FORT Koffee Klatch

[Newfherder]

Here I go again, butting in and off-topic . . .

Last Saturday, I had not one, but TWO very close lightning strikes. How close? On the first one, there was just the barest of pauses between the light and the sound. On the second, there was a perceptible delay, but of only a few tenths of a second. The odd thing was, I was on the very fringe of the storm, and could see blue sky almost overhead. I was working at the computer when the first one (figuratively) lifted me out of my chair; on the second, I was walking down the driveway to get the newspaper. It was about 20 minutes after the first strike, so I thought that the storm had surely passed--WRONG!! On the second strike, when I was outside, it felt like someone had run a pencil through the center of my heart, which I found to be an odd sensation. I'm still finding damage. My office copier/scanner/fax is fried, and so is my home answering machine. Three of my four phone lines (one home line, two office voice lines, and a dedicated fax line) were fried--those got fixed Thursday. Two of my indoor phone jacks got fried, and one face-plate was blown off of the wall. My battery-operated alarm clock lost its setting, and ended up about 5 hours out of whack. Yesterday, I found an electrical outlet with the face plate blown off. DAMN!! None of the computers were damaged, thank goodness.

The really, really odd part was that when I was (almost) struck out of the blue, I wasn't being as sacrilegious as usual

[famita]

Wow, Newf, talk about a wake-up call! Glad you're ok and hope your insurance takes care of any damage. Do you realize how lucky you are? You're definitely going to have to move into Gut's retirement home-we will need your luck!!

[Newfherder]

You're definitely going to have to move into Gut's retirement home-we will need your luck!!

You just want me to stand outside during storms to draw the lightning away from the house

I forgot one of the biggest oopsies from the storm. My upstairs air conditioner is knocked out of commission. There must be a grounding problem since the circuit breaker keeps popping. My ex-wife's soon-to-be-ex-husband has worked in heating and cooling, so maybe I can get some advice from him. We've finally hit 100° days, so it isn't an ideal time to be without AC.

[MRD]

Wow Newf, that is scary. I'm glad you're ok.

Having lived in the thunderstorm capital of the US, we've always been told, not to trust the fact that the sky may be blue in areas. That lightening can strike on the very fringes of a storm and often travel for miles away from the storm.

You must have great surge protectors on your computers.

I've only been close to a hit like that once. Lightening struck a pine tree and literally exploded it across the street from our house. I was in the living room and saw it, felt it, heard it. It was scary. No one was home at the house across the street and I called the fire department to come put out the tree. There was no rain at the time.

My husband saw a guy get struck by lightening when he was in the army. They were on field exercises. The lightening hit his dogtags, traveled through his body and blew out the zipper on his pants. The ONLY injury the guy had was that it left him sterile (and he got a 100% disability for that from the army) and he had a burn on his chest where his dog tags melted. He was lucky.

And so were you. Stay safe and out of storms.
And I hope you get the AC fixed soon. It's too hot to be without air conditioning.

[Ellen]

Regarding jury duty:
In San Diego County -- maybe in the rest of California as well? -- employers aren't required to compensate employees for jury time. And the court only pays a lousy $15 per day. None of the companies (all small and/or nonprofit) offered jury pay, so I had to apply to be excused under the financial hardship clause. Fifteen bucks a day -- who the hell are they kidding?

It's a shame, too. I know these things can be really boring, but I kind of wanted to serve jury duty because of the whole civic responsibility thing. And also, if you don't have intelligent people who can think critically on juries, who can think past the b******t of the better-paid lawyer, you end up with stupid verdicts as in the . . . hmmm . . . what might be a good example? . . . Oh, I don't know . . . O.J. and Michael Jackson?

[brunette trixie]

Newf That was close! I'm glad you're OK. That pencil across your heart thing sounds really creepy. On a lighter note, I can't wait until you talk about your ex-wife's other ex-husband. It sounds so complicated, like a soap opera. It's nice that you are all friendly and willing to help each other.


