A few weeks ago my dad had a birthday. At the time I didn't think anything of it---it was Valentine's day, my dad turned an unspecified age...something was missing. What could it be? What had I forgotten?

Last week as I was driving home I saw an 08 sticker on someone's car and realized that my car is registered to my dad---at the time I bought it I was disabled (that's a fancy way of saying unemployed due to extenuating circumstances) and I'd never had the title transferred. I'd completely forgotten to do the registration.

This is odd, because last year I'd gotten some mail reminding me do register the month before. This year I'd gotten no notice. I logged onto oplates.com to see if I could register and found out that I could not---apparently they'd sent the paperwork to my old address and instead of forwarding the mail the post office returned it. Instead of sending it to the other address listed for the plates (my parents' house) they sat on it. I had to change the address, a process that takes 24 hours and required me to sweet talk my dad's drivers license number off of him. He tried to pull my leg, giving me all sorts of backtalk about identity theft and the like until I gently told him that I already had his social security number and that because of my job I had total access to all sorts of detailed personal information about him anyway.

The next day I logged back on, and uh oh! Turns out I needed to be e-checked if I wanted to renew my registration. I wasn't aware of this because of the mailing situation. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been an issue, except that I work during the week and I'd have to go a whole week on still expired plates before being able to make it to the checking place. Also, the sensors I'd had pin-fit months ago were wearing away and my engine light had been flickering for weeks. The sensor was no big deal, and I even had a quote for the work I needed, but I couldn't get e-checked while the light was on, and there was that whole "working during the week" issue to contend with.

Let me bitch about e-check for a minute.
E-check, if it were a consistent statewide thing, would be delightful.
It is not. It's only required for certain counties, which makes no sense. I live in an e-check county but do the bulk of my driving in a non e-check county. Many people living in non e-check counties do their driving in e-check counties. I think it should be either a statewide requirement, or totally done away with.

Anyway, I figured I'd be OK if I could make it to today without getting pulled over. Last night I assumed we were in the clear----if I got pulled over on Saturday (today) I could explain that I was on my way to the mechanic to get fixed up for e-check so I could renew my plates. Then, around 11:00 p.m., we got a call from Bryan's brother. Bryan's nephew had cut himself and needed stitches. They needed someone to come and pick him and Bryan's sister in law up from the hospital and give them a ride home. Bryan's car needed gas and was snowed in at the top of the driveway. I told him to take my car.

Anakin was OK--he got two stitches in his finger, and Bryan picked him and Carol up and drove them home without incident. Unfortunately, on the way back he was followed by a cop for several miles. Finally, the cop pulled him over, explaining that he'd run the plates, and---surprise! They were expired.
Bryan had to explain that it wasn't his car, it was mine. Then he had to explain that it was technically registered to my dad. The cop asked "did he have a birthday recently?" Bryan played stupid. "I know he had a birthday on the 14th. I don't know anything about the plates. I'm not really involved, I just needed to borrow the car."

I'm sure that this didn't sound like a very believable story, but seriously, what kind of an idiot would steal a Kia Rio? He ran Bryan's license and it turned out clean, so the cop actually let him go without giving him a ticket for expired plates or anything.

I could have understood Bryan being followed if he were an erratic driver,but the fact that he was followed for MILES before getting pulled over for plates is sort of dumb. Chill out, Officer Smiley, the state will get its $38.50 soon enough.
(I suppose the cop was just doing his job, but one of my pet peeves is cops following people in cars when there is no speeding, weaving or weird braking going on. The city where I went to high school was notorious for bored police shenanigans, so much so that they'd literally pull people over and MAKE UP an infraction. I will forever equate cop car stalking with that bastard Officer Lonnie.)

I'm impressed Bryan got let off. I'm the sort of person who never DOESN'T get ticketed. I've been pulled over three times in my life, and each time my mouth was faster than my brain. I know I would have said something like "Thank GOD the streets are safe!" and ended up with my car impounded.

Where was I? Oh yes...registration. This morning I awoke in a bad mood, fully prepared to drop $300 on a sensor. I got in my car and turned the key....and the engine light was gone! Could I make it to e-check? In Eaton Township? I drove with my fingers crossed the whole way. Even when I DID make it to the testing place, (thirty nerve shattering minutes later) I tried not to get my hopes up. I figured that my light would pop on again, or that even though the light wasn't on the sensor would still flag something. But it passed! I can't believe it passed.

On the way back from the testing area, my light popped back on. I laughed a little laugh of glee. Obviously I'll be replacing the sensor, but at least my car is legal now.

I need to get the title transferred, because this was a huge pain in my backside.
Better yet, I need a job where I could just be driven everywhere by someone else in a much nicer car than mine.