Maelstrom

I'm addicted

vuur — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 04:50:31 GMT

We all have a weakness
But some of ours are easier to identify.
Look me in the eye
And ask for forgiveness;
We'll make a pact to never speak that word again
Yes you are my friend.

We all have something that digs at us,
At least we dig each other
So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday
If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me
Sing this song
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone.

We all have a sickness
That cleverly attaches and multiplies
No matter how hard we try.
We all have someone that digs at us,
At least we dig each other
So when sickness turns my ego up
I know you'll act as a clever medicine.

If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me.
Sing this song!
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone.
Oh each other....
When everything else is gone.

[incubus - dig]

back on the east coast..

vuur — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 07:53:41 GMT

so my biggest complaint about San Francisco was not the 60+ degree weather all week which was fantastic, or even the rain or the fact that I was at a conference and working all week or that my flight back was delayed an hour and a half. It's the fact that while I am in Pacific time, everyone on the east coast expects me to still function in eastern time. I mean that's fantastic in the afternoon/night for eastern time people, but 9-10am EST meetings are awful when that is 6-7am PST. Having my watch and blackberry on eastern time and my cell phone on pacific is confusing as hell but a quick way to know what time it is in multiple time zones....

at least my body and head are now all re-aligned on eastern time now even if I am currently adjusted to Pacific...

Fight me if you dare | Combat Cards

vuur — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 15:54:17 GMT

COMBAT CARDS 2.1

to fight vuur
enter your username below

CREATE YOUR CARD

super busy... as usual

vuur — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:31:14 GMT

so i switched jobs within the Fed as of monday. Mind you i just got back from alaska on july 2, the 17th i had a new job, next week I'll be in San Francisco for training and the week after i'll be in Richmond for installing stuff.
oh and then i might have to go to Minneapolis for a presentation too.

i love the new job. much more exciting than the old one AND i get to travel. the bank in San Fran is 2 blocks from the bay, how awesome is that?

i'm currently visiting my grandparents in upstate NY, i drove through a storm and a half of blinding rain on the way up, that was fun. I just hope it's all gone by monday so my flight is not delayed.

i'm so busy, but i love it. i think i'm one of the lucky ones that got a job that fits exactly what i want to do so well.
yes it's only been a week so far, but i'm very hopeful things will continue to improve.
The new apt, the new job, the travel, having a dog in the house, no drama... i love it.

Alaska Pictures

vuur — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 06:22:28 GMT

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=19rb88nj.10ejx0xb&x=0&y=-fg4jsh

that is all.

quiz

vuur — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 01:58:12 GMT

Your Scholastic Strength Is Evaluating

You are great at looking at many details and putting them all together.
You are talented at detecting subtle trends, accuracy, and managing change.

You should major in:

Statistics
Speech
Conflict studies
Communication
Finance
Medicine

What Should You Major In?

grey's anatomy quote - another good show

vuur — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 04:19:40 GMT

In the 8th grade my English class had to read Romeo & Juliet. Then for extra credit, Mrs. Snyder made us act out all the parts. Sal Scalperillo was Romeo. As fate would have it, I was Juliet. All the other girls were jealous but I had a slightly different take. I told Mrs. Snyder that Juliet was an idiot. For starters she falls for the one guy she knows she can’t have. Then she blames fate for her own bad decision.

Mrs. Snyder explained to me that when fate comes into play, choice sometimes goes out the window. At the ripe old age of 13, I was very clear. That love like life is about making choices. And fate has nothing to do with it. Everything it’s so romantic. Romeo & Juliet. True love. How sad. If Juliet was stupid enough to fall for the enemy, drink a bottle of poison and go to sleep in a mausoleum… she deserved whatever she got.

Maybe Romeo & Juliet were fated to be together but just for a while. And then their time passed. If they could’ve known that beforehand maybe it would’ve all been okay. I told Mrs. Snyder that when I was growing up I’d take fate into my own hands. I wouldn’t let some guy drag me down. Mrs. Snyder said that I’d be lucky if I found that kind of passion with someone. And that if I did, we’d be together forever.

Even now I believe for the most part love is about choices. It’s about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending … most of the time. And that sometimes despite all your best choices and all your best intentions, fate wins anyway.

