WWTBAM Bored

So I go to my car Friday, parked where I often park it, year 'round, & find a ticket that says
"within 20 feet of intersection". Well, duh. I was maybe 15 feet from the intersection. Usually somebody pulls in in front of me, leaving maybe no feet from the intersection. Hopefully they leave me enough space between me & them to get out; not always, not by much.

The city only enforces these restrictions when there are piles of snow on the ground. Why should proximity to an interection (or being parked in one place more than 48 hours, another one they only enforce after snowstorms, when there's no place to move to, & often no easy way to move the car at all, without a tow truck) be important only when there are piles of snow on the ground? Its not like the money they'd collect in the summer wouldn't go into the same coffers as the winter-collected money.

One day, you're going to make a post that isn't a complaint about something, or doesn't contain a complaint about something.

On that day, I think I shall die of shock.

Well, then, acknowledge that you're already dead, because I've made many such cheery posts as you are looking for.

Your assignment next, from beyond the veil, or is it vale, of course, will be to write snotty posts to your buds everytime they complain about anything.

ghostjmf wrote:Well, then, acknowledge that you're already dead, because I've made many such cheery posts as you are looking for.

Your assignment next, from beyond the veil, or is it vale, of course, will be to write snotty posts to your buds everytime they complain about anything.

They don't complain about as many and varied subjects as you do.

And I'd wager a lower percentage of their posts are complaints.

Jeemie says, re his internet soul-mates:

They don't complain about as many and varied subjects as you do.

Sure they do.

And I'd wager a lower percentage of their posts are complaints.

You should consider yourself lucky I'm not a betting sort of person.
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Just for the record:

I did look it up, & they do have that "20 feet from intersection" law on books, even though on a snowless day, they never enforce it. What makes this even funnier is that in many places, though not where I parked, they have signs saying "no parking from here to corner". These signs are 10 feet from the corner. Sometimes 15 feet from the corner. Almost never 20 feet from the corner.

They also have on books "10 feet from a hydrant". And here I'd thought it was 12. In reality, I never park anywhere near a hydrant, as I know if access to a hydrant is actually needed, the firetruck will squash my car like a bug, even if it is 10 feet away. And should.

They also have on books "2 feet from a driveway", which I knew. If they want to, they could ticket almost every car in Somerville for not observing this one.

i enjoy reading ghosts incessant complaints about an ever expanding variety of misfortunes which are not her fault.

Jeemie wrote:One day, you're going to make a post that isn't a complaint about something, or doesn't contain a complaint about something.

On that day, I think I shall die of shock.

I like ghost's complaints; I would much prefer that she relieve her angst by postong her exasperations on this Bored, than, say, get up in the tower of the Old North Church and start picking off people who don't listen to WBUR.

And reading about the problem of inconsistent enforcement of parking regulations in Somerville helps many of us put into perspective trivial stuff like, oh, I don't know, losing our jobs.

If I was in the habit of willfully violating codes (for whatever reason I'd justified to myself in my mind), I'd just be happy that they didn't cite me the great majority of the time rather than being pissed off when they did.

A defense of "I do this all the time and I don't get ticketed!" is a pretty good way of making sure you are constantly ticketed for it in the future.

Maybe I'm misreading, but I think the complaint is about the selective enforcement.

wintergreen48 says:

And reading about the problem of inconsistent enforcement of parking regulations in Somerville helps many of us put into perspective trivial stuff like, oh, I don't know, losing our jobs.

I'd guess all the posts about Hello Kitty & shoe-shopping do that for you too.

If it will make you feel better, people lose jobs around here too. I've kind of felt like that scene from I think its "North By Northwest" for a long while. You know, the one where Cary Grant is dangling by his fingertips off Mount Rushmore.

minimetoo26 says:

Maybe I'm misreading, but I think the complaint is about the selective enforcement.

You're right-reading. I have to stifle an impulse to call in complaints about all the "miscreants" I now see doing exactly what I've been doing for the 18 years I've parked in that exact spot, when I can get it. Because I'm just not the kind of person who wants to spread the misery.

My theory is that the city wanted to pull up a truck there for some reason (they usually do pull up their mini-plows, when they pull them up at all, at the very ends of the blocks, which is one reason I don't park near the end of the block during snow season if there's any other space I can get into open), but couldn't, so called the cops, who said "we really can't tow for this, but we can write a ticket!".

ghostjmf wrote:wintergreen48 says:

And reading about the problem of inconsistent enforcement of parking regulations in Somerville helps many of us put into perspective trivial stuff like, oh, I don't know, losing our jobs.

