A few interesting links...

Since my job has been possessing my entire body and soul for the past week or two, I'm going to take it easy and share a few interesting links with you...

First of all (and most importantly!), the Silver Spring Zombie Walk is on.  I've participated in the zombie walk for the past two years - as a regular 'human' the first year, and as a zombie mummy last year.  I am a huge fan of Halloween, and the zombie walk is one of the highlights of the season for me.  Until we get enough Wheaton zombies to reenact Dawn of the Dead at our own mall, I'm going to stick with the zombies in Silver Spring.

The excellent local blog, Just Up the Pike, recently posted about the new, superhero-sounding Citizens League of Mongomery County.  It sounds like they might be a good antidote to many of the NIMBY-minded neighborhood associations in our county that often provide a strong voice against the kind of start growth that I'm in favor of.  Right now, their board members seem to skew towards the west of Wheaton, with heavy representation for the North Bethesda/White Flint area.  So, if any of you politically-minded readers out there want to get involved in county politics and redevelopment efforts, this might be an interesting association to participate in.

On the crime and punishment front, two disturbing crimes have stood out over the past few weeks.  Luckily, there have been arrests for both of them.  First, there was the carjacking near Crisp 'N Juicy of a man who was putting his kids into their car seats.  Fortunately, he was allowed to get his kids out of the car before the carjackers took off with it.  Here's the latest from the Gazette on the arrest that was made.  While you can't help but be distracted when you loading kids, groceries, or shopping bags into your call, this is a reminder to stay as alert as possible when getting in and out of your car.

The second crime, which just happened in Silver Spring, is really horrible.  It occured in the new Civic Center plaza that just opened and resulted in serious injuries to an innocent bystander.  I also find it upsetting that the horrible acts of a few delinquents are going to cast all the teenagers who hang out in downtown Silver Spring in a bad light.  The various Silver Spring blogs are en fuego with people commenting on this, many of whom seem to be spiraling out into their own fantasy worlds of what a dangerous urban jungle downtown Silver Spring has become (really???).  The Gazette has a wrap-up on the police response to this and several other recent incidents in the area.