Welcome to the city...

To start off I want to say that we really enjoy New York. We love our ward and we love the experiences we experience here. (That isn't too redundant is it :).......?)

However, it seems to us that New York has it out for us. At least when we're driving or parking or registering our car. Since coming out here, we've received two parking tickets, one ticket for talking on the cell phone (who knew that was actually a LAW out here?) and one for not carrying a license. (Actually I had it, it had just slipped under the seat!) Not that I'm perfect, but I kind of think the policemen here should worry more about the druggies down the street from us and the reckless crazy drivers all around more than they should worry about nice new residents who aren't breaking the little nitpicky laws on purpose.

Anyway...these experiences lead us to our favorite adventure here in New York: car registration. Our car registration expired the end of Nov. Since Nov we have been trying to get it registered. Why is it taking so long? Oh, because you need about 15 forms of ID. I looked online to make sure I brought everything we needed with me. Nope. Didn't work. They told me I needed to bring a birth certificate to prove birth (uh, I'm standing right in front of you, I think I've been born...). It was a "0" on their point system (you have to bring six points worth of ID), but yet you still need to bring it.

Okay, I know you don't want to read all that went wrong, and I don't want to write it all down either. Let's just say I went to the DMV six separate times by myself. The last time Ryan and I went down together to see if I was just nutty or incompetent. I'm happy to report I am not nutty or incompetent, but sad to report that it means the New York Department of Motor Vehicles IS.

Explanation: Our car was salvaged. We fixed it up and got a rebuilt/restored title in Utah. We've driven it a few years in Utah. Apparently that doesn't matter in New York. We have to send in a separate application to the special "salvage title" people, wait for their acceptance, get an inspection (200 bucks) to make sure there aren't any stolen parts, receive their paper work, and then go back to the DMV to get it registered. By the way, they told us we can't get to the inspection illegally, so we have to use a tow truck or place the car on a flatbed truck. Tell me, how many of you have either of those things? Hahaha......man! When asked how long this process takes, they told us about a month, a month and a half. When asked what in the world we do until then, they told us to take the car off the road. No pity for us poor Utahns whatsoever.

So, I thought I'd show you our Drivers licenses. I laughed when we got them in the mail. They look more like mug shots....or maybe just frustrated, ornery new New Yorkers. Now you know why New Yorkers seem to be a bit edgy!