I had jury duty this past spring. I had no excuse not to show up, and my job does pay for the time you are at jury duty so I'm lucky that way. We had to be at the courthouse at 8:30am. They gave a little speech about this that and the other, and then nothing happened until 11:30am when they sent us to lunch and told us to be back by 1:30pm. When we got back from our loooong lunch we sat around for a while, and then they called some of us (me included) into an actual courtroom. I thought, oh crap, they're going to question us and then pick a jury. But, luckily for me, we were actually the group who got to leave early that day. They pulled us into another room before letting us go so the other potential jurors wouldn't know we were leaving and get jealous or upset. The best part is that they consider that time served, and I won't be called again for at least a year.

[Margaritaville]

Newf - what a close one! So glad you're okay - see, it pays to not be sacreligious sometimes!

Regarding jury duty:
In San Diego County -- maybe in the rest of California as well? -- employers aren't required to compensate employees for jury time. And the court only pays a lousy $15 per day. None of the companies (all small and/or nonprofit) offered jury pay, so I had to apply to be excused under the financial hardship clause. Fifteen bucks a day -- who the hell are they kidding?

I think that applies to all of California. My last employer changed their rules on compensation for jury duty every couple of years. Most recent was pretty bad - you will be paid for jury duty for up to 3 days of service, however, to receive that pay you must work any hours not served on the jury. For instance - if you were scheduled to work 12pm to 9pm that day - you had to serve jury duty from 9am to 4pm - then report to work for the remaining 4:15pm to 9pm. And if your schedule was 8am to 5pm - you had to come to work at 8am; leave in time to be at jury duty at 9am; then come back to work after being released from the court at 4pm. I don't know how this is legal to require your employees to put in such long days - but they are a major company in CA and get away with it. Also, in the county where I live - the courts will not consider financial hardship if you are married and your spouse works - even if you are the primary breadwinner or your household just cannot make it on one income for the duration of a long trial. Just not considered at all.

It's a shame, too. I know these things can be really boring, but I kind of wanted to serve jury duty because of the whole civic responsibility thing. And also, if you don't have intelligent people who can think critically on juries, who can think past the b******t of the better-paid lawyer, you end up with stupid verdicts as in the . . . hmmm . . . what might be a good example? . . . Oh, I don't know . . . O.J. and Michael Jackson?

I agree it is really a shame - I love the idea of civic responsiblity and would love the chance to "do my part" but NOT at the price of hurting my own family in the process. If it means that I have to give up salary to collect $15 per day to sit on a jury -- I know what decision I must make. Sad... There has got to be a better way.

[Amy Lee]

Have you guys ever claimed not to speak english in order not to serve?

[Missyboxers]

In NYC, you are paid $40 a day for jury duty if your company doesn't pay you, and at the minimum, it lasts two days. Not gonna lie, it was a nice break from work. And you can get out of it if your company is smaller than 6 people, IIRC, without penalty.

[canadian_angel]

Here I go again, butting in and off-topic . . .

Last Saturday, I had not one, but TWO very close lightning strikes. How close? On the first one, there was just the barest of pauses between the light and the sound. On the second, there was a perceptible delay, but of only a few tenths of a second. The odd thing was, I was on the very fringe of the storm, and could see blue sky almost overhead. I was working at the computer when the first one (figuratively) lifted me out of my chair; on the second, I was walking down the driveway to get the newspaper. It was about 20 minutes after the first strike, so I thought that the storm had surely passed--WRONG!! On the second strike, when I was outside, it felt like someone had run a pencil through the center of my heart, which I found to be an odd sensation. I'm still finding damage. My office copier/scanner/fax is fried, and so is my home answering machine. Three of my four phone lines (one home line, two office voice lines, and a dedicated fax line) were fried--those got fixed Thursday. Two of my indoor phone jacks got fried, and one face-plate was blown off of the wall. My battery-operated alarm clock lost its setting, and ended up about 5 hours out of whack. Yesterday, I found an electrical outlet with the face plate blown off. DAMN!! None of the computers were damaged, thank goodness.

The really, really odd part was that when I was (almost) struck out of the blue, I wasn't being as sacrilegious as usual

Oh wow, that is pretty scary. The other day here, there was a storm that was similar. The lighting and thunder were coming down virtually at the same time and there were tornado warnings and funnel clouds that had developed and touched down. They even had to come and shut the windows and turn me so my bed was facing the door and not the window. I've never seen nurses look so hustled while trying not to run to each room.