So I’m going to fight that speeding ticket.

I know what you’re thinking: I’m completely insane. Many of you know the alleged speed I was going at the time of the incident in question. (Notice how I use the word alleged, so as not to make an admission of guilt. I am innocent until proven otherwise, am I not?) Therefore, I wish to explain my rationale.

Despite the fact that on the Court’s website it says that you are eligible for traffic school as long as it’s been more than 18 months since you last attended, I was denied. When I called the phone number given to me, the very first thing the girl said after I gave her my citation number was “You are not eligible for Traffic School. You were going too fast.”

I guess this MIGHT be true, since after further digging, I found a California Code that says that you are not automatically entitled if you are alleged to have gone more than 25mph over the posted speed limit. Crap.

I bet the cop knew that too, and gleefully wrote down the too-fast speed, reveling in the knowledge that this poor, hapless girl in a Jetta would not be able to get out of this mess unscathed.

Since the ticket will now definitely go on my record, and I have to pay the fine in full whether I want to contest it or not, I might as well fight! I am going to do the written declaration by mail, so I don’t have to go to court. It’s less scary this way and, if the cop doesn’t submit a written statement of his own, the ticket is dismissed and I get all my money back. If, on the other hand, he does submit a statement and the judge finds me guilty, I have lost nothing in trying. There is also the good possibility that they might reduce my fine a bit (which is in the $300+ range, if you were wondering. Ouch!)

If I REALLY wanted to push the issue, I could always request a court date after losing the written declaration. I could then hope that he doesn’t show up and they dismiss my case. Who knows if I’ll take this action though. One step at a time!

That cop would’ve been a lot better off ticketing me for a speed that allows traffic school. I might then have paid the fine and taken the school just to avoid hassle. But now…..this is war!

Posted at 10:39 AM | (6)

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No update from me all weekend, OMG!

The weather was nice and warm and I got to wear something other than pants and a sweater! Mostly though I did some reading and worked on a webpage that I can hopefully use as an example on a resume or something.

Colleen will be happy to know though, that the book I am reading is Bridget Jones’ Diary! :)

More on the web work when I actually finish it…

Posted at 8:22 AM | (1)

Ok, so this is a Friday Five from the archives, but I haven’t done it yet.

Not surprisingly, last night the power went out in my neighborhood for a few minutes due to the high winds. What did surprise me was the lack of logical thinking on the part of one of my housemates.

About 30 seconds after the power went out, she emerged from the bathroom (a room that, because it has no windows, gets pitch black at any time of day without the lights on) to ask my landlady for some lightbulbs. Apparently she thought that TWO functioning lightbulbs suddenly both decided to burn out at the SAME time, after exhibiting some weird flickering. I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that even two lightbulbs of the same age will burn out at different times in the same light fixture. Also, they usually burn out when you first turn them on, due to the surge in power needed to light them up, and not after they’ve been on for a few minutes.

Why then, was her first reaction to think that both lightbulbs burnt out?! ESPECIALLY on a night where there were extremely high winds and the chance of a tree falling on a power line was quite high?!

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though….this is the same housemate that almost burned the house down with her toast. It makes me wonder what her deal is. Where did she live before, where such concepts are beyond her grasp??

Good grief it is windy outside! This is the second evening in a row where we have experienced very high winds. It is so windy that, despite all the windows being closed, my bedroom door is still rattling. Last night a bunch of huge branches were on our lawn and littering the street.

In a way it’s kind of neat, but it’s also a little scary. Forces of Nature at work, I suppose. I just hope that I don’t get blown away. :)

Posted at 6:54 PM | (1)

Ick. For the past two days my entire house has smelled like extremely burnt toast. Like, not just your average burnt toast, but as if something actually caught on fire, burned for awhile, and was extinguished before it consumed the whole house.

Apparently my new housemate attempted to put some bread in the toaster, and it got stuck, causing it to burn. I don’t know how she didn’t notice the smell, but I can assure you that it is very pervasive.

Two days of airing out the house has minimized the unpleasant odor somewhat, but you can definitely still smell it. Luckily I leave my door closed all the time, so the stench didn’t waft into my room.

Posted at 12:31 PM | (1)

As a few of you know, I went to Vegas again this weekend. I know, it seems like I go all the damn time, but I swear it’s not THAT often! I think it just seems like it to those of you who haven’t been in years.

The reason this time was my parents’ annual bowling tournament. I didn’t go for the tournament—I went because it’s a free trip to Vegas!

No celebrity encounters this time, but I did manage to make some money. My sister’s boyfriend wanted to win money at Blackjack, but didn’t want to play, so he gave me the money to win. Every time I won him some money, he gave me a cut. Pretty sweet. I think his generosity was helped by the fact that he won a sizable jackpot on a slot machine (which he only played to kill time while my sister and I played BJ).

All in all a good trip, I’d say. Making money always makes for a more pleasant stay. Also, I FINALLY took some pics of the city this time (most of which aren’t that great, but whatever), so some of them may be making an appearance in the future.

