Monday, March 03, 2008

DMV, Dawdling Meticulous Vexation?

With my birthday fast approaching I find myself in need of renewing my driver's license. This meant a trip to the DMV which had to be done before the license actually expired, otherwise I would have to bring in proof of being a US citizen. Not quite sure I understand what they're thinking there. It's like if you come in today, you can use your license as proof to renew your license, but if you come in tomorrow, then that same license we would have accepted yesterday isn't any good anymore.

And even though I went to the express DMV my trip was anything but quick. I got my ticket of A-023 and sat down. And after about 20 minutes they finally called the first A number and it was A-015. Oy! Interesting bit of trivia I noticed, nowhere in the facility is there a clock. Guess they don't want the natives getting restless realizing how long they've been waiting. After about another 20+ minutes I finally got called up. And then I had to take the eye test. I missed one letter the first time through, but managed to correctly guess the letter the second time I tried. Here's a secret that I learned though, if you're having trouble with the eye test, they have the answers under the mat in front of them so the person behind the counter can verify your answer. It's right there plain as day, you just have to be able to read it upside down (and memorize it before you look into the eye test thing). I will say I did not use this method to cheat on the test (mostly because I didn't see it until afterwards).

Then after that it was back to sitting and waiting to be called for the photo. The guy doing the photos was evidently doing batches of photos and batches and people that needed the test. I got bumped to the front of the next batch of photos and had to wait for a whole batch of people taking tests to get set up. And then to add insult to injury, even though I was the first person in the next batch to get the photo taken, I was the last one of the batch to be given the license. I can only assume the machine printing them out has them come out one on top of the next, so by being first in the batch at I was the bottom of the hand out stack. But I eventually got my license and overall it ended up taking a little over an hour. And I have to say while it's a crappy picture it's nowhere near my worst driver's license photo. So at least that's done now and I don't have to worry about that for another five years (or unless I decide to change my name, I'm liking Connor MacLeod since I think that's how BMG knew me at one point back in college).

I think whatever it is running rampant through the house is starting to get to me. In addition to the mild cough I have, I was really run down at work. Even more so than normal. It got to the point where all I wanted to do was go home and go to sleep. That didn't happen though and I ended up staying so late that I missed seeing Quinn tonight (he was already asleep by the time I got home) and just barely saw Catherine. Speaking of Catherine, she stayed home today since her cough was really bad this morning. Quinn on the other hand was actually looking forward to returning to school (I think he just really wants to get out of the house). Later in the day we discovered that both Cathrine and Ginger had a mild fever. Since they've both gotten it I feel like I'm doomed to completely succumb to whatever this illness is eventually. For now though I've been doing my best to fight it off by downing Airborne and Cold-eeze like they're going out of style. And whatever you do, don't tell me these things have no effect since even if it's just the possibility of a simple placebo effect I'm willing to believe in it.

5 comments:

Curt Sawyer said...

And whatever you do, don't tell me these things have no effect since even if it's just the possibility of a simple placebo effect I'm willing to believe in it.

Airborne settles lawsuit for $23.3 million
The herbal supplement firm will settle class action lawsuit that alleges false advertising; money will be refunded to consumers, non-profit advocacy group says.

JamesF said...

See, I've always suspected that this things were non effective, and now you've gone and shattered my illusions. If I get sick now I'm blaming you. :-)

Anonymous said...

Well to be fair, it's not that they aren't effective. Only that they have no EVIDENCE that it is.

It may in fact boost your system, and the placebo effect can have remarkable effect. Of course... now that your faith is shaken...that benefit is lost...

Ah well...

Curt Sawyer said...

Happy 40th, by the way.

;-)

Unknown said...

Airborne and Cold-eeze? You know, I think that's what killed Curly.

[See http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheHeartAttack.htm and search for "curly", that was a hilarious episode.]