Here is a story of a man who beat the DC parking enforcement machine.

"Even when there were shootings on my block last year, I wasn't this disappointed in my city," he wrote in one protest email. "D.C. effectively stole my automobile."

After the city gave him a "courtesy tow" to an illegal parking spot, lost his ticket contestation documents, and booted and towed his car, he actually got them to return the car to a spot near his house. Then he had them do it again, because the first time they brought him the wrong car. I talk a lot about my small victories over DC parking enforcement, but this puts me to shame.

I had lunch with his wife on Friday - she works with my wife, and a group was going out to watch some basketball, so I joined them. Had I known her husband was a giant among those of us who joust at the windmills of parking enforcement, I would have bought her a beer.