Well, we're all in the mood for a melody

[austin_dern]

So we handled the Secretary of State just about perfectly. We'd gone in with plenty of documentation, had to head back briefly, but, we achieved the goals of getting my temporary Michigan driver's license, got my car insurance changed over, got new car registration, and got new plates, and for all that we took maybe two hours start to stop. (It helped that there was an office in the mall not two miles from our home.)

So we went to putting the new plates on. Well, the new plate, since Michigan only has rear plates, which is one of many parts of Michigan automobile-related laws that strike me as signs of rampant immorality. (They also don't have auto inspections; I can barely stand that New Jersey dropped to biennial car inspections.) But while bunny_hugger found the screwdriver of the right size to take the old plates off, I put the registration sticker --- something New Jersey does not have, at least not since biennial inspections went in --- on the plate where it would turn out to be partially obscured by the dealer's plate frame. Well, no police have bothered me about it yet.

bunny_hugger discovered that for the front plates my dealer originally had not been fitted into the properly moulded spots on the bumper. Actually, the front bumper made no allowance for license plates; my car had no provision for front plates. There were just holes drilled right into the fiberglass. After cleaning the bumper I decided the least unattractive thing to do with the holes was replace the dealer's plate frame. I haven't found anything to take the plate's place, but at least there's not the open holes dangling loose in the breeze.

A couple weeks later Michigan sent my actual non-temporary driver's license, so I didn't have to go driving with the sheet of paper stapled to my New Jersey license, something I managed to leave the house a few times without anyway. They also sent a voter ID card, which was kind, but they needn't have bothered. Surely the polling place's workers will notice I'm a white male.

Trivia: United Fruit's film Why The Kremlin Hates Bananas attempted to explain how increasing Department of Justice scrutiny of its role in the Guatemalan coup of 1954 was the result of Communist agitation. Source: Bananas: How The United Fruit Company Shaped The World, Peter Chapman.

Currently Reading: Star Dragon, Neil Brotherton.

PS: Reading the Comics, October 13, 2012. Failed to mention this one yesterday. It's the roundup of comic strips that had mathematical content from the last couple of weeks.

Comments

[moxie_man]

Every state's laws are different. Bring that ID card with you to the poll just in case.

As for the front plate, since you now live in a state which doesn't require one, you can fill that spot with something else. Surely, there's some artist at one of the various furry conventions you go to who does "license plate" artwork. Commission them to do one you can "frame" on your front bumper. :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I have thought about what I might use to fill the plate space. I haven't seen anything that's appealed, though, at least not and fit my own sense of style.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I've seen such for offer. I think Fossil would be just the artist for such.

[moxie_man]

And, I assume, such would get laminated by the artist to protect the work from the elements.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I'd expect laminated. Or ... hm. I know a company that makes signs to custom order; I wonder if they're able to embed pictures in plates. Of course, they're still sending me catalogues after the one time we bought something from them and shouldn't encourage them further.