3 Quick Notes

Note #1:

CA in the past year started giving out a sticker for hybrid drivers to allow them to use the HOV (aka Diamond aka Carpool) lanes on freeways. The supply of stickers was limited. I heard on an NPR report (and from my sister) that recently, the last of the stickers was given out a couple of months ago. Only after they are gone do we know that the value of used hybrids WITH the sticker is $4000 more than without the sticker. Sheesh! We missed out big time with our hybrid. We don't commute along roads that requires the use of the carpool lane. Also, since the car was purchased up in the Bay Area and registered at an address in Santa Clara county, we would have had to pay for a SmartPass or whatever they are called to use the bridges up there. Someone thought that requiring SmartPasses was a good idea. The sticker cost a one-time fee of $8 (I think), but the pass was over $100 a month. If we had moved the address from Elana's parents' house to our apartment, then we could have just paid $8 for the pass. At the time, we didn't think it was worth the trouble since we only ever need the carpool lane when we are actually carpooling. It seems unfair, but apparently no one could predict the added value of the stickers.

Note #2:

Yesterday, I saw a jeep in Beverly Hills with a stick hanging out the side slowly driving down a residential street. I realized that it was a special parking authority vehicle. The driver was marking tires with a piece of chalk at the end of the stick. I've always heard that they use chalk to see if cars actually adhere to the "1 hour" parking limits. I had never seen it done before.

Note #3:

Yesterday, April 17, was my birthday. I looked it up and I share a birthday with Jennifer Garner and Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev. It was an ok b-day. I'm not big on birthdays. Not mine. Not yours. I did thank my mom for giving birth t me though. She took me and Elana out for a nice dinner. I thanked her for that too. Oh yeah, I turned 31.