Suspicions

[annieways, you should know about this] Last Wednesday, a neighbor down the alley (the block leader, no less) had their house broken into and some jewelry and a purse stolen. What made it particularly galling was that the home owner was in the front yard at the time (the kids were playing in the sprinkler), and their back door was locked. The perp got into the house by taking the screen off an open window. The police, when called, said there have been quite a few burglaries in the city, and people are being urged to keep their doors and windows locked at all times (this is irritating; the heat is supposed to get up to 95 degrees today, and we have no air conditioning downstairs. I worry, too, about leaving the girls alone or playing in the yard when these thieves are brazen enough to enter the house when someone is on the property.)

So a crime alert was circulated, and all were urged to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and call 911 if we saw it.

And sure enough, today I did see something weird and I did call 911.

I was on my way to work with the girls in the back seat, just a couple blocks from my house, and a light was turning red, and so I turned to go up the alley. A guy was walking in the center of the alley, carrying an over the shoulder Nike bag and pulling a wheeled black carry-on piece of luggage behind himself. When he saw me, he dumped the two bags between two garages and walked away.

This seemed weird, and so I stopped to see what he would do. He slowed, looked at me, wandered a little further, and then strolled back and retrieved the two bags.

This seemed even weirder. I followed him, pulling around the corner to watch. He strolled over to a car repair shop and stood at the side of the building, talking on the cell phone. I called 911 and reported it. I had to get to work, so I couldn't learn the end of the story, but the 911 operator seemed to think it sounded strange, too, and said she would be sending a squad car. When I left, two of the mechanics who worked at the car repair shop seemed to be asking him his business, so I hope that even if he leaves before the squad car shows up, they will be able to provide a better description.

Edited to add: I got a call from the block leader, who called the car repair place to see if they knew anything more. They said that the guy asked if he could plug his cell phone in because his didn't have enough of a charge. And then he made a call to someone, and the repair shop guys overheard him moaning on the phone, "You gotta come pick me up! She threw me outta the house with just some stuff in an overnight bag!"

Apparently, eventually someone eventually came and picked him up. Don't know if the cops ever spoke to him first. But it sounds like a classic "Baby, don't!" guy. If it's true, he's definitely having a bad day. Not only is he thrown out of his house, but a suspicious woman calls the cops on him.

As aome points out, however, this doesn't explain why he initially looked as if he were ditching the bags when he saw me watching him. Hmm.

Since it's the 23rd of June

I have the lyrics to "Jug of Punch" running through my head.

Happy summer, everyone.

Sweating with the Enemy

Here is an interesting article from the Boston Globe on the question some have struggled with over the question of whether Curves should be boycotted because the founder donates money to anti-abortion causes.

If getting fit also means enriching a millionaire who donates to antiabortion groups, why is Curves sweeping across New England with the force of a blizzard? Thousands of Massachusetts women are facing the question of health versus choice. How will they reconcile the personal with the political?

I'm not interested in starting a flame war about abortion in this journal, heaven knows (really, please don't post your rants pro or against about the subject here; I'm still recovering from the last kerfluffle over gay marriage. Don't make me resort to the delete key). But I'm thinking instead about the larger issue, in general, of how we choose to spend our consumer dollars can have an unlooked-for political impact. The article points out that NOW considered whether to start a boycott against Curves but decided that in the end, it would hurt franchise owners (many women who were just getting into business for themselves) rather than Heavin. I remember the Domino's controversy; I read a story about one hapless Domino's franchise owner who went broke because of the boycott; he was pro-choice himself, and he wondered, I'm just trying to sell pizza. How is driving me out of business helping choice causes?

I note from the article that some Curvers are solving the dilemma by increasing their prochoice contributions; see reference to the website curversforchoice.com. This seems to be at least a partial solution. The article also points out that unlike in the case of Dominos, where you could simply choose another pizza brand, there really isn't any business providing an alternative to the type of niche Curves fills.

My mom uses Curves. I've always exercised on my own, using videos and DVDs.

In a related story, I see the Southern Baptists announced they are ending the Disney boycott.

Interesting post re: fanfic

From the ever quotable scott_lynch, here posting about Robin Hobb's rant against fanfic here. The discussion continues on metaquotes here.

I offer this without comment since I know many on my f-list are fanfic readers and writers; the discussion is getting very lively. If you chime in, please be polite, people.