Tag You’re in Maryland
In which we obtain those things that mean you are now officially the resident of a new state.
From Maryland to California, to Maryland, to Texas, to Illinois, to Texas, and now back to Maryland. No matter which of our moves over the last 28 years, there has always been that feeling that we haven’t truly arrived in our new home state until the car carries the right license plates.
This week we geared ourselves up for a trip to the local office of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) to make that happen. A look at the MVA’s website revealed that we needed to fill in a fairly complex application form, a copy of the car’s title, and as our car is less than seven years old we also needed a copy of the original bill of sale, and details of the vehicle we had traded in at the time of purchase (thanks to MINI of Austin for helping out with that info). To be registered the car also needed a ‘once in a life-time’ 100-point State Safety Inspection (thanks to MINI of Towson for getting that done.)
According to the form we could expect to be paying a registration Excise Fee of 6% of the vehicle’s purchase price minus any trade-in value. We calculated that and after taking a big gulp of air and making sure we had credit card and various forms in hand, off we went.
Amazingly for a local government vehicle licensing center, we were seen immediately upon arriving for our appointment (even though we were a little earlier than the proscribed time.) I think that’s the first time in my life I haven’t got to enjoy the discomfort of an MVA/DMV waiting room seat for at least 30 minutes!
And all those forms we filled out, and paperwork we’d collected? The clerk didn’t even look at them! We were in and out in less than 15 minutes, new tags in hand having paid a registration fee that was around a third of what we were expecting to pay.
Back at the condo parking garage, it was off with the old Texas plates, and on with the new Maryland plates.
Now it feels like we are really resident here (again).
Alan
Other Stuff
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Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2024 - .“Prince in comics” by Nicolas Finet, Tony Lourenco, and various
This biography of Prince is divided into 20 short chronologically arranged vignettes from The Purple One’s life. Each section consists of a five-page comic illustrated by a different artist followed by a two-page text summary that often repeats the same information that was just conveyed in the comics pages.
The result is a disjointed and at times frustrating read due to unnecessary repetition and missed opportunities to explore things mentioned in passing. It reads as if the text writer and the comics script writer didn’t compare notes along the way.
The artwork varies in style and talent which further adds to the disjointed reading experience.
The text sections are highly subjective and could be described as almost fawning in their uncritical approach to their subject. They also assume a significant level of existing knowledge of Prince’s career on the part of the reader.
An interesting attempt to celebrate rather than chronicle the life of an artist who was always pushing creative boundaries by doing something different, but unfortunately it didn’t really work.
Our online bookstore at Bookshop.org is fully up to date with the books read so far in 2024, so you can pick up copies of any that interest you, while also helping out local independent bookstores .
Weekly Web Round-Up
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues over the week with comics from May 1969 published in Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. - All were straightforwardly translated reprints of earlier US covers, so no real stand-outs from that batch.
Motor Sports in the Comics - This week I posted the cover of this old British annual on my racing comics blog on Tumblr. My vehicle recognition is failing me as I can’t seem to date it based on the cars featured on the cover. Any ideas would be welcome.
Where on the Web is Alan?
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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