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February 24, 2007

Look Both Ways

I was listening to a show on NPR and they were talking about the CSI effect and how it is changing the expectations of juries and how investigations are now often run with an evidence-heavy perspective. I have watched my fair share of CSI and other crime shows but I generally see through their wildly unrealistic evidential circumstances and quick lab results. And I am used to this. I know that it is part of the show; that I can allow myself to believe for this moment that it is possible to get a DNA match from a phantom saliva sample in just under 24 hours. I have gotten accustom to other things on these shows as well. The gruesome images of victims and the twisted work of violent predators. I have even seen some pretty crazy and disgusting things in movies where people get shot or tortured. And it's sad to think that I am sort of used to these things now. I'm used to seeing people die on TV. But I realized tonight that there is one type of accident that I just can't desensitize myself to: anything involving a moving car. Car accidents. And one of the worst sort of car accident (the kind that even shocks an audience when it's on a screen) is when somebody is hit by a car.

I saw a girl get hit by a car last night. The sound was terrible. And the person she was with screamed the kind of scream you know is pure terror. It was just so intense and sad and scary and frantic. After seeing crazy things on TV shows, this was anything but unreal. It felt so real that it made me sick.

Please please please look before you cross the road, and be careful getting into your car when you park on the street.

Posted by libbystokes at 04:09 PM | Comments (1)

February 12, 2007

PDX pics

Back from Portland. It was good. You know what I realized though? I have a horrible memory. Or maybe I don't, but when people ask me how the trip was I can never think of what I did. Maybe I just get nervous under the scrutiny of a questioning aquaintance, I just blank. Anyway, thank goodness I have my camera with me every now and then to keep track of my life. Here are some things I saw in Portland:

This was on a wall outside a really cool clothing store. Hip.

I saw this little guy in an alcove next to Peet's Coffee. I went back later to take a picture; the next day he was gone. Maybe he's a fugitive.

This is Lucy, one of John and Kate's cats. She is little and cute and sweet and curious.

Kate and I drove up to Seattle to visit family. We were walking along the water, bought some candy, then took a picture and went home.

We visited the Starbucks headquarters. It was a really neat building-- inside and out. These little sirens peeking out from the tower made me laugh. Starbucks is going "big-brother."

This actually wasn't in Portland, but it's cool. It's a trashcan. Yay.

Posted by libbystokes at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2007

Checklist

Things I did while in Portland:

Explored a patisserie
Visited the Moon (and Sixpence)
Rejected Idiocracy
Learned the rules of Whots
Went to the Whole Nine Yards
Made a Let's Brew purchase
Played pinball at the Arcade
Drove by Joan of Arc
Walked to Grand Central
Baked vegan cake
Tasted formaggio pecorino toscano
Videotaped the rain
Threw darts

Posted by libbystokes at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)