UKPylot’s MINI Blog

Went to the DMV this morning to chase down my missing licence, and found out that my licence was not lost in the mail - they never sent it to me as my renewal application was on “hold”. The lady said that maybe I ticked a “yes” box by mistake and didn’t fill in the “explain answer” section but since all I did was go online and type in a password and give a credit card, that is more than unlikely. It was pretty obvious that they weren’t ever going to tell me my renewal was on hold so it was good that I went in. So they had me fill in a new form, make a signature, give my thumb print and a new picture; should get a new licence in 2-3 weeks.

Definitely been a bad year for me with the DMV.

Just in case anyone is interested, my pictures from Sedona are now up on my flickr page. Click on the image to see the full set.

As I predicted, Carrie turned her 50,000th mile this weekend just as we were leaving Sedona. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried but mostly we’ve motored. I had meant to leave my camera out for the occasion but packed it by mistake so there is no 50k shot, nor are there any pictures of the cool roundabouts (now I am a US citizen do I have to say turn circles?) that Sedona has. It may be 10 years since I drove in the UK but it still felt odd to go the ‘wrong way’ round. Damn, 10 years since I drove at home??

Anyway, with the 50k reached, I’m now driving without a safety net. There’s no way I can afford MINI servicing or repair, or want to drive the 150 miles to Escondido for an oil change, so will seek out a decent lube shop for the oil and keep fingers tightly crossed on the repair side. I did have a fleeting thought that I should trade her in for a swap of something easier to maintain but after 730 miles of, mostly 80 mph, freeways this weekend I am sure I would not have anywhere near such fun in a different marque. And that 730 miles at an indicated 27mpg which isn’t too bad, I suppose.

I’ll be uploading some pictures from the trip tonight, will put a link here, plus I think I have a new banner picture for this ol’ site.

Oh, and there’s still no sign of my driver’s licence… grrr

You may remember my earlier woes with the DMV in trying to renew my tags at the same time as getting the title. Well, now I am getting anxious because my driving license expires on Friday (which also happens to be my birthday) and as of the mail pickup on Tuesday I do not have a replacement card. I renewed online over a month ago and if I go back to the website it says that my renewal has already been received. I assume they want it to arrive just in time? Or else they just want to *!@% with me once more. Grrrr.

To celebrate my birthday, Teri and I are off to Sedona for the weekend (no thanks to the INS that are keeping me in town until mid-afternoon with the naturalisation ceremony). Usually we would take the Camry for such a trip, more comfortable and the cruise control make a more pleasant experience over a long distance, but it has developed some kind of leak this week so Carrie will get a shot at visiting the red rocks. It’s very possible we’ll hit the big 50k on the way home.

This Friday, December 14th, I will be swearing the Oath of Allegiance and becoming a US citizen. So since I will then be a dual citizen I thought maybe I should change the name of the blog…. but then I realised that U SUK PYLOT, whilst possibly accurate about my flying skills, doesn’t look that good.