Dinner with Fred

Today was a much better day at work. I actually think I sort of know what I'm doing. I've almost got the hang of this "tickling" cases thing. (Telneting into the state court system unix system and updating the trial court database, for those who are into that sort of technical jargon. Had to reset the telnet client to be green over black--the previous clerk's setting of pink on gray wasn't my favorite monochrome colors.)

I started the day by watching a suppression hearing. In the end, the judge made the right call, I think. It was interesting to watch, though. The defense attorney was pretty sharp, but overall the atmosphere was more relaxed and I don't think the best parts of the adversarial system were represented. Honestly, I think I could be a shark of an attorney up here. I don't know that I would have done a good enough job to get the evidence suppressed, but I would have torn apart the prosecutor with objections and the police officer witnesses wouldn't have been able to stump me so much.

Maybe that's just armchair quarterbacking. Or maybe I just had a really good litigation skills professor.

I cannot believe how many times both the rookie officer and the chief of police prefaced their answers with "to be honest with you." Isn't that a prime indication that someone is lying? To be fair, though, that was usually followed with "I don't remember," which was hurting their case. Also, it was interesting to see the rookie officer wearing a short-sleeve uniform with numerous tattoos showing. It was black-and-grey work, some tribal and skulls. Not high quality. But funny that the "standards" for officers seem a bit more relaxed here. I doubt you could get a job in Kentucky as a cop with artwork on your forearms.

I had a bunch of files on my desk this morning, some of which was leftover from yesterday. I hated to be bogged down so quickly, but it's hard to learn on the fly. Some of what I had to do involved calling different attorneys and state workers to get updates about stuff. I'm always a bit nervous about cold-calling people I don't know. I sucked it up and did it, though, and I got a lot of stuff cleared off the desk.

Samara came by at lunch, soaking wet from the rain. We walked down to the DMV (a one-woman operation) and got our Alaskan driver's licenses. Whoopee! Then I got a hot dog and chips at the gas station across the street for my lunch. Samara went to the school to fill out an application to work as an assistant for the special needs program.

This afternoon, I asked the Clerk of the Court, Tonya, if she was going to be leaving around 4:30, since there were 3 big boxes waiting for me at the post office. I was hoping she'd give me a ride home. Instead, she loans me her SUV. Apparently she leaves it unlocked with the keys in it at work. That's bush Alaska for you. So I went over to the post office and hit the buzzer at the back door. I loaded up my boxes, and took them home to Samara. We unloaded them, and she went back to work with me so we could walk home together.

She got a chance to meet Theresa, the judge's assistant, and Fred, the judge, which were the only two folks at the courthouse that she hadn't met yet. Fred invited us out for a beer, and we accepted. He took us up to the Windmill Grille, with a detour first to take a view of the harbor. We hadn't gone down the harbor road yet, and it's a beautiful view. Samara took some pictures.


Up at the Windmill Grille, on windmill hill, we sat down for a drink. Well, first we saw this car in the parking lot. Samara and I had to explain to Fred that the "2pac" on the back of this SUV is memorializing a dead California rapper.


Samara and Fred both had an Alaskan Amber and I had a Pepsi.


We chatted for a bit, and then Fred and I decided to take a risk on the special, an egg noodle pasta with meat sauce and zucchini. (They must have had one good zucchini at the market.) It was adequate. Samara shared some of mine. Fred was very gracious, and paid for our dinner. He also mentioned that he hadn't eaten at the place in 2 years, and that it had been closed for a while after a fire. He also mentioned that they had a liquor license, but not one to serve food. I guess they let stuff like that slide around here.

We met a few folks while we were eating. The school principal, Marilyn, introduced herself to Samara, and one of the teachers stopped by too. Then we also met Denise, who used to teach at the school. We also met Rose and Pete, who were similarly nice friends of Fred's. After Fred talked fish politics with Pete for a bit, we took off. (Pete apparently played a part in a movie about Pebble Mine, so he's a famous actor.)

Fred showed us our neighbor's house on the bluffs. A friend of his has a very nice house with a great view of the Nushagak Bay, where apparently you can see the beluga whales. I don't know if there's a particular season when they migrate, but they're not out there now, anyway.

So now we're back home again. I'm looking forward to Friday because I want to sleep in this weekend. Getting up at 7am still takes some getting used to. We'll probably talk a nice walk Saturday, if the weather is good. That evening there's a get-together at the courthouse for the unveiling of a Sam Fox mask (it's a piece of an art by a famous Yu'pik Eskimo artist). That's been my predecessor's pet project. So we'll probably go to that and meet some more people.

I don't know if Samara mentioned in her earlier post, but she has an interview on Tuesday at the school. So maybe she'll have a job soon. Let's hope so!