The Verdict...

The trial last five weeks. The deliberations lasted two days. The newspaper articles about the case stated -- variously -- that we talked about the case for either one day or one hour. This is inaccurate. We received the case on a Thursday afternoon, deliberated briefly, and came back the following day.

That Friday, one of the jurors called out sick. After considerable pleading by the court staff, she agreed to come in that afternoon. We began deliberating again at about 1:30 p.m., and reached a verdict a little before 5 p.m.

In addition, the article stated that the plaintiffs, Jack Davis and his wife, were awarded $35.1 million. This is also inaccurate. We found the two defendants, Leslie Controls and Warren Pumps, each 7.1 percent liable for the Davis' injuries. To us, this meant the Davis family would receive about $5 million.

Finally, the article stated that a number of other entities, including the US Navy, would be responible for at least part of the $35.1 million figure. This is not true. Davis did claim that a number of other entities besides Leslie and Warren caused his mesothelioma. However, whether or not these entities settled had nothing to do with the jury's decision.

Other than that, the article is fine. Read it here.

A Month!

So, as of today, I will have been on jury service for a whole friggin' month! I really had no idea that answering my summons on Sept. 11 would led to a special type of terror: hours of repetitive testimony, countless delays due to unknown causes, delays because of late fellow jurors, having to drink endless cups of coffee to stay awake.... Man. 

However, we are scheduled to get the case today, meaning that our long nightmare is nearly over. It is a complicated case, however, so I imagine it will take a fair amount of time to work everything out. I figure I'm not allowed to go into much more detail - or, rather, I know I'm not allowed. Hizzoner Mooney has been making that part incredibly clear during pretty much every break, every lunch, every end-of-day speech. 

Strange and Possibly Foolish Behavior

Yes, I understand, I live in LA. As such, my purchase of a bottle of ErogLEAN AMP!! (TM) should probably surprise no one. I am generally able to ignore the deluge of adverts requesting, cajoling, demanding that I try one of the many can't-fail, idiot-proof, guaranteed-weight-loss programs, pills or pill-programs. 

But not today. After a rather long and difficult weekend, the details of which may or may not be shared (haha), I was feeling bloated and nasty. This, of course, was because I had spent a large portion of said weekend ingesting all manner of junk food. Mmm. 

I am still on jury duty... it will be a month on Friday. This is only relevant as I was let out today early, the details of which I suspect I am not able to share. (Once I am freed of my legal obligation to keep quiet, dear reader, I will spill all! It's quite dull, however, so don't hold your breath.) 

Anyhow, I used my free afternoon to go to the gym. Outside the gym is a health food store, selling the usual assortment of snake oils, weight gain powders, untested and unverified memory boosters, sexual endurance enhancers and... weight loss helpers! These pills, as I understand, do generally work. The problem, also as I understand, is that the weight lost is temporary, which is bad for the heart. 

These pills usually seem to involve some proprietary method of speeding ones metabolism. This is, usually, also rather bad for your heart. 

Throwing caution to the wind, I am going to take this regimen for the next few weeks and see what happens. 

I chose this particular brand (Ergolean Amp), as it promises to deliver without making you jittery. 

Interestingly, the directions state one should take between 1-4 pills up to three times a day. Each pill contains 140 mg of caffeine, which is the amount seen in a fairly strong cup of coffee. Hmm. Though it says one ought not take more than eight pills a day, even having six cups of coffee would probably make me jittery. Actually, I know it would. 

Anyhow, I took a single pill at 4:30 p.m. following my workout. I am feeling, not surprisingly, like I had a pretty strong cup of coffee. My head feels clear, I have the slight high that comes from caffeine, and I'm plugging away at the work that needs doing. 

I do feel I need to concentrate a bit harder than normal, else my thoughts fly away. This may be connected to the caffeine or, perhaps, to the proprietary blend of Ergolean AMP!! 

We'll see. I'll do my first weight-in tomorrow, with sporadic postings on my weight-loss, exercise regimen, food intake and whatever damn else I feel like writing about.

Nice Suit

I had a most enjoyable and random Hollywood experience last night: the movie premiere! Whoo!

Now, I had always figured that if I lived in Los Angeles long enough, I would become an adjunct member of "The Industry," a theory that has not, as yet, proved itself. However, I was able to attend the premiere of "The Darjeeling Limited," by dint of my friendship with Leslie, who works at The Hollywood Reporter. The Wes Anderson movie, which is pretty good, incidentally, stars Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, all of whom were in attendance. Neat. 

Leslie rather urgently whispered that Wilson was making his first public appearance following his recent suicide attempt. I dunno if a movie premiere constitutes a public appearance, judging from the security, tickets, metal detectors and the like. But, shucks, if public appearance means Wilson was sharing air with a bunch of people he didn't know (like myself), then it probably was. 

At the very least, Wilson did seem to have enough verve for a touch of ball-busting of Brody who was wearing a shiny silver number. While the stars of the show - including Natalie Portman, who starred in a short shown before the feature - were on stage, Wilson mouthed "nice suit" to Brody. 

Ahh. Very nice. Like I said, the movie was good, the wine was free, and the conversations were silly, somewhat vapid, but pleasant. There you go: my first Hollywood premiere.