I have been getting my first glance at the legal system lately, all due to a traffic ticket. When I first started to fight the ticket, which I viewed as un-just, I didn't realize how much time, effort and money it would take to get justice.
It all started one night when I was driving my friends home from a party. I was the designated driver that night. While on the way home I checked my mirrors, put on my turn signal and went to change lanes, to my dismay there was a car beside me which I didn't see. I quickly sped up and went back over to my lane to get out of the way. Unfortunately, this was all that was needed to give me a "Reckless Driving" ticket because the car I encroached on was a KU Police Car.
I explained that I didn't see her in my blind spot and she proceeded to give me a ticket that is usually reserved for drag racing and weaving in and out of traffic dangerously.
So after I got the ticket, I thought "This should be pretty easy for me to take care of on my own, since I didn't do what the statute for reckless driving said."
That was where I was dead wrong. I showed up on my court date only to find out that they were closed on the 12/26/08 for the holiday. So I called the next week and scheduled a new time. This was 1/12/09. I show up that morning and I was not on the docket and to make matters worse I had to post bond for "failure to appear to court" on a day the court was closed!" So things started to get a bit frustrating.
I finally showed up to court on 1/27/09 and talked to the prosecutor who I told what happened and she said, "We do not plea-bargain under any circumstance for this offense unless you are a minor." I was amazed, so I had a trial time setup and found out how to get a hold of the video that showed my "crime."
I got the video and it showed exactly what I had hoped and more. It showed the officer going faster than traffic, passing all the cars on the right (including myself) in snowy weather. It shows that if she wasn't passing me on the right (and possibly speeding) that she wouldn't have been behind me 3 seconds before and beside me in my blind spot at the moment I changed lanes.
But it showed a lot more than just that. The officer was attached to a microphone the whole time she was in her car. It showed her calling to ask whether she can issue me a "unsafe lane change" even though I used my turn signal. This is a minor offense, much more fitting, and only a 15 dollar fine instead of a 90 day suspension of license! It shows her desire to give me a fine but her inability to figure out what fine would stick thus giving me something that the court has to deal with.
Now, I am ready with my evidence, with new hope that I can get this mistake cleared up, but with new disrespect for the local justice system. After talking with a lawyer, he is confident that all it will take is him talking to the prosecutor to get it reduced. So instead of having a "unsafe lane change" that costs me 15 dollars and no time in court. I have to pay several hundred to hire a lawyer to get it down to that same charge. Not to mention if I wanted to fight an "unsafe lane" change I could have gotten it reduced to a non moving violation thus keeping my driving record in tact.
If I had more money to fight it, I would want to go to trial and prove that what I did could have been avoided if the officer had not been passing on the right or simply going the speed of traffic in bad weather. I would want to prove that she would have given me a lesser fine had I NOT used my turn signal. I would want to prove that the justice system doesn't require money to get a fair shake.
For the Video use this link, best viewed with Windows Media Player:
Traffic_stop_Collins.wmv
Follow up:
I hired a lawyer, went to court and after 3 appearances it was finally thrown out the day of trial when the cop failed to show.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Online Marketing Strategies
As companies seek to find more effective, and less expensive, marketing methods, online marketing stands to see the biggest increase. Businesses already spend more on online marketing than they do on Radio and is set to surpass magazines by 2010 (ZenithOptmedia, 2007). However, you can do many things to make sure your website is not lost in the clutter. Below are the top actions your business can take to increase your website exposure and increase your ROI.
1) Maintain and improve your website
Unless your business has an endless marketing budget then you need to rely on your website’s quality to drive traffic to your site. A high-quality website doesn’t just mean something that looks pretty. It means that you have text that engages the reader, contains your keywords, and can be found by Google and other search engines.
Simply put, your website design needs to adhere to current industry standards with special attention to the basics like page titles, meta descriptions, accessibility, and navigation.
2) Build web presence
Once your website has the basics down you can concentrate on promoting it. Depending on your product you may want to utilize viral media sources like YouTube, MySpace or Twitter. These can be great for B2C type product lines if used in conjunction with directory placements, online press releases, online trade publications, forums and article submissions. The key is to get as many quality links to your website as possible; this will increase your search rankings. The higher your rankings are, the more traffic you will get.
3) PPC advertising
There are several PayPerClick options to choose from. The largest network consists of Google AdWords. You may have noticed these ads when you search for a product on Google and there are “sponsored links.” Adverisers pay to see their advertisement there when you search for certain keywords. This can be a very effective method to drive traffic to your website.
Note: PPC advertising is getting more expensive because of the dramatic increase in competition over the years. This could also reduce the effectiveness of your campaign if it is not monitored closely.
4) eNewsletters
Sending out eNewsletters can be a very effective way of staying in front of leads and existing clients. There are a couple of basic guidelines when sending an eNewsletter.
5) Campaign evaluation
One of the most important part of making an online marketing campaign is measuring its results. Keeping track of keyword rankings, incoming leads, new website traffic, and sales are among the most important indicators to a successful campaign. Since online media is usually fast moving and contains many traceable activities you should be able to track the success of your campaign with much greater detail than any other media.
1) Maintain and improve your website
Unless your business has an endless marketing budget then you need to rely on your website’s quality to drive traffic to your site. A high-quality website doesn’t just mean something that looks pretty. It means that you have text that engages the reader, contains your keywords, and can be found by Google and other search engines.
Simply put, your website design needs to adhere to current industry standards with special attention to the basics like page titles, meta descriptions, accessibility, and navigation.
