Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
So, Becky and I moved into our own place last week! Yay! It's a cute one bedroom in Cambridge. We've finally unpacked and gotten rid of so much stuff, and now that we've moved in, everything seems to fit just fine, even though the space is smaller than what we had before.
Moving is such a pain. We've both been having the most stressful week. It's just one thing on top of another. Like the kids book "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Let's start with Monday.
1. Becky and I wake up at 6:45am so we can be at the RMV when it opens. Street cleaning on our street is 8-2 on the first Monday of each month, so we planned on leaving a few minutes before 8. Well, around 7:30, we hear a loud vehicle outside, so Becky goes out to make sure it's not street cleaning. All of a sudden, I hear from a megaphone, "License plate xxx, move your car or it will be towed." So, I run out and move my car around the corner. Apparently this was just a warning, and the car was actually fine until 8, but how did I know.
2. We go to the car, and I have the folder with our important legal insurance forms and car titles. I drive Becky to her car on Hampshire street, because neither of us have parking permits yet and we only have one visitor pass, but Hampshire doesn't require a permit. She's about to get out of the car, when I ask, "Where's the folder?" It's not there. Did I mention it's cold and pouring rain outside? We drive back to the spot where my car was, and sure enough, the folder is on the ground, in a puddle, soaking wet, dirty, and with holes in it. This puts us back a good 15 minutes in our quest to be at the RMV before it opens.
3. We get to Arsenal Street in Watertown but don't see the RMV anywhere. We drive up and down the street twice before stopping to ask someone. He says it's across from the Watertown Mall. So, we pull in to the lot across the street from the mall but still don't see it. Then we ask someone else and he says it's in the Watertown Mall (which, last time I checked, is different from across from). By the time we get into the RMV, it's already packed with people.
4. We see that they only take cash, so we have to go find the ATM, which, of course, belongs to neither of our banks and has a $2 fee.
5. Becky's number is finally called and I go up with her. She had a NH driver's license, CT plates, and her car was under her mother's name; I just needed to change the car to my name. She hands the lady her forms and the lady says, "I can't accept this Title. It's all crossed out." (At least the dampness and rips are OK.) Her mom had put our old address, so I put a line through it and wrote our new address, and when her mom signed it, she signed her last name from her previous marriage by mistake, which apparently she does often, so she crossed it out and put her actual last name. The address wasn't a big deal, but the name was. She says we have to get an affidavit form. We tell her that we need to get this done TODAY for our new insurance. She doesn't care.
6. My number is called at a separate booth so I leave Becky to deal with her lady. Becky's pissed and storms out of the RMV. My lady says she needs Becky's driver's license number (we're both on the same insurance plan), so I have to call Becky back in there. My request gets processed no problem (86 dollars later) and I get my new plates and registration. I plead with her to process Becky's things, and Becky is practically crying asking her to do it. She says that she is the supervisor and that we can't be mad at the other girl because they are trained not to accept anything crossed out. She says she just needs a fax of Becky's mom's wedding certificate that has her old and new last names on it. Of course, Becky's stepdad is at work and can't fax it until the afternoon, so Becky has to go back to the RMV. At least the supervisor lady had some compassion and said Becky could go right up to her when she came back, rather than waiting in line. Good thing, because when she went back, she talked to another lady who had already been waiting 2 hours!
7. In the afternoon, I go to an interview at MGH Institute for Technology Assessment for a clinical research assistant position. It would've taken almost an hour on the T versus 15 minutes and 1.5 miles in the car, so I drove, but had to pay $20 to park in a lot. I didn't really realize it was just a preliminary interview, and it only lasted about 10 minutes. At least I got $10 back for the parking, but seriously, what a waste of my time--why couldn't that have been conducted over the phone? I made the mistake of saying that I am planning on going to medical school in the next few years, because they probably want someone who can stay on for longer...we'll see if I get called back for a second interview.
