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I am now officially a New York resident. A Yankee once again. I don't know if people in the South are nicer or more refined than those up North, but I do know that I feel much more at home up here than I did in Tennessee and South Carolina. But then, I live in Ithaca; the people here are weird.
At any rate, I got a NY driver's license and registration on the same day. Curiously, I walked away with the plates but have to wait a few weeks for the license. For now, I have a piece of paper that says I have permission to drive. Naturally, the NY DMV confiscated my old license (this was also the policy of the SC DMV). This means that I have to carry around my passport if I want to purchase any sort of potent potable in town. Jud has been dealing with this for a while now. At first, places were accepting the combination of paper DL and Cornell ID, but apparently, someone made a bunch of fake Cornell IDs. I'm not entirely sure what new residents who don't have passports are supposed to do if they want a beer. At Wegman's (our nice grocery store), the policy is to card everyone, so you could be in your forties and denied the ability to buy beer because of New York's non-instant driver's license system.
My big complaint about Ithaca is that things work too well. We can't complain about the police because they drive the way we're all taught to drive. They use turn signals, go the speed limit, and stop for pedestrians. Coming from South Carolina, and especially from Rock Hill, this behavior is most unsettling. To make matters worse, our DMV is efficient. All the forms you could possibly need, including instructions and tips, are online. New drivers call in advance to schedule their tests. They have about six employees waiting to help those who have forms, and three to help people who just need information. I arrived at the DMV late Friday morning, waited less than five minutes in line, and was out the door in less than half an hour. Harrowing. You don't even have to do the eye test in one of those terrible machines--you just read an eye chart. There's a certain level of disservice we Americans have come to expect, and despite what many people think, I believe we genuinely enjoy complaining about it. How can you say you've been to the DMV if you haven't waited forty minutes in line, only to reach the front, find out you've filled out one line incorrectly, and be sent to the back for a different form? Still, it's a lot more fun to complain about efficiency. =)
I also registered to vote in New York. I am relieved I will not have to get myself out of jury duty in SC once again (I've been summoned twice to jury duty in Rock Hill). There seem to be a lot of interesting local elections here that the students embrace, so it'll be nice to participate.
As for running, I cancelled the Philly Distance Run because giving blood last week affected me more than I had anticipated. Now I am essentially starting over, trying to maintain a moderate 25 mpw while increasing the amount of time I actually spend running. I am doing one continuous run per week, a few 3-4 mile runs with walking breaks once per mile or once per 15 minutes, and an 8-mile long run with progressively fewer walking breaks. Until now, I've been 4:1 run:walk intervals. My goal is to run anything 10K or less continuously and anything longer with breaks at each mile (since I know I will never master running and drinking water from Dixie cups).
And now it's time for me to get back to work. =)
At any rate, I got a NY driver's license and registration on the same day. Curiously, I walked away with the plates but have to wait a few weeks for the license. For now, I have a piece of paper that says I have permission to drive. Naturally, the NY DMV confiscated my old license (this was also the policy of the SC DMV). This means that I have to carry around my passport if I want to purchase any sort of potent potable in town. Jud has been dealing with this for a while now. At first, places were accepting the combination of paper DL and Cornell ID, but apparently, someone made a bunch of fake Cornell IDs. I'm not entirely sure what new residents who don't have passports are supposed to do if they want a beer. At Wegman's (our nice grocery store), the policy is to card everyone, so you could be in your forties and denied the ability to buy beer because of New York's non-instant driver's license system.
My big complaint about Ithaca is that things work too well. We can't complain about the police because they drive the way we're all taught to drive. They use turn signals, go the speed limit, and stop for pedestrians. Coming from South Carolina, and especially from Rock Hill, this behavior is most unsettling. To make matters worse, our DMV is efficient. All the forms you could possibly need, including instructions and tips, are online. New drivers call in advance to schedule their tests. They have about six employees waiting to help those who have forms, and three to help people who just need information. I arrived at the DMV late Friday morning, waited less than five minutes in line, and was out the door in less than half an hour. Harrowing. You don't even have to do the eye test in one of those terrible machines--you just read an eye chart. There's a certain level of disservice we Americans have come to expect, and despite what many people think, I believe we genuinely enjoy complaining about it. How can you say you've been to the DMV if you haven't waited forty minutes in line, only to reach the front, find out you've filled out one line incorrectly, and be sent to the back for a different form? Still, it's a lot more fun to complain about efficiency. =)
I also registered to vote in New York. I am relieved I will not have to get myself out of jury duty in SC once again (I've been summoned twice to jury duty in Rock Hill). There seem to be a lot of interesting local elections here that the students embrace, so it'll be nice to participate.
As for running, I cancelled the Philly Distance Run because giving blood last week affected me more than I had anticipated. Now I am essentially starting over, trying to maintain a moderate 25 mpw while increasing the amount of time I actually spend running. I am doing one continuous run per week, a few 3-4 mile runs with walking breaks once per mile or once per 15 minutes, and an 8-mile long run with progressively fewer walking breaks. Until now, I've been 4:1 run:walk intervals. My goal is to run anything 10K or less continuously and anything longer with breaks at each mile (since I know I will never master running and drinking water from Dixie cups).
And now it's time for me to get back to work. =)
posted by megan at
9:36 AM
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