Myzyri

We live on a cul-de-sac and he has two lots with about 125 feet of street parking. The way our pie-shaped lots are divided, I have no street parking in front of my house. My lot is 20 x 300 x 450 and pie-shaped. My driveway sits in the 20 foot lot line. On the other side of me, there's a fire hydrant and a playground, so it's a no parking zone.

My neighbor is 82 years old and he's a complete busy-body. Anyone who parks in front of his house to go the playground either gets a ticket or is towed within about 15 minutes. He does nothing but sit in his window calling the cops on people who park there. Once the playground was put in, I asked him if I could have friends park in front of his house when they come to visit. He said that was fine. All of a sudden, there are now "handicapped parking" signs in front of his house. But they're not lined up with his sidewalk, nor are they even near his front door. The "handicapped parking zone" is the 20-30 feet closest to me.

Granted, he's 82, but he plays golf 3 times a week, mows his lawn EVERY SINGLE DAY, and is not handicapped in any way. Beyond all of this, in the last 30 years that he's been my neighbor, I have never seen him park in front of his house. I mean that literally. He always parks in this six car monstrosity of a garage he had built. (As a funny side note, he has one car. When you go in his garage, it's empty except for a car, bicycle, lawn mower, snow blower, weed whacker, and one small shelf of oils and spray paints. What a waste of a beautiful garage!)

So, my grandparents come over and after talking for awhile, they tell me they just bought a new car and stopped over on their way home from the dealership. I go outside and there's no car. My grandfather parked in the handicapped zone and he has handicapped license plates because he's in a wheelchair! I find out that my idiot neighbor called and had my grandparents' car towed!

He's been a nice guy for 30 years and he seems to have gone crazy these last two years or so. I've tried talking to him politely, but he just tells me he's trying to "keep the city clean" by not allowing "junkers" to park on the street. Junkers? My grandparents car was a $90,000 2011 Mercedes. A junker? I've politely asked if we could move the signs so I could at least have a guest or two park on the street when they visit. He refused. I offered to buy his empty lot so I could have the street. He refused. I offered to pay him $100 per month rent if he'd move his signs and let me use that part of the street. He refused.

Overall, the city screwed me when they put in the playground and made the rest of our cul-de-sac a no parking zone. This guy simply adds to that frustration by being a busy-body who sits in his window just waiting to call the cops. I can't believe the cops haven't told him to get lost yet. They still come out and write tickets and call the tow trucks.

Finally, the guy has recently been spreading rumors about me. Everyone on the block thinks he's nuts, but I've heard that he's been spreading a rumor about me. Another neighbor said this old fart was complaining that I had the nerve to ask him to move his handicapped parking signs so my "drug dealer friends" could park there. I have no friends who are drug dealers and none of them even drive "junkers." Beyond that, another neighbor told me that this crazy old coot told him that he caught me watching porn in my garage. I don't even have a TV in my garage, let alone a big old porn stash. Thankfully, no one believes him and he's become such a joke that other neighbors tell me the rumors and laugh about it, but it's still pretty aggravating especially since he doesn't need the parking space for himself or his guests (he can fit about 10 cars in his driveway)! And on that note, I should mention that he also has people park in the handicapped parking. He's instructed his kids to park there (without handicapped plates/tags) whenever they visit even though it's the furthest parking place from his front door. Is he just trying to aggravate me?!

The only thought I had was removing the handicapped parking signs. The city used 12 foot metal poles for the signs. They sank the poles into the ground 3 or 4 feet, but didn't cement them in. I hit one while mowing the lawn and I'm pretty sure I could pull it right up without much effort. Of course, if I get caught, I'm guessing there are some hefty fines involved, so I'd rather not do that. Plus, I'm not the passive-aggressive type even though this guy really cheeses me off. On top of that, he'd probably just have them replaced within a few days anyway.

So, what can I do about this? Should I just suck-it-up and deal with it until the old bastard dies? Or does anyone out ther

I went to dinner in Chicago, IL (USA) with a friend. After a horrible meal with horrible service, I decided not to leave a tip. My friend was outraged and told me I was being cheap. According to him, you always leave a 20% tip minimum.

This is how I tip and why:

25% or more: Server checks on us 2 or 3 times, doesn't need to be asked for anything like drinks, napkins, etc. (This doesn't happen often, but I still tip 25% if the server makes a small mistake and "takes care of it" on their own without me asking. They might give a free drink, free dessert, or remove the mistake item from the bill.) When dining with my kids, I also give a larger tip if the server does anything extra for the kids (brings crayons, paper, extra crackers, etc.).

20%: Server checks on us twice and keeps the drinks filled without us asking.

15%: Server checks on us once after delivering food.

10%: Server delivers food. Server delivers drinks only when flagged down and asked.

0%: Server takes our order, delivers the food, and is never seen again until she drops off a bill.

I take this approach to tipping because tipping is "gratuity." It is my show of how grateful I am for the service. Taking an order, delivering food, and giving me a bill is expected every time you dine at a restaurant. That should not warrant a tip. Anything beyond the basic job description deserves a tip though. The more the server works to make my guests and I happy, the more willing I am to leave a larger tip.

So, is my view on tipping too harsh (or is my friend right and I should tip 20% every time no matter what)?

Thanks for your input!

About 15 years ago, I played a game called Star Control 2 on PC. It was a fun game and I'm in the mood for some nostalgia. Does anyone know where I might be able to find this game? (And if it'll work on newer computers? - I originally played it on a 286 DX2 with a whopping 40 MEGAbyte hard drive.)