January 08, 2004

Pleasant surprise at the DMV

(Actually I think it's the 'Drivers License Center' instead of 'Department of Motor Vehicles', but 'Pleasant surprise at the DLC' might lead you to think this is political...)

My license was due to expire next week so I braced myself for the inevitable lines and frustration to renew it. Especially because we moved a little while ago and didn't let the license people know about it. (Bad Chris!) Barb went through this a couple months ago and told me I had to first get a 'Camera Card' at a Messenger Service then take that card to the license center to do the renewal. (Apparently if I lived at the same place I could have done this online or through the mail.) The Messenger Center seems to be a designation for a private company that acts as a helper to the state government. Fortunately there's one about a mile away from home and getting the Camera Card was a piece of cake, five minutes tops.

Next I went to the license center. First thing was a small device about chest high with the instructions: "Press 1 if you're renewing and have your camera card, press 2 if you have blah blah, or press 2 for everything else." Whatever -- I press 1 and get back a small receipt with a printed number and estimated wait time. Nice. Even better, the wait time is 1 minute.

Three minutes later I give my old license and Camera Card to a nice gentleman, who scans them in and then directs me to a computer screen where I indicate whether I'm an organ donor (yes) and whether I'm registered to vote in Pennsylvania (yes). I sign in a box, he takes my digital photo and asks if it's okay (yes). Another three-minute wait and the card is printed and I'm ready to go. Excellent!

Next: brian on Perl certification
Previous: OS X history and architecture