The 90-day campaign promise has begun…
2 minute read
January 17, 2010, 10:12 PM
How appropriate that I am writing this from my parents’ house in Virginia where, in traveling to get here, I passed three shuttered rest areas. While my sister was out getting married (more on that later), Republican Bob McDonnell was being sworn in as the 71st Governor of Virginia.
The reason I mention this is because during the gubernatorial campaign, McDonnell made a promise to reopen the rest areas that were closed last summer. I certainly could have used one or two of those on the way down here. It is very convenient to exit the highway into a rest area, get out of the car, go in, do one’s business, and then hop back in the car and go. Compare that to the alternative. That involves taking an exit to a local road and finding a place, and you’re never sure what you’re going to get, plus having to battle local traffic. I got off at Woodstock to use the restroom on the way down, and battling local traffic was not exactly a walk in the park. And if you’re stopping just to take a potty break with no intention of buying food or gas or otherwise, that’s what rest areas are for. Otherwise, you’re just clogging up local roads and such and eating up parking spaces for a non-revenue (for the private operator) visit. If you are also buying food or gas or what have you, then by all means, take the exit and use the restroom while you’re at it. But otherwise, that’s what rest areas are for. Get off, use the restrooms, stretch your legs, and then get going again.
So Mr. McDonnell has 90 days – until April 16th – to hang out the welcome sign on the rest areas that were closed. It appears that he intends to honor that promise (he’d better).
Either way, the clock is now ticking. McDonnell had better get cracking.
Categories: Cell phone, State and local politics
So the question is… legal or not?
2 minute read
January 14, 2010, 10:04 PM
Continue reading…Categories: Driving
Leaving for Stuarts Draft in a bit…
3 minute read
January 14, 2010, 11:41 AM
Yes, as soon as the laundry is finished (see, Mom, I am capable of taking clean clothes down when I visit), I’m heading out to Stuarts Draft. I can’t believe that this weekend is almost here. My sister’s getting married this Saturday! She’s going to become Mrs. Chris Lysy on Saturday.
Of course, now I’m going to have to get used to seeing “Ann Lysy” on Facebook and such. That’s just going to be strange to see, but I’m sure she’ll be happy as can be.
Then meanwhile, I am going to get to Stuarts Draft under my own power, despite that the wheel of automotive misfortune has been spinning in my direction as of late. Recall that I’ve not had a good time with the car lately. First the car spazzed out on me on Christmas Eve as I was leaving for work. Then when I was in Roanoke on the 30th with Mom, the car didn’t want to start up. After a trip to the Firestone place in Wheaton when I got back, though, the car was running fine again. However, (automotive) misfortune apparently comes in threes, and on Tuesday, when I went to get into the car to go to work (if I know I’m going to be working late, I drive), I discovered that the right front tire was flat. Greeeeeeeeeat. So I had to call AAA and get the spare put on. Then I was on my way. Then yesterday, another trip to Firestone got my brand-new tire fixed up. The comment was, 20-some thousand miles is what this thing is supposed to last, and it didn’t even make it to 100. But they fixed it, and determined it was probably a bad seal.
Categories: Cameras, Family, Mercury Sable
Go stand in a walk-in freezer for about three hours and then report back to me.
3 minute read
January 10, 2010, 11:24 PM
Yeah. Go stand in a walk-in freezer for about three hours and then report back to me about how it was. That’s pretty much what it felt like out there while we raided Scientology on Saturday, January 9. But add some wind. It was pretty bloody cold, if I do say so myself (and I do).
But we raided. We had a small but dedicated group out there for this one. You had HT, Sparrow, MaidofWin, Purple Hair Anon, and myself out there giving Scientology hell. MaidofWin and Purple worked the corner, and HT and I took the entrance to the Ideal Org. And Sparrow did his usual thing, confronting the Scientologists on camera. And it was cold. Very cold. Everyone was wrapped up for the cold, and I wore the setup that I wore last year at the January flash raid. It may look like I came straight out of the hazmat unit, but it’s warm, and I had every square inch of skin covered.
And here we are:
Categories: Project Chanology
Yes, it is possible…
< 1 minute read
January 10, 2010, 12:19 PM
Yes, it is possible that Metro can have all of its elevators working at the same time. Take a look:
I saw this at Glenmont on the way into DC on Saturday for an Anon raid. I know – I’m as surprised as you are. But Metro actually did get all 200-some elevators working at the same time for once. This just amazes me.
It’s kind of like when Metro actually has all three escalators at Dupont Circle’s south entrance working at the same time. I am similarly amazed whenever I see that. That happens about once a month or so, and yesterday was it. Otherwise, it’s fairly common to see one or two escalators down for repairs, with one running up, one gated, and one as a walker.
Categories: WMATA
Computer rehab time already?
4 minute read
January 6, 2010, 9:14 PM
Next month marks three years since I got my Dell. And that means it’s almost time for my computer’s mid-life rehabilitation. Why get a new computer when you can make your current one last another few years with a little TLC, eh?
Yes, I do my computer like transit systems do rolling stock. Go for such an amount of time and then rehab the thing. It’s just like Metro recently did with the Breda cars. Rail cars generally last 40 years. So at roughly the 20-year mark, they do a mid-life rehabilitation on them. That brings them up to more modern standards, and gets them ready to go another 20 before retirement. Computers have about a three-year life span in my experience, and so a mid-life overhaul makes it go another three. Which means that I won’t need to replace my current box until 2013 or so. Now my last computer lasted nearly nine years. It went three years, had its mid-life rehabilitation, and then went almost six years before it finally was put out to pasture. That was for financial reasons, though – I couldn’t afford a new computer, since I wasn’t doing as well money-wise.
On my last computer’s rehab back in 2001, I upgraded from 128 MB to 384 MB of RAM, upgraded both optical drives, went from a 10 GB hard drive to an 80 GB hard drive, upgraded the video card, and upgraded the TV tuner card. I deliberately didn’t replace the motherboard and upgrade the processor, because that’s about where I reach my level of incompetence. Everything went quite well in the rehab, and it got me to 2007. I was pleased. I had contemplated a second rehab around that time, but I ultimately determined that a second rehab was more than I wanted to do for an eight-year old computer, and so I replaced it.
Categories: Cell phone, Computer, Fire alarms, Work