Lifes Little Adventures...

Lifes Little Adventures...

Friday, October 29, 2010

The Haunted DMV

I am in a very bad mood and if you are not in the mood to hear me complain you should probably hit the small 'X' in the corner right now and tune back in later on a more positive post.

I can recall watching an episode of "Rocko's Modern Life" when I was little where Rocko, Heffer and Spunky were literally stuck in line at the DMV ALL DAY only to find out later it was really hell they were in (or something like that). Watching this as a child it never really held any meaning but now I can now truly empathize with this episode. I started off my morning very positive, earlier this week I had received a brand new Social Security Card with my new name so I decided it was time for a trip to the DMV. I still had been using my SC drivers license (opps!) So I had to get a NC drivers license and have my name changed. I left the house at 7:40 hoping to get there right when it opened at 8:00 but with traffic I ended up arriving at 8:06 AM. To my horror I saw a HUGE line out the door and onto the sidewalk. The line wound past the Barber shop (next door to the DMV) and past the Family Dollar two stores down. I had my feet planted in line promptly at 8:07 AM. Even though it was slightly after 8:00, I was thinking maybe they were running a little late and haven't opened their doors yet and when they do we will all file in grab a number and sit down as expected...WRONG! Literally the line did. not. move. Now I know everyone and their Grandma hates the DMV and fully expects a horrible time every time they are forced to go there but this was just plain out of control! First of all it was FREEZING outside I swear, it was the first cold day we have had all fall and it happened to come when I was sitting outside for 4 plus hours under an awning with no sunlight anywhere near. For the first 30-45 minutes I was in line I kept thinking ok if I am not inside by 9:00 I am leaving. This continued all day. But after you have dedicated over an hour of your time you start to think, 'well heck I don't want to do this again and I have to do it some time or another so I might as well stick it out.' In NC they divide their DMV's up between licenses and car registrations. I was in the license building and it was 90% teens waiting to take their driving test. I knew to get a NC license all I needed to do was a written test so I kept thinking as soon as I get inside they will realize I'm only taking the written and it will be quick from there. A very rude lady working there would come outside every half an hour or so and see what people were waiting in line for. The first time I saw her I got so excited, I thought; "This lady is going to be my hero and rescue me from this line and take me to a wall filled with computers so I can quickly take me test and we'll live happily ever after!" In reality, when she asked me I said "I have a SC license and I need the NC license and name change" She looked at me and said "testing." and kept walking. "Wait so I'm in the right line for the written test?" I wanted to confirm. "Yes driving and written stay in this testing line" she said. Every half hour or so she came back out and pulled people out of line that were waiting for license renewals (they were the only ones that got golden tickets to the front). This was very frustrating because while the line was getting shorter we were not moving or getting any closer. Most teens were there with a parent and it got to the point where everyone was taking turns in line while the other went and got lunch, jackets, sweatshirts, blankets, snacks, books, magazines, or just went to the car for awhile to sit down and get warm. During the hour from 11:00 AM- 12:00 PM a DMV lady came outside and said, "its our lunch and everyone leaves except for 3 people so the line probably wont move at all till 12:00." While this was annoying to hear it was really no change because the only time the line had been moving is when people renewing were taken out of it. Matt did come and visit me outside on his lunch break. He stood in line for me so I could run to the car and get warm and make a few work calls. But besides that I was totally bored, frozen and tired of standing. I would have sat down on the sidewalk but the man two ppl in front of me had a cold and was hawking loogies continuously in the path we were all walking in so I was afraid where I would choose to sit was probably a previous spot he had spit in just minutes before. Also the lady a few people behind me decided to bring her TWO toddlers with her in this dreadful line and they cried the. entire. time. Although it was incredibly annoying, I cannot blame them! It was miserable and I felt like crying as well. At
12: 45 I was the third person in line to get to go INSIDE THE BUILDING of the DMV. I could see in the windows and inside was an entirely separate waiting area. It looked like the Four Seasons in there though, so warm with chairs and a TV playing a safe drivers DVD. In other words... Heaven. Me and the two guys in front of me and the girl behind me noticed there was plenty of room inside and didn't know why we couldn't just walk in when we saw empty chairs or extra room in line. The people in front of us had just kept saying "we cant go in- we have to wait till they come get us." Well no one told us that so we devised a plan to go in as a group of 4 (comfort in numbers). We all walked in and as soon as we did someone from behind a cubical stood up and said, "NO! If you are coming from outside you have to go back outside until you are let in!" "But were freezing out there cant we just stand in here?" The biggest of the two men asked. "No!" The witch said, "You have to wait outside, there is no room in here." This was frustrating because there was PLENTY of standing room AND unoccupied chairs.

