A break finally

Two days after reporting the C guy, heard a short conversation - C guy's father told him that police wanted to talk to him. Later the day, he finished (not exactly sure) the car and his customer came over and drove the car away. There's a big and extremely heavy axal on the side of the street, I could not move it at all - got very pissed and frustrated. There's also a big pile of dirt he used to cover engine oil in the street. The next day, the C guy somehow moved the axle away but left the dirt and some junk parts and garbage in the street. It has been a couple of days since any car (to be serviced) parked there, but I was worried that this is a temporary thing like before - a short break and another car came in waiting to be serviced, and then the same scenario repeats. However one thing is different from last time, the tool racks on his driveway has since disappeared, close to a week has gone by and no new car showed up - hope this will last a long long time, thank God.

Tortured

I have been sick and tired of the C guy doing his usual again and again - fixing cars in front of our house and making a mess of the neighbor, I have run out of options - call the city, call the police. I don't know what to do next, obviously I don't want to confront him directly knowing what will happen as he is a bully who would mess up other people's life without regard - I can only pray that God give me a break.

Called 311 once to report someone repairing repairing car in the street, the reply is that they could not do anything if no one is at the car, suggest that I call the city, so called San Jose city twice, once to report someone running a car repair business in the house, the next to report someone fixing car in the street with parts, tools, engine oil all over, nothing happened for 2 days.

2009 Baltic Cruise on Emerald Princess memo

Baltic Cruise 2009 - I

<2009/07/23>

San Jose, USA

SFO, USA

London, Britain

Copenhagen, Denmark

Don gave us a ride to SFO; we got there around 5:00 pm. Since we already got boarding pass through online check-in, we only need to drop off the luggage at the counter (no waiting in line), the lady there also helped us check-in our connecting flight from London to Copenhagen as it is not possible to do it online. As the flight has been delayed over an hour, four of us (we met one of Anita's classmate and her husband taking the same cruise) paced the concourse a while before sitting down to wait for our flight. We got one slice combo pizza and a Polish sausage from Costco in the morning to serve as our dinner.

We finally took off at 9:00 pm. The total flight time is about 10 hours (it is now 2009/07/24), but there was another delay when we got close to London Heathrow airport due to high volume air traffic, our plane circled 30 minutes before getting permission to land. Our connecting flight was scheduled to leave for Copenhagen at 4:45 pm (2009/07/24), but it is also delayed (we later found out it was late not because it's waiting for us but it was caused by rainstorm in Copenhagen as well as air traffic in Heathrow airport - this plane flies round trip between London and Copenhagen). After we landed at Heathrow airport, we rushed to terminal 3 where our connecting flight is, we had to pass another security check before entering terminal 3, this time our carry-on was thoroughly checked, each item is removed from the luggage, examined, swiped, and verified before we can put them back and move on, this took another 10 minutes, but luckily our connecting flight was still delayed - their status only shows gate number after they decide it is ready to board, it appears that they want o keep people in the lounge area where the stores are, this also made the lounge area like a bus terminal. We finally got to the gate (it was a really long walked - 20 minutes – and there wasn’t any people carrier) and boarded shortly after. However, the flight was once again delayed after we were all seated. There was a small incident after boarding, Anita and I were seated on different rows, mine is a window seat and there was a guy sitting next to me (the 5 seats on each row was arranged as 2+3 with isle in between, I was on the 3 side), the guy later moved to the isle when he found out no one was using it, this was perfect for me, but it was soon changed when the stewardess wanted to rearrange seats for a Moslem lady with 2 boys so they can sit together, two guys in our front were asked to move to back seats but one of the guys did not like window seat he was getting so he moved to the seat next to me, the mother and 2 boys than moved in the 3 vacant seats. But after 5 minutes, there was another problem, the carry-on the 3 brought could not fit under their seat (all overhead bins were full) but our row could fit so we switched seats, the two boys are like 7, 8 years old, they acted spoiled, making all kinds of noise and the mother did nothing to calm them, luckily this is a short flight (2 hours).

After one more hour delay, we finally took off at 6:40 pm. The wait on the plane wasn't too bad as the air-conditioning was kindly turned on.

