Today's FBI... It's for You - Monday 1/26/2009

I don't know why, but I find this motto a leeeettle creepy.

It reminds me a little of the faux motto Hydra's street theater troupe used to use for the CIA : "Don't call us. We're already listening."

[Hydra warns me that this joke may have been stolen from some place, since he knows for sure that their rendition of the song "War" to the tune of "More" was lifted from Mad Magazine. Twas the Revolution. Parody to the People was the rule of the day.]

OneL called the FBI the other day to check some facts, and the guy practically recruited her. We've been calling them every few weeks or months for years, but this public relations guy is new and he sent her some FBI gear. Pretty cool.

She gave me a pen and a lanyard. It's probably not a good idea to even joke about possible uses of any of this stuff. So I won't.

But I have to admit, I went to the website and looked at the jobs and the pay scale is pretty nice...

24 Hour Prices - Friday 2/29/2008

I've been thinking about the other two all night diners that Chuck at Twain's told me about last week: Dupar's and Jerry's, both on Ventura Boulevard. I didn't like Jerry's much when I went there years and years ago, but it's since burnt down and been rebuilt, I think.

I dropped in on Dupar's on Ventura this morning.

Yikes! When did breakfast prices get so high? Or is that partly because these diners are all-night establishments that serve the meal all day long? $7.00 for a short stack of 3 pancakes? $7.00 for two eggs, hashbrowns and toast?

It was very quiet here this morning. The music was good. Heard some REM and the like.


What am I learning here? That the grass isn't greener at other diners. And it's sure not cheaper. I think Bob's Big Boy has about the best prices in the Valley, in an unscientific comparison. Maybe I should make the rounds and make more notes.

Kind of not ready to go back to Bob's. It'll be nice to see the people there, but I also feel like I'll have to talk about the whole strike thing and for some reason I just don't want to. It'll blow over after the first day, certainly, but... Ah, who knows? I'll get back over there.

Meanwhile, check this out:


Cool Thing: This week I had the pleasure of talking with the gregarious Neal Schiff of the FBI during the course of my job. Turns out that as well as answering questions for researchers like myself, he hosts a pair of interesting online radio shows, the eclectic "FBI, This Week" which covers the inner workings of the FBI now and historically and the fascinating "Gotcha," which features closed FBI cases. You can either listen in online or read the transcript. Both are updated weekly, on Fridays.