Bad Morning

This morning, I thought I would continue my recent streak of getting to work early.  Then I grabbed my trendy black driving-shoe-style lace-ups - and found that the bottom of the shoes were covered in recently-hardened asphalt. 



AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!! These shoes were less than a year old!  WTF?!?!?  I knew exactly where it happened, too.  I could remember - only I hadn't noticed the damage.  I scraped almost all of it off the soles, but the remaining, thin coats on the leather wouldn't be so easy to handle.  To get rid of those, I'd have to scrape higher...and that would probably scratch the leather.  Clearly, I couldn' t wear these to work anymore - and it looked like I suddenly needed a new pair of shoes.  Again.  Wonderful. 



As if that weren't annoying enough, I couldn't find my favorite grey winter hat.  I looked in a bunch of places, and realized I might have left it in my car.  So I gathered my work stuff and went to my car...



...to find both my hat - and a police warning on my windshield.  Apparently, this cop has observed my car parked in the neighborhood without D.C. tags twice in 180 days.  According to the warning notice, I had to either prove non-residence by supplying a utility bill AND lease/mortgage, get a short-term parking permit, or re-register my car (or get a reciprocity agreement). 



WHAT?!  I only park my car in UNZONED SPOTS on the street.  This notice was effectively saying that I had no right to park my car in DC more than once in a 180-day period without getting some kind of registration.  Get the fuck out of here.  This never happened to me in Maryland when I had out-of-state tags.  Fuck you!  This is an example of law equalling bullshit.  You want me to re-register my car, fine.  Make all the spots in my neighborhood into zoned parking spots, and I'll happily do it.  Plus, my car is registered in MARYLAND.  DC is separate, but it's small and surrounded on 3 sides by Maryland.  Tons of cars from Maryland and Virginia -- and other states -- park in my neighborhood at all hours of the day.  Why was I being singled out? 



I don't even have a utility bill or lease from MD, since I never needed one.  All my bills go to my Maryland address, though.   Now I have to deal with this, too.  Terrific.  And I hadn't even gone to work yet.

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