I felt a bit scattered yesterday, I must admit… I left the Center after work, only to discover that I had forgotten to move my car at 3 pm and now, at 6 pm, I had a $15 parking ticket. This is my second ticket in about a month, so I’m thinking that maybe I need to suck it up and buy a monthly parking pass. I’m simply too cheap to do it, though.

These parking people need to learn a bit about grace. They ride around downtown on little yellow Vespas, wearing little yellow polo shirts that say “Parking Authority” on them. They look like summer camp counselors. But you can just imagine their glee when they see that you’re illegally parked—the meter man (because the only ones I’ve seen are men) hops off his little Vespa right there in the street, whips out his ticket maker, and slaps the green “PARKING TICKET” envelope on your windshield. I’m sure he cackles as he drives away, too.

And if you think I’m exaggerating about the malevolent intent of the Parking Authority, let me inform you that they once ticketed the Red Cross blood drive truck when it was parked illegally behind the Presbyterian Center. Now, that’s cold to ticket the blood drive truck, no matter where you’re from.

An alternative, of course, is to start riding public transportation, the TARC. Or as we often say here, I could “TARC it” to work. This has several distinct advantages, the most obvious being the cost. With gas prices even in Louisville creeping up near the $3 mark, a $27 per month bus pass sounds very appealing. The other bonus, of course, is that I would no longer live in fear of the evil parking police.

Drawbacks include the fact that I would have little control over my own start/stop times. To show that I truly am an American, I’ve always liked the autonomy that my own car provides—the ability to travel when I want and where I want. Combine that with the fact that I’m a rather impatient person, and waiting around for the bus has never held much appeal. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and frugal Kelsey is salivating at the potential savings.

So I’m thinking about taking the bus challenge next week, just as an experiment. I’ll still have the ‘Stang waiting in the wings for the days I have to stay late or come in early. And since mass transportation really is the more environmentally friendly thing to do, I can be a better steward of God’s creation as well. Although my attempts at recycling aren’t going so well on that count… but my recycling issues will have to hold for another blog.

“God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.’” --Genesis 1:29

Kelsey

You better be careful for the evil TARC buses. One of them tried to tear my arm off while I was walking on the sidewalk.

Not a year goes by when I hear or see a story on the news about a TARC bus that runs into a building.

I have bittersweet feelings about TARC - however, I think "evil" is an overstatement - I've found that it's the tour buses that are most likely to run you over!