Cloudy's Cafe, HAPPY 2010!!!!

[Chewbacca]

It's a tough one for sure Wellard, but I am happy to report her company raised a good amount of money to help and donated several months of paid time-off for the guy.

[DrowArchmage]

Hello all! How was everyones weekend?

Mine was.....well lets face it, i only remember one day this weekend (my weekend started thursday night) because i lost the girl i've been with for two years and she went and banged someone who has been like a brother to me for many years.

I had a complete mental breakdown, and my mother took away my pain killers and muscle relaxers i had for my back injury.

Think thats extreme? More bad things have happend in the past two years than ever before, and this girl helped me to cope with a lot of problems. We had been through a lot together, and i love her with all my heart and soul, but now i dont think i can bring myself to ever be with her again.

How long does it take a broken heart to heal?

[Cerek]

Originally Posted by DrowArchmage Hello all! How was everyones weekend? Mine was.....well lets face it, i only remember one day this weekend (my weekend started thursday night) because i lost the girl i've been with for two years and she went and banged someone who has been like a brother to me for many years. I had a complete mental breakdown, and my mother took away my pain killers and muscle relaxers i had for my back injury. Think thats extreme? More bad things have happend in the past two years than ever before, and this girl helped me to cope with a lot of problems. We had been through a lot together, and i love her with all my heart and soul, but now i dont think i can bring myself to ever be with her again. How long does it take a broken heart to heal?

I'm really sorry to hear about that, DA. I still remember the pain when I discovered my ex-wife had betrayed my trust in her.

How long does it take to overcome that pain? It depends on the individual and the circumstances. When my ex told me she wasn't willing to work on the marriage, it was like a switch turned off inside me and I had no more feelings for her. She became dead to me. The anger of the betrayal took a few months (we had been married for 13 years), but I am civil towards her, just as I would be any person off the street.

When she recently remarried, I didn't care at all about her. My only concern was still getting my share of time with the boys. Once that was worked out, nothing else mattered.

[DrowArchmage]

Thanks Cerek.

I have another problem that just popped up today. I was the passenger in the vehicle, and silly me wasnt wearing a seatbelt. I live in michigan, so i know the law about seatbelts here. This ticket is unreadable however, you can barely see the writing on it at all, and it appears to be absent in some spots altogether. Is there a way that this can get me out of the ticket? I cant afford this right now.

[Wolf Rider2]

Hey there everybody.

DS, exams suck. Hope you're doing ok, both academically and personally.

DA, damn man, I'm afraid that broken hearts never truly heal. It may seem the end of the world at the moment, but it will get better. I have absolutely no idea about the ticket, surely if you can't read it, you shouldn't have to pay???

Hoping everybody else is ok.

[Cerek]

DA - If the information on the ticket is unreadable, incorrect or completely missing, then it IS possible that might get you out of the ticket.

There are several tips available for beating traffic tickets (just do a Google or Bing search). Most of these relate to speeding tickets, but a lot of the ideas apply to any ticket.

1) First thing I would recommend is arriving at court early. The court will have an attorney present to speak with anyone who disagrees with their ticket. Since the judge wants to waste as little time as possible with traffic tickets (usually), you can often get a reduced offense or get out of the ticket by speaking with the attorney before court starts. Be polite and respectful. Show the ticket to the attorney and point out how unreadable it is, then let him/her tell you what your options are.

Other tips I've seen or heard include the following:

2) If your court date is scheduled for a holiday, that can be a reason for dismissal.

3) If the officer who issued the ticket is not in court, that can be an automatic dismissal because you have a right to face your accuser. Most people only think about this in criminal cases. You can increase your odds of the officer not showing up by doing some legwork ahead of time. Find out which station the officer works out, then call that station each day and ask if the officer is on duty today. If they transfer you to him, just hang up. The idea is to find out what day he is NOT working. Then you go to the Clerk of Court's office (IIRC), show them your ticket and explain you can't be in court on the day listed, so is there anyway to change it. When they ask what day works best for you, pick the day of the week the officer is not on duty. They usually have the same day off each week and an officer is NOT going to come to court on his day off for a seat belt ticket.

4) Did the officer actually see you NOT wearing your seat belt while the car was moving? Since you are the passenger, chances are he probably didn't notice until he got to the car. You could always try to say you had unbuckled your belt so you could retrieve the insurance and registration info for your buddy. When that is questioned by the judge or officer, you might give them a brief summary of the physical and emotional problems you've had recently and say you know it didn't make any sense to unbuckle your belt, but you just weren't thinking clearly at the time because of everything that has happened. The car was stopped and unbuckling your seat belt was just a reflex action.

Your best bet will probably be to see the attorney before court. He/she has the power to reduce or dismiss tickets outright. I got a ticket several years ago for an expired tag because I hadn't put the new sticker on it yet. I went to the attorney in the courtroom and explained I was in the hospital recovering from surgery when my tag expired. My parents had renewed my tag, but I had forgotten to get the sticker from them when I finally got home from the hospital. He told me to go back to the DOT office and get that tag renewed TODAY, otherwise I would have to pay the ticket. $20 (tag sticker) vs $110 (ticket and court costs) was an easy decision to make.

[Ladyzekke]

We almost have 2 feet of snow, and it is still coming down! Record breaking weather here in Virginia! Anyone else getting snow?

[DrowArchmage]

Michigan has just been really cold, no overly large amounts of snow or anything like that.

[Cloudbringer]

Spent several hours working on a powerpoint presentation of photos for a thing we're doing at work today. Never did on before so it was interesting...and frustrating but fun, nonetheless.

LZ, you found your car yet? LOL Well, I know you said a lot of the snow blew away around the car... so have you found the roads yet? I cannot believe how much snow you guys got down there! We saw about very little.. a dusting or so, from those storms! Hope you've got some warm clothes for going back to the office! Or snowshoes.... teehee!

[Cloudbringer]

Ack, Is this really that old? Well.... I'm breaking out the cookies, don't think LadyZ needs a shovel now.. not with the temps in the 80's lately!

Been away from the place a while but checking back in!

Hubby is still job hunting, while studying for his computer certification. My work's busy, as usual this time of year and I'm contemplating just how many weekends of weeding I'll need to do before some of my planting areas stop looking like a jungle shot from Dungeon Siege.