PT and license renewal updates

[rolanni]

...for those who are fascinated by such things...

Physical Therapy went well; my use of the TheraCane has produced brilliant results. There were a couple of knots that I hadn't been able to beat into submission, so my therapist used his massage jack on them.  I feel great at the moment, my range of motion is as good as it ever was, and! painfree.  I do, I note, fully expect my arm to fall off in an hour or two, whereupon I will be cursing my therapist, but at least I know that, by tomorrow, I'll be back to feeling good.

So, I'm cut loose from PT, with stern instructions to keep up with the TheraCane, and to come back if things get bad again.

From therapy, around the corner to the AAA office, which is now empowered to do license renewals.  This is a good thing; Waterville's previous system had been that a threesome of circuit riders (I am not making this up) visited town hall on, I believe, the third Thursday of the month, and if you had to renew your license and didn't feel like driving to Augusta, you ate a hearty breakfast, packed a lunch and a couple of books, and went to wait your turn among the cast of hundreds in one of the public hearing rooms.  This was particularly pleasant in July and August (my license renewal date being "by September"), because, it being Maine and all, the public hearing rooms are not air conditioned.

So, anyhow, into AAA, where the young man at the front desk inquired after the service he might perform for me.  I explained about renewing the license; he took my old license, my Social Security card, my passport, and my Visa card.  He asked me some questions about did I have a license or a suspension in another state, and did I want to be an organ donor, while he tapped keys on his computer.  Eventually, he returned my cards and passport (after making a note of the maker of my passport folder, which is, I will admit, very classy), printed off a "temporary" license, which has a dual life as my receipt, which I had to sign, and which must remain with me until my replacement license appears in the mail.

I asked about a photo and an eye exam, and was told that neither was required; pictures are good for 12 years.  Six years ago, my hair was brown.  Just sayin'.

So. . .an odd experience, and not what I expected, but -- license renewal?  DONE, and off the list.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Hmmmph. They didn't give me a temporary license.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Clearly an oversight.

Shall I make a copy of mine and mail it to you?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Nah, I got my shiny new one already. Took about two weeks. Old one doesn't expire for a couple months yet.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Last time I renewed I had to bring a birth certificate. I'm assuming that they wanted to make sure it was really mine so asked me questions.

Where were you born? OK, I knew that.

What is your mother's middle name? Threw me for a count of five. She looked at me with suspicion in her eyes! I explained that my mother had died 50 years ago and gave what I said was a guess. She still looked at me strangely but I had guessed right so I got my license.

I haven't looked at the thing since I used it to get my passport 40 years ago.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

That person sounds .... a bit odd ...*shakes head*

[estara.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

I renewed my license before my birthday in March, in California. No escaping a new photo, thumb print, and passing a written test and eye test. Although at younger ages (less than 70)you can renew once by mail without the above (subject to your driving record). At least I didn't have to do a driving test. I debated my hair color, and decided to go with gray, although the nice gentleman assured me I could call it brown. I don't think hair color matters since it is subject to change on whim. I'm not sure how they treat colored contact lenses as far as eye color goes.

[kathy martin (from livejournal.com)]

I renewed my license today too but didn't need additional documents to verify that I was me. I didn't manage to escape the new picture and vision test though.

Our license doesn't even ask about hair color anymore. Eye color, height and weight are listed. One of those is subject to frequent change! I drove 1.5 miles, took a number, filled out an application, waited my turn (while reading on my Kindle), paid my fee and was out in less than half an hour because there were less than ten people ahead of me in line.

I also got new license tags for my car at the same location in less than 5 minutes. That cleared up my to do list for the month.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've still got to get stickers for both cars -- which means paying excise tax on both cars. Because here in Maine we pay excise tax on our car FOREVER.

Also, if we are a small business, we pay excise tax on our equipment FOREVER.

There are some things about Maine that will, I fear, always elude me...

Maine Driver's Lic.

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Ah the joys of bureaucracy!

[drammar.livejournal.com]

Allowing the AAA place to do license renewals is a small stroke of genius. Certainly sounds like a much less painful method than the public hall.

MVA procedures here in MD are much improved, as long as one does not visit in the very first or last days of the month. Last time I was there it required no additional paperwork and a 10 minute wait. New picture, which was done by the same person amazingly and efficiently. The prior time it was a two-step process which just increased the in-line time and the frustration level.

[abwarwick.livejournal.com]

... and the classy passport case? inquiring minds (well, at least mine) want to know.
:)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

...is from Mancini Fine Leather. I bought mine in Canada; it's a very rich dark burgundy, nicely flexible and durable. I've been carrying it around for 8 years.