every 5 years
Our driver's licenses are valid for 5 years, expiring at the end of your birthday month when your age turns a(n integer) multiple of 5. So I went to the DMV to renew my license today. I think I was able to do this by mail the last 2 (or maybe even 3) times, so it's been a long time since I've been in a DMV office. I was prepared for a lot of waiting around; I took my convenient chain-mail kit (a small, compartmented crafts box, 3 pairs of pliers, and appropriate rings for my current project) with me. But to my surprise, it all went very quickly. I walked up to the information desk, and the woman took my paperwork, my old license, and my credit card, and gave me some more papers to take over to the photo desk. A few minutes wait there, and another wait for the machine to crank out the card, and I was done.
I note that the new license expires on my birthday (in 2012; wow, that sounds a long way off), rather than at the end of the month. I wondered why they weren't like that all along, since the old way must lead to crunches of procrastinators showing up the last few days of the month (as also happens with our vehicle safety inspections). With the post 9-11 identity crackdown, it is much harder to get a new license now. If you don't renew it before it expires, there's a lot of documentation you have to bring in. I don't know whether I needed a physical visit this time because of 9-11 changes or because the state ought to check periodically to make sure people haven't developed some obvious condition that should disqualify them. (E.g. it's been 15 or 20 years since they tested my vision, and for my safety as a driver/cyclist/pedestrian I'd like to know that other drivers are getting their vision tested regularly.)
I rode my bike to the DMV, which was a good idea because their parking lot isn't large enough to handle their Saturday-morning traffic. (They're open only 8-12.) Of course, they don't have a bike rack, so I had to lock it to a sign post. (They're set back from street too, behind other businesses, and there's no sidewalk along their driveway either. Really makes you wonder what they're thinking - no provision for people getting there without a car, even though a person without a license can't get him/herself there legally with a car....) There were 2 other bikes there, one high-end. As I rolled into the lot, my rear shifter cable broke. Not a big problem; I had gotten where I was going, I carry a spare, and the weather was really nice. (It did strangely match the front shifter cable breaking on the way to work Thursday.) To cap it off, the quick release that holds the seat to the frame broke in my driveway when I got home. This merited a trip out to Vienna, VA, to the shop where I bought the bike. The manufacturer has gone out of business, and no one in the shop could find the part. The best suggestion was to take a front-wheel quick release, cut the axle to a shorter length, and cut new threads on the shorter metal rod. Fortunately, the shop owner came in before I left, and he knew where to find one back in a box of goodies. Unfortuately, the sucker was $20, but it is a custom part and there's quite a bit of machining in it. There's a couple of eccentric cams, and on the old part one cam has cracked through and the other cam now has 2 separate cracks through (making 2 pieces where it should be solid).
This is the value of a local shop. I probably could have found the part somewhere on the internet, but it would have taken a lot of searching and a wait for delivery, and in this case might not have been any cheaper. But I want to ride this bike to work Monday. (We do have a 2nd bike of the same brand, and I could have borrowed the part from there. But these bikes are dissimilar enough that I can't count on one to be spares for the other.) I got a couple more shifter cables (to replenish my spares), and some chainring bolts I needed.
A couple more of our cantaloupes have gotten ripe. One was cracked underneath and feeding the bugs, but good (once anniemal cut the damage away), and the next had fallen off the vine and smells very ripe, but we haven't opened it yet.
On my way to the DMV I saw a crew removing the temporary traffic signals that had been installed near us for the detour.The signals had been covered with opaque plastic for the past 2 weeks, since the main road was re-opened.
I note that the new license expires on my birthday (in 2012; wow, that sounds a long way off), rather than at the end of the month. I wondered why they weren't like that all along, since the old way must lead to crunches of procrastinators showing up the last few days of the month (as also happens with our vehicle safety inspections). With the post 9-11 identity crackdown, it is much harder to get a new license now. If you don't renew it before it expires, there's a lot of documentation you have to bring in. I don't know whether I needed a physical visit this time because of 9-11 changes or because the state ought to check periodically to make sure people haven't developed some obvious condition that should disqualify them. (E.g. it's been 15 or 20 years since they tested my vision, and for my safety as a driver/cyclist/pedestrian I'd like to know that other drivers are getting their vision tested regularly.)
I rode my bike to the DMV, which was a good idea because their parking lot isn't large enough to handle their Saturday-morning traffic. (They're open only 8-12.) Of course, they don't have a bike rack, so I had to lock it to a sign post. (They're set back from street too, behind other businesses, and there's no sidewalk along their driveway either. Really makes you wonder what they're thinking - no provision for people getting there without a car, even though a person without a license can't get him/herself there legally with a car....) There were 2 other bikes there, one high-end. As I rolled into the lot, my rear shifter cable broke. Not a big problem; I had gotten where I was going, I carry a spare, and the weather was really nice. (It did strangely match the front shifter cable breaking on the way to work Thursday.) To cap it off, the quick release that holds the seat to the frame broke in my driveway when I got home. This merited a trip out to Vienna, VA, to the shop where I bought the bike. The manufacturer has gone out of business, and no one in the shop could find the part. The best suggestion was to take a front-wheel quick release, cut the axle to a shorter length, and cut new threads on the shorter metal rod. Fortunately, the shop owner came in before I left, and he knew where to find one back in a box of goodies. Unfortuately, the sucker was $20, but it is a custom part and there's quite a bit of machining in it. There's a couple of eccentric cams, and on the old part one cam has cracked through and the other cam now has 2 separate cracks through (making 2 pieces where it should be solid).
This is the value of a local shop. I probably could have found the part somewhere on the internet, but it would have taken a lot of searching and a wait for delivery, and in this case might not have been any cheaper. But I want to ride this bike to work Monday. (We do have a 2nd bike of the same brand, and I could have borrowed the part from there. But these bikes are dissimilar enough that I can't count on one to be spares for the other.) I got a couple more shifter cables (to replenish my spares), and some chainring bolts I needed.
A couple more of our cantaloupes have gotten ripe. One was cracked underneath and feeding the bugs, but good (once anniemal cut the damage away), and the next had fallen off the vine and smells very ripe, but we haven't opened it yet.
On my way to the DMV I saw a crew removing the temporary traffic signals that had been installed near us for the detour.The signals had been covered with opaque plastic for the past 2 weeks, since the main road was re-opened.