Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Abilene, Texas. Over the weekend, Imelda and I went to Texas to attend Peter and Robin's wedding. It was my second time being a groomsmen. But this time around, it was quite different in that it was a real TEXAS wedding held on a ranch with people wearing cowboy hats and boots. The wedding was short and simple. Dinner reception was over by 7pm.
The highlight was watching the sun setting over the wide fields as horses run beneath the reddish sky. And blowing bubbles as Peter and Robin make their get away in a 1940's black convertible.
One thing we realized is how we have taken for granted the numerous activities city life has to offer... Being a town of only 100,000 population, we drove around town couple times at night and still scratching our head in what to do. We ended up watching movies (The Wedding Date) on one night and hanging out at a burger joint (Sonics) and pool hall (Rack Daddy) on the other. We are just glad to be back. Never thought that I would be so happy to see traffic, people, mountains and big bodies of water.
To see my pictures: click here
To see Joseph's pictures: click here
The highlight was watching the sun setting over the wide fields as horses run beneath the reddish sky. And blowing bubbles as Peter and Robin make their get away in a 1940's black convertible.
One thing we realized is how we have taken for granted the numerous activities city life has to offer... Being a town of only 100,000 population, we drove around town couple times at night and still scratching our head in what to do. We ended up watching movies (The Wedding Date) on one night and hanging out at a burger joint (Sonics) and pool hall (Rack Daddy) on the other. We are just glad to be back. Never thought that I would be so happy to see traffic, people, mountains and big bodies of water.
To see my pictures: click here
To see Joseph's pictures: click here
Justice System. Two years ago, I was pulled over by a San Mateo Police Officer in Mountain View on my short, short (2 miles) commute to work. Allegedly, I crossed the railroad tracks as the crossings gate came down. I would say that I am a safe driver who is usually aware of my surroundings. But this, really bothered me... The fact that I was not aware of the gate nor hear any bells, horns or see any signs of the train. I can still see that green traffic light vividly as I made a right turn. When the officer pulled me over, I was already 500ft down the block.
I was very puzzled. First of all, if the train was coming, why would the traffic light be green? Shouldn't it change to red way in advance? Second of all, if it was so dangerous for me to cross the railroad tracks, wouldn't it be even more dangerous for the officer to risk his life to chase after me as the gate came down?
In either case, I was given a ticket. Long story short, I did not receive any followup notice in the mail. So, as a lawful abiding citizen, I went to Palo Alto Traffic Court to find out what was going on. The clerks could not find any record of my citation in their system. I requested them to run a tracer to investigate this matter. However, after multiple phone calls and few trips down to the court, they found nothing. Well, I thought to myself... I did my duties.
Two years later, my sister wanted to add me to her automobile insurance policy, and the insurance agent discovered that I had a "failure to appear in court" notice. This caused me distraught, because I did not receive a single letter from them. So, back to the court I went to set a court date to plead my case. However, in order to do that, I needed first to appear in court to plead non-guilty. There must have been at least 30~40 people in the court room. And add to that fact is they called names in alphabetical order. Since my last name was "S", I had to sit in court for a good hour before they called my name. When they did, all the judge wanted to hear from me was: "traffic school, pay fine, or court?" As a person of integrity, I don't believe I did anything wrong. If there was something wrong, it was the traffic system. I told the judge, I wanted to go to trial.
January 15th. Saturday morning. I got up, went to court, and found the building completely locked up with no one in sight. I stood there like a fool. Only later did I find out that courts only operate Monday through Fridays. The judge had made an error, and bumped up the date to January 13th. As before, I did not receive any notice... so I failed to appear in court AGAIN. Since I missed the court date, I had to repeat the whole process by going back to court to plead non-guilty and set a second court date.
March 9th. I appeared in court, with pictures ready and my case well-rehearsed. The officer did not show up, hence, my case was dismissed.
Yes, I am thankful to God who is merciful to me. However, this whole ordeal, made me realize how hard it is to do the right thing. It is so much easier to just keep quiet and go to traffic school. I would have saved so much trouble and time. I felt penalized for wanting to better the system and for wanting to voice my opinion. The sad thing is, I realized how naive I was when I thought the judge cares. But the truth is, the judge could careless about the system nor what I have to say. I can't say that justice had been done here. But all I can say is, for all the trouble I had to go through, it was an invaluable experience... and I am going to be extra cautious so that no officer can find me at fault.
I was very puzzled. First of all, if the train was coming, why would the traffic light be green? Shouldn't it change to red way in advance? Second of all, if it was so dangerous for me to cross the railroad tracks, wouldn't it be even more dangerous for the officer to risk his life to chase after me as the gate came down?
In either case, I was given a ticket. Long story short, I did not receive any followup notice in the mail. So, as a lawful abiding citizen, I went to Palo Alto Traffic Court to find out what was going on. The clerks could not find any record of my citation in their system. I requested them to run a tracer to investigate this matter. However, after multiple phone calls and few trips down to the court, they found nothing. Well, I thought to myself... I did my duties.
Two years later, my sister wanted to add me to her automobile insurance policy, and the insurance agent discovered that I had a "failure to appear in court" notice. This caused me distraught, because I did not receive a single letter from them. So, back to the court I went to set a court date to plead my case. However, in order to do that, I needed first to appear in court to plead non-guilty. There must have been at least 30~40 people in the court room. And add to that fact is they called names in alphabetical order. Since my last name was "S", I had to sit in court for a good hour before they called my name. When they did, all the judge wanted to hear from me was: "traffic school, pay fine, or court?" As a person of integrity, I don't believe I did anything wrong. If there was something wrong, it was the traffic system. I told the judge, I wanted to go to trial.
January 15th. Saturday morning. I got up, went to court, and found the building completely locked up with no one in sight. I stood there like a fool. Only later did I find out that courts only operate Monday through Fridays. The judge had made an error, and bumped up the date to January 13th. As before, I did not receive any notice... so I failed to appear in court AGAIN. Since I missed the court date, I had to repeat the whole process by going back to court to plead non-guilty and set a second court date.
March 9th. I appeared in court, with pictures ready and my case well-rehearsed. The officer did not show up, hence, my case was dismissed.
Yes, I am thankful to God who is merciful to me. However, this whole ordeal, made me realize how hard it is to do the right thing. It is so much easier to just keep quiet and go to traffic school. I would have saved so much trouble and time. I felt penalized for wanting to better the system and for wanting to voice my opinion. The sad thing is, I realized how naive I was when I thought the judge cares. But the truth is, the judge could careless about the system nor what I have to say. I can't say that justice had been done here. But all I can say is, for all the trouble I had to go through, it was an invaluable experience... and I am going to be extra cautious so that no officer can find me at fault.
