For the first time ever, I had jury duty yesterday. Since the circuit court is, of course, a branch of the government, the day went just like any government day would: lots of time spent doing nothing. Out of what ended up being 10 hours spent at the Broward County Courthouse, I'd say maybe 2 hours of that involved doing anything. The other eight hours were sitting around waiting.

I got put into a jury pool with 29 other folks for a cocaine trafficking trial (this is, after all, South Florida). The defense attorney seemed particularly concerned about my employment with the Religious Right (though he was careful not to call it that), and ultimately I was not one of the eight that were chosen (six jurors and two alternates). Ah well, I could tell the guy was guilty just by looking at him....

(I'm kidding, of course. But he probably was guilty. I mean, hey, who are we kidding here?)

One good thing came out of it. Because nothing ever goes according to plan in South Florida, the Marlins' World Series boat parade on the New River just outside the county courthouse got started about 1 1/2 hours late, so I was released just in time to pop out and see it. By far, the fan favorite was Ivan Rodriguez, who made a point of having his boat go closest to the shore on both sides of the river, so the fans could get up close with him. These guys were having a great time, and it's nice to see South Florida into anything.