And now what did you do TODAY?

[jvlgato]

Sorry Al. What Antonio said. I hope you find something new at work that makes it more interesting.

Great job Peter!

We dragged down the tree from the attic and hung ornaments.

Edited December 6, 2014 by jvlgato

[guzziguy]

Congrats to Peter and his parents!

 

Great tree, John!

[raffy]

^this!

[Augsburger]

Congratulations Peter!  Very Christmasie tree John.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Augsburger

[agile_one]

Good hustling, Peter, and nice tree, John and Anne.

[CarlSeibert]

Cleaned the carpet.

[Aimless1]

Full day hanging with the grand kids ages 5, 7 &10.  Helped us put up the Christmas tree and we watched Polar Express.  They can be a handful or angels depending on how they choose to be.   Today they were all angels.  Looking forward to a good time with them tomorrow.

[Hopstretch]

Woke up at 2:45 am for a good worry. Spent a few hours writing emails to try and do something about the things that were worrying me. Attempted to go back to sleep, failed. Made coffee, drank coffee, now sitting quietly trying not to wake anyone else up. Less than 8 hours of daylight today, blah. Hard frost, blah. Blah, blah.

[Voltron]

Sorry about the worries and the effects of same. Little daylight certainly can amplify the effects but at least you'll be up for all of it today. :-/

[Augsburger]

Hoping the worries went away and you are back dealing with the fun things in life.  If I were a doctor I would prescribe six more hours of sunshine, two liters of Bordeaux and a humongous steak.

[Hopstretch]

And I would be sure to seek your counsel regularly!

[Aimless1]

Hate nights like that Stretch.  May you rest well later.

[skullguise]

Welcome to my religion, Stretch.  Jews have a built-in worry gene....but hope things get more sleep-worthy for sure very soon!

 

Nice to see and hear about trees, well-behaved grand-kids, and more.

[blessingx]

^ Favorite Mike Nichols tidbit since his passing - Dustin Hoffman was convinced by Nichols to play The Graduates very WASPy character (in book) by saying "Well, maybe he's a Jew on the inside." Best film worried character ever (at least not played by Woody Allen).

Hope things calm down for you Stretch.

Edited December 7, 2014 by blessingx

[guzziguy]

Sorry for the worry, Andrew.  Maybe you can arrange a week or so in Capetown.  If not, maybe a SAD light would help things a bit.

[Grahame]

I think he has a trip arranged as a Christmas treat.  Maybe some of these advent calendars will help the waiting days fly by

 

or if stretch is into some home craft DIY

Edited December 7, 2014 by Grahame

[Absorbine_Sr]

Congrats Peter!

Sorry for the worries Stretch. Hope things have calmed for you.

[jp11801]

Congrats Peter!

Sorry for the worries Stretch. Hope things have calmed for you.

x2

[TMoney]

Tomorrow, after just short of two and a half months of waiting for it to arrive from Japan, I get to pick up my brand-new car. Damn, I'm excited! It'll be the first new car I've ever had.

[Dusty Chalk]

What's funny is, Stretch has probably long since forgotten come to terms with what to worry about, but is reminded every time this thread is bumped.

 

Lollers.

[blessingx]

Congrats. The Takeoka Jidosha Kogei T10?

[HeadphoneAddict]

I'm all freaked out by worries myself.

 

I spent most of Friday night (and Sat AM) staying awake and dealing with the Durham County Jail, after my daughter was arrested in the Eric Garner non-indictment protest (also Michael Brown protesters joined in).  She's a Duke pre-law student, minoring in global health and human rights. You guys would love her, she's nothing like me.

 

If this is TL;DR then stop here.

 

My daughter videotaped the event, and after the crowd of 300-400 people were ordered to disperse from the performing arts center about half of them moved on to another location, blocking the highway on their way.  Once there, without being ordered to disperse from the new location, the riot police arrived and blocked off both ends of the street. It was NOT a riot, it was a peaceful but disruptive protest for human rights.  

 

On her video the police silently moved in from both ends of the block, with only one small opening for a few people to squeeze through, still not giving the protestors any commands to comply with, nor responding to requests by people who wanted to leave and couldn't find the way out.  She says people asked "Am I being detained, or am I free to go?" and the police simply pushed them back into the corral. They weren't even read their rights, just given the silent treatment and pushed around.  Some people were beat, including one of her friends, but my daughter didn't catch that on tape.

 

She said she saw a path out in a gap in the police line and tried to leave, but there were too many people and the police closed off the one exit and arrested the last 31 people that they'd surrounded, which scared off the other 150 people who slipped through.  My daughter wasn't so lucky, and she ended up handcuffed against a police van and terrified in tears, as seen near the end of this ABC news video and report.

