In the summer of 2009 I revisited my 2004 summer apprenticeship at Object Mentor. What follows is the original 2004 post and then some 2009 commentary.

Today I rode my bike into the city in search of a passport. City Hall: Big, confusing, lots of stairways leading to locked doors. First goal: Get a birth certificate. Long line, filled out misleading paperwork wrong, but accomplished. Second goal: Get passport. Not so fast, Mr. man, this office is closed inexplicably for an hour starting… Now. Kill time, eat pizza, come on back. I was waiting at the wrong place! Even thought the sign above the door clearly said ‘U.S. Passports.’ But the real passport place is upstairs in the same room where you apply for city jobs.

Silly of me.

For all those of you who like to complain about yer passport photo, I’d like to point out that you probably didn’t wear a bike helmet in rain and let your hair dry in a pizza parlor before you got your photo taken. Did ya? That taken care of, I paid the nice lady $160 ($85 for city and federal fees, $60 because I want the passport sometime this year, and $15 for the photo) and peddled my soggy self home.

I remember being pretty worked up about asking Object Mentor for a day off so I could get my passport. They were very cool about it. On the other hand I was working for free that summer. And by working I mean floundering. They were probably excited to have a day where they didn’t have to listen to me complain about a ‘5 minute install’ all day long.