Not Guilty.... but really guilty....

This past week I had the "opportunity" to serve on a criminal case. It was a sexual assault case, which made it rather uncomfortable, I must say.... Well it ended up that there was no real evidence much more that the testimonies of the two people and of course their stories were VERY different. It took almost two days of deliberations just for the jury to come to an agreement, because we all knew the guy was guilty, but the district attorney brought up very serious charges on him and there wasn't enough evidence to be "beyond a reasonable doubt" on all of the charges, and so according to the law, we were forced to acquit him. The only ones happy at the end of the trial were the defendant and his awful lawyer. Every juror said that they would have convicted him if they had tried him on a less specific law (like a more general sexual assault law). Well, this experience taught me that we really are innocent until proven guilty and that when charges are brought up on a person, the prosecutor should not aim too high on the charges and should choose a law were there is enough evidence to convict. It was kind of a downer too that I spent my anniversary on a jury and the case turned out bad... :b .. . .. .

Our Little Goalie

April here in Southern California is pretty cold... just ask Anabelle.

Wagon Time!

We came across a little wagon... Anabelle loved getting pulled around by dad, and dad got to release some pent up aggression from all of those sleepless nights....

Being a Dad... the greatest job I've ever had!

This past year has been tough, being my first year in grad school in a field I didn't study as an undergrad. However, since I just passed my quals a month ago and only have to do research this summer, this past month has been great. Since I go to the lab early in the morning and try to work for 8-10 hours each day 5-6 days each week, I've promised my family that I wouldn't work when I came home (something I had to do all the time when I was taking classes and TAing). Now everyday when I come home and play with Maria and Anabelle. Maria sometimes suggests that we go out as a family for an hour or two when I get home. The day we took this photo we went up to Scripps Lake (next to where my brother's family used to live) and played together at a park next to it. Anabelle and I had a blast going down the slide together and playing in the sand. I love being a dad!

Independence Day... The Day my Tripod Lost its Independence

We went to see the fireworks on the south end of Mission Bay, near Sea World on July 4th. I was excited to try some photo tricks with our camera, but once Anabelle saw it, she said "Thanks dad for the new toy!" For the rest of the night she ran around the park we were at with her BaBa (stuffed lamb) in one hand and her tripod in the other.... needless to say I got to take fewer photos than I hoped.

New Weeee!

Anabelle goes nuts whenever we walk by a slide, or weee as she calls them, so Maria couldn't resist buying her one when she found one for $20. We put it on our deck area, so now whenever we open the blinds we hear "WEEE!! WEEE!! WEEEEEE!!!! PWUEEESH!" (pwueeesh is how she asks please)