8. I drive home and take a wrong turn on Cambridge Street, and a 15 minute drive turns into 45 minutes as I find myself on Commonwealth Ave passing BU, which is exactly where I ended up last time I got lost. I finally get over the river and into Cambridge on Brookline Ave, and every little street in Cambridgeport and East Cambridge looks the same, the houses and the little playgrounds and parks. I think I must be close to my street. I drive up and down all the streets, not seeing any familiar signs. I finally realize I'm on the wrong side of Mass Ave, cross over and get home just fine.
I think that's where that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day ended...Becky and I went to see Blades of Glory and Will Ferrell, John Heder, and Amy Poehler cheered me up a little. Then we went to Diesel and it was nice to sit there for a bit. We drove home and there were no open parking spots on my street, so we parked on the next one over.
You can probably guess what happened on Tuesday. We woke up and went to get in my car so I could drive Becky to her car, and when we turned the corner, we noticed that there were no cars on the street. Sure enough, we looked at the sign and it said "Street Cleaning: First Tuesday." How did we not see this!??!? I called the City of Cambridge and they said yup, my car had been towed. We went to pick it up--less than half a mile away--and it was $75. Seriously?! Plus a $20 parking ticket from the City of Cambridge. Cars are seriously expensive. You should have seen all the cars getting towed left and right. Those towing companies have a field day here.
After that, I went and got us both parking permit stickers, which was a relief. I got lost getting there because I started out walking the wrong direction on my street, but I didn't even care. It was nice outside. At least that was only $8 each. We have to do that again in November though for 2008. Such a pain.
Today we brought our cars to the gas station to get checkpoint inspection photos taken for the new insurance. At least that was free. The guy told us we both needed to get new inspection stickers though since we have new plates, something no one else decided to tell us. We both passed, after he replaced a $5 light on my car. $63 dollars later, I think both our cars are finally all set.
We've already spent so much money on things for the new apartment, and there's still more on the list to buy. And I am still primarily unemployed except for a few hours at the Gap each week. I'm taking the MCAT's next week and have barely studied. I haven't written my essay for med school yet. I'm a little stressed out, if you can't tell. So, I'm gonna go study for the MCATs now that this is super long. Let me know if you actually read this or if it was just a good opportunity for me to vent...
Moving is such a pain. We've both been having the most stressful week. It's just one thing on top of another. Like the kids book "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Let's start with Monday.
1. Becky and I wake up at 6:45am so we can be at the RMV when it opens. Street cleaning on our street is 8-2 on the first Monday of each month, so we planned on leaving a few minutes before 8. Well, around 7:30, we hear a loud vehicle outside, so Becky goes out to make sure it's not street cleaning. All of a sudden, I hear from a megaphone, "License plate xxx, move your car or it will be towed." So, I run out and move my car around the corner. Apparently this was just a warning, and the car was actually fine until 8, but how did I know.
2. We go to the car, and I have the folder with our important legal insurance forms and car titles. I drive Becky to her car on Hampshire street, because neither of us have parking permits yet and we only have one visitor pass, but Hampshire doesn't require a permit. She's about to get out of the car, when I ask, "Where's the folder?" It's not there. Did I mention it's cold and pouring rain outside? We drive back to the spot where my car was, and sure enough, the folder is on the ground, in a puddle, soaking wet, dirty, and with holes in it. This puts us back a good 15 minutes in our quest to be at the RMV before it opens.
3. We get to Arsenal Street in Watertown but don't see the RMV anywhere. We drive up and down the street twice before stopping to ask someone. He says it's across from the Watertown Mall. So, we pull in to the lot across the street from the mall but still don't see it. Then we ask someone else and he says it's in the Watertown Mall (which, last time I checked, is different from across from). By the time we get into the RMV, it's already packed with people.
4. We see that they only take cash, so we have to go find the ATM, which, of course, belongs to neither of our banks and has a $2 fee.
