I just wanted to apologize for the lack of updates – My laptop was stolen with all my articles on them so I’m having to rewrite the articles out this week… Will have the nootropics experiment updates coming to you soon!
Thanks for understanding!
I’d like to think I’m a very vigilant driver thanks in large part to video games. I have never been the driver in a wreck, I’ve never gotten a parking ticket and I have never been towed or booted… until recently.
Injustice Is Served
Xuan and I were killing some time for a meeting; we had arrived at the location well ahead of time in order to ensure parking. My client’s office space is located downtown, next to a particular club in the warehouse district if you are familiar with downtown Austin. The spot in front of me had no tow away sign, nor the spot next to it. Two spaces on the far side, however, did have signs stating “employee parking only”. Being familiar with the Austin city code regarding the parking situation at hand I parked in the spaces without signs and we went to grab some ice cream a couple blocks away.
A short while later it was time for the meeting so we headed to the office. We ride the elevator up to the top floor, grabbed a drink and headed out to the patio to chat. As we sat down I casually stole a glance down at my parking spot and that’s when I realized what had transpired.
Dude, Where’s My Car?
After realizing my vehicle had been towed I spotted the manager of the club below me and asked about my car. He cooly told me that it had been towed because that was for their employees only. So I did the first thing anyone should do in a predicament… I called my lawyer!
I Play Dick Tracy
He gave me the info on what to do: Take a picture of the spot with a newspaper to show the current date and the parking space without proper notice of tow, get the pictures printed and file a report with the police.
After following his instructions, paying a $39 filing fee and a quick trip to the appropriate precinct, a court date was set. I started to feel a little nervous about the situation. I hadn’t ever had to go to court, I didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t 100% sure I was right at the time. But Xuan was super supportive and urged me to take Assured Towing to court… so we did.
Prior to the date, I prepared for court by researching towing scams in Austin, city laws and statutes specific for my situation as well as this company’s history 0f c0mplaints. Aside from the standard Better Business Bureau, Ripoff Report, a great deal of understanding came from one website in particular. <website> is a major reason I won this case. If you ever have any issues with towing in Austin contact him or me. The creator of the website is Pat. Thanks for the help Pat!
Liberty Takes The Stand
When the date finally arrived I felt confident, dressed sharply and pleaded my case to the judge. Judge <Name> was extremely fair in how he analyzed the situation, asked questions and I felt like he generally considered the case from all aspects of the situation. After all the evidence was presented, investigated and analyzed the judge made the decision that I had been wronged and that there was no probable cause for the removal of my vehicle. I was them granted my $215.46 towing and storage fee + $39 filing fee.
I was super pumped; I had won my first court case and learned quite a bit about the legal system in the process. Something of interest I discovered: this type of thing is common, especially in Austin. The problem is most people when they get towed, illegally or not, typically just pay a ridiculous or illegal fee to get their vehicle back and then can’t be bothered to file a complaint. Towing companies are preying on people’s laziness and ignorance of the law.
Justice Is Blind… Right?
So now I have a bit of a dilemma. After receiving the official judgement in the mail stating that I had won and what I was to receive. Thinking this may be of interest, I sent an email to the owner of the website that had helped arm me for court letting him know about the court case and if he wanted more information to contact me.
And he did. He told me about the scams in Austin, how towing companies are in bed with politicians and judges in the city and if we don’t push these companies back they will continue their free reign of illegal towing scams. He advised me to file a report with a detective at APD in the unit that handles these types of incidents because in Austin if there is no probable cause for removal and your car is towed – that’s auto theft. And this is where the dilemma stems from. In the process of standing up to these towing companies the driver of the tow truck would be sent to jail.
On one hand the man did commit a felony and this is a chronic problem in Austin and I believe in justice. On the other hand I believe in forgiveness and empathy. It’s an interesting situation and I’d love to hear some input. What would you do in this situation?
Unfortunately the start of my Nootropic Experiment has been delayed one week until May 10th. I searched around on the net for suppliers and ordered from the best reviewed sites I could find. One of these sites was recommended to me by a friend with some experience in Nootropics.
The store I purchased from initially was American Nutrition. They had relatively decent prices, a good selection and a recommendation from a friend. I went ahead and selected UPS 2nd day for shipping so that it would arrive in time to start my experiment on May 3rd and then went camping in Bastrop with Brian and the Bruces. When we got back the nootropics from American Nutrition still had not arrived.
On the fifth day of waiting for the Nootropics I decided to call American Nutrition and see what the deal was… It turns out they had been out of stock on the items I had ordered and instead of alerting me they just let the order sit there unfulfilled. Now this bothers me greatly. American Nutrition took the money out of my account and didn’t even let me know they weren’t sending the products to me. I went ahead and cancelled the order and ordered from another site. I will do a review of the sites I used to secure the ingredients for this Nootropic Experiment in depth in the coming week. The Nootropics should be arriving on May 10th which will mark the delayed start of my experiment.
