Aren't they beautiful?

These are sweet potato chips Ross made for our friends last night. He also whipped up a blue cheese and honey dip that was completely addictive.

Plus there was a comforting, filling, beef chili and fresh corn pudding. Oh. And pumpkin pie with real whipped cream.

This is what you miss when you're not here on Friday.

You also miss the warm fellowship and sometimes warmer discussions of friends who are also family. Don't get us started on Sarah Palin. Or teachers' salaries. Or epistemology. Or whatever got us all riled up last night.

I love our Friday nights.

Today we went to RV school. We signed up for this when we thought we'd be a lot closer to buying an RV about now. It was still helpful and interesting. We'll get there, but it may be a few months later than we thought.

My civics lesson.

I finished jury duty Wednesday, so now I'm free to say anything I want about the case.

It was quite interesting and it couldn't have been any easier. So all that dread about jury duty was totally wasted. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I told you that I wasn't on a jury for a trial, but for an inquest. An inquest is an investigation, in a way -- but the investigating is done. They present all the witnesses and evidence to us, and the jury comes to a decision about the facts of the case. Any time a police officer is involved in a death, there's an inquest.

This inquest was about a state trooper who had to shoot a man on the freeway last Christmas Day. The man got out of the car he was riding in, started pounding on the car behind his, ran onto the freeway, stopped traffic, took off his belt and waved it around hitting cars. His pants fell down. (People who called 911 said he was exposing himself, but that didn't seem to be the point -- he just appeared angry.) The first police officer on the scene shot him in the back with his tazer, but it didn't have any effect except maybe to enrage the man, who then charged the officer. They got into a scuffle where the man seemed to get the upper hand -- he grabbed the officer around the chest and hit him with his fist. The officer managed to break free, pulled his gun and shouted at the man to stop. Instead, the man charged him again and the officer shot and killed him.

There were a number of witnesses. We listened to half a dozen of them with very similar stories. The Department of Transportation cameras were turned on -- so we even saw video of the whole thing. It was all very, very thorough.

After we were dismissed, I looked up the story online and realized that what you'd read about it wouldn't be totally accurate. Keep that in mind when you read the newspaper!

I got my absentee ballot and voted today. So I'm feeling all civic duty-ish and self-congratulatory.

Please vote!

Jury duty.

I can't really say anything. I'm on jury duty. I'll have to get back to you in a week when they let me talk about it.

I will say this much. I'm on an inquest jury, not a criminal or civil trial jury. That seems a lot better to me. I don't have to decide whether someone is guilty. Whew.

The other thing that turns our life upside down is getting our hardwood floors refinished. We spent the weekend emptying out the living and dining rooms. It was nice to know it was possible to do in a weekend. (Although a lot of work.) Now I don't want to unpack it all. Can we just ship everything to Mexico?

Odds and ends.

Ross left on an overnight business trip this afternoon, so I'm doing a few odd jobs today. Like catch up with you!

I went to dragon boat practice yesterday morning, and -- since it's been nearly a month -- I'm very, very sore today. I take comfort that my soreness is all in my torso and not my shoulders. That means I must be doing it right. (Although I got a massage yesterday afternoon that focused on my neck and shoulders, so maybe that has something to do with my lack of soreness there.)

We were supposed to have a follow-up meeting with our realtor yesterday, but he canceled. He's done that a lot. I don't know if that means he's not excited or it's just (bad?) luck. I know we're not that excited right now. We keep thinking this is a bad time to sell -- but then we think, "Is it just going to get worse?" I'm quite sure that we won't be putting the house on the market until after the beginning of the year -- maybe spring or summer.

Ross started teaching a new class this morning on Signs, Symbols and Mysteries of Christianity. He showed a lot of photos he took on our vacation, since we went to a lot of Roman ruins with many Christian symbols on them.

That's everything about my odd weekend.