Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Halloween Tales
On a lighter note than our car fiasco I thought I would post my belated Halloween images. It was Oliver's first year going out trick or treating, which was really just a shameless way for Zack and I to get some candy!! Oh yeah! He enjoyed all month the pumpkins appearing around here and there. He loved them!! But to my surprise he also loved all things Halloween- scary things, cute things, gory things...he loved it all!
We went to our ward party and Oliver enjoyed running around looking at all the other kids. Zack and I were the Big and Little dipper and Oliver was some kind of furry animal? I don't know, it was a costume someone had given us and it is unknown what it was, but he was still cute!
Then on Halloween night we went with a few families in our ward trick or treating. It was fun to go around together and I think Oliver liked all the kids and Halloween decorations! That night Zack and I watched some of the original Dracula. A little cheesy but good!
We went to our ward party and Oliver enjoyed running around looking at all the other kids. Zack and I were the Big and Little dipper and Oliver was some kind of furry animal? I don't know, it was a costume someone had given us and it is unknown what it was, but he was still cute!
Then on Halloween night we went with a few families in our ward trick or treating. It was fun to go around together and I think Oliver liked all the kids and Halloween decorations! That night Zack and I watched some of the original Dracula. A little cheesy but good!
Car Update!!
Okay, so we got our sweet beloved chariot back!! And she is glad to be home!! It turns out that she wasn't stolen, but instead towed by the police. Yes the same police that we called to file a missing car report, that came to our house and we gave a clear description. Hmmm.....you would think that when we reported our car stolen, they would then check their records and then see that it was towed at their request!!! ARGHHHH!!! So they didn't call us back for a few days until they realized it and then all they said was, "your car is at Pat's tow center." No mention of why it was towed or that it was actually the police that had it towed. Yeah, so meanwhile it was racking up daily fees at the towing place. SUPER, thanks police dept. So we still had no idea why it was towed in the first place. So we called the police back to ask, they said to call Pat's, we called Pat's (who is extremely RUDE by the way) they said to ask the police, we called the police, they said to call Pat's....do you see the pattern forming here? So finally the less than pleasant "customer service" person at Pat's said it would be on the ticket. (Which would be on the car which he was obviously to lazy to go and look at.) So we went to pick it up, and $210.00 later we had the Chariot back home.
However, there was no ticket on the car. So we still didn't know why the car had been towed, and if we're going to have to pay $210 to get it out, I certainly think we deserve to know why it was towed!
The mystery continued.
So I called the parking ticket office, because I thought they could tell me, and also if there was a ticket we needed to pay on top of the tow I didn't want to get a late fee, and I wanted to fight it! So I call, talk to the 1st lady and she has no record of our car being towed or a ticket. She sends me to the next lady who does the abandoned cars, she has no record of the tow, or a ticket. So she said to call the towing company and see who authorized the tow. So I call back Pat's. The police authorized the tow. So I call the police. I talk to a lady in traffic, she sends me to the lady in accidents/towing. After I argue with her that the name of the street that our car got towed on does exist, I should know, it's the street next to ours. Finally she finds it, says there was no ticket, it just got towed. Why??
OUR CAR WAS (ALLEGEDLY) PARKED MORE THAN 12 INCHES FROM THE CURB!!!!!
What? Seriously?? You towed our car from a residential street for that??? I was shocked. What a totally lame and bogus reason! I wanted to reach through the phone and I don't know, do something!
So I said okay and we hung up. At least there was no ticket to pay too. But then I thought, "can we fight it?" So I called the last lady back and asked if we could fight it and she said that I could take to the officer who did it. So she gave me his name and I called him, he wasn't there, but I talked to another police officer and he said he would check on it. But he called back a few minutes later and in a nut shell said that someone probably called and complained that our car was parked in front of their house, but then the car was supposedly more than 12 in from the curb and since we have Utah plates he couldn't get a hold of us to move it, so we got towed. I said, don't you have to give a warning or a ticket first or something? He said no, they try to get a hold of you, but if they can't then they tow. I mean how lame, what are the odds that you are going to be home at the one instance that the police call you? But of course he didn't even try to contact us because we had Utah plates. How annoying!! I asked about them not having it on record and he said that wasn't there departments fault (of course), and I said, "so in the mean time when we filed a report, and it took you days to get back to us for something YOU did, we have to pay the towing place." He again said that that was the records dept, fault, not theirs, so of course no one is taking the blame, and we just have to eat the money for those days we could have gotten it out, but thought it was stolen.
Then Officer then told me I should be glad because it is an unregistered car and that is illegal to park on the street. But Officer George didn't get us for that. Thanks Officer George. But to be careful in the future because at anytime it can be towed since it isn't registered. Great. At this point I was crying out of frustration. And I am trying to keep it in and I asked what you are suppose to do when you don't have off street parking at the apartment you rent and you need to fix your can and order parts, but they aren't there yet. He said we would need to park it on private property, I asked where we would do that. He didn't know. I asked what were people suppose to do, he said "I don't know what to tell you." Well thank you officer!
I know it's not his fault, it's just frustrating because we have no where else to park it. And if it was him in our situation, he would certainly feel differently.
So 20 phone calls, one emotional call with a police officer later, and a wallet significantly lighter, I had reached the annoying end.
