Layoffs, Swine Flu, and a Mystery Bomb Scare: A Random Jig Through Reston News

• Fellow "web logger" Robin Smyers, who just happens to be RA President, has written another "blog post," this one about Newcomers Night on Nov. 12 and the dedication of the fancy new green Nature House on Nov. 21. Unlike this blogger, however, there was nary one use of the word "awesome" in her post.
  
  
• Reston-based ComScore, which uses high-tech abacuses to count "Web traffic" and whatnot, is cutting its workforce by 50 jobs, or about 8 percent of its total staff, all part of a "realignment of resources." It also acquired a Latin American company called Certifica. But that's okay, as they're hiring in China, and all you have to do is go to the Reston Town Center to get one of their fancy jobs. (You'll probably have to wait until they have another job fair, though.)
  
  
• Fairfax County's holding another mass H1N1 vaccination clinic at the county's government center this Saturday. Meanwhile, schools in Reston and Herndon -- and those across Fairfax County -- are seeing 6-7 percent absentee rates, about double the usual amount. PANIC
  
  
• There was a lot of talk about this on the Twitters, the lazy blogger's friend, but still no official word about the alleged bomb scare that shut down part of Sunrise Valley last Friday. Here's one eyewitness account:

  On Friday, October 30th, 2009, there was a Police cordon of the area around Sunrise Valley Drive, and Glade Drive. I found out through a source that there was a "Bomb Incident" with a truck at the very intersection mentioned. All of Sunrise Valley Drive was blocked off, and the Police Mobile Command Unit was set-up. Since the area is around government offices, I have no doubt that the FBI could have also very well been involved. This was around lunch hour, and there is no doubt that anyone passing by saw this activity. I know of a few people who in fact did see it in person, but the odd thing is, there is no mention of it in the news as of yet. Given the fact that school buses were re-routed and certain school officials were notified, I am amazed at how this story was never picked up.

  Anyone know anything? This isn't the sort of thing the police like to send out press releases about.
  
  
• Nonprofit thrift store The Closet is celebrating its 35th anniversary, and its founders were recently honored. Good on them.
  
  
• It's been a good week for state Del. Ken Plum (D-Mauve). Not only did he win his first contested election in a decade, but he got a fancy adult and community education center in Springfield named after him.
  
  
• Ann Rodriguez, president of the Arts Council of Fairfax County and a longtime Reston resident, passed away last week after a battle with cancer. She was one of the founders of the group that would become the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce, was former vice chair of the Greater Reston Arts Center board of directors, served as interim executive director of GRACE and as a trustee of Reston Hospital. Rodriguez also hosted health education and business focused shows on Comcast. A public memorial will be held from 11:30-2 on Dec. 2 at the Reston Community Center's Hunter Woods facility. Nothing funny here, but at times it's worth highlighting how one person can make such a sustained distance in a community over time.