courtside seat

I'm still on jury duty, but on lunch break. But with only three lunch places nearby, including the McDonald's, and no nearby wi-fi, lunch time is really frustrating. For all the lip service they pay to the importance of the jury process and respect for jurors, you think they would have coffee for less than $2 in the building and a wi-fi hotspot in the juror waiting room. There is a wi-fi service for the courthouse (which is some serious scary skanky by the way), but it is a monthly service for people who work here, and the day pass for those on jury duty is around $10. For fuck's sake, this is San Francisco, arguably the most wired city in the world. The City has a network in the building, is it too much to ask that they spring the $50 for an access point and open a secured port, or offer daily keys, for those doing their civil service. Honestly.

The commute down here is significantly more than my three blocks to work. I take the N to Civic Center then change to the 19 Polk (which oddly does not run down Polk Street), then walk the two blocks to the courthouse. This morning the line to get in was out the door and almost all the way down the block. Think airport security lines, but without x-ray machines, you don't have to take off your shoes, your bags get hand-checked, and with such thoroughness that I could stuff an attack dog and the Iraqi guard in my backpack and be passed through. And the attitude is lovely I hope the illusion of security is enough to prevent any of these whack jobs from bringing anything dangerous and acting out in there.

We're still in voir dire, but as Juror #10, it looks like I am here for a couple of weeks. I need to start brown-bagging something healthy, and start packing/freezing some coffee in the morning. SoMa this week is way hot, and not only is it warm and dry in the depressingly adorned courtroom, but the idea of sitting and paying rapt attention for two weeks without a cup of joe at hand (or the option of going to the bathroom as my bladder deems necessary) is equally uncomfortable. My apnea already makes me a little narcoleptic; I hope the litigants can keep this interesting enough to ensure consciousness without caffeine.

My break's over. I'll have to upload this later when I get a connection somewhere and backdate it to 1:14.