This was the new hit Christmas decoration at my grandparent’s house this year. Children, avert your eyes!
Yesterday I flew home from Christmas with the family. A very dramatic vacation ended with a dramatic flight home. When the flight was nearly over someone decided that they couldn’t survive a minute longer without a cigarette, so he lit one up. I think he did it in the bathroom really quick and then flushed it. Unfortunately for him, when you’re in an enclosed airspace like that, everyone will smell the smoke within about 30 seconds. So the flight attendants approcahed him and then smelled his clothes. After a terse discussion, that seemed to be the end of it. But when we landed, the attendant came on the speaker and said that due to a “security incident” we had to wait a minute. Police proceeded to board the plane and escort him off to waiting squad cars. That’s going to be a very expensive cigarette for him. Thanks to technology, I got a cell phone picture of the police before they took him off the plane.
I decided that I’m going to move to a new house in 2008, a little bit after the holidays. I love my house, but it’s time to move.
I’ve hesitated posting about this, because if a prospective buyer were to find my website he or she may not want the house after these stories. But if they take the time to find this post, good for them.
Here’s the story that was the last straw: My neighbor (I am in a townhouse, so she is connected to my house) told me that a while ago, a woman knocked on her door and asked to use their bathroom, but she recognized her as a lady that lives down the street, and said “no go use your own bathroom.” Then, a few weeks later she saw the same lady getting arrested in her driveway. She went to ask the police why she was being arrested and found out that she had robbed someone’s home nearby. She had used that “can I use your bathroom” line in order to case the house and see if there was a security system and see if it was worth robbing. So the house connected to mine was only one “yes” away from being robbed.
The lady that was arrested lives in this apparently nice looking apartment complex. No one pointed out to me before I bought the house it is not apartment complex, and is actually a shelter of some sort. Great.
Also here’s another reason that has been brewing. Another set of neighbors are renters, and seem to have some problems with the law. We saw the mother over there getting arrested for old warrants, they frequently park right in front of my garage door and block me in (we share a driveway), and of course there’s this great porn story I told awhile back about that same house.
Now you’ll notice that most of the stories don’t really affect me at all, and I have found many of them amusing. So I have lived here for years “unscathed”. But I think it’s time to cash in that that bet and move somewhere nicer. Besides, it’ll be great to have a backyard at least big enough for a nice Jacuzzi. 
If you know any nice areas within a short drive of Seattle, let me know! I haven’t really looked into which neighborhoods are good and which aren’t since I moved years ago.
I was walking down the hall at work today and someone was coming the other way, and we moved to our respective right to make room for the other person. Moving to the right is common because it’s the same action as when driving. So my question is, in Europe where they drive on the left side of the road, do people always veer to their left when walking? If so, that could cause some crashes when walking around in heavily tourist-ed and multicultural places, couldn’t it?
Perhaps this is the source of all war.
Take a look, it’s snowing today. People around here can’t handle snow, so I hope it doesn’t stick for long.
