Google Local? Google Clueless
In the next week or so I’ll change from seasonal resident to official full time resident of the Silver State. Y’all certainly do some things, well shall I say “interesting”. That’s another subject entirely though I do like the incorporation rules and structure. I hit it up to the Northwest for a few hours this afternoon to finish off some biz so I could make the move final. Herb was nice enough to supply me with the transport. Under a Franklin each way, though no seat assignment. With today’s trip, with the exception of the kart racing team (I’ll get that in the next month or so), my big gnarly workbox and a few assorted audio tidbits, it’s all down here. Time to get legit and change the drivers license. Good news though! I just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico. No, really. Gotta get new tabs and plates, the fancy Vegas Centenial kind and an NV license. For whatever reason I decide to keep the CDL I’ve had for nearly 15 years. I don’t tell too many people I can pilot a CDL because well, I’d have to drive the truck. Old farts only drive if a young turk can’t do the gig, or has trouble backing into the slot. It’s handy having a CDL and also an international drivers license as overseas that can be an asset, even if you never drive. There is nothing like having tachiographs from Euro tours in your name when you didn’t really do any of the driving. Or so I’m told.
To transfer the CDL is like having to renew it back in Twin Peaks land. Show the valid license, pass the vision test (that’s harder for me these days) and produce the med card. Trouble is, my med card is a year or so past due. My thinking is that I’ve already got the CDL and if I decide this show biz thing isn’t for me, I can always get a gig driving clean towels or beer to the casinos. Casinos need lots of beer and towels. At least I do when I’m at a casino. This past spring when I was having the full work ups I suppose I could have got the DOT card but I was more concerned with my ticker jumping out of my chest or my arteries getting so stuffed that they couldn’t pump blood that I didn’t think about using the grand or so worth of physical and tests to get a current DOT cert. So I figure I’ll reup, but where to get the card? Well, Google Local should be able to help with this, right?
Err, wrongo. I Google “medical clinic dot physical las vegas” get the following…
Las Vegas Hilton Steakhouse
Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort
Las Vegas National Golf Club
I don’t think I asked where the doctors are, because obviously they’d be out on the golf course, but the steakhouse? First of all, any self respecting doc would be at Morton’s or Envy or the joint in the MGM Grand. I’ll think I’ll do this the old fashioned way in the morning. Break out the Yellow Pages and start calling around.
October 28th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
Sounds all too familiar. What you just described is basically what I had to do when I moved to Colorado about a year ago to transfer my CDL from the state of Ohio (where you can actually have a CDL without proving that you have a med card, still need it to drive though). I definitely understand the feeling of not wanting to let your CDL go, but not really wanting to be the guy driving the truck. Its hard to say, by not spending the money for the physical and taking the tests, you’re willing to throw away the money you spent on the driving test at one point.
But man the troubles with moving to socal. Don’t even know where to begin. Apparently Sacramento doesn’t think that any state has tests that approach the stupidity of theirs, so when you transfer a CDL, you have to completely redo all your written tests. This is not explained in any way from the not so helpful website, and I couldn’t get anyone who spoke english well enough to fully explain it to me at the DMV.
The tests though, were ridiculous. The first time I took them, being completely unprepared other than my previous knowledge, I failed the general CDL, airbrakes and doubles and triples. I had to go back and study them and passed them all within the allowed 3 tries. Here’s a sample question from the test to show just how ridiculous they are:
Q. Which of the following applies to this statement: “Backing a large truck is_____”
a) safer when done towards the drivers side
b) safer when you have a partner guide you
c) always dangerous
That one just really annoyed me cause the rigth answer was ‘always dangerous’ which I felt was quite untrue. But oh well I finally gave them the answer they wanted and moved on.
And yes I too found a place to get a physical in the yellow pages. Probably had to call 50 or 60 places in order to find one that would do it same day.
-Mikey P
I’ve got my med card, signed by the doctor and everything, but one little note on the form for the DMV, and the DMV won’t approve it even though the doctor signed it, and my app gets sent off to Sacramento where it’s been for weeks now. Who knew the guy at the DMV knew more about my health the the M.D. who did my actual physical?