love/loathe life in DC

So I left work at 11:30ish for lunch today with my boss' wife, Kathleen, and we walked to a restaurant about a block and a half away. We were enjoying our sandwiches at the tables outside when three fire trucks slowly cruised past with their sirens on. Didn't think a thing of it since there's a fire station nearby and they're always out disrupting the peace of our fair city. Especially at lunchtime it seems. Anyway, we got up to walk back to the office, and noticed that all the firetrucks had stopped at the intersection right by us. There was a DC traffic cop on the corner and someone asked them what was going on. He didn't say anything, but a courier on a bike chimed in something about that they'd found nuclear materials in an alley two blocks away. CRAZY!!!!! So we decided not to let the terrorists get us down and to go back to the office anyway. Turns out the mystery containers were actually on the street corner right across from our office and our street was totally blocked off! AHHHHHH!!!!!! So I called our CEO and made sure someone let him know what was going on since said rumored dirty bomb was literally outside his window. It was the first he'd heard about it so he assured me he'd alert the office. The police wouldn't let us get anywhere near the entrance of our building, so we ended up sneaking in the back via the loading dock. Good thing I'm chummy with our security guards.... So about an hour later after we get back in, the CEO's assistant comes flying past my desk asking if anyone told me we were all leaving. BWAH?! EVACUATE!!!!!!!! Glad someone bothered to mention it to me.... Apparently the bomb squad and their robots being on the ground outside the CEO's office made him a little bit more than nervous. So we got the afternoon off. And the situation was resolved: just some pool chemical containers that a homeless guy was using to mark his territory. O!!! And I forgot! While we were trying to find a way back into the building, we started talking to this woman who it turned out was a reporter for Scripps-Howard. There's a minute chance I'll be quoted in her story. She asked if this sort of thing happens often in this neighborhood (since it's 3 blocks from the White House). I told her "no", but we had something similar happen about four months ago, so.... that's sort of often. Here's the link to the news story for your amusement.


http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=285372