i win....kind of

so, i had my first visit to the houston muncipal building today. i got a ridiculous parking ticket on saturday. i'll make it a shorter story...i went to the library and their was the international festival going on downtown. i couldn't park in the normal location so i found a meter that was available. there were 2 signs on the same pole talking about commercial and standard parking. i fed the meter a ridiculous fee for 15 minutes and ran to the library to return my books and when i got back there was time left on the meter. i got in the car and then saw the little green papet that was my parking ticket. boo! i opened it and.....

it was 250 dollars!!!! Two hundred and fifty dollars...what in the world!?!? (of course my thought immediately goes to the fact that this equals an airline ticket). I talked to the Houston Police Department (who did not write the ticket) and joked about the horrific economy that Houston must have to charge these rates.

long and short of it is that i mistakenly parked in a commercial spot which equals big fine. i went the municipal building after work and waited....eventually saw a lady and pleaded my ignorance. since this was my first offense, she ended up cutting it to $75. i don't really like paying that money either, but it is better than $250!