Today, Briggs and I made yet another attempt to get the car title transferred into my name, as is stipulated in my loan contract. I’m about a year overdue, because every time we make time in our schedules to take care of the problem — no mean feat–we are thwarted viciously by hand of the red tape god.
Right after we found out that the title was supposed to be in my name, we attempted to stop by the public notary in Freeport, which right next to the bank that gave me the loan. The sign on the door told us that title transfers are just about the only service NOT provided by that notary.
Our next attempt came a little while after that when we found a day that we could both show up a little bit late for work and school, so that we could stop by a notary we had heard of in Natrona Heights, a town down the road from us, that specifically DOES do title transfers. Upon entering, we learned from THEIR sign that I needed to have a Pennsylvania state driver’s license or ID in order to put the car title in my name.
Because of busy schedules and Briggs working a 6-day week for months in a row, we didn’t get a chance to try again until my Christmas break…but this time, we WERE going to finish the licensing and transfer process once and for all. Briggs took the Monday before Christmas off of work and we headed to the Driver’s License Center in Monroeville…only to learn that the license department is not open on Mondays (but apparently WERE on Saturdays).
After that came the holidays when any time Briggs had off work was a day when everything would be closed. Then, this week, the bank contacted me again to ask when I was going to get my title transferred, as I was supposed to have done so within 60 days of acquiring the loan. I squirmed and apologized and explained to the woman handling my loan that I have been actively trying to rectify the situation, despite unwieldy schedules and a home in the wilderness, and that our most recent foray had met with failure but that we WOULD take care of it this Saturday (today), as it was the first time we would have been able to go since our last try.
This morning, we rose at a respectable hour. I dressed nicely. I made sure I had all my necessary documentation in my bag the night before. We plowed our car through the foot of snow in our driveway and drove to the New Kensington Driver’s License Center. Upon arrival, we were informed that the cost of a new license would be $28, accepted in the form of a check or money order only, and were given directions to a nearby store that sold money orders. Upon our return, payment in hand, I turned over my California state license, and was asked for my birth certificate.
Apparently, the hospital-issued certificate with a gold stamped seal and the doctor’s signature is not official documentation. It’s the only birth certificate I have, and I have had driver’s licenses from two other states…but now I have to have the state of New Mexico find and send my ‘official’ birth certificate to me.
While placing the order online (crossing my fingers that the information we entered would yield the proper document, and that my hyphenated last name would not cause the computer confusion it has so many times in the past) I answered a number of identity-confirming questions, and was then directed back to the start page with no confirmation email to show for my efforts. The second time through, my order was confirmed, but not my identity, which means that tomorrow, Briggs and I have to go to Kinko’s and print out an official form on which I confirm my identity, then scan it with a copy of my current ID, and upload the image to their website so that they can verify that I am who I say I am. Meanwhile, the woman handling my loan has grown much less sympathetic since the first time I spoke to her, and today I had to leave her a message letting her know that I am experiencing yet another delay.
The one other thing we wanted to do while we were out today was possibly find a sled and some waterproof winter gloves for me. Apparently, the first week of January is not barely the beginning of winter as I had thought, but rather the ‘end of the season’ and only a few picked-over, unsuitable, clearance winter items remain on shelves.
*headdesk*
Also, yesterday, I managed to crack the glass cooktop of our electric stove by accidentally melting the plastic handle of a spoon on the still-hot burner. That’s it. Melting some plastic. I didn’t pry the spoon off or anything…I didn’t notice until later that it had even melted, after it had been moved from the place it caused the damage. But somehow, in melting, the top of the handle took a chunk of glass with it and created a crack most of the way across the glass surface of the stove.
PLEASE let next week be a better one.
its funny, but I’m pretty sure these things don’t happen in California, maybe it’s our new state animal the “Luck Dragon”