At 1:10 PM I was let inside and was SO excited! A lady came to check my paperwork and give me a number. When I told her I needed my name changed she said, "do you have your marriage certificate?" "No I called 2 weeks ago and they told me my marriage certificate didn't matter, I just needed a new Social Security Card with my new name on it and to bring that" I replied. "No you need your marriage certificate" she said. I told her I would see if someone could bring it to me and she said, "If its not here by the time its your turn you ll have to go to the end of the line which means you should probably just wait till Monday because the people at the very end wont even get seen today- HAHAH!" W.T.F I started freaking out and called Matt (who had only just left me a few minutes ago and had not made it back to work yet) he said he would go get it and bring it back. The crazy part is I was actually scared he wouldn't make it (with the way things had gone all day I should have known better). But he definitely did and when my number was finally called I marched to my station and handed all my documents. The lady opened my marriage certificate and mumbled, "This bride/groom certificate, need probate judge copy, dunno why South Ca'lina do that." (Ummm English please) aka"what do you mean?" She went on to explain that I was not going to be able to take the test till I had the correct copy. She gave me a form and told me if I filled it out and got it notarized I could come back in and get in her line with my old ticket and she would take me. I left so pissed off and got in my car, had a small meltdown, drove to the place she told me I could get it notarized but their notary was not working today (go figure), got back in the car, had another small melt down and found another place that could notarize not too far away. By the time I got back to the DMV she let me back in about 20 minutes later- which was awesome. Finally I had all correct documents. I took the eye test missing a few of the signs (some were just shapes with nothing inside them), took the written test and passed with flying colors (no mistakes!) Then stood in another line for someone to recheck my paperwork and another line to take my picture (which they didn't even let me see!) I walked out of the DMV at 2:38 PM, 6 hours and 31 minutes of my life later!

Moral of the story: I do not ever want to hear anyone from SC complain about their DMV. Mark Sanford made it a priority to make sure every DMV in the state would privide customers with a quick and positive experience. Ok that may be taking it a little far but they have made changes to make sure the DMV's in SC are great (especially in comparison to the ones in NC.) I had to go to a SC DMV in July and I was in and out in less than 15 minutes. South Carolina, when it comes to DMV's you have no clue how good you have it. I realize this post is probably slightly dramatic but I just returned from the ordeal. A whole day was wasted and I needed to vent about it. Believe it or not this is a 'quick' version of the story there are lots of side stories, conversations and charters I experienced, met and chatted with along the way that I could go on and on about but I will spare you. Sorry for the bitching, if you have made it this far in this post you deserve a medal or maybe just a front of the line pass at the DMV... But on the bright side it is Halloween weekend and in a few hours Matt and I will be going out to dinner (with some much needed cocktails) and then to see Paranormal Activity 2. I will post about the whole weekend next week. Happy Halloween!

Until next time....

P.S. Thank God I used spell check because I have now learned that I was unable to spell LICENSE correctly one time in this entire post.

Monday, October 18, 2010

What I'm doing these days....

