Parking Woes and An Unfortunate Incident Concerning a Padlock

(listening to: What's Mine Is Yours, Sleater-Kinney)

So, this is just disgusting, but Brandy sent it to me and I felt like I had to pass it along to whoever was out there.

In other news, the parking situation here is out of control. Forget about finding a free spot or even a meter, I'm getting used to spending a lot of time in parking garages, trying to find my car. Most normal cities have parking garages that have hourly rates. $5/hour, $8/hour. My favorite were the ones in New York that were somehow calculated with Good Will Hunting math to come out to figures like $13.47/hour. Not LA. Here, they charge you in 20 minute increments. If you're lucky, you can find a garage that only charges you $1.50 or $2.00 every 20 minutes. Today, though, I saw what the unlucky ones have to deal with.

I went to drop off some paperwork at this staffing agency that's farming me out for the temp work starting next week, and they're located in Century City, which is not too far from my apartment. The building that houses them has an underground parking garage that the public is more than welcome to use at the astounding rate of $4.00 every 20 minutes. I know that $12/hour for parking isn't really the end of the world, but by breaking it down into 20 minute increments, it's like they're just rubbing your nose in it. It just seems like more money.

Then I noticed the garage of the building next door, a shopping center/movie theater, that gave you the first 3 hours for free. After weighing the pros and cons of each, I decided that parking in the free lot would probably be a better idea. It took me about 5 minutes to find a spot, and another 10 minutes to get up to the office, drop off the papers and get back to my car. At that point, had I parked in the first lot, I would have had about 5 minutes to get out of the lot before I was up to 8 bucks already. Instead, I had the next 2 hours and 45 minutes to do whatever I wanted before I owed anyone any money. I almost stayed there, just on principle, but instead decided to come home and watch last night's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on CNBC. If only I had a TV in my car, I could have watched it in the parking garage and still not been out of pocket.

Insanity.