I was in a hurry running errands yesterday afternoon. I drove up to one of my stops on Mission and noticed an available parking meter right in front of the store. SWEET! It had one of those temporary no parking construction signs posted on it and the time duration was from 6am – 4pm. Well it’s 4:15 I’m good, so I slid a quarter in the meter and strolled into the store.

After 10 or 15 minutes in the store I come out to find that my car had been towed and they were currently working on the third one back. When I asked the DPT guy why they towed the car since the sign clearly says that it’s okay to park here after 4pm, he grinned and pointed to the permanent sign and said “not according to that one”. This one stated ‘no parking 3pm-6pm’. DAMN IT!

Yes I was a bit miffed, but this is really my fault. So I began my walk down to City Tow and some how got stuck sitting there for an extra 30 minutes waiting for them to process my car. This is when I realized how big a business this operation really is. My cost for the tow was $118, plus a CSSA? fee of $50 and another $50 for the DPT parking ticket. In the time I sat there a total of 23 people came in with what I could see as the same minimal fees. That’s roughly $5200 in a matter of 30 minutes. I am guessing this is a pretty busy time of day for them since people are just realizing as they come out of work that their cars are missing, and streets like Mission open up the third/parking lane for rush hour traffic. But this still amazes me.

Where does this money go? Some of it goes to City Tow and some to the DPT. But, how much of this money is put back into San Francisco?

I will be sure to post what I find…

It’s friday which means it’s my work from home day! Sweet right?! I get to sit at my desk working in my pajamas until 2pm or at least until I begin to notice how bad I reek which forces me to take a shower. Well that all ended this morning when I heard the awful buzz of the DPT go-carts.

Every San Franciscan knows what I am talking about. It’s that sound of 3 or 4 DPT carts swarming down the street in front of the street cleaner handing out tickets like they are going out of style. When I heard them this morning I realized that I hadn’t moved my car yet and was instantly flushed with panic of parking ticket. I ran into the bedroom, put on the pants which were laying on the floor, then grabbed my keys.

Once I was done finding a spot that didn’t require a parking permit, which isn’t all that hard in my neighborhood, I realized I had accidentally snatched my scooter keys instead of my house keys. Now I’m locked out of the apartment!

After 5 minutes of spouting out a few choice profane sentences, I decided it was a good idea to drive to San Rafel where Nicole works to get her set of keys. When I arrived I read the sign stating String Letter Publishing was closed for the day. Damn she has an off site meeting today!

Now I my only choice it to drive back home and hope the maid for the flat below us shows up. That’s when noticed that I had left my cash and wallet on my desk at home. So I pulled over to counted the change I have for parking meters and was 65 cents short of the $5 toll for the Golden Gate Bridge. Effin’ rip off! Thus, I had to drive further south to take the more economical Bay Bridge at $2 a pop!

Half way across the bridge I thought of how damp and cold it is today so I decided extend the trip all the way to work in San Mateo. At least I can be warm and productive here.

I really feel bad for my colleges. I didn’t make it to 2pm for the scheduled shower, I guess it’s a good thing I’m sporting my yankees hat at least. The clothes I threw on were yesterdays garb. To top it off my feet are bare since I quickly threw on my thongs since I was just moving my car.

Hopefully that will be the end to my bad luck today…

So I am starting to train for a local bike race coming up in early July. The plan is to compete in the 100K route, but after today’s ride I’m wondering if I’ll be able to finish the 16K loop. I know, I know it’s my first ride in quite some time, but I am really beat. And only after the relatively flat 13 mile loop. I have a long way to go…

The day begin watching some coverage on KRON of this year’s Bay to Breakers. Nicole and I ended up riding our bikes over to the park after breakfast to watch the festivities in person. By the time we arrived the race had turned into a full fledged parade. We saw plenty of outrageous costumes, people pushing shopping carts to hold their 1/4 keg of bud, and of course bare body parts. I’m not sure what compels people to strut though town buck naked, but I only hope they had enough commonsense to purchased sun screen before the race, because it was a beautiful day! After watching the crowd for about 10 minutes we decided it was a good idea for us to sneak in some exercise. The event had blocked off the Great Highway all the way down to Sloat. This made our bike ride by the ocean perfect, not a car in sight!