With nothing specific to write about I thought I would fill you in on last week, it was a very fun week filled with way more exciting events than my normal day to day. I was at a work event called ITME Tuesday-Thursday in Chicago. It is an event where hotels, destination management companies, CVB’s etc. from around the world come to represent the tourism in their country. A lot of companies similar to mine as well as meeting planners etc attend this to network, find out about more info about a destination, new properties, hotels, cruises etc. I went to this event last year as well and it always sponsors a lot of parties and dinners so it is always fun to meet people from all around the world and network at this event. I packed a lot in the two days I was there: we went on a Chicago River Cruise, went to a party that rented out House of Blues, a dinner and cocktail parties and a Las Vegas Party. Most importantly I got to see Kate while I was in town! She met me at one of my parties, we stayed there for awhile before leaving and embarrassing ourselves at a karaoke bar where we were the feature singers of the night, enough said. We capped off our night at 3:00 AM by going to a cute little restaurant downtown and ordering yummy grilled cheeses and fries. I was pretty impressed considering I'm pretty sure the only thing that would be open at 3:00 AM on a Wednesday night in Charlotte is Waffle House. It is always so good to see her and we had so much fun. This was the 4th time I have been to Chicago and I really do love the city!

I returned from Chicago on Thursday night and went down to Clemson on Friday. Clemson was playing Maryland this past weekend and we had a lot of friends come to the game. On Friday Matt, Neil, Maggie and I had a quick dinner at Backstreets complete with pizza and liquor pitchers (ahh Backstreets- always a fun Clemson staple!) Then we went to a lake house that a bunch of our friends had rented for the weekend and hung out there for the rest of the night. It is always fun to get back and see everyone! We tailgated on Saturday morning and got to see Hayley and Jay (my new sister and brother in law) for the first time since I found out Hayley was pregnant! So it was really good to see them and I know Matt was excited to see Neil and Hayley at the game. It was a noon game which we won (finally-Go Tigers!)

We were planning on leaving right after the game was over because Matt and I had tickets to see Chelsea Handler in Charlotte Saturday night. Well to make a long story short, I am obsessed with Chelsea Handler. She’s pretty much my favorite celebrity and I think she is hilarious. Well Matt tells me on Friday night (after we were already in Clemson) that he found out Chelsea was doing a book signing on Saturday at Park Road Books in Charlotte at 4:00 PM before her show that night. I was a little sad because we had planned on staying for the game and I knew there was no way I could make it back in time for the signing. Matt ended up calling the bookstore that night and they said she would only be signing for an hour: 4:00-5:00 and 400 books max- so I felt better thinking I would never have made it there without waiting in line all day anyways. So on Saturday at half time during the game (around 2:00pm) I decided to call the bookstore just to check the status. They said there was only 10 ppl in line for the 4:00 signing. I couldn’t believe it. We called again around 2:30- only 25 people in line. Matt, being the wonderful husband he is, could tell I was freaking out and really wanting to go so he suggested we just leave the game early and try to make it there. So that’s what we did. We booked it to Charlotte and I ran in the bookstore at 4:48 PM. Only to find out she was GONE and had left at 4:30 because no one else was there to get a book signed (I could have had her all to myself!) I was so bummed we had left the game early and that we still missed her! So I went home to get ready for the show. I saw something online saying that she might be doing a book signing as well after the show that night. So we got to the show extra early to try to get to the bottom of this. I’m so glad we did because when we got there they said the first 400 ppl to buy her book get a wrist band and can go to a signing after the show. I was so happy, also slightly annoyed considering I already had the book and had to buy it again twice (one for me and one for Matt). So I now have 3 copies of her book, but it was a small price to pay. The show was AWESOME. She performed with Heather McDonald (who is one of my favorite comedians on her show who I also love). After the show we waited about an hour and a half for the signing (again, Matt is such a trooper)! So we got two signed copies of Chelsea’s book and the only picture I could get was the one below. We also got a signed copy of Heather McDonalds book and a few pictures with her (security didn’t make you move immediately with her like they did with Chelsea.) Even though I only got to talk to her for like 20 seconds (I told her I loved her and have been watching her since she was on Girls Behaving Badly then asked her if she was going to go out after the show-she said no :( ) it was so worth it and I’m so glad we stayed.

