Place: Burger King
Lunch: Loaded Steakhouse burger, onion rings, Coke
I was filling up my shiny new Rogue when I spotted the burger promo sign in the BK window.
From a distance, the picture made it look like it had bacon, mushrooms, cheddar, and ranch sauce. Up close, the picture made it look like it had bacon, onion petals, barbecue sauce, and a ranch sauce.
Neither impressions proved to be completely accurate. It had: Bacon, American cheese, onion petals, barbecue sauce, and the innards of a twice-baked potato mixed with sour cream and chives.
I have to admit, that's a new idea for a burger. At least I've never seen that before.
And it worked. Pretty good.
Our local drivers license bureau is been in the basement of a dead shopping mall in the central part of the metro for years. I'd long since figured out I could go there during lunch and get in and out in a few minutes. It was never that busy at that time of day.
Last year, they moved to a sprawling new complex in a northern suburb, making it an inconvenient drive for ninety percent of the county. Everybody complained, nobody cared. I guess they did put a new substation in an old strip mall attached to a long abandoned Target. not far from the old place.
Yeah. Like I'm going THERE.
So I go to the new place. The "visitor" parking...a sliver of the vast parking lot...is a one-way situation where you drive to the end, enter, find parking, and drive out the other end. Naturally, somebody is driving the wrong way when I pull in. What better place to break traffic laws than at the DOT headquarters, right?
The new office looks crappy in comparison to the old. It has an open ceiling that really shouldn't be. It looks very industrial. It uses a color scheme of drab, drab, drab, and off-drab.
And there's a line.
So I wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Then I get to the entrance. Entry Screener takes my license, asks why I'm there, gives me a form and a number, and sends me to the waiting area where I am to watch for my number to be called at windows "A through K".
Each window has an electronic sign that lights the numbers. I rule out A-D immediately because they're hanging over NOTHING.
Everybody here looks depressed.
But the process actually went pretty smoothly. My number was called in about five minutes, I got my stuff done with the DOT employee, I sat back down, Picture Taker Guy got my picture taken, I got my new license, I left.
The new licenses are pink and teal and stupid looking. I would swear they were fake if somebody showed one to me before I'd actually been issued one.
Oh...Yes, I got the Rogue. I test drove it a couple of weeks ago as well as the (still forthcoming) VW Tiguan. I think it was even the same Tiguan that was at the auto show. My dealer had it available for test drives for a short period.
The Rogue was the better choice for me.
The Rogue is good.
The Rogue is awesome.
