No, this post is not about me hanging up my sweaty Icebreaker shirt for the next wearing.
I had promised a post documenting The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....along with The Wonderful. THE GOOD, was the previous post. I have fulfilled that part of the promise. Now, here's the rest.
THE BAD
Few people know that I have a bad bad problem of procrastination. Not just a silly occasional thing--I can really get myself into trouble with it. Anything hard to do or confrontational, I tend to ignore, put my head in the sand, push it back to tomorrow or next week. Sometimes it is small silly things that fester and erode into big bad things. I am not so proud of this.
I got a speeding ticket a few months back near my house. I drive a hybrid, and I am all about gas mileage and was coasting down a hill where I was clocked at 9 miles over the speed limit. I was upset about it, especially when I discovered that the posted speed was 5 miles less going one direction than going the other....on the SAME ROAD! I just knew I could take some pix of the speed limit signs and beat the charge, but I forgot my court date. A week or two later, my drivers license was suspended. I should have immediately fixed the problem, but I let it go and didn't worry about it.
A couple of months later, I was pulled over for having an expired tag. Yup, I put that off too. Very stupid. Tagging my car would have been about 90 dollars, but I just blew it off. Of course, this time, I was also ticketed for driving with a suspended license, and was given another court date to clear it up. I intended to go, but forgot. See a trend here? For quite a while, I have been driving around...insured, but unlicensed.
THE UGLY
Coming back from my Arkansas marathon, we ate in Ft Smith, and had to take HW 64 back to I-40, which took us through Roland Oklahoma. I know from years past that this is a bad speed trap. I even thought about it briefly as I drove through around 8:00 Saturday evening, but was chatting with Kathy as I drove by a sneaky hiding small town cop who was waiting for another car to stop. I noticed a white pick-up truck passing me on the right as the police car whipped out. AHA! I thought--that dude is gonna get it, but a lump of fear arose in my throat anyway.
My luck was bad though, and I was the one pulled over. "This is soooo NOT GOOD," I told Kathy. I watched as Bubba got out of the car and waddled up to my window.
(OK, I borrowed this pick....but you get the idea--this pic is not too far off.) "Do you know why I pulled you over?" was one of his questions after the license and proof of insurance request.
"Well, not really," I tried. He told me he clocked me at 57 in a 45 zone. (I am skeptical of this, and wondered if he maybe clocked the pick-up that had passed me.) Then he pointed out that my tag was expired, and had expired several months back.
This story goes from bad to worse. My current insurance certificate was at home right by my tag info, as I intended to get that before the trip, but....
It didn't take long for them to find out about the other unpaid tickets and that my DL was suspended, and was also expired. I must have seemed like cop candy to them! "Sir, I need you to step out of the vehicle." They directed me to the back of my car, and had me put my hands on the back of the car. I thought a frisking was coming, but they just pinched at my pockets and called it good. They asked me if I had any weapons. I told them no, and they asked if I was SURE? Nope, no weapons. Any drugs? No. I am surprised they did not search my car.
I am not sure what Kathy was thinking, or Jason and Lisa who were following us in their car. Next came the hand cuffs. OMG, they had my hands behind my back and slapped those bad boys on me. They were not too forceful, but did put the cuffs on pretty tight.
I was taken to the back seat of the patrol car where I waited for what seemed an eternity. There is no leg room in the back seat, and I am a short legged dude. I had to really focus to NOT FREAK OUT. After a while (I think they were questioning Kathy) I noticed a tow truck pull up, and Officer Quickticket opened the door and asked why I took the key with me. My car is a Prius and has a remote that only has to be inside the car for the car to start. He needed that key to give to his tow truck buddy. I could not get it out of my pocket with the handcuffs, and after he put his manly hand into my right pocket, he decided to uncuff me and let me get it for him, which I did. In all fairness though, at that point he seemed to be a little more civil and recuffed me with my hands in front and even loosened the cuffs a little and set them so they could not accidentally tighten up. He said we were going to the police station and my friends were gonna bail me out. WOW!
It took a long time for them to do all the paperwork. Writing 4 more citations takes time. They had a ton of questions for me. Name, address, phone #, but no SSN. What meds was I on, and what was each drug for? Any tattoos? I was waiting for Aliases....and I was gonna tell them Trail Zombie, but that question never came up.
About the bail....the amount was $800!!!! YIKES! I was truly nauseated when I heard that. Just sick. Just leave me here!
THE WONDERFUL
My awesome friends would not hear of the idea of me staying in jail. $800 dollars was scraped up, thanks to an angel of a friend. Of course, she reserved the right to SMACK ME SILLY, which I more than deserved. After an hour +/- in the jail of Hicksville, I was free to go.
I am just amazed, floored, and humbled by my sensational friends. I have heard an old saying that said true friends will bail you out of jail, and mine WILL! :-)
Now, two days later, I have spent a few hours on hold with court clerks and the DMV. I am about half way to being clean with the law. My car is tagged, and out of impound, thanks to the help of Dana and my Dad. I had to bring a driver with me to drive my car home--I did not dare drive it out of Roland knowing Cletus would radio Roscoe and they'd check me out before I crossed a county line. I have to be downtown early tomorrow to talk to a judge about some old tix. I suspect this whole mess will end up costing $2000 or more, besides two trips to Roland and a couple of missed days at work.
