Monday, December 08, 2008

How I hate you NYPD.. let me count the ways!

This morning I went to my car to go to work but when I arrived at the street where I left it, it was closed off and the cars were gone! I asked the police officer where my car was and they said they "relocated" them. Great. He couldn't get the guy with the list on the phone, so I had to walk an avenue to a police van. The police officer then asked for my car make and color and license plate number and said to me, "It's in Brooklyn." I blurted out "Are you serious?" He said "No". What an ass!

My car was relocated on 2nd Ave where I had just come from. I walked down the street and found that my car was parked and left in a spot... next to a fire hydrant! The cops towed my car to an illegal spot. So then at 7:35 am a nice cop came along and wrote me a nice $110 ticket. Fabulous.

I was fuming and should have gone and yelled at the cop in the car that the NYPD is evil and made me get a ticket when they moved my car after only posting a sign on a Sunday when i didn't have to move my car till Monday!!!

I wrote a nice long letter explaining why I am not paying them any money.

I just hope I don't have to go to court to fight it.

Car adventures are tons of fun!

Friday, December 05, 2008

NJ is paying me to drive...

There is some new program that NJ has developed to provide incentive for people who live and work in NJ to carpool. I found out about this program called "Carpooling Makes sense" and signed up. While the website doesn't exactly tell me how long this promotion is going on.. I think that they will send me a gas card for $150 to carpool to work 24 days in two months. So far I have carpooled 3 out of the 4 days of December. I'm on my way to getting my gas card.

Although I'm not really sure how they can prove that you really had another person in the car with you, they told me they will be sending me a packet with information.

I never say no to free money in this craptastic economy so thanks for a little something extra NJ. Now do you think you could do something about the $8 toll on the GW bridge that i have to pay every freakin day?

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

I was on auto pilot as I am most mornings while singing along to the radio and driving over the GW bridge yesterday. I was behind a truck which is very common on that bridge. All of a sudden a huge chunk of what i believe was sheetrock came flying at my windshield! I screamed and luckily didn't lose control of the car. The sweat began to pour out of my pores and I trying to put the whole thing together in my head. Once i figured out that my windshield was still intact and that there were a few white marks and that I was fine, I was able to calm down and get to work.

I was a bit freaked out about the whole thing but am so lucky that the windshield didnt shatter. I felt like i was in some action movie where the heroine is dodging the villan tossing things at her speeding car!

A toast to only smooth, safe trips back and forth to the Jersey every day!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Thanks Doe fund man!

It was chilly this morning as I waited for the light to change on my corner. I was doing a little wiggle in my jacket when a voice next to me said, "it's cold you should put up your hood." I looked over and saw one of those Doe Fund guys, all dressed in blue, getting ready to cross the street to change the garbage bag on the far corner of the block. I smiled and told him that I was ok. He then put my hood up and said" that's better". It was a little odd but I thanked the stranger and then went to cross the street. He put his arm out in front of me with an exclaimed "Wait!" I looked up and there was no car coming and the walk man had just appeared on the cross signal. He then informed me that people like to run the lights in New York and I should be careful and have a nice day.

Totally random kindness on a cold NYC day.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Big box little car

Last weekend, I took a drive out of the city up to Albany, NY with a friend. She is moving into a new place in a few weeks and was looking for some new things for the apartment while we were there. So we ended up at the Christmas Tree Shop (which is a closeout store). She found a huge bookshelf unit and fell in love with it and the price. So she bought it and we drove around to the back of the store to have it loaded into my car. My little car. The box was pretty big and my car is not so much. After taking everything out of the trunk and the backseat we finally figured out how to put the seats down to fit the box and we were on our way.

Fast forward to arriving at the apartment to take out the box. My friend and I pulled and pushed it to get it out of the car but when it came to lifting it up there was no way we could hold it for more than a minute, let alone up the stairs. Out of nowhere, this guy came and asked if we needed some help. He called over another guy who was sitting on a stoop and together they lifted the box up the 4 stairs into the elevator and down the hall while we watched. We said thank you and they left. It was a double random act of kindness. As we slid the box toward the wall, I noticed that the box said the contents was 97 pounds! A extra big thank you to the random stangers in the neighborhood!

