Running...

I guess I better start packing a can of mace, and a cell phone on my evening runs. Tonight a big black shinny SUV and a smaller white car where clandestinly parked window to window in the darkest, most remote section of my usual route. Maybe it was just a happy couple meeting for a late night chat, but I certainly ran quietly, and with heart all a flutter as I passed them in the dark. I really wish Caldwell would invest in some decently lighted biking and jogging paths. Oh well, I guess it's better to die of gang violence than heart disease.... Right?
Interestingly I had a run in with the other end of the spectrum on my way back from New Meadows last Saturday. I was following a big shinny blue pickup down out of the mountains, listening to Led Zeppelin, and not paying attention to my speed when the pickup and I passed a police officer going the other way. In my rearview mirror I saw him brake and come about. Looking down saw that I was going about 65. After pulling me over, the officer explained to me that the speed limit stayed at 55 until I got to the other side of Cambridge, and then changed 65. Nuts I thought, my first speeding ticket after 7 or so years of getting away with all manner of moderate speeding! He then went on to explain that he was going to turn the drug dog loose on my car, and that it would "throw itself against the car if it found something" but not to worry because that just meant he could then search the car. To further increase the pressure, he told me that if I admitted to carrying anything before he turned the dog loose he promised to give me the mildest citation possible. To admit, and keep the dog off, apparently I had to stick my arm out the window and wave while he was filling out paperwork. I kept my arms firmly in the vehicle, and when he came back he asked if I'd thought about his question. I told him I did not have anything like THAT in my car, and he sent me on my way. No dog, no ticket, hardly even a warning. I think he was wishing he would have gone after the blue pickup.
In more cheerful news, according to this set of benchmarks my computer will play DOOM3!!! This game is so freaking cool and scary that I hardly dare visit it's web site at night with my speakers on. I'm not sure whether I'm looking forward to playing it, or dreading the nightmares more. Oh well, "Bring it On", "Hurt Me Plenty", "I'm Death Incarnate" here I come (God but I've missed the good old fashioned Doom carnage. Ever since I figured out that I could exit windows 3.1 and play Doom 1 shareware in DOS mode on my parents' 486sx 25mhz with 4 megs of ram, it has held a special place in my heart. Yes, those were the days.)