Do Cops Really Have Quotas?

Yes, you are reading this correctly. I am officially a violator of the law. Well, I've been a violator, but I was finally caught today. And here's the story:

As usual, I worked my half day Friday. Afterwards, I planned to meet up with my friend, Michelle, so we could go see our other friend, Kristina (who is visiting from California). It took about 45 minutes to drive to Michelle's in Carol Stream from work in Aurora, then we headed to St. Charles where Kristina was waiting for us at the mall. Needless to say, I was already on the road too long, so by this time I wasn't really paying attention to how fast I was driving down North Ave (Highway 64). Michelle and I were deep in conversation, too, so of course I didn't even think to look at the speed limit signs. Subconsciously I thought that if this is a highway, it must be 55 mph. But, honestly, I didn't even think twice about my speed until I looked just ahead and there were about 5 cop cars resting in a dirt lot on the side of the highway. Speed trap!!

One of the cars whipped out behind me, but didn't put his flashers on until he rode my tail for a few blocks. My heart skipped, then I looked at my speedometer and I thought "Why am I getting pulled over for only going 6 mph over?" I was traveling at 62 mph where I thought it was a 55 mph speed limit. I looked ahead again, and to my disgrace saw a speed limit sign that said 45 mph. Shoot!










I must say the policeman was very pleasant. I did everything I was told to do if/when I got pulled over - Keep your hands at 10&2. Say "Sir". Ask for permission to open glove compartment in order to get the insurance. The policeman asked if I knew why I was pulled over, and I couldn't lie. I just said "Yes, but I honestly thought it was 55 mph until I saw you behind me". He said some kind of jibberish like "I clocked you at 62 mph in a 45 mph with a new top-notch radar that accurately clocks the speed of only one single car". It sounded like a sales pitch. ("Do you want me to buy this fancy new radar of your's or something?" ...is what I thought).

Since the cop was so nice and I have such a clean record and did everything I was supposed to do, Michelle and I both thought I'd certainly get off with a warning. Then, at the same time we looked at each other and said "What day of the month is it?" OH NO!! It's the 30th!! Which means it's the end of the month, which means this cop needs to meet his quota. Which means that's why all those cops were in that sandy lot in the first place!

Sure enough, he came back and said "I had to write you a ticket because 17 mph over it quite a lot." (Yeah right, just tell me you have only one more day to meet your quota.) But, it really did help that he was nice. This is the first time I've had a nice cop. Not that I've been pulled over many times.

My ticket is for $75. :( But, if I go without getting a ticket for 3 months, then the points will be eliminated from my record. He didn't even confiscate my driver's license...which is what they usually do here in IL and won't give it back until you pay your ticket.

So I'm leaving you all with this question... Is it true that policeman give out more tickets at the end of the month because they have a quota to meet? I've always heard this but mainly pushed it aside as a wives-tale. Now, I'm almost convinced that it is indeed true.

'Irish' I Was Chef Duff

A few days before St. Patricks Day, Ben decided he wanted to take his shot at being Chef Duff from the Food Network's 'Ace of Cakes'. If you haven't seen this show, please spend a moment to set your TiVo or DVR to record an episode before reading the rest of this posting... You will not be disappointed. :)

Ace of Cakes is a show about a cake bakery (Charm City Cakes) located in downtown Baltimore that is owned by baker, Duff Goldman, former graffiti artist. Duff hired a few of his best friends and started his business making cakes with no limit in creativity. Dream up any cake and the staff at Charm City Cakes can make it for you! (At a pricey cost for sure...) Check them out at www.charmcitycakes.com .

Ben and I watch this show together all the time. After each episode, Ben remarks " I can do that". haha! Finally, last week he made a move to prove it.

For those of you that know Ben and his "abilities" in the kitchen, you should be laughing about now. I found a cake recipe on the Internet and helped Ben put together his creation. We agreed it should be simple, so we made a double layered chocolate-coffee cake. Because Ace of Cakes always has a 'theme' to each of their cakes, we decided to make the cake's icing green for St Patty's day!

So I'm leaving you with some pictures of Ben's cake. Although the turnout isn't perfect, the cake is still a sight to see. I'm so proud of him! :)

Wii Mii

I spent last Wednesday through Sunday with my family in Grand Rapids. My company sent me to a seminar on Thursday and Friday in GR, so I stayed with my parents in Rockford. It is always nice to spend time with them, especially when it is an extended amount of time like this weekend. To top off the fun, my older sister Angie (who lives in Colorado with her husband) flew to GR to visit Friday through Sunday! It was fun having the family back together again...the four girls with the daddy! hehe Dad loves it...

Wednesday, I arrived at about 4pm. We ate a quick dinner then headed to church for Wednesday night service. I'll have to admit, we took off early so we could catch American Idol. shhhh... don't tell! :) Then Thursday I had the seminar, but luckily the trainer let us out an hour early so I was able to rush home and spend a good lot of the evening with my family. Again, we watched the results show of AI...(couldn't believe the results...boooo!) Then Friday was the last day of the seminar... and the trainer let us off early once again...but this time almost 2 hours early! yes! This worked out exceptionally well since Angie flew in and arrived at our parents' only 10 minutes before I arrived! Perfect!

Angie's arrival was a surprise for Dad. We had to wait a few hours for him to get home from work, so we decided to play my little sister's Wii. We planned on playing the bowling game, but we got distracted with creating our avatars. See, on Wii you can create little characters to look like you...and use them for your gamer. So we had the time of our lives creating little people to look just like our family members! I've attached pics.

Dad was so happy to have his girls at home together again. We chilled out at home for the rest of the night and ordered pizza from Marinades in downtown Rockford. Rockford, MI is a very cute little town. We enjoyed picking up the pizza and soaking in some of the downtown ambience.

Mom, Angie, and I took off Saturday morning to get donuts at Robinettes, but to our dismay it was closed for the season. :( I knew they didn't serve cider year round, but I thought for sure they kept their donut shop opened year round. Oh well.. I guess it is something to look forward to in the fall. So we headed to downtown Grand Rapids and spent the next few hours at the Women's Expo gathering free samples and coupons. We then headed home to meet up with Dad and Rachelle (my little sister) for dinner at Old Chicago. Yummmmmy! After dinner we enjoyed dessert at Marble Slab Creamery...holy cow! Then, headed home and made MORE food!! My family is allll about the food! We wanted to make something new for my food blog since this is one of the very very few times all the "Knapp girls" would be together. So we made Mini Baked Wonton Cups (see my food blog).

Sunday was church, then a quick lunch and nap before heading home to Wheaton. I really missed Ben while I was gone, but it was fun to see my family once again. I arrived home in Wheaton about 4:30pm. We relaxed and unpacked, then the Quinn's came over to eat a kid-themed dinner...Mac'n Cheese, hot dogs, and french fries. We then headed to McD's for Shamrock Shakes!

Now that I'm back home, we are enjoying the warm weather. Today was a high of 77 degrees! wow! So Ben and I washed our cars...inside and out! They are sparkling clean now! Now we are watching the dreadful two hours of American Idol. My faves at this point... Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh, Lakisha...? Who are your's? :) I actually think this season isn't very good. Do you agree?