An online journal is an opportunity to see what someone is thinking about at a given point in time. As such, welcome to my mind. This is my life - the world as seen through my eyes, and interpreted with my mind. There's always something going on in my life. It doesn't matter where I am - at home, in Washington DC, otherwise out and about, or at work. Something's happening. And I can share my thoughts and feelings about it with you. After all, what's the point of life if you can't share it with someone?
Scientologists don't scare me!
I finally got the opportunity to scan the letter, and so here is the Church of Scientology's effort to try and silence me, reprinted here in its entirety:
So as you can see, how much of this letter applies to me? Maybe my name and address (the latter which I have redacted here), and the next to last paragraph. And all of that information is not that hard to find if you know where to look. Heck, I have a picture of myself from Operation Sea Arrrgh posted on the Web site. And I looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. The rest of it has nothing whatsoever to do with me. Does anyone even have any hard proof that the acts described there are even true, and if actually true, does anyone have any hard proof that the acts described are by someone actually connected to Anonymous? I'll bet they really have no idea.
So all in all, what do we say about the Scilons' attempt to intimidate me by calling me a terrorist to try and stop me from participating in events with Anonymous? EPIC FAIL, that's what. I didn't even get the "brief documentary" that they allegedly enclosed, for that matter. All I got was the two-page letter, rolled up and placed at my door. In fact, I'd say I've gotten more "epic lulz" out of this than I've gotten in a long time, and I've been getting some serious mileage out of this, using the whole concept of the letter to educate folks about the Church of Scientology's "Fair Game" policy, which appears to be alive and well no matter what the Scilons say. And once again, it completely validates Project Chanology, which is Anonymous's campaign against Scientology. The Scilons are hearing us loud and clear, and as you can tell, they don't like what they are hearing.
This is perhaps the weirdest thing I've heard come out of Metro's door speakers ever:
This is Alstom 6047, which I had on the Yellow Line on the way to the Over 9000 Anon March afterparty in Crystal City. The usual WMATA door messages are being played here, but they're at least twice as fast as usual. It makes Randi Miller sound like one of the Chipmunks rather than the serious door-chime voice that Metro was going for. And as you can tell, some of the passengers on the train were thoroughly amused by it.
The people I was riding with wondered if it's a matter of someone tampering with the recording or what have you, but actually, I'd guess it's just something where someone screwed up the programming somewhere in programming the chime into that particular car. I would be interested to find out how the door announcements are programmed in, and what format the audio is in. And especially since I had previously assumed that the door announcement was done across the pair, but considering that 6046 was playing the correct announcement, that might not be the case.
You know, though, I am wondering if, once these chimes have a few more years on them, whether Metro will introduce an alternate version of them on new cars and cars that go through rehab. Recall that midway through the life of the Sandy Carroll door chimes, Metro introduced an alternate version of the announcement, first on the CAF cars, and then on the Breda cars as they were rehabbed. The way the words were spoken was different, and the two-tone chime was a higher pitch, while the Rohrs and non-rehabbed Bredas kept the original version.
Song: Of course, the chimes...
*ding ding* "Doors opening! Step back to allow customers to exit. When boarding, please move to the center of the car."
*dingdongdingdong* "Step back, doors closing!"
*dingdingdingding* "Step back to allow the doors to close."
Quote: By the way, a lot of people have complimented me on my imitation of the door voice. Who knows... maybe I could be the next voice of Metro when Metro next decides to update their door announcement?
After the final day of Plone training at American University, I rode down to Dupont Circle - not to go to the office, mind you. Anonymous was holding a "flash raid" ahead of tomorrow's "Over 9000 Anon March" in front of the Lincoln Memorial. That usually involves a handful of people in Guy Fawkes masks or other kinds of masks protesting Scientology. They're called "flash raids" because they're quick and often called on very short notice.
So leaving the house this morning, I grabbed a hat and a bandanna and stuck it in my bag for the flash raid. However, I had a revelation around 2:00. What's the point of my masking up for this one? The reason why participants in Anonymous wear masks in the first place is to protect against the Church of Scientology's practicing Fair Game on them by concealing their identity. However, I received the cease-and-desist letter from the Church of Scientology's lawyers. So they know about me. I'm "outed". They know I'm part of Anonymous. So what's the point of masking up? I didn't see one, so the bandanna and hat stayed packed.