[season 2 - let it be]

i hope it rains there all the time.

vuur — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 22:26:53 GMT

boys lie.

its 8:45
the weather's getting better by the hour
I hope it rains there all the time
and if you've ever said you miss me
then don't say you've never lied.

[Brand New -Jude Law and a Semester Abroad]

4.0!

vuur — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 16:39:05 GMT

i am allowed to celebrate. I am almost 100% positive i have a 4.0 this semester. I am waiting on 3 grades, 2 of which i know are A's. the last one is a web class which i have not seen a grade from all semester and if it is NOT an A, i will be arguing that one.
i'm excited. that really helped my GPA and i reached the target GPA i wanted for graduation.

NJ wins over NYC - transit strike

vuur — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 14:26:51 GMT

so the MTA transit strike today has half my office out of work today. Basically anyone who lives in NY, said F that and did not come to work or is working from home. I don't blame them, if i had to work in NYC and the closest i could get to my office was still over a mile away, i'd say the same thing. All the subways are closed and the majority of the bus services are not running either. Basically if you live in NYC, you're screwed. Getting from brooklyn or Queens to manhattan is just about impossible unless you are driving yourself.

good thing i live and work in NJ.

from NY1.com

Millions of commuters are facing their worst nightmare this morning as a massive transit strike brings New York City's transit system to a halt, threatening businesses and stifling movement across the five boroughs.

Transit workers began walking off the job at 3 a.m. following a vote of the union's executive board, hours after union leaders rejected the MTA's final contract offer at the end of a contentious bargaining session.

City officials say the work stoppage, the city's first transit strike since 1980, will have a massive and debilitating effect on the city, thwarting millions of commuters and countless tourists on the cusp of the holiday season.

"Our contract expired on Thursday at midnight, but we postponed a strike in deference to our riders," said TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint in announcing the strike shortly before 3 a.m. "All local TWU members are now directed to report to the picket lines."

To the city's seven million commuters, Toussaint said: "For the riders, we ask for your understanding. Our fight is their fight."

The TWU allowed all subway trains and buses that were running at the time of the strike announcement to complete their runs before returning to the depots and shutting down.

All subway entrances have now been locked and station agents and token booth attendants are now off the job.

The city has deployed its strike contingency plan to help smooth the bumps for the region's seven million commuters.

Until 11 a.m. on each day of the strike, vehicles with fewer than four passengers are prohibited from entering Manhattan at all bridges and tunnels south of 96th Street, and barricades at 96th Street prohibit cars with fewer than four people from passing southbound through that point. However, vehicles traveling within Manhattan need not have four passengers.

Even with the restrictions, traffic on the West Side Highway and FDR Drive was backed up for miles by 5:30 a.m. North of 96th Street, drivers were spotted picking up strangers to make it past police checkpoints with the required four passengers.

In a show of solidarity with displaced straphangers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined thousands of commuters crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on foot as he made his way to his City Hall office shortly after 7 a.m.

On a lighter note, two dozen Santas from Brookstone's department store took up positions on the bridge to greet commuters as they streamed across the famous span.

Meanwhile, the city's public schools are opening two hours later than normal to allow extra travel time for students.

A strike by the city's 34,000 transit workers is illegal under the state's Taylor Law, which provides for substantial fines against public workers who strike. The city comptroller’s office says the city stands to lose $1.6 billion in the first week of a strike, with the hardest economic blow coming on the first day.

"The TWU's action today is illegal and irresponsible," said MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow in a separate press conference following the union's announcement. "The MTA has made every effort to resolve this dispute and I guarantee the public that we will take every necessary step to bring this illegal action to a halt."

Kalikow said the state was preparing to file contempt charges against the union in response to the work stoppage.

Shortly after Kalikow's remarks, the mayor addressed New Yorkers from the city's Office of Emergency Management, calling on residents to be resolute in the face of the work stoppage.

"It will no doubt be a difficult time for people of this city and the region as a whole," Bloomberg said. "But New Yorkers have made a habit of pulling through tough times and showing doubters what we're made of. These traits will be put to the test as long as this strike lasts."

The union said the latest MTA offer included annual raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent; the previous proposal included 3 percent raises each year. MTA workers earn between $47,000 and $55,000 annually.

