I just got off the phone with the California DMV. That's right, the California DMV not the Massachusetts RMV that I've already spent countless hours waiting in line at or on the phone with.

As you may recall, I recently (and after many many failed attempts due entirely to problems on the RMV's end of things) converted my California driver licence to a Massachusetts one. In doing so, they managed to forget my motorcycle endorsement. Having put quite a lot of time, effort, and money into getting that endorsement in the first place I wasn't really all that interested in losing it for no good reason. After two relatively pleasant chats with a woman at the RMV they sent me the paperwork I needed and told me that all I had to do was take it into a branch office and they'd be able to take care of it.

So yesterday I went into the RMV branch at the Cambridgeside Galleria. They're open until 7, and I got there at about 5:30. After waiting in line for a scant 45 minutes I gave them my paperwork and explained what was going on. The woman behind the counter told me that, unfortunately, she'd have to call into the Boston branch office which had closed at 5 so I'd have to come back the next day (today) before 5 to take care of it. So today I went back in. I got there at two and spent maybe 10 minutes waiting in line. The same woman was there and she called the Boston office. They told her that before they could correct the mistake that they made, I would have to call the California DMV and request that they send a copy of my driving record over to them. Hence my call to the California DMV. Unfortunately, the woman I talked to at the California DMV told me that I'd have to submit a form and pay a $5 fee before they would send my driving record.

The form and check will, of course, have to be mailed in, so who knows how long this is going to take. What I want to know is exactly how much of my money is being wasted on this crap. Is this really what I'm paying taxes for? Is it really worth the effort for me to be a law abiding citizen when I could probably have a motorcycle with invalid but normal looking plates illegally in no more than a couple hours if I really wanted to?

I just got off the phone with the RMV. After being on hold for about 30 minutes (annoying, but not a huge deal) I explained my problem to the woman who came on the line: that I gave them a California C & M1 license (passenger cars and motorcycles) and received a Massachusetts D license (passenger cars only) in return. She said she'll pull my application, double-check that I did, indeed have a California motorcycle license and that my application was properly filled out to reflect that (both true) and then add the motorcycle endorsement to my license free of charge. Took about 5 minutes of actually talking to a person and hopefully things will be fixed soon. Sadly it will apparently take until Wednesday before her request for my application paperwork goes through, but whatever, I can deal with that.

After two years and far too many visits to multiple RMV offices I now finally have a Massachusetts driver's license. A CLASS D driver's license. The forms I submitted as well as the California license they took from me both clearly specified that not only am I qualified and certified for, but was applying for a CLASS D AND M license. Of course it's well beyond business hours now, so I'll have to wait until Monday morning before I can even attempt to rectify this situation in a way that doesn't involve me having to pay money to take tests I've already passed.

And here I was all ready to start maybe being possibly very slightly less hostile toward the Massachusetts state government in all its various and sundry forms.

Finally, after five failed attempts, I've managed to get my California license converted to a Massachusetts one. On Friday Jessi, who's been using her Illinois license for the past 4 years in MA, and I drove up to the RMV in Lowell (we'd had enough with the one in Boston) and actually managed to get our licenses converted. At the moment we've only got temporary ones, but soon I should, for the first time in my life, have a license that actually has my current address on it! Now I just have to hope that my new Massachusetts license retains my motorcycle endorsement, because the temporary license they gave me has no indication of that. I'm not going to be very happy if, after all that, I only have a half-functional license. Especially if they want to try and make me take the motorcycle test again.

Today was supposed to be a nice, lazy, relaxing day. The Restaurant Week Project is finished, and I've got nothing pressing to do. So I decided to take my new bike (Oh yeah, last weekend I bought a bike off Craigslist. $25 for an old Schwinn hybrid in pretty good shape.) for a ride and get some things accomplished.

First things first, I decided I'd go back to the RMV to try again to get my California license converted to a Massachusetts one. So I got on my bike and headed towards Boston. I got all the way to the Boston Common before I ran into my first problem: a nut on my rear wheel had come loose and my wheel got pulled out of position so that it was rubbing up against the fork. I had foolishly not brought any tools with me, so I just locked it up and went the last few blocks on foot. I got to the RMV and got in line with 51 people ahead of me. One hour and 30 people later, I figured I was finally going to be getting my license. Then, all of a sudden, things slowed down. Up until that point they had been calling a new person every couple minutes.

