I'm Married! Now I have to change my name.

One important thing for me to do after I got married was to change my name. I'm taking on Andy's name because we were united in marriage and I'd like to show that. To change my name I have to show our marriage certificate around to different places. The Social Security card office, DMV, bank, work, stuff like that. After a disastrous attempt to go to the Social Security office, I decided to get my name changed on my driver's license and bank accounts before I mail my information to Social Security. So we spent our Saturday afternoon getting my name changed.

I believed the name changing stuff should go pretty easy, just show them your marriage certificate, fill out a form and your A-OK. Problem with us is that our marriage certificate doesn't look quite official. This is probably the biggest issue we've experienced due to getting married in a rural, Indiana county. Our marriage certificate is a hand-written, fill in the blanks, 1/2 sheet of paper. The seal that was embossed on to the paper is barely visible. But, it's our certificate and we'll do with what we have.

Unfortunately the fellow at the DMV didn't think so positively about our certificate. He at first thought we handed him our commemorative, fancy-looking certificate and didn't want to take it. I assured him that it was the real certificate and pointed out the embossed seal. He checked with his supervisor who looked over the certificate, pointed out the seal again and noted that our certificate didn't have a "date filed" line. Despite this grievous miscarriage of filing a marriage certificate, the supervisor told the DMV person to accept it, that it's just fine.

After this, our DMV friend proceeded to point out all the areas where he found fault with our marriage certificate. "They did a really bad job," he said, "you should order another one, and make sure it has the date filed on there. Wow, they just did a really bad job, it's just so cookie-cutter. The didn't even put 3-4 things on here that we look for. I mean, they did a bad job on this." After which he tossed the certificate back to me and I had to pretend to be happy when he took my picture for my new driver's license. Once we're back at the booth and finishing up paperwork, the DMV worker continues. "You know who has really nice marriage certificate? Dakota County. They do a good job."

This is what I wanted to reply, "You know what the problem with that is? I didn't get married in Dakota County. I wanted to get married in a small town in Indiana which doesn't have the same pompous expectations in official documents as you do."

I, of course, didn't say that. Mostly because I'd like to think I'm too nice, but probably more because I don't have the guts. I got my revenge when he asked for payment, I gave him my credit card. He said that the county prefers if you pay with cash or check, and I didn't have either. If I did, I wouldn't have given it to him anyway! So there!

Anyway, I think I got the short stick when it comes to DMV folks to deal with. But I'm not sad about my marriage certificate anymore. I'm proud that I got married in a unique place that still hand-writes out official documents. To get the marriage application I didn't have to take a number and wait 15 minutes. Plus, the people at the Fountain County court house were much more pleasant people than those at the Hennepin County DMV.

Critically Massive

Yesterday was the second Critical mass of my life and it was AMAZING! If I've said before that I like biking in groups, I like even better biking in a group of about 150. The weather is nice and finals are just far enough away, loads of people decided to go for a Critical Mass ride. In that light the ride was incredibly fun and full of new experiences. Here's a shot of the group going over the Hennepin Avenue bridge:

We were in the middle of the pack. The month before traffic was able to get by on this bridge, not this month!

When there is such a large group there are actually Critical Mass techniques, mostly for the protection of bikers and annoyance of drivers. At intersections people actually stand with their bikes in front of cars until everyone rides by, so that the car can't make a mad dash through the crowd. That's quite dangerous. Plenty of people fell off their bikes anyway, there was no need for added car danger. I didn't get a shot of the tactics, but I did get a good picture of a "rally." I forgot what Andy called it. At the intersection of Hennepin and Lagoon in Uptown the ride stopped and a bunch of people rode around in circles. Then they picked up their biked and chanted: "Whose streets? Our streets!"

Bike "gang"

It was really funny. Then they did that again at another intersection, except it was interrupted by fire trucks. I got a video of that one and it sounds pretty badass. So once I figure out how to get a video on here, I'll post it (any help would be appreciated). This was quite the exciting night, I was really happy to be apart of it. Especially since it is for a good cause, people really should bike more. Andy's idea of a legal Critical Mass would be even better though, because then drivers would be annoyed, but not have any legal defense against us.

Here are some random pictures that I took because I was excited about being able to ride my bike and not fall off while taking pictures. Also, for the interest of Pete, I rode Paddy:

Paddy the bike. I wrapped those handlebars myself with the orange tape. That's why it looks so bad.

Andy and his friend Patrick, leaning on each other. They got tired.

I made sure that my helmet matched my shirt, always looking my best.

Ross on Delilah.

Going under the Washington Avenue Bridge, I think this is a pretty picture.

Downtown Minneapolis, this was taken the second round through.