I'd guess all the posts about Hello Kitty & shoe-shopping do that for you too.

If it will make you feel better, people lose jobs around here too. I've kind of felt like that scene from I think its "North By Northwest" for a long while. You know, the one where Cary Grant is dangling by his fingertips off Mount Rushmore.

No, it's not all about Hello Kitty and shoe shopping.

But last week, you complained about GOOGLE, for crying out loud!!!

Jeemie says:

But last week, you complained about GOOGLE, for crying out loud!!!

And for the record, about 2 minutes after the inauguration ceremonies were all over, I'd tried to Google "the speakers at the inauguration". It was really, really hard to get. Had just been televised, live, but aside from the names everybody knew would be speaking (like, say President Obama) they weren't listed in the news reports.

I had to go back about 3 pages of Google to get an "order of the day" roster for Inauguration Day that had been prepared a few weeks before. Luckily enough, once I got Lowery's name, several sites came up with his picture, so I knew I had the right speaker to whom I wished to refer. Because I had just seen him on TV, & my memory, admittedly bad for names, is not yet that bad for recently seen images.

It was not an easy Google. And it was a comment, not a complaint.

The basic rule is "if Jeemie (& various other people's) buds whine for about an hour, its pleasant chit-chat; if I make a one-paragraph comment, observation, etc, it must be a complaint, because I made it, & Jeemie & pals want me to feel bad".

I think I will go suck my thumb. Or else to a lunch meeting, take your pick.

I would rather read ghost's funny little complaint posts, than view the vitriolic complaints that "some" post.

With her, I never know where she will go with it. "Others" are all too predictable.

wintergreen48 wrote:I like ghost's complaints; I would much prefer that she relieve her angst by posting her exasperations on this Bored, than, say, get up in the tower of the Old North Church and start picking off people who don't listen to WBUR.

Although this might do some good toward solving her parking problem ...

gsabc wrote:

wintergreen48 wrote:I like ghost's complaints; I would much prefer that she relieve her angst by posting her exasperations on this Bored, than, say, get up in the tower of the Old North Church and start picking off people who don't listen to WBUR.

Although this might do some good toward solving her parking problem ...

You're right. She may find herself permanently parked in the Bat State Correctional Center.

ghostjmf wrote:So I go to my car Friday, parked where I often park it, year 'round, & find a ticket that says
"within 20 feet of intersection". Well, duh. I was maybe 15 feet from the intersection. Usually somebody pulls in in front of me, leaving maybe no feet from the intersection. Hopefully they leave me enough space between me & them to get out; not always, not by much.

The city only enforces these restrictions when there are piles of snow on the ground...

Perhaps I'm misinterpreting, but by the way you stated this, I get the impression that the city's "selective enforcement" is not news to you, but something of which you are/have been very much aware.

If that is so, and there were piles of snow on the ground, as your post implies there must have been, I guess what I want to know is... why did you still park your car there, and NOT expect a ticket??

mcd1440ed says:

Perhaps I'm misinterpreting, but by the way you stated this, I get the impression that the city's "selective enforcement" is not news to you, but something of which you are/have been very much aware.

If that is so, and there were piles of snow on the ground, as your post implies there must have been, I guess what I want to know is... why did you still park your car there, and NOT expect a ticket??

You are indeed misinterpreting. In my original post, I go over never having seen this "20-ft law" before. And, may I restate so you can re-see it, very clearly, in many places they have "no parking here to corner" signs, & these signs are 10 feet from the corner, not 20 feet.

You'd think that at least the signage would comply with the law, but it doesn't. The corner near which I parked had no signage whatsover, & led into a cul-de-sac that very rarely is visited by long trucks, & never by buses, both of which type of vehicles make wide turns & need all the space they can get. Furthermore, I'd occasionally parked there over an 18 year period, & never gotten a ticket before, winter or summer. I said that in one of the earlier posts too, but I guess you didn't read it.

I actually had to look up this law to make sure they weren't making it up. They have a special sheet of "really really important laws", & this wasn't on it. It was buried in about 250 pages of city ordinance code.

