So the wife’s car got booted today. Apparently, at 3:15am this morning, the boot people were creeping around our park and finding people who didn’t properly place their parking permits in the windows of their vehicles. Neither of our vehicles had permits, but luckily the Volvo didn’t get booted for whatever reason. Regardless, I heard a car idling out in front of our house and it was the boot company, I went outside to see what was going on, and discovered that the ford had a boot. I immediately went back in the house, grabbed my permit (I was at the wrong, I hadn’t put the permit in the window) and brought it outside. I then asked the parking person to remove the boot. They demanded to be paid. Things got a little heated, and I then demanded that they step off my property, as they were trespassing. They left after I threatened to call the police (which I learned would have been pointless, as this would be considered a civil matter).
I then called the landlord and talked to him. Since I haven’t been a problem for him, ever, he called the boot company and had the immobilizer removed. There was a bit of a discussion since they claimed that the boot had been tampered with. I did not tamper with it mechanically, since that would have left evidence. I did attempt to slide it off the tire and I probably could have, but I didn’t bother since the landlord was dealing with the issue anyway.
I’m considering writing up a pamphlet and distributing it to the neighbors to let them know how to remove the boot themselves – let the air out of your tire, and it’ll slide right off (in most cases). I’m also considering just letting it go and hoping that they’ll calm down with their tactics after this initial rush of “enforcement”. I did hear from the landlord that they booted another residents car this morning, because the parking permit wasn’t in the right hand side of the window – it had fallen on the floor and the booters claimed they couldn’t see it.
One thing is for sure, I know they’re going to be watching me closely now, one minor victory hasn’t won the war.
It’s been an odd month here in the biggest little city. We’ve gotten more snow then usual, and it’s sticking around. Normally (since we’re at 5000 feet) the sun does it’s level best to melt it all away on a daily basis. For example, you’ll get maybe an inch or two of snow overnight, and then it’s gone by noon. Not this year. We got around a foot in some areas, and it’s not going anywhere. Our back yard has turned into a glacier, slowing making its way to the alley, and the ice sheet in front of the house is showing no signs of melting either. And to top it all off, there is more snow on the way. Keep in mind, we normally don’t see much snow in December at all; it’s normally not all that stormy here until February.
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Just saw what will most likely be one of my favorite episodes of Dirty Jobs last night. Mike went to the Jabo marble factory. It’s quite an interesting process, and it’s definitely worth watching if you have the time. Given my strange fascination with marbles anyway, it’s kind of a given that I’d enjoy the episodes. Connor even asked after watching the episode if Santa could bring him some marbles from the factory.
You can even buy a “Dirty Jobs” marble on ebay. As seen on the show.
Let’s face it, I’m not a huge fan of Nevada weather during the summer. I really get tired of the endless sunshine and warm days, mainly because the light is so damn boring. Why do I love the winter time? Well, it’s nice not to be roasting when you go outside, but mainly it’s because we get weather. Honest to goodness weather, not just boring sunny day. Dramatic clouds, lighting, snow, wind.. I love it all. In fact, next week we’re (possibly) going to see our first major snowfall of the year. Even if we don’t see snow, it’s probably going to be partly cloudy, which means good light for mean and more pictures. I think I’m going to lean away from the night photography for a bit this year and focus more on sunset/sunrise and getting some HDR results.
Back from Oregon, massive upload to Flickr, with even more to come. Visited the Columbia Gorge, some favorite places around Clatskanie, and a couple of new locations (Burney Falls and Vernonia Mill pond). Some great stuff, I hope you’ll enjoy it.