Here's what I think really happened, and Zack agrees: Someone called and said the car had been parked there awhile and when the Officer got there he couldn't really find anything wrong, so he made up a bogus charge to have it towed to make the people happy. Because someone in our ward told us they like to give tickets to out of state plates because they usually won't fight them. And we had gotten a ticket for the same thing at the 1st place we lived but the car wasn't towed and the ticket was only for $15. Big Difference!! $15 or $210! And since we got the 1st ticket I have always been careful to park close to the curb. And I specifically remember checking that I was close enough when I had parked the car there. So I know the CRIME WAS FALSE!!
This was a long rant, but I needed to get it out of my system, sorry.
Did I mention I highly dislike this town??? Well I do.
However, there was no ticket on the car. So we still didn't know why the car had been towed, and if we're going to have to pay $210 to get it out, I certainly think we deserve to know why it was towed!
The mystery continued.
So I called the parking ticket office, because I thought they could tell me, and also if there was a ticket we needed to pay on top of the tow I didn't want to get a late fee, and I wanted to fight it! So I call, talk to the 1st lady and she has no record of our car being towed or a ticket. She sends me to the next lady who does the abandoned cars, she has no record of the tow, or a ticket. So she said to call the towing company and see who authorized the tow. So I call back Pat's. The police authorized the tow. So I call the police. I talk to a lady in traffic, she sends me to the lady in accidents/towing. After I argue with her that the name of the street that our car got towed on does exist, I should know, it's the street next to ours. Finally she finds it, says there was no ticket, it just got towed. Why??
OUR CAR WAS (ALLEGEDLY) PARKED MORE THAN 12 INCHES FROM THE CURB!!!!!
What? Seriously?? You towed our car from a residential street for that??? I was shocked. What a totally lame and bogus reason! I wanted to reach through the phone and I don't know, do something!
So I said okay and we hung up. At least there was no ticket to pay too. But then I thought, "can we fight it?" So I called the last lady back and asked if we could fight it and she said that I could take to the officer who did it. So she gave me his name and I called him, he wasn't there, but I talked to another police officer and he said he would check on it. But he called back a few minutes later and in a nut shell said that someone probably called and complained that our car was parked in front of their house, but then the car was supposedly more than 12 in from the curb and since we have Utah plates he couldn't get a hold of us to move it, so we got towed. I said, don't you have to give a warning or a ticket first or something? He said no, they try to get a hold of you, but if they can't then they tow. I mean how lame, what are the odds that you are going to be home at the one instance that the police call you? But of course he didn't even try to contact us because we had Utah plates. How annoying!! I asked about them not having it on record and he said that wasn't there departments fault (of course), and I said, "so in the mean time when we filed a report, and it took you days to get back to us for something YOU did, we have to pay the towing place." He again said that that was the records dept, fault, not theirs, so of course no one is taking the blame, and we just have to eat the money for those days we could have gotten it out, but thought it was stolen.
Then Officer then told me I should be glad because it is an unregistered car and that is illegal to park on the street. But Officer George didn't get us for that. Thanks Officer George. But to be careful in the future because at anytime it can be towed since it isn't registered. Great. At this point I was crying out of frustration. And I am trying to keep it in and I asked what you are suppose to do when you don't have off street parking at the apartment you rent and you need to fix your can and order parts, but they aren't there yet. He said we would need to park it on private property, I asked where we would do that. He didn't know. I asked what were people suppose to do, he said "I don't know what to tell you." Well thank you officer!
I know it's not his fault, it's just frustrating because we have no where else to park it. And if it was him in our situation, he would certainly feel differently.
So 20 phone calls, one emotional call with a police officer later, and a wallet significantly lighter, I had reached the annoying end.
Here's what I think really happened, and Zack agrees: Someone called and said the car had been parked there awhile and when the Officer got there he couldn't really find anything wrong, so he made up a bogus charge to have it towed to make the people happy. Because someone in our ward told us they like to give tickets to out of state plates because they usually won't fight them. And we had gotten a ticket for the same thing at the 1st place we lived but the car wasn't towed and the ticket was only for $15. Big Difference!! $15 or $210! And since we got the 1st ticket I have always been careful to park close to the curb. And I specifically remember checking that I was close enough when I had parked the car there. So I know the CRIME WAS FALSE!!
This was a long rant, but I needed to get it out of my system, sorry.
Did I mention I highly dislike this town??? Well I do.
Friday, November 2, 2007
At the scene of the CRIME!!!!!
That's right, I said CRIME!! Notice anything missing in this picture?? The big open spot with no leaves would indicate that perhaps a car had been sitting there and now is gone. Yep, gone. Our car, our sweet sweet chariot, our proud steed is gone. Where you might ask has it gone? What a good question-- we don't know, hence a burglar is a foot. (I guess not a foot anymore now that they have our 1990 Toyota Camary.) It was stolen on Halloween- trick not treat. I had been on a walk with Oliver and when we came back I noticed that our car wasn't there anymore. I thought maybe Zack had moved it since we have been parking around the corner as our street has been under going construction for the past 2 months. Everyone had to park on other streets. Since we hadn't been driving our proud steed since we moved here because the registration had expired and we needed to fix the head light before we could do that, it had been sitting around the corner for a few weeks. But clearly within sight of our own house. So again, I thought maybe Zack had moved it for some reason. He had not. We thought maybe it had gotten towed since it had been sitting in the same spot for awhile. It had not. Stolen, stolen, stolen. Good bye lovely chariot. And of all the cars to steel too!! I mean it was a pretty wicked ride, but there were a load of other cars parked near by clearly newer than ours. But no, pick on the Utahns, sure.
Anyway, we filed a police report last night, and I guess all we can do is wish for the best. Maybe our sweet chariot will find it's way home to us!! Sniff.
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