2) Build web presence
Once your website has the basics down you can concentrate on promoting it. Depending on your product you may want to utilize viral media sources like YouTube, MySpace or Twitter. These can be great for B2C type product lines if used in conjunction with directory placements, online press releases, online trade publications, forums and article submissions. The key is to get as many quality links to your website as possible; this will increase your search rankings. The higher your rankings are, the more traffic you will get.
3) PPC advertising
There are several PayPerClick options to choose from. The largest network consists of Google AdWords. You may have noticed these ads when you search for a product on Google and there are “sponsored links.” Adverisers pay to see their advertisement there when you search for certain keywords. This can be a very effective method to drive traffic to your website.
Note: PPC advertising is getting more expensive because of the dramatic increase in competition over the years. This could also reduce the effectiveness of your campaign if it is not monitored closely.
4) eNewsletters
Sending out eNewsletters can be a very effective way of staying in front of leads and existing clients. There are a couple of basic guidelines when sending an eNewsletter.
- Frequency – Choose a frequency that makes sense. If you email them too much it will reduce the effectiveness of all the newsletters
- Content – Don’t send a newsletter for the sake of doing it. Provide your mailing list with something of interest and they will thank you for it.
- Unsubscribe – Make sure your newsletter has an Unsubscribe option. It will help you maintain an email list that is of the highest quality and reduce bad feedback.
- Compatibility—There are countless email programs. You need to make sure that your eNewsletter looks acceptable in the major ones like Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo.
5) Campaign evaluation
One of the most important part of making an online marketing campaign is measuring its results. Keeping track of keyword rankings, incoming leads, new website traffic, and sales are among the most important indicators to a successful campaign. Since online media is usually fast moving and contains many traceable activities you should be able to track the success of your campaign with much greater detail than any other media.
School Year Changes
I have been appauled at how the KC School District runs ever since I got to Kansas City. When I was in school in the 90's in New Hampshire, we had a lot of 90 minute delays or half days due to the number of large snow storms. But we didn't get every one of those slippery days off! We trudged through the snow to the bus stop and waited for the bus to come to a skidding stop to get us.
When the weather reached bitter cold and the buses couldn't start, we had a 90 minute delay while they jump started the buses, never did we lose a day because of cold weather.
Today's kids in Kansas City get every wednesday as a half day, so the teachers can collaberate with eachother. After talking to a teacher, she described this as a "joke". Other area schools have 4 - 6 days off a year for parent/teacher conferences and meetings. Then, with all of this time off, they get more days off when the weather is cold or we get a coating of snow.
This, in turn, pushes school to start earlier in the year and end later which is a bad thing. Why is this a bad thing you may ask? It is bad for two reasons: First, a child needs to learn responsibility. They need to learn that when it snows they don't get a free day or that a work week doesn't consist of 4 short days followed by a half day. Secondly, parents rely on school as a form of daycare. When their kids aren't at school they need to find someone to watch them while they are at work. This can be expensive.
So why has all this changed? It's the parents! The parents have too much of a role in their kids education and it is destroying it. It is one thing to be involved and know what you child is doing in school, it is another thing to bitch about everything they are doing so in the end the school spends more time trying to please every parent and it results in worse education, longer school years to make up for everything, more "official" parent/teacher confrences that require whole days off from school and students that think their parents run the show and not the teachers.
It is bull shit. Parents, education is not just about where they go to school, it is about the values they get while they are there and the experience of having to do things themselves. If you take away their responsibilies you take away a solid part of their learning. This may mean that you don't put up a stink when they read a book that you don't agree with (afterall, how will they ever be well rounded if they don't get exposed to all sides of things) and it might mean that you give them an extra layer when it is cold out instead of calling for the school to cancel.
When the weather reached bitter cold and the buses couldn't start, we had a 90 minute delay while they jump started the buses, never did we lose a day because of cold weather.
Today's kids in Kansas City get every wednesday as a half day, so the teachers can collaberate with eachother. After talking to a teacher, she described this as a "joke". Other area schools have 4 - 6 days off a year for parent/teacher conferences and meetings. Then, with all of this time off, they get more days off when the weather is cold or we get a coating of snow.
This, in turn, pushes school to start earlier in the year and end later which is a bad thing. Why is this a bad thing you may ask? It is bad for two reasons: First, a child needs to learn responsibility. They need to learn that when it snows they don't get a free day or that a work week doesn't consist of 4 short days followed by a half day. Secondly, parents rely on school as a form of daycare. When their kids aren't at school they need to find someone to watch them while they are at work. This can be expensive.
So why has all this changed? It's the parents! The parents have too much of a role in their kids education and it is destroying it. It is one thing to be involved and know what you child is doing in school, it is another thing to bitch about everything they are doing so in the end the school spends more time trying to please every parent and it results in worse education, longer school years to make up for everything, more "official" parent/teacher confrences that require whole days off from school and students that think their parents run the show and not the teachers.
It is bull shit. Parents, education is not just about where they go to school, it is about the values they get while they are there and the experience of having to do things themselves. If you take away their responsibilies you take away a solid part of their learning. This may mean that you don't put up a stink when they read a book that you don't agree with (afterall, how will they ever be well rounded if they don't get exposed to all sides of things) and it might mean that you give them an extra layer when it is cold out instead of calling for the school to cancel.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Golden Globes
Finally, a movie won best picture that deserved it. Slumdog Millionaire was simply a great movie. The story was interesting, well-told and kept me wanting more. I wouldn't change anything about the film and when it was over, I felt totally satisfied.
Slumdog was the only movie in 2008 that I rated 4 stars and was clearly the best movie of the year.
Slumdog was the only movie in 2008 that I rated 4 stars and was clearly the best movie of the year.
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