31337

The post that draws the most viewers to my blog is "The elite milestone." which comes up when people search for "31337" images via Google. I get about 20 hits a day that way. (Unfortunately, they go to the February 2005 archive page.)

And what is this big draw? It's a picture of an odometer reading "31337".

(If you're confused about the significance of 31337, see the 31337 entry at Urban Dictionary.)

Back when I posted that, I said that'd be cool for me to do someday, but what I actually thought was that there's no way I'd remember it. As it turned out, not long after that, I got a used car with fewer than 31337 miles on it, and since that post is constantly splattered all over my activity logs, I could hardly forget.

Not only did I not forget, I practically counted the minutes. I did arithmetic. I planned ahead. When just the right moment arrived, I was navigating a bumpy off ramp going a little too fast in traffic that was (not unexpectedly) too close for comfort. This is the picture I got:


Drat! Try again:


A tenth of a mile too late. You can see what I was aiming for. Having done all the preparation and risked my life to take a picture of my dashboard when I really should have been watching the road, I feel justified in using my meager image manipulation skills to doctor up the image I rightfully should have had. Behold:


So for all you 31337 searchers out there, this one's for you.