How much is that information worth to you?

I got a fix-it ticket earlier this week for having tinted windows. I've been driving with windows of the same tint for the past 8 years (7 in one car, and 1 in another). Not sure how many cops I've driven past, but it's a lot. I've even been pulled over on other bullshit but not cited (I say bullshit because the cop thought I was a teenager out after curfew and pulled me over because my car was new and didn't have plates installed yet - this also says something about my taste in cars but whatever). So the tinted windows thing is arbitrary and ridiculous. It's not the law that bugs me, it's the arbitrary enforcement, and the fact that I have to get my tint removed, ticket signed off, and then get my windows re-done. So why write a ticket at all? Are you in league with the window tint guys? Or just bored?

That was an added expense I can't afford right now, so in an effort to save some money on gas I drove my motorcycle in to work yesterday.* When I got home I had a $55 ticket for parking too close to a fire hydrant. Not in a red zone, because the curb was unmarked. The minimum distance is 15', which I did not know. If I did know I might not have parked my car there, in front of my house, EVERY DAY for the past THREE MONTHS. I'd rather not pay $55 for that information, but the price is fixed. Maybe they can use the money to paint the curb?

Total tickets this week: 2
Total tickets in previous 3 years (put together): 1 (parking ticket in newport - expired meter)



*San Clemente is miserable. It's a shit suburb of nowhere with all the originality and charm of a McDonalds built inside a Starbucks. In that regard it's similar to the other 'bedroom communities' in south county, but it has the added disadvantage of being closer to Camp Pendleton (hooray for bad haircuts and acid-washed jeans) and further from places you might actually want to go (Laguna? Newport?). Never thought I'd suggest that Aliso Viejo was better than anywhere, but it's better than San Clemente, which is pretty much the last word on how bad San Clemente sucks.