How would you swear in an atheist?
December 10, 2006, 11:18 PM
I was listening to the last hour of Bruce Williams‘ December 1 show on my iPod this evening while in the car, and he brought up a topic that I found interesting. In the show, he mentioned that congressman-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) would be sworn into office using the Koran, which is the holy book of Islam, as he is a Muslim. Now, in researching this a little bit, it turns out that he will not be sworn in using the Koran, as all members are sworn in as a group by the Speaker of the House, with no books involved.
The basic concept was about the use of the Koran. It seems fairly straightforward to me, and Bruce and I seem to be in agreement that if he or any Muslim for that matter, were to be sworn in using the Christian Bible, it wouldn’t mean much to him because it’s not something that is a part of his faith. Likewise for a Christian being sworn in by placing their hand on the Koran.
Continue reading…Categories: National politics, Religion
Would you believe I’m already sick of Christmas?
December 9, 2006, 6:11 PM
It’s not even December 10 yet, and I’m already utterly sick and tired of Christmas. All I have to say is that at this rate, it’s going to be a LONG next two weeks. This is what happens when one works retail during the Christmas season. Christmas music and Santa Claus and ho ho ho and all that are piped through the loudspeaker constantly, and Christmas decor is just about everywhere.
I even was opposed to putting up a tree in the house this year. After having to deal with all the Christmas mumbo-jumbo at work, I want to go home and forget the season. You know how much Christmas decoration I have in my bedroom? None. This room basically looks the same as it did in July. Mom asked me if I wanted to help put up the (fake) tree downstairs, and I declined. I see enough trees already, thank you. On that, she suggested we don’t have a tree, then. I think I caught her off guard when I agreed with her about not having one. I really don’t want to have anything to do with Christmas in the house. I’m tired of it, and I wish it would all go away. I’ll just take a bye on Christmas this year, thank you.
Categories: Christmas
Sometimes I just don’t understand…
December 4, 2006, 10:12 PM
I don’t understand what makes people think that sending a volley of insults my way will make them look intelligent. I recently received an Email from a fellow named Scott Blevins from Mendota, Illinois. He asked me three rather intelligent questions, though I admit that they’re somewhat frequently asked. The first question was about why I was interested in fire alarms, and whether others were interested in it. She second was why, despite having a college degree, I work at Wal-Mart. The last one was about how many visitors I get to the site on an average week.
My answers were honest and cordial. For the first question, I described how the interest was sparked, and referred Mr. Blevins to my forums for others’ interest in the same topic. On the second question, I described my ongoing job hunt, and about the interview I had in April. For the last question, I told him that I don’t track my numbers, as I don’t find that information particularly useful for a personal Web site.
For this, I got a response that made me realize that I wasted my time in responding to the initial message. After he called me a “tool” several times, he made a few points that I found amusing. And I quote:
Categories: Some people
“Touch the ball.”
December 2, 2006, 10:27 PM
Have you ever seen the movie Space Jam? At the end, you may recall, at Michael Jordan’s insistence, that the NBA players who had their talent stolen by the aliens touched the basketball to get their basketball talent back.
Reason I mention this is because I saw a photo in today’s Staunton News Leader that brought this scene to mind. Take a look:
Does anyone know…
November 29, 2006, 8:21 PM
Does anyone know the location and/or purpose of a beacon or searchlight in Rockingham County, Virginia just south of Harrisonburg? I first noticed it in 2003 when I was commuting to JMU, and I gave it some more serious thought about what it was last night when I most recently saw it. And I see it on most trips through that area at night.
It appears to originate west of Interstate 81 and US 11, appearing to originate from Bridgewater, or just south of there. I’ve never actually seen the device that this light originates from – just the light itself. The beam of light is white, and it moves in a clockwise direction at a fast speed. If you’ve ever seen the way a lighthouse’s beam moves, it’s about the same.
To see the area I’m referring to, here’s a map. The beacon appears to originate from west of the highway (left on that map). The furthest north I’ve been able to see it is at Exit 240, which is the Mt. Crawford/Bridgewater exit on I-81, the junction of I-81 and Friedens Church Road. The furthest south I’ve seen it is just north of the Augusta County line. The boundary between the two counties is not marked on the map, but to give you a general idea, it’s a straight northwest-to-southeast line just north of Fadley Road and Weyers Cave Road (Route 256).
So my question is, has anyone else seen this particular bit of light? Does anyone know where it’s actually located? Does anyone know what its purpose is? If you know what it is, I would like to know!
