Things I've been up to

[giza]

Random things I've done over the last few uh, weeks and weekends:

• tailen and I purchased ham radios. I'd like to thank folks for their suggestions. We finally ended up going with a set of Icom IC-T7Hs with the RH77CA extra long antennas. We've had range of about a about on the 2m and 70cm bands.

  As time permits, I'm going to play around with repeaters and try to find a local club or civil defense group I can get involved with.

• I tried getting a sofa, and that didn't work out too well. The one I ordered was about 90 inches long, and it ended up not fitting through the foyer in my apartment. Strawbridges kindly refunded my money and I ended up finding a smaller sectional sofa there. The bigger piece is about 63 inches, so there should be no problems this time around.
• I had the experience of getting detained, patted down, and questioned by local law enforcement one night. After 10-15 minutes (where they presumably ran a background check on me), they openly admitted that I "didn't do anything wrong". I just happened to be looking through the window at a certain pet shop in a manner that appeared "suspicious". The officers involved were pretty professional about it, and I supposed it's good to know (as a taxpayer) that they are on the ball.
• I got a lovely piece of mail from the IRS today. Turns out that it was a 1040-ES form. Apparently since I owed so much in taxes last year, this is their way of saying "you should really pay some of that earlier". Fun.
• I made my travel plans to attend Conclave in October. Conclave is a predominantly science fiction convention in Michigan, but they are trying to get furries to attend as well. In fact, one of their guests of honor this year is none other than unclekage. I do hope that I'll get to see other furs there.

  Conclave is also the "home" convention of the Dorsai Irregulars. So it'll be good to see them again too.

That's all the major news in my life for now.

Comments

[furahi.livejournal.com]

I just happened to be looking through the window at a certain pet shop in a manner that appeared "suspicious"

That leaves the door open for a joke I won't make :P

[giza.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was me taking pictures of two cats screwing on the floor that got the officers suspicious.

[furahi.livejournal.com]

Heheh, Okay, the joke didn't need to be made then ;)

How did you explain that? ;D

[giza.livejournal.com]

I told the officer the truth. Then he told me to go sit back down and called tailen over, who was with me at the time. He asked him something like, "Is Doug the sort of person who would take pictures of such things?", and Tailen confirmed that.

I'm sure it made for an interesting story back at the station.

[furahi.livejournal.com]

ROFL, I bet it did XD
So they let you keep the pictures, hmm? Good ;)

[giza.livejournal.com]

Actually, the pictures didn't come out very well. Otherwise, I'd have posted them here a long time ago.

It was perfectly legal for me to take the pictures. In fact, the officer didn't even ask to see what was in my camera (4th Ammendment issues).

[furahi.livejournal.com]

Don't delete them though, they'll go fine with the story when you tell it in person ;)

[giza.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I already did. Too much glare from the window to really make anything out.

[furahi.livejournal.com]

Awwww, not even the reflection of the police as they walked closer and closer? ;)

[crywolf.livejournal.com]

I don't know about furs, but I do know that among the Aegis folk (who do the swordfighting demos), there's a good number of therianthropes/otherkin. And quite possibly furs, but I've never asked anyone yet.

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

I think you'll like those Icoms. The RHC77A is a huge improvement over the stock antenna the T7H comes with, though I'll still use the original one sometimes when I don't want the longer antenna whapping against my back or side all the time.

[drleo.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, are you actually glad you were just stopped on the street, detained, and questioned for no good reason?

[giza.livejournal.com]

Oh hell no.

I'm glad that they were professional about it. Seeing that they stopped a bald-headed guy with a camera and a foreign national, the whole thing could have turned out a lot worse.

And AFAIK, they did have probable cause to pat me down and ask for ID. I also never heard from them again after that.

[drleo.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I agree about the probable cause, but I wasn't actually there.

[giza.livejournal.com]

There one or two additional pieces which I haven't mentioned here. Contact me on the MUCK if you wanna know.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

I had the experience of getting detained, patted down, and questioned by local law enforcement one night. After 10-15 minutes (where they presumably ran a background check on me), they openly admitted that I "didn't do anything wrong". I just happened to be looking through the window at a certain pet shop in a manner that appeared "suspicious". The officers involved were pretty professional about it, and I supposed it's good to know (as a taxpayer) that they are on the ball.

You were looking at the hamsters, weren't you?

(tee hee)

JAH

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[giza.livejournal.com]

I was actually watching two cats screwing. Not the sort of thing you normally see at a pet store.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

Please tell me you did NOT tell the cops this.

Didja take any pics?

(ha ha)

[giza.livejournal.com]

> Please tell me you did NOT tell the cops this.

Are you kidding? I wasn't going to lie to a police officer. Besides, it probably gave him a humorous story to tell back at the station.

> Didja take any pics?
>
> (ha ha)

Yep. That's what initially got their attention. Sadly, all I got was glare from the glass.

Moral of the story is not to take pictures of cats through windows after hours, I guess.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

(slaps forehead)

Well, no wonder they detained you, you nut. Next time, use a camera cell phone. Then you can make it look like you're talking on the phone when you're taking photos. I do it all the time.

Oops.

My secret is out.

JAH

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[giza.livejournal.com]

That wouldn't have helped. It was getting dark, I was using a flash, and I was in an alcove. All 3 things probably added to the officer's suspicion.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

Add a long raincoat and it would have been purrfect.

JAH

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