Nothing's Easy

 

Old welcome sign on 95 (2016)

We interrupt the serious problems in life for the frivolous.

If you prefer to not deal with problems that are minimal in reality, then you might want to skip this post tonight.

If you understand that I tell stories then carry on.

As you are probably really aware, I recently moved to the delightful little nook known as Greenwich, CT after half a century in Putnam County, NY.

In hindsight, what was I thinking? It's apparently not that easy to just plunk down life in a new state without headaches.

The first thing I did was head to visit the Greenwich post office and change my address. The process was fairly simple and painless. In fact, it was great.

Cool, cool.

Heck, the police found me a short time back when they showed up to ask about my being in the neighborhood of an accident earlier in June. 

Along the way, I've changed a few accounts online to get things to the Greenwich address. In at least one case, I had to make a phone call.

Please note I largely abhor making phone calls.

But that phone call -- to my car insurance -- wasn't just a matter of, "Sure! Let's update that address!" Instead, it was, "Oh, while we're at it, we have to change your account which will come with a higher rate even though you won't be commuting as much but, hey, if you pay the full cost upfront then we'll give you a discount!"

I felt like I was going to bang my head.

Oh, there will still be other headaches (see: support, child) and so on.

This, of course, was in addition to getting services for the new address. Overall, a painless process though the Verizon visit took a lot longer than necessary and I still wonder if I made a mistake with my TV package.

Then there's my car.

So, yeah, it seemed nice and easy at first. I made an appointment to go to the DMV. I chose the Norwalk office because it seemed like that would work.

My insurance company had already sent me a temporary card for Connecticut while keeping my New York policy (wisely) active. 

Still, there were delays and hangups that made me decide that my first choice of DMV appointment wasn't wise. I changed it, giving me more time.

The next thing was to get my emissions checked out. That turned out to be simple, with a visit to a nearby site in Greenwich. Five minutes, $20 cash (a little prehistoric, I might add), and I was out.

Today, I decided to pull together the necessary documents, including the main form that I needed to lay out my entire life apparently.

Then, another note caught my eye.

Proof of ownership.  An original title is required, and a leased vehicle requires an original power of attorney from the leasing company.  If you have a lien or are leasing a vehicle, you must contact your lienholder or leasing company to notify them that Connecticut requires the original vehicle title to register a vehicle.  Please notify the lien holder or leasing company using this form and ask them to mail the title...

And, with that, I knew I was once again stuck. So, now, I have to get with the bank I have the loan with and there's nothing on their site that says anything about getting power of attorney.

So, yeah. Nothing is easy.

I'm sure it's no better if I were to go to another state but this sure doesn't thrill me. So the appointment set for this Tuesday will once again get changed.

A quick scan of the appointment portal indicated I could have an invitation in late July. As in, a month from now.

But, hang on, in typical Rob fashion, guess what expires later this week? My New York state inspection. So, if you're following along, I have to go somewhere in New York and spend the money for an inspection that will get used for maybe a month. Because that beats getting a ticket for an expired inspection!

I get it. This, as I said, isn't exactly the biggest thing in the world. It's a nuisance; an annoyance.

It will get resolved and life will go on and we'll say, "Remember when?"

But it's a story for tonight and it's an outlet for me to grumble.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled big world problems.

(Seriously, this isn't to take away from the reality of "real" issues. Just a brief diversion.)

*****

UPDATE, 6/27: I've filled out all of the forms and have moved my appointment to Thursday. It looks like I might have everything I need after all so keep your fingers crossed that this post was, in the end, unnecesary.