i caved and got an i-pass. i am so disgusted by the illinois department of transportation right now that i could just spit. how dare they bully everyone into getting an i-pass by doubling tolls for non-i-pass users. and what is my ten dollar "deposit" for? also, why is registering the damn thing so complicated? on the website, they make you choose what kind of license plates you have. you click on this scroll down box and expect to see, like, three choices. how many different kinds of plates could there possibly be? hot damn, the choices numbered close to a hundred. who's out there getting license plates issued by the board of beef? i mean, really.

then, the damn thing doesn't work. i drive down to the south suburbs to hang out with my friend brian and his girlfriend, the ever lovely andrea. i use the i-pass lanes the whole way there. it is not until the way back when i try to go, to no avail, through the manual lanes with my piece-of-crap-pass, that i realize the thing's not working. this requires a phone call to the i-pass people. "due to the success of the i-pass program, you may experience delays up to twenty minutes." the success of the i-pass program? the success? shouldn't it be more accurately phrased, "due to the fact that you basically have no choice but to succomb to the i-pass, which is also being used to track speeds and issue tickets, you may experience delays, or possibly be hung up on a number of times." finally, i got everything straightened out. nobody seems to know what the ten dollar "deposit" is for.

other than the i-pass debacle, which is more-so an issue in my mind and heart than anything else, i had a very lovely day yesterday. brian asked if he and andrea would be mentioned in my blog. i said, "well, christ, it's not like being mentioned in the tribune or anything." to which he responded, "it is like the tribune. but with a much, much smaller audience." also, without all the advertising revenue and sports articles.

brian has been my seasonal friend for the past six or seven years. whenever the seasons change, we call each other and schedule either a trip for a beef sandwich or a rousing game of miniature golf. although we've spoken a number of times this past year, about five seasons have passed since our last get-together. while we are not going to make up for that time, we have made plans to get right back on track in march, on the first day of spring. hopefully that excursion will involve him having to use his i-pass and not me having to use mine. i hate illinois.