Just now I ran into Bruce from Upstairs. He showed me a parking ticket he got in the mail that says he owes the City $150 for parking illegally near Illinois Masonic, four miles away. Get this–he was out of town the weekend he “got” the ticket, and his car was parked in our neighborhood the entire time.
WTF?
Contesting a ticket in Chicago is a big pain in the ass. You have a week to either pay (in person, through the mail, or online) or check the little box next to the option to contest. If you pick the latter, then you have to show up within the next three weeks, and it’s first come, first serve. Doors open at 8:00 a.m.
If you ignore the ticket altogether, they send you a notice in the mail. If you ignore that one as well, then they come to your house and take all your pets. If you don’t have any, they’ll take your neighbors’ pets.
According to the Department of Revenue’s Web site, contesting the ticket in person does not increase your chances of winning. What they don’t tell you is that you have no chance of winning. I’m positive, however, that employees and their families aren’t eligible to play, if you know what I mean. And obviously, as in Bruce from Upstairs’s case, no purchase is necessary to win. Pfft. You’re better off playing the lottery.
If, like most people, you aren’t a lucky winner, you have 35 days to appeal the decision, though on the Web site, it doesn’t say whether or not this can be done online or through the mail.
Now, who’s going to go through all that for a $30 meter violation? Or a $50 street cleaning parking violation? A $150 ticket though, that might be a different story. Seriously, you’re better off just paying the damn thing, and the City knows this.
But a “ghost” ticket? (This town has many ghosts, you know.) Even a ghost ticket for say, $30? My initial reaction would be to curse them out, even if they couldn’t hear me. Then I’d contest. If I have no material evidence I’d have to go to court to present my case. I mean, come on, how can you prove that you weren’t actually parked at the meter that you supposedly violated?
So let’s say I show up in court and they decide against me, which they would. I now have a month to appeal. Is it worth it? Is it?
What in the galaxy put the idea in my head that I’d be able to read the EU in chronological order?
I started reading Dark Apprentice then set it down to backtrack and read Dark Empire. I’m so behind.
Moving Day: October 1st is the busiest moving day of the year for whatever reason. Avoid at all costs.
Hopper was my first cat, ever. I hated cats, but the apartment I lived in at the time (and all the others since) didn’t allow dogs, so my then husband convinced me to adopt a cat. She was six months old when she came to live with me and was an only cat for the next seven months.
Obviously I didn’t hate cats as much as I thought because I fell in love with her immediately. She was like a little baby, a cat baby. Then, she surprised me when she started playing fetch!
She had a fur-covered toy called a ferret that looked nothing like a ferret, unless it was one that was headless, tailless, and legless. When she decided it was playtime, she would drop the toy at my feet and look at me expectantly. I’d toss the ferret, she’d chase after it, “kill” it, then bring it back. I repeated as needed.
That was nine years ago. After three additional cats, two moves, a divorce, and two fewer cats (went with the ex), Hopper stopped playing this game.
Today, she inititated it. I rolled up the tin foil wrapping from a piece of pizza and set it on my desk for not even a second, I swear. From her usual perch above the printer, she batted it.
I thought, why not? I tossed it across the kitchen floor. As I expected, she chased after it and “killed” it, then surprised me by bringing it back halfway. I tossed the aluminum ball a few more times before she finally retrieved it and dropped it at my feet just ilke old times.
Then two of the boys woke up and sauntered over to check things out, and I couldn’t get her to play again. I’ll keep trying, though.
I’ll have to expound on these in the future. Notice that they didn’t mention my one-way street navigation tip.
Read the rest of this entry »
One-Way Streets: It is perfectly OK to travel the wrong way on a one-way street as long as you are driving backwards.
Bank One mini-branches are hatching all over the city like mosquitos. I’ve always preferred them to the other banks around here because I don’t have to memorize where their ATMs are. All I have to do is look for a Walgreens, and there are plenty of those around.
I’ve banked there since it was First Chicago–maybe 12 years? I had the same account for six or seven of those years, and way back then I had a habit of bouncing checks. However, I’ve become fiscally responsible–not secure–responsible. And yet, in all that time, and after all those thousands of dollars that I bounced, they were patient and I finally got caught up on my balance.
So imagine my surprise when in March I got a letter in the mail informing me that they were going to close Brian’s and my checking account. This came out of nowhere. All it said was we had X amount of time to withdraw the balance or they’d close it and send us a check. WTF?
I called Brian immediately. Unknown to me, he sent them a “contact us” e-mail. We were charged for an overdraft because we miscalculated our balance or something, and he was outraged about the fees. I already knew that they take your first-born, so I didn’t know what the big deal was, as long as we were careful. Besides, we don’t have kids.
Well, he told Bank One exactly what he thought of them. Something along the lines of “you fucking suck.” In those exact words.
I was angry at first, then I laughed because it was, well, funny. But I didn’t think they could close our bank account just for that. I mean, don’t they want to know what customers think? The least they could have done was give us a free toaster or something. Hell, even a pen would have been nice.
Can they do that for me? Apparently not.
BrainStorm (dead link, 11/30/06)
1. What did you do? For Whom?
I’m not sure if I have done anything nice for anyone lately, but that’s because I don’t see a lot of people during the course of the day–I work at home.
I guess I could say that I did something nice for someone on an online community I’m a part of. Like me, he’s in Chicago and was looking for a kali/eskrima class, which is a Filipino martial art. I just started training in kali myself, so I told him about the classes available at my school.
2. How did it make you feel to do something nice?
In this instance, it wasn’t that big a deal, but in general I feel good about helping people out.
3. How did the person react?
Kind of hard to say. It was over the Internet after all. But he thanked me and gave me the link to another local class that he found.
4. Did you expect anything in return?
Just to let me know how his class went. 
5. Write about some nice things you could do for the people around you over the next week or so.
I can continue to support people I know at other online communities. Maybe do some of Brian’s chores for him to help out. I also have all kinds of get well, birthday, anniversary cards, etc. that I need to send.
Click to enlarge–it’ll open in a new window. Then click again to zoom. Enjoy!
from VG Cats
The Weekly Bit (dead link, 11/30/06)
1. How long have you been online? Not today, but in total, how long have you had your computer?
1996
2. Do you have many online friends? Have you ever met any in person or spoken to them over the phone?
Some, but except for one or two people, we’ve only communicated via e-mail.
3. What are your favorite things to do while online?
Besides e-mail? Check Borders inventory; play online video games; surf blogs; procrastinate.
4. List your favorite websites.
Besides my own? 
Here’s my new favorite: Awful Plastic Surgery
5. Do you know HTML, Javascripts? Do you create your own webpages and graphics?
Do you have any websites?
Just enough HTML to change font attributes and insert links/images. The first personal site I created was in ‘98–the final project for Intro. to computers 101, composed in Netscape and uploaded via FTP. I have absolutely no idea how to do that now. I’ve only messed around with graphics by creating icons and avatars. Below are links to my pages.
slacktivities (old blog, dead link, 10/09/05)
Cell 2187 (old blog, currently in the process of importing posts and comments to this blog; 11/30/06)
6. What do you hate about the Internet? What annoys you most about it?
When it’s s-s-s-s-l-l-l-l-o-o-o-w. And we have cable Internet. Having grown up during a time in which various time-savers appeared on the market (microwave, fax, word processors, etc.), unfortunately, my impatience has increased.
