Good and Bad things

[richlevy]

Ever notice that life is a mix of good and bad? Yesterday was an bit of a roller coaster for me as far as little bits of bad luck and serendipity.

Got a $15 parking ticket in West Chester and there was still 1 minute left on the meter when I got back to my car.

Went to use a %75 off rain-check at a local pharmacy for 64MB Kodak compact flash cards ($20*.25=$5). They didn't carry the 64mb anymore so they substituted a 256MB Kodak compactflash with the same deal ($29.99*.25=$7.50).

Found an open box nimh recharger with batteries at CompUSA for %50 off. I'm trying to move the household to rechargeables. Found open box Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for $7.50. Picked up open box but still in wrapper CD holders with 6AA alkalines for $1.50 each.

Found the movie I was looking for (Prime) finally was available in the used section of Blockbuster after waiting for a month.

Now I realize that all of this has to do with money and possessions, but the point is that from an economic standpoint, things evened out. From an emotional standpoint, the small injustice I experienced was tempered by my chance to watch a movie I was looking forward to.

BTW, I did call the parking authority and they will check the meter. However, I don't hold much hope. If anything, I did learn a very small lesson in justice, one which suburban white boys with no criminal record rarely get to experience. I even considered writing a commentary about it to submit to the papers.

Take this little injustice and compare it to this case, or these cases.

So all in all, I lost money, was able to make up for it, and was taught a lesson in injustice.

I almost felt like Earl.

Earl: Karma. You gotta love it!

From here

The young woman was on edge for months, keeping a lookout for the stranger who had robbed her, raped her, and threatened to cut her throat.

She had gotten a good look at him before and after the attack in her basement apartment, not far from Rutgers University campus. At one point, their faces were just two feet apart. She'd never forget that face.

Then one April day on a New Brunswick street corner, more than seven months after the rape, she froze.

There he was. Strolling along with a boom box, walking with the same side-to-side swagger she remembered when the rapist left her apartment.
She ran to call the police. A few minutes later, they arrested the suspect, a black man named McKinley Cromedy.

The ensuing trial helped trigger an overhaul of the way New Jersey treats the oldest and most dramatic sort of courtroom evidence: an eyewitness pointing out the person who did it.

Cromedy's defense attorney took an unusual tack. He questioned her ability to tell black men apart, noting that she was white, that she grew up in an overwhelmingly white northern New Jersey suburb, that there were no black students in her high school class.

The victim was undeterred.

"It's just something you don't forget after what happens and everything," she told a jury of 11 whites and one black person. "It was him."

More than 61/2 years later, science would prove her wrong.

[MaggieL]

Too bad she lived in New Jersey. If she'd shot the rapist at first encounter, she wouldn't have had to try to remeber what he looked like.

Karma indeed. AKA the Threefold Law.

[footfootfoot]

re: http://www.innocenceproject.org/case...ile.php?id=167

Well, sorry you had to spend 24 years in jail because you tried to cover for your dipshit rapist friend. 'k?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Did you take a picture of the unexpired meter?
Did you look around for a witness?
Did you dance on the counter of the police station?
Did you demand a trial by a jury or you peers?
Did you write to the newspapers and politicians?

Or did you just figure out it would cost more to fight than the cost of the ticket and roll over like a soft suburban pussy, so they could screw you and the next guy and the next guy and the.......



That's what I'd do.

[footfootfoot]

Did you get an enormous frigging pipe cutter and cut the heads of all the meters off?

[wolf]

I'm pretty sure he could eat the fifty eggs. I got $10 says he can do it.

[limey]

Originally Posted by wolf

I'm pretty sure he could eat the fifty eggs. I got $10 says he can do it.

Now THAT is a great film!

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Did you take a picture of the unexpired meter?
Did you look around for a witness?
Did you dance on the counter of the police station?
Did you demand a trial by a jury or you peers?
Did you write to the newspapers and politicians?

Or did you just figure out it would cost more to fight than the cost of the ticket and roll over like a soft suburban pussy, so they could screw you and the next guy and the next guy and the.......



That's what I'd do.

Actually, I ran into the store where I had been shopping a few minutes before and called for witnesses. They actually sort of moved towards the front door, very slowly, but not fast enough.

I did call the parking authority and report the meter. When I told the woman there that the meter maid said that she read it as expired, the woman asked "so you're not reporting a defective meter". I explained that I assumed that the meter maid was telling the truth and that the side that is read from the street might show a different reading from the side I was reading from, and basing my time left on.

And yes, I would have loved to have had a camera phone at that point.

I did ask the meter maid why she gave me a ticket when there was time left on the meter, and she looked and me and said "that's what you say". This sort of indicates to me that I am going to lose this case.

I also felt that we had a failure to communicate.

[wolf]

It's a $15 parking ticket. Pay the damn thing. Or if you wish to stand on principle, you're welcome to fight it in court, and pay $15, plus late fees and court costs.

Yes, I know this is the entirely wrong attitude to have, but remember, I was a student at West Chester and am wise to the ways of the town.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by wolf

It's a $15 parking ticket. Pay the damn thing. Or if you wish to stand on principle, you're welcome to fight it in court, and pay $15, plus late fees and court costs.

What late fee?

[BigV]

There *are* late fees in the Emerald City, on the order of 25 to 50%. And they keep track. [/voice of experience]. You can, however, pay online. Point, click and ship.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Most places, you pay the fine plus costs and then get to plead your case.
Since when is West Chester the Emerald City?

[wolf]

You assume that everyone makes the filing date ...

[xoxoxoBruce]

No, I assume Richlevy is smarter than the average bear.

[richlevy]

I forgot to update. I called the agency and requested that they check the meter. A week later they threw out the ticket. I did not have to go to court.

And I am smarter than the average bear. And every smart bear is king of the bees!