run with guns?

From Special Guest Blogger, Jennifer

So, today, I ran five miles for the first time in forever (training for a 10k). I'd reached around 3.5 miles on the bike trail near my house, when I noticed three men running with what I took to be sticks. They were rapidly coming up behind me.

I was in one of those running trances, cranking my iPod on some Cars tunes, and my first thought was, "Damn, I'm gonna have to move because there are three of them." But then I noticed the machine guns they were running with, and I kind of stopped, and started to think of getting the heck out of there and ducking and covering myself. The guys were moving, the guns were pointed at the sky, and they seemed to be in formation but not in uniforms of any kind.

Then a cop car drove up behind them, and they had a conversation. The policeman then drove off. The three men continued running and eventually passed me, guns ‹ which may or may not have been plastic replicas, I really have no idea, ‹ pointed skyward, turning on a busy road that goes into downtown Vienna, VA. I wanted to ask them what the heck they were doing, but you know...it's never a good idea to bug people with guns.

So what the heck was that? And no matter what it was...ROTC drill, police training...isn't there something severely messed up that they'd LET THEM DO THAT TWO DAYS AFTER A MAD GUNMAN KILLED 32 PEOPLE IN THE SAME STATE?

I'm just aghast.

Jennifer

blog-o-meal #2

4/13/2007
Thirty-two course dinner.

Some of what I remember...

"Americano" -- frothy seltzer version of the Campari drink.
Tumbleweed of beet -- fried ball of beet amazingness.
Apple crisps -- w/ saffron & fennel pollen.
Cotton candy foie gras! -- yes, rly.
"Bagels & Lox" -- no, not rly. Middle-eastern dough, salmon eggs, cream cheese+...
Conch fritter -- oh, yeah.
Olive oil bonbon -- jewel of olive oil that bursts in your mouth.
Ferran Adria "olives" -- I really can't explain this. If you put one in a glass with chilled vodka you could sell the drink for $20 a pop. Trust me.
Deconstructed glass of white wine-- eleven ingredients laid out in an aspic that are the flavors people find in white wine, sprayed with a fine mist of white wine.
Zucchini in textures -- roasted pureed zucchini with zucchini seeds on top in a gelatin kind of thing.
Feta "linguine" -- pasta made with feta whey, with feta and tomato marmalade.
63 degree C quail egg with osetra caviar and passionfruit.
JOE! We had sea urchin ceviche with passionfruit foam.
"Guacamole" -- tomato sorbet in a tube of avocado topped with tomato, cilantro, and FRITOS.
New New England Clam Chowder -- clams, potato puree, clam foam!, chive oil, fried potato minicubes.
Japanese baby peaches with Greek yogurt.
Mysterious Thai dessert that is simultaneously sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and peanuty.
Big ball of fluff that explodes in green tea flavor.
The check-- it comes in an eggshell that the host pounds on the table for you, leaving a pile of eggshell crumbs (and the check); and yes, the amount was close to the GDP of some 3rd world countries.