Tuesday, January 10, 2006

A few things:

1. Now I know why I’ve never taken too many long vacations - coming back to work is tough. I had a huge stack of snail mail in my chair, about 150 emails, and only 14 voicemails. I’ve managed to weed through those things to prioritize follow-up and I’m just starting the timekeeping to ensure we all get paid on time.

2. I took the time to go to my local Social Security office yesterday to get my name changed. I realize it was something that I could do by mail, but since the office was actually very close to home, I thought I’d go in.  That turned out to be a good thing as much as it was a frustration. I preface this whine item by saying that our trip to the county office to get certified copies of our marriage license was easy - almost too easy - and we’re reassured that our marriage is in fact legal. Woo! So…

We walk into the SSA office and the security dude takes one look at me and says, “Name change?” I nodded in slight surprise and then punched the number on the computer that he indicated to get my number - 24. Then we turned to enter the waiting area, which was p-a-c-k-e-d. But we managed to find a couple of empty seats and began the wait.

I think we were there for about 5 minutes before anyone called a number like mine - previously called numbers were like D421 or something. A woman came out of a side door and called, “Seven?”

I looked at Beau, “Seven? Good grief.” And then we strategized a bit by my sending him to the DMV to get his new driver’s license (he has a birthday this week and it was going to expire) while I waited for my turn, which seemed was going to be a long, long time. He left at about 1:05pm. Yes, I looked at the clock.

Number 8 was called at some point, but I must have missed that because at about 1:50pm number 9 was called. After that the numbers passed quickly - a lot of people bailed out. At about 2pm my number was called and I happily hopped up to the counter.

“I just got married and I’m here to change my name,” I explained as I handed over my paperwork.

The lady clicked around on her keyboard for a few seconds and then asked, “You have a brother or sister who was born in April of the same year you were born?”

Huh? I was born in March. I do realize that there are freak instances of twins being born in consecutive months, but really? The lady turned her computer screen for me to look at and pointed at the date of birth, which read, “04/27/1967.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“Do you have your birth certificate with you?” she asked next. “Because I can’t change this without having your original birth certificate.”

*sigh*

“No, that’s at home.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to come back in to the office to change this birthdate, you can’t do this by mail. We need to see the original birth certificate,” she explained. “I know this is probably a typo, but that’s all I can tell you.”

“It’s been like that for more than 20 years. Thank you.” And with that I stormed out.

I spent an hour this morning looking for the little card that Virginia used to give as the birth certificate. The last time I had it was when we went to get the marriage license in November. I thought I put it with those forms and the wedding rings, but it is not with that stuff.

*sigh*

I guess I’ll have to call the county to get another copy. Bureaucracy stinks.

Oh, and the reason the guard knew why I was there? I was pretty much the only native English speaking woman under 50 years of age. All others were Asian, Hispanic, or of Arab descent or eligible to collect their SS pensions.

3. I love my husband and married life.

That is all.