Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles

October of 1994 I received a speeding ticket.  42 in a 35 zone.

It was during a rough patch in grad school.  I was feeling low, coming around a corner, and I hadn’t seen the speed limit sign change down from 45 to 35.  I did see the police cruiser shortly after the bend in the road, and was surprised to see the car with lights on behind me moments later.

Since that point in time I’ve never had a ticket, accident, or anything else for the matter.  The biggest deal that occurred with one of my vehicles was in 2000 when a pair of low lifes broke into my Jeep and stole my stereo and a ham radio.  Yeah, I’m sure they were licensed to use it…….hmmmm…..

Why am I recounting all of this?  What has spurred on “memory lane?”  Simple, today after returning from Sedona (hooray Rollies Camera shop) I picked up my mail and had a thick envelope from Prescott Valley, Arizona.  What could it be?

What was in the envelope was my first speeding ticket in 14 years.  The notice told me I was doing 66 in a 55 zone.  It even included a cute little picture of me in the driver’s seat, and a photo of my new Arizona license plate.  And the ticket is accurate.  I can believe I was doing 66.

See, route 69 from I-17 is mostly a 65mph road.  Wide open, few houses, only a few stop lights, and some tiny towns where speed limit signs are clearly posted.  Coming into Prescott Valley the limit is 65 mph as well.  Unfortunately well outside of town there’s a sneaky little 55 mph sign (I noticed it today near a “photo enforcement sign”).

I also noticed the camera apperatus today as well, and thought to myself, “Hey, it’s one of those automatic ticket systems.”  Go figure 45 minutes later I’d see what the results of the system looked like first hand.

Now, I’m not complaining.  Last week returning from Phoenix I know I was doing 66 (1 mile per hour more than 65) in that area.  The truck in front of me was too, and the little Honda riding up my tail pipe was as well.  Not to mention the rest of the traffic along with me.  I even asked Sadira along that stretch of highway, “it’s still 65, right?”

Nope, it isn’t.

It’s funny.  I’ve been referred to as a “Grandma driver”, pokey, safe, and I’ve been told that I stick to the rules too much.  I’ve got two friends in Colorado who will laugh at the thought of me getting a ticket…..they rode to Durango with me once and they were teasing me about obeying all the signs and having my hands at 10 & 2 on the steering wheel…..

As an aside…..the photo of me from the automated system was so good you can clearly see my hands were in fact at 10 & 2.  Also, the photo showed off my spiffy sunglasses……I was looking really great that day!

So, Mr. Safe Driver has his first ticket in a decade and a half.  Had I seen the sneaky speed sign (blocked by the big truck near me leaving the light before Prescott Valley) you can be assured I would have been doing about 56mph maximum.  I follow the rules.

What’s this little disaster going to cost me?  How about $190?  You have to love speed traps.  I’ll give it to Prescott Valley, it’s a great way to get additional revenue as a tax base begins to contract thanks to the super weak housing market.  But they’ll never get me again….now I know where the speed limit changes…..and I won’t go with the flow of traffic.  I’ll not be used to make up city revenue.

And yes, I’m paying the fine.  I can’t contest the speed I was going.  It’s dead on.  And I can’t contest the existence of a speed limit sign, I saw it today…..miles away from the speed trap, near a stop light…..with no other signs posted until after the trap.  Cute, effective, and sly guys!

But wait, there’s more……

In addition to my little moving violation paperwork I had one more envelope.  Ah, but this one would be different and positive.  A letter from the organization I’ve been trying to join for more than one year.  My last round of resumes was submitted months ago, and the only response I ever got was an e-mail containing other people’s resumes for a different job (uh…..WHOOPS).

So, what was in the envelope?  An offer?  An interview?  A turn down letter????

It’s really hard to build suspense on a blog…..What do I do, create 5 inches of white space or something?  I’ll work on that. 

How about none of the above?

The letter let me know that my skills were impressive, as were the skills of many other candidates.  Uh oh, going the wrong way…….but that’s when it got funny!

While we were impressed by the qualifications of our candidates, we have had some positive organizational changes in that area.  We have added another related position and redistributed duties.  As a result we are canceling the position and are opening 2 new positions.

At the end of the letter I’m encouraged to reapply to one or both of the positions.  Given the fact they have four paper copies of my resume, multiple e-mailed copies, and more than 4 applications from me, I’m surprised they want additional paperwork from me.  Further, the last time they were in contact they e-mailed me the personal details of several candidates, including their social security numbers!

Now, I have to ask you……do you think I should reapply? 

Tomorrow I’m staying away from my mailbox!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Arizona, Economics, Notes from Gadget.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.