California Driving

I am officially California Legal

• California driver’s license – check
• California registered car – check
• Automatic transmission car – check
• Registered to vote – check
• Signed lease – check
• Own one or more of the following – roller blades, bike, surf board, boogie board – check

So I’ve finally done it. I became CA legal last month after getting 100% on the written driver's exam. Yes, California requires you take the $&%^# exam even if you took the exam when you were 16 in your home state, have a stellar driving record, and have been operating a passenger vehicle for over 10 years. Yeah, if that’s not a waste of taxpayer’s money I don’t know what is.

Please bear with me as a vent a little. For starters Let’s briefly discuss the inefficiency of the CA DMV. I had been informed by a few people I should make an appt before going, which I tried to do, but the soonest appt I could get was for 3 weeks out. Considering my license was expiring in a week, I thought it wise to forgo the appointment and just stand in line. To CA DMV’s credit, they have a nifty feature on their website where you can monitor the wait times for each location. When I saw the wait time for my location drop below 50 minutes (believe me this was a miracle) I dashed out the door.

I got to the DMV at 2:30 PM and waited, waited, and waited in a line that wrapped around the outside of the building. Just as my wait time neared an hour, and I was approaching the front of the line, one of the two (count them two) DMV employees assisting those standing in this monster of a line held up his finger, as if to say just a moment to the customer approaching his desk. This DMV employee then looked at his watch, picked up his coat, and walked out the door. Did someone come to fill in for him? No, of course not. Now there was just one person helping those standing in this line. It took another 15 minutes until I could approach the desk. The person working at the desk then looked at the form I had filled out, gave me a number, and told me to wait with the crowds of people inside the building. Yep, you heard me right. I had stood in line to get a number to stand in line. If I had had an appointment I could have skipped the first line and just gone directly to the second line, but can someone please explain the purpose of the first line?

The DMV employee also informed me that I would need to take the written test which they stop administering at 4:30 PM. It was 3:45 PM. I waited and waited and waited for my number. 3:57…….4:05…….4:22……4:28…….4:30……….. 4:32 and then my %*#^ number was called. I approached the counter and gave the woman my form and license fee. She told me she could take care of all the paperwork and take my picture, but I would have to come back on Monday for the test (fortunately I could skip both line 1 and 2). 2.5 hours wasted.

So I went back on Monday right as they opened, and went directly upstairs for the testing. There was one other person in line. We were informed that there was new computer system installed, and they were trying to figure it out. 20 minutes later I approached the desk, where the woman looked over my paperwork and handed me a test. As I sat down and started going through the it, I came across a humdinger of a question:

Smoking inside a vehicle when a person younger than 18 years of age is present is:

A: Legal, if it is your own child

B: Illegal at all times

C: Not restricted by law

Granted I had only glanced through the driver’s handbook, but I was fairly certain there had been no mention of the legality of smoking in the car period, so I answered C. I guessed correctly, but what the *%$#? Why would you test my knowledge of a non-law? What could possibly be the importance making sure of a driver knows that it is perfectly legal to smoke with a kid in the car?

Okay, fine, stupid test complete. So now I went and stood in a line of just me, myself, and I as the three DMV employees (count them three) behind the desk argued over who had the proper training and authority to operate the new camera for taking the picture of some dude who had just passed his test. After 10 minutes, they decided they only needed two people to argue about that, so one woman waved me over to go through my test. After congratulating me on my 100% score, she handed me a piece of paper that is to be my license for the next 2 weeks until my actual license arrives in the mail, and I walked out of the DMV. Thank you to the great state of California for wasting over 3 hours of my life.

California Water 101

Perhaps you've heard. California tap water is pretty nasty. How bad could it possibly be? Take a look a look at this picture.



This is the sink in my bathroom. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the water shouldn't match the brown vanity. Kind of disgusting, don't you think? So I've started drinking only spring water. I'd get the purified drinking water, but isn't that what is SUPPOSED to be coming from the faucet?

Buying water is a new thing for me, and there's a lot of decisions that go into it. You can get any size from ridiculously large jugs that you can't lift to the individual bottles you can throw in your purse. Even if you just want a gallon, you have to choose if you want the milk jug size, the taller skinner size, or my favorite--the stackable weird bottles

They aren't quite a gallon (3 qt., 5.4 oz), but they are just so cool. If I had kids I would give the empty containers to play with instead of blocks. They interlock so you could build walls or even forts, not that I have any first hand experience with this. Though I have discovered that they make a lovely Christmas tree.


I'm thinking that if I remove the labels, add some lights, and throw on some tinsel, then I might just have the picture for my Christmas Cards.

Sum Up.....

"Let me explain. No there is too much. Let me sum up."
~Inigo Montoya Princess Bride~

It's been awhile my friends and a lot has happened over the last couple months. Far too much, I'm afraid. That's part of the reason I've gone so long with out making an entry; I haven't the foggiest notion how to bring you all up to date. But here's my feeble attempt.

I left Boston the last day of August, and now I'm in LA. What about everything in between?

- Looked for a job
- Drove across the country
- Stayed with some awesomely kind people
- Discovered that my GPS is passive aggressive
- Prayed my car would survive
- Visited with family
- Looked for a job
- Celebrated my birthday
- Questioned my sanity
- Prayed I'm making the right decision
- Found an apartment
- Still questioning my sanity
- Still looking for a job
- Still praying that I've made the right decision

Well I think that's pretty much it. Any questions?

California or Bust

Perhaps you've heard I'm heading out to California. Perhaps this is news to you. To put all the doubts to rest, yes, California is my planned destination, but there's something funny about plans, rarely do they go according to plan.

Case in point I've sold all my furniture, got rid of my apartment, and packed up my car with the intent of being on the road Saturday (yesterday) morning, but here I sit in my Boston apartment on Sunday evening. Why the change in plans? Well, it would appear that my car has some misgivings about the trip. I'm not fluent in my car's native language, Squeak-ese, but I think a rough translation of it's current communication might be, "What the @#$*%?" Then again, I'm no expert.

So tomorrow morning I'm going to visit my mechanic Eddie to found if my dino-mobile is ready for the 3000 mile trip or if it's time to put the poor thing out my.... er...... it's misery. Stay tuned for tomorrow exciting conclusion: will I be starting the first leg of my journey or will I be spending the next week figuring out an alternative?