|
|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 335 responses total. |
mcnally
|
|
response 250 of 335:
| 
Aug 31 01:37 UTC 2003 |
re #249:
> Who did they brag to that they were going to kidnap you?
They had already kidnapped me; they bragged that they were going to kill me.
> Were they mob wanna-be types?
They were "gangsta" wannabees. They talked a fair amount about what
professional criminals they were and it was in that context that they
boasted that they were going to kill me.
|
jep
|
|
response 251 of 335:
|
Aug 31 03:03 UTC 2003 |
Mike, is there a flashlight in your trunk now? Do you drive a
trunkless vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV, minivan, van or pickup
truck in order to avoid such an experience again?
It sounds like it was a terrifying experience, and I certainly don't
envy you it.
|
mcnally
|
|
response 252 of 335:
|
Aug 31 06:21 UTC 2003 |
re #251:
> Mike, is there a flashlight in your trunk now?
Yes, but for more mundane reasons -- dead battery, flat tire, etc..
I had a flashlight in my trunk the night I was kidnapped, too.
I spent much of that evening twisted onto my back in the trunk with
the flashlight in one hand and my tire iron in the other with the
hope that the trunk wouldn't be opened from outside but the thought
that if it was I intended to get in at least one good swing with the
tire iron. Fortunately for me it never came to that.
> Do you drive a trunkless vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV,
> minivan, van or pickup truck in order to avoid such an experience again?
No. In the first place, despite my propensity for occasional unplanned
adventures, I consider it fantastically unlikely that anything like that
will ever happen to me again. In the second place, I have no way of
knowing what the outcome would have been if I had been driving a trunkless
vehicle that night but it seems at least as likely that I might now be dead
for lack of a trunk to place me in than that the robbers would have decided
not to rob me for the same reason.
> It sounds like it was a terrifying experience, and I certainly don't
> envy you it.
It's absolutely not an experience I'd care to repeat -- I might easily not
be as fortunate in the outcome second time 'round. However, though I would
never have guessed it ahead of time the net result on my life has been
positive. In the end I wound up with an interesting story to tell for the
price of a few painful bruises, a couple of dollars plus some unimportant
personal possessions, and possibly a bit of hearing loss. On the plus side
recalling the incident has often provided me with a much-needed dose of
perspective during hard times and I don't know if I could overstate how
effective a near-death experience can be in refocusing your attention on
life goals and choices..
Anyway.. far too much about me. Doesn't anyone have any General
Announcements they'd like to make?
|
carson
|
|
response 253 of 335:
|
Aug 31 12:34 UTC 2003 |
(I'm back in Ann Arbor.)
|
jep
|
|
response 254 of 335:
|
Aug 31 13:07 UTC 2003 |
Mike, it's an interesting story. I'd seen it once before, but thanks
for telling it again.
|
glenda
|
|
response 255 of 335:
|
Sep 1 02:36 UTC 2003 |
re 253: and we are in the UP, Houghton as a matter of fact. We wondered if
you where in A2 or Marquette. We have fallen in love with the area between
Houghton and Copper Harbor and thinking about buying property up here at some
point. I am entering this from Cyberia, a Cyber Cafe on the main drag in
Houghton.
|
carson
|
|
response 256 of 335:
|
Sep 1 05:15 UTC 2003 |
(you're in Houghton AGAIN?!)
(I was in Chicago for two and a half months, but have since returned.)
|
naftee
|
|
response 257 of 335:
|
Sep 2 19:26 UTC 2003 |
I was in Montreal for a week
|
dah
|
|
response 258 of 335:
|
Sep 2 21:56 UTC 2003 |
Me too.
|
russ
|
|
response 259 of 335:
|
Sep 3 01:57 UTC 2003 |
RISKS digest volume 22 issues 88 and 89 are in /a/r/u/russ/risks/risks-22.8[89]
|
glenda
|
|
response 260 of 335:
|
Sep 3 02:42 UTC 2003 |
RE #256: Hey, I even looked into finishing my BS up there. Unfortunately,
most of my credits from WCC don't transfer to anything useful there. Maybe
my MS...
