Thank you, Petra!

I couldn't end the day without a shout-out to my girl at the DMV. This morning ended up being an errand day.

Yesterday, I looked to see if the car inspection stations were open yet. Turns out they've been open all along. I could've sworn when I checked in April, The Internet said they were closed. I immediately panicked not only for the possible late fee, as my registration expired in May, but that I had all this free time the last 2 months and could've gone then.

I kind of got over it quickly because The Internet was saying there was talk of waiving late fees. I mean at that point, it was definitely a no-crying over spilled milk sitch. Late or not, I had to renew my registration.  I decided to table it for Friday when I would be back at work and more in that mindset.

But you know little Miss Anxious couldn't enjoy her Free Day. So I went this morning. Part of the logic was in the past, I was told it can take 24 hours for the inspection to register in whatever system before you actually can renew your registration.

I was up early enough with nothing to do, so I headed to the dealership to make it easier. Didn't want to have to deal with a local mom-and-pop operation.  I believe in all I was done within an hour. It didn't seem very long at all. And get this, they were running some sort of special and I only had to pay ~$17. (Should I count that as another COVID Free Money Win?!) Usually, it's the full $30.

Thankfully, my car passed.

And before I left the house, I checked to see if one of my transfers to my new Bank Bonus Account had posted yet. It had! So I grabbed that debit card on the way out and in my excitement left my water on the counter.  (I was sweltering by the time I got to the dealership and no cups to get water because #COVID.)

I bought the $500 money order on the way to the dealership and since my local bank was on the way (surprise!), I stopped there and deposited it.  The $500 spend (but really $0.46 for the money order) should translate into a $250 bonus in 60 days.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Well, don't count those chickens just yet. But that's one less thing off my list.

Boy did it feel good to knock three birds out with no stones! Hehe.

So back at home, a few hours later, Anxious Annie decided to see if I could renew yet. Since my address changed I could either do it online (for $3 fee) or go in person. The $3 fee was totes worth not having to deal with nasty DMV employees.

But alas, when I tried to renew online, the online system would only update my Other Name aaaand it didn't recognize my street address. Foiled!

So, I had to go to the local office! First I had to find one. I did and from what I could tell, they were open for regular business (where as the driver license office was by appointment only).

Fully prepared for hardship and nonsense, I took 3 pieces of proof of address, my passport, my DL, and my SS card. Yes, I like to come prepared. I mostly thought it was going to be a fact-finding mission and I would come back empty-handed.

Nope! I was in and out in less time than the roundtrip.

Petra at the counter called me up. I handed her my renewal paper. She asked if my address had changed. I said yes. She said write it down. I did. She said you want me to change it. I said yep. She changed it. Calculated my new total (because we pay property tax for cars here).  It went from $121 (in my former county where the median income is $100k+) to about $96 (in my new county where the median income is < $50k). I paid and out printed my sticker.   For some reason I didn't anticipate them being able to print a sticker instantly, but that's exactly what happened.  She asked for no ID and did not mention the Other Name.

This completely made my day! It even made up for the fact that I meant to pay with a CC (credit card) to meet another CC spend but forgot.

Best day ever!

And as the cherry on top, I asked New Manager at New Job when she saw her team going back to the office. And she said there was no timeline.  So now my wheels are turning. Are we all really going to be in this limbo state until there is a vaccine? I really thought that was all baloney, heretics even, hyperbole.

So now I'm thinking my timeline of having to move in July, then August, then September might still be way off. What if I get to stay here for the next 18 months?! That would be awesome!!

But for now, I'm just thinking at least the next 3 months - Jun, Jul, Aug. So it's making me want to spruce the place up a bit more. More to come!