The only reason I would, prior to the ticket, have had to avoid that corner was that I know that snowplows like to park on corners, when available, & you don't want to make snowplows mad or they'll just back right into you for fun, but there were no other parking spaces available. I pulled as far back from the corner as the existing piles of snow would allow.

mcd1400de wrote:

ghostjmf wrote:So I go to my car Friday, parked where I often park it, year 'round, & find a ticket that says
"within 20 feet of intersection". Well, duh. I was maybe 15 feet from the intersection. Usually somebody pulls in in front of me, leaving maybe no feet from the intersection. Hopefully they leave me enough space between me & them to get out; not always, not by much.

The city only enforces these restrictions when there are piles of snow on the ground...

Perhaps I'm misinterpreting, but by the way you stated this, I get the impression that the city's "selective enforcement" is not news to you, but something of which you are/have been very much aware.

If that is so, and there were piles of snow on the ground, as your post implies there must have been, I guess what I want to know is... why did you still park your car there, and NOT expect a ticket??

Having had to park in Somerville, I took this to mean that she parked there because she couldn't find any other spots, and that while not surprised, she hoped she wouldn't get one, and thought it sucked that she got one this time.

ghostjmf wrote:And for the record, about 2 minutes after the inauguration ceremonies were all over, I'd tried to Google "the speakers at the inauguration". It was really, really hard to get. Had just been televised, live, but aside from the names everybody knew would be speaking (like, say President Obama) they weren't listed in the news reports.

I had to go back about 3 pages of Google to get an "order of the day" roster for Inauguration Day that had been prepared a few weeks before. Luckily enough, once I got Lowery's name, several sites came up with his picture, so I knew I had the right speaker to whom I wished to refer. Because I had just seen him on TV, & my memory, admittedly bad for names, is not yet that bad for recently seen images.

It was not an easy Google. And it was a comment, not a complaint.

ghost, I believe this is because Google is only as good as its most recent troll of the web. You will not find immediate information there because it hasn't been trolled yet. If you're lucky, you will find previously-trolled information (like the pre-prepared list of speakers). You might also be pointed to a site that was previously found and which might itself have up-to-the-minute information about your subject, but you won't find that up-to-the-minute information in Google's cached pages because it hasn't had a chance to cache it yet.

I have a feeling someone will correct me if I'm wrong about this...

I have a feeling someone will correct me if I'm wrong about this...

Ya THINK?


Ghost, I"m sorry you got a ticket, and I'd hate to have your parking issues.


t.

wintergreen48 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:One day, you're going to make a post that isn't a complaint about something, or doesn't contain a complaint about something.

On that day, I think I shall die of shock.

I like ghost's complaints; I would much prefer that she relieve her angst by postong her exasperations on this Bored, than, say, get up in the tower of the Old North Church and start picking off people who don't listen to WBUR.

And reading about the problem of inconsistent enforcement of parking regulations in Somerville helps many of us put into perspective trivial stuff like, oh, I don't know, losing our jobs.

Now.... that was funny.

Estonut says:

ghost, I believe this is because Google is only as good as its most recent troll of the web. You will not find immediate information there because it hasn't been trolled yet. If you're lucky, you will find previously-trolled information (like the pre-prepared list of speakers). You might also be pointed to a site that was previously found and which might itself have up-to-the-minute information about your subject, but you won't find that up-to-the-minute information in Google's cached pages because it hasn't had a chance to cache it yet.

I have a feeling someone will correct me if I'm wrong about this...

That is exactly why Google is what it is (whatever that is!) & not newsmedia. So it pains me when people treat it as such. 1st there's got to be an article/youtube post, whatever. Then a bunch of people have to select (or troll!) it. Only then will you get pointed to anything.

I was just observing, back on inaug day, how hard it was to get pointers to that very recent news.

ToLiveIsToFly says:

Having had to park in Somerville, I took this to mean that she parked there because she couldn't find any other spots, and that while not surprised, she hoped she wouldn't get one, and thought it sucked that she got one this time.

Thanks for the sympathy (also thanks tlynn). But I really was surprised, because of the 18-year record of never being ticketed in that space, even in winter.

Now, if they start to enforce the "2 feet from a driveway" rule (which is actually a decent rule, for a rule, as it would keep people pulling out of the driveway from hitting your car unless they really tried to, & would allow them to actually get out of their own driveways; sometimes late at night on my block people park across driveways; I hope they know the work schedule of the people they're parking in) there would be lots of people frequently circling the block all night.