Funny story: so, on Wight Avenue in Cockeysville is located the Baltimore County’s Cockeysville Police Precinct. The speed limit is thirty, yet people often go much much faster. I’m always very careful with my speed, because I think speeding past a police station is shitty karma. So, anyway, I’m doing thirty down Wight back towards York and there, lo’ and behold, is an unmarked cruiser running radar from the station’s entrance. So I’m grinnin’ like a mother fucker because, in my head, I’m imagining the response of the people pulled over, or, rather, the response of the cop who listens to their response, and who gets to respond himself: “Hi, see that? It’s a well marked police station, have you never noticed it before? Why would you speed past a police station?”

So, anyway, there was a commercial lawncare truck three or four behind me, flashing its headlights as soon as it was past the precinct. I’m not going to guess at the guy’s motivations, but I will guess at his eyesight: blind as a motherfuckin’ bat, since, apparently, he didn’t put it together that maybe that big white car ahead of me was also an unmarked police cruiser. Or maybe he didn’t think cops know how to use rear-view mirrors!

I don’t have to mention how this ends, do I?

Anyway, Baltimore Crime has posted a list of all the Phase-1 and Phase-II traffic camera locations in Baltimore City. The Phase II camera are nearly invisible — there’s no flash when they take a photo, and they’re not housed in those big obvious camera boxes.

I know there’s a wide range of opinion on red light cameras, and their rate of effectiveness. Here’s mine.

I started driving back in, hell, I don’t know, 1994 or 1995 in Columbia, Maryland. Shortly after I began driving — within a year or three — Columbia began installing red-light cameras at intersections. I would say within weeks people had stopped running red-lights. I wish a similar program would be implemented in the York Road corridor through Towson and Hunt Valley — the traffic conditions, and the general apparent lack of police enforcement — certainly seem to clamor for it.

I do have two primary concerns about red light cameras, and you can read those after the break.

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I really fucking hate how banks process payments so that your highest checks go through first, increasing the odds that you will bounce smaller payments. In other words, I’ve got three NSF fees processing to my account tonight (yes, they were paid), and I still haven’t even mailed rent. And, I’m going to bounce that check too. That makes four. My bank was kind enough to refund a fifth NSF fee earlier in the week, and I’m going to ask (without much hope) that they refund at least two others (and, frankly, the NSF fee for my forthcoming bounced rent check is cheaper than getting hit with a late-rent-payment from the leasing company).

Aside from robbing a bank or mugging some rich dude with a money belt, this situation was kind of unavoidable. February sucks, hopefully March’ll be a bit steadier in terms of my financial situation. At least I’ve got spring break where I can work more hours.

In other news, ________ Bank has never been willing to extend me a line of credit attached to my checking account so that I can not fret over a bounced check. Anyway, I’m going to compose them a very nice, very sweet, very logical e-mail to their customer service, in which I will not use any form of the word “fuck”, and hopefully they’ll be kind enough to refund two of those NSF fees.

And if not, fuck ‘em, there are other banks.

(On the bright side, um, yeah.)

(And of course their online site logged me out after ten minutes of no-activity. No activity? I was writing an e-mail on your contact form, assholes!)

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