This week was “back to the real world week,” when the kids went back to school, I went back to work, and we started cleaning up the grand mess left over from the holidays.\u00c2\u00a0 Alpha’s still home, but other than that, we’ve been trying to be normal again.<\/p>\n
After the Observer<\/a> reported that two people — neither of them me — had picked up petitions for the two seats up for election in the school board race, I’ve been peppered with questions about whether I’m running again.<\/p>\n For the record, YES.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, I picked up my petition today, and am on the second page of signatures.<\/p>\n *\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0 *<\/p>\n After stopping by the election commission, I stayed and watched an interesting court case today.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never had much exposure to the legal system, and it’s something that every citizen ought to observe once in a while.<\/p>\n Today’s issue was not about life, death, or ensuring safety on the streets; it was a criminal contempt-of-court case against attorney Victoria Bowling, who went too far in challenging Judge April Meldrum in court.\u00c2\u00a0 The outcome was fair, I think; she was fined $1, and the fine was suspended — but the criminal conviction remains as a grim warning that the judge on the bench has the last word.<\/p>\n When he or she says “that’s enough,” it darn well better be the end.<\/p>\n Sure, there are bad judges.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes judges are wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 But there is a process for appeal, and that is the way our system works.<\/p>\n One thing I learned today is that legal folks say “the court” to refer to the person sitting on the bench; “contempt of court” is doing or saying anything in direct defiance of that person.\u00c2\u00a0 “If it please the court” means “if it pleases the judge.”<\/p>\n I can do without spending much time around attorneys or courtrooms, but it’s an education that every citizen should have.<\/p>\n *\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0 *<\/p>\n Back to the real world, indeed.\u00c2\u00a0 This week, I repaired the ductwork, then the garbage disposal, then the dishwasher.\u00c2\u00a0 The cat did in the ductwork, but someone — either my kids or my brother-in-law — put the better part of a full bowl of wild rice in the dishwasher (oh, gross was that a mess to clean out).\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know what they put down the disposal, but I fished out several pieces of mangled gray plastic.<\/p>\n And, they’ve been cramming truckloads of clothes in my washing machine again.\u00c2\u00a0 I can tell, because the water doesn’t drain completely when it’s been overstuffed.\u00c2\u00a0 That didn’t require any repair, but it was troublesome.<\/p>\n Lastly, Hubby fried his laptop Wednesday evening.\u00c2\u00a0 It wouldn’t charge (or run) off the AC adapter.\u00c2\u00a0 Since both of our laptops use the same 65 watt AC adapter, I let him charge his computer on mine overnight, thinking I could leave mine plugged in most of Thursday.\u00c2\u00a0 It charged just fine… but killed my adapter in the process.\u00c2\u00a0 Fortunately, I had a spare that would run the machine (but not charge the battery) until Dell could FedEx me a new one, which arrived today.<\/p>\n Thank goodness for the idiot-proof warranty.\u00c2\u00a0 For that matter, thank goodness for the idiot-proof warranty on Hubby’s machine; they’re sending out a technician to replace the motherboard (and AC adapter, and the plastic casing around the screen, and some other piddling plastic part that broke off).<\/p>\n Now, the kids have to tolerate him infringing on their desktop in the kitchen for a few days.<\/p>\n *\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0 *<\/p>\n My new stove arrives Tuesday morning.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week was “back to the real world week,” when the kids went back to school, I went back to work, and we started cleaning up the grand mess left over from the holidays.\u00c2\u00a0 Alpha’s still home, but other than … Continue reading