Inconsiderate fiends! They could have fired up their 110-decibel leafblowers instead.
Phooey!
Keep trying for an earlier one, on the off chance there is a cancellation, and also see if there is a contact phone number or email where you can let them know of the situation, to see if anyone can help get you in sooner.
In the meantime: Check to see if there are any extra-special double-secret rules in place for renewing an expired license. A friend found out the hard way a couple years back, that she had to provide extra ID documentation - and as a naturalized US citizen, she had to provide her naturalization info.
Which she did… except there was a screwup in whatever database the DMV was consulting, and she wasn’t listed, and her original naturalization certificate was not, apparently, sufficient. IIRC she had to get her Congressman involved.
Since you were born in the US (I think) that part may not be a problem, but don’t be surprised if they want stuff like birth certificate, proof of name change (if you are not using your maiden name) or whatever.
My rant is that it’s only March 11 and it’s already warm enough to open up the windows, as if it was summer but not hot enough to turn on the A/C. WTF! This is supposed to be the Great White North. I love winter! Where the fuck is the “White” part of our national heritage? Pretty soon we’re bound to get black widow spiders and other vermin migrating across the border to enjoy all the nice (for them) warmth! No longer will I be able to put groceries in the trunk, secure in the knowledge that they’ll keep cool all the way home even from a distant store.
Looking forward to next November.
Reminded of this in a thread that mentioned tie-dye Crocs:
Some women have large feet, and also like not-completely-boring shoes.
But the girliest thing I can find for my size 12 feet is in navy blue. Not just Crocs, but other things like Birkenstocks. Super-comfy (so I’ve heard) shoe brands like Dansko and Teva don’t even make anything in my size.
Or even non-unisex shoes. It’s nearly impossible to find anything with any style at all in my size. A few years ago, we were in northern New Jersey for a family event, and I made a point of visiting Globe Shoes which is notorious for having hard-to-find sizes. I bought 9 pairs of shoes - which alarmed my credit card issuer (1000 dollars at a shoe store 200 miles from home! Can’t say as I blame ;em). Just call me Imelda.
I expect these will last me the rest of my life - since my everyday fugly walking shoes are either unisex, or CAN be found locally. I wear the fun things maybe a couple times a year - and since March 2020, not even that much.
Oh, and it’s nearly impossible to find even the fugly shoes at inexpensive stores; only top-priced brands (Munro, SAS etc.) make them in my size. Last time I shopped, I was the youngest person in the store who was not an employee. Yes, I shop at the old-lady shoe store and am grateful for the opportunity.
My wife used a slice of bread as a hot dog bun, but a slice of bread, even toasted, is not going to be sturdy enough for a bratwurst with mustard and sauerkraut. But the point of the rant was that I had to toss an entire package of hot dog buns, that cost me over $3, because they were already moldy after three days. I suspect they may have already been starting to get moldy before they ever left the store. I guess I need to take a closer look at the bread products I’m buying.
Yeah, that sucks.
That actually would have been preferable. We’re pretty spread out here. The sound doesn’t travel nearly as far as the smoke does.
Try a store called Sole Provisions. They carry lots of brands, in lots of colors, and yes, they have size 12s (and larger) for women. You can order online.
(No, they’re not cheap. Lowest price I saw was for a pair of sandals at $55, but Vionic is supposed to be a decent brand.)
Maybe make the acquaintance of some drag queens and find out how they find suitable footwear?
You deserve pretty things.
I’ve thought of it!
Years back, a friend was appearing in a community theater play where he had to dress as a female. He bemoaned how hard it had been to find cheap shoes for the role. I told him he should have called me - I could have loaned him some.
Our DMV also has appointments that are months in the future. When I just showed up at opening time I was seen and finished within 30 minutes.
The tl/dr version: Insurance companies will screw over existing customers financially as long as they can get away with it. They will drain you dry, until you call 'em up and say “what’s with that?”. At which point they say “Oooh, my bad!” with a cute wink, and drop your rates.
