7, 8, who's counting?

The cement squares in front of the San Francisco Sheriff's office have a patterned motif on them.

They seem to want to suggest a policeman's badge:

But a real police badge has only 7 stars:

Protection Money

I drove to the Stanford campus three separate times yesterday.

So—three times I faced the decision—should I put money in the parking meters, or just take my chances?

Since the meters are so expensive, I usually just take my chances. But the second visit was over the lunch hour. I had parked in the most "obvious" spot, near the student union.

I decided to pay the man.

One dollar for 30 minutes.

It was the right choice—the meter checker was going through the lot when I returned to my car.

I got away with not buying a ticket on my first and third trips.