Pension issues have been a major sticking point. The MTA wants to raise the age at which new employees become eligible for full pension from 55 to 62, which the union says is unfair.

But Toussaint said the union wanted a better offer from the MTA, especially when the agency has a $1 billion surplus this year.

The last time transit workers walked off the job was in April of 1980, when an eleven-day strike stranded commuters and resulted in millions of dollars in lost productivity. The TWU's local chapter was fined more than a million dollars for the stoppage.

After five days of high-level negotiations, the union rejected the MTA's final offer shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, then moved to their Upper West Side headquarters to formulate plans for the work stoppage.

The negotiations broke down after going almost two hours past the 9 p.m. deadline that the TWU had set for the MTA to present its final offer. Earlier in the evening, TWU officials asked the MTA to present its best offer at 9 p.m. so the TWU executive board could vote on it before midnight.

Earlier Monday, workers at two private bus lines began picketing in Queens to underscore the union's stance.

At a Monday morning press conference, Toussaint said that the union would agree to lower its wage demands to a six-percent increase for each year of the three-year contract if the MTA agreed to make security improvements. The TWU's new demand was double the three-percent raise per year that the MTA had offered.

Workers from Queens-based Triboro Coaches and Jamaica Bus Lines fulfilled their promise to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Monday, leaving 50,000 riders scrambling for other ways to get around.

The TWU imposed the partial strike after a deal wasn't reached by midnight Sunday. Toussaint joined the striking bus workers on the picket line in Queens Monday.

The MTA's head negotiator didn't sound very confident that a deal could be reached in time to avert a strike at a Sunday night press conference.

"I think in addition to the fact that there's no progress to report, I think the MTA is very concerned that we are down to the wire," said Gary Dellaverson. "Obviously the MTA does not have any deadline on these talks. We have said we will continue to negotiate for as long as it's fruitful."

On Friday, it looked like the MTA was done negotiating when Chairman Peter Kalikow said the contract offered after overnight talks was "the final offer." MTA officials went into talks Saturday maintaining that they would not budge from the offer rejected by transit workers early Friday morning.

The MTA’s contract proposal at the time offered a nine-percent raise over three years, but the union is seeking more. The contract also required new hires to pay one percent into their health plans, whereas under the current contract they pay nothing.

The MTA's proposal also sought to increase the retirement age for new hires from 55 to 62, but the union wants it lowered to 50.

As the clock ticked toward the strike deadline, hundreds of transit workers rallied Monday evening in front of Governor George Pataki's Midtown office.

TWU members who attended the rally said they were upset about the governor's refusal to enter the negotiations.

"[What] we need is Pataki and [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg [to] have a little talk with the boss of the transit," said one union member. "We need their support because there are no winners here, and who's at fault? Who's going to be losing? The people."

"The governor has been staying out of the picture so far, in my book,” said another TWU member. "He hasn't wanted to get involved, and I don't know what his reasons are but he needs to get involved by midnight tonight, otherwise the city is going to be shutdown to zero. There's going to be no transportation in all of the five boroughs."

Workers from other unions were at the rally in a show of solidarity for the TWU.

The union representing Metro North Railroad workers showed their support for the TWU at a Monday morning press conference, but it's still not entirely clear if those workers will walk off the job in support of their sister union.

"Metro North and the MTA have not budged one inch, but instead have continued with their 'take it or leave it' type of approach," said Russell Oathou of the Metro North Labor Coalition.

Metro North's service is a critical part of the city's strike contingency plan.

As part of the plan, the city has waived normal restrictions to allow livery cabs and commuter vans to make curbside pickups along MTA bus routes.

However, the United Drivers Group of America says what the mayor is asking them to do is unfair.

"They were asking us to break the strike, to alter the way that we do our work every day, maybe go to areas that we don't normally go and picking up more than one passenger, which we don't do," said Julio Alvarez of United Drivers Group of America. "Like I said before, we are going to do what we normally do on a daily basis."

The group also says drivers are normally given tickets upwards of hundreds of dollars when they make curbside pick-ups, and it refuses to be "used" by the city to manage the overflow of people on the street.

haha i love lex

vuur — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 01:08:58 GMT

rungrrl5k: OH
BecksInTheCity: hi
rungrrl5k: i just bought a new vibrator
rungrrl5k: finger fun
rungrrl5k: you should invest in one
rungrrl5k: it'll take your mind off ...things

november

vuur — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 02:02:22 GMT

Your Birth Month is November

Tolerant and inspirational, you are wise beyond your years.
You are universally sympathetic and a great humanitarian.

