Cubicle Defense System

Oh, baby! I'm gettin' me one of these.

This is what passes for a sheriff here

Somehow, I don't think Mr. Bowser is going to sweep the upcoming election, and be our next sheriff.

A candidate for Gloucester County sheriff says he will "go to my grave" before complying with a judge's order that landed him in jail Friday on a contempt charge.

Substitute Gloucester Circuit Court Judge Walter J. Ford ordered Clarence Bowser, 58, to serve 10 days in jail. Ford found Bowser in contempt during an Oct. 12 hearing, but gave him until Friday to comply with an earlier ruling by Gloucester Circuit Court Judge William Shaw III to clear an obstructed easement.
Bowser remains adamant that he will not comply with Shaw's order, so it remains unclear what his status will be Nov. 6.

The deed-granted easement on Bowser's 18-acre property in north Gloucester is at the center of a land dispute that involves Sheila B Guenard, a former Gloucester resident who now lives in Louisiana but still owns nearly six acres next to Bowser that can only be accessed by the disputed easement.

Mr. Bowser slipped a note to a reporter before they hauled him off to jail.

"This trial is an example of a low-level crime, that crouds our jail (It is a matter of interpretation for the Sheriff) When our justice system uses terrorist tactics to high-jack property and hold the individual hostage until he complies where is the justice in that? What happen to due process. I will go to my grave before I comply or give satisfaction to public corruption. This case may not benefit me but it will benefit those who come after me." (sic)

Desperation

Some of those Mexicans crossing the border around San Diego must really be desperate.

Six undocumented Mexican immigrants were arrested today by U.S. Border Patrol agents at Qualcomm Stadium, after a report that they were stealing food and water meant for evacuees, Border Patrol spokesman Damon Foreman said. San Diego police responded to a call about alleged theft from the evacuation center and encountered six people in a van who didn't speak English and didn't have California driver's licenses, Foreman said. The police officers called the Border Patrol, and its agents arrived at the stadium and made the arrests, he said. Border Patrol agents are not looking for illegal immigrants at the center but will continue responding to police calls for assistance.

Always an invention behind

The Japanese think they are so darn smart and modern.

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - If you're stuck in traffic when Mother Nature calls, Japan's Kaneko Sangyo Co. has developed the loo for you.

The manufacturer of plastic car accessories drew back the curtain on Tuesday on its new portable toilet for cars.

The toilet comes with a curtain large enough to conceal users and a plastic bag to collect waste.

But, they are always behind us. Or we're behind our cars. Or our behinds are on our cars. Or something.

I give you "Uncle Booger's Bumper Dumper."

Yes, a B&B

Next week we are going to get off the Point for a few days. This is alleged to be our room. Nice. Crystal chandelier over the whirlpool tub, etc. I'll let you know how it was when we get back.

The Yorktown Pub on a quiet night

Winnie and I went over for dinner to the Yorktown Pub. Please note the massive crowd. We were the only people in there when we arrived just after 6. I told the waitress we were there to offer moral support.

Why? Please note the empty back bar. As a result of various, umm, mistakes, they got their liquor license suspended for 30 days.

Hopefully, this little You Tube video played no part in the suspension, though it was taken during one of the offensive incidents.

By the time we left, a few more people had arrived. Amusingly, they were trying to close early (7:30) on purpose tonight, as carpenters were coming to replace the back bar. Well, at least they get their license back on Thursday.

Hot, not, hot, not

The weather here can't decide. One day I'll open the windows and turn off the A/C because it feels so good and then, like today, it goes back up to 85.

Add this to our ongoing drought, and the autumn won't look to good. Still there is starting to be some color.

Improv

Finally, improv modern art I can understand. Or, is it improv comedy? Abercrombie & Fitch employees mostly looked OK with this, but finally security had had enough.

Well That Blows

I can hardly wait for the World Series to start, and have to call a game for snow.

Break out the kites and keep the wool hats, mittens — and snow shovels — handy!

