Since my last post, so much has been happening. We've made it through the marching band season. It was really a hard season for the members. Some things occurred that had a negative impact on the band. They triumphantly put on their best faces and 'marched' on through the issues and came out as better people.

"I" made it through Senior night at the last home game. It was a very bitter-sweet time for me and my mother. It really is difficult to see my son become a man. When you have a child; you can never imagine them growing up. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined 18 years ago that I would be getting prepared to send my son out in the world.

Gus' natural diet was a failure. He would get better for a short period of time and then begin scratching again. The scratching and welts and sores became so bad that a trip to the vet was warranted. A round of steroids, antibiotics and antihistamines and specialized, hypoallergenic dog food and Gus is doing much better. He is still on the antihistamines but is down to one pill a day. I'm monitoring to see if that is sufficient. I have noticed more scratching but it could be my paranoia.

Work has its ups and downs. There are days that are more challenging than others. I'm learning to not sweat the small stuff but that doesn't always work. I do a lot of self talk. I have to remind myself that there are some things I just cannot change and that I have to accept. That is tough for a control freak like me. I'm looking more for the positive things and not the negative. This is really helping keep things in perspective.

The child and I have begun visiting colleges. We went to our first, VA Tech. He loved it. I keep having to tell him to keep things in perspective. He has only visited one college. There are many more to see.

Thanksgiving was really nice. We had just the three of us plus a friend from Alabama. Very small and nice.

We are slowly beginning to prepare for Christmas. My list keeps longer and longer and I'm getting a little overwhelmed. I can do an entire post on Christmas but will save my thoughts for another day.

Until next time...take care.

As Expected

As expected, once school started back the entries in the blog would become less and less. I'm doing good to get in one a week. It will probably keep going down from there.

With the start of the new year, I've tried to set personal goals for myself. Sure, most people set goals in January, but for teachers, our year 'begins' in August and is finished in June. My goals for this year are to pray often, temper my tongue, think first before I speak and be more compassionate yet firm. I don't think these are unrealistic and I honestly try to do these everyday anyway. I'm just going to make more effort in achieving them.

Jury Duty

Wow! What a rough week!!!!This week, teachers came back to school to a mess of technology, training, meetings and workshops. As the 'technology' person, I've had to try to meet the needs of the teachers in between my own required trainings and meetings. Then to top it all off, I was called to jury duty on Thursday. I felt pretty confident that I would not be called. I honestly felt that I wouldn't...After all, I'm educated and do know about how our judicial systems work. I am NOT a peer to most of these 'alleged' criminals. Boy was a surprised that I was chosen.

THE PROCESS:
Teaching Civics and feeling pretty well versed about our judicial system does NOT prepare you for the actual serving on a jury. I'm not sure anything can. My day started off pretty good. I was nervous because I wasn't sure where I was supposed to go. I got up at my usual time. I decided that I'd look professional. I wanted to present myself as the intelligent person I am...remember...I didn't think I'd be chosen because I am a professional. I head downtown to the City Courthouse and was met by 2 deputies. I was asked if I was there for jury duty and told where to go. Once I arrived, I had to give my name and was told where to sit. Walking into the court room, I couldn't help but wonder, "How much information do the attorneys and other officials know about me?" "Did they do a background check on me?" The defendant was brought in. He looked very sad and possibly in another situation was a nice person. The attorneys came in and then the judge. The judge introduced himself and the attorneys then described the process of juror selection. He read a list of questions in which we had to verbally answer yes or no. "If we were citizens of the Commonwealth, were we over the age of 18...." Then the defense attorney stood up and asked questions. "Did we know about this case?" "Did we have any relatives on the police force?" "Did we know any attorneys in Staunton or anywhere else?" "Did we have a family member the victim of a crime?" I answered yes to 2 questions and KNEW I would not be chosen. The man beside me was the victim's neighbor and knew all the people involved. The woman next to me is an alcoholic and asked to be dismissed because she could not render an impartial decision since alcohol was the defense's main explanation for the shooting. The questions went on for about an hour then the attorneys huddled together and submitted a list to the judge. One name was called, another, and another...I was almost home free! I had a 1 in 50 chance my name was going to be called!!!! The odds were in my favor. NOPE, "Karen Stinson" was called. I almost said, "You've got to be kidding!"

