Alley Cats

Well, we did it. Became one of "those people". To some, it is "those people" squared.

We have vanity plates.
Notre Dame vanity plates.
And I love them.

Illinois seemed strict about what format you can use on your plates - space requirements and pretty limited character usage. Of course every combo of ND and 2001 was taken.

Good thing I married someone clever. Within six weeks or so, we are rollin' like this:

Say it out loud a few times and you'll get it...

Sadly the accountant's special has had a hard time over the past year. Our shared garage is a little tight and there are about a million garbage and recycle bins all over the alley. Turns out the hard plastic those bins are made of mean business!!

We have talked quite a bit about getting a new car and are all over the map.  Our current ride is paid for and the thought of making payments for something that is bound to become intimate with a trash can or the side of the garage is a little painful. So I guess we are "those people" too.


Here's a little analysis of our damage:

1. both of these are from clearing the obstacles on the front end and just when we thought we were in, a recycle bin jumped out of no where and scraped above the back tire well and did something to the bumper. I am finally at peace with this because of number two...

2. ....this guy. Same side of the car. Thought I was in the clear for about 5 seconds when I felt the car drag a bit. I didn't hear a thing. So the front passenger door kissed the siding and might have knocked the garage door rail off line a bit. I swear, I never heard anything....

3. Okay, some of the scuffs are just dirt, dings from the alley being shoveled, garage bins...and of course that guy number two above. We have never hit the gutter - that is the City of Chicago's doing. RJB fixed the rail because the door wasn't going down well. Oops.

And look, there's Mr. Recycle Bin hiding, waiting to attack. Monsters in the closet have nothing on bins in the alley.

4. This picture is not very accurate. First, there is usually a SUV parked nose out next to us. And our car is a little more centered so I could get the pictures above. Situation normal is the car being 9 inches from the wall on the right, so when you look at that mirror, the garage door rail is dead center. Passengers must hop in and out of the car in the alley.

5. Some of you non-Chicago city dwellers may think, man what a pain. And it is sometimes. But to not only have an assigned space but also a garage is a huge deal in this part of town. Our garage is deeded (or something) so we don't personally own half of the real estate you see above, but rather our condo association owns all three garages (there are two more of these guys); we have an undivided interest so to speak. When we condo shopped, some units included ownership of a spot for the bargain basement price of $35,000. Good mercy me. Thank goodness we didn't pay 35K for this damage!