 

 http://abc11.com/video/embed/?pid=424487

 http://abc11.com/news/protesters-block-some-downtown-durham-streets/424487/

 

The press and police made it sound like this was a violent protest, when in fact there was no damage done to person or property, and it was NEVER violent. Any blood colored paint thrown on the street was water soluble, and she didn't do any of that since she was recording it.

 

The abc news report blatantly lied, saying a police cruiser was smashed, which did damage to the protest's reputation as peaceful, before they retracted the statement in writing as having been a mistake (they should update the video too). They also wrote that police found an explosive device and described what sounds like a molotov cocktail, which is actually rumored by the protestors to be the top end of a tiki torch which was laying on the ground in the nearby area.  

 

And, in the video it shows them being told to disperse at the beginning, but that was from the earlier protest outside of the performing arts center and not from the time my daughter was arrested. Many people joined the protest after that, and her video shows that they didn't make the demand again, so many people caught up in the second protest were never at the first one where the command to disperse was issued. Surprise.

 

The police also reported that many people came in from the outside of the area and manipulated the protest, when in fact almost all of the people from other states were Duke students who are attending school in NC, working in NC, and paying taxes there. My daughter was listed in the local newspaper as being one of the out of staters, since her driver's license is still from CO, even though she's lived in NC for 2.5 years and works there, paying state income taxes.

 

Bail was set at $2,000 each for over 30 people arrested, but the protesters who were not caught helped put up all of the cash to bond them out; so fortunately I didn't have chip in any cash and she was out of jail by 6AM Saturday.  They also have a pro-bo lawyer handling the case who volunteered to represent them all pro-bono, whom she will speak with tomorrow.  

 

Many of those arrested were not read their rights, some were subjected to police brutality, and many were also booked under an officer who didn't actually make their arrest, so they can't even confront their accuser. Thankfully they didn't erase the SD card in her camera, which should help with her lawyer. She's hoping she can get her case dropped.

 

The timing of this is terrible - It's finals week, and it's only one week before I fly out to Duke to drive back home with her.  Finals end on the 13th and she has to be completely moved out of the dorm by the 15th, but her 1st court date isn't until the 18th.  We were going to drive back on the 15th, and now our return trip is delayed and uncertain.  

 

She was then going to be away from Duke until next August, but may have to return for more court appearances, so they can use this as leverage against her to get her to plead guilty so she'd be free to travel without costly extra return flights.  It's a serious concern because In January she's leaving for NYC to launch her semester abroad in Human Right Studies (Nepal, Jordan, Chile), and she will be out of the country until next May.

 

I've already paid for her non-refundable flight to NYC, plus if the Judge doesn't let her go she will have pissed away another $25,000 in cash for non-refundable tuition and international airfare.  And if she doesn't attend full-time in school at a Duke approved institution she could lose her financial aid, meaning we'll also owe Duke almost $7,700 in addition to the $25,000 we paid to the external study abroad program!  

 

This could be devastating if things go the wrong way.

 

FML I need a drink...

Edited December 8, 2014 by HeadphoneAddict

[HeadphoneAddict]

I did a google search, and found that this other person blogged about the protest, with the same description of events as my daughter had told me, corroborating her story.  http://www.candidslice.com/riot-police-and-peaceful-protesters-a-die-in-in-durham/

[crappyjones123]

Blocking a highway is quite possibly the dumbest thing anyone protesting can do. I am not against the protests but blocking the highway has resulted in one of my classmates being forced to give birth in her car on Friday (the baby did not survive due to complications at birth) and 3 physicians not being able to get the ER on time, one of whom was a trauma surgeon. Are the protesters assuming responsibility for any lives put in unnecessary danger or those lost as a direct consequence of their actions? While I am not black, I have been on the receiving end of racist remarks and actions on more occasions than I care to count. Given the current climate, there's a very high likelihood of getting arrested at a protest if things get slightly out of hand. Blocking a street where traffic can at least be diverted one thing but blocking a highway is irresponsible regardless of how worthy the cause is. Lives have already been lost and more continue to be lost as a result of some very emotionally charged people acting irresponsibly. The right to peacefully protest is a constitutionally protected one but there is a time and more importantly a place for it. Highways are NOT it.

[roadtonowhere08]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Larry.  Here's to a quick (and cheap) resolution.  Having said that, I can not, for the life of me, understand why protesters want to block traffic, especially a freeway.  There are right ways and wrong ways to get people on your side.  If I was stuck on the freeway, I would be pissed.

 

While I will hold my thoughts on the Ferguson mess, the non-indictment in the Garner case is a goddamn travesty.  I know there are many good cops out there, but fuck, they could really use some better PR lately.

Edited December 8, 2014 by roadtonowhere08