw Van Horn, TX at 1:32. I saw the Interstate 10/20 split at 1:34 and I saw Balmorhea, TX at 1:36. At 1:51 I saw the Pecos River and Lake Amistad to the distance. I saw what looked to be some of the Texas Hill Country at 2:01. At 2:09 I saw San Antonio, TX and SAT. At 2:10 I saw Live Oak, TX.
I felt descent begin at 2:13. The seatbelt sign stayed on the entire flight. I saw the Gulf Coast to the distance at 2:18. At 2:23 I saw what I thought to be US59/Interstate 69 and the Brazos River. Descent was announced at 2:27. I saw Thompson, TX and the Power Plant there at 2:28. At 2:37 I saw Interstate 45 and Galveston Island to the distance. We turned north and I saw the San Jacinto Monument at La Porte on final approach. We landed to the northwest and arrived at the gate 28 minutes early. We deplaned via jetway. During my layover I had evening rations at
Wendys. I saw that
Pappadeaux and
Pappas Burgers were both very overpriced, in my opinion.
Southwest #960 HOU-TUL B-737-700 Boarding Pass A54
Seat 22A Cruising altitude 41,000 feet Estimated flying time 1:05, actual 1:05
Depart: Gate 41 Scheduled 20h05, actual 20h04 Taxi: 8 minutes
Arrive: Gate B1 Scheduled 21h35, actual 21h22 Taxi: 4 minutes
Reclaim checked bags 11-12 minutes after arrival
We boarded via jetway. The plane was not full with a load of 94/143 and I had an entire row to myself. Pushback was one minute early and we took off to the northwest and turned north. I saw the lights of downtown Houston. At 0:14 I got pretzels. At 0:22 I got cup of soda. At 0:25 I saw the lights of Dallas and the DFW Metroplex. I felt descent begin at 0:42. Descent was announced at 0:43 and it was announced it was 50F and clear skies at TUL. Seatbelt sign stayed on the entire flight. At 0:58 I saw the lights of downtown Tulsa. We made turn and landed north to south and arrived at gate 13 minutes early. We deplaned via jetway. I got my bags and due to a miscommunication the hotel shuttle van waited at the other end of the airport rather than come to where I was. I finally went to where the van was and got ride to hotel where I checked in and spent night in Tulsa, OK.