Friday, August 08, 2008

Metrosexual tow truck driver

When I go to get gas put in my car (yep I am not legally allowed to do it when I fill up in Jersey) I don't really expect to have to encounter any real social interactions. I hand over the credit card and sign, say thank you and drive off. But today I had to maneuver my car around the pumps so that another car could get out. A tow truck was getting filled up and watched the whole thing. As I pulled up he leaned out his window and said to me "That eyeliner really makes your eyes pop!"

I was really confused and muttered "thanks!" Since when do truck drivers know about eyeliner?! It was a nice compliment and made me feel great but was a bit odd :)

Monday, July 14, 2008

Here comes the parade... there goes the car!

A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning, I went to go out to my car to drive to LI. When I arrived on the street where I left my car, I found people dressed in costumes and huge floats in the middle. So where was my car? Well in the spot where I left it was a float from the My Lady of Grace church! So I ran into the street and screamed at a cop, "Did you tow my car???" After explaining to me that it was towed but not to the impound lot and that I wouldn't have to pay to free it, she directed me over to a sign. The sign had the phone number of the local precinct. I called and over the loud music of the parade gave him the make and model of my car as well as the license plate number. He told me that they towed about 200 cars to all different places in the surrounding area. My car had been "relocated" by a tow truck to one street over. He gave me the apartment number that was closest to my car and I was off on a hunt. So climbed up the hill and did not find my car. I was hot, sweaty and mad at this point and about to call the police back when I noticed my car across the street parked next to a fire hydrant.

I was about to freak out that they moved my car to where it could get ticketed when I saw a yellow sticker attached to my windshield. The sticker said that my car was relocated and to not ticket it for 48 hours. Good thing I had to move it or it could have disappeared!

Well all was good but I don't like that my car can me moved without any notice. Put a sign up a few days before so I have fair warning. At least I didn't have to pay!

Monday, June 02, 2008

Hold my spot please!

Here's another adventure in parking to smile about:

As I was scouting out a place to leave my car for the night, I saw a woman get into her car that was parked right on the corner close to my building. I slowed down and asked out the window if she was leaving. With a nod of her head, I pulled up next to the car in front of hers while I waited for traffic to pass so she could pull out. Just then a huge Mack truck honked the honk, startling me. He started gesturing wildly telling me that he could not fit through with my car there. I moved my car to the other side of the block and illegally pulled in front of a hydrant. The truck passed and the woman had not pulled out of the spot yet but there was no way for me to back up in order to take the spot, there was just too many other cars driving up the street. So I reluctantly drove away from my parking spot and around the block to search for another open space. The traffic inched and I sat at the light for 3 changes.

As I pulled back around to the block, I figured maybe just maybe no one will have taken the spot yet and I will be able to pull in. So I pulled up to the area and saw that a car was in my spot. On closer inspection it was the same lady... she hadn’t left the spot yet! She opened her window and said, “Let’s do this!” I smiled and pulled up in front of her. She expertly pulled out halfway and said “Take your time.” I wiggled behind her car and she pulled into the street so to block anyone from coming around the corner to take my spot!

I pulled in and waved and thanked her as she pulled away. What a fantastically sweet and nice lady!! Only in NYC ☺

Friday, May 02, 2008

It's a small world!

Two days ago I was driving up my usual parking streets when I saw a spot and got into attack mode (aka ready to parallel park). As I went to pull in the car in front of me went to take the spot, luckily the space was big enough for two cars. So I pulled up next to the car that had just pulled in and looked over at the driver who was none other than a friend of mine, Keira (named changed)!

We both opened our windows exclaimed our excitement at seeing each other. I finished parking then we both caught up. She used to have her car in a garage (lucky!) but moved and now has to park on the street. We are both fighting for spots everyday :)

We parted ways and her car was gone in the morning.

The next day I was driving home from work and saw a number on my phone I didnt know but i picked up. It was Kiera! She had gotten a parking spot and there was one right behind her! She was holding it for me. Luckily I was a few blocks away and got there, honked and she moved up with enough room for me to slip my car in. How cool!