I also got to take a moment to celebrate my cease-and-desist letter with another anon who goes by "Heidi", who also got a cease-and-desist letter. Same law firm, and same letter except for the last two paragraphs. And we had a quick strategizing session on how to capitalize on that. What we came up with was a little play on the classic Anonymous sign that reads, "Ask me why I'm wearing a mask." We went unmasked, and our signs said, "Ask me why I'm NOT wearing a mask." Check it out:
And quite a number of people took our lead and asked us why we weren't wearing masks at the Anonymous raid. And we got to explain about Scientology's "Fair Game" policy to them, and how we both got cease-and-desist letters from Scientology's lawyers. And of course we handed out flyers for tomorrow's big raid on the Mall.
My favorite was when a father and his two children approached me. The little boy asked the question the sign was requesting, about why I was not wearing a mask. I got to explain to him what "Fair Game" was all about and the cease-and-desist letter. I also pointed out the other person who received a letter. Then the little girl asked me why I was wearing the tie-dye shirt. That one kinda stumped me for a second, because I wasn't expecting it. I just told her I that didn't really plan that, and it was just what I happened to pull out of the closet this morning.
So all in all, it was a great flash raid! We had a great time, and we put a great new twist on the "Ask me why I'm wearing a mask" concept, considering the circumstances. And I hope to see everyone at the "Over 9000 Anon March" at the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow at 11:00 AM. Hoping for EPIC WIN tomorrow!
Quote: By the way, I've had a flurry of requests from a lot of people who want to see my cease-and-desist letter. You will. I'm going to scan it to a PDF and post it up.
You know, I'd wanted for years to have a life in and around Washington. Now, I'm going to be glad to spend a week away from it next month.
Yeah, it's time for a change of scenery. After all, I've been living in Silver Spring and working in Washington for a year and two months now. Amazing how time flies. But yeah, in a little more than a month, I'm taking my vacation! I'm going to Virginia Beach, and I'm excited. You do realize I've not been on a get-out-of-town vacation in three years, don't you. The last time I went was in 2005.
This one ought to be a lot of fun, though. Usually when I go to Virginia Beach, I go by myself, and tend to concentrate on my photography, with a bit of a change in scenery. And this year... new equipment! While we certainly miss Big Mavica, its optical zoom sucked. And that was a real bummer in 2004 and 2005 when I hit the beach with it, and I couldn't get close-in ocean shots from the hotel balcony. Now mind you, I think Atlantic Sunrise in 2004 was a great photo set. But I didn't get a lot of the close-in detail that I really enjoyed in Sunrise at Virginia Beach from 2000. The close-ups really made the earlier set special, and technical limitations prevented me from doing that again in 2004. Now I've got a 12x optical zoom, and different nighttime settings, so we'll see what happens this time around.
But what really excites me is the idea of using my waterproof "duckie" camera. I'd love to take that one out into the surf and see what I can get. After all, the thing is waterproof, so we might as well make good use of it. Big Mavica, to quote Fenton Crackshell from Ducktales, was "more gizmo than duck" when it came to water. So taking "duckie" in the ocean really ought to be fun. Might even cause me to spend a little more time in the ocean than I did last time. I think last time, out of four days, I spent a grand total of three hours in the water. But yeah, with "duckie", it ought to be fun.
Song: Stuff from Captain Eo (Part 1 and Part 2), believe it or not. Let's all thank our lucky stars that Michael Jackson didn't pursue an acting career.
Quote: By the way, ever wondered why I call my waterproof camera "duckie"? Blame Isis for that. She recommended that I get the waterproof Vivitar when I wrecked Big Mavica, and she called hers "duckie". And so when I got mine, the "duckie" name kind of stuck. And it makes sense anyway - its exterior is yellow rubber, just like a rubber duck.
Even if it does just pain you to get a water cup, you're not supposed to overtly show it...
