OutdoorType

This office opened at 10am. Sure, others opened earlier, but this is the one directly between home and work (also, I’d have been back in sleep deficit if I’d tried for one of the other locations – which apparently had similar lines). In any case, the line behind me was as long as the one in front of me.

I know it’s a tradition and all that goes back to 1889, and I’m happy that we have separated the two holidays, but it makes me a little sad to still celebrate Lee-Jackson Day. At the very least can we continue with our government services for that day?

Single Point of Failure:

Using one device or communications line to perform a function. In order to ensure continuous operation, two or more devices or lines are used. Any computer or communications system that contains only one component to do a job creates a single point of failure. If that single component fails, there is no alternate one to take its place.

In the case of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles the Single Point that failed this morning was the apathetic woman working at the front desk. The DMV’s system for managing lines at their service centers works like this:

Customers entering a Virginia DMV service center proceed to a central information counter where a staff member gives them the proper forms to fill out and assigns them a number based on what service they require. This ensures that customers end up with the right form at the right place, rather than waiting in an endless line only to find out they need to get more information and stand in line again. (source)

Looks great on paper except here’s the thing, sometimes (today for instance) you need more than one person performing triage on the line and BOTH people ought to be more on the high speed spectrum of employee ability. The girl at the desk clearly hated both her job and people. Maybe if it is only one hour into your job and you’ve just had at least three days off (two of which were paid by fellow citizens of the Commonwealth), maybe you should find another job. Please.

The lobby of the DMV had several hundred chairs, most of them empty, meanwhile the line to sit in the chairs was out the door, down the hallway, and snaked past Talbots and the kiddie play pen thing. I waited 51 minutes in line for a ticket and was then out the door and to my car 5 minutes later.

Time ticket B114 was printed: 10:51 am

Time receipt was printed: 10:56 am

What really sucks is that the service center is going to get credit for a five minute transaction. “Hey, go us… customer B114 showed up at the front desk on Jan. 2 and was out the door and satisfied in only five minutes! Aren’t we just the model of efficiency?”

No. No you are not DMV.

Now, the purpose of my visit was to renew my (expired) vehicle registration, a process that I began way back in August ‘07. Since then the car has been in the shop at least three times because in order to renew your registration you must first pass an emissions test, a test that my car has been reluctant to pass.

Anyways, my number is called and I go up to the counter…

DMV Guy: What can I do for you today?

Me: I’d like to renew my registration! <big smile>

DMV Guy: Do you have the form?

Me: Yes! <hands form over>

DMV Guy: <looking over form, typing into computer, realising how way, way past expired my car is, brows deeply furrowing>

DMV Guy: Sir, have you been driving your vehicle with expired plates?

Me: Um, no? <hopefully displaying completely innocent face>

DMV Guy: <not believing a word of it but continuing to process the transaction>

DMV Guy: You know the fees went up as of Jan 1?

Me: <blank stare, thinking… wtf?! Like I’m not going to pay it now that I’ve learned the fees have increased? Is there another option that I missed where I no longer have to register my car in the state where I live? Is there some kind of appeal process for not paying the higher fees? Of course I’m going to pay the fees. It’s $103? So what! I just paid $1,700 to get the damn check engine light to turn off and thus allow me to pass the test. What’s another hundred buck? You dummy.>

Me: Ok <hands over credit card>

DMV Guy: Thank you, Happy New Year.

Me: <indeed>

Almost home, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Got a niffty gps for christmas. Now I can collect all sorts of nerdy data about my commute. Today’s drive home took 27 minutes w/ 25 minutes of moving time… Not too bad.

Several years ago my old friend Brooke returned from a business trip ranting about how much she hated the rental car she was given. It was a PT Cruiser and she could not say enough bad things about this vehicle. In fact, Brooke ranted so strongly in opposition to this car that her story stayed with me for a long time. Now, it also happens my officemate has railed against the crappiness of this vehicle, and while perhaps not with the same vehemence as Brooke, his driving woes certainly served as a cautionary tale.

Fast forward to Tuesday. I’d finally decided to do something about the check engine light that has been glowering at me from the dashboard for quite some time. As long as its amber light remained lit I would never pass the Virginia emissions test, so I took it to a shop near my office. This shop, which came recommended, could not fix the problem. They kept the car for hours and hours and hours and finally called to say, “Hey, so we think we know what the problem is, and what we’d like to do is cut this wire, and ground it off, and see what happens.”