Parking in NYC is a fun adventure!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Missing: 1 green Toyota Camry

I park my car on the street every night but this morning when I went to go to work, my car was not where I left it! Start of a mini heart attack! In my car’s place were some orange cones and some helpful (yet quasi-evil) construction workers. I made sure my car was not in a different place as I could have just forgotten where I had parked it (It does live in a different spot every night). The green Camry was definitely missing. Then I saw a tow truck. Oh no! I had to get to work where was my car? I ran over to the construction worker and screamed, “umm where’s my car??” He politely asked what kind of car was it and then informed me they were moving cars down the street.

I had seen signs about construction the night before but it was on the opposite side of the street. So I thought since there was no signage on the other side it was safe to park there. Nope. The construction worker said they put up the signs late last night. Really smart! I was fuming as I walked down the street and found my pretty little car on the opposite side perfectly placed hugging the curb. They were playing musical cars! A big SUV was being towed down the street as I pulled out.

I feel like it can’t be legal to just pick up cars and move them wherever they want to. Oh NYC I do love you but quit the silly games!

I gave my car a mini lecture on not letting anyone (even a big machine) push him around and pick him up. He is to stay where I leave him no matter what. I think he understands now ☺

Monday, March 17, 2008

Pup in the park!

The weather got nice for one day 2 weekends ago and I wanted to go outside and enjoy it. Being lazy on the weekends, I didn’t get outside until almost 5pm and it wasn’t quite as nice but I still headed off to Central Park to meet a friend and his roommate's dog.

I grabbed a bouncy blue ball for the pup to play with and walked down toward the middle of the park where we were going to meet up. The pup's name is Seven and she just turned 4 and is full of spunk. Three minutes after I gave her the ball she popped it with her teeth. Oh well!
Say hi seven!

So we continued to wander about and stopped every few minutes to smell another dog or pick up a stick or just to smell a tree. I have wanted a dog of my own for a long time and I started to notice the dog etiquette in the park or should I say owner etiquette. Dogs like to sniff and that can get strange and leaves owners with 30 seconds to a minute to have an awkward convo (“what kind of dog is she? Stop, muffin be nice! And what’s her name?”)

So overall, Seven was well behaved and we walked around for over 2 hours. We visited Belvedere Castle and took some pretty pictures. Then as the sun was setting took some nice pictures on the bridge. It was really nice and relaxing. I love the park when it’s not crowded. Having a pup around makes everything 100% better.


I cannot wait until the weather gets nicer and I can have days like this every weekend.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Thanks Cabbie!

Last night as I attempted to find a parking spot on my favorite street, I saw two cars that seemed to be pulling out, score! I quickly revered down the street and found that one of the cars was pulling out while the other (which was a cab) was pulling in. The cabbie was fully parked and he stepped out of his car. I was backing up into my spot when I realized that there was almost enough room to park but the tush of my car would be hanging out into the driveway of a parking garage. While I was not sure this was a ticketable offense, I was afraid that my car would be hit. The cabbie started to walk away and turned and said "Are you parking there?"
I replied "Yes, but I don't think I will fit."

At this point, he jumped back into his cab, turned it on and with his foot out of the car and the door open he moved his car up a few inches giving me enough room to fit. Before I could even say thank you, he was back on the sidewalk and off to his destination.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

50 cents

Today I had to park much further downtown than I usually do today at an earlier time. I have not memorized the signs and where the pumps are in this area so finding a spot was a challenge. I finally found a spot and then saw a meter in front of it. I was running late so I parked and then walked to the middle of the block to see what the sign said. I found out the meter runs until 7pm and it was currently 6pm. Just then another car pulled in behind me and I asked (just to make sure) that I had to feed the meter till 7. The man confirmed this for me.

So then I walked over to the meter which told me my quarter would get me 10 minutes of parking time. I am really bad with math but figured out that i would need 6 quarters to get me to the time when the meters shut off. I started to dig around my purse and pulled out 4 quarters. Then I climbed halfway back into my car to look in my work bag. There were none in there. So I started to l look around the car and was about to give up and go across the street to get some when the man who was parked behind me came over from in front of my car and said, "Looks like you are searching for more quarters. Here. "

He had gone over to the meter and saw that I needed two more quarters and gave me them. I was speechless. I stammered a thank you and then he was gone.

I really love this city and the people in it :)

(I felt like I was in that commercial where people pass along a good deed and it follows the good deed from the start. I will be passing along his generosity as soon as I can.)