Random Thoughts

[csquared]

Can you believe it's been 17 years?

I was thinking about that earlier. Kids heading off to college never knew the Twin Towers. They have always seen metal detectors everywhere. There has always been fighting in the Middle East.

Never Forget.

[notalwaysright]

Kids heading off to college never knew the Twin Towers.

Being so far from NYC, I didn't know the Twin Towers other than as a general part of the skyline. The most impact was... The lost of innocence for my generation, I suppose. If you ever watch any of the taped live coverage, you can feel it happen. My mom already had that happen several times by the time she was a teenager. She remembers both MLK and JFK being killed. Also, I work with several people who, while they were alive at that time, were too young to have any memories of it. It's strange.

[MoonCat]

There has always been fighting in the Middle East.

Well, that part's true even without 9/11.

[LadyofArc]

Can you believe it's been 17 years?

We brought this up at work the other day during a meeting. I managed to dig myself into a hole by accident when I pointed out I was still in primary school when it happened. (I am the youngest in my team)

[Ironclad Alibi]

Being so far from NYC, I didn't know the Twin Towers other than as a general part of the skyline. ...

I am also far from NYC, but was less than a mile away from the Pentagon.

A fighter jet flew overhead and I heard someone say, "Oh my God, they're flying air cover over DC." It had a chilling effect on me.

[Jay 2K Winger]

It occurred to me earlier today...

It's only a matter of time before someone decides, "'Bronchitis' would be a great name for a boy!"

They'll "creatively spell" (read: misspell) it, throw some extraneous apostrophes in there, but it'll happen.

You already have parents naming their girls "Veruca," so you can't claim that it's unlikely.

[AnaKhouri]

Total stranger on Twitter said my upcoming novel looked really cool. I hope so lady!

[Pixelated]

The aggravation of posting something for free online and getting a response that says "Do you deliver?"

NO. It's already FREE. Come and get it yourself.

[Pixelated]

So she (they) were supposed to come get the boxes at 4 p.m.

At 4:45 she emailed me to say her fiance is on the way.

It's now 5:49 and he hasn't arrived yet.

Yet she said she lived very near to me.

This is why I rarely try get rid of stuff via online sales/giveaways.

And yes, I am periodically checking my email to see if she's posting any kind of update about why he's not showing up.

I also have two other people wanting the boxes, so ...

--------------------

Around 6 p.m. - she emails me he's at my building. Apparently he can't figure out how to 'buzz' me, even though I sent her the proper buzz code ...

Anyway, the boxes are gone. Thank goodness.

[MoonCat]

Thanks cops,, next time I see a woman on the sidewalk outside my house pounding her kid in the back with her fist, and screaming like an asshole, I won't bother to call. I'll just yell at her myself. It would be more effective than waiting for you guys to show up.

[AnaKhouri]

My mom's friend saw my new author photo and said I look like Danielle Steel. Haha, no way. Then I looked up a photo of her from the 1990s when she was around my age.

Holy shit you guys.

I do look like Danielle Steel.

[Pixelated]

Thanks cops,, next time I see a woman on the sidewalk outside my house pounding her kid in the back with her fist, and screaming like an asshole, I won't bother to call. I'll just yell at her myself. It would be more effective than waiting for you guys to show up.

I live in a border city in Ontario ... many years ago, somebody (or more than one) broke into my grandfather's garage, cleaned it out, and dumped paint over everything they couldn't carry (IIRC he no longer had a vehicle at that time, thank goodness). He called the police and was asked if he saw any footprints ... did he see anything in the alley behind his house ... etc.

Wait, aren't we paying YOU GUYS to do that sort of thing?? They never came around to check the place out or talk to him or anything. It was obvious they couldn't be bothered with such a petty little crime.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Although I have the tv on out here in the office (watching SVU marathon on USA,) I don't hear any kitties playing nearby. . .


I wonder if they've snuck out and scrounged up a rowboat to go joyriding in . . .

[MoonCat]

I live in a border city in Ontario ... many years ago, somebody (or more than one) broke into my grandfather's garage, cleaned it out, and dumped paint over everything they couldn't carry (IIRC he no longer had a vehicle at that time, thank goodness). He called the police and was asked if he saw any footprints ... did he see anything in the alley behind his house ... etc.

Wait, aren't we paying YOU GUYS to do that sort of thing?? They never came around to check the place out or talk to him or anything. It was obvious they couldn't be bothered with such a petty little crime.

Yep. In our old neighborhood, I once called because I heard gunshots. The dispatcher had an attitude and wanted to know where they came from. Um, OUTSIDE? I get that they wouldn't want to walk into a gunfight, but maybe the fact that I was reporting gunshots nearby was a clue to be prepared for that?

Another time I called because some idiots across the street had left their dog out on their upstairs porch and it was barking its head off because some other idiots were standing out on the street yakking. The dispatcher wanted to know if (a) the dog's owners were home, and (b) the people out yakking were underage.

I told them I didn't know either thing, because it was 3:00 in the effin' morning and I had been IN BED TRYING TO SLEEP. This was a quality of life issue, something our local cops had supposedly been trying to crack down on. Except, apparently, in my neighborhood.

[Pixelated]

Yeah, you really do want to say "ISN'T THAT WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO CHECK OUT??" when you get asked stupid questions like that one. Except then it's pretty much guaranteed they'll never show up. Ever again.

I used to work in a very small town that had its own police force. It wasn't unusual for them to get calls from elderly people saying things like "My quilt just fell off the line; can you send somebody over?" What it actually was, one of the dispatchers told me, was the person had just heard a noise and was nervous and wanted a cop to come around and check things out. So they would.

Then the little forces in the area all got amalgamated into the provincial police that patrolled huge swaths of the region and ... all those helpful little drop-ins stopped. The dispatchers no longer had a clue who was calling and I don't even know if they bothered to pass along the messages to the cops on patrol ... nor whether any cops had the time to drive who-knows-how-far to reassure some old person in their home. I'm sure they're used to it by now, but it must have been a wrench for quite some time afterwards.