“Remoted” Workday 210 / Day 318 (Thursday)

On Wednesday, a bold noontime trip was undertaken. The destinations were the Post Office for a passport renewal form, and City Hall to deposit the dog license paperwork in the secure drop box. The trip took a miraculous and miniscule 15 minutes including parking and getting out of the car twice. The pandemic stinks and is wearing everyone out, but the Wednesday midday pandemic traffic was awesome. I wish it could be like this all the time. In the pre-pandemic times, it could take that long to get out of my street and a quarter mile to the first traffic light. 

Oops. Black ink errors.

The prep work before the trip spanned several evenings. There were visits to the city website to check for changes to the licensing dates while City Hall is closed to the public, but just because there is a pandemic doesn't mean there is a grace period. Late fees start February 1, just like always. An email to the City Clerk’s office with questions went unanswered for several days, prompting a phone call. The Post Office website was visited for information about the correct forms and if an appointment was needed for renewals (nope!). A phone call was placed to ask about the presence of a public photo copier (not any more) and location of the forms (rack on the wall outside the Passport counter).

The dog license application form is downloadable, but no printer access renders the feature useless. The rabies certificate is supposed to be submitted with the form, but the absence of copier access was a problem. I used to go in person and the counter clerk would photocopy everything and hand it back. The person on the phone said to send the original rabies certificates with a note asking for their return, and the dog names and dates of previous licensing. A copy of last year's application form was found in the massive dog files, and “2020” was squeezed onto the line for “previously licensed” next to 2017, 2018, and 2019. The original rabies certificates and a note requesting their return were packaged with the form and check for the fees and put into an envelope. Full trust has been placed in the system.

Forty-five minutes had been blocked on my calendar for the Post Office/City Hall jaunt, so a quick trip to Family Dollar for dog biscuits was slipped in before returning to the home office. On the way to the pet supplies row, a display of cute desk lamps was spotted with a couple colors perfect for the office. Unfortunately, there were none of the specified light bulbs in the light bulb display, and no empty space to indicate there ever had been any, either. As much as a task light is needed, one with no light bulb is as useless as none at all, so the lamp went back on the shelf. 

Luckily, two passport renewal forms had been taken, because after a lengthy search for the mandatory black ink pen, the form was screwed up. Twice. The first error was writing first name first, then noticing it was supposed to be last name first. It seems really stupid having to repeat info entered on page one on page two, but this is a government form.

Further down the page, the address was screwed up for emergency contact info of “a person not traveling with you,” resulting in two scribbled out spots on the page. It looked really bad, so it was time to start over. And what’s up with that "person not traveling with me" information? Does this now mean I can never travel with the person whose information is in that line? Seems kind of harsh. And permanent, Oh, and sorry, Mom.