Jury Duty - Day 2

Tuesday, July 8th
Day 2 of Jury Duty. Today I did not have to be at the courthouse until 2:15PM, to finish my day 2 of doing jury duty. After some starting and stopping, we were eventually released about 4PM. The trial that was needing a jury pool was an attempted murder case what was predicted to last about two and a half weeks. Wow, talk about dodging a bullet...no pun intended.

After leaving the courthouse, I remembered to visit the African Burial Grounds. The memorial was nice, but not very impressive. A large triangular structure connected to a circular in ground stone....Never mind, I'll just attach some photos. I was lucky to have arrived before a few school groups came in. The memorial was free. And there is a small (a very, very small) museum/visitor's center located in the lobby of the federal building that was built over the African burial ground. What surprised me was the the level of security that was available to get into the building. Having been through the metal detectors at the courthouse for the last couple of days, I was expecting the same. However, the metal detectors at the federal building were much more sensitive. I had to remove all...all metal that included my belt and my glasses. The rent-a-cop seem to take his job a bit too serious. I was standing behind an elderly European-American woman. The security officer had some difficulty getting the lady's bag's through the metal detector, then the conveyor belt jammed. She wasn't even going to the Burial Ground Center in the lobby. What brainiac thought up putting the Burial Ground Visitor's Center inside that federal building. I was a bit put off forced to wait on line to go through a metal detector just to see a few art pieces and a short summary of the building of the memorial. Oh, and picture taking of the artwork (commissioned for the Burial Memorial) are not allowed until a park's department rep was present. Oh, the memorial is managed by the national parks department. It was a bit strange seeing 3 or 4 parks department representatives flittering around a stone structure and a tiny corner of a lobby. But that's just me. I suppose a poorly designed (in my opinion) memorial is better than no memorial.

After the memorial, I was bored, but in a good mood, so I decided to walk a bit. I started walking north to midtown (about 1.4 miles according to Google Maps). On my walk while I was in Greenwich Village, I remembered the diner I had lunch in with a couple of my epals. I decided to eat at the diner since I didn't eat lunch. I ordered the deluxe hamburger with an order of onion rings. I also ordered 2 glasses of (which I assumed was) freshly squeezed orange juice. After the meal, I ordered apple pie a la mode. Since I was full, I thought I should walk more to try to walk some of the food off. Before I started walking again, I stopped off in the Barnes & Nobles Bookstore at the corner. I was just curious if they had any books on boxing. On an impulse, I bought one of the books:

Box Like the Pros by Smokin' Joe Frazier and William Dettloff


From B&N, I continued walking down 6th avenue. I walked to the movie theater on 34th street. I went to see The Incredible Hulk. The movie was entertaining. Not great. Not good, but it was entertaining. I thought the plot was weak. The actress who played Betty Ross, didn't seem believable as a scientist.

After the movie, I thought about seeing Hancock, but decided against it. I read the movie synopsis including plot points and plot twists, and thought the plot was stupid. I might see the movie, but now I'm not in any rush to see it.

I took the A train which should have gotten me back uptown in time to help me reach the MN train, but the A train stopped at 145th street for a little more than 10 minutes, so by the time I reached the Bronx, I arrived over the bridge into the Bronx just as the MN train was arriving. I missed the MN train, so I had to wait an hour for the next train. I was going to wait in MacDonald's with a Big Mac meal, but the service was too sloppy and slow. So many people behind the counter, but no one seems to be doing anything. I left MacD and went to the a local bodega and bought a pint of Haggen Daaz ice cream. I waited in the MN station with my ice cream and my DS9 book, "Twist of Faith". I finally got home about midnight.


Post Date - Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:15PM
Completion Date - Wednesday, July 9, 2008 11:03PM