Since I had my doctor’s appointment that afternoon, I checked with Medica and they gave me my insurance card number over the phone. If I needed it at the hospital, I’d at least have that much. Thankfully, it didn’t have my social security number on it—if someone gets a hold of that, you’re in deep doody. They can start applying for all sorts of stuff using that information and if you don’t catch it soon enough… yeah, definitely deep doody.
Even though the insurance card didn’t have my SSN on it, I contacted a credit union and had a flag placed on my name anyway—I don’t know how difficult it might be to buy a really cheap used car on credit with just a driver’s license number, but why take chances under the circumstances? He already bought gas, I ain’t lettin’ him get something to put it in…
Then it was off to the DMV without a driver’s license to correct that problem! And I ended up driving in multiple circles because I didn’t know which building the DMV was in in that city! I had to stop at the courthouse and get directions from someone before I found my way there. (A brown sign on the street that says “WELCOME” isn’t much of an indicator as to what’s inside the building on the far side of the parking lot…) I got in, filled out a form and had to pay $11 to get a new one sent to me. Did I mention that I didn’t have a credit card anymore? Well, it didn’t matter there since they don’t take plastic; thankfully, Mom gave me $30 before I left, so I was covered.
They gave me a yellow sheet of paper that’ll serve as my license for the next 2-3 weeks (I should get my new credit card and insurance card within 7-10 days, so my life will sorta return to normal in that amount of time). Next, head up to St. Paul for my doctor’s appointment. The recent weather we’ve had was a sort of blessing as well. It’s been nothing like the blizzards on the East Coast—we’ve had something like 8? in the last two days or so—but it was enough to get people to cancel their appointments. Thus, even though I was scheduled for 4:00, they said to come in at any time between 1:30 and 4:00. I ended up sitting around and waiting in the office for a while, but waiting there was probably better than waiting in traffic during rush hour traffic (I needed to catch up on my soaps anyway…).
On the way home, guess what happened? The gas light on my car turned on! And my credit card was gone! Dammit! But I had enough cash left that I decided to get about $17 of gas—I pulled up to the pump, squeezed the handle, watched and waited, then turned it off right about when it was going to hit the magic number. The almost-magic number ended up being $16.99. (I decided to stick with that instead of giving the handle another light squeeze since I didn’t have any pennies in my wallet.)
I still have to head back to Lifetime Fitness and get a new card (which will cost $20, but of course, I don’t have a Visa card or that much cash…). Beyond that, I think I’m okay. I shouldn’t have to worry about too many more phone calls or visits to any offices that I can’t find, I’ll have something to show the cops if I get pulled over and I doubt I’ll be visiting that YMCA again. Or maybe I will, but this time, I’ll put a tazer in the pocket. Someone could reach inside, touch the little metal tips crackling with electricity… If I got out of the shower and found someone lying in front of my open locker twitching around spastically, I’d know he tried to swipe my wallet. Either that or he fell down while trying to use the treadmill.
