Cold ... it's all in the perspective!!

I received this weather alert by email a little while ago. It seems we have a wind chill advisory overnight ... however, in light of the unbelievably low temperatures in the north, I was certain it would bring a chuckle or a smile or .. 'they are just too spoiled' .. or simply, 'would you please shut up'?

WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO DROP TO BETWEEN 23 AND 28
OVER THE NATURE COAST AND BETWEEN 28 AND 35 ELSEWHERE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

RESIDENTS VENTURING OUT SHOULD DRESS WARMLY. SEVERAL LAYERS OF
CLOTHING WILL INSULATE YOU BETTER THAN A SINGLE COAT OR JACKET. A
WIND CHILL ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN WIND CHILL INDEX VALUES WILL
DROP TO 35 OR LOWER...EXCEPT 25 OR LOWER ACROSS THE NATURE COAST
AND SUMTER COUNTY.

Jury Duty!!! Well, sort of, that is .....

I have been summoned for jury duty twice ... thankfully only twice!! The first time was several years ago and was the day after a hurricane had brought tropical winds to our area and many were without power. So, the time went fairly quickly as we waited ... and waited ... and shared who had lost what during the storm..  and waited some more to find out if we were going to be chosen to serve on an actual jury. I almost held my breath every time they went through the 'roll call' of numbers (I became a number there rather than an actual person) wondering if I would be 'promoted' to the next level! This is one time I would rather not be promoted at all!!!

I was at the courthouse for approximately 3 to 4 hours that time and waited through about four or five 'roll calls' before hearing a really long roll call. I had been alerted that if that happened, it was probably the list of those who would not have to serve and could go home! Yeah! I was thrilled when my number was called.

I was summoned again recently and put in for the typical delay and was granted one with the stipulation that you can only have one. Well, they scheduled it for today so by 8:15 or so (the traffic was really crazy today with traffic lights that had to have added extra time for the other direction, I know), I arrived at the courthouse! There was a long line of people waiting to go through security and off to our left was a protester who was yelling (yes, yelling) all kinds of stuff that we should know but I was having difficulty following anything he said so tried to ignore him! The guy standing next to me told me the guy is there quite often!

Through security and on to the juror assembly room except I took the long way -- imagine that. I didn't remember it was right there on the third floor and by the time I had toured three other floors and finally made it back to where I should have been in the first place (right next to security), the video telling us all about being a juror had already started! Oh, well .. I have seen it before, been inside courtrooms so had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen.

They instruct us not to talk to much about what happens there (and I think that's primarily when you have been selected for a jury and you know that it is not a choice -- it is a must to keep your mouths shut) so I will simply say that I arrived at 8:30am in the assembly room and by 10:15am was on my merry way!! Yeah, hurray!!! I had been afraid that it would be my time to serve on a jury that could take days if not weeks! I headed to the cafe to get some coffee to celebrate and wait for Bob to pick me up. He had gone on to another appointment and I'm afraid I got done a little too soon!! So, I celebrated all alone -- oh, sorry -- brain isn't working -- I actually had a diet Pepsi -- the coffee was in the jury lounge during a break time. Hard to have a break when you are only there for less than two hours!! :) Bob arrived in good time and I was home soon!

So much for my day ....