This week, I'm not at the office as I usually would be. I'm at American University all week at Plone Bootcamp along with two of my coworkers. It's been very interesting, as I've been learning about Plone, an online content management system that's somewhat similar to a few things I'm used to, but on a far deeper level than anything I'm used to. It's interesting, and I'll get the hang of it. And I've been taking the Lappy along for this, and so we've been bonding all week. I figured that rather than borrow one of the Mac laptops from work, for this week, I'll just use my own personal laptop, a Dell Inspiron.
And then meanwhile, there's the lunch hour. I've had a wonderful time getting to know various other people in the class. There's an Einstein Bros. in one of the buildings near where we're having the class, which is where I've been getting lunch. And obviously, they didn't hire the woman with the mustache working behind the counter for her personality. She is not a pleasant person. Her style is almost confrontational in asking us what kind of sandwich we wanted. After all, who are we to be asking for a meal from her? Puts me slightly on the defensive as soon as she says it. And I don't even get a custom-built sandwich. I get the Italian chicken sandwich, where the only question I get is whether to get lettuce and tomato on it, and then I get a fruit cup with it.
And then there's the drink. That's what's inspired this Journal entry more than anything. As you know, at Food & Water Watch, we oppose bottled water. And this place has a LOT of bottled water for sale, and I refuse to buy it, and for perfectly valid reasons. I ask for a cup of water. They charge ten cents for the cup, and then the woman with the mustache gives me this really dirty look when I ask for the water cup. She acts like it just pains her to get that cup and fill it with tap water. My goodness. Even if it's a colossal pain to go do that, you're not supposed to show the customer your disdain for their request. Getting a receipt for my card transaction obviously pains her, too, since I get a dirty look for that, too. If looks could kill, I'd be dead twice over.
Of course, you have to remember that this is on a college campus. Thus you have outrageous prices and hideous service. That's because colleges have a captive audience and thus know that they can (A) charge anything they want, and (B) they can provide any kind of crappy customer service that they want because they know you're a captive audience. After all, at American, there aren't any eateries adjacent to campus. The nearest off-campus eateries are over by the Tenleytown-AU station, which is a little more than walking distance away. So they've got you. No fun. Still, you have to wonder where they find these people to work behind the counter, though. Geeeeeeeeeez...
But at least the company I'm keeping at lunch makes up for the poor service at the counter. Absolutely wonderful folks. Still, if I had given that kind of customer service when I worked at CFW, Telegate, and Wal-Mart, I'd have been tossed out on the sidewalk in short order.
But at least this is only for a week. Next Monday, I'm back in the office, and back to making my boring turkey sandwiches. See, I can't take a lunch for this week, because first of all, I don't have any room in the Lappy's bag to carry a lunch. And secondly, no refrigerator where this class is located. Not good. And I also realize how much I miss Metro Cafe (in the basement of our office complex) this week, since they have really reasonable prices and great service. I love the folks at Metro Cafe.
Quote: Meanwhile, the strangest thing is having to remember that Tenleytown-AU is my work station this week, and not Dupont Circle. I've got the Dupont thing down. Get to the "Look Out" section in Express by Brookland. Finish the Express by Judiciary. iPod on by Gallery Pl-Chinatown. Out of the seat and towards the door at Farragut North, and then off at Dupont. It's hard to break that habit, even for a week. And that's a very long Metro ride, too, from Glenmont to Tenleytown. Any further, and I'd be back in Montgomery County again, on the Shady Grove side.
I felt so honored today when I got home after work and found a letter at my door. I took a look at it. The letter was dated July 9, 2008, and was from the law firm of Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns. The letter indicated that their firm "has been retained by the Church of Scientology International in connection with a series of terrorist threats against Church leaders and parishioners made by an internet group known as 'Anonymous'."
My favorite part is near the end:
We are sending you this letter because we have reason to believe that you are associated with and have been assisting Anonymous in its campaign against the Church. In particular you were identified as participating in "Anonymous" activities against the Church in Washington, DC on June 14, 2008.