The flight took only one hour and 25 minutes, much shorter than the scheduled two hours. It took us a while to figure out how to take train to Copenhagen city center - we asked several people on the platform and on the train, turned out it is only 3 stations away and pre-arrival announcement was made in English as well, one thing is that no one checked tickets, not at the airport where we purchased the tickets, not on the train, and not at the exit (there was no gate at the station), pure honorary system (this is a real civilized nation, wonder when Chinese can achieve this). Hauling luggage, carrying backpack, and walking to the hotel (Cabinn Hotel) in the rain was a bit challenging but we got there safely in 20 minutes (would have been 10 minutes if we didn’t have to ask around) – it is now 11:15 pm. The hotel room was really, really small, merely 10'x10' - even smaller than our cruise cabin, but it amazingly (and cleverly) packs everything in – a bunk bed with portable ladder, an all-purpose shower/wash basin/toilet bathroom, a bench, a couple of chairs, a closet, and a TV.

<2009/07/25>

Got up at 3:45 am after turning and tossing most of the night – since it has stopped raining, we went out and walked around a bit. Had breakfast (~$12 each) at 7:30 am, also packed some for lunch (again, there’s no one in the cafeteria checking if you paid for the meal (you pay at the counter in the lobby upstairs, since guests can go to the cafeteria directly from your room, taking either stairs or elevator, not sure if we are the only ones paid for it J). Bought family ticket for the train - a two-day pass including bus ride (it is cheaper even though we are only using it for one day), could have saved a bunch if knew this yesterday. Got to Roskilde (old capital) in 20 minutes (3 stops), visited Viking Museum and Cathedral church, stopped by local farmers market – there was a sudden heavy rain at time we were there, every patron ran for cover, took a video clip of this. Visited nearby farmers market, Anita bought a Viking ship facade plate for 50 Kronor. While we were in the farmers market, a sudden rainstorm temporarily disrupted the excitement of the crowd, everyone ran for cover, it lasted more than 5 minutes, since it's close to our regrouping time, we used the small umbrella and started walking toward the train station, met Elly and her husband, gave them the umbrella so they can enjoy the church and, possibly, farmers market. We walked back to where Elly's parents were and waited for Elly and her husband to finish their adventure. After riding the train back to Copenhagen central station, we went back to the hotel to retrieve the luggage (we stored them in the hotel locker, 2 for us and 5 for Elly family), while Elly' parents waited in Copenhagen city central station, four of us managed to get 7 luggage back to the train station.

A special note: while we were pondering how to get back to the hotel after visiting Viking museum (the bus we took goes around once every 30 minutes, and we are not sure if we are waiting at the correct stop), a local lady stopped and offered help, she was so enthusiastic and eager, she even offered to go home and get her car to give Elly's parents a ride back to Roskilde train station, but was kindly declined by the Elly’s - the lady was one of a kind, may be it was small town's inherent quality.

Going to the closest train station (Nordhavn) where Emerald Princess docked wasn't a big problem, but getting to the pier from the train station with luggage on foot presented some challenge – first, we have a total of 7 luggage plus 5 backpacks, secondly, it was raining, and we didn't know exactly where the pier was - we could see Emerald Princess in the distance but there’s no clear path leading to it. After asking everyone we met on the street, endured the ever heavier rain, plus a good deal of patience, we got to Emerald Princess check-in point at 3:10 pm, probably not the best time to check in (check-in recommendation was 1:00 pm) - long lines, especially bad when we are socking wet. But after ~20 minutes check-in process, we got our blue ID cards which we'll need to get on/off ship, open our cabin door, as well as purchasing anything on board (it linked to our credit card). We got to our cabin E322 (Emerald Princess deck 8) around 3:40. There was a fire drill at 5:15 to get passengers familiar with safety issues. Joined Anita's high school classmates in Michelangelo Dining Room for dinner, it was probably the best meal I had in years, the cold soup (Piña Colada something) and the Texas slow-cooked beef rib were very special and tasty. We were tired from jet lag and went back to our cabin to rest - call it the night at 9:00 pm.

<2009/07/26>

Woke up around 3:30, watched some TV, reviewed dinning options and decided to try the buffet (there were two buffet restaurants – Café Caribe and Horizon Court), they open the earliest - 5:00 and 6:00, respectively. It turned out that neither was very good, just ok for meal, and most of the dishes from them are the same. There may be too many cafeteria staff trying to help you, going there early seemed to escape this. Went back to our cabin and rested until joining the "PORT TALK: STOCKHOLM" at Princess Theatre, a good session on how to visit the city.

