Here’s the final adjustments on the new clutch. That brings the total cost of maintenance in one year to a third the price of the scooter new. To make this sound less grim, recollect that I drove it 5,900 miles, or three times what had been planned. And that total is insignificant compared to a car repair. So it was worth it and I still love my little red scooter.
What’s not to like? The situation in California. It is bad enough the system keeps files on people, and stores information that is really none of anybody’s business, but they create an artificial market by requiring certified copies of those files. So it’s going to cost me $40 to rubber stamp a certificate I wish they didn’t have in the first place, but wait, here comes the bad news.To get a copy by mail of a California document requires six to eight months. Ah, you suspect that’s a typo. Nope. Call 213-974-1196 in Los Angeles and tell them you’d like a copy of any public document, like a birth certificate. You don’t have to state your name, just ask them how long it will take. If you walk in, it is a two hour wait, but I don’t live in California. They cancelled their on-line system months ago, but not the web page which still tells you the outdated information. They make you phone for the bad news.
Their explanation is the “furlough days” of the Governator. The civil service is getting him back by causing massive delays. America, look how you are entering the new century. What a crying shame. I don’t even care about that deed, but because some bureaucrat demands it so, I may have to spend a thousand dollars to get it before July. The whole situation is so contrived it saddens me what’s happened to this once great land.
Furthermore, thanks to the above situation, we could not hold the club meeting tonight, although I will drop by after dark with a package of parts. Hold on. I just thought of something. I do know somebody in California who always ships me things overnight. My electronic supplier contact at Hacktronics. Let me check how close he lives to where those files are kept. Now why didn’t I think of that?
The scooter shop is closed, but the mechanic is just over near Lee’s, the bicycle place. That’s him working on the scooter. A stroll around the block while he went for parts shows so many of the little shops have closed up. The coffee shop with the leggy Russian gal is gone and what’s still open is either stuff I don’t use, like ice cream parlors, or outrageously expensive, also like ice cream parlors.
I’ve cannibalized my remaining computers to gather the parts. I’ve had a real bad run of luck for five in a row. I’ve contacted Fred for a simple shell, that is a power supply, chip, and motherboard. I’ll install everything else from the operating system to the burners to the RAM. There is no reason these custom built computers have malfunctioned so many times.
It was unexpected, but I met quite a crowd of youngsters watching a basketball game on TV. I went in for a coffee and imagine my surprise when many of them recognized me as the guy who sang “Biddley-up-bup-bup”. This is that Karaoke tune that I’ve given “the treatment”, so it is impossible they could be mistaking me for anyone else. I’ve never sung that song any way else. Now how about that?
Later, I sent out feelers in desperation. If I don’t get that document, I can’t get the money and vice versa. Strange that America would allow strangers to create that situation. I remember when it was illegal to harm anyone, even if you were “right”. The bases covered are the supplier guy mentioned above, a lawyer in downtown LA, and a contact from the nearest Romanian Catholic Church, my connection with which is not about to be explained. I’m just glad to have the bases covered.
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