***Welcome to the Year of the Dragon: Winter is Here Chat Thread***

I understand hating the DMV, but being booked a week out doesn’t really seem like a them problem.

That's cruel.

dmv/rmv is more streamlined and efficient now if you are doing something standard and have all required documentation

if for example, you've been living outside of the country for over a decade and don't have the original hard copy of your old drivers license but instead just have pictures of it then things become trickier

i've done things like register a car in 5 minutes

but it took me over 6 months before i could legally drive after returning to USA#1 because of a bunch of stupid requirements that needed to be fulfilled

mass wouldn't renew my license because i had no proof of residence because it expired during covid while i was abroad and the amount of time between expiration and renewal triggered a "ensure he's a resident clause"

so i went to where i actually was a resident, maine, who never asked for any evidence of it - i needed to physically have my old license, which i didn't have, but i had photos instead as well as all the massachusetts documentation

but they needed a physical copy only and nothing else, not even a statement from the mass rmv reporting my license number and driving record sufficed

so i ended up needing to sign up for a driving test to start the process over again, but the next test wouldn't be for 8 months because they were backed up with covid and it's usually teens who reserve the test months in advance anyway when they get their learner's permit

finally, after basically harassing them weekly with phone calls of "there's gotta be a way to sort this out" someone in maine tells me that she can accept a court document stating i had a driver's license in mass but not one fromt he mass rmv

i then spend about 2 weeks attempting to find a way to obtain said court document

finally, find a court in boston that both answers the phone and is willing to fax over the document saying i have a clean driving record - the entire time telling me it was a stupid idea as she'd never gotten this request before in her life and it wouldn't work - to which i agreed i thought it was stupid but this is what they wanted

i call maine dmv, ask them if they received the fax, they declare they did and it's all set

i arrange a ride to the dmv, bringing a binder of various documents to ensure i can get this done

i get to the window, the woman has no idea what i'm talking about and said they don't even have a fax machine

i gently and as kindly as possible agree that they don't but perhaps that machine behind her and to her left that looks suspiciously like a fax machine was able to receive a fax and that if she looked at those papers printed out in the slide then perhaps she may find the documents we need - sure enough they are there - she exclaims to me "isn't it amazing that printers can now receive faxes? who would have ever imagined"

she needs to call backup though to sort this out, luckily the woman in charge of the branch who actually orchestrated this all is there so it's sorted out in a little less than 2 hours

Received a care package from my cousin in San Diego today. Homegrown avocados are a damn good present.

Hot

Legit lol. This all sounds so familiar, which is weird given that none of my issues were actually the same.

GhadtohaveafriendbreakintomyhousetoovernightmypassportbecauseOregonDMVwouldn'tacceptoldDLormilitaryIDG

and no mention of her catching it barehanded
reputable news source indeed

no visible new holes around here either

Spoiler

Show

and they primarily use M-80s
what do you call your friends?

curious your thoughts on EDO and Lardo
mostly to calibrate my own of each

first interpreted this as think of her as bob dylan and my brain still hasn't recovered

avacados from mexico is a catchier tagline
are those the california toast type or more suitable for guacamole?
hard to tell from the color

Went to look at a house tonight with my realtor. He's younger, solid realtor, very helpful.

There's a possum in the backyard of the house. He says "Hey look, a dead possum." I say it could just be playing possum. He asks if they really do that. I say yes, that's where the phrase playing possum originated. He literally had no clue they did that or that the phrase playing possum was based on a possum playing dead. It was amusing as hell. Lol

EDO is typically a priority whenever we go to Vegas

Lardo is a go-to for the porchetta sandwich specifically if we decide to hit the Cosmo food court, but that is mood-dependant

NYE night I also heard fireworks at like 10:45PM. Pretty weird, my friend was like "WTF its not even midnight yet". lol

They are the Bacon variety. Good for toast, guac, or as a nice snack, plain with a pinch of salt.

rick's story reminds me of the time I spent working in a local county's health & human services office.

Going in with a stereotypical idea that they're going to be a bunch of bureaucrats, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that was not the case. Most everyone legit was trying to help the clients. However, since they don't pay for ****, the people weren't very bright; thus, why they were not too good, and inefficient at their jobs.

So, we kind of got to the same place as the stereotype, but not for the reasons stereotyped.

Used the Amazon return kiosk at Whole Foods today. Almost TOO easy, definitely a game changer.

What did you buy at Whole Foods though? You can't NOT buy something at Whole Foods, imho.

Oh you know I hit up the hot bar. Samosas were off the chain.

I often wonder how MLY is doing. I hope she's doing well.

Looks like she’s only 11 days removed from posting here, so she’s not totally off the 2p2 grid or anything.

defiantly me too.

Only fools buy things; if it’s worth having it is worth stealing.

Zeno and his five finger discounts!

-30 wind chill walking to and from the train today. My glasses froze over within minutes.

power was out from before 8 yesterday morning 'til 3pm today
temp outside in the low teens
kitchen was 38

Ugh!
Glad it's up and running again.
We get out teeth kicked in tomorrow and the next day.

When I got up this morning my outdoor digital thermometer read 9. For some reason I think it's amusing to see a reading in the single digits. What I never find amusing is a reading in the triple digits in the summer.

Here's how the guy who clears my driveway left it yesterday

By the time he came, the snowplow crap at the end of the driveway was frozen solid, so he just left a 4-6" curb of ice for me to climb to get out of my driveway

What's my play? Options I'm considering include:

• it's no big deal. If I drive over it real slow it probably won't damage my car
  
• don't drive anywhere until it gets above freezing in 10 days and it starts to melt
  
• ffs dude you had one job
  

Options I'm not considering: Spending an hour with boiling water and salt and whatever else the internet suggests to try to melt it