Your soul reflects: Compassion, friendship, and secret love

Your gemstone: Citrine

Your flower: Chrysanthemum

Your colors: Dark blue, red, and yellow

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

work and waiting

vuur — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:21:14 GMT

i am ridiculously busy today at work.
and i'm waiting on Dr.Gross to call Alison to get the news...

soccer is officially over for me...

vuur — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 20:41:10 GMT

Dr. Gross took new x-rays of my leg and says I still have a stress fracture in my tibia. It’s very high up in the bone which is why my knee has been bothering me lately. I also still have shin splints (still) in my lower leg which is causing the pain that is sore to the touch. The x-rays showed that the stress fracture is healing, but it is still not 100%. He said that 5 weeks is usually not enough time for stress fractures to heal, they usually take close to 12 weeks so he’s not surprised I'm still in some pain. Gross is getting me an air cast to wear for the next few weeks and thinks I should refrain from any activities that would aggravate my leg. He said I'm done for the soccer season, but that I should come back in 3 weeks (October 26th) to check on the leg and see how it is doing. I'm supposed to put weight back on the leg, this should help it heal. I should use crutches as necessary for walking until the air cast comes in, but walking around is fine and should help speed up the healing process.

Gross was much more confident in his diagnosis that Alberta was and had explanations for all my concerns. He gave me his email address in case I had further questions and told me after I let everything sink in, if I have more questions, don’t hesitate to email him and he will get back to me as soon as he can.

frustrated with the leg/knee pain and no explanation

vuur — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 19:08:44 GMT

In summary: The orthopedic doc has no idea what is going on with my leg.

He looked at the MRI and was unable to see anything definite. He could not even see my stress fracture on the MRI, which concerned him because in the few weeks between my bone scan and MRI it should not have completely disappeared. He said that he should be able to see something, but unless I heal really fast, something should appear on the MRI, but he saw nothing. The tendons around my knee look fine from what he could see on the MRI (he was especially concerned with the patellar tendon, but said it looked fine). He’s not sure why I am still getting pain under my knee, or why I am still sore to the touch down by my ankle. He is concerned that in the 5 weeks I have been on crutches, I am still complaining about under my knee, but not so much in the area as where the stress fracture was in my tibia (which is about 2-3 inches under my knee). He thinks I should have shown some improvement and I should not be almost worse off in some ways than when I started off on the crutches 5 weeks ago. He is not sure what other tests to do to figure out what is wrong and basically said I could do 1 of 2 things, try and work back into things, or stay off it. I told him walking is still a bit painful at times so his recommendation is to continue to stay off it and go see the other Orthopedic doctor at the Hackensack location. Because of the Jewish holidays, Dr. G is not available until next week, so I have ANOTHER appointment Monday now at 2:30.

Alison (the athletic trainer) is running out of ideas on what else to do and since she has to go to the Hackensack office with another student athlete before my appointment on Monday, she was going to talk to Gross about what is going on with my leg/knee.

My opinion:

Something is obviously wrong. I am not one to stay on crutches or in an obnoxious brace any longer than absolutely necessary and this is getting ridiculous that the doctor can not figure out what is going on and I still can not walk/swim for any serious distance without pain under my knee. I'm taking things on a day to day basis. If the leg/knee feels ok, I'm going to try and swim, if it’s unhappy, I’ll rest. Lifting seems to be the one thing I can do without pain, mostly because I'm doing all arm/ab work. Hopefully Dr. G will have something enlightening to say on Monday.