THE TRIAL:

OMG!! My brother has always told me that trials are NOTHING like they are on TV. TV gives us a false sense of how things should be. On TV everything moves fast and is packed with excitement and always a 'surprise'. Not in real life. Attorneys are dry and boring. The presentation of evidence is dry and boring. Police officers and forensic witnesses can't tell us what they saw. For example, questioning to the crime scene technician, "What does this photo indicate?" Answer:"It appears to be a red dot on the pillowcase." Question: "What is this mark on the wall?" Answer: "An indentation which is about an inch in diameter and 4ft from the ground." First, the red dot was blood, and the indentation was a bullet hole. BUT apparently, they can't tell us that. Jurors have to make that determination!!!! Ridiculous!

For two grueling days, we listened to witnesses testify. We listened to attorneys argue over stupid stuff and we were shuffled in and out of the court room as they continued to argue. It was actually comical. I was happy to see the defense doing something. Their defense was weak and we all felt that they could have done a better job. But we also suspected that we don't know what evidence was allowed to be submitted and what evidence was not permitted. That is the thing about court. Jurors don't hear all the evidence and we have to base our decision on what we have.

THE VERDICT:

Wow is all I can say. This part of jury duty hits you like a ton of bricks. I NOW have to make the determination if this man is guilty or innocent. That is pretty powerful. Think about it. I now have to decide the future of this other human being. As I said earlier. In another place and time, this man might have been a nice guy but unfortunately, his actions and bad choices caused a horrible tragedy.

First, the defense wanted us to decide that this man was soooo drunk he could not make any rational decisions. The evidence just didn't support that. Yes, he was drunk. Yes, I believe he is an alcoholic. Yes, all the victims were drunk too. Yes, two of the victims were convicted felons. BUT, the defendant was not unrational as defined by the State of Virginia. He had to have been drop down, sloppy drunk, staggering. The defendant was not. So based on the evidence, we dismissed the defense's claim that the defendant didn't know what he as doing. Second, the defense wanted us to find that the defendant was protecting himself because he had just been beat up. True, this younger boy had beat him up but the evidence proved that the altercation was over. The 2 brothers were in the kitchen cleaning up. The defendant was going out to his car to look for his cell phone to call someone to come pick him up. While out there he found a pistol and decided to take it back in the house "for protection". Here is where the Commonwealth wanted us to decide that this was premeditated murder. I struggled with this thinking that premeditated included a long period of time such as a day. NOPE, not according to the directions the judge gave us. Premeditation has no time frame. The defendant went out to his car, found the gun, went back into the house and went to the kitchen and shot the victim in the back of his head. We found him guilty of 1st Degree Murder as well as 3 other charges.

Here is where the emotion comes in. After we made this decision, I wanted to throw up. I have NO reasonable doubt it was premeditated...and I do NOT regret my decision but it was still tough! I started shaking uncontrollably as an emotional release and didn't stop until we left. I shook as the verdict was being read and tried hard to hide it.

THE SENTENCING:

Believe it or not, this is the part of the process where, we jurors actually argued. During the verdict stage, we all rationally poured over the evidence and testimony. We discussed the evidence like normal human beings. The verdict was not as nice. We didn't yell at each other but we had some pretty strong opinions. Although we did not believe that the defendant was so drunk he was not able to make rational decisions, we do believe that alcohol was a factor in all of this. We believed that every one in that house was culpable for what occurred. So how could we balance the severity of the crime with a fair sentence. We came to a consensus and recommended 40 years in addition to 5 years for attempting to wound the brother, 3 years (max. allowed by the state) for using a gun in a murder, and 5 years for unlawful wounding (shooting the mother/girlfriend). Thankfully he must serve the full 40 years. If he every gets out of jail he would be 108 if the sentences run consecutively. If they are concurrent, he would be 98 and possibly no threat to society.

CONCLUSIONS:
Court is not fun no matter how you slice it or which side you sit on. Jury duty is emotional and stressful. Words just cannot explain the feelings you have. It is a huge responsibility which I'm not sure we really understand until we are there. We think, "Yeah, it is cut and dry...this person is as guilty as sin." It isn't. But thankfully, there are guidelines to follow and evidence and testimony to view. I now have a better appreciation of the the struggle the Casey Anthony jury went through. The evidence just wasn't there to support her guilt. Believe me, those jurors did NOT make their decision lightly. Gosh I'm tired!

First Days Back at School

I began school Monday. I start back before the teachers come. Makes for a very short summer. I'm already feeling stressed. Just one week before teachers come and I have so much to do and not enough time to do it!

Thankfully, my school was able to get out from under the clutches of the Virginia Information and Technology Agency. This is a GOOD thing. Unfortunately, our computers and network is 'broken'. We have to rebuild everything from the ground up. In an effort to preserve some computers on campus, we now have shared computers in labs. This is not ideal but it is temporary. Problem is, nothing is as it was when we left. We've been able to remove many of the computers in the labs and replace them with 'better' computers which we moved from classrooms. So for 2 days, I've been in one lab trying to get a handle on what needed to be done. Too overwhelming!

