Wednesday, January 27, 2010
School
The driving factor for my blog is a class I am currently enrolled in. The class, Marketing via New Media, is a pretty big step outside of my normal comfort zone. My background is in finance and I am very left brain. I am, however, surprised at the ease I am having putting my thoughts down and pushing the publish button. Who knows this could be a whole new shift for me...we'll see.
DMV
This morning was spent at the DMV - 3 hours. That should say it all. Anyone who has had to spend time at the DMV (and who hasn't) will know what I am saying. The DMV has no mercy for the old, the young, the weary or the stupid. We are all treated equally by government employees who have to deal with it all.
The old - One women, who must have been in her mid to late 70's, very nicely dressed and put together, wanted simply to make an appointment. She had called the day before, and after going through the lengthy automated process (which is unbelievable in itself), was told the next appointment available was not until the third week of February, two weeks after her birthday and the expiration date of her current license. At the DMV she was told that she could wait in the line with the others who did not have an appointment, currently 50 minutes deep and wrapped outside of the building, or call the 800 number to make an appointment.
The young and the stupid - This was the second trip to the DMV for me in the last 3 days. My nephew (the young one) needed to take the written test in order to get his permit. On Monday, with no appointment scheduled and hopes of getting in and out, we drove to the DMV that I thought might be the least busiest, wrong! The line was out the door and inside it looped around a couple of times. We waited out the hour stay in line only to reach the woman behind the counter with a disappointing tone as we realized that my nephew needed his birth certificate in order to verify his ID. Hello! How stupid are we?
The weary - Today we made our second trip back to the DMV. This time we went to what I thought might be the second least busiest DMV, wrong! We planned to be there when they opened to get the advantage. With proper ID in hand we arrived 10 minutes after they opened to find again another line out the door and what we thought might be a 20 minute wait. An hour later (and a trip to Starbucks) we made it to the front of the line. Paperwork in hand we took our seat and waited the next 55 minutes until my nephew's number was called. He left for the window indicated on the TV screen while I sat behind and opened my book. As another hour passed I saw my nephew heading my way. I followed him outside unable to tell whether or not this exhausting 3 hour adventure was going to have a happy ending or a long enduring ride home. Success!
As I sat there watching people come and go, renewing their license, registration, ID's, watching people trying to figure out ways to avoid the long line only to be sent back to the end, I realized the one thing the DMV was very clever about...the voice that calls your number is so kind and gentle it is hard to be angry as she calls out the next number and you realize you are still 20 numbers back.
The old - One women, who must have been in her mid to late 70's, very nicely dressed and put together, wanted simply to make an appointment. She had called the day before, and after going through the lengthy automated process (which is unbelievable in itself), was told the next appointment available was not until the third week of February, two weeks after her birthday and the expiration date of her current license. At the DMV she was told that she could wait in the line with the others who did not have an appointment, currently 50 minutes deep and wrapped outside of the building, or call the 800 number to make an appointment.
The young and the stupid - This was the second trip to the DMV for me in the last 3 days. My nephew (the young one) needed to take the written test in order to get his permit. On Monday, with no appointment scheduled and hopes of getting in and out, we drove to the DMV that I thought might be the least busiest, wrong! The line was out the door and inside it looped around a couple of times. We waited out the hour stay in line only to reach the woman behind the counter with a disappointing tone as we realized that my nephew needed his birth certificate in order to verify his ID. Hello! How stupid are we?
The weary - Today we made our second trip back to the DMV. This time we went to what I thought might be the second least busiest DMV, wrong! We planned to be there when they opened to get the advantage. With proper ID in hand we arrived 10 minutes after they opened to find again another line out the door and what we thought might be a 20 minute wait. An hour later (and a trip to Starbucks) we made it to the front of the line. Paperwork in hand we took our seat and waited the next 55 minutes until my nephew's number was called. He left for the window indicated on the TV screen while I sat behind and opened my book. As another hour passed I saw my nephew heading my way. I followed him outside unable to tell whether or not this exhausting 3 hour adventure was going to have a happy ending or a long enduring ride home. Success!
As I sat there watching people come and go, renewing their license, registration, ID's, watching people trying to figure out ways to avoid the long line only to be sent back to the end, I realized the one thing the DMV was very clever about...the voice that calls your number is so kind and gentle it is hard to be angry as she calls out the next number and you realize you are still 20 numbers back.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Homework
I am taking a course on social media to learn how to use social networking sites as a means of marketing. My assignment today was to set up my blog and write at least 3 posts. It took me some time to get this done as my two children, Simone, 14 and Tori, 11 were also doing their homework. Their homework time can last anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours. Not because the amount of homework varies that much but because there is always something that comes up, something that has to be talked about, dealt with or addressed. Today was no different. We talked about their assignments; Simone was stuck in a group science project with boys who wanted to dump all the work on her (we worked that one out, just tell them "I don't think so!"). We reviewed student council applications; Tori your application should be about what you will do for your class not just what it will do for you (she may be a true politician in the making). And, we spent at least an hour searching our whole house for a lost science and math book which have just magically disappeared.
Tonight was not much different from most weeknights at our house, you can easily switch out the missing books for missing homework, dance shoes, swim goggles, riding helmet or a number of other things. Science, math, studying vocab words all of it, although in the moment seems exhausting, is our life and I am happy to be able to jump into the mix with my own homework assignments, blogging, who me.
Tonight was not much different from most weeknights at our house, you can easily switch out the missing books for missing homework, dance shoes, swim goggles, riding helmet or a number of other things. Science, math, studying vocab words all of it, although in the moment seems exhausting, is our life and I am happy to be able to jump into the mix with my own homework assignments, blogging, who me.
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