Ahhh...Christmas is over. I had a very blessed time with my family. I am a very lucky girl. (Well, I was on the 24th-26th..we will get to the 27th in a minute) I have to admit I am looking forward to normal "post-holiday" life though. I also want to thank everyone that sent me e-mails and tweets about my "Festivus" post. It is nice to know people enjoyed it!
Crazy about "Snowmegedon, The Sequel". I actually am very happy I was not in New York this weekend. Most days I want to be there...the past few I am snug as a bug in a rug in Cleveland.
I haven't been following politics or the news this week. Everyone is on vacation, no scandals to be found, though I would like to say I was saddened to hear about the death of Teena Marie this week. I had my own special tribute to her on my iPod in the car yesterday.
Speaking of yesterday...which just happened to be the 27th, was quite unlucky for me.
Picture it...West 9th Street...downtown Cleveland. A Honda CR-V sits innocently on the street across from Constantino's Market. Really, you don't have to picture it...it could be a car on the street in any city USA. I had parked the car, put my money in the meter and went about my business. I walked back to the car and checked the meter, as I always do and had 4 minutes to spare. I walked back around, opened the door and started the car...which is when I noticed the florescent yellow envelope on my windshield. I got out of the car, thinking it was a flyer...except it wasn't. Yup, you guessed it...a parking ticket. Violation: METER EXPIRED. I first thought it was a mistake because I had 4 minutes left on my meter, so I checked the license plate number...it was mine! I immediately got back out of the car to check the meter again...1 minute left. I did what any normal person would do and started taking pictures with my phone. I took the meter, my car by the meter, my car with license plate by the meter...in all of them, you can see 1 minute left!
So, I get back in the car and call the number on the ticket...then realized my minute was likely up, so I started the car again and left the scene of the alleged crime. Anger set in...fuming anger at the incompetent meter maid who gave ME a ticket for no reason! I thought for a moment about going to the Clerk of Courts right then as it was just a few blocks away, but my gas light was on and I didn't want to run out of gas downtown so I headed towards home...still fuming at meter maids around the world.
10 minutes later, I am home...on hold...the message keeps coming up that says "Your call is important to us..blah, blah, blah". 10 minutes later I gave up. I got online to do some research on this and hold a poll on my Facebook page about fighting this or not. While looking at the website, I notice that the City of Cleveland says call volume is high, so e-mail for information...I did! I gave all the details, sent the photos and awaited a reply...
Fast forward to this morning...I received an e-mail that my photos and dispute would be submitted to the referee and I would hear back within 10 -14 days. Can it really be this easy? I then got another fairly nice e-mail from someone at the office who needed a bit more information from me but was quite pleasant in their response.
I won't let the man get me down. I will fight it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to...well...that may be a bit dramatic, but now that my mind is set on it, I won't give up on this.
Will keep you posted!
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