Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Philosophical Question

Who's ready for a little theology thinking?

What does everyone think about the idea of praying away our free will? Is it possible to ask God to take away our free will so we sin?

Monday, September 06, 2004

A Night of Nothing

Tonight my roommate Dave asked me: "You know what I forgot to get?" Of course I knew what he had forgotten because we had been forgetting for the past three days and, as a result, we were not able to go number two in our bathroom. I said to him, "You want to go and get some Smoothies?" implying that we get some smoothies and then get some toilet paper, so we are not just going out to get toilet paper. Dave expressed his concern that Smoothie King closed at 10:00. I thought that we could make it in time, plus it would be an adventure. So Dave calls up Smoothie King to check what time they closed. After he got off the phone, he said, "I don't think we can make it, they close at 10." "Sure we can!" "Okay! Let's do it!" Out the door we ran. I'm sure that everyone in Phase 2 thought we were crazy for sprinting through the halls, lobby, then to the car. We got to Dave's car parked out front and peeled out.

We were cutting it close. We were at Cardinal and 4th street and it was 9 minutes till 10. I wondered if we could call an order in and then pick it up, so if we got there at 9:59, they wouldn't pull the ole, "We're closed" shpeal on us. I called them up and asked them. "Uhh....we don't do that." At this point, we are close to Eastern Parkway; 7 minutes till. I didn't think that we were going to make it. As soon as I think that, Dave starts speeding and swerving around cars down Eastern Parkway. It was fairly exhelerating yet frustrating to hit multiple lights (all those 30s waits can add up to 2 guys without a smoothie for the night). I asked Dave if he cared if he got a ticket. "Ticket? Anything for a smoothie!"

At this point we were fast approaching the halfway point to Bardstown road. "If we hit this with 3 minutes left, then I think we can make it" Dave says. Of course, we hit another light and get to the halfway point with 2 minutes left. We both looked at each other knowing that we probably wern't going to make it. But we didn't drive all this way for nothing so Dave speeds it up a bit. I think we both felt like little kids who have just gotten their licsence. We were definately speeding and laughed how Dave was running cars off of the road going 60.

We were nearing Baxter Ave when we see one of those Radar Gun on wheels ahead that's supposed to deter people from speeding. We both wondered what it would do with our obvious law infraction. As it flashed in red a big 52, we both chuckled at the fact that it wasn't deterring us from speeding. To see the radar gun on wheels was somewhat of a relief because that meant that there were no cops around; that and the fact that Dave hadn't seen any cops on Eastern Pkwy made us confident that we wouldn't get a ticket and that we would get to Smoothie King on time.

It's 1 minute till 10 and we are at a stop light at Baxtar Avenue. We thinking 50/50 on the smoothie. At that, Dave says to me, look at those lights behind us. I turned around to see what he was talking about, but I didn't see a cop and turned back around and just ignored what he said. Even though nothing was there, Dave kept looking in his rear view mirror. He then said, I think there's a cop right behind us. Apparently, Dave saw the reflection of the lights on the dash of the cop behind us, except the lights weren't on. Was he behind us to pull us over or were we going so fast that he didn't see us?

The traffic light turned green and we started toward our final destination. We were in great suspense, wondering if we had pulled off the greatest Smoothie King run in history, or if we would show up on the Fox's Best Car Chases VII. Seconds after passing the traffic light, the cop turned on his lights. Dave's looking for a place to park at, but we are close enough to Smoothie King to park in their back parking lot. I told Dave that I would run to get the smoothies while he takes care of the ticket.

We parked and I got out of the car, waiting for the cop to yell at me- the smoothie was worth getting yelled at. I was a step away from the car "GET BACK IN THE CAR, NOW! TURN AROUND AND GET BACK IN THE CAR!" I did what the cop told me and went back into the car. We had failed. Dave and I knew that we wouldn't be getting smoothies tonight. But we were going to get a ticket. As the cop came up, we were wondering what he was going to say. "WHERE WERE YOU GOING?" Who was he talking to? Was he talking to Dave about him speeding or was he talking to me about getting out of the car? I assumed that it was me so I answered candidly, "Smoothie King!" in a voice that said "duh, where else would I be going at 10:00pm?" He then asked Dave for his driver's license and registration. Dave tried to explain our situation:

"We were going to get to Smoothie King before they close. I know it's not much of an excuse, but it's what we were doing."

"What time do they close?"

"10:00"

"Looks like you won't be getting a smoothie tonight."

"Yeah, we've come to terms with that."

"When's the last ticket you got?"

"Uhhh..."

"How many tickets HAVE you gotten??"

"Only 2. One 4 years ago and one about a year ago."

"Do you go to UofL?"

"Yeah"

"Lemme have you temporary address."

Dave gives him the necessary information, tries to explain something about his insurance, and then the cop goes back to his car. We pretty much just sit there wondering how much the ticket is going to be. The cop then comes back.

"You're looking at $120 just for court fees and another $90 for the ticket. I clocked you going 60. I assume you saw the sign that said 52?"

"Yes, we saw the sign."

"So you're looking at a $200 smoothie. Not worth it, is it?"

"No, sir."

"Well, since you are a young republican I'll let you go. As for you, don't get out of the car. It makes us nervous. We don't know what you are doing."

"Yes sir."

"Have a good night and drive slowly, would ya?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you!"

I didn't really know what happened so I asked Dave if the cop let us off. "Uhh...I guess he did." We couldn't believe it. So it was off to get some toliet paper. We drove (slowly) to Target to get some, but they were closed. So much for toliet paper and smoothies.

No Smoothie, no ticket, no toliet paper. A night of nothing.

Why did the officer excuse us the ticket?

Our apparent ignorance? Dave having the Bush/Cheney 04 bumper sticker on his car to show the politically biased cop? The cop liking smoothies just as much as we do and appreciated the excuse? Our honesty? Why, why, why?