I also have to plan for a presentation on Monday, fix PowerSchool problems and try not to loose it!!!

I just read a really good post about keeping things in perspective. I've got to remember to take care of myself, exercise and eat healthy and not let the stress of school get the best of me.

So here is off to a busy start!

This and That

Wow, it has been awhile since I've written. I've been pretty busy. A week ago, my aunt and cousin flew in from Georgia to spend the week. My cousin comes every July and I know my mother really likes having her here. My mom gets to do things that she knows I wouldn't do!!! It is a refreshing change for her. My cousin also really likes to cook and has the opportunity to try new things. I'm pretty set in my ways and don't venture to far from my favorite dishes! One year, my cousin decided to cook some recipes from Julia Child's cookbook. My word it was fantastic! This was also way before I had my bariatric surgery and didn't care that the food had a pound of butter!!!!

This year, my cousin asked her mother to come along too. Mom took them on the usual local tourists things and then the four of us went to DC and spent the night. I really had difficulty in DC this time. I don't typically have a problem getting around since I've been there many times but for some reason, I just could not get my bearings. It also didn't help that the Metro station that we usually use was closed for repair. That just threw me off. The most enjoyable part of the trip for me was going to the Episcopal church's National Cathedral for church. It just felt right. I miss church. I felt closer to dad whom I still miss terribly.

My summer if finally winding down and I look back and try to think where has it gone? I actually have not had time to become bored. The rest of this week and next week, I plan upon doing absolutely nothing but enjoying my last few days!!!! After all, school will be here soon enough and I will be complaining for a break! Take care until next time.

Checking In-Gus's Diet

 It has been about a month now that I took Gus off every pre-manufactured dog food and put him on a grain free diet. Wow...what a difference! I think the biggest thing is that he is actually still interested in his food! When he hears me pull out the freeze dried mix he comes running to the kitchen knowing that in about 15 min., he'll get fed. He NEVER did that when I fed him kibble. His coat is also so shinny and soft. The oil that I put in the mix is really working too.

The hardest part of this diet is making the food. Maybe I shouldn't use the word 'hard'. Hard is not correct. It takes more time to prepare his dinner. Since the mix is freeze dried, I have to boil 6 ounces of water and pour that over the mix (veggies). Then while that sits, I add the oil and a multivitamin. Next I either brown some ground beef or turkey and drain any fat off of it. By now, the veg-mix has become the consistency of oatmeal. It also looks very good. There are peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and lots other vegetables. I add 8-10 ounces of meat and stir. Then I place it in the refrigerator so that it will cool off. Finally, I separate the food into 2 servings, one for the morning and one for the evening. I also have to rotate meats weekly. This week, Gus had beef, next week he'll have chicken. The following I'll do tuna fish, then turkey. So each week has to be a different meat. Sometimes it is difficult to wrap my head around! But I know that it is for best. He is soooooo much more happy and itch free...for the most part! :)

Technology

Ok...I DID IT! As a technology person, I really do fight technology. Not that I don't love it, after all, it is my job, I just get tired of being plugged in all the time. It is so nice to disconnect. I have a Kindle, a cell phone, a laptop, and an iPod Touch. What more could I possibly need? Well, for about a year now, I've had that itching, gnawing feeling. I've been toying with getting an iPad or an iPhone.

My son is a die hard Apple hater and I am a die hard Apple lover. I love their products! So when I mentioned that I wanted either an iPad or an iPhone, he went ballistic. Why do you want one? The ____ (you fill in the blank) is better. Apple is &^%$#! It is a no win battle. I just ignore him and do what I want. I like to see him mad :).

So this itch became more pronounced last week while in Chicago. It seemed as though everyone had a smart phone while I was still using a standard talk and text phone. The itch became a pounding this past Wednesday and I bit the bullet and went down to the Verizon store and bought an iPhone. It was not an impulse decision. I had been thinking about it for ever! I told the sales person, a real jerk, what I wanted. Naturally, he tried to sell me and my son more than what we needed. My son was getting a new phone too. He got an Android which is very fitting for him. It looks very masculine and gives him the ability to change up everything on it. It is actually a good thing that we purchased our phones when we did. Yesterday, Verizon changed their packages from unlimited data plans to a tiered plan which is much more expensive. In total, my son and I walked out of the Verizon store $400.00 lighter but both very happy with our purchases.