So, I’m in the auto parts store today buying car wax. I get to the register and prepare to pay for the merchandise. The clerk is looking around at nothing in particular when his eyes pass the window and he does a double take. “Whoa, there’s a nice Bimmer outside,” he says. I glance in the same direction. “Yeah, that’s mine,” I nonchalantly reply. “Cooool.”

Now, the experience would have been a lot better if the clerk had been an attractive 20-something chick. Alas, there are not many attractive 20-something chicks working at auto parts stores. In fact, I can’t recall ever seeing a female under the employ of an auto parts store. I’m not trying to be sexist — it just seems as though the auto-parts retail employee demographic is heavily skewed towards the Mars side. It’s probably even more skewed than the engineering demographic.

Anyhow, at about the same time as the clerk is complimenting my car, I hear the words “Hi Jeff” from behind me. I whirl around to find… my manager! Strains of “It’s a Small World” briefly float through my head before I beat them back into the dark recesses of my mind, near my “knowledge” of combinatorial algebra. I respond with appropriate greetings, as one would be apt to do. It’s easy to forget that colleagues at work and school lead real lives too.

I remember finding it very awkward when I would run into my high school teachers at the grocery store. It’s a social situation with no clear solution other than to scream in panic and run away. Graceful? No, but quite effective at avoiding uncomfortable conversation. Of course, the fact that I worked at the grocery store didn’t help matters.

You know who else you might run into at an auto parts store? Maybe Jay Leno. Unlikely but possible. Maybe it would be some other late-night comedian, like Jon Stewart.

Last week, Jon Stewart made a fantastic TV appearance when he went on CNN’s “Crossfire” as a guest and verbally annihilated the two hosts. The two hosts were so taken aback at their supposedly-comedic guest’s intelligent commentary that they were reduced to making jejune quips about the lack of humor. Hilarity (from the embarrassment of the pundits) ensued. See what all the fuss is about over on iFilm.

On a related note, Jon Stewart is a Pike.

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Fun election-season quiz: Which two people ran for office and received identical numbers of electoral college votes, therefore sending the matter to the House of Representatives, and eventually (after 36 ballots) resulting in one becoming President and the other Vice-President? (Hint: peanut butter)

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Blogroll update: There’s a new auto-highlight-when-updated feature on my blogroll: blogs that have been updated since your last visit are marked with bold type. Nifty, eh?