March 3. 2008 by Dick.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates–A legal U.A.E. license plate with nothing but the numeral “1″ was sold to Saeed Khouri at a charity auction for $14 million. Mr. Khouri has a number of automobiles and would not say which one might carry the record-breaking plate. News reports say Mr. Khouri is a member of a “wealthy” Abu Dhabi family. Ya think?

I have a yen for a special plate. In fact, last July 30 I sent the following message to a friend in Pennsylvania:

DICK is available in Vermont.
DICK is not available in Florida.
Hmmmmmm.

# # # #

Here’s the rest of the story.

I’ve always wanted former local Ford Dealer Dick Wright’s “DICK” plate. His widow, Kelly, kept it after he died. Put it on a Toyota, I think, which would have had him chewing on the coffin lid for sure. She has moved to (where else) Florida.

A couple of weeks before this saga began, I bought an older LeBaron convertible from a fellow in southern Vermont. I decided to get the plate for it. After some fairly extensive discussions with DMV offices here and there I discovered that DICK was available again in Vermont but DICK was not available in Florida.

I asked a genuine DMV Customer Service representative if Vermont would let that vanity plate out again; she said, “sure.”

Hmmmmmm.

I drove to the DMV outpost in St. Albans and did the deed. The DICK was (supposed to be) in the mail.

The saga continues.

Vermont DMV sent me a form letter. “THE CHOICE YOU WANTED HAS BEEN REJECTED,” the letter informed me, “BECAUSE IT IS A SLANG REFERENCE TO GENITALIA. PLEASE MAKE ANOTHER CHOICE OR LET US KNOW IF YOU WANT REGULAR PLATES.”

Now wait just a darned minute. I called DMV before I registered the car; they said the plate was available and the name did not appear on their “dirty word list.” And I know Dick Wright had it for years.

<sigh>

Girding my lions, I called DMV. Then I called again. And again. Then I wrote to DMV Commissioner Bonnie Rutledge. I told her that I am hurt that State of Vermont has decided that my own name (and the name of our popular former governor) is a “dirty word” and asked her to issue the plate as requested. She set up a hearing before a hearing officer.

Getting a vanity plate should not be this hard.

The hearing officer denied my application; the LeBaron now has HARPER in white letters on a lovely green aluminum background.

# # # #

Here in Vermont the Guv gets plate #1, election but no auction required. The DMV tells me that they do not auction special number plates and that any specialty plate costs only 20 bucks extra. aot.state.vt.us/DMV has the history of plates in Vermont.

I’m thinking that Mr. Khouri couldn’t get DICK here, even for his $14 million although that would surely pay for enough litigation to win the darned thing.

I’m also thinking I know why my 12 gallon fill up just cost me $38.99 leaving me a bit short for the litigation.

Posted in Cars, Charity, Unbelievable, Licensing, Grumpery, PC, Random Access | 1 Comment »

February 7. 2008 by Dick.

I get a lot of, um, opportunities to contribute to one cause or another. Some are actual non-profits. Others are simple pitches for a product. Most are couched as “Buy Now!” and “Just 27 cents per day!”

I didn’t understand until I read Nicholas Epley opining in the New York Times:

“People are more likely to donate to a charity
when the cost is described in terms of pennies
per day instead of dollars per year.”

It has never occurred to me NOT to multiply it out. That 27 cents a day for the DVR is another $100 bucks I won’t have at the end of the year. I do that automagically and without much forebrain activity.

People are sheep. That isn’t news.

Oh. Wait. Our fuel oil for last year cost only $8.22 per day. And this year is a leap year so it will be even less.

There. Wasn’t that better?<BR>

Posted in Sociology, Society, Grumpery, Dick's Dumps, Random Access | 1 Comment »