Recently in Maryland Category

This morning however, I have a new appreciation for this city.  Yesterday, I was on business in New Jersey.  As I was driving down I-95 through the tunnel, and past the exit for Morgan State in my pickup truck (yes, I know...but I can't afford a new car...sue me), I ran into some trouble.  I heard a "pop" then my 65 mph became 45.  45 became a maximum of 35.  Pulling over, I turned off the engine and let it sit for 5 minutes, you know, like computers, reboot and all goes well.  Not my truck.  Still couldn't go past 35 mph.  It was a Nissan, not an American car, so the Big 3 don't take another hit.

Luckily, I have AAA.  After calling them, I was thinking about how hard it was going to be to find a couple of thousand to cover repairs.  My stocks are down 40%, the economy sucks, Christmas is just around the corner.

The tow truck driver arrives.  After asking the standard questions, he hooks me up and off we go to the nearest garage.  As we are going, he asks about what I was doing on the road in the lousy heavy rain, if I had dinner already, and just some small talk.  Getting to the garage, he got out, grabbed the overnight paperwork for my vehicle and brought it back to me so I could fill it out in his truck while he got my vehicle down.  Halfway through the process, he came back to me and told me he was 95% sure what the problem was.  Given the heavy rain, I was unfortunate to get a lot of water in my engine.  Told me to run my engine for 10 minutes, then try it out again.  The rain had tampered down to a drizzle, so I should be able to dry it out.

This man made my night.  After he got my truck down, I handed him a crisp $20 bill.  Heck, for the kindness he showed me, it was worth it even if his theory didn't pan out.  But 15 minutes later, I was back on the road.  I should have listened to my late mother who wanted all her children to learn about everything mechanical.  I'm an accountant by trade, and the closest thing to an engine I've seen is the inside of a computer.  But always, mother knows best.  So of course, Mom, you were right.  And thank you kind stranger.  You made an awful night a bit better.

As a good alumnus, I attended and got to speak with the new dean, old professors, and other trusted persons of the Robert H Smith School of Business.  This event was similar to the exhibitions of any industry.  The difference here was that instead of companies hawking their wares, it was the various schools and departments showcasing their current and future projects.

But one thing that definitely was the same as the dozens of conferences I attended were attractive women holding fort at the booths.  OK some booths had men only.  Their departments were very small or had no women...it didn't matter.  Almost definitely, the larger departments and schools had their own young woman handing out pamphlets and other pieces.  I know for sure there was one where I took whatever she was handing out.  Don't remember what department she was with.  It was either soil erosion or greenscaping.  Sorry, I'm an adult male.  I'm attracted to women.  Sue me.  There were definitely booths I had no interest in, but stopped by anyways because of the woman standing there.

Aside from that, it's strange that this culture still exists.  I feel bad, but I know it happens every day at every conference in the United States.  I'll have to enjoy endure this for years to come.

The problem is that I live in an entirely different county, Frederick.  I changed my drivers license and vehicle registrations to reflect that within a week of moving.  When filling out that form, I checked off the little box that says something about notifying voter registration.  That was 2005.  In 2006, I voted only for statewide elections and left the local politics to the real Montgomery locals.