A high wind watch for the metro area has gales blowing up to 45 miles in the Front Range foothills with gusts tonight and early tomorrow of up to 80 miles an hour, said meteorologist Jim Kalina of the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, snow in the mountains has triggered chain laws for commercial vehicles at the Eisenhower Tunnel and Vail Pass on Interstate 70 as well as Loveland Pass on U.S. 6.

And a "big cool down" on Sunday could bring rain and snow to the foothills — and even the Denver area, Kalina said.

Please! Send Help!

Because we are, you know, living in a disaster area.

The acting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture designated 78 more Virginia counties and 34 cities -- almost the entire state -- as primary natural disaster areas due to drought and high temperatures, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced today.

Well, it was in the 80's again today, but at least it rained for the first time in over a month.

Another Almost-Darwin Driver

This one, from back home.

Darwin Award - Almost

This police officer meets an officer from an adjoining jurisdiction each night, at midnight, at a railroad crossing, to exchange info. Yesterday when he got there, he finds a lost woman sitting in her car talking on her cell phone. He has a hard time convincing her to get out of the car.

For the rest, let's roll the tape. (There's no sound for the first 30 seconds - the officer was too far from his car for it to pick up.)




Damn right you should thank him lady. Next time when an officer tells you to get out of your car, you might want to be a little more cooperative.

Fun in Holland

In Amsterdam, apparently young Bilal Bajaka didn't like the police:

On Sunday, Bajaka entered the police station of Slotervaart, stabbing two police officers with a knife.

Although having sustained serious injuries, one of the officers, a policewoman, shot and killed her alleged attacker on the spot.

From the age of 13 up to his death on Sunday, the police said, Bajaka had been involved in several major criminal incidents, including armed robberies and a series of violent incidents. He was allegedly part of a criminal gang.

In addition, police said he was personally acquainted with Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted killer of the late film director Theo van Gogh, as well as with other Moroccan-Dutch terrorist suspects.

For some reason, as you may note, news reports about this are casting Bajaka in a negative light, and his "community" isn't happy about it.

Moroccan-Dutch residents of Slotervaart complained to reporters they were "sick and tired" of continuous "negative news reports" about fellow Moroccan-Dutch, adding they felt increasingly stigmatized.

Hmm, what to do when an entire ethnic community is cast in a negative light? Have a meet-and- greet session? A community street fair? Well, let's at least do something in the street.

A group of dozens of youths in the Slotervaart neighbourhood in western Amsterdam set cars on fire, damaged several other cars and threw stones through the windows of a police station.

Perfect! That should help dispel those negative stereotypes.

Gettin' So Old

I went to the VIMS fall party with Winnie on Saturday. Students that tarted here years after she did are now married and brought their kids. Yikes!

October Days

What are October days like here? Clear, crisp air with that chilly tang? The season of ripe apples and pumpkin filled fields?

how about people lazing on the beach in90 degree weather. Bah!

Real Estate Taxes

I wrote last October about the giant snafu we had with our real estate reassessment. Apparently, the company that did the work, and the county, are still going at it. Here is an excerpt from todays nice long article, that pertains to our house.

George Woodhouse, who served as BOE chairman, says the board was confronted with such a mess left behind by Blue Ridge that its members believed they had to start over in many instances to correct Blue Ridge's mistakes.

"We had to dig," Woodhouse said. "Basically we had to do their job."

Woodhouse explained that Blue Ridge failed in many cases to take into account depreciation of properties, especially along the Route 17 commercial corridor, and that many one-time residential properties that are now zoned commercial aren't marketable for commercial use.

"The lots are too small. They'd have to be stitched together with other lots to be of any use as commercial property. Those weren't realistic values," he said of the Blue Ridge assessments. He denied that the BOE overstepped its bounds in the process. They were not empowered to estimate values, he explained, only to apply factual information, such as square-footage, use, sales references and location, to the template Blue Ridge created to reach a value estimate.

So, now there trying to do it all over again.

Telecommuting

I've started telecommuting a day per week. This is nice. An extra hour of sleep. No 130 mile drive that day. I'm done one or two hours earlier than I would have gotten home. No one barging into my cubicle while I'm trying to strain my little gray cells. A real office that's mine. The radio playing what I want to hear. And collie dogs lying around my feet. Maybe I could talk them into two days per week.