You may have notice that I've not mentioned my truck purchase in a while. Well, that's because it has been at the shop for about 3 weeks. The new shop that I took it to is a little more sophisticated. They have more equipment and are located right next to the emissions testing station, so they know how to get it passed.
Anyway, they found a problem and had been driving the truck trying to get the on-board computer to cycle. As I've mentioned before, it takes a long time for that sucker to go through its paces. I went and picked it up last Friday since I drive to Nashville everyday. I figured I could get it to roll over pretty quickly.
The guy at the shop told me I needed to get abut 200 miles on it before it could be tested again. I wanted to get some miles on it pretty quickly so I got up early Tuesday and drove to Cookeville and back. That got me about 80 miles on it, I drove it to work Tuesday, that got me another 60 miles. One more round trip to work and we've got it right? Well, on my way home last night, the lovely 'Service Engine Light' came back on.....Lovely. I called Kathy, she met me at the shop....we left it there. Hopefully, it won't be another 3 weeks.
On another note, this is kind of interesting. Being mostly a by-the-book kind of guy, I purchased a temporary tag when the truck didn't pass emissions on the first try. If I was going to have to take it to the shop, it should be legal right? Well, as the saga has progressed, that tag expired. I talked to the folks at the County Clerk's office, they said that they could sell me another if I had proof that it was being worked on to pass emissions testing. Cool, I didn't have the title with me so I couldn't purchase the tag immediately.
1. I run home...get the title....go back.
2. Kathy had signed the title so she had to be the one to buy the tag (Why? I don't know)
3. I take the paperwork to Kathy, she goes to the clerk's office.
4. It's been more than 30 days since the last emissions test, you can't buy another temporary tag (Why? I have no clue)
If there is a point to all of this, it is, that the people sitting at the counter of the County Clerk's office are not the ones that make the stupid rules. They are put in the uncomfortable position of having to enforce rules that they probably don't even agree with.
Another observation, as a software guy, its kind of interesting to look at this situation. When writing software, the standard function of the software is usually pretty simple to write. Most of the time and energy is spent handling the 'out of the ordinary' situation. My own philosophy in this is, if there is even a 1% chance that a particular situation could arise from a legitimate use of the software, then you must allow it. It does not appear that government works that way.
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