I don’t condone the methods of the Critical Mass Cycling Movement but everyone should see this.

The video shows the NYPD officer standing in the street as bikes ride past. He begins to slowly walk towards the street as the cyclist, Richard Vazques, approaches. Vazques veers left to avoid him, but the officer speeds up his pace and then violently knocks Vazques to the ground in front of a crowd. Vazques was arrested, held for 26 hours, and then charged with felony assault of a police officer and resisting arrest. One other cyclist was ticketed Friday night for riding outside the bike lane, which is not actually illegal and often necessary, considering how popular bike lanes are for double parking.

Nice job, Mayor Bloomberg. If so inclined, please leave a message for him at (212) 639-9675. I did.

The NYPD placed the unidentified officer on desk duty pending the outcome of a department investigation. With a little luck, he will lose his job, his car, his house and find it very difficult to find employment in the future.

And just so it is known, if I’m ever knocked off the bike like this by a cop or anyone else, I will be charged with much more than assault. I will do everything in my power to end the assailant’s life, right on the spot. Yup, I would kill a cop. In a heartbeat without any remorse.

I logged in last night for the first time in about 40 days and cleared out all of my invites.  This is how many I’ve received in less than 24 hours and I only have 15 friends.  I used to think they were cool until I learned that people just send these invites to everyone which detracts from their value, at least for me.  When I learned that Scrabulous is a person to person game, I played.  Maybe social networks just aren’t for me.  Maybe I’m just not social enough.

Here’s the thing though, I feel guilty for not “accepting” the invites or not sending anything out in return.  Maybe I’m weird but the last people I want to bother are my friends (even though I don’t consider and invite a “bother” if that makes any sense).  I understand that Facebook just wants to make their site as sticky as possible but at some point, in become more of a hassle than a benefit when you have a bunch of friends.  When sending an invite to someone, the default should be to invite just a single person rather than your entire address book.  I want to use FB to keep tabs on what’s going on in my friends’ lives, not hassle them to death.

I’ve always considered my obligation to pay taxes as rent for living in the best country of the world.  I don’t love taxes, but if they improve the roads I drive on, provide social services for those in need and keep me and my family safe, they they’re worth it.  But today I’m pissed.

In Colorado, vehicle owners are required to pay an annual excise tax based on the assessed value of the car or truck.  These funds go directly to road maintenance and infrastructure improvements.  Ok, no problem.  But in the 45 days, I’ve had my new Outlook, my SUV has appreciated almost $3,500!  Awesome!  I’m going to forget stocks and mutual funds and invest in Saturn Outlooks.  Boo Ya to you Jim Cramer, this is the investment of a lifetime!  The original purchase price of the vehicle was $42,180 before any discounts and trades.  The Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles assessed it at $45,550, a return that Warren Buffet would be proud of.  I shudder to think about what the state will value my car next year and at this rate of appreciation, I should just leave it in my garage and see if I can get a Car Equity Loan from my bank to purchase a cheaper car that would just depreciate in value.

I did call the DMV and was told that the valuation was correct, it’s just the dealer sold it to me for less than it was worth (riiiiight) and that I really do owe the amount on the postcard.

In related news, large cap stock OUTL is up 52.5 cents to $45,550.52 on the NYSE with record volume of 550 million vehicles traded.  I hope the Shorts have covered all of their positions…

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I went to see a sleep specialist on Tuesday and though I couldn’t go to her clinic in Vancouver B.C. right now, she wanted me to get back on a normal schedule and wrote me a 30 day prescription for 3 mg of Lunesta (the strongest stuff you can get). I went to Walgreen’s today to have it filled. Dropped it off and came back around 4. The cost? $391.98. That’s not counting sales tax of (8.8%) and a $10 fee for filling a prescription without insurance (WTF?). The cost literally made me dizzy but the $10 charge is what killed me. If anything, they should charge me less since I’m paying them full retail up front and they don’t have to do the insurance claim thing. Total scam. The kicker is that I have insurance but after my near bankrupting experience with my last provider (who SUED me for filing a claim on a pre-existing condition- it was pneumonia and I had been with them for almost 10 months at the time, lol), I have elected to pay out of pocket for everything unless it’s a catastrophic emergency. Maybe I’ll use the prescription benefit next time though.

So my third and final appeal to my insurance company for the classification of my pneumonia as a pre-existing condition was denied today. Because I’d only worked for 3 weeks prior to seeing the doctor, they concluded that I had contracted the virus prior to actually be covered. I find that explanation incredibly lame and so did my doctor. Sure, it did look suspicious that I got sick so soon after taking the job but statistically, those things are going to happen. I hadn’t filed an insurance claim since 1998 and when I finally do, I’m called a “potential abuser” in writing by my new carrier. My faith in our insurance and health care system just dropped a couple of notches. After some so-called “discounts” were applied to my bill, my share of the remaining tab is a little over $6,900 bucks. Nice. The last thing I need are medical bill collectors calling my cell phone all day when I’m in the middle of a building move.

Guess I have learned once again to not go to the doctor’s unless death is imminent and even then, try and see if death actually comes first
:).