The "I'm feeling glad." thread.

[Cam]

Good work, Sandy. It will be nice to put this behind you.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Thanks man. Just got off the phone with our Ministry of Transportation wondering about the interlock removal process. Apparently there's a 48 hour waiting period from the day it's physically removed from the car. In that period I will not be allowed to drive at all, as the condition will still appear on my license. For some reason it takes that long for the Ministry's computers to update the removal data sent to them by the interlock provider. Kinda sucks, but that's government work for you. It'll feel like a two day license suspension. Like one last "fuck you" from the government. But whatever...I've already gone through enough suspensions, months and months worth, so two more days isn't going to hurt.

When I was initially pulled over and charged back in 2016, they suspended my license on the spot for 90 days. Then after losing at trial in 2018 it was six months. So nine months in total I've been suspended/prohibited since I first got my license way back in 1992. What's another two days? I'll just take those days off and sleep in.

Yeah, no need to think of it as government fucking with you, just think of it as pay back for your own lapse of judgement!

Enjoy your 2 days off! And hope you've learned the lesson to never allow government to fuck you like that again!

[FaultyMario]

It will be nice to put this behind you.

Exactly!

[FaultyMario]

New Smashing Pumpkins song.

[sandydandy]

Interlock-free at long last! Physically removed from my car on Monday, and now I just checked online and the condition has been removed from my license too. What a liberating feeling. It was so stressful driving around with it.

For those not familiar with interlocks, you may be visualizing a giant breathalyzer attached to the steering wheel, I know that's what I was visualizing before it was installed, but the device is actually a wireless handset. Think of an early 2000's brick Nokia cell phone, with a mouthpiece sticking out of the side. You blow into that and it communicates with the actual interlock inside the engine, connected to the harness. You have to blow/hum a breath sample into it for four seconds, and then if passed it will allow you to start the car. Then the 'fun' begins. After five or ten minutes you'll be prompted to blow another breath sample while you're driving. This is called a rolling retest. Once it starts beeping you have three minutes to comply, or else and alarm will start wailing and you'll have to pull over. A missed retest is logged into the device's memory and looks bad on your record. Too many missed retests and you may be forced to continue using the interlock even after your required term has passed. Thankfully that never happened to me. I always did my retests promptly. The retests are done at random times, so you're always on edge when driving. It's such a huge distraction, but for some reason this is exempt from Ontario's new draconian distracted driving laws. Can't imagine how many accidents have occurred from people blowing into these while driving. At the most I would swerve occasionally. I'm not overly self-conscious, but it was kind of embarrassing knowing that other people on the road were watching me do this. Whether on the road doing a retest, or in a parking lot blowing before starting up the car. I always tried to avoid eye contact with people as I was doing my business. The worst part was the front license plate. Every interlock equipped car has a small lamp attached to the front, right underneath or over the license plate. This is an indicator, (probably for the police), that the vehicle is equipped. I'd say 98% of people on the road don't even know what it is, but almost everyone would do a double-take and look at it, and then look at me. I became very skilled at developing tunnel vision, and just not looking at anyone when I drove. It helped get me through this.

So yeah, the stress and anxiety of the rolling retests, combined with trying to stay out of people's field of vision were what I despised the most. But I endured it, one year of it, and now I'm free. Now the car is in the shop for the first service in a full year. Didn't want anyone else driving it, so I didn’t do any service at all in 2019. My car hung in there for a year, and is now being treated to a well deserved oil change and other shit.

[Cam]

Good to hear.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Cheers! (But make absolutely sure you don't drive afterwards... )

[sandydandy]

My son is going to university! Heard back from one school that accepted him for a few programs - business, economics and law & society. Waiting on a few other schools to respond for more of his preferred programs. Then he’ll make a decision on what he wants to do.

As a father I can’t describe how proud I am. I always looked forward to this day, but never really understood the level of pride that would come over me. I never went to university so it’s a great and special feeling to know that my son will.

[Cam]

Great, Sandy!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Great news and congrats!

My daughter is only 8... I’ll have to wait 10 more years to feel proud that she’ll finally be out of the house!