This summer I was getting what felt to be shin splints in my left leg while running but it didn’t feel major so I didn’t think anything of it. Being a crazy athlete I ignored it and went into preseason for soccer (August 21st). The first week we were doing 2 practices a day and I was doing ok, I’d occasionally get twinges in my left leg like shin splints, but it wasn’t major. My calf started cramping up a few days in so I wrapped it with an ace bandage and continued to play. A couple days the pain was really getting to me so I sat out practices, or parts of practices. Monday (August 29th) was our first day off in 7 days of practices and after practice Tuesday (aug 30th) I could barely walk. We had a huge game Saturday (sept 3), so I was put on crutches till then and managed to play most of the game Saturday. I was fine during the game, but afterwards when I took the ace wrap off my leg, I couldn’t walk again, the pain was too intense. I attempted to warm up the next day but could not run without a limp so I sat out. Later that week (sept 7) I went to the orthopedist and had xrays which did not show anything. I was sent to do a bone scan (sept 13th) which showed a hot spot 2-3” below my knee on my left tibia which was assumed to be the stress fracture. I also had a sore spot about 2” above my left ankle on the inside of my leg which was sore to the touch and was assumed to be shin splints. I was told stay on crutches for 4 more weeks (to make 6 weeks total) and then we’d re-evaluate. I joined the swim team to be able to swim to keep my cardio up and stay in shape. The first few practices were not bad, but then kicking and flip turns were sending spasms of pain from my knee down to my ankle where I had been complaining of pain. Swimming was stopped as I couldn’t kick or turn without pain, and I'm still on crutches. Friday (sept 23rd) and the weekend was extremely painful (weather was bad too), so the school trainer threw me in an immobilizer from mid calf to mid thigh which I have been in since then. I went back to the orthopedic last week (sept 27) who recommended an MRI which I got done (sept 29) and read today (oct 4). I can walk (slowly), but some days are better than others. On the bad days, I can’t hold my leg up out straight on my own and any weight sends pain through my knee. It feels like the pain shoots right under the knee by the top of the tibia, more under the kneecap than anything. On good days I can walk short distances, but I tend to limp/favor my left leg.

Ideas????

Internal - Realist - Powerful quiz

vuur — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 22:36:28 GMT

You Are Internal - Realist - Powerful

You feel your life is controlled internally.
If you want something, you make it happen.
You don't wait around for things to go your way.
You value your independence and don't like others to have control.

You are a realist when it comes to luck.
You don't attribute everything to luck, but you do know some things are random.
You don't beat yourself up when bad things happen to you...
But you do your best to try to make your own luck.

When it comes to who's in charge, it's you.
Life is a kingdom, and you're the grand ruler.
You don't care much about what others think.
But they better care what you think!

The Three Dimension Luck and Power Test

MRI

vuur — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 04:40:05 GMT

so i got an MRI of my leg done today. too bad i have no idea what the pretty pictures mean...

politics

vuur — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 04:20:20 GMT

You are a
Social Moderate
(43% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(26% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

quiz

vuur — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 04:53:24 GMT

Your IQ Is 130

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average

Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius

Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional

Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

fun quizzes

of doctors and databases

vuur — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 21:38:32 GMT

I have another doctor's apointment tomorrow for my leg. I'm still on crutches today and have been swamped with work all day. This is looking to be another busy week....

On a side note, stevens women's soccer is yet again the engineering cup champions. Go Ducks!

stupid leg.

vuur — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:43:29 GMT

i find it a problem when i have been on crutches for the past week and the most strenuous exercise i have done all week is swimming and some lifting for my arms and i still can not walk without a limp.