Had lunch at Da Vinci, service was good, but the Snapper wasn't too tasty - over cooked - probably should have added dessert to compensate.

I went back to the Princess Theatre to listen to PORT TALK: ST. PETERSBURG - "STORY OF AN IMPERIAL CITY", I kept dozing off through the talk, hope nobody I know noticed. Went back to our cabin to rest a little more.

Formal Night: Starts at 6:00 in Michelangelo Dining Room, put on my new sports jacket and non-matching pant plus polo shirt and tie - looked ok :) We were a little disappointed as the menu did not show high-end seafood (something like lobster), and the fish I ordered tasted so-so. Went see a musical show in Princess Theatre at 8:30, similar to that of Great America Theme Park- i.e. ok

.

Baltic Cruise 2009 - II

2009/07/27

Stockholm, Sweden

Since Stockholm is our first port of call, Anita and I went up to top decks after breakfast (plus some rest) to watch port approaching (better term?), although it was windy and chilly, we managed to experience some of the best views - scores and scores of islands passing by on the sides of the ship, the dream like houses, boats, and fresh water made photo taking effortless.

Although there was a huge crowd trying to get off the ship at the same time but it took only 25 minutes for us (those not taking Emerald Princess’s excursion package) to step on Stockholm pier – considered reasonable. We took the shuttle bus ($11 each) to the Royal Opera House just outside of the Old Town. Took a 15 minutes walk to the ferry ($11 each), which took us to Vasa Museum (on a small island) in 5 minutes.

Since we had been here before (1999), we quickly took some photos of the warship and got some souvenir then went to regroup location. After walking another 20 minutes, we made to City Hall, also the place where Nobel prizes were awarded each year.

Although I had no idea at first, but I realized that I have been here before (1999) after exploring outside the building. Took a few more photos. Walking back, we stopped by the Old Town to see a few famous vista points - Royal Palace (under renovation), Coronation Church, and World's Smallest Statue. After walking back to the bus stop, we boarded the shuttle bus and returned to the pier, embark Emerald Princess, and returned to our room, all these took only 20 minutes. Enjoyed some dance and music on deck 16 (pool and jacuzzi area) while waiting for the ship to leave Stockholm pier and head toward Helsinki, since it’s getting chilly, we decided that sitting in the Caribe Cafe and watching the view is much better - no disruption, warmer, and food is readily available. The ship turned around in the harbor and then exited the same way we came in. We decided to dine in Caribe Cafe, realized it was a brilliant idea since the variety and quality is actually better than Michelangelo or Da Vinci Dining Room. Went to bed after watching some Helsinki tour video.

<2009/07/28>

Got more out of watching "Port Talk: Helsinki" reruns on TV several times. Disembarkation was a snap - less than 5 minutes. The group took city bus #16 to Market Square, because we were a little behind other cruise passengers, we weren’t able to get on the first bus, plus that bus #16 is scheduled every 20 minutes, we waited more than 30 minutes before the next bus showed up - then there's the problem with the driver, he's not good in math, and he is running out of printer paper to print tickets, luckily all these were resolved within 10 minutes. The bus took us to Market Square in 15 minutes, we took the ferry to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, a small island south-east off Helsinki, built to be a fortress hosting the U-boat during WWII, although the tour map showed a number of points of interest, but the only thing interesting was the German U-boat (the only one left in the world). Due to the lack of information on exact boat schedule going back to Market Square, we found out that we won't be able to get on the city boat until 1:00 pm which is a waste of time so most of the group took a privately operated ferry (paid additional 4 Euros each) to get back to Market Square. Anita and I then visited Temppeliaukio Church (the Rock Church), National Museum, Uspenski Cathedral, the Cathedral, and, of course, the farmers market, all on foot. Rode bus # 16 (standing) back to the ship at about 4:15pm.

