I spent the better part of yesterday proudly serving my country and representing all of you, dear citizens. I'm talking about jury duty, which I seem to get roped into every couple of years -- making me quite familiar with the routine at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building downtown:
- Subzero temperatures. It's easy to spot veteran jurists such as myself. We're the ones bundled in winter jackets, mittens, and ear muffs.
- Lame movies. Last time it was Eddie Murphy in Daddy Day Care. This time around it was a miserable Matthew McConaughey movie -- or at least the snippet viewed seemed awful. I sat the film out in "the quiet room". Admittedly The Blind Side was a decent pick for the second feature, especially because I hadn't yet seen it.
- Underwhelming cuisine dished from a cafeteria line, supplemented by drowsy pre-made salads and narcoleptic sandwiches. Or maybe the movies just make me sleepy.
Normally I know to bring my own food or to procure something from
nearby restaurants. But this time, for the sake of journalism (or at
least something approximating journalism), I decided to put the
courthouse cuisine to the test. Or at least I decided to do so until I
saw the spaghetti & meatballs lunch special. Sorry, but I happen to
have a specific rule-of-thumb that says never order spaghetti &
meatballs in a courthouse cafeteria. We will have to declare it a mistrial.
Luckily there was an Au Bon Pain
on the first floor, which is six flights down but quite a step up (and I bet that's the
first time the words "luckily there was an Au Bon Pain" have ever been
written). I had a ham and swiss on a fresh ciabatta bread. To phrase it
understatedly, the ham wasn't of the highest grade available, but for
around seven dollars it wasn't a bad sandwich at all. Prices were reasonable across the board, so Au Bon Pain is found innocent of taking advantage of court-bound diners.
I made it to jury selection, but was not picked from the pool of
prospectives. Still, I learned quite a bit from my day in court,
including how I don't spend nearly enough afternoons sitting around
watching movies.
