What is it with DMV Offices?

When you move to California, they give you a full ten days before you have to get a new driver’s license. They also give you 20 days before you have to get your car registered and licensed. So, my first day off after starting work was spent at the Department of Motor Vehicles. What is it with people at the DMV that makes them feel like cosmic overlords who hold your entire life in their hands? “Go here. Fill out this form. Wait an hour then go over there. Get in that line until someone gives you a number so you can go stand in another line. Take your test on this little piece of paper and put it in the basket. We’ll get around to it after we have our break. Stand on that line and look over here.” ‘Snap’. “What? You weren’t ready? Well, that kinda looks like a human in the photograph. It’ll do. Now go wait over there until we call you after we take a break.”

There were 20 windows available with agents to take your forms and your money and to give you other forms to take to other windows. Most of those windows were manned but there were at least 30 people sitting around waiting for their numbers to be called. This was on a Friday – a work day. There was only one guy who would come out and do ‘Verification’ – a process of double checking your vehicle ID number and verifying that your car is safe enough to drive in California. This guy also had to do all the driving tests. I waited more than 1 ½ hours for this guy to get around to verifying my car – a process which took only 5 minutes once he got started.

At the beginning of the day, I asked, “Do I need to get an emissions test? (That’s what it’s called in St Louis). "No, we'll do that here after you fill out your forms" she answered. Well, not exactly. They do the equivalent of a safety inspection at the DMV but you have to go elsewhere to get the 'smog check' done. So after all the standing in line, I took the car and got a smog check done. In St Louis, this takes 7 minutes and costs $28. If you wait longer than that, they give you a discount. I went to one of the local smog check stations (which are everywhere) and the sign said it would cost $40. The man told me it would take 30-40 minutes. "Ok," I said. "I'll just go get some lunch while you do the check. 30 minutes later, I returned and waited, and waited, and waited. It took just over an hour to complete. Then he tells me the bill is $50. "What happened to $40?", I ask. Well, it costs $40 for the inspection. If you want a certificate saying that you passed, which is the entire reason to have the test done, then it's going to cost you an extra $10. Can you believe that? $10 to press 'Print' on the screen and then pull a piece of paper off the printer.

After 5 ½ hours and more than $200, I had two aluminum plates with numbers on them and a piece of paper that said I could continue to drive in the great state of California. I wonder if Governor Arnold has to wait that long to register his car? I doubt it. When they tell him to “Fill out this form and wait over there,” I could imagine him in his black leather jacket and dark sunglasses, responding with “I’ll be baaack!” Cut to a scene of a car crashing through the window of the DMV office. Ok, maybe not, but it should sounds fun. Doesn’t it?

Allen

Weather

Ok, when everyone found out we were moving to San Diego, the number one response was, “Oh, I hear the weather in San Diego is really nice!” Yes, I have to admit, the weather is very nice. The Saturday I arrived, however, was an off day. It got up to 100 degrees (with very low humidity) and everyone was complaining about the extraordinarily hot temperatures. It was hot during the day but there was a nice breeze blowing in from the ocean and it didn’t really feel that bad. By about 5pm, it cooled down into the lower 80s and by night time, the temperature dropped into the upper 60s. I can certainly live with that.

By Monday, however, the temperature had gone back to normal. Highs for the week were 72-75 degrees with lows in the 60-65 range. Sunny with a light breeze was the standard. It really was nice. You could sleep with no A/C and the windows open and wake up cold and needing more blankets. I’ve always enjoyed cold mornings and there are plenty of them here. At least that’s how it’s been so far. August is coming, though. We’ll see what that brings.

I find myself spending a lot more time outdoors, enjoying the weather and the scenery. San Diego is filled with rolling hills and mountains. I hiked up a few of them and was greeted with some incredible views of the area all around. I met some guys who were slope soaring RC airplanes from the top of one of the hills. Slope soaring uses the lift caused by the wind blowing up the side of a mountain. The beauty of standing atop that hill, watching the sunset, and watching the planes fly around in the wind was awesome. What an amazing creation God has given for us to enjoy!

I've only made it to the beach once and then I only had time just to walk along and listen to the surf coming in. I really like the ocean and the sound of the waves. It’s a soothing sound yet there is so much power in the crashing of the waves along the cliffs. It was a little overcast when I was there but I stilled enjoyed it. I hope to get back there soon and spend some time in the water. Maybe, take a kayak out and visit some of the cliffs and caves around here.

Allen

Work

Work has been a bit slow. I guess I expected that somewhat. Every job I’ve started has always begun with stacks and stacks of paper that I needed to read, fill-out, or file away. Company procedures are always fun reading and a required must. Orientation class lasted for 4 hours and that was before I even reported to my boss. They gave me a mound of papers for medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, legal benefits, life insurance, accidental death insurance, long term disability, 401k, pension, and even employee recreational benefits. I’ve spent hours filling out those forms.

I’d have to say, my favorite part was selection of a primary care physician. In essence, this selection says, “Now that you’ve moved 2000 miles away from everything and everyone you know, pick a doctor who you will share your entire medical history with from now until… well… until we say.” That’s a pretty daunting task not unlike walking up to a complete stranger and saying, “Hey, can I tell you all of my very personal history and then ask you for advice?” My approach, instead, was to walk up to strangers at work and ask, “Hey, who do you recommend I tell all my personal history to and then ask for advice.” It seemed to be a little more reasonable, I thought. I did get some good recommendations and that was a start.