Baltic Cruise 2009 - III

<2009/07/29>

St. Petersburg, Russia

Russia is the only country requires visa on this trip, and traveling as a group is recommended, most people, if not all, joined some kind of excursion – this means everyone will have to get off ship to join their respective tour guides. As a result, disembarkation was a challenge as expected, and since those who purchased Emerald Princess Excursion package were to go on shore first, unfair, absolutely, but there appeared nothing we could do. We got off around 7:25 am (35 minutes later), passed Russian Custom around 7:45 and started the tour at 7:57 (we booked our own excursion from local travel agency, it’s much cheaper but still cost ~$400 per person for two days). First stop is the Academy of Fine Arts and Sphinx (real one from Egypt). As always, the bus stopped by a designated (by the tour guide) souvenir store for 20 minutes - the same one we stopped by 10 years ago – after one hour tour bus ride into St. Petersburg. After the souvenir store, our first destination was the Grand Palace (Summer Palace), again, we were here 10 years ago, since we took many photos that time, we weren't as disappointed when we found out that photo taking is no longer allowed. Our guide took us for a ground tour, this didn't happen the last time though. We took hydrofoil to Winter Palace right from the pier on the premise; the ride was about 40 minutes, we had lunch (we prepared last night) on the hydrofoil. Winter Palace is now National Art Museum (confirm the name!!), tons of paintings, sculptures, and many other artifacts are on display daily. Got back to the bus and rode to church on Sobornaya Square to see burial place of Peter the Great (and his wife, son?). Got back to the ship afterward.

Paper work requirements to St. Petersburg Excursion: In order to be allowed into St. Petersburg, Russia, one must have (1) Valid passport, (2) Two photo copies (one is actually enough) of passport - immigration officer may or may not want to keep them, just in case, (3) Tour ticket - booked on organized shore excursions, (4) Completed "Migration Card" - much like the form filled when entering the US, Full name, passport number, excursion company, time & period of stay. These 4 documents are to be presented to the Immigration officer, who will take half of the "Migration Card", return the other half, along with the passport photo copy, and issue an "immigration pass". The "immigration pass" and the second half of the "Migration Card" will be taken back upon exiting Russia.

<2009/07/30> (Day two of St. Petersburg excursion)

Got off ship and went through immigration like a breeze (since the ship stay docked last night, many people got on shore earlier).

First stop of the day was Catherine Palace, similar to the Winter Palace in design – detail skipped. Our tour guide took us, again, to another shopping break - her commission source - this kind of souvenir store serves free coffee, sweet wine, and Vodka, I went for Vodka, sweet wine and coffee, no purchase at all as a silent protest. Next stop was lunch; nothing good in the meal worth mentioning but they do have pretty waitress and handsome waiter. Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (nicknamed Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood) is probably the most beautiful church in St. Petersburg, but we were only given 5 minutes to take photos - shame on the tour guide. Neva river tour, interesting since this is my first time on a tour boat, looking at the same vista points from different angles. Got back to the ship after finishing the boat ride. Since we didn't like the way our guide (Helen) handle things, we gave her $10 tips - come to think of it, we should have given her much less to emphasize our displeasure.

Baltic Cruise 2009 - IV

<2009/07/31>

Tallinn Estonia, Capital of Estonia, has a medieval old town in its center, a very popular place for people all throughout the world. Also a harbor based town, cruise ships can dock right next to it, visitors from cruise ships can easily walk into the old town within 15 minutes. That's exactly what we did. Visited Church of the Holy Spirits, Town Hall, St. Nicholas Church, Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral, and The Parliament. Since we have visited most of the points of interest nearby, and I was having a terrible headache – it was very cold and windy (I was in shorts and T-shirt, no jacket) when walking from the pier to old town, I had been trying to hold it down with Chi but it didn't work too well, so I returned to the ship while Anita stopped by Sada Market to do some window shopping. I took a nap and had a pear, seemed to ease my headache a little.

Tried lunch at International Cafe, although there were only 4 selections free of additional charge, but they were more tasty than buffet - we'll likely try it more often.

After TFGH group photo session, we had another formal night. We experienced a rough ride going to Gdansk, Poland, it felt like continuous small earth quakes – lasted most of the night.

<2009/08/01>

Gdansk, Poland

Tried to get some sandwiches from "International Cafe" for lunch but it only carries sweets in the morning so we had to go back to Horizon Court for the same old stuff - bagel with smoked salmon. Still has a headache, but after struggling a while, I decided to go on shore regardless. Went and got an orange and a pear to help fight my cold symptom. As expected, getting off the ship took longer than did yesterday, but it was still fairly smooth. We (12) found a taxi (Caravan) that charges only $10 for 6 people - normal taxi sits 4 for $10, we arrived at Gdynia Glowna station in 5 minutes, gave the driver $12 for his good service and enthusiasm. The train to Gdansk is SKM system, fair is $9 Zloty (~=$4 dollars) round-trip, it took 32 minutes to get to Gdansk Glowny station, and 10 minutes walk to Ulica Dluga (Long Street) where most tourist attractions locate. We visited Amber Museum (Torture House), Arthur's Court, Neptune Fountain, Green Gate, St. Mary's Church, and Great Crane.

