D.M.V.

I've decided that DMV should stand for Difficult. Miserable. Very unpleasant.

I don't know about you, but I absolutely hate visiting the DMV. No matter where you are, no matter how big or small the surrounding town is, it is an awful experience. Today I had the unfortunate task of renewing my plates and registration, and I didn't know exactly how to do it online, so I went into to the dreaded DMV - dun dun dunn. The first place I went to wasn't busy - surprisingly - and I got helped very quickly. The bad news was that I was at a DMV in the wrong county, so I had to go to a different DMV to get everything taken care of. The gave me the address to the correct location, but couldn't tell me how to get there. At this point I call Donnie who very patiently looked up directions and told them to me over the phone. They were the most ridiculous directions I've ever gotten!! I should mention that this is not Donnie's fault, just the computer's. This is why I don't like GPS machines, but that's a different story.

By the time I finally find the place, I realize there is a much easier way to get there - again, not important to the story except to add emphasis to how annoyed I was getting. As I'm parking I can already tell that there will be a much longer wait at this location because it was in a busier part of town and it was in a huge building. So I go in and sure enough -- people everywhere! I take a number (65 and they were on 46) and head to the back wall to stand and wait my turn. As I'm walking back to stand out of the way, I notice a line towards the far end of the room which seems to be leading to a desk with an overhead sign that reads, 'Renewals.' So I asked a man waiting in that line if this was indeed a line for renewals, and he said it was (good thing I didn't just sit down and wait - I would have been there much longer). Then, after about 15 minutes of waiting, it is my turn, and I go to get my stuff taken care of. Not so fast! The kind lady behind the counter and wall of plexiglass asks me if I've gotten my emissions test done yet. Of course I hadn't! That would have been too easy. So after all that driving around (on an empty tank of gas I might add) and waiting in line I got nothing accomplished. I thought the whole experience was going to not turn out to be awful (save all the driving), and I would have gotten everything taken care of relatively quickly, in DMV time. Why couldn't the lady at the first DMV have told me about the emissions test and advised me not to waste my time waiting in line when nothing could be done anyway? Ugggh. It was a frustrating couple of hours to say the least. But I did learn in the process that my plates are actually good until the end of February, and even March if I take into account the one month grace period. I may not take advantage of that though, on the likely chance that I forget when the grace period ends, and thus am rewarded with a late fee. That's probably the whole point of the grace period - dang government trying to steal our money. Anyway, I guess I have a month to get everything straightened out and taken care of. I can't wait until the day I get to go back to the DMV.