Then for a long time nothing happened.

Then, as before, in a flash of smoke and brimstone an RMV employee appeared and announced to us all that the Social Security computers were down. AGAIN!!!

This is now the fourth time I've been to the RMV to try and convert my license and failed. It's the second time that my trip was a failure thanks to a crappy Social Security computer system. Had I previously had any faith in the state of the RMV, the Massachusetts state government, or bureaucracy in general, it would now be lost. Having never had such a thing, I'm simply wallowing in despondency and despair at the thought of having to try yet again.

So I left the RMV thwarted yet again and contemplating the issues involved in getting my immobilized bike home. Fortunately, I was able to borrow some pliers from a friendly bus driver and get my rear wheel mostly straight and my bike ridable again. So I continued along my planned route to the Copley Square branch of the Boston Public Library where I checked out a copy of Charles Stross' Accelerando, then bike back home via Storrow Drive and the Harvard footbridge.

All told, my main accomplishment of the day—which was supposed to be getting my Massachusetts license—turned out to be the fairly pedestrian achievement of biking ~12 miles. It is, at least, a very nice day for a bike ride.

Apparently it's not just the MBTA and RMV that are extremely horrible at expediting transportation in Massachusetts. I'm starting to think that poorly implemented transportation is simply endemic to the Commonwealth.

I was at Logan airport earlier, at the E terminal, waiting to pick up some friends who have since flown in. The signage there is less clear than it could be. I wanted to just stay in the terminal E loop, but the only options I could see were Airport Exit and parking to one direction, and indeterminate other things in the other direction. So I went the other direction. It didn't seem quite right, but it was an airport, and they're never laid out logically, so I kept going. Besides, there was no obvious way to turn around and go the other way. Eventually, I found myself in Maverick Square; clearly I had made a wrong turn somewhere.

Having never been in East Boston or Chelsea before I didn't really know where to go. The plus side was that I had, by that time, learned that my friends had missed their flight and wouldn't be coming in until later, so I could go home rather than trying to find my way back to the airport. I had no idea where I was, but I could see the water, and, as I still know very little of the local geography, figured it must be the river and that following it must eventually lead me to Cambridge. So I drove toward the water ...and discovered many large ocean-going ships. Last I checked there are no large ocean-going vessels in the Charles river. This was when I realized that East Boston is on the other side of the harbor.

Still, I figured, following the water would probably be the best bet. Eventually it led me to the Sumner Tunnel where the signs indicated that the normal car toll is $3. I very rarely carry cash, and had been expecting to only have to pay the $1 I'm used to getting on and off the pike, so that was all the cash I had on me. So I decided to keep going and see if I can find a cheaper way to get home. A little while later I saw signs pointing towards the Tobin Bridge. Again, my lack of familiarity with the local geography, cause largely by the fact that I pretty much never drive here, got me in trouble. For some reason I had it in my head that the Tobin Bridge was actually the Bunker Hill Bridge. This idea was reinforced by the fact that the Bunker Hill Bridge is clearly visible from East Boston. So I followed the signs knowing that from the base of the Bunk Hill Bridge I could easily get myself home. The signs, of course, didn't take me where I expected and I ended up on the on-ramp for the Tobin Bridge, hoping that there was no toll to cross.

Of course there is, and as I was in a Zipcar which has commercial plates, that toll was $4.50. Being $3.50 short I had to tell the guy that I had no cash. I figured he'd give me some sort of ticket so I could mail the toll in later, maybe with a small fine. Well, he did give me a ticket, but closer examination leads me to believe that I'm going to have to pay a $50 fine. Plus whatever fee Zipcar charges me for having to deal with receiving the notice of violation and informing MassPike that it has to go to me instead which I think is about $20.

So, just because I don't usually carry cash and am not really familiar with driving in the area I may be out $70. That's just a load of crap. At least they offer an option to appeal the violation. An option of which I am definitely going to avail myself. One advantage to being self-employed is that I actually have the flexibility to deal with bureaucratic nonsense without fear of being fired.