The purpose of this letter is to place you on notice that the activities of Anonymous in inciting violence against the Church and its members and engaging in acts of terrorism [...] violate State and Federal law. We demand that you immediately cease all such activities. Should your organization continue inciting and/or engaging in violent acts against the Church or its members, we are prepared to take any and all steps necessary to protect our client, including referring the names of persons to State and Federal authorities.
And it's signed by F. Wallace Pope, Jr. Your Dianetics dollars at work. I believe that Scientology is not happy that we're exercising our right to free speech and preventing them from making scads of money off of the gullible.
So what is this letter? A mark of honor. We are doing something right. It completely validates Project Chanology, which is Anonymous's campaign against Scientology. Why does it validate it? I believe it's because the Scilons are hearing us loud and clear, and they don't like what they're hearing. And so rather than actually address our concerns directly, they have decided to take the low route and resort to harrassment. Nothing in the letter directly relates to me, aside from (correctly) indicating that I participated in "Operation Sea Arrrgh" outside the Founding Org on June 14. And that's no shocking revelation to find out that they knew that. After all, I told you that I went back on June 24, according to records in the Journal. So yeah, big secret. It must have taken a WHOLE LOT of digging to turn that one up, heh heh heh. I'm surprised they didn't bring up any of the other raids that I've participated in. After all, I've been to AnonyCon, Operation Reconnect, Operation Fail Game, Operation Sea Arrrgh, and Spy vs. Sci, plus a few flash raids.
So all in all, am I worried about what Scientology will do? No. Can they do anything about my activities? Not bloody likely. Will they sue me? I think not. Scientology is trying to use their Fair Game policy against me, and if this is the best they can do, they need to go find Xenu and get him to bring some thetans with better legal talent in his DC-8's the next time he comes by.
And what did I do with the letter? Take a look:
Yep! I framed it, and hung it up in the kitchen, right over the garbage can. Right in the place of honor, after all. My mother's coming to visit tomorrow, and I've already promised her she'll get to see it.
And you know, now that I'm a confirmed Suppressive Person, I might as well advertise it. I should get one of these Suppressive Person stickers or something.
Either way, the Scilons have honored me, as I am enough of a pain in the Church of Scientology's butt to be sent a threatening letter. I am a Suppressive Person, after all...
Song:RICKROLL'D! After all, we're never gonna give them up or let them down...
Quote: And what's funny is that I was talking just last week about what I would do if I got a nasty letter from Scientology. And what do you know - I got one! Score!
That just blows my mind. Two Metro employees are accused of running a prostitution ring out of the Dupont Circle Metro station. According to the July 10, 2008 Examiner article called "Metro manager accused of prostitution agrees to life skills, education program", station manager Sharon Waters, dubbed the "Metro Madam", and custodian Pam Goins were accused of "arranging sexual trysts for money", even going so far as to use the station's PA system to "facilitate an arrangement".
You may recall that Dupont Circle is my work station. I go through Dupont Circle station twice a day every day, and have seen both female station managers and female custodians at the station. So now I wonder if it was anyone I know, since I occasionally talk to personnel in the station, especially if I worked late and I know there won't be a Glenmont train for a number of minutes.
Of course, the PA system part really gets me. Have you ever heard Metro station PA announcements? They're not exactly the gold standard for clarity. In fact, most of them are downright unintelligible, particularly the ones piped in from Central Control. The announcements that originate from the station manager's kiosk are a bit better than the ones that come from Central, but still not exactly crystal clear, especially since the primary construction material in most stations is concrete. Too many announcements sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, i.e. completely unintelligible. Maybe those hooker announcements sounded a little better, but who knows.
Still, all this went on in one of the stations I see every day. Weeeeeeird.
Speaking of hookers, though, I still get a chuckle about the hoax article about the 13-year-old kid from Texas who hired hookers using his father's credit card. In that article, the kid got a copy of his father's credit card, and used it to book a hotel room, buy loads of snacks, and hire two hookers - to play video games with. According to that article, when Ralph Hardy was "[a]sked why he ordered two escorts, Ralph said he thought it was the thing to do when you win a 'World of Warcraft' tournament." It's funny because it seems so innocent, even if the article is a hoax.