Conclusion: Do not order from American Nutrition.
Austin is really a wonderful place. Austin just feels like “home”. Everyone I meet is so interesting, nice and most importantly actively passionate! I love this place. One of the biggest reasons I love Austin is how nature-oriented this area is – after living in Arizona for 8 years, seeing trees, rivers and vegetation is nuts!
A recent adventure into the heart of the Austin Green Belt led me to further cement my sentiment for this city.
What Are We Going To Do Today Brain?
Drew Southern, his son Drew, my neighbor Wick (whom we met the day before) and I are all outside on the patio thoroughly engaged in conversation about politics over some tobacco; the temperature was perfect and the conversation was just intriguing (as it typically is with Drew and Wick), just an absolutely wonderful way to start a day. Then Wick said something that has altered the course of my life drastically. He said, “Let’s go cliff diving at the Greenbelt!”
Why I love Austin, TX
“YOU CAN DO THAT IN AUSTIN?!?! LETS DO THIS!”
“Do you know what the Greenbelt is?”
Shortly after an explanation of the awesomeness that is the Greenbelt we were on our way to go jump off a cliff. Armed with a single stone, three packs of smokes, a 5-String Acoustic Guitar (I have the worst luck with 3rd [g] string) and 24-pack of LONE STAR we marched towards this mythical land of childhooderie and belly flops that sting for days like Patton towards Berlin.
I hear it before I can see it. Coming into the clearing and seeing this looming cliff over a pool of water that looks questionably shallow for the jump. As we start to ascend the side of this cliff, a little bit of anxiety starts to move around in your stomach region and I may have even started to wonder for a fraction of a second what exactly my purpose for doing this was… However that voice got quickly deflated and I quickly moved on. As we get to the top of this monolith, the whole crew starts to kind of huddle in the corner opposite the launch pad to the abyss. All of us experiencing that slight pang of “oh crap this is high up here and I’m about to jump off this perfectly good cliff for no reason”.
At The Very Least, It’s a Beautiful Place to Die
We all opted to have a smoke and play a song on the guitar, just in case we didn’t make it back up. Coby surprised us all by running off and jumping first, hell he was already back up and dry by the time Wick went. Wick did the full sprint and long jump thing down it was beautiful, physics in action.
After watching my previous two friends jump off this cliff, an interesting thought ran through my mind. And It’s something I know you’ve been asked before in your life: “If your friend jumped off a cliff, would you?”
COWABUNGA DUDES
The answer: YES! Not wanting to be out funned I followed suit and sent my compact frame hurdling through the fourth dimension through the air and into a big SPLOOSH!
It was beyond exhilarating. About ten jumps later we were ready to go hang out, drink a couple beers and play music a little up stream. We ended up meeting some cool people and everyone had a blast! All I want to say is: If you’ve never been to the Greenbelt in Austin, TX – GO! It’s incredibly beautiful and would make for a great time with friends, a great (free!) date spot or just going alone; there are some really cool people that hang out there.
The only bum part about the whole trip was I didn’t get any pictures of this place, my words just don’t do it justice. I’m headed back on Sunday with some friends and I’ll snap some then.
Anyone have a suggestion for a good point and shoot camera? One with a water proof case accessory would be righteous!
A few months back a friend of mine introduced me to a chemical I had never heard of before. He told me it was a cognition enhancer, a brain drug, a veritable smart-pill! Being skeptical, I asked him what the mechanism of action was and what were the side effects. We chatted back and forth about it for a bit when he told me something that nearly floored me! This drug makes you smarter, is completely non-toxic, and lacks any weird side-effects! I couldn’t believe it, so I grabbed the cannister and went to the computer.
Piracy Who?
What’s the first thing you do when you want to look something up? That’s right, you Google it! Typing in the word Piracetam into that elegantly simplistic search page returned some results that started it all.
Behind the silicon curtain that is the Google search engine I found clinical trials, wikis, forums, stores and other people’s experiences with the Racetam family and all things Nootropic, oh my!
Nootropics
If you are unfamiliar with this term, allow me to explain:
Nootropics (pronounced /noʊ.ɵˈtrɒpɨks/), also referred to as smart drugs, memory enhancers, and cognitive enhancers, are drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that are purported to improve mental functions such as cognition,memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, and concentration
-Wikipedia
After much research, an interesting forum post and a couple weeks with Piracetam in an uncontrolled environment I’ve decided to run a 30-day experiment with a daily Nootropic regimen consisting of the following:
In The Name Of Science
Throughout the experiment I will be writing updates of my experiences and opinions while on this regimen. I am still waiting on the Piracetam and Picamilon, however they should be here by Monday the 3rd, which will be the day I start this experiment. Stay tuned!
If you are interested in the results of this smart drug regimen please subscribe to this blog!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor should anything I say on this site be taken as anything more than a catalog of my personal experiences with nootropics. Consult your physician before taking any drug.
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