Anita got everything she planned to buy within 2 hours.

Baltic Cruise 2009 - V

<2009/08/02>

Warnemunde, Germany

This is a small but popular East Germany vacation town. The ship docked around 7:30 am. This is the longest day the ship docks in port - all the way until 10:00 pm. Most of the TFGH group are taking Berlin excursion, so the remaining four of us (Anita, Gloria's husband Peter, Gloria's sister KC, and myself) walked into Warnemunde on foot, making a right turn after exciting German custom office, then making a left turn at "Tourist Information" office and pass through an underpass of the train station. After a short stroll in the city, it was decided that Peter and I would continue walking the town then go back to the ship when we got tired, while Anita and Gloria's sister KC would leave for Rostok immediately. I got 10 Euros for beer. Since it's Sunday and around 10 am, most stores are either patron less or closed, and there appeared no one is drinking beer at this hour, so we walked around trying to find stores with customers sipping beer - so that we don't look too strange - we finally gave up after 10 minutes, entered one restaurant and asked to see their menu, voila,

Rostocker Pils: 2 Euros for 0.25L and 3 Euros for 0.4L. We each got one 0.4L

Rostoker Pils dark - enjoyed it and the view (we were sitting in a glass enclosed dinning area where boats, harbor, and other tourists are the scenery) for half an hour. Peter was interested in buying a couple of beer mugs but we could not find any that resembled the nice ones we drank in just now, so we went back to the ship. Had some salad and fruit for lunch and went back to E322. Anita and I went back on shore for a walk on the beach after she came back from Rostok.

<2009/08/03>

Helsingborg, Sweden

As anticipated, it was a cloudy day with light rain. Instead of the original 10:00 am arrival time, we were told that we’d be offloaded to tender (ship's life boat, used as transportation) to get on shore. First the group gathers than went to Princess Theatre to get tickets to the tender, we waited 10 minutes and boarded the tender, the process seemed organized, and the tender ride was smooth, we got on shore of Helsingborg, Sweden in 10 minutes. We walked 15 minutes to the ferry which carried us across the 3-mile channel to Helsingor, Demark, fare is 45 Kronor one way (for Anita) and 59 Kronor round trip (for me). The only place we are visiting here is the Kronborg Castle. A nice contrast to all other palaces we've seen so far, this one is anything but luxury. Anita, Gloria, and her sister KC continued their excursion to Copenhagen via train (they will return to the ship at Copenhagen, Denmark instead) while Peter, his two sons, and myself went back to the ship after visiting Kronborg Castle. I went to the Internet Cafe to try to check in our returning flight, after some struggle, I finally got in UA website, but the itinerary showed that we are going to Seattle, WA, I couldn't figure out what to do and had to log off the Internet as the charge meter kept going, even though I had accomplishing nothing, I was charged almost $14 in less than 5 minutes, it's outrageous! Went back to the room and started packing. Emerald Princess left Helsingborg, Sweden and arrived at Copenhagen, Denmark, Anita returned to the ship safely at around 9:00 pm, tired but still in good spirit. Our assigned disembarkation time was 9:25 am, a bit rush for our flight at 12:20, so we got it changed to 8:00 - in fact, almost everyone did just that.