Of course, my mother and I both agreed when discussing that article that hiring hookers to play video games with sounds like something that I, nerd that I am, might do. The hell with sex. However, I admit that Super Mario Kart is more my idea of a good time than Halo.
And then to take it to its [il]logical extreme, if we'd known about it before it got busted up, maybe nerdy boys like myself could have used the Metro Madam's services to get some new opponents for video games. Oh, now that would have been funny. Prostitution service being run out of Dupont Circle station, and rather than selling sex, it would end up being people arranging video game matches with opponents wearing short skirts, high heels, and fishnet tights. Plus you can't get an STD from casual Super Mario Kart.
I find the taking of the two concepts to their conjoined extreme to be quite amusing. Of course, it's also WAY too late when I'm writing this, so at this hour, the mind begins to do strange things. Still, funny.
Looks like there's more than just Breda 3290 and 3291 as a mismatched set in Metro's 3000 series of rail cars. Look at this:
This is Breda 3193 paired with Breda 3218, which I rode from Metro Center to Glenmont this evening. I had previously spotted this odd pair of rehabs last week in Brentwood Yard while on my way to work, but kind of half-dismissed it, thinking that it wasn't a mismatched pair, since I had to have been looking at two cab ends next to each other, but this photo proves my suspicions. 3193 and 3218 are a pair, as these are the blind ends pictured here.
Normally, you see, Metro car married pairs are numbered sequentially, with the even number as the lower of the pair. Thus if I'm on Breda 2008, for instance, I know that Breda 2009 is permanently attached to it on the non-cab end. Anything else would be non-standard.
And the reason this is so puzzling is because all the equipment that is supposed to be mismatched is accounted for. The NTSB report on the 2004 Woodley Park-Zoo accident accounts for every rail car up to that time that is no longer in revenue service:
Source: NTSB
This accounts for the 1982 Federal Triangle derailment, which took 1028-1029 out of revenue service. 1028 later became the feeler car, which is currently sitting at Brentwood. This accounts for the 1996 Shady Grove collision, which took 3190-3191 and 3252-3253 out of revenue service. 3191 and 3252 actually collided with each other and were retired, while 3190 and 3253 became 3290-3291 and returned to revenue service. Then 1076-1077 was pulled from revenue service following 1077's destruction at Woodley Park-Zoo in 2004. 4018-4019, the pair that was hit, was quickly repaired and returned to revenue service. I had 4019 this past May 6, in fact, on the way home from work. Then the 2007 Mt. Vernon Square derailment, not listed on this chart, involved CAF cars, specifically 5152-5153.
So that's what we definitely know regarding out-of-service cars and cars without mates. One of the numbers comes close, but not quite, as 3193 is the odd-numbered car in the set. 3191 was one of the accident cars in 1996 - not 3193. So we can toss out the idea of repairing ten-year-old accident damage during rehab. Likewise I can toss out the theory that 3290-3291 went to rehab and came back with their original numbers. Then 3218 doesn't even come close to coinciding with anything I've got.
Then my transit log shows that since I started logging in August 2005, I rode 3193 on August 31 and November 16, 2005 in its original configuration. I have no records at all of riding 3192. Then my records show that I rode 3218 on April 8 and October 23, 2006 in original configuration, and on June 26, 2007 post-rehab. And I have no records of having ridden 3219.
So with all the information I have in my collection of train-geek type documentation on my computer, I've got nothing. So the question consists of multiple parts. First of all, why are Bredas 3193 and 3218 paired together? When did this unusual pairing happen? And lastly, what happened to Bredas 3192 and 3219, and when? That's really strange, and I don't have an answer. And I want one, too...
Well, the Sable's in the shop at Lindsay Ford in Wheaton, after I had it towed there late last night. That was not a fun experience last night, but the tow guy was really helpful, meeting me at Glenmont, among other things, making it far easier.
So first thing in the morning, as I'm tying my shoes to go out, I got a call from the folks at Lindsay. They want to know what to do with the remote. I said I just need to get it programmed again, since it quit working when I had the battery replaced back in December. Okay. Pretty straightforward.
