jury duty

When I was in college - probably 2003, I was summoned for jury duty. I got it postponed for when I would be home in the summer. I didn't mind having to do it - except that I was working at a Bagel store that had a small staff, and I never knew until the night before if I would have to go in or not, so it was a little tough from that aspect. (Plus not working = no paycheck for poor college student). I was called in one day and went through jury selection, but didn't get selected. Got called in the next day, went through jury selection, and got selected as a juror. I don't remember if the trial started that day or the next. But it was only 3 days total that I had to go in. The trial was only a day or day and a half, so not too bad. I can't imagine the people who get selected for big cases that take weeks or months. I was totally bored just sitting through one day.

Fast forward to 2009. Living in a different county. I get a letter summoning me for jury duty. My number was selected to report in the second to last day. So I went in and it was odd that I knew 2 other jurors there - one was the teacher I student taught for in college. Sat around in the waiting room for a few hours before I was chosen to go to a jury selection. I did not get selected for the trial. Guessing maybe because it was about a lady who was run off the road by a semi truck and I had been rear-ended by a semi in college...so they probably figured I'd be a little biased... So anyways, I was glad I didn't get selected - they were expecting the trial to take a few days to a week, which I didn't want to do. Plus I was like 8 weeks pregnant and needed to go to the bathroom frequently, so don't think I could have handled having to sit there all day.

So now we are in another county - different state completely and about 10 days ago, I got a letter in the mail summoning me for jury duty the week of April 23rd. So first I was like, seriously? Again??? 3rd time in 10 years? But I decided to request an excuse to get out of it. This stay at home mom wants to stay at home with my little guy - and the friends I have here who watch Gabe for me on occasion have their own kids and schedules, and it would be asking a lot to have them watch him for potentially 5 or more 10+ hour days.. (Plus the courthouse is over an hour away (one way) and I know they are supposed to reimburse for gas/mileage, but that's a lot of time on the road) So we faxed the request to be excused in last week.

Then, 2 days ago, I got another jury letter. At first I thought, shoot, they denied my request or want more information. But then I opened it and it was another jury summons for the week of April 30th. And then I thought, OK, well they denied my request but pushed my time back a week. But then I looked closer and realized that they had my name two different ways. The first one was to: Rietz, Katie Dyanne Sjodin. The second one was to: Sjodinrietz, Katie Dyanne.

So, now I'm really confused. Apparently I am somehow in the system under 2 names. How the heck did that happe???. And how it the world did I "randomly" get selected 2 weeks in a row??? Bizarre...  apparently I need to make some phone calls tomorrow to figure this out.... :-/