A Nice Visit

michaelalreadytaken

16 years ago

The nice agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force stopped by to visit this morning.

It seems they take an active interest in those of us who photograph the Transamerica Pyramid at two a.m.

LOL.

They were very nice.

I neglected to ask them in or offer them coffee. It wasn't intentional; I was just preoccupied.

I kinda sorta mumbled that two a.m. is a good time to take night shots because there's no one around to compete for sidewalk space, pedestrians, etc.

The only thing that bothered me about the entire "visit" was that when I volunteered my place of employment they politely cut me off with a "We know" before I could finish.

So, as I sit here and reflect, it occurs to me that they do indeed already know where I work, and where I use my debit card, and what sites I visit on the Internet, and what time my vehicle passes through the toll plazas... etc, etc, etc.

--which thoughts I balance against the following thoughts--

One of my ex-next door neighbors lost his son on 9/11 and one of the physicians that I was working with at the time lost his father and his brother that day.

The agent was kind enough to "put me on his list" so that if they receive anymore calls about my presence that they'll already know who I am.

ROFL. Well now, that's quite a blessing isn't it?

I guess I'll live. With any luck we all will.

MichaelAT

Comments (6)

Molineux
16 years ago
Gee thanks Michael. Now I'm going to have nightmares.
dublinbay z6 (KS)
16 years ago
Back during the Bush Sr. reign, anyone actively involved in anti-Bush politics got put on a list too--and black helicopters would sometimes hang over your back yard while you were weeding the garden. For real, folks. Spooky.

Kate
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bettym_grow
16 years ago
Back in a country I came from instead of being questioned you just get wakened in the middle of the night by angry loud knocking and then get dragged off into the middle of the night by "the police" sometimes you come back home sometimes you don't.

Nice visit? I don't think so.

Betty
jannorcal
16 years ago
Do we get to see the pictures that caused the grief?
meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
16 years ago
Yes, pics please!

betty, was it the AVO? If so, we have friends there and my empathies [of course empathies otherwise!]

MAT, thanks for sharing! OMG.

I can't be shocked as certain military positions [mostly] of many of my family and family friends have left "people I know" in a bizarre realm of knowing that this sort of thing definitely goes on!

Dad has the best story of inviting his 'tail' over for a drink with the guys on a Germany trip in the late 70's.

I couldn't go on the Europe trip in High School because they tagged on a special visit to the USSR [bummer still that I missed that]. My good friend from then-Yugoslavia couldn't do the Eastern Bloc either, and my little hometown friends were mystified at the actual existence of these sorts of realities! "My xxx designed w@rheads" "Oh, mine was nuclear physics!" "Kewl!"

The funniest for me and my best friends involved a couple of years where it was 'clear' that things were being recorded, etc, [nobody believed me 'cept Dad'n'folks] but that ended up being for a white-collar crime of one of Dad's partners in knitwear, of all things. Dear Lord the conversations on that home phone... I shudder to think, lol.

He's still in prison, actually. Knitwear! Life is just bizarre sometimes.

Welcome to The Club, muahahaha ;)
carla17
16 years ago
spooky pal
I am getting a HUGE laugh at Patrick's response. Sorry Patrick.

Carla