Categories: Driving, Harrisonburg
And one more thing…
November 28, 2006, 7:58 PM
I also had the realization while on Metro that my Transit Center site needs a BIG redesign. Not just a change in color scheme and minor details like in the last update. We realized with that last update that the site was a real pain in the you-know-what to update, and so we’re going to go about changing that with the next crop of photos. Hopefully I’ll find something really workable…
Categories: Schumin Web meta
I’m pretending it’s December 5 today…
November 28, 2006, 7:54 PM
Hello from Pentagon City. This trip was supposed to happen on December 5, but since my work schedule didn’t work out, it ended up happening today, a week early. That makes four consecutive weeks where I ended up in Washington.
And I spent the day railfanning for the most part. I went out to Largo, New Carrollton, and Greenbelt. I got two of my favorite operators, and have ridden twelve trains thus far. Add another two to that, and it will about do me for the day (those being Pentagon City to Rosslyn on Blue, then Rosslyn back to Vienna on Orange). And I got to use the emergency intercom on CAF 5191 to report to the operator that the lights were not turned on in the train. She fixed the destination code, which was initially displaying Blue Line to Greenbelt on the side destination signs, to the proper destination code for the Orange Line to Vienna before I could call. Though that one I wouldn’t have mentioned, because I wanted photos of the odd message. Blue doesn’t go to Greenbelt station! I remember that on a Richmond-to-DC trip, I saw a Breda rehab at Gallery Pl-Chinatown showing Blue Line to Glenmont (for which a destination code does not exist), but the train left the station before I could snap a photo – drat! I remember another time a while ago, a CAF train arrived at Vienna signed as a Red Line train to Farragut North. The destination signs turned off seconds before I was ready to take the shot, so no photo there, either.
And I got my two SmarTrips linked. The five bucks that were on my old, cracked SmarTrip will go to my new SmarTrip, and all shall be well again. The lady on the phone was very nice, and incredibly helpful. And I also hope I don’t lose my farecard at Pentagon City this time around. Last time, I lost my day pass somewhere at Pentagon City, and so I had to use my SmarTrip to get back to Vienna. That was $2.35 in fare I didn’t want to have to spend. But it’s either that or walk to Vienna, I guess. Of course, I can’t complain TOO much… more often than not, I leave Vienna after LAZ Parking opens the gates for the night, ending parking revenue hours, and so then I don’t have to pay for parking. So this is payback, I guess. Of course, we wouldn’t have this problem if Metro would hurry up and institute passes on SmarTrip…
Here’s a good candidate for a rewrite: the “Introduction” page
November 28, 2006, 12:07 AM
Here’s a page that’s a great candidate for a rewrite: the Introduction page. I just checked it out tonight, since someone had mentioned to me recently that there’s presently nothing obvious for first-time viewers of the site on or linked from the main page. This page was linked from the main page prior to the main page’s last redesign this past July. With the elimination of the menu on that page to support wide images on the photo feature, there’s now nothing to show.
I will be the first to admit that the “center section”, which consists of the main page, that intro page, the contact pages, and the privacy statement, needs some serious reworking due to the current main page’s kind of cutting things off in spots. The question turns on what to do. I’ll have to think about that one.
But the very obvious work that must be done is to write a new introduction page, and link it more prominently from the main page. My goodness… the present introduction page is rather dated. Without going into the update records, it looks like the present page was last revised in 2004, but that most of the writing is older than that. First off, the photo of me is around five years old, taken in December 2001. I don’t wear those glasses anymore, I look younger, and the background is obviously Potomac Hall. It seems a new photo is in order. Then I mention the quote changing with regularity – the quote’s been gone for more than a year and a half. I also mention the Online Store, with “all kinds of nifty Schumin Web merchandise”. Several problems there: First, the store has a more adult-oriented selection of merchandise than it used to. And I mean “adult” as in grown-up, not pornographic, before anyone takes that the wrong way. Then I also mention the shirt I’m wearing in the photo – my “Schumin Out” hoodie. It was one of many designs to get the axe during the recent store revamp.
So yeah, that page is no longer a fitting introduction to the site. It makes me glad that, at this juncture, the page has become somewhat marginalized. Give me an hour or so, and I can turn this page into a beautiful, current, gleaming example of what The Schumin Web has to offer.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
November 27, 2006, 9:06 AM
Whenever I go to Washington, this line spoken by Elwood in The Blues Brothers comes to mind. Reason I mention this is because, aside from the cigarettes and the sunglasses, it’s fairly accurate for me. When I leave on my bi-weekly trip to Washington, it’s dark, I have a full tank of gas, and it’s 100+ miles to DC.
If you want to get somewhat specific, it’s roughly 150 miles. That accounts for four miles on I-64, 79 miles on I-81, and another 62 miles on I-66. That comes to 145 miles right there. Then when you consider the distance traveled on local roads, meaning the distance from my house to I-64, as well as the little bit of driving on Saintsbury and Vaden Drives in Vienna to reach the North Garage, it comes to slightly over 150 miles. I’ve been meaning to actually measure the distance with the Sable’s odometer, but by the time I think of it, I’m too far downrange for it to be worth setting at that point.
