Week 4, Day 3 - Warrant for my Arrest!

Week 4, Day 3 Outfit: BR dark teal button-down, BR grey wool trousers, Black Calvin Klein ankle boots (with pointy heels that get stuck in mud on the side of the freeway...read on to understand why this is an important detail)

I should have gotten dressed this morning in my husband's black and white prisoner Halloween costume because there is apparently a warrant for my arrest in Allen Park, MI. Heading into work this morning, traveling on Southfield Highway in Michigan, I sped past a stealthily positioned cop car and had that "oh crap" moment as I started to decelerate. Sure enough, he quickly pulled out, crossed over 2 lanes to follow me, and then turned on his flashers. As I sat parked waiting for him to come back with some altruistic response like "I'll list down that you were going 65 instead of 71 in a 55 mph zone," he came back to my car empty-handed...never a good sign. "I have bad news," he says (tone of voice in total contrast with the message). "There is a warrant for your arrest for failure to change your address." I give him a blank stare and say..."huh? When did that happen?" In 2006, I was pulled over in about the same area on my way home, and the officer had cited me not only for speeding, but for having an outdated address on file. I fuzzily remember dealing with this, but apparently inappropriately, as I now have a $300 bond attached to my name (good thing I've given up shopping, huh?). Anyhow, I was asked by the policeman to step into his car (he was nice enough to say, "I'm not going to cuff you," well, thank God for that, because my attire today does not seem to really go with steel-colored handcuffs). After getting into his car, he asked if I had any cash on me [insert thoughts of "what the hell?" "should I jump out of here and run for my life?"]. I guess if you are a non-Michigan resident and commit some act of vehicular crime, you are required to pay $100 in cash or the "law enforcer" has the right to take you into the police station or hold onto your driver's license. Who carries around that much cash these days? Well, as you might have guessed, I did not have that kind of cash on hand, so the officer had to drive me to the nearest ATM (in his cop car, mind you). As we pulled up to the credit union, I could see people all around me getting frantic and worried that some kind of armed robbery was about to take place. Exit me from the police car with all eyes on my criminal self, as I quickly walk to the ATM, withdraw $300, and then head back to the car as if I were running a regular errand. I paid the officer the 10% of my bond for release, jumped back into my car, and now have to contact the court to schedule my hearing. Moral of the story: the state of Michigan is hurting financially...really hurting.

When having dinner with Jen and Maggie the other night and discussing my trial vegan-tarianism, we came up with the idea of me taking on some "good for me or the world" challenge each month for a week (because giving up shopping just isn't hard enough, at least not yet). Perhaps my challenge for next month should be driving the speed limit. I have a day-by-day Car Talk calendar on my home office desk, and the other day read about the fact that driving 55 mph is the optimal for getting the gas mileage. They also shared an interesting tidbit about the fact that every 5 miles you go over 55 mph, you are actually burning gas at a rate that would equate to paying .21 cents more per gallon for gas. Wow! Maybe I should try this challenge and see how many miles I can drive on one tank of gas. If I do this, all of you who I meet up with on a regular basis will have to cut me a little slack for showing up to our get togethers late and very irritable due to a conflict between my Type A personality and slow as molasses driving pace!