Late last month, a bill snuck through the Virginia general assembly that adds considerable fees onto even trivial traffic violation tickets. If you are convicted of a driving misdemeanor (say, driving ten miles over the speed limit, which if you don't do in northern Virginia you run the risk of being rear-ended by a bored commuter) the bill can add up to one thousand dollars onto the fee. If you get nailed for something really egregious, such as driving while intoxicated, you may as well sell your car because the civil remediation fees alone will be over $2kus, never mind …

A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the Cruxshadows would be playing a show in DC on 18 February. This is a band that Lyssa and I have been fans of for a couple of years but somehow we hadn't been able to catch them performing anywhere.

This morning, I finally got tired of haunting the usual places waiting for tickets to show up so I took the direct approach and posted in a few forums to see when tickets would go on sale or if they would be available for order at all (i.e., an at-the-door …