game report: Win 4-2 against Wisconsin-Oshkosh

vuur — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 05:53:01 GMT

Sunday September 4, 2005 10:30pm

So despite my best efforts, my leg did not cooperate with me today. I was on my crutches the majority of the day. We went on a walking ghost tour of Fells Point, Baltimore. We only went in like a 8 block circle, but I crutched the entire way. After we had lunch and wandered around a little, we returned to the hotel and chilled in the lobby for 2 hours before leaving for the game. While in the lobby I was constantly icing my leg and staying off of it as much as I could.
We went to the game and I went to the training room. I got all wrapped up and we watched the end of the Hopkins vs Oneonta game. We then went into the locker room, jeff said some things and then left. I was listed as a starter for the game at that point. I said some words to the team and then we went out. My leg was bothering me some and I tried ignoring it as much as possible, but jeff pulled me aside and said I was limping too bad and I was not playing. It was very frustrating to be on the sideline especially as we went down 2 goals early on crappy shots. Luckily we managed to score 2 more in the first half to tie the game up by halftime. Kiley followed a shot by Megan Tennyson and chipped the keeper for the first goal. Our second goal came off of a nice free kick by Sally Cook who placed the ball neatly in the upper left corner where the goalie had no chance of getting it. In the second half we started off a little slow again but managed to get 2 more goals by the end of the game. Megan Tennyson crossed a ball from the far right that got behind the keeper and Gina Crifasi came flying in from the left side to put the ball away in the goal. Gina ended up in the back of the goal with the ball, but it was a definite goal. The last goal came from Megan Legendre from an assist from Heather Dean on the right side. Deano took the ball down the sideline and found megan in the center of the field. Megan took a shot that hit the inside of the left post and bounced across the inside of the goal to tuck itself neatly behind the right post on the other side of the goal.
I was glad we were able to pull out the win, it made my sitting on the sidelines a little easier to bear. I’m still kind of annoyed at my leg for misbehaving. I’m doing all I can and yet it’s not enough. I’m still on crutches too which is just annoying, but necessary.

i have a doc apointment on tuesday to get it looked at. hopefully i'll have some answers, but i think i'll need an MRI too...

praying to play...

vuur — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 17:44:20 GMT

so my leg is not as happy as i had originally hoped. i've been off the crutches today seeing how it feels and icing it constantly. i ice one section and every 20 minutes rotate the ice bag around my leg. i'm hopeful i can play today. i've been doing all i can to get this stupid leg playable and i'm not starting today but i'm hoping i can still get in a bunch of time. we'll see how warm ups go. i'm not letting this get to me. i'm being hopeful and hoping for the best. i do not know what is wrong with my leg. i'm hoping it's nothing serious, but i really want to play. it's a little sore still, but i'm going to do my best.

game in a few hours against Johns Hopkins...

soccer

vuur — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:52:02 GMT

preseason makes my legs hurt and my ankles cry

NJ People ---> read this.

vuur — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:07:10 GMT

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE from the Financial Services ISAC
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record 1 of 1
COI: VBIED Threat to Entrances to New Jersey and Tall Buildings

Date: 8/15/2005

Title: VBIED Threat to Entrances to New Jersey and Tall Buildings (https://premier.fsisac.com/?requestUrl=..%2fcontent%2fview.aspx%3fPageID%3di5758%26Id%3d396603)

Document Type: DHS (Other)

Description:

The US Government has released information concerning a threat to entrances to the state of New Jersey, specifically roads, highways and railway stations. Tall buildings may also be targeted. The attack would be carried out via a truck bomb (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device or VBIED). The explosives used would require sophisticated equipment or trained dogs to detect. The attack would be carried out at night by Muslim Arabs who are US nationals and by additional participants from abroad. We cannot verify the credibility of the source at this time, and no information is available on the time frame for the attack(s).

At this point this reporting cannot be viewed as corroboration for earlier reporting of a threat from fuel/tanker trucks to certain cities in the US, as the two pieces of reporting emanated from different sources. However, both pieces of information are part of a continuing stream of reporting indicating terrorist interest in carrying out VBIED attacks in the US.

Recipients are asked to follow the guidance issued by the Office of Counter-Terrorism on Friday, August 12, 2005, concerning the threat from VBIEDs to New Jersey's transportation infrastructure. This guidance included a list of countermeasures to adopt at targeted sites (rail stations, bridges, tunnels, major highway crossings) and a list of VBIED indicators.

Sector Specific:

Document Contents:
Text of Threat Information Released by the US Government

(U/FOUO) A prominent figure in a Middle Eastern country who has held high government positions contacted a senior US Embassy official to report a threat against the US. The prominent figure said the threat information came to him from a source who he considered credible and who appears to have direct or indirect access to the group responsible for the threat.
The US Embassy has no further information on the source so cannot judge his/her credibility.

(U/FOUO) The source said the plan involved attacks on roads, highways, and railway stations, during the night time, at entrances to the state of New Jersey. Tall buildings may also be targeted. The attack would be carried out by the use of explosives transported on trucks and disguised in a way that would require sophisticated detection instruments or trained dogs to detect. Those conducting the attacks would be Muslim Arabs with US nationality. Additional participants in the attacks would come in from abroad. Preparation for the attacks has included coded e-mails sent from the Netherlands and Denmark.