Weekly Recap

FBI Clearance
My FBI clearance came back clean and quickly! It's the last part of my permanent residency application, so it's nice to know it's all in Ottawa's hands now...or is it?

Money notes

Loonie: A coin worth $1. There are no dollar bills in Canada.
Toonie: A coin worth $2. I love the coin cash.

Drivers License
I went in to get my drivers license on Monday. I showed up, waited in line, then was told I had to have my marriage certificate. Later in the day I went to the storage unit to find the box wherein could be found the document. I went from there to get the car inspected, which I will talk about later. I returned to the registry with the certificate and everything was great. Then to pay the $21.30, I whipped out my debit card, which wouldn't take. Apparently it was being read as a credit card. I had $15.00 Canadian and $5 US, so I was short a Loonie plus 30 cents. The clerk told me to go to the store next door where there was an ATM. I did and it wouldn't process my transaction. So I went to register and tried to buy a Wunderbar and get $20 cash back. Wouldn't work, the cashier told me, because I was trying to get cash back with a credit card. At this point I was really, really frustrated, especially since I had another $20 Canadian in my wallet earlier in the day but I deposited it in our new bank account. So what did I do? I drove the 10 minutes home and found a few Toonies and change then drove back and paid. Through all of this, the part I disliked the most was that I had to surrender my Utah license. I just got it earlier this year, so it's disappointing to pay for another one. But without a Canadian license I can't be on the bank account or get insured, so it's kind of important.

Register Car

Exporting our car has been quite the ordeal. Everything was fine at the border, they told us we just had to take it to a Canadian Tire and get it checked out. We did that as soon as we got here and he gave us paperwork to take to the registry. When we got there they gave us more paperwork to take to a Canadian Tire for a full inspection. I took it there last Friday and they said it had a burnt out foglamp and a wheel hub that needed replaced. I didn't feel like sitting around for it, so I went home and returned on Monday. They told me it should take an hour and a half. This time I brought a book and found a comfy chair in the lawn and garden section. After an hour and a half I walked over to see what they had done. They told me they didn't have the part they needed. Yes, they let me sit around in their store without calling me to say that they had no intention of working on my car until the next day. Ridiculous. We did take it back (because we had no choice) and finally got it registered.

LMO update
The paperwork has been submitted, it's just a matter of the bureaucrats processing it and Canada Post delivering it (If USPS is snail mail, Canada Post is grass growing).

Song of the week played at an abnormally high frequency
The Weight-The Band
Every. Single. Day.