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THE WEISS CHRONICLES
Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news.
You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com
The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Fog and 8 car Trains
Had patchy fog on the way in to Grosvenor station today. Postoak Rd was fogged in and visibility was about 200 feet but about 300 north of Post oak on Seven Locks , it was clear with a blue sky. I was on an 8 car metrorail train from Metrocenter to L'Enfant Plaza. This was the beginning of the use of 8 car trains on the orange line. One the way home the L'Enfant Plaza to Metrocenter train was only 4 trains long. Seemed to go well however. On time and not crowded. (but the Red line was crowded on the way home).
Friday, January 27, 2006
First Problems with New CarActually these were not the car's fault. G was driving to school on Jan 25 and at the corner of University and Georgia he hit a curb and the right front hub cap came off. G retrieved it and I plan to reinstall it on Jan 28. Another problem is also not the car's fault. G went to Carmax on Jan 27 to have them install the antitheft device (a lojack). The installer didn't come in that day and G had to go back home. He did buy a new pair of shoes on the way back.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
A Work Story from a Research MeetingSome Professors get tenure and stop thinking. One such professor was to give a presentation Jan 24 at a session of the TRB annual research meeting. My committee was sponsoring that session as was 3 other committees. She was planning to give essentially the same presentation she had given about a dozen or so times over the past 10 years. She was planning to use presentation graphics in a CD disk that had been used a number of times over the past 3 years (without being updated). The disk went bad and she had to redo the software file the night before the presentation. All the images and formating were lost and each presentation slide was a bullet page with about 60 to 80 words on it.
I told someone that amazingly, the presentation slides were actually not as awful as the staleness of the presentation.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
New Car ClosureWe sold the 1987 Toyota Camry today (for $300) after buying a 2003 Toyota Echo (this model is being discontinued for 2006 so the price was decent). The old car had a number of problems (e.g., bent axle, stuck interior brake light, non functioning parking light, turning disfunction, rusted front left, broken front turning light protector, hood a different color than the rest of the car). I'm guessing fixing all the problems would have cost$4000. The new car has very few frills but handles very well and gets great gas mileage (at least it is suppose to -- we'll see). I could have kept the Camry a few more weeks and tried to get a better price but it represents the a significant piece of property from my parents house and I thought I might not be able to dispose of it if I kept it for much longer (is this called the Sauron's ring effect?). We are trading a beige car for a grey car. The grey makes it almost look like a stealth vehicle (like the color of a B2a).
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Retirement Party -- lots of potential violations
We had a retirement party today for a woman who only worked with us for a few days. She spent most of her career in the finance office then was transferred to planning and so after she was in an automobile accident that rendered her unable to walk more than a few steps. Her actual retirement date was Sept but she didn't feel well enough to have a party until now. One of the organizers asked the finance division to provide a person for an invocation. As is usual the invoker invoked Jesus. But that didn't bother me. What bothered me was that the invoker was an in house contractor and we govt employees aren't supposed to be friendly (are attorneys say not to regularly eat lunch with or play cards with or carpool with contractors for conflict-of-interest reasons). The retiree also hugged nearly everyone at the party.This would have been an egregious violation of sexual harrassment rules (and COI rules when she hugged a contract employee) but for the fact that she was retired.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
What's wrong with a little conversation?I took Ann to Montgomery Mall for a pair of shoes.
When we got home she said, "oh oh. let's save the receipt."
"Why?" I inquired.
"I got two pairs of shoes by mistake." she 'explained'.
"Huh?" I grunted.
"Well we got into a conversation." she added.
"Whaa?" I gasped.
"What's wrong with a little conversation?" she noted.
100 yard Interception Not for a TD
I was watching the Denver-New England game with a Denver fan who fell asleep. I woke him up to see the replays of Champ Bailey's interception. Bailey intercepted it 1 yard deep in his own end zone and ran it back to the 1 of the New England end zone. Bailey claimed that the mile-high atmosphere winded him but the films seem to show that he was slacking up getting ready for the taunt when he was knocked out of bounds by New England tight end Ben Watson who came all the way from the other side of the field. By the way, the Denver uniforms have this idiotic orange stripe. What's up with that.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Who Steals a lavendar Geo Prizm?G and his uncle John went to the new aquarium in Atlanta, GA yesterday Jan 11). It cost $12 to park (pre pay). John had his Geo Prizm stolen from the garage. Apparently, he left it unlocked and left the parking coupon in it. The car was about the same color as this font (except not as dark).
UPDATE: The car was found in the parking lot of a shopping mall on Jan 14. This is the 3rd time it was stolen and 3rd time it was found.
Last nights GW vs. ST Louis UStan Cohen and I went to the game (after first having some beer at the GW alumni house). GW won the game without playing very well - offensive timing was off badly. Oddly, STU shot better from the 3 point area (9 for 24) than from the free throw line (5 for 15).
