Eighteenth posting - OCD

I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Memorial Day. Fortunately mine was both. I took the train to Washington and visited some college friends. From now on, I will be taking the train as much as I can: it was virtually hassle-free, the seats are comfortable, price was reasonable, and a man selling beer and wine was never more than 100 feet away.

My friends actually live in a small, tight-knit, and well left-of-center community called Glen Echo, just outside of Washington (http://www.glenecho.org/). Because the weather was great (low humidity, upper 70s), we sat on the porch a lot, shooting the proverbial breeze. Every so often, we would see a gold Infinity sedan drive by, along their short street. The driver didn't look particularly odd, although he drove slightly fast, and completed only a "rolling stop" at the stop sign.

A neighbor had pointed out that this car and driver had been spotted along the street repeatedly over the past several weeks. She also mentioned that others had seen him, and he'd followed the same route -- in one end of the neighborhood and out the other, each timing coming from and returning to the South. His trips seemed fairly regular, so I timed him. First time was 14 minutes. Second time 12 mins. Third was 14 minutes. It seemed to get a little creepy in that now we were waiting for him to come. No one wanted to stop him and ask his business, but another friend did suggest this behavior indicated Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Perhaps.

After some reconnaissance work by a journalist who lived nearby, they discovered his name (Timothy) and where he lived (Bethesda). Timothy has no criminal record, other than some violation related to an obstructed license plate, but he does have 2 homes. This was all very interesting. The police were called again, but nothing has come of it yet. If he's not dangerous, maybe he could be some unofficial village time-keeper. "What time is it?" "Timothy just drove by...must be close to two o'clock."

My friend pointed out the irony that Timothy's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder may, in fact, have created a similar disorder among the villagers, who are growing obsessed in anticipating his next trip...

Enjoy your week, especially those of you with birthdays, and don't drive too often along the same route (or the villages will start to talk). NATHAN

P.S. For you runners out there, here's a link to a site on Age Grading, a method by which you can see how your times stack up generally against others in your category. http://www.pinebeltpacers.org/AgeGrade/newwava.html Achievement levels above 60 are considered locally very strong, 70+ are regionally strong, 80+ are national, and 90+ are world class. My best 5k so far doesn't get me anything yet, although I'm close. Need to get under 20 minutes, which is a good goal in the coming weeks.