AZ DMV

Yesterday, I had to go to the Arizona DMV (or MVD, as they refer to it out here) to get my Arizona driver's license.

Things really are different out here.

First of all, when you walk in the door, you are greeted by a friendly, smiling face. Then, they offer you a hot cup of fresh coffee and some homemade cookies. You are ushered to a private office with large comfortable chairs where a staff member helps you fill out all the necessary forms. Everyone is polite and cordial. Then, a photographer with a keen sense of humor and a sharp wit comes in to take the license photo of you, which you have to admit is probably the best portrait of yourself you can remember - suitable for framing. As you exit they hand you a book of coupons for major discounts at all kinds of local businesses.

Yeah, right... Come on... Get real... it's the DMV

It's a Dog's Life

I know, I know... we live in Arizona now.

But tonight it was down in the 50s, so we decided to try out the fireplace for the first time.

Oscar had never seen fire in the house before. He was a little curious at first, but once he realized the element of fire also provided the comfort of heat, he knew where to plant himself for the rest of the evening.

Oragami Arma-Dollar-Dillo

When is a dollar not a dollar?
When it's an armadillo.

I think I tried oragami once.

"...tried".
"...once".

After about step 3 of around 412 steps... it isn't that I'm impatient... but, I guess it seemed like the potential satisfaction of successful completion was probably not going to outweigh the frustration involved in getting there.

I gave up.

However, during the few spare minutes my wife had during our 2,000 mile cross country trip, she managed to manipulate this dollar bill into the adorable dashboard figure you see here.

Hey, where did my dollar go?

Turkey Day

Why are these 2 guys smiling?

They just realized that they could fit everything into this crate that will they need for themselves and their wives to live in Turkey for the next ten years.

I spent some time building this crate (which was a little too small) and Larry is shipping it for them overseas at cost, and supplied the crating material.

Later, I had to come back and modify the crate to make it a couple of inches wider so we could get this final side closed up.

Now, the crate is ready to be trucked to California where it will go on a ship bound for Turkey.

These guys and their wives are already there by now, living out of suitcases and waiting for this stuff.

If they all decide to come back here 10 years from now...I wonder if they can fit everything they want to bring back in a crate the same size?

Happy Biceday

Today was Bill's birthday. Everyone in the office loves Bill, as you can tell by the "Silly String Baptism" he received today.

Interestingly, he also wandered around much of the day complaining about his inability to do any real work because he had lost his calculator. Eventually, this afternoon, Larry decided to bring in a treat for everyone - a bowlful of Jello. Amazing as it may seem, Bill's calculator showed up at exactly the same moment.

U-Haul School

Having recently graduated from the U-Haul school of packing and moving, I was finally ready for the final exam.

As it turned out, the final exam was not written, nor was it an oral exam. It was to be practical in the nature of a project:

Pack every possible square inch of capacity in a 6' x 12' enclosed trailer and travel 2,000 miles across the country to a new apartment you rented sight-unseen.

I guess I received a passing grade - which was quite a relief. I really did not want to attend Summer School.

Catastrophic Failure

When you turn on your computer and the screen reads, "Unexpected Error - Catastrophic Failure", you might as well cancel any plans you had for a couple of days - you will be working on a lengthy process of data recovery and restoration. Or, as in my case, dumbfoundedly watching Pete with my hands in my pockets as he spends hours deftly maneuvering the innards of my computer like some techno-surgeon. Gradually, he gets all those renegade bits of data corralled and manages to scold them into orderly submission.

So, as of today, I have my computer back in running order.

Thanks Pete.

Tons of things have happened since my last post. We now live in another part of the country. Phoenix is our new home.

I'll add another post to explain some of the details associated with moving 2000 miles across country to an apartment you've never seen.

As long as the only thing in my life to experience "Catastrophic Failure" is my computer, I guess I should be grateful.