Part of the reason birthdays lose their lustre as we age is the ding we get from the MTO. The MTO, for those of you who don't live in Ontario, is the Ministry of Transportation for Ontario. I just came back from an MTO office $343 poorer.
You see, I have a birthday this week, and that meant I needed to renew the plates for the two cars I own and renew my driver's license. That last detail explains the need to actually visit the MTO office. I typically renew my plates online, but when the driver's license has expired, they force you to physically get to an office so they can snap an updated picture.
Normally it's $74 to renew a license plate for one year, but I got hit with some Toronto tax that pushed it to $134 a plate. Oh yeah, and one car needed an emissions test that's almost impossible to fail, so it's really costing me about $383 to have a birthday this year.
$383 so I can keep two cars on the road. Thanks, MTO!
</rant>
