No country for wheelless men

and thus I bought my own set of wheels. It's a blue Honda Civic, dates from 2003 but is, overall, in good condition (I hope!). I went to the DMV, registered the car, took the eye exam, written exam for applying to a California driver's license, and all that I'm left with is the "behind the wheel" exam scheduled for the 24th of April. In the mean time I got a temporary license.

I bought it from a brazilian guy that is leaving the country. The transaction somewhat resembled a Hollywood drug deal: I went to my bank and withdraw the money, took it in a discrete, however thick, envelope and went to see the seller. The guy that I bought the car from is living in a boat over at marina Cortez, downtown San Diego. As I went to his boat I couldn't help thinking that some guy with a shovel would surprise me on my back, take the envelope and make a run. I guess the film industry as shown us this sort of scenes over and over... and I was just afraid that something could go wrong. At the end of the day, though, things turned out alright for everyone. We filled in the registration form at the boat, I payed the man, we talked for a while and then I went on my way. No dramatic endings to this scene! But things are not that simple... In order for me to buy a car, there were a number of factors that I had to look for: if the title is clean or salvaged, if it passed the smog inspection, how many owners, previous accidents that the car might have been involved in the past, miles per gallon (MPG)... the list is big! I was learning all about it in the past couple of months in order to achieve the safest buy possible. There is, however, always a risk involved when buying to a private party, but that's where you can make the better deals.


In the meantime, the spring break is heading towards the end, but I was still in time to make my diving debut in the pacific waters. This weekend myself and 6 other divers from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) went to the city of Avalon, over at Sta. Catalina island. It's a two hours journey (1h by car + 1h ferry boat). This is one of the most visited dive sites in the world due to it's easy access and good learning conditions.


The visibility is more than 30 feet (~10m) and the marine life is abundant. I've to admit though, that I've met better conditions for divers in other places in what concerns facilities (running water, locker rooms, etc)... even so, southern California divers often choose this spot for a leisure weekend. While I was in the island, I tried to look for Mitch Buchannon and CJ Parker, but I couldn't find them... I guess they were probably off duty, or patrolling some other L.A. beach!


Next step... file the federal tax return. Although I'm exempt of paying any sort of taxes here, I do have to file at least the federal tax. I'm not yet sure if I need to file as well for the California state taxes. I guess I'll find out soon enough!