Mr. Toy's Mental Notes

I got the notice in the mail about a month ago. I was instructed to report for jury duty at 8:15am on September 2, 2008. Being a night owl, and a late sleeper, I was relieved to learn, when I made the required phone call the weekend before, that I didn't actually need to report until 12:30pm. I arrived in the cattle yard of the Monterey courthouse on time, but had the devil of a time trying to find a place to park. Me and a good 80-100 other potential jurors. I checked in with the clerk then waited with the crowd for another hour with nothing to do except use the rest room. The one I was directed to required an airport-style security check, which seemed to be more trouble than it was worth, so I decided to grin and bear it. Shortly thereafter I discovered a more easily acessible facility just steps away at the county health office. At 1:30 names were called and the herd was run through the metal detector, then prodded upstairs into a courtroom so crowded that many potential jurors ...

I have corrected a twelve year old sin of omission. The Monterey Peninsula Toy Box Visitors Guide finally has a page describing the many opportunities to enjoy sports & recreation in our beautiful area. Why has it taken so long to include such basic information in my website? Well, sports and recreation just aren't high priorities with me. I was the nerdy kid who was always picked last for the elementary school softball games. As for other sports, I had no interest whatsoever most of my life. But, hey, this website isn't just about me . Its about the community, and I realized , having lived three fourths of my life here, that I actually have picked up a decent amount of knowledge on the subject, even though I've participated in just a few these activities only a handful of times. So the page was launched earlier this week. I also performed a minor remodel of the visitors guide pages by adding a marbleized backdrop outside the text margins, similar to the dark blue b...