They wanted to cut a wire to the computer that runs the engine. And they weren’t 100% sure what might happen after cutting the wire. WTF?! My options varied from the light would go off and the car would pass the test or the engine might never start again. I chose plan B and took the car into the dealer, but not without first paying $90 for the privilege of having the first shop do absolutely nothing of value.

The dealer couldn’t look at the car until the morning so I was now presented with a few more decisions, like, do I drop off the car and walk home and then telecommute for a day or two? Or, do I suck it up and get a rental? I went for the rental, secretly hoping I’d end up with something fun and/or cool (I’ve always regretted not going for the Mercedes that time in Hollywood, it wasn’t that much more).

I did not get a Mercedes.

Earlier in the year I’d been to Boston and was given a Ford Freestyle, a not particularly impressive vehicle. The Freestyle is one of those hybrid misfit autos that wants to look like an SUV but ride like a car. What you get in the end is crap. And not very impressive crap. I didn’t hate my Freestyle (maybe because it had a nice GPS nav system), but I quickly figured out that I’d never buy one.

I did not get a Freestyle either.

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Wow. Traffic sucks, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Even though I sacrificed and did my part for commuting-kind by staying off the roads until late morning (and um, sleeping in a little extra), traffic was still a big huge mess!

You know things are bad when you’ve been driving for about four minutes only to come to a complete stop well before any of the normal places that you might come to a complete stop.

Immediately after snapping this pic with my cameraphone I managed to sneak across a couple lanes to an exit. From there I worked my way through a series of back roads and managed to both avoid all major traffic arteries and not slide off the road (though there was one close call). I can report that the sign stating “Bridge Freezes Before Road” is very much true.

My commute took the same 40 minutes as it normal and I got to drive through some really pretty stretches of countryside. It’ so easy to think of the suburbs as tract housing interrupted by strip malls, but less than 10 minutes from my house are wide open spaces with horses. With the first layer of fallen snow it looked quite pretty and while I am already sick to death of all the many horrible commercials and bad x-mas displays, I do love the music and have to admit that more than one Christmas carol popped into my head as I drove through the woods and over streams and the dry snow blew about as if shaken in a small glass globe.

Cancelled + Diverted = 1st class upgrade, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

I was supposed to fly out of hilton head this morning at 550am but there was much fog, an impediment to take off and landing. Also there was no airplane, an even bigger impediment to manned powered flight. The ticket agent was good though and gave me an option to catch a slightly later flight out of Savannah. Good news for me.

This, however, was bad news for my sleepy parents who’d been looking forward to a quick return to dreamland but now faced a two hour round trip drive to SAV (the Hilton Head airport is a quick 7 min drive from there house). (Thanks again Mom & Dad).

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Soon to be me, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

2007/11/21 11:33 :: Periodic updates as time and batteries and network connections allow…

IAD = ghost town?, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

2007/11/21 11:59 :: Wtf? It took exactly ZERO minutes to get through security (ok, I’m exaggerating, but only a little. It took maybe two minute top). Also there was no wait to check my bag with US Air. The economy lots are filling up, but unlike over Veterans Day weekend there are people at every intersection waving flags and directing traffic and there were several buses waiting at the Purple Lot stop #8.

I am now sitting at the gate using one of the only nice features of my phone… its ability to hook up my laptop to the web via bluetooth.

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Chapter One: The Commute

Rainy Morning Commute, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

With the morning’s wet weather I was dreading a little my drive to work.

Having gone so long without rain, I knew traffic was going to be bad. Not 66 eastbound bad (where all four lanes were blocked this morning causing a backup that at one point stretched from Nutley to 234), but still, bad enough to illicit oaths and tight gripping of steering wheels.

I held out hope. I hoped that my later departure might make for less clogged roads. I hoped the lighter than expected rain would allow for smooth sailing. The light traffic shown in the photo above was enough to sustain those hopes, was enough to have me think, “Hey, this drive might not be so bad after all.”

After the jump, the rest of my commute and “chapters” 2 & 3! Read the rest of this entry →