northern virginia in a nutshell (by special guest blogger Andrew)

I'm back in Northern Virginia, home to the entitled masses, endless traffic, and ...well... if you've ever been here then you know. I was sitting at the bar of a restaurant in Reston town center, either because it's usually quicker as a lone traveler to get food this way or because I'm just a raging alcoholic. It's Monday, but the bar is packed with people drinking, carousing, and generally having a merry time. However, beside me sat two local IT workers discussing their support responsibilities such as fixing workstation IP addresses, resetting misbehaving routers, and other minutiae that only an IT person would discuss over a beer. Dressed in embarrassingly ugly Gap clothes and old loafers, they belabored politics and local housing prices and I had to listen because beside them was the only seat left at this busy bar.

Finally, when they were on their third beer (that I had seen), and acting really somber, the guy with a crewcut stated "I can't stand to have my cell phone near my head any more. It's giving me memory loss."

The guy with the uglier sweater replied, as if in a separate conversation "Yeah, if a cop sees you talking, he can pull you over."

Mr. Crewcut IT-man then said "I only use speakerphone and hold my phone out in front of me. I can't stand to make it any worse." and he finished this by taking another long drink of his beer.

I almost spit out my dinner. I wanted to buy him another round for being so brilliant, but I needed to leave before I laughed in his face. So remember kids, every time you use that cell phone, you're ...ummm... I don't remember.