Posted at 10:41 AM | (4)

Wow, you know you’ve finally made it in the blog world when you get your first piece of comment spam. I got my first piece over the weekend, which Kevin was kind enough to bring to my attention just in case it slipped through the cracks (and also to keep it from appearing on the sidebar). Hehe luckily my comment volume is so low that such things don’t slip by me unless I’m internet-less for more than like a month! :)

Anyway, it’s been deleted, and hopefully I’ve seen the last of it, or else I will actually have to take the further measures that other blogs have had to resort to.

Posted at 9:14 PM | (2)

Damn you, Kev!! Why did you have to talk to me about speeding tickets and how we didn’t have any on our records last night?!

Guess who got a ticket this morning for “exceeding 65mph” on the 217??

Yup, me.

Don’t ask how fast I was going—I just hope I can still do traffic school. Ugh though, I should know better, especially since I can’t afford to do stupid stuff like this. I guess that’s what I get for thinking that the motorcycle behind me wasn’t a cop. : /

Posted at 8:06 AM | (9)

Come back 1 year!

At least….that’s what it seems like. I went to the grocery store yesterday specifically because I wanted to get some more Snapples to drink. I also intended to pick up other miscellaneous items that I needed, but the trip was really prompted by the lack of beverages in my house—I didn’t want to make something to eat if I had nothing to drink with it!

Anyway, I usually buy the Peach Iced Tea Snapple, although in its absence I will get Lemon Tea, Kiwi Strawberry or Pink Lemonade. The Peach Tea just seems to go the best with most of the foods I eat though, so it’s the type I prefer.

I head down the drink aisle only to find….NO SNAPPLES!! NONE!! None of the cases I usually get, and none of the 6-packs either—not even of the crappy flavors! What the hell!? Who took all the Snapple?! Where are these Snapple Nazis?!

I understood the shortages during the strikes, but now that it’s over, I want unlimited Snapple access. So what if it was on sale—that just means that you should have extra available for people.

It just sucks when you specifically go to a store for one particular item and they don’t have it in stock in any variety.

Did the Easter Bunny come and visit you too this weekend? I got enough candy to keep me going for a few weeks—Cadbury Eggs, Peeps, and Jelly Beans, woohoo! May I never get too old for Easter candy. :)

Disclaimer: This entry may or may not have been edited for correctness, which may or may not have been prompted by Kevin’s alleged comment. I can, however, state with certainty that I never want too old Easter Candy.

Posted at 8:56 AM | (4)

Ok, so as you may have noticed, the new layout is FINALLY here! :)

Notice such new features as the revamped calendar (which highlights what day it currently is and looks much cooler). Marvel at the power of the style switcher I finally got working.

Take a look around and tell me what you think. Also let me know if something doesn’t look right—I may have forgotten to paste in a part of code somewhere.

Posted at 10:29 AM | (3)

I just have to say that Raena kicks major ass! She was very nice and extremely helpful in getting the style switcher to work on my site—even working on it at 4am for me.

Anyway, I’m very excited that I got it to work on here and that I didn’t have to sacrifice any of the other scripts running on this page. The style switcher isn’t yet available for public access because I am still putting the finishing touches on the new layout. Look for both new items very very soon.

Not much else to say at the moment, but I just wanted to give some major credit where it is most deserved. Thanks again Raena! :)

Posted at 2:25 PM | (1)

• I’ve been hard at work on a new layout for my site, and I think I’ve pretty much got it done and ready to release. Only problem is that I want to be able to implement a style switcher, but it’s conflicting with some other scripts I run on my site. I’m enlisting some help, so hopefully it’ll work, but if not, I guess I will just give up the idea and release the new layout sans style switching.
• I am debating doing Phototime Tuesday this week. The theme is about your hometown. I suppose I could take a photo around SB, but this isn’t really my hometown. The only other option is to wait until I go home again for Easter and take some pics then. Kev, do you have any suggestions for something that would represent our hometown?
• This month my car insurance policy was renewed and I noticed my payments went down by $210/year randomly (I think I suddenly got some additional discount)—kick ass!

Posted at 9:04 AM | (8)

Für meinen Aprilscherz, schreibe ich diesen Einzelposten ganz auf Deutsch. Heute ist Donnerstag und auch Zahltag, hurrah! Habt ihr heute etwas komisch gemacht? Hat jemand irgendetwas dieses Wochenende vor?

Ich glaube dass ich keine Pläne habe. Hoffentlich wird es warm und sonnig—sodass ich die Q&A auf Sh1ft.org anfangen kann.

Dieses Projekt sollte Spaß gemacht, aber vielleicht ein bisschen schwer—für mindestens ein paar Fragen. Es freut mich sehr, dass es keine Frist gibt. Idealerweise mache ich es fertig in kurze Zeit!

Yay, bald kann ich nach Hause gehen! Tschüss alle! :)

PS. Nein ich habe diesen Einzelposten nicht auf einen online Übersetzer geschrieben. Ich bin sehr klug!! Hoffentlich ist es nicht voller Fehler!

Posted at 4:09 PM | (7)