The only time I’ve actually reset the odometer to measure the distance was for my August 31, 2005 DC trip, which meant that it was the Previa’s odometer and not the Sable’s. You may recall that the August 31 trip was characterized by a confrontation with some Metro employees who basically wet their pants when they saw me photographing trains, which led to a meeting with a Transit Police officer. Regardless, it didn’t work out. The reason was twofold. First, I forgot to take the reading at the end of the trip, and made a few trips to work and back before realizing this. Secondly, even if I had remembered to take the reading, it wouldn’t have been accurate, since there was a detour around a work zone on westbound I-66 on that return trip, as well as the next one. Traffic was funneled off I-66 at exit 47, sent down some dark local roads, and then funneled back onto the highway at exit 43.
“Peace”
November 25, 2006, 9:39 PM
Paz, paix, peace, an, siochain, friede, shalom, salaam,amani, santeepop, heiwa, hoa bihn
That’s “peace” in twelve different languages: Spanish, French, English, Korean, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Arabic, Swahili, Thai, Japanese, and Vietnamese. In this time in our history, with a war going on in Iraq, I’m reminded of the song whose lyrics are reproduced above in all those different languages.
I first learned the song in 1991, when I sang a duet with Laine Virtue in the fourth grade for the school chorus. Back then, there was another war going on in Iraq: Operation Desert Storm. Laine and I sang that song, whose only words were the various translations of “peace” as quoted above. Then the next fall, the whole chorus sang a song, “Let Peace Begin With Me”, which was a really neat song (and I can’t find the lyrics for it online).
And with Christmas exactly one month away, I’m holding out hope that we can come up with a peaceful end to the current conflict, and bring our troops home alive very soon. I think this photo says it all…
Categories: Anti-war, Elementary school
A photo set update for you now…
November 23, 2006, 2:13 AM
Every so often, as you know, I like to give updates on photo sets, like when things have changed. I think the most notable update has to be in my Afton Mountain photo set, where the Skyline Parkway Motel was torched ten months after I did the set.
This time, though, it’s a DC area update. You remember when I did Urban Demolition? That showed 1117 North 19th Street in the process of being demolished. Then when I did If These Streets Could Talk about a month and a half later, the site was simply a hole in the ground. The most recent update on that site that I provided was in Part 2 of my Year In Review photo set. There, it was still mostly a hole in the ground, but new structural elements were starting to take shape.
Now, check this out:
Categories: Arlington, Schumin Web meta
An Outlet Village update for you all…
November 20, 2006, 9:45 PM
It’s been about three months since the last time I gave you an update on the Outlet Village, presented in my Building 7 Burns photo set. Since then, the fire training exercises have ended, with Building 1 also being torched for training purposes. Now, work is underway to prepare the site for the new shopping center that will be going up in its place, which will house a Target and a Kohl’s, among other things.
I took all these photos from the car with my cell phone while I was out running an errand on my lunch hour. So here are the photos:
Categories: Waynesboro Outlet Village
I can’t believe that Greta has a better bed than me!
November 19, 2006, 6:42 AM
I also can’t believe that I accidentally erased the first version of this Journal entry as I was getting ready to post it. Let’s see if I can remember everything I wrote before as we begin “take two”.
But yeah, Greta got a new bed, and it’s quite nice. It’s all memory foam. Greta’s old bed was a two inch thick piece of foam rubber with a cover on it. The bottom of the old bed’s cover had cow spots, and the top part was some sort of fleece. Now, memory foam is where it’s at.
Compare to my bed, which I’ve had since 1988, back when I was in first grade at Grimes Elementary. The mattress is slightly newer than the bed itself, but now, 18 years later, it’s no longer as nice as it once was. To put it nicely, it sucks. To give you an idea of how not-fond I am of my bed, I had actually seriously considered taking the bed that came with my room in Potomac Hall home with me, and letting Residence Life bill me for it. So many people complained about the dorm beds, but compared to my bed at home, the dorm bed was living large.
I still remember when I first got it. The bed was bunk beds back then, but in 1998 or so, I finally dismantled the top bunk as being of no use to me anymore. I remember that I put a nice gash in the wall when I accidentally hit one of the parts against the wall, which I then had to fix.
So there you go. And when I mentioned it to Dad and Sis, they good-naturedly told me that I could get a doggy bed for myself just like it…
Categories: Greta
The lengths people will go to for video games…
November 17, 2006, 11:00 AM
Sometimes I can’t get over what people will do in order to be the first to get something. Check this out:
Categories: Some people, Walmart
Quite a storm yesterday morning…
November 17, 2006, 9:17 AM
Categories: Weather