this post is a retraction of sorts.  i've recently learned that my recent experience at the RDW (or the dutch DMV) was so long and drawn out not because the dutch love to make people suffer, but because my motorcycle is an immigrant.  evidently, every vehicle in the netherlands has a license plate that stays with that vehicle forever.  in the US, the license plate is attached to the person, not the vehicle.  i had the same license plate for the last three vehicles that i owned, but that is not how they do it here.  if you sell or otherwise dispose of your vehicle, the license plate (or more accurately, the registration number) goes with it.  it turns out that what i was doing on thursday was getting my motorcycle a green card of sorts.  it needs a license plate number to keep with it for always and forever.  if i had purchased a dutch motorcylcle, then i wouldn't have needed to jump through so many hoops, and it would have taken far less time.    

i apologize to the dutch people for my disparaging comments about their motor vehicle registration system.  i am dumb, and i will now shut up.  

sincerely, 

jim turbert