Baltic Cruise 2009 - VI

08/04/2009

Copenhagen, Denmark - Disembarkation

It had been raining since we got back to Copenhagen, and occasionally pouring, but it got better in the morning, the ground is almost dry, our walk to the train station should be easier. Got up at 5:00 and had breakfast at 5:30, although the buffet food is pretty much the same stuff everyday, but it seemed more tasty this morning, possibly because this is the last meal on the ship. The disembarkation was so easy as there were absolutely no crowd at all. It took us 25 minutes to walk to the train station (Nordhavn), since Anita already bought a 2-day family ticket yesterday, we board the train to Central station then change to another train to the airport (Kastrup). Since we could not check-in on the ship last night and the plane was over booked, we got boarding passes without seat assignments, we were told that we'll get seat assignments at the gate one hour before taking off (or before boarding, not sure), but when we got there one hour before taking off, there's a long line waiting to cross the gate (only those with seat assignments can go through), when we got to the counter to get seat assignment, we were asked to wait, we got 23G and 23H after half an hour, not bad for adjacent window and aisle seats, it's worth the wait. This is the second SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) flight we took on this trip, the first one was from London to Copenhagen, and it was much like a 1960 style airplane seating and flight operation, but this one was fantastic, we simply could not believe what was transpiring in front of us. They actually provided complimentary wine and liquor for economy class passengers, this is something we have not seen in the last 10 years, I had a small bottle of Absolut Vodka before Dinner, and Anita asked for a bottle of red wine while I did a white wine, each came in a small but cute bottle (we brought home all three empty bottles for souvenir). There were so many items in the meal (rice with chicken, cracker, cheese, sweets, salad, and a couple of special but tasty buns) that we simply could not finish them and decided to take them home for breakfast instead. This is the best meal I had on any airplane ever (economy, that is)! We got to Washington D.C. airport after about 9 hours, after nearly 30 minutes waiting in line to pass immigration, we retrieved our luggage and went through security check point, drop off the luggage for continuing flight and walked 30 minutes to gate D26 - the longest walk I've ever experienced at any airport, it is unbelievable that there's no transportation of any kind, we had to stop and rest a bit half way through. We landed at SFO after 5 hours and 30 minutes. Our luggage did not show up at the claim area, after checking with the UA counter, they found out that there was nearly a dozen luggages missing but promised it will be delivered to us at home within 24 hours.

Don and husband Jihua picked us up – they had to wait with us at SFO because of the luggage issue for almost one hour.

If it was the former scenario then it was a really lousy job, no damage should have been done to the luggage even for security reason!!!!!! But I guess there is little we could do except being happy that it came back. >

2009 Movie Experience

- Up
- The Proposal
- Duplicity
- Mall Cop
- 500 days of Summer
- Julie and Julia
- Coco before Chanel
- The Hurt Locker
- District 9
- Food Inc.
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Inglorious Bastards
- Taking Woodstock

- Capitalism: A Love Story
- Michael Jackson's This Is It
- Up in the Air

Santa Clara County Superior Court Jury Duty - almost

On call this week for SCC Superior Court Jury duty. Since Monday is Labor Day, all potential jurors need to check 11-12 Tuesday. Sending Anita to SFO for 1:20pm flight back to Taiwan was to take only 40-50 minutes, due to a traffic condition on 101 near Mathilda, we were delayed by 20 minutes, her flight was ok but I didn't have enough time to go home and check jury status online (I later realized that there's a number I could've called to get the same info, but i simply wasn't thinking clearly at the time), so I stopped half way and asked Yung to check for me, luckily I was scheduled to check after 5:00 pm which I did and found out I need to report to Hall of Justice (190 W Hedding Street, San Jose) and park at Civic Center Parking Garage 8:30am Wednesday.

Got up at 7:00 and took care of everything before 7:45, got to the parking garage (8:10) and had no problem finding a space (the document says we need to park at dedicated jury parking space which I could not find and parking space is limited which is hard to believe). Enter the HOJ building after security check, reported at the counter and validated the parking ticket, went into the jury waiting room and WAIT (8:15).

A judge came into the waiting room and gave some general jury information - sacrifice, duty, understanding, possibility out of court settlement, short trial,.... We were called into court room 52 (9:25) to get ready for juror selection. Juror selection begins after everybody has sworn in (9:35). Judge Gregory Ward asked potential jurors to express concerns for serving as juror, about 20 people (out of 50) raised different concerns - physical condition, job related travel, financial hardship, illness,... Judge Ward excused 7 or 8 of the 20 people, we are officially in the selection process. 18 people were called to sit in the jury box (12 regular plus 6 backup). Judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney take turns questioning them, general questions, specific questions, and questions targeting specific individual were all used. The judge excused 2 jurors during his interview session - one due to past experience with the police, the one replacing him was also excused due to her instance on certain opinions. This session of the proceeding took over 3 hours, 4 jurors were excused by the prosecutor and 3 by the defense attorney at the conclusion of this session. As a result 7 more people from the pool were called upon, I am one of them, but lunch break was called before continuing with the proceeding.

I decided not to drive home even though there was one hour and 20 minutes before resuming court session. I bought a turkey sandwitch ($6.50) and consumed it in the car. rested a while than went back to juror waiting room (12:50), we were finally called back to the courtroom at 1:45. The judge announced that the case has been settled (no detail were given), all of us were excused.