Sunday we slept in after a long weekend, relaxed all day, went and saw The Social Network (really good) and to dinner. The perfect end to a perfect week! I hope you all out there had a great weekend as well!

Until next time…



View from our hotel (W Lake Shore)




Waiting to get my books signed :)

Chelsea signing my book! The only picture I was able to get :p

Heather McDonald signing my book

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Friends+Fall+Football=FUN

This past weekend was the Clemson/Miami game. While the game was dissappointing the fun was not lost. Being an extremely dedicated Clemson fan for 25 years now you get used to these sort of things. Thats why since college we have just adopted the "Win or Lose, We Still Booze Philospohy."

This was a very fun weekend because SO many of my favorite people were in town for the game! Sometimes when I think about the fact that most of my friends and I are all living in different places and spread out across the country it makes me sad. But I am so glad we are able to all get together like this AT LEAST 2-3 times a year. This year I was actually very spoiled because with all the plans for my wedding (showers, parties etc.) I got to see my friends a lot more than normal within the past 6 months. I was sad after the wedding wondering when the next time I was going to see everyone would be. It always sucks leaving friends and having no clue the next time you will see them! But shortly after that we all talked about a game to go to and I was so glad it worked out that so many people could come!

The only thing I love even more than seeing all of my friends is seeing all of my friends IN CLEMSON! I love going back to the places that we loved when we were in school there only 3 short years ago (seems like yesterday-tear!) So on Friday we all went to dinner at Blue Heron followed by a trip to 356 (I think that was it for Friday?) Saturday we did our own tailgate and got out there very early (like 9:00 AM) and stayed there allllll day (probably until at least 9:30 PM)...Oh and we saw a football game in between! Then to top off the night we made a stop at Backstreets for some pizza and liquor pitchers. It was a very fun time and we are all already trying to plan our next get-together (New Years hopefully!) Here are some pictures from the weekend.







We created a new Superhero who we will refer to as MOTH SPIDER!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Costa Rica- Pure Vida

I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica last week. I left on 9/26 and got back on 9/30- short and sweet, those are the kind of work trips I like! :) This was my first time in Costa Rica. I flew in to Liberia and drove to the Papagayo Peninsula where the hotel was. From what the locals were saying Costa Rica really only has two seasons: dry and "green" aka. rainy season. Rainy season is from June-November, Dry season from December-May. So we were there for rainy season and boy did it rain! It was always on and off and it was such great weather when it wasn't raining (perfect temps but VERY humid!)

I stayed at the Four Seasons Papagayo. The hotel was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. This was also my first time staying in a Four Seasons. The property was truly amazing and the service was excellent! When I first got to my room I thought wow I must have been upgraded, but no- I was in a totally standard room. They have the nicest 'standard' rooms I've stayed in. All rooms have huge balconies with "ocean views". I say "ocean views" because in Costa Rica they can only have their structures/buildings/hotels so high and they don't do things like cut down trees so you can see the ocean, which I liked. But we still got some beautiful views driving around Papagayo. They have two types of monkeys all over the peninsula: capuchin (the little ones with the white faces) and the howler. I only saw howler monkeys while I was there but I really hope to see the others when I go back! On a side note, supposedly Heidi Montag was there while we were but I am sad to say I did not have any sightings.

We have a group of 250 people coming here in June. So this was a site inspection trip to make some decisions about the activities and events we would do there with the group etc. Those are definitely my favorite trips. Like a little "test" of what you want the groups to experience. While we were there we got a tour of the whole property, went to check out 2 venues we are using, went to view a catamaran and all the motorcoach vehicles we will be using, interview some local staff and my favorite thing we did...go ziplining! I thought I would be way too scared to do it and I was on the first two lines but after the first couple of lines it all feels the same and I was brave enough to actually open my eyes and enjoy it! :)

We got a lot done and had some fun at the same time. I am excited to go back there in June. Here are some of the pictures from the trip:



My room


Our car being stampeded by cows!


On the way to see the Catamaran


Four Seasons Property





Until Next Time...