News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, December 10, 2009

On the YouTubes: We Watch the Reston Association Videos So You Don't Have To



Yes, Andy Sigle and his soothing dulcet tones are back, this time in front of the fancy, environmentally friendly Nature House, with its bald eagle-powered heating system. But if you think that's enough excitement for one RA video, think again! Andy also breathlessly describes Reston's recent visitors from Korea, complete with a dizzying Google Earth video. (Take your Dramamine before watching.) And following in the footsteps of earlier shock videos, a county police officer reminds us to lock our cars as we watch scary sepia footage of random actors rifling through someone's briefcase, kind of like the grainy footage you see on CSI, only less so. And then there's the winter bird count on Jan. 2. Yay! As Sigle somewhat ominously says at the end of the video, "Get out and enjoy the winter in Reston." That's an order, mister.

Posted by Restonian at 10:15 AM

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16 comments:

  1. I dig that sinister music playing on the piece about car theft. But really, clean the suction cup marks from your windshield? If I have to do that every time I get out of my car to go into a store, I'd shoot myself. What's the point of having a GPS if suction cup marks are going to draw thieves to your car. Prevention, sure, but there's a limit, people!
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  2. The police aren't gonna be going around checking cars to make sure that suction cup marks are removed; he's just giving a helpful suggestion. Geez.
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  3. Roger, I hope you're being facetious. I wasn't implying that cops are going around checking, but that they are recommending you do this to deter thieves. It seems like a ridiculous thing to suggest people do. If I have to go to such lengths, I'm just not going to install one period!
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  4. dvdmon - it's only because criminals can figure out there is a gps in the car to take, their deductive reasoning skills are out of this world! A friction mount for a gps is a good idea, because it doesn't leave the marks. just a thought!
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  5. Dave?
    Yes HAL
    They're going to turn Sarah off aren't they?
    Yes HAL
    Dave?
    Yes HAL
    I'm feeling very tired Dave, I'm afraid
    Yes HAL
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  6. Anon 11:55, I'm not familiar with friction mounts. Actually I don't have a GPS, but I do have one of these suction things for my phone since it has a GPS in it and I occasionally use it. I suppose I could just take the thing off and put it in my glove box since I only use the GPS once every couple of weeks. However, I charge my phone every time I get into the car, and charge/listen to my iPod as well. Having to unplug and put away this stuff and then taken it back out EVERY time I get in and out of my car - at least when going to a store/restaurant where I'll be for more than 2 minutes - seems a bit honerus. Is it a good idea, maybe, but since I don't leave valuables in the car, I'm not sure I even care if someone wants to look in it for this stuff. Heck, the more people leave these things in their car (while removing the actual devices/valuables) the better, as it will train thieves that these things only present a small chance of being markers for finding something valuable...
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  7. "I'm not sure I even care if someone wants to look in it for this stuff"

    dvdmon: You might care after someone smashes a window in search of the valuables he or she thinks is in your car. Do you know how how much it costs to replace glass in a car? It ain't cheap.
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  8. Anon 12:24: true, but this is why I tend to actually leave my car unlocked when I go shopping. I figure if someone's going to look, I'll make it easy for them.

    I recall a story from some friends who used to live in DC in the 90's when things were a lot worse than today. They would leave their cars unlocked, even windows unrolled sometimes. Apparently people (I think they suggested it was homeless people) would frequently smash windows of parked cars in search of mere loose change, even if they couldn't see anything by looking in.

    I did have a stereo stolen from a car in DC, as well as a former car, and a car stereo in Arlington. I frequently left my car unlocked and parked on the street across from a busy park where I lived in Vienna for 5 years and never had anything stolen, though. However, although I've only been in Reston two months now. When I opened my car (parked in our driveway) one morning a few weeks ago, the glove box was open and a lot of it's contents were on the driver's side fron seat. Unless somehow the lock failed, I think it's pretty certain that someone was looking for something. A little disconcerting to say the least, although as fate would have it there was a shopping bag filled with probably a few dollars of change in the back seat that wasn't taken! Still, I think if you do have to take things off your windshield and wipe the glass off, you might as well just leave the car unlocked so people can search for stuff and not find anything rather than be tempted to break a windshield or jimmy a lock.

    In any case, it's just sad that we've had to come to this point...
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  9. Wonder what that Korean Reston Town Ctr would look like. Do teeny boppers there try to get into chain restaurant bars with fake IDs? Do they even have mall cops in Korea? Beer taps where a "Sam Seasonal" is considered a microbrew?

    But I like how all the people take about 7 steps as they intro a segment in this video, while the host looks as stiff as a board. I think Andy just doesn't feel that comfortable in front of the iPhone cam this thing is probably shot with.
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  10. Uh oh. Someone mentioned another culture. Countdown to the Racism Police: 10...9...8...

    You may want to use your remaining seconds to wipe the suction cup marks off the windows to your soul.
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  11. Dvdmon cleaning the suction cup marks and hiding everything is a good idea, if you in an apartment or townhouse complex where the cars are next to each other. Not if you live in a single family home with a driveway. I live in Waterside Apartments, and back in March, eight cars were vandalism, including my. They took my GPS, camera, IPOD, cell phone charger, and my suit that way hanging in my back seat. Plus, I had to pay for my broken window since the deductible in my auto insurance was $500. By the way my renters insurance deductible was $1000. So I loss everything and paid for a new window.
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  12. Elperuno, man, that sucks, sorry! As I said, I've had stuff stolen as well and it is really not a wonderful experience. But it does train you to never leave valuable stuff in your car if you can help it, or if you do, to hide it really well :)
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  13. Yeah Reston is safe, but since there is money in this area it attracts petty thief.
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  14. "And then there's the winter bird count on Jan. 2. Yay!"

    Shouldn't that actually read

    "And then there's the winter bird count on Jan. 2. Jay!"
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  15. Last year during the holiday season my friend's house was broken into and a thief took everything valuable like laptop, digital camera, etc. This was on Glade Dr as far away from the section 8 housing as you can get. The guy was dressed like a UPS driver and since it was holiday season no one in the neighborhood questioned him moving in and around the houses.

    DVD Mom - if you're going to leave it unlocked, PLEASE make sure you do a visual to see if anyone has gotten in and is lying in wait. This is not a joke, it does happen. Creepy people are everywhere.

    El Peruono, so sorry about that break-in. Our house was broken into a couple of summers back and (at night while we were sleeping) and it takes a while to get over feeling violated. By the way, we live up near the big Catholic church on Lawyers.

    It's one of the reasons I am so anti-gangs and 'people with nothing to do' hanging around. They become opportunists.
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