Totally Not Worth It

Parker has been asking for an air hockey table for a while now. Whenever he goes to Ebba's he plays and loved it. I wasn't against getting a table, but wanted to get in the habit of not buying everything Parker says he wants. I told him he could save up for it. So he started saving. He gets an allowance of $1 each week and can earn extra money by doing chores (like picking up apples in back yard, taking out recycling, unloading dishwasher and this week, doing laundry). He saved up $25 (as I had seen a kids size one on Craigslist for $25 a couple months ago) and I took a look on CL again to see what I could find. I found two for $20, one in SJ and one in Belmont. I checked out what it would cost new for a similar one and it was $70. So I figured even with gas, I was still ahead going to Belmont to get one. And I was glad to be buying something used with only the money he earned.

So I drove there today, picked it up, stopped for a coffee and then was driving home. I wasn't in a rush as I had no where to be. Then I got pulled over just after crossing the San Mateo Bridge. Apparently he clocked me at 83 and 87 miles per hour. I'm usually quite good at seeing cops, but today I had no clue. I had no clue there was a cop on the side of the road and no clue I was going that speed. Only when there were lights in my mirror did I clue in. The cop was nice and wrote the ticket up for "80+" so that I could go to traffic school (I guess 86 was the cut off.) I told him it was my first speeding ticket my whole life. He said, "That's a pretty good record." Joy.

So my $20 used kids air hockey table that I felt all warm and fuzzy about will cost me hundreds of dollars in ticket fees, traffic school and increased insurance. Talk about your warm and fuzzy.