In May, Jenny, David, Adriana and I went on the Montauk Century. Jenny and I parked at the Babylon train station, and fed the meter enough for the day's parking. The meter indicated the time my space would expire (around 7pm), and I took off for an excellent bike ride.

When I returned back to the parking lot, I found a $25 ticket on my car that they'd issued around 6pm. Normally, I say it was no big deal. I was clearly in the right, and had definitely paid up past 6pm, so all I'd have to do is send them a letter and be on my way. Apparently, the only way to contest a ticket is in-person, in court. Babylon, Long Island is a $10 toll ride away, plus $5 or $10 in gas money and absolutely no assurance that I'd win (the meter didn't give any receipt). Even if I had a receipt, though, the cost of traveling to the court wouldn't be worth the fight.

So, dear iPalimpsest readers, I ask you a favor. One day, you yourselves might park in their parking lot, pay for their parking fees, get an unfair ticket, and have to pay it, simply because they have no alternate method of contesting a parking ticket, than in-person. Please write to the Supervisor of the Town of Babylon www.babylonli.com/contact/index.cfm and tell them how unfair their system is. You should have alternate ways to contest a ticket than simply in-person.

posted by Kate Lyons 2:01 PM

"We also live in a society that believes in freedom of religion," Cauchon said. "I believe the draft bill strikes the proper balance, and by taking this approach, the government of Canada is doing the right thing at the right time in our history." -- From an article on Canada's government proposing that marriage be defined as the "lawful union of two persons," which would legalize same-sex marriage throughout country.

At almost the same time, Bush considers a consitutional amendment in the United States to ban gay marriage. But, like Canada, isn't the US a society that believes in freedom of religion? Why is the front page article of today's New York Times about Catholic politicians, and their stance on same-sex marriage?

posted by Kate Lyons 12:57 PM

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

I went to my first drive-in theater over vacation! We saw Spy Kids 3-D and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Spy Kids was harmless fluff that was kind of cool to see in a drive-in setting, despite my nerves being on edge because of the potential of the car alarm going off if we moved to much (we eventally figured out how to disarm it). I knew going in that LXG had gotten extraordinarily bad reviews, but I still wanted to see it. I wasn't so much a bad movie as that it left me really confused and feeling like they had left a lot out from the comic book. I suspected that there were a lot of references to things that you could appreciate reading the comic but that didn't translate to the screen. This site goes into detail about every obscure reference in the books. It also answered my questions about Sean Connery's character, Allan Quartermain, whose name I (mistakenly) remembered from Kurt Russell's character in Big Trouble in Little China, but is actually the title character from Allan Quartermain in the Lost City of Gold one of those great eighties movies that you have to watch on television late at night to truly appreciate.

posted by Jenny Baum 3:04 PM

Friday, July 18, 2003

A trip to the gynecologist wasn't all Jenny got for her birthday. Lest anyone think me a lackadaisical friend, I must mention that we also went to Quintessence for a raw foods lunch and to see the Dance Theatre of Harlem at Lincoln Center.

posted by Kate Lyons 4:42 PM

Spontaneous visit last night! Barb got her ass on a train and trekked all the way down to New York (three trains, actually). Luckilly, we got her voice mail or she may have been wandering around mid-town all night. She's going on vacation with us, we have scheduled cat-sitters, and an ipod to listen to in the car - could life get any better? This sure beats my birthday visit to the gynocologist.

posted by Jenny Baum 4:25 PM

I just saw an article on Friendster on MSN. I guess it really has reached critical mass. I recently wrote a bunch of testimonials for people, one day, in between teaching classes. They all said things like "quiet, shy, listen carefully" - am I really that sub-audible? Maybe I'll take up voice therapy. I hope my voice is cuter than Gina's meow at least.

posted by Jenny Baum 4:22 PM

Last Sunday we took a FREE kayak trip on the Hudson River (at 26th and the West Side Drive).

posted by Kate Lyons 1:27 PM

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Top Model is recruiting for next year's show! All librarians should participate-- Elyse was the group pariah for being so smart. What about the bookish librarian? We'll break free of the curmudgeon old librarian stereotype. Smash the little bifocal glasses-- strip away the ankle-length tweed skirts. I know some of you out there are 5'11, underweight and under 28 years old! I'd do it, but at 5'2", I don't think I qualify.

posted by Kate Lyons 7:16 PM

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

Elyse got voted off Top Model last night, but I doubt it will be the last we'll see of her. It was cool that Adrienne won. I can't wait for the next season of Top Model - although I question whether they'll be able to find such an interesting mix of personalities.

posted by Jenny Baum 2:36 PM

David Hasselhoff's hooked on a feeling.

posted by Jenny Baum 2:14 PM

If this show really happened, then American reality television seems almost tame.

posted by Jenny Baum 2:08 PM

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

New Cashew pages forthcoming...

Cashew got sidetracked because of other work and bike rides, but it hasn't been forgotten. I'm almost finished inking the first part of it and can continue drawing the rest of what Kate's written. We're still tweaking the dialogue and storyline, but we should be able to publish some more of the pages to the site soon.

posted by Jenny Baum 4:33 PM

Kate and I have been experimenting with raw foods. We made this banana/young coconut juice smoothie that was really tasty and made me feel kinda hyped - like caffeine does, only without the crash. Learning to open the coconut was an adventure, as was reading about the benefits. According to several sites, young coconut juice can be substituted for blood plasma, among other equally astounding benefits. Demi Moore supposedly is a fan according to Extra. Raw foodists claim that it has so many benefits, several that don't make any logical sense to me, like changing your eye color.

posted by Jenny Baum 4:20 PM

We took Gina to the vet again last night. She seems to be doing better, and she's gone into heat, so it would seem that she's not pregnant (despite what Kate read on a Web site that claimed that cats can still go into heat, even if they're pregnant - something our vet happily ridiculed). When we got Mel off the street, he plumped up to happy housecat in no time. I'm a little worried that she still looks so scrappy. I'm reading "The New Work of Dogs" by Jon Katz (yes, the Slashdot writer and "Geeks" author). It's full of stories about shelter dogs and people who own dogs for good and not-so-good reason and who treat them accordingly. He also makes some good points about America's beliefs about what owning a dog is supposed to be about and the reality. It's not the most heartening book to be reading after finding a street cat, but it seems fitting. We're still trying to find her a home since she and Zoe (our female cat) do not get along.

posted by Jenny Baum 3:54 PM

Proof (?) that Exene on Studentdoctor.net is Elyse from Top Model? Login, then check out this thread She's very funny, and it looks like she has a good shot at winning! I like Adrienne a lot too, too bad there can be only one TOP MODEL.

posted by Jenny Baum 3:46 PM