|
lynne
|
|
response 261 of 335:
|
Sep 3 20:47 UTC 2003 |
I'm in Wyoming. :)
Our cross-country trip has been fun so far, but the car's been a bit
unreliable. Noticed a flat-tire-esque thumping in Wisconsin about 25
miles from the Minnesota border, when we stopped to check the tire was
fine but the CV boot was cracked, requiring a three-hour stop to get
the car towed and the axle replaced. We were lucky at that--this was
on Labor Day sunday and the shop originally said we'd have to wait
till Tuesday. Drove through Minnesota (whee! Love 70-75 mph speed
limits with minimal enforcement), stayed overnight just over the South
Dakota border, then continued on to the Badlands and Mt Rushmore
yesterday morning. The original plan to drive to within an hour of
Yellowstone was abandoned when the car developed a clicking noise and
funny smell last night--the other CV boot had cracked. We're losing
about a day's worth of travel time for this one. But we saw a *ton*
of wildlife on the drive through the mountains immediately preceding
the breakdown--at least twelve separate times Don pointed out groups
of two or three deer on the side of the road; luckily none of them
tried to jump out in front of the car. We saw a fox too, which was a
first for me. When we were nearly through the mountains, we stopped
at a viewpoint overlooking a valley and saw four deer grazing and then
loping away. Not sure I'd ever seen a deer running like that before,
very graceful.
Today we're wandering around Worland, Wyoming, enjoying a very relaxed
pace of life and friendly locals. We spent a lovely hour in a pet
shop talking with the owner and her birds, and I'm now grexing from
the local library. Barring major catastrophes the car will be ready
in about three hours and we should be staying in Yellowstone tonight.
|
katie
|
|
response 262 of 335:
|
Sep 4 00:39 UTC 2003 |
I will be doing two radio appearances this weekend: WDET 101.9FM
(Detroit's NPR station) between noon and 3 pm ("Folks Like Us"
program) Saturday Sept 6, and WCSX 94.7FM (Detroit's "Classic Rock"
station) at 9:20 or 10:20 am (the "Over Easy" program), Sun Sept 7. I'll post
the actual times when they've been narrowed down.
|
jor
|
|
response 263 of 335:
|
Sep 4 02:13 UTC 2003 |
awesome
|
scott
|
|
response 264 of 335:
|
Sep 4 14:06 UTC 2003 |
I'm back from a long weekend in California.
|
dah
|
|
response 265 of 335:
|
Sep 5 02:34 UTC 2003 |
TWILA that if you think practising Christians are above petty theft, you're
wrong.
|
gelinas
|
|
response 266 of 335:
|
Sep 5 03:23 UTC 2003 |
(I can't make sense of "TWILA": "To Would I Like Announce"?)
|
cmcgee
|
|
response 267 of 335:
|
Sep 5 11:03 UTC 2003 |
Nah, he just wants twila's attention, so he's shouting at her.
|
oval
|
|
response 268 of 335:
|
Sep 5 11:49 UTC 2003 |
heh.
|
anderyn
|
|
response 269 of 335:
|
Sep 5 13:32 UTC 2003 |
I noticed a looong time ago on m-net that IWLTA is an anagram of my name, so
I announced it in general. People have been taking my name in vain ever since.
|
gelinas
|
|
response 270 of 335:
|
Sep 5 16:18 UTC 2003 |
ah. It's an m-net thing. No wonder I didn't understand. :)
|
furs
|
|
response 271 of 335:
|
Sep 5 18:03 UTC 2003 |
That's because of the high-intellegence factor on M-Net, right?
|
naftee
|
|
response 272 of 335:
|
Sep 6 20:22 UTC 2003 |
re 270 Monsieur gelinas, please explain how it is an m-net thing?
|
slynne
|
|
response 273 of 335:
|
Sep 8 19:24 UTC 2003 |
Yeah furs, that *must* be it! ;)
|
tod
|
|
response 274 of 335:
|
Sep 8 20:05 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
|