Alex Vernon.com

I sometimes miss the instant torque of some of the V8s I’ve had, but man do I love my turbo.

There’s a lot of road work going on in my neck of the strip mall woods, because of this I’ve seen lots of surveyors around. So this morning I was wondering what exactly a surveyor does. Off to Wikipedia I went and punched in surveying. I got through the first two paragraphs and skimmed the rest. I’m still mostly in the dark but I have discovered that I’m not interested in surveying and I’m glad someone else does it. What was the point of this post? I’m not really sure but here’s a picture.

I heard a great commentary on NPR yesterday by an ex Naval History teacher at the Citadel. It’s an interesting take on the strengths and weakness of American society. He also mentions how we do not have a strong history or at least not as long as most other nations or cultures, which is a discussion I’ve had numerous times with my friends. I also believe this is the cause of lot of our obsession with consumerism and people’s tendency to dismiss conservation. Since we do not have a strong culture to hold us up we have latched onto Capitalism as a substitute. This has allowed us to become the number one superpower of the world but at what cost? And how long can we hold onto that position?

You can here the commentary here: Shaping Military Leaders

Is there anything better in life than good friends? Not a whole fucking lot. (if anything)

I’ve had a somewhat angry post planned about Bush and the Iraq war that I was going to publish. However I’m just too happy right now to do it.

Sometimes things that you wish for but think will never happen do come to pass. At least in my case it has. I still don’t quite believe it. Things like this only happen in movies and novels, at least that’s what I thought.

Things are going pretty well for me right now. I have a decent job considering that it’s corporate. Lots of great friends and a great dog. There’s only one thing I’m missing.

Ever notice that a lot of timid people drive like assholes? Must be a passive aggressive thing.

Friday while heading into work I saw someone who had been pulled over by the police. Normally my first reaction to that scene is thinking “fucking pigs!”. However to my astonishment the first thing the popped in my head was “Serves you right, fucking speeder.” These are immediate reactions with no thought involved, so it shocked the hell out of me. Why the change of heart all of a sudden? Pretty much all my experiences with police have been negative. Granted, the majority of those times I was breaking the law. Regardless though, that has shaped my opinion over the years. I’m not saying it’s the correct one, just mine. However I am acquainted with a cop that I actually like. One of the cops who works at The EARL on the weekends is a pretty cool guy. He is the same one mentioned in my Eraser nipples post. After rereading that previous post I realized I’m rehashing some information, so I’ll give you a fresh cop story.

Back around 1997 I took a trip up to Charlotte to visit a friend of mine. I procrastinated my departure so when I arrived it was pretty late. My appearance was pretty shaggy, I was long overdue for a haircut, had a tie-dye shirt on and torn jeans. My friend had just purchased his place so I had never been there before. I go up to a door and knock, there was no answer so I knock again. The door opens and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police office is standing right in front of me. I was no stranger to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg cops. I was pulled over so many times there I lost count and some of them even knew my name. In fact one asked one of my brothers if we were related after pulling him over. Back to the story, so the door opens and they is a cop standing there. My first thought was “Oh shit, I knocked on the wrong door!” followed quickly by “Oh Shit, it’s a cop!”. At that particular time my car was illegal, my license might have been suspended and I’m pretty sure I had some contraband on me. The cop starts hassling me immediately. He knew my name and said he heard I was coming into town. I was thinking “I can’t fucking believe this, what the hell is going on? How does he know who I am and how did he know I was coming?”. Well turns out I knew the guy, he was one of my friend’s childhood friends. I didn’t recognize him because of his high and tight and I was blinded by the badge. Plus this guy was crazy and I didn’t think he would get hired on as a police officer. Some people that know me think I’m crazy and my friend even crazier than I in some aspects (we compliment each other well, we both inhabit different parts of the craziness spectrum). This guy however has us both beat, he would do things like kick the crap out of someone’s car just because they parked too close to him. Not ding his car mind you, just parking too close. It shocks me who they’ll give a badge and a gun to. That’s a lie, no it doesn’t. So after the paramedics started my heart again we all had a good laugh about it and I proceeded to tell him about my car situation which made it even funnier.

So there you go, a cop story. I have more so look for more from time to time.

Yes, my car and license have been legal for quite some time now.

On the way to work this morning I saw a cop trying to catch speeders. My reaction? “Fucking pig!” Maybe I’m not going soft after all.

How’s that for jumping around from subject to subject?

If I had my own propaganda radio talk show the tagline would be “Thumbtacking the soul of America”. If people called in asking what it means I would call them dumb and patronize them. So I would have legions of followers pretending to be in the know. Then I could use this new found power to rule the world, or something like that.