THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

G Games the System; Beats Another Traffic Ticket

As in the case noted Sept 26, 2006, G beat another traffic ticket. That time the officer had an inexact memory of the case. This time, the officer wasn't at trial. G had received the citation in the spring of 2007, postponed the trial once to the fall and then the court postponed it again to today.

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:18 PM

Sunday, January 27, 2008

G makes a decision

George hasn't been doing well on his tests at The American University Law School. He decided to take a leave of absence and look for a real job for a while. One of our stuffed animals, graduation bear, is angry at him because it makes him (the bear) look bad given the fact that the bear graduated many years ago and hasn't applied for a job yet.

Obviously this situation will be updated as interviews, etc. occur. However, until he gets a paying job he will do intern work for the Arlington division of the Parole Office of the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Public Safety.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:07 PM

$0.80 Pharmacy Purchase

Ann had her primary physician call in a prescription (3 doses of Cipro) to the local drug store. After the insurance payout, the cost was only 80 cents. I got a few other things so I didn't feel too exploitive using the credit card.

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:53 PM

Saturday, January 26, 2008

A First Amendment Dream

I dreamt I was managing the Segway fleet* at the 60th anniversary of Israel celebration event in downtown D.C. (it is scheduled for June 1 and the Synagogue has been asking for volunteers to help out).

During the event there was a minute of silence for the people who had died defending Israel. About 5 seconds into this minute of silence a group at the side of the crowd of celebrants began singing Horst Wessel**.

* a 2 wheeled self balancing transportation device invented in 2001. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway. The Segway is referred to in an episode of the animated TV show Family Guy (A 'nerd' named Neil, wonders why a comic book convention doesn't have Segway parking).

** The famous Nazi party anthem (1927). It made a common criminal a posthumous hero and glorifies the SA (aka the Storm Battalion, Sturmabtelung.). The anthem was retained even after the 1937 purge of the SA by the SS, aka the Schutzstaffel and the Gestapo, aka Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police).
The words and music are at: http://www.anesi.com/east/horstw.htm

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:56 PM

Thursday, January 24, 2008

You've been very informational

I received a call today from a contractor who had been hired by a State Govt agency to obtain information about some of the highway funding programs. I spoke to them for a while and covered quite a bit. At the end of the conversation, the contractor person said, "Well, thank you, you've been quite informational."

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:26 PM

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Finding Sunsation Soap

Ann gave me a list for the store. One item was Sunsation soap. I asked several people what that was and they pointed me to the women's lotion area. When I asked Ann about it after coming back without it, she said it was a dishwashing liquid -- which is to say that it wasn't a soap at all.

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:37 PM

Monday, January 07, 2008

Commuting Blues

Today was the first weekday with new Metro rail rates. My daily rate has increased by about $0.75 each way (about $25/month or so) while the reimbursement has increased only $5/month. Also when I got to work my security card had expired. It took from about 9:30 to about 11:00 am getting a new one. Arrg.

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:48 AM

Sunday, January 06, 2008

They Recognize Me at Shoppers

I was in the checkout line at Shoppers today (I frequently do this type of shopping on a Sunday morning). I had taken a cup of coffee from the self serve and told the checker (Solomy - according to her name tag) to be sure to charge me for it. She said, "Yes. I have already charged you for it and smiled."

"Do you recognize me?" I asked.

"Yes and I recognize your coffee", she said.

Remember how the Cheers song ended, "... you want to go where everybody knows your name".

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:44 PM

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Soda Cat and the Queen of England

Last night I had a dream in which the Queen of England came to the U.S. to visit our red tabby, Soda. She said she wanted to make him a peer of the realm but there was too much pro-dog sentiment.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:48 AM