‘misc’ Category
Jury Duty
I got a Jury Duty notice in the mail recently. In Fairfax County, you have to serve (or at least be available) for at least two days during a two week period.
Monday the 17th I showed up at the courthouse at 8:15. The courthouse is brand new — it had just opened the previous week. They even have WiFi access for jurors to while away the time… as long as their computers don’t have built-in cameras, which mine does. I waited around until 11am with 80 or so other people, until an officer came in and called about half of us (but not me) to go with him for a trial. Well, around noon they all came back in… apparently the case was settled out of court, and we were all no longer needed.
Tomorrow is the second day of my two-week term, but according to the web site, my group isn’t needed, so I’m off the hook for at least the next three years.
Cutting it close
Nothing like sitting in a meeting at work (in Philly)… looking at my watch (well, at my blackberry in this case — I haven’t worn a watch in years) and seeing it’s 5:53… and looking at my e-mail confirmation for my Amtrak Acela train leaving the station at 6:07.
Quick goodbyes, elevator 10 floors down, find a Taxi, hit every red light in Philly, get to 30th Street Station, find a Kiosk, insert credit card, navigate menus to print internet-purchased ticket, get a boarding pass, find the right stairway, jump on train, doors close. Whew!
Of course it’s still not my favorite thing to lose an entire day (leave the house at 6:40am to get to Union Station in time for the 8am train, then get back to Union Station at 7:45pm to arrive home by around 8:30, but the train trip itself is actually pretty nice (about 97 minutes each way), but it is nice that HQ is reachable for day-trips.
Once the train is built-out to Reston (hahahahahahahah!)… I can’t even complete that sentence. When I moved here almost 13 years ago they were talking about building the train out to Reston. But even if they did, it would be so much more convenient: Drive to the Reston station, take the light rail to West Falls Church, switch trains and get on the metro, take that to Metro Center, change to a different train to Union Station, then get on Amtrack. Cake!
New mobile number
I have a new mobile phone number. My old number will be disconnected in a week. If you’re on Facebook, you can get my new mobile number from there. If not, send me an instant message or e-mail and I’ll get it to you.
Back to work
As many of you know already, my extended vacation is over, and I’m returning to the “real world”. I was off work for 9 months, and boy was it nice! This coming Monday (yes, Christmas Eve) will be my first day at Comcast Cable. Comcast is headquartered in Philadelphia, but they recently opened a small office in Northern Virginia, which is where I’ll be working. I’m building a new systems operations team here to run the voicemail system for the millions of Comcast telephone service customers. Even though I haven’t officially started yet, I’ve been spending the past few weeks recruiting and interviewing candidates to get a head start on building the Virginia operations team. I’m looking forward to getting started for real next week!
Sad news
Sheba passed away on Friday. She was 13 ½ years old. She had been generally healthy, but last week she started having problems walking, her belly was enlarged, and she had no energy. On Friday morning we took her to the emergency hospital, where they quickly diagnosed that she had a ruptured spleen. They were going to do surgery to remove the spleen, but X-rays and ultrasound showed that it had ruptured because of cancerous tumors — hemangiosarcoma — and that it had already spread to the liver and abdominal lining, so surgery was not going to save her. We spent some time with her, and were there when she was put to sleep. It’s been a tough weekend since we expect to see her in all her usual spots around the house, but we’re slowly adjusting. Kathie has also posted a longer blog entry about Sheba. I know a lot of people will miss her.
