http://clevescene.com/issues/2003-11-26/feature.html/print.html

I just saw a story on the AOL Welcome screen, “Al-Qaida’s Set to Strike”, about how the US is giving more warning about AQ wanting to strike abroad. That’s old hat, though, I’m used to that. What bothered me was the photo.

It was a crowd of middle easterns, of unknown nationality, chanting and marching, guns and masks, etc. There were two large signs being held up by people.

One was a picture of bin Laden, the other, Saddam Hussein.

See what we’ve done? I know and (most of) you know that Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, even though that polls say that 60% of Americans think he did. The White House will (now) grudgingly say that he didn’t, even though that Cheney’s earlier words are probably what led people astray. In any case, I know, you know, and before this latest jaunt through the desert, they knew over there, in the middle east.

But now? If anything, it seems people have been galvanized in their anti-Americanism, and that the bin Laden and Hussein mythologies are already getting intermingled.

The US has done a good job at convincing people that Hussein was involved in 9/11 — and now, even people over there believe it…but for all the wrong reasons.

Almost makes one wonder if it was orchestrated, eh.

…we are asking the entire QA team to work at least one full day in the office this upcoming weekend. Your manager (or in some cases Lead tester) will be contacting you to determine a schedule of who will work each day.

Y’all can suck it. I will be out of town this weekend and the following week! Sorry you can’t get your own sh!t together!

Last meal in the condo: spaghetti sauce and american cheese on wheat bread, microwaved for 25 seconds to take the chill off… and a Dominion Ale.

I knew I shouldn’t have packed up all the silverware already.

I accepted a contract on the condo today.

Had the day off, but had to be out of the house. Decided I’d take some pictures. As it turned out, it seems a lot of the leaves are far more gone and fallen away than I’d realised. Anyway, got these ones alright. As usual, clickthrough for larger versions.

boy, I sure didn’t see that coming…

This doesn’t surprise me though… my only claim to fame in the College Quiz Bowl was recognising lyrics from “Toto” and “Simply Red”.

…especially if you live in the Sterling District of Loudoun County….

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE

I don’t think I like the band “Chevelle” very much. They sounds like straight-up TooL rip-offs, except for their lead singer.

He, of course, sounds like a Depeche Mode rip-off.

The other day my mind was wandering, and somehow I got to lamenting about the poor use of English grammar and spelling that is so readily apparent today. Along with this, though, I did note that it’s at least somewhat comforting that most of this stuff doesn’t get past the editors for larger deals. I mean, yeah, you see it in the newspaper sometimes, but based on the sheer volume of text in these publications, even if it is pretty dumb, it doesn’t surprise me to see something slip through once in a while.

On the other hand, you have professionally developed TV shows and commercials. I’m not talking about those grainy, faded, splotchy commercials your local cable company sells, but the real deal, put together by massive studios, on big budgets. In these, you rarely see anything out of place, grammar-wise, and obviously the spelling has been checked and double-checked. I don’t think I have ever seen a mistake in one of these spots…

…which is why, this week, it blew my mind to see the following small print in the footer of a new Jeep ad.

How much are they paying these guys again?

On a brighter note, I did bowl my highest game ever tonight, a 188. Too bad I blew it all in one game and couldn’t keep the others up to snuff, thus averaging a boring 126 over four games. That’s about par for me, but I wish I coulda gotten above 120 at least once more…

Well, I got my halloween scare…

I head into Herndon with kewlnonutz, her fiancee and 1nvrknoz for dinner. Driving back from Amphora, going down the road… I specifically remember seeing the speed limit sign of 30, and knowing that you’re an idiot if you drive dumb in herndon because of the cops, I wasn’t really anything above 34 or so.
I come to the intersection of Sterling road w/ Herndon Parkway, look down the road for traffic, make my right hand turn… I get about 25 yards down herndon parkway and cop lights come on. I am immediately completely befuddled. I couldn’t figure it out.

I pull over, roll down the window, officer asks for the license and reg… i have 1nvrknoz look for it, cuz it was on his side somewhere… the cop is like, “do you know why I pulled you over? ” and I was nervous and preoccupied trying to figure out just why he pulled me over. I had no idea at all, I couldn’t figure it out, meanwhile, i kept fumbling with words and stuff, so he asked me to get out of the car.. and we still hadn’t found the registration, but the cop said not to worry about it.

Talking w/ him on the sidewalk, still nervous, he had to tell me twice to take my hands outta my pockets, something I was doing as reflex. Then this conversation occurred.

Him: “did you see where you stopped at that intersection?”
Me: “uh… not precisely, but it seemed normal to me”
Him: “You stopped too far out”

Me: Wha…?
Him: Yeah, you were way out there, you were in the intersection”
Me (thinking): ain’t no way… if anything, I had to pull forward to see around that bend to check if anyone was coming down the road. Besides, he was behind me, how the hell would he know?

Me, (reiterating): “I really didn’t see that officer, it certainly felt like i was outside the intersection”
Him: “You also went down that road at a high rate of speed”

Me: Sir, I am certain I was not speeding–
Him: I didn’t say you were speeding, I said you were at a high rate of speed, I thought you were going to go right through that intersection
Me: ???

After that, he asked where I was coming from (Amphora), if I’d had anything to drink (no), where I was heading (home), and if I’d ever been arrested (no). Then he gave me my license and told me to go home.

Herndon cops are a bunch of dicks, really. This marks about the third time I’ve been in a car that was pulled over for no reason in that town.