Slow down, Skippy!

Well... it had been a while since I had recieved a speeding ticket, but my run is over.

Leaving the radio station Friday afternoon, I was driving on the Pike westbound around the BU bridge area. In retrospect, I wasn't keeping tabs on my speed as well as I should have, although it felt like I was pretty much staying with the flow of traffic.

As I was approaching the tolls, I noticed the tell tale Massachusetts State Police Crown Victoria with the blacked out grille coming up behind me, and before I knew it, he had the lights on and was motioning for me to pull over to the left, just before the toll plaza.

I really didn't know what to expect - it didn't feel like I was driving super fast.

The Trooper was very professional, and in return I tried to be as polite and direct as I could be.
My father taught me that one of the more boneheaded things you can do in life is be a jerk to a police officer. Just watch any episode of COPS and you'll see proof of this.
So I answered his questions honestly; i.e. "no sir, I don't know how fast I was going (true)."

He said he clocked me at 70 something after the Pru tunnel, and 66 in the 40 mph zone before the tolls. I didn't deny any of it. I was pretty sure he knew better than I did how fast I was going. He just wrote me up for the latter.

It's funny, I know a lot of people try to give excuses to cops and try to weasel out of a ticket, but I didn't think that was the right route.
I thought afterwards that maybe I should have said something like "I have a good driving record - I just wasn't paying attention to my speed as well as I should have" (both true), or "I just got off work and am late for taking over for my mother-in-law watching the kids" (also true).

But in the end, the reality was - I was speeding. As the theme to Barretta said "don't do the crime if you can't do the time".

The "time" in this case happens to be a $260 ticket. Ouch.

Why is it that things like this happen when your finances are in a state where the last thing you need is to have to shell out that kind of money for not paying attention on the road?

I'll be driving 26 miles an hour to and from WBOS for the time being.

Keep smiling!

-George

Meerkat Mania

Okay, I'll admit it, I get a big kick out of places like the zoo and the aquarium. Something about the different creatures.
So, here's the headline from creature world - meerkats at the Stone Zoo.
I love that show on Animal Planet, Meerkat Manor, and when I heard that the Stone Zoo had meerkats, I had to pay a visit. I love going to th ezoo anyway, and the two closets to home for me, the Franklin Park Zoo and the Stone Zoo are both awesome.
It was really cool seeing the meerkats in person!
they looked a lot like the ones on the show, although maybe a bit plumper. I'm guessing that's a factor of the captive meerkats not having as much room to run around as their brethren in the wild.
The snow leopards at the Stone Zoo are awesome, too. I love the big cats (jury is still out on how I feel about smaller cats - see "skunk" posting).
The gila monster is also really cool. If you're not hip to the Gila (pronounced HEE-la), it's a big lizard found in the southwest US and Mexic. It's unusual in that it is a venomous lizard.
I had a ribber gila monster when I was a kid. I forget its name.

Let's chat again soon
George