Then at around a quarter to two, I got a call from Lindsay's sales department, as a gentleman was looking to see if I was interested in something a little newer. My exact response: "What do you know that I don't?" Once I watched him start doing some major back-pedaling, I realized what he was up to, as service just casually gave my name to sales to try to drum up some new-car business. I nicely told him off, and that unless there's something he knows about my car that I don't, I'm keeping the one I got, thank you very much. And more back-pedaling, and he made sure to give his name again before he said goodbye.
The nerve of these people. I was honestly offended that the sales department called me like that. Maybe if the car was a complete basket case and repairs would cost more than the car was worth, that's another story. Then I would expect the call to come from the service department, and get an offer to transfer me to sales. But that was not the case, and sales was digging for leads. And as it turned out, the service department had not even completely looked at the blasted thing when Mr. Plaid Pants decided to call me. Since about 15 minutes after sales called me, service called to tell me that they looked at the air conditioner, and it would require a complete replacement and a flushing and all this other stuff, and they could do it for a mere $1,900. And they hadn't even looked at all the other things on my list of grievances yet. That's all they've told me so far.
Needless to say, I told them no on the air conditioning, since I wanted to see how it all came together before I decide on any repairs. I want the whole picture, thank you very much. And of course, I told the salesman to go "F" off, in a polite and professional way, i.e. not in such a coarse way. After all, I got this call at work.
I told my father about the $1,900 in repairs that they wanted to do to my air-conditioning alone, and he wasted no time in saying, "No way," and that there was no way it should cost that much. Needless to say, I can't wait to see what else these people are going to try and milk out of all of this. Should be amusing, since I'm getting the feeling that they're out to screw me. I can't wait to see a detailed, itemized estimate of exactly what they want to do and for how much. Like I said, should be amusing...
Ford: "Fix Or Repair Daily"? "Found On Road Dead"?
The Sable's not feeling well right now.
The little check engine light came on when I took it out on Tuesday, and now today, I had such a time trying to get it going today that I determined that if I ended up taking it out, I couldn't guarantee that the car would be able to make it back under its own power. So that scraps my weekend plans. I had to run a bunch of errands, and they're not getting done now. I was also going to go to a coworker's housewarming party in Shaw today, and sadly, that's not happening now, either.
So here's what happened. I went down to fire up the car to go out, and it started up. I put it in reverse. I move a few inches, and the car stalls. Start up again. Reverse. A few inches, and dead. I eventually did manage to start the car and get it moving, so I ran it once around the parking lot to test. As soon as I got to the exit of my complex, which is up a slight incline, the car died again. I had to wave someone around me there, since the Sable was "Found On Road Dead". Well, almost on the road. So I managed to get it back into a parking space, and raised the hood to take a look. Here's what I saw:
What is this red junk all over my battery? That's just disturbing looking. So I called Dad, since he's quite the car guy, and really knows his stuff. I also sent him that photo via Email, since that's the only obvious thing I noticed that was wrong. We went through so much - looked at this and that and the other, discussed the extent of the red stuff (only on the battery and nowhere else), and so on and so forth.
On the first call, Dad suggested I clean up the red stuff on the top of the battery, start the car, and let it sit for ten minutes, but be there to monitor it and see if more red stuff showed up. So I went in, cleaned everything up, opened up all the windows and the driver's side door, sat down in there, and fired it up. The car ran fine until I turned the steering wheel slightly. And then it stalled. Greeeeeeat. Started it up again, and finished out the ten minutes. No red stuff. Good, I guess?
So I got back on the phone with Dad. He guided me through a few belts, and a few different fluid reservoirs and dipsticks. Everything looked okay. Dad said that it looked like I would need to take the car in for repairs. Lovely. And since it was the engine light, and since I don't have any mechanic that I trust (the Firestone guys were kind of incompetent on the fog lights during the inspection), we both determined that it would probably be best to take it to a Ford dealership to get it fixed.
