I may have inadvertantly solicited something I did not mean to solicit

I have flown through the Minneapolis airport many times.

I have used a restroom at MSP many times.

I do the following every time I use an aiport restroom: place my roller bag directly in front of the stall door, because I have been in far too many stalls where the lock does not work, and I'd like my privacy while I take care of business.

So, I was quite surprised when I read this passage in a story on Idaho Sen. Larry Craig by The Associated Press:

After a man in the adjacent stall left, Craig entered it and put his roller bag against the front of the stall door, "which Sgt. Karsnia's experience has indicated is used to attempt to conceal sexual conduct by blocking the view from the front of the stall," said the complaint.

The complaint said Craig then tapped his right foot several times and moved it closer to Karsnia's stall and then moved it to where it touched Karsnia's foot. Karsnia recognized that "as a signal often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct," the complaint said.

Ergo, I will remember to never, ever tap my foot in a public restroom.

Random update

August in Washington is slow enough that when I called the VW dealership recently to make a service appointment, they asked me if I could come in as soon as possible. (They wound up keeping my car for two days and extracted an obscene amount of money from my wallet, but that's another story.)

Anyway, the politicians and their staff, lobbyists, hookers, etc. are out of town for the time being, and we're even getting some sorely needed rain. I would have appreciated it a bit more if I hadn't had to drive home the other night in one of the biggest downpours I've ever seen.

Plus, I had one of those everything-starts-to-move-in-slo-mo moments when some d-bag, who had been stopped at a red light, decided he couldn't wait a second longer and began to pull into the intersection at the exact moment I was cruising through at about 35 mph. After taking evasive action -- and avoiding, in hindsight, what would have been a pretty gnarly collision -- I was dumbfounded enough that I just kept driving.

On the other hand, I've been looking for an excuse to get a different car. On the other other hand, I could probably do without the lengthy hospital stay.

More toilet humor

The manufacturer of those high-tech toilets I was so enamored of earlier this year has a marketing campaign aimed at U.S. consumers.

If you can make it past the flash intro -- in which the implied, though probably unintentional, message is, "Hey, these people are talking out of their asses!" -- the site is oddly engaging, considering it's all about toilets.

And I know that's two posts in a row referencing the toilets. Sorry, but that's the most interesting thing going on in my life at the moment.