I'm 26 years old, apparently. See, I told some kids this summer at camp that I was 25, and then did the math and realized that, in actuality, I am 26. I swear time just keeps going by way too quickly these days! Anyways, that means I have had my drivers license for ten years. Know how many times I've been pulled over in that time? Once. And I didn't get a ticket, just a warning. Have I mentioned that I'm a rule follower?
Anyways, somehow in the chaos of moving and having Caden, we failed to get our tags renewed on time. Shocking, I know. Unfortunately, our neighborhood has a higher-than-average number of police officers. Which resulted in getting pulled over for my expired tags when I was stuck behind a school bus last month. The officer said that I just had to get it taken care of before October 3rd, a month from when I got pulled over.
It turns out that all our "check engine" and other such lights were on, meaning we couldn't pass emissions. So we got them all turned off on October 1st. And you have to drive a certain number of miles after having the computer reset, apparently, so we failed our emissions. Which means that I didn't get it done in time. And then October 4th, I got pulled over again. And this time the officer explained that I had to show up in court in order to prove that I had taken care of getting my tags renewed. Oops. So it turns out that I missed showing up for my court date previously (I blame my lack of traffic ticket experience). Which means that I had my license suspended and a warrant out for my arrest. Oops. And before I could go to court to get that taken care of, I had to get my tag renewed. And all our lights had turned back on, so we had to get a new gas cap and reset the computer again. Which means we had to drive around again before getting emissions done.
ALL this rambling (seriously, I can't stop the rambling - my apologies) is to say that we FINALLY got my tags renewed. And I went to court at 7am on Thursday morning to get things straightened out.
Three hours later, after waiting in many lines and being shuffled all over the court house, I emerged less $200 and with a letter informing any police officers who might pull me over that the warrant for my arrest had, in fact, been cancelled.
Unfortunately, I still have to show back up in court for that second court date to prove that I have, in fact, had my tags renewed. Which seems like a massive waste of time, but who am I to judge the systems which the court has in place?
On a side note, some of the Occupy Atlanta protestors had been arrested and were waiting in the halls of the courthouse. The man in front of me in one of the many lines I stood in that day informed me: "I don't know nothing 'bout no protest, but man do them folks smell REAL bad." So there you have it.
And thus concludes the most boring and pointless blog post I have ever written. I apologize for the new low, but I mentioned the warrant and y'all were asking me about it . . .
The good news is that my street cred in my neighborhood has been raised significantly by my mention of the pending warrant for my arrest. Until, of course, I mention that it's for my expired license plate tag.
*Completely unrelated side note: I love this.
Anyways, somehow in the chaos of moving and having Caden, we failed to get our tags renewed on time. Shocking, I know. Unfortunately, our neighborhood has a higher-than-average number of police officers. Which resulted in getting pulled over for my expired tags when I was stuck behind a school bus last month. The officer said that I just had to get it taken care of before October 3rd, a month from when I got pulled over.
It turns out that all our "check engine" and other such lights were on, meaning we couldn't pass emissions. So we got them all turned off on October 1st. And you have to drive a certain number of miles after having the computer reset, apparently, so we failed our emissions. Which means that I didn't get it done in time. And then October 4th, I got pulled over again. And this time the officer explained that I had to show up in court in order to prove that I had taken care of getting my tags renewed. Oops. So it turns out that I missed showing up for my court date previously (I blame my lack of traffic ticket experience). Which means that I had my license suspended and a warrant out for my arrest. Oops. And before I could go to court to get that taken care of, I had to get my tag renewed. And all our lights had turned back on, so we had to get a new gas cap and reset the computer again. Which means we had to drive around again before getting emissions done.
ALL this rambling (seriously, I can't stop the rambling - my apologies) is to say that we FINALLY got my tags renewed. And I went to court at 7am on Thursday morning to get things straightened out.
Three hours later, after waiting in many lines and being shuffled all over the court house, I emerged less $200 and with a letter informing any police officers who might pull me over that the warrant for my arrest had, in fact, been cancelled.
Unfortunately, I still have to show back up in court for that second court date to prove that I have, in fact, had my tags renewed. Which seems like a massive waste of time, but who am I to judge the systems which the court has in place?
On a side note, some of the Occupy Atlanta protestors had been arrested and were waiting in the halls of the courthouse. The man in front of me in one of the many lines I stood in that day informed me: "I don't know nothing 'bout no protest, but man do them folks smell REAL bad." So there you have it.
And thus concludes the most boring and pointless blog post I have ever written. I apologize for the new low, but I mentioned the warrant and y'all were asking me about it . . .
The good news is that my street cred in my neighborhood has been raised significantly by my mention of the pending warrant for my arrest. Until, of course, I mention that it's for my expired license plate tag.
*Completely unrelated side note: I love this.