Now on taking it to Ford, there are pluses and minuses to these things. On one hand, they can almost definitely fix it, since a Mercury Sable is of course a Ford product. Plus while it's in, I can get them to reprogram my remote and fix that little hinge problem. On the downside, while they will use genuine Ford parts to fix it, I will have to pay genuine Ford money to get that. That's money that the "cheap bastard" in me doesn't want to have to spend, but I still need a car out here, since the Y is not reliable enough to totally depend on, and the 51 only runs during weekday rush periods.
So now I have to find a Ford dealer and take the car there.
Does anyone know a good ophthalmologist in the DC area?
Does anyone know a good ophthalmologist in the DC area? It's that time again, as it's been three years since the last time my glasses were updated. And I'm not about to go to Augusta Eye Associates again, for reasons of distance. However, if you are in the Staunton/Waynesboro/Augusta County area, I highly recommend these folks. I would always see Dr. Patel.
So now I'm wondering what people think. I live in the Silver Spring/Wheaton area in Maryland, and I work in Dupont Circle. And I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations. I've found a few names while doing some research, and I'm wondering if any of the names you all hopefully will give me match what I found and turn up good recommendations, or absolutely-positively-hell-no recommendations. And no, I'm not giving out my list in order to not box myself in, in case I missed anyone.
And lastly, I am only referring to ophthalmologists - doctors with MD's. I am not looking to go to an optometrist (doctors with OD's). So what do people think? Let me know...
Song: I think the song from Today's Special would be appropriate: "My glasses make me feel so fine, feel so fine, 'cause they are mine! My glasses make me feel so fine, I really like my glasses!"
I think that would be appropriate. Food & Water Watch, where I work, has a team for a summer volleyball tournament on the Mall. And on my way home, I ran into them on the Metro heading towards their first game. So here's everyone on Breda 4058 this evening...
In that last picture, everyone else wanted to make sure I was in there, too, so there I am, even though I'm not on the volleyball team. Doesn't everyone look great in their volleyball team t-shirts? I don't know how they did yet, but we'll find out tomorrow.
Meanwhile, look for a game or two on Schumin Web before it's all said and done...
If the name of the development consists of the name of the station that the development is next to, and then they show a photo of the wrong station in their advertisement, what does that say about them?
Anyone who's been through Fort Totten station on Metro's Red Line has probably seen Fort Totten Station, the development of cheaply-built (they're built of wood, not concrete) alleged luxury apartments contributing to the gentrification of DC. I go by them twice a day every day on my way to and from the office.
And the company that operates the development also runs advertisements in the Express. And they made a big boo-boo in their ad here. Let me show you what I'm talking about from today's Express:
Photo: June 25, 2008 edition of Express, page 8
Is this Fort Totten station? No. Is this station on a line that goes to Fort Totten? No. Is this station of the same basic style so we can at least just pretend it's Fort Totten? No. This is Clarendon, boys and girls. And Clarendon is on the Orange Line. You probably can't read it in this photo, but "Clarendon" is easily read on a wall plaque on the Vienna side in the back of the shot. And the train has "ORANGE" in the door sign. They say, "Living thisclose to three Metro lines," in their ad, and they didn't even pick one of the three (out of five total) that goes there.
See, Fort Totten station looks like this:
Fort Totten is an above-ground transfer station, as you can see.
And additionally, the photo in the ad isn't even a recent photo. Based on the items in the photo, it looks like it was taken in 2001 or earlier. The reason you can tell is not due to the presence or non-presence of PIDS screens, or even the train. Yes, that is a Breda 2000-series or 3000-series train prior to rehab, but some 3000's lasted into this year before going in for rehab. Then as for PIDS, it appears that the photo was shot either at or in front of the location of the PIDS screens, so they would be either behind the camera entirely, or out of frame. The kicker is the waste receptacles on the platform (look along the walls). Metro removed all of their existing trash cans and newspaper bins from within fare control in the period immediately following 9/11. New bomb-containment trash cans didn't start appearing within fare control until 2005, and they are (A) large, (B) freestanding, and (C) have a lid.
This whole thing reminds me of another glaring mistake in an advertisement in Express from back in 2005. This one was again for housing, this time around Wheaton station, likely The Glen, managed by Bozzuto. What is wrong with this picture?