In 2002, we moved to a new house. We’d been with the stupid flightless bird (TSFB) for years, and contacted them re the new place. “Oh Noes!”, they said, “We can’t automatically issue that policy, you’ve been Bad People”. This, because we’d had 2 claims in the previous few years - one due to wind damage, one due to property stolen due to a car breakin, in another state. Never mind that they had renewed our policy at least once since those incidents: for a new policy, it had to go through a committee review.
I called around - and we were definitely not welcome by any other insurers due to those incidents. Fortunately, TSFB did agree to issue a policy on the new place.
A few years after we moved, our homeowners’ policy had nearly doubled. I called them about the auto policy, as we wanted to drop collision on our ancient Civic - and they did a “rate review” and slashed the homeowner’s policy - back nearly to where it had been when we moved in. Ooooohkay. Not sure how we’re suddenly better risks.
Over the years, the auto policy had crept up. It was about 1400 a year when our son got his license, which basically doubled it. New driver, not unexpected, and he did have one fender-bender early on. That’s why they charge more for new drivers.
But the rates kept rising, and rising, and rising, as he became an experienced driver and we went longer with no accidents, tickets etc. They dropped a bit last year when COVID shut stuff down, and we just got a letter saying “Congrats, we’re dropping your rate another 200 bucks, aren’t we GREAT”.
That still left us paying 5000 a year for the past year, between the homeowner’s policy and the auto policy. OUCH!
I got quotes online from other providers - for half that much.
So - I called TSFB and said (after waiting on hold for quite a while, 'cuz they want you to make policy changes online and not speak to a human who might help you)… and got the homeowner’s policy cut 200 bucks (mostly due to the updated roof) and the car policy cut massively. As in, about 60% less than the current premium. With identical coverage.
No offer to buy me breakfast, but at 200+ savings a month I guess I can buy my own.
Took longer than 15 minutes, I saved more than 15%, and the takeaway lesson is Entropy Is Bad and don’t just let stuff go on, unchecked.
I had someone blowing and raking my leaves last week but he hurt his back with about a third of the front yard left. That’s more than it sounds because I live on a corner and the yard wraps around. Anyway, I hired someone to come today to finish up. He and another guy showed up about 10 a.m. He had said they would be here around noon so the blowers woke me up. By the time I made coffee, I noticed I didn’t hear the blowers. I looked out and they were gone. What the fuck? I texted him and got no reply.
I know my leaves are a pain in the ass. I have a massive water oak with those long, thin leaves. But if he didn’t want to deal with it, why give me an estimate in the first place? And it wasn’t just some guys with blowers. They had a truck with a trailer holding lawn equipment. So they are legit. I’m debating whether to post about it on NextDoor which is where he advertised his service. What an unprofessional asshole.
Being rural, with heavily forested creek canyons on both sides of us, we get them far too frequently. About 8 months ago, as I was taking the house dogs out in the early morning for their outside break, walked out onto the back porch to find fresh raccoon tracks. Walked outside, there were 3 of them up my big fir tree. That’s the last thing I need my terrier or elderly GSP coming face-to-face with in the wee hours.
I put up with the barn swallows, as not only are they fun to watch flying in the evening, given that we have a large pond on our property, I’ve only had one mosquito bite in the 14 years we’ve lived there. I’ll put up with the poop!
They have an entire effing barn to nest in, they don’t need my porch.
Besides, I generate lots of bugs for them (they swoop and dive-bomb around me when I’m mowing, since that causes insects to fly up and become bird dinner).
Add in cable and phone companies too. Happy to jack up rates across the board charge more for less. Such a chore to combat it. That’s why they can do it.
I have some shocking news for you all: businesses want to extract as much money as possible.
Duly noted, I feel the same way, but do have to rescue one from the porch every so often 
Like that post?
(I keed, I keed)