how to spend over $250 in 45 minutes while at work....

so. today began as any other stressful, packed day...and i got a little cocky...thinking i could do it all. oh how quickly 'the universe' put me back in my place!!

one of my client's State IDs broke like two years before we started working with him. today i decided that i was going to take him downtown to the Secretary of State/DMV to get him a new one. We'd be there before lunch, so it shouldn't've been too busy. And it wasn't. we waited about 30 minutes and then he went (i wasn't allowed to go with him) to get his pic taken and wait for the ID to be made. (It's cool in IL cause you don't have to wait for it to come in the mail like in NY) now...parking around the city is impossible, and i HATE spending $14.00 for anything less than the whole day:)...so i did a 'keep the blinkers on cause i'm really not going to be very long' move and i essencially made my client run with me to the building and back. i figured i might get a ticket, but i've parked there before and nothing happened so i figured i'd risk it. i even relaxed a bit while i was being hit on by a cute guy waiting for his friend to get a new ID...hehe...
we nearly ran back to the car only to turn the corner and ...OMG my car WASN"T THERE. i had a client with me, a full day of visits and paper work and NO CAR. not to mention it was below freezing outside and using my phone to call 311 didn't really work well. she couldn't find my license plate at the pound yet, but put me through anyways...and thank goodness, my car was there already. Also, the only reason i didn't completely panic was because i had my wallet with me... i grabbed a cab (paid for with plastic) got my car from the pound (paid for with plastic) and in a matter of an hour and a half i had paid almost $200 to get my car back...not to mention the $60 ticket that i had gotten before the car was towed. it all happened so fast i still can't believe it happened...like, seriously...

i think i should've just paid $14 for parking in the first place...just a thought.