My U.S. passport is going to expire next month. In New York State, you can get an Enhanced Driver's License (EDL) that serves as proof of Citizenship for the U.S./Canadian border so you don't need a passport. So I figured what the hell, I'll get an EDL.

Yesterday, the Lovely Lettuce ((e:leetee)) and I went to the Erie Auto Bureau on George Urban. And believe it or not, it was a damn skippy time!!

We were in and out of there in under 20 minutes.

It was very organised. The "maze" that made me feel like I was a cow being led to the slaughter was gone.

People were issued numbers and could sit until their numbers were called. My number was called before I could sit down.

The clerks were pleasant, professional and efficient. It was a huge contrast to the horrific nightmare that was the DMV in lower Manhattan in the 1980s. (At the time, there were people would hire themselves out to wait in line for you and call/page you when it was almost your turn. It was worse than it sounds. 'nuff said.)

Good work, Kathy Hochul. I hear that she's running for something and I don't want anyone to think that this is some sort of political endorsement. For all I know, I may hate her politics but she made my time at the Auto Bureau damn skippy.