TBAY - About Representing Every Thread PLUS Tech Question

[Cindy C.]

Debbie:

> "Cindy, you seem to live in *my* neck of the woods.  Is that you 
>I've seen driving that destroyer around the neighborhood?"  <waves 
>wildly at Cindy>

Yes, well, I do have a funny feeling that we're neighbors, Debbie.  
I'll give you a little hint.  Look for the house with the lawn that 
always needs mowing with a garden hose always strewn across the 
driveway because I'm way too lazy to wind the thing up.  

No?

All right, Debbie, you need another hint?  I buy my groceries at the 
Westbard Giant, where I can be found pushing a cart with my son at 
my heels, repeating again and again, "Not unless it's on sale, 
honey.  Not unless it's on sale."  ;-)

Anyway, so here's the latest from Ground Zero.  

I'm on the e-mail distribution list for the kids' elementary 
school.  The schools have been in "Code Blue" lockdown since this 
all started.  Code Blue is a post-Columbine procedure where the kids 
have indoor recess and gym, and the doors to the schools are locked 
from the inside.  It was designed to secure the kids during isolated 
events like 9/11; it wasn't designed to deal with an ongoing state 
of siege like this.

After the boy was shot going into his school, one of the 
neighborhood dads send around an e-mail asking our principal to 
institute indoor lineup.  Normally, the kids line up before school 
outside on the blacktop, except in rain and snow, when they line up 
inside the school building.  Given the situation, it certainly makes 
sense not to have 450 children gathered up outside for 15 minutes 
every day surrounded by heavily wooded areas when they can easily 
wait inside, right?

The principal refused this request.  She said that any parents who 
are concerned can wait outside with the children "to be a 
presence."  She also refused to recall the 5th grade crossing guard 
patrols, who are stationed at intersections around the neighborhood 
to assist younger kids in crossing residential streets.

Uh.  Gee.  As a parent, I'd take a bullet for my child if I had to, 
but it's hardly my first choice.  So when I saw this, I replied and 
explained that if we use indoor recess to protect the kids from *the 
elements,* perhaps we ought to use it to protect them from this 
particular threat.  There was a dogpile (oh, Bethesda parents can 
get downright nasty when they don't get what they want) and the 
principal reversed herself, as you might imagine.

The other interesting thing I learned this morning was from the guy 
who runs the fitness program I attend.  He's a former Special Forces 
Marine, and he's been out of the armed forces for 9 years.  I asked 
him if he knew anything about the sort of weapon the sniper is 
using.  He said that he was trained on that particular weapon and he 
still has his rifle, in fact.  He said that when you're trained in 
marksmanship in the military, you attend certain schools, and they 
keep a record of everyone who attends these schools.  He currently 
lives smack in the middle of where these shootings have taken place, 
and he said he is rather surprised that he hasn't received a phone 
call from the FBI yet.

That the authorities haven't tried to contact him makes me wonder 
just how quickly and competently this investigation is being 
handled.  Anyway, people are awfully jumpy around here.  No fun, no 
fun at all.

Cindy -- screwing up her nerve to take her son to soccer practice 
tomorrow