Summary

Car got towed from the commuter lot on Friday morning. I was still in Boston, having stayed over with and . Turns out that the South Attleboro commuter lot tows every car still there after the crowd from the last train of the evening has dispersed. This is, in fact, “clearly posted, sir” and “there are no exceptions, sir.” So, much as it’s awesome to have friends in town who are flexible enough to accommodate my crazy schedule and poor planning … I can’t really make use of their hospitality unless I plan ahead.

As a side note, that snide, condescending way of saying “sir” when you really mean “ass smelling, butt-person” sort of gets on my nerves. If someone hits four or five instances of “sir” in a single spoken paragraph, they’re either simpering and whingeing or else they’re being snide and saying “sir” when they mean “fuckface.” Neither is good.

Got back to the commuter lot on Friday night, no car. So I called the number, and the attendant from the parking lot company couldn’t figure out if I had been towed or not. I’m not sure what other job a person working the night shift of the answering service at the parking lot would have … but apparently she doesn’t get this question much. Fortunately, the police were able to confirm that I had been towed, and to tell me which company did it.

So, the towing company phone lady explained that they only have one driver working on Friday nights, and that I would have to wait for him at the lot. With cash. $130 in cash. Pain in the ass, but achievable. Went to the ATM, got the money, plus a $20 for the cab ride, and called a taxi. Taxi dropped me off in front of this big-ass deserted warehouse, with a little barbed wire enclave at the corner of a huge parking lot with my car in it. As the taxi was leaving, I realized that I was totally screwed. I had called someone on the phone, who had said “get a bunch of cash, and wait in this abandoned parking lot. We’ll be there shortly.” Further, it’s pretty good odds that anyone who gets dropped off by cab and loiters in that lot has at least $130 on him in cash. Great. Lovely.

So, as I’m thinking these things, a positively huge dude climbs out of one of the trucks and introduces himself. He’s making some extra money by watching the lot at night, sitting in the truck. He wondered if I wanted to sit in where it’s warm.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

Turns out that he was okay, and that I didn’t suffer beating and robbery at his hands … but let’s just say that I’m not all that thrilled with where my Friday night took me. A driver eventually showed up, I gave him the cash, and he unlocked the gate and let me have my car. I decided to call the nice lady who sent me down to date-rape central to let her know that I had my car, and I had paid off someone with keys. Did I get his name? No sir, I mean mamn.

Got home, and redmed had cracked a bottle of wine, made chili and cornbread, and sort of generally made coming home very smooth and peaceful.

Today was better. I spent it building a system for a friend to use at his co-location facility. Basically, it pushes the correct OS image out to a selected MAC address, on command. Pretty slick, but not so interesting to write about.