Have I learned a lesson? Oh please believe me, I have!
I had promised a post documenting The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....along with The Wonderful. THE GOOD, was the previous post. I have fulfilled that part of the promise. Now, here's the rest.
THE BAD
Few people know that I have a bad bad problem of procrastination. Not just a silly occasional thing--I can really get myself into trouble with it. Anything hard to do or confrontational, I tend to ignore, put my head in the sand, push it back to tomorrow or next week. Sometimes it is small silly things that fester and erode into big bad things. I am not so proud of this.
I got a speeding ticket a few months back near my house. I drive a hybrid, and I am all about gas mileage and was coasting down a hill where I was clocked at 9 miles over the speed limit. I was upset about it, especially when I discovered that the posted speed was 5 miles less going one direction than going the other....on the SAME ROAD! I just knew I could take some pix of the speed limit signs and beat the charge, but I forgot my court date. A week or two later, my drivers license was suspended. I should have immediately fixed the problem, but I let it go and didn't worry about it.
A couple of months later, I was pulled over for having an expired tag. Yup, I put that off too. Very stupid. Tagging my car would have been about 90 dollars, but I just blew it off. Of course, this time, I was also ticketed for driving with a suspended license, and was given another court date to clear it up. I intended to go, but forgot. See a trend here? For quite a while, I have been driving around...insured, but unlicensed.
THE UGLY
Coming back from my Arkansas marathon, we ate in Ft Smith, and had to take HW 64 back to I-40, which took us through Roland Oklahoma. I know from years past that this is a bad speed trap. I even thought about it briefly as I drove through around 8:00 Saturday evening, but was chatting with Kathy as I drove by a sneaky hiding small town cop who was waiting for another car to stop. I noticed a white pick-up truck passing me on the right as the police car whipped out. AHA! I thought--that dude is gonna get it, but a lump of fear arose in my throat anyway.
My luck was bad though, and I was the one pulled over. "This is soooo NOT GOOD," I told Kathy. I watched as Bubba got out of the car and waddled up to my window.
(OK, I borrowed this pick....but you get the idea--this pic is not too far off.) "Do you know why I pulled you over?" was one of his questions after the license and proof of insurance request."Well, not really," I tried. He told me he clocked me at 57 in a 45 zone. (I am skeptical of this, and wondered if he maybe clocked the pick-up that had passed me.) Then he pointed out that my tag was expired, and had expired several months back.
This story goes from bad to worse. My current insurance certificate was at home right by my tag info, as I intended to get that before the trip, but....
It didn't take long for them to find out about the other unpaid tickets and that my DL was suspended, and was also expired. I must have seemed like cop candy to them! "Sir, I need you to step out of the vehicle." They directed me to the back of my car, and had me put my hands on the back of the car. I thought a frisking was coming, but they just pinched at my pockets and called it good. They asked me if I had any weapons. I told them no, and they asked if I was SURE? Nope, no weapons. Any drugs? No. I am surprised they did not search my car.
I am not sure what Kathy was thinking, or Jason and Lisa who were following us in their car. Next came the hand cuffs. OMG, they had my hands behind my back and slapped those bad boys on me. They were not too forceful, but did put the cuffs on pretty tight.
I was taken to the back seat of the patrol car where I waited for what seemed an eternity. There is no leg room in the back seat, and I am a short legged dude. I had to really focus to NOT FREAK OUT. After a while (I think they were questioning Kathy) I noticed a tow truck pull up, and Officer Quickticket opened the door and asked why I took the key with me. My car is a Prius and has a remote that only has to be inside the car for the car to start. He needed that key to give to his tow truck buddy. I could not get it out of my pocket with the handcuffs, and after he put his manly hand into my right pocket, he decided to uncuff me and let me get it for him, which I did. In all fairness though, at that point he seemed to be a little more civil and recuffed me with my hands in front and even loosened the cuffs a little and set them so they could not accidentally tighten up. He said we were going to the police station and my friends were gonna bail me out. WOW!
It took a long time for them to do all the paperwork. Writing 4 more citations takes time. They had a ton of questions for me. Name, address, phone #, but no SSN. What meds was I on, and what was each drug for? Any tattoos? I was waiting for Aliases....and I was gonna tell them Trail Zombie, but that question never came up.About the bail....the amount was $800!!!! YIKES! I was truly nauseated when I heard that. Just sick. Just leave me here!
THE WONDERFUL
My awesome friends would not hear of the idea of me staying in jail. $800 dollars was scraped up, thanks to an angel of a friend. Of course, she reserved the right to SMACK ME SILLY, which I more than deserved. After an hour +/- in the jail of Hicksville, I was free to go.
I am just amazed, floored, and humbled by my sensational friends. I have heard an old saying that said true friends will bail you out of jail, and mine WILL! :-)
Now, two days later, I have spent a few hours on hold with court clerks and the DMV. I am about half way to being clean with the law. My car is tagged, and out of impound, thanks to the help of Dana and my Dad. I had to bring a driver with me to drive my car home--I did not dare drive it out of Roland knowing Cletus would radio Roscoe and they'd check me out before I crossed a county line. I have to be downtown early tomorrow to talk to a judge about some old tix. I suspect this whole mess will end up costing $2000 or more, besides two trips to Roland and a couple of missed days at work.
Have I learned a lesson? Oh please believe me, I have!
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