Photo: April 27, 2005 issue of Express (my photo of the ad in question)
First of all, that's an awful photoshop job on the pylon. Even Metro, which couldn't stick to a bus schedule if its life depended on it, can get the writing to look the same on the different sides of the pylon. Here, "Wheaton" is far bigger and longer on the right side than on the left. And the real pylons say "Station" on them as well. But notice the rings around the neck of that pylon? Do they look blue and orange to you? Wheaton is about as Red Line as you can get. Any redder and you'd be at Glenmont. Blue and Orange don't go anywhere near Wheaton.
I guess the moral of this story is, if you're going to lie in the first place, and try to pass off one station as another, please at least try to make it look like the station you want us to think we're looking at. It says a lot about a company that doesn't pay attention to details when trying to pitch itself to potential customers...
Quote: You know, this whole attention-to-detail thing isn't just for advertising products or services. You've heard the old saying that employers throw your resume away if they see a spelling error or typo? It cuts both ways there. When I was looking at job advertisements, I wouldn't give so much as the time of day for an organization where the advertisements had typos or spelling errors. After all, do you really want to work for an organization that won't even bother to check its copy before it sends it out? I'd be pulling the rest of my hair out, I'd say.
I'm looking at what's coming down the pike for this summer, and I can tell right now that this is going to be a great summer. First of all, look at Schumin Web! It's all refreshed for the summer as we've gone "square" with this new background. No more fades here as it's been for nearly four years. The color gradient is gone, and we've moved on to a pattern. Hopefully this will make things look a little more festive.
And then I'm going to be busy in July, with two Anon events - July 12 and July 19. By then I ought to have something really cool figured out for a costume, since here's the thing - the "black bloc" look doesn't seem to work at Anonymous events. When I hang out with the anarchists, yes - black bloc is the style. For Anonymous, it's more like a masquerade ball, since many people really get into the dress of the event, and dress in wild outfits while including the all important mask (don't want to get fair gamed, after all - or R2-45'd for that matter). And as I learned on June 14, the Guy Fawkes mask is too warm for the summer. However, we must admit - I had fun at Operation Sea Arrrgh with my Guy Fawkes mask and all:
As you can tell, I was having fun, dancing to the Numa Numa song in this photo. But yeah, a plastic mask is too warm for the summer.
Then after all the Anon stuff, Katie's coming! She arrives on the Amtrak Cardinal on Tuesday the 22nd, and will be around until Friday the 25th. We're going to have so much fun, just like we always do, spending a day in DC, and a day outside DC. And I still need to figure out what the outside-DC day will be like. And then on Friday, we're taking the Sable back down, and then I get to see my parents in Stuarts Draft, because it's about time I came to see them on their turf.
And then in August? VACATION! I'm going to Virginia Beach the last week of August, and I'm excited. It's been three years since the last time I really took a get-out-of-town vacation, and so I'd say I'm due for one. 2006's "vacation" involved two DC trips but not much else, and 2007 didn't have a formal vacation at all, what with the move to DC and everything. And this time around, I have all sorts of fancy new camera equipment. I have the Kodak which takes exposures twice as long as Big Mavica could - good for sunrises - and then I have the waterproof "Duckie" camera, where who knows - I might even be able to take some shots in the water this time. This will be so fun...
Did you ever think that milk would one day be cheaper than gasoline?
Did you ever think that milk would one day be cheaper than gasoline? Take a look...
Milk is $4.09 per gallon at the CVS store in Aspen Hill. I can get it in the upper 3's at Shoppers. That just blows my mind, as the various gas stations along Georgia Avenue are either meeting or beating that price. Then if you go into Washington DC, they're beating it - soundly.
We really need to make some serious progress on sustainable alternative fuels - and soon.
Song: Risk Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" song, as I found a video of a college basketball game being Rickrolled. And it's also a jab at Scientology, as the mascot's holding up a sign for Xenu.net...
Quote: Meanwhile, a quick shameless plug: Take a look at Year 2007, the newest addition to Life and Times!
