Whew!

(I finally discovered the source of the problem and replaced the old header. Of course now I want to change it again because I've been looking at it for so long.)

In other news, I got a speeding ticket today, but the officer was VERY nice (and handsome, too, if I may say so) and gave me a ticket that was on the generous side for the speed I was going. I am never angry or upset when I get a ticket, which doesn't happen very often. The officer was doing what he gets paid to do, and I totally deserved to get a ticket, because I was speeding. I didn't even notice the highway patrol car until it was right behind me. (By the way, he clocked me on the radar as we were going in opposite directions, in case you thought that wasn't possible.)

With any luck, my last ticket is far enough in the past that I can do traffic school online. (Traffic School to Go is pretty silly, but I found that it reinforces important safety points that I still reference, such as safe following distances at different speeds, and other rules of the road, besides speeding, obviously. And I can complete it online and not have to go anywhere.) The fine still hurts, especially during the holidays, but we can manage.

In addition, the other night we went out to dinner, and when we came out, there was a parking ticket on our car. We were parked next to a construction zone, so the red paint on the curb had been worn off or covered with dust and was impossible to see at night. The hydrant it marked was silver and behind silver chain link within the construction site. When we turned the ticket over, the officer had written: "You are parked in a red zone. Please be careful in the future when parking." No ticket, no fine. So I consider myself very lucky in the traffic ticket karma area this month. I promise to be extra careful in return for this niceness.

Which reminds me of my "escort" theory: when you're driving too fast, in a hurry to get somewhere, you know how there's always someone, some person wearing a hat (my grandpa says to watch out for people in hats- notoriously bad drivers) in a big boat of a car, or someone with stickers all over the back of their mini-van, who is going exactly or just under the speed limit, and blocking whichever lane you are in? That is your escort.

Instead of thinking of that person as the total pain in the ass that is in your way, think of them as sort of a volunteer guardian angel who has appeared to keep you safe. Sometimes shortly after this happens to me, I'll still be fuming that I can't get where I'm going faster, and then I'll see the police car that was waiting by the side of the road to give me a ticket, who now can't because I'm well under the speed limit. Then I remember about my escort, and I smile and calm down and think, yep, there's one ticket I won't get, or an accident I won't be part of. It's more important to get where you're going safely than it is to get there quickly. Be kind to your escorts if you are out there holiday shopping today.

As I write this, I think of Jen and Randy, Nate and Katie, out there in the Islands, and that Jamaican rum commercial where all the guys are talking about "road rage" when the town's only bus is stopped in front of a bicycle. Count "no holiday shopping traffic" among your blessings. Although "no holiday shopping available" might be the flip side of that. Got eggs yet?