5. Becky's number is finally called and I go up with her. She had a NH driver's license, CT plates, and her car was under her mother's name; I just needed to change the car to my name. She hands the lady her forms and the lady says, "I can't accept this Title. It's all crossed out." (At least the dampness and rips are OK.) Her mom had put our old address, so I put a line through it and wrote our new address, and when her mom signed it, she signed her last name from her previous marriage by mistake, which apparently she does often, so she crossed it out and put her actual last name. The address wasn't a big deal, but the name was. She says we have to get an affidavit form. We tell her that we need to get this done TODAY for our new insurance. She doesn't care.
6. My number is called at a separate booth so I leave Becky to deal with her lady. Becky's pissed and storms out of the RMV. My lady says she needs Becky's driver's license number (we're both on the same insurance plan), so I have to call Becky back in there. My request gets processed no problem (86 dollars later) and I get my new plates and registration. I plead with her to process Becky's things, and Becky is practically crying asking her to do it. She says that she is the supervisor and that we can't be mad at the other girl because they are trained not to accept anything crossed out. She says she just needs a fax of Becky's mom's wedding certificate that has her old and new last names on it. Of course, Becky's stepdad is at work and can't fax it until the afternoon, so Becky has to go back to the RMV. At least the supervisor lady had some compassion and said Becky could go right up to her when she came back, rather than waiting in line. Good thing, because when she went back, she talked to another lady who had already been waiting 2 hours!
7. In the afternoon, I go to an interview at MGH Institute for Technology Assessment for a clinical research assistant position. It would've taken almost an hour on the T versus 15 minutes and 1.5 miles in the car, so I drove, but had to pay $20 to park in a lot. I didn't really realize it was just a preliminary interview, and it only lasted about 10 minutes. At least I got $10 back for the parking, but seriously, what a waste of my time--why couldn't that have been conducted over the phone? I made the mistake of saying that I am planning on going to medical school in the next few years, because they probably want someone who can stay on for longer...we'll see if I get called back for a second interview.
8. I drive home and take a wrong turn on Cambridge Street, and a 15 minute drive turns into 45 minutes as I find myself on Commonwealth Ave passing BU, which is exactly where I ended up last time I got lost. I finally get over the river and into Cambridge on Brookline Ave, and every little street in Cambridgeport and East Cambridge looks the same, the houses and the little playgrounds and parks. I think I must be close to my street. I drive up and down all the streets, not seeing any familiar signs. I finally realize I'm on the wrong side of Mass Ave, cross over and get home just fine.
I think that's where that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day ended...Becky and I went to see Blades of Glory and Will Ferrell, John Heder, and Amy Poehler cheered me up a little. Then we went to Diesel and it was nice to sit there for a bit. We drove home and there were no open parking spots on my street, so we parked on the next one over.
You can probably guess what happened on Tuesday. We woke up and went to get in my car so I could drive Becky to her car, and when we turned the corner, we noticed that there were no cars on the street. Sure enough, we looked at the sign and it said "Street Cleaning: First Tuesday." How did we not see this!??!? I called the City of Cambridge and they said yup, my car had been towed. We went to pick it up--less than half a mile away--and it was $75. Seriously?! Plus a $20 parking ticket from the City of Cambridge. Cars are seriously expensive. You should have seen all the cars getting towed left and right. Those towing companies have a field day here.
After that, I went and got us both parking permit stickers, which was a relief. I got lost getting there because I started out walking the wrong direction on my street, but I didn't even care. It was nice outside. At least that was only $8 each. We have to do that again in November though for 2008. Such a pain.
Today we brought our cars to the gas station to get checkpoint inspection photos taken for the new insurance. At least that was free. The guy told us we both needed to get new inspection stickers though since we have new plates, something no one else decided to tell us. We both passed, after he replaced a $5 light on my car. $63 dollars later, I think both our cars are finally all set.
We've already spent so much money on things for the new apartment, and there's still more on the list to buy. And I am still primarily unemployed except for a few hours at the Gap each week. I'm taking the MCAT's next week and have barely studied. I haven't written my essay for med school yet. I'm a little stressed out, if you can't tell. So, I'm gonna go study for the MCATs now that this is super long. Let me know if you actually read this or if it was just a good opportunity for me to vent...