I think the end is in sight for all the paperwork. Of course, I’ll get to go through another round in a couple of weeks when I move out of temporary housing and then have to change my address on all of that stuff.

After orientation, I was able to finally report to my actual work location. When I arrived, I was greeted by the department executive assistant, Jenil. She took me on a tour and introduced me to a long list of people that I needed to know and who needed to know me. I should have taken notes! Finally, after picking up some supplies (pens, notepads, folders, staplers… the usual), she then took me to my office. Wow, what a surprise – a corner office, with a door and a window. I was told that it was the largest office in the building. Wow! It's nice. Through the window, I can see the beautiful sunny blue skies of San Diego and the meticulously manicured flowers and shrubs in the garden outside. I noticed that there were two full desk/workstations in the office. I figured I’d be sharing this office with another person – it being so large and all. Then, Jenil says to me, “You can use the second desk for more workspace if you want or we can have the building maintenance guys remove that for you. Whatever you want.” Ok, so I went from a very small cubicle which I shared with another guy to a very large office that I don’t have to share with anyone. Cool! The picture, above, shows the front of the building. The window right behind the tree in the center of the picture is my office. Here’s a picture from the inside. I know, kinda sparce right now but most of my pictures and other things are still in St Louis. Give me some time.

I feel like there are some very high expectations on me at this job. They haven’t been expressed and, so, maybe I’m just putting them on myself, but it adds a bit of pressure. I’m starting to feel stressed trying to live up to those expectations. I really do want to make the absolute most of this position and this opportunity God has given me. My family is going through a lot in this move and being very supportive. I want to make sure it’s all worthwhile by making this job a very good one.

While there is a lot of work to do in the electrical engineering department, it’s hard for me to just jump in to doing it because I need to first understand the projects and the specifications. That’s hard to do because I don’t have access to a lot of the information about these projects. They’re secret. The paper work which has to be approved in order to grant me access won’t be completed for up to 9 months. Yes, months. My boss is trying to get a temporary, interim access for me but even that will take 6 weeks or more. So, mostly, I’m reviewing the designs of others and giving advice. It’s at least something, but I’m really itching to fully engage in being productive. Things are starting to pick up a bit but it's still slow. At least, I’m not writing manuals.

My boss did share with me some of his plans and gave me an idea of the people I’ll be managing. He said that he’s going to spread me pretty thin on a number of different projects to try to move them forward at a reasonable pace. That’ll be good. When I left for July 4th break, he gave me a talk which kinda said, “Have a good break. Enjoy your family. When you get back, it’s going to get really busy.” I can live with that – I think.

Allen

Transitions

I’ve seen a TV commercial for a pair of prescription glasses that automatically change from light to dark when you go out into the sun. They’re called Transitions. The makers of these glasses want you to know that changing from one location to another, from the shady indoors to the sun-filled outdoors, doesn’t mean you have to change anything at all. You’re sunglasses will take care of that for you. All you have to do is just go about your day as if nothing ever changed. I need a pair of those but not for my eyes – for my life. Making the transition from the mid-west, where I’ve lived all my life, to California has been tougher than I expected. Many things have made it tough including the constant feeling that I just am not familiar with anything. I don’t know many people. I don’t know where things are located, and, when I drive, I always feel a little bit lost. My GPS has been a life-saver but I still have to really think about which exits to take and where to turn.

Certainly, the number one reason it has been a tough two weeks is that I’m here alone. Becky and Stephen are still back in St Louis doing things that they needed to do before moving. Stephen had a week of camp at the St Louis Zoo and Becky has had a long string of appointments for various things including visiting with many friends and family members. It seems that they have been keeping very, very busy. My calendar, on the other hand, has been filled with work, apartment hunting, grocery shopping, and laundry. Even though I have talked to Becky and Stephen almost every night, I find myself somewhat lonely, and really feeling very unsettled and lacking any sense of order in life.

I think that the transition to California still feels a bit surreal and will continue to feel that way until we are able to buy a house and move our stuff in. I haven’t lived in an apartment for 13 years and it really feels like a step backward in time to go back to renting and living in a very small space owned by someone else. At this point, we really don’t know how long it will take to sell our house in St Louis. It could be 7 months or more. Or, God could bring a sale next week. We just don’t know. So, since we need the equity from our house to be able to put a down payment on a house in San Diego, we are looking to lease an apartment to live in while we wait. I’ve spent hours driving around Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, and San Marcos looking at apartments and trying to judge how long my daily commute will be. We’ve found a place and put down a deposit. Now, I can only wait for our stuff to be shipped and then moved in to our new ‘home’.

In the following blog entries, I’ll try to keep you informed of some of the different aspects of the transition. I hope you find some of it at least interesting. If not, well… at least it was helpful to me to write all this stuff down. I may ramble a bit, but, hey, isn’t that an ok thing with a blog? I hope so. Anyway, I hope this blog page will help to keep us connected with our family and friends back in the Midwest. Feel free to give comments, feedback, or questions. Let’s make this blog a two-way street. OK? Great!

Allen