Two Triple Overtime Losses in 8 days for PhoenixThey lost to NY Knicks on Jan 2 (140-133) and to Denver on Jan 10 (139-137 with the winning basket made with 2 seconds left) . Most teams get through the entire season without even playing one triple overtime game. For example, the triple overtime game Jan 2 was the first the NY Knicks had played since 1993.
Another Jerk of the Year - Marion BarryFormer 5 time mayor, convicted felon, admitted adulterer, guilty pleading (for disorderly conduct) Marion Barry was facing routine investigation in relation to 6 years of unfiled taxed. They discovered traces of cocaine in his urine. It turns out that in DC, a city councilman will not have to resign if they go to prison and can even introduce legislation from jail - although he won't be able to vote on such legislation from jail.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Is Jerk of the year wrapped up for 2006 already - Marcus VickVirginia Tech QB Marcus Vick was already suspended from the team a few days ago for a series of bizarrities. The most recent was an egregious unsportsmanlike play stomping the leg of a Louisville player (Elvis Dumervil) during VT's victory in the Gator Bowl on Jan 2. This was going to result in a 2 game beginning of the year (2006-2007) suspension. However, early this week, VT learned that on Dec 17, Vick had been cited for driving without a license (it had been revoked) and speeding (the 8th and 9th similar violations since he enrolled at VT. Subsequent to the suspension from the team, Vick was charged with pointing a handgun at a 17 year old during an altercation at a McDonalds near Suffolk, VA.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Redskin Victory Sinks InThere was a lot of jubilation yesterday with the Redskins 17-10 victory over Tampa Bay. Among the reasons was this was the first Redskin playoff victory since 1993 (the previous Gibbs era) a while. Another was that they had been crushed by Tampa Bay earlier in the season. But in restrospect the victory was very flukey. The Redskins had a total of only 120 yards (only 43 passing net on 7 completions with no completions in the 4th quarter), while Tampa Bay had 240. The Redskins fumbled three times but recovered all three. The Redskins intercepted passes tipped by linemen. It was a non repeatable victory.
U of Md story ends (another follow up to "Now it Makes Sense" below)We received electronic confirmation that G is declared an in State student. Not before a lot of time was spent getting paperwork ready and talking to people at the U of Md. Not before G was accused of forgery by the MVA. Not before the punctured tire. Not before a lot of record retrieval effort and a lot of photocopying of records.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Tire Story Ends (followup of "Now it Makes Sense story of Jan 2)
The service agreement I had with Goodyear got me a new tire with mounting and balancing for only about $28. However, it was irritating that the tire got a puncture and even more irritating that the jack on the Hyundai won't support the weight of the Hyundai. Also irritating that Goodyear didn't have the tire I needed on the 2nd and I had to come back on the 3rd.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Freezer Out We had a brief electrical outage. That was on Saturday Dec 31. Some of the clocks reset to zero. What we didn't know was that the freezer went out. Today, I went to get something and notice most of the stuff was thawed. Nothing was wrong with the freezer, however, the surge protector had prevented it from restarting. So tonite we are cooking at least 20 pounds of meat (bread and some other stuff can be refreezed).
Now it makes senseAmong the interesting things today was that our newer car got a flat tire which we noticed at the grocery store. G worried that it was his fault because he hit the curb at the Fed Ex store while he was photocopying something for the U of Md (which had declared him an out of state student - to be explained later when and if we clear that issue up) . I called him and told him it probably wasn't his fault because there was a screw with a Phillips head stuck firmly in the tread). He asked how it was possible a screw could go in. I said, "well you remember the episode in season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Dawn killed a vampire who was going to bite her because he was falling on her to bit her and she pointed a stake up and his own weight made the stake pierce into the heart area".
G responded, "OK. Now it makes sense."
Two dreamsDream #1 relates to the events yesterday. I dreamt that I heard a lot of sirens and cars outside and went downstairs to see what was going on. I opened the door and there were about 2 dozen cops from several jurisdictions there to arrest me for going thru the gate yesterday when it hadn't changed to green. I put my hands up and a guy came toward me with handcuffs. Then I woke up.
I went back to sleep. In real life G has been saying that on our casual Friday I should go to work in my bathrobe. In my dream, I got a call from work telling me that the President was visiting our workplace and was going to give a speech and they wanted me to work the laptop computer with the power point presentation in it but for security reasons, all I could wear was a bathrobe. Then people were staring at me in my bathrobe on the metrorail. Then we couldn't start the President's speech because one of the girls in the group of little girls who were going to lead the audience in "God bless America" had to go to the bathroom. By the time she got back the President had to leave and I was so disoriented, I took the blue/orange line in the wrong direction (still in my bathrobe).
At the ChasesWe met about 14 other people at our quasi annual visit to the Chases in Reston Maryland. On the way back, at the second toll booth, I put 75 cents in the funnel but the light didn't change to green. I shook the funnel a few times and it didn't help. Finally, I just took off. (We attended a shiva minyon on the way home and didn't want to be late for it. )
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