I live in Northern Virginia, RIGHT outside of DC. When the wind is blowing the right direction and the clouds split a certain way, I can see the Washington Monument in all her glory from the end of my block. This is very convenient for commuting purposes. I live about 6 miles from my office.
Normally, M drives me into my office in the city and then heads back out to his office in the burbs. At night, I take the metro (subway) to a stop near his office and we ride home together. This has worked pretty well for us. It's a pain for M in the morning and it's a bit of a pain for me at night (being a Prima Donna who doesn't like to deign to ride with the masses on public transit) but overall, we're saving money because I'm not paying ridiculous rates to park in the city.
There are times, however, when I have to drive myself to and from work. There's a parking garage about 6 blocks from my office that is a STEAL at $13 for the day. This week, I've driven almost every day because my sweet little guy has a huge project going out on Monday and has been working anywhere from 12-16 hours each day.
The commute in during morning rush hour isn't too bad. If I leave my house by 7:25, I can usually be sitting at my desk by 8. That's including the walk from the garage and getting to the 11th floor through security at my Ft. Knox like office.
Driving home is a whole other ballpark. I get off fairly early (4:30ish) but tend to head downstairs to the basement gym and work out before I head home. If I don't do it at lunch or before I leave, it doesn't get done. I'm usually finished and back to my car around 5:30. Traffic sucks at this time. Yesterday, I managed to get in a run during lunch (let me tell you- I am becoming quite the spectacle with my big belly and red face..) and was happy to go home to relatively less traffic. If you're not familiar, DC has horrific traffic ALL. THE. TIME. To ease this congestion, some smarty thought up having a separate three lane highway called HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes. If you can get three people in the car with you, you can take these lanes which has about 20% of the traffic that the main line does. These lanes are restricted to ONLY HOV from 6:30am-9am going north in the morning and 3:30pm-6pm going south in the evening. This can be confusing, since EVERYONE can use the HOV lane going out of the city to ease congestion off the bridge. Once you cross into Virginia and pass the Pentagon, if you are not in a vehicle with at least 3 people, you have to exit into the main lanes of massive traffic.
I happen to live just one itty-bitty exit off the "restricted" access highway. Yesterday afternoon, traffic was completely stopped in the main lanes and I just wanted to get home. So I stayed on the HOV-lane. I've done this approximately 30849 times. I actually don't do this probably more than once a week and I understand the repercussions. If you get off the exit and there's a trooper there... you'll get a ticket. I've passed a few cops before and even gotten lucky once when there was a trooper off the exit and already had someone pulled over and I got away free. I knew eventually my luck would run out. The fine for a first time offense is $50. After that, it goes up exponentially and you start to get points on your record.
So as I'm getting off the very longgggg exit ramp (an even better way to catch you, you can't see them and there's no where else to go) I see the trooper. I think very nasty words in my head and realize that I'm sunk. I briefly consider saying that I'm in labor, but realize my 20 week belly probably isn't going to be very convincing. The fleeting thought of handing him my work ID along with my license and registration crosses my mind, but I'm pretty sure that flaunting my position is probably going to piss this very large man off and besides, the agency I work for kind of frowns upon that sort of thing.
I roll down my window, tell him I'm sorry without any BS excuses, give him my info and wait. Another car is pulled by a separate VERY SCARY trooper and she is giving him a rash of shit. I have to chuckle when I hear him cut her off mid-rant with, "Oh, is that a cracked windshield I see?"
The nice cop gives me back my info and a ticket. Damnit. He says I can call a number and pay it over the phone. I tell him to stay safe and he thanks me for being so polite and obviously calm about this. I think to myself, "It's $50! Sure it's a pain and I shouldn't have done it, but it's no real biggie..."
I call the number when I get home, but of course the Courthouse closes at 4. I just called a few minutes ago (after having to report the incident at work- mucho embarassing) and got a recording. Apparently, the fine has gone up and so has the court costs you have to pay along with it. I now owe the County of Arlington... $186. Coupled with the $40 I spent in gas yesterday morning and the $13 garage fee, I'm thinking I probably should have just stayed home yesterday.
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