The "B" here has two meanings- Birthday and Bureaucracy. Petra is one week old today (and made sure we were awake to share it with her at the exact moment it arrived), and we celebrated by taking her on her first trip through the bureaucracies that make our lives so pleasant. First was enrollment in all the various benefit packages at UCLA (e.g. we now have to pay more each month), and a visit to Alison's office to show off Petra to all the cow-orkers. Then, a delightful visit to the Social Security Administration to apply for a SSN for Petra.
Ahh, the federal government. They have an office in an office complex, but were too cheap to pay for parking, so the entrance to the complex has a "no social security parking" sign on it. Street parking it is (luckily, this isn't an issue in Culver City). Next was a door with the right address, but a sign saying "not social security", and no direction beyond that. Three doors down is a small locked door that IS social security, but they have to buzz you in, and there is no way to know that (the door is smoked so you can't see the guard inside either). Walk in, the guard says take a number and sit down. No way of knowing how far along they are on the numbers. No apparent activity behind the "service" windows. It didn't take too long though, and other than wanting two forms of ID for a newborn (?!? Luckily an immunization record with just a handwritten last name (though not Petra's) was sufficient) we didn't have any problems.
So, Petra 1 (week). Bureaucracy zero. We win! And she was such a darling the entire time. Hardly even able to get her to open her eyes for the cow-orkers! She even let us stop at Peet's for much needed espresso and coffee beans. She is such a sweetie!
(Pic is Petra in Alison's boss' office- Boss was out at a meeting and didn't get to see her).
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