Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Insurance giving me the blues

Innocent till proven guilty? Well, like it or not (or believe it or not), it's true in the criminal system of our country. However, I'm learning fast that this is the only place it actually applies. I just got screwed over by insurance.

I was renting a vehicle from *E*. It had a defect that caused me to lose control. I reported this fact to both my insurance company and *E* as part of the accident report. The findings: since the vehicle was too damaged, they couldn't find evidence that anything was wrong before the accident. DUH! It was totalled! Therefore, my testimony is the only evidence that can apply...but does it? Nope. By default, it is assumed I'm lying. Well, they don't say that...they just say I'm at fault regardless of what I testify to. The same logic that lets criminals go free, is what convicts average citizens in civil matters. How is the lack of evidence for fault some how perverted to mean fault must apply? They have no evidence that contracts what I'm saying (nor could they hope to have that evidence). This is backwards to what our legal system was founded on.

I'm not really going into an explanation of the accident or what was wrong cuz I really don't feel like it right now,but I may later. I will say that I was lazy and didn't report the problem to *E* when I first noticed it. However, no one ever expects to have an accident. I just didn't think anything would happen. Lesson: Don't procrastinate about safety, and reporting problems. Had I reported the problem before the accident, *E* wouldn't have a leg to stand on, and my own insurance might have actually taken my side.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Must Be Crazy

I talked with Jessica at Perceptives in IM who gave me some great information on how to enhance my blogging experience. Then I was tired and went to bed at like 10pm...dang that was early. I woke up at 4am with nufin to do, so I got up, showered, eat breakfast and went into work, getting there around 5:30. I work in a cube, so being in the office when no one else is around is the best time to get work done...and did I ever...at 5:30 in the morning. LOL I got to leave work around 3:00...plenty of time to get my hair cut and get home to relax. Still, it's insane...5:30 in the morning. But I get more of my life in the afternoon, when I actually need it so do stuff. I might do this more often, maybe.

I still have to look thru my paper work for the United Way funding committee. So far, I've only researched one of the agencies requesting funds. Gots 7 more to go thru. Interesting stuff, but time consuming. I gots a lot of time left to go over the material, but just need to schedule it cuz I still wanna have my life. This weekend, I'll dive into it during the day.

Sunday, February 17, 2002

It's actually rainy

Just kidding. I will prolly never talk about the weather on this site, and shoot me if I ever do, please! hehe

I just don't know what to do about getting a car yet. I'm sharing a car with my ex-fiance (given to us as a wedding gift last year, completely paid for), but soon, I need to hand it over to her completely and get my own. My ex has been great and very understanding in allowing us to share for now. I've been working towards this end for quite some time. Part of the reason I decided to rush paying off my unsecured debt is so I can start saving up for a large down payment. Once I'm ready in a few months, I got even harder decisions.

What do I want for a car? LOL I don't like having to owe on my car, but for a new car, it looks as though I need to take out a loan this time (first time ever). I like sports cars, but I won't get much use out of it here in Silicon Valley. Maybe if I lived in Silicone Valley in L.A., I'd have fun with one. LOL The traffic up here in the bay area is just too density to enjoy a nice car properly...even on the weekends.

So, I can get something sensable? hmm, how sensable? So far, my list of interests is pretty small. I kinda want to shy away from 4-cylinder cars. However, for the first time ever, I actually like the look of a Honda...the Civic of all thangs. It's not my first choice though. I like the look of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Stratus. Bigger cars. Nufin European...too much money for the same type, options and quality of Japanese and American cars. I was even considering an Audi for a short time, but they have no character, and they really are way over priced for what they are.

The myth of European cars having more quality is actually starting to annoy me. They really don't. I was in a European luxary brand name SUV the other day and was surprized how inferior the interior was...literally, my Ponitac Sunfire has a more comfortable, and has better built interior. No parts in my Sunfire interior shaked, rattled or "crunched" when lended against. The SUV also had to have a MAJOR component completely replaced recently, and the vehicle is only a year old.

In conclusion, I still must at least test drive the fun cars, even if I end up with a sensible one. :) Damn, I'm going to need to learn how to drive stick.

Saturday, February 16, 2002



*Take This Test!*



As you can see, I tried one of those online quizzes and inserted it into my blog to see if it would fit it. It doesn't, but I'll leave it in just in case anyone is interested, and to remind me that these quizzes just aren't for me. :)

Back is a little sore

I helped my ex girlfriend Jaymie move last night, and I'm a little bit sore this morning. She's prolly more sore that I am. It kinda reminds me that I need to start working out. I used to go to a local rock climbing gym until a couple of unrelated accidents left my back in no condition to work out for awhile. I really feel like I need to get back to doing that, and possibly working out on weight machines too.

An answering machine message was left on my phone last night by my friend Michelle while I was helping Jaymie move. I bought and mailed a froggie necklace charm for her. She called to say she loves it and is wearing every day. Cool. It's a little green frog charm that I found online thru Yahoo Shopping, of all places. Anyway, she sounded happy as can be. She almost always starts out here messages with "Heh-loooo? You're never there!". It's amusing. Always puts a smile on my face.

Friday, February 15, 2002

Blog is Open for Business

Well, I've spend most of V-Day evening and night working on making my blog fully functional, yet simple. There's prolly a bit more tweaking in store, but I'm done for the night. I added comments, my profile, my picture and the background, and spend more than a couple of hours getting to where I'm happy with it. My pic is still 103K, but I'm going to make a 45K or less version prolly tomorrow, so the page itself will view faster. In case someone runs across this page, please leave feedback about the look of the page in comments field after this message. Thanks!

Thursday, February 14, 2002

Well, right now, I'm trying to add comments to my postings.

As you can tell by the time stamp on this post...

...I'm doing nufin for v-day. Right now, I'm cooking a TV Dinner. I'm trying to eat those unhealthy platers of cholersteral less these days, but hey, it's food.

Trouble with Time

The trouble with time is that there is too much of it between important events, but not enough of it to do everything you need to get done.

For the next couple of months, I'm a volunteer on an United Way committee which is determining funding levels for local charities. When I was approached by United Way to be on this committee, they let me know that I'd need to attend 4 meetings, and one charity site visit. Well, I still need to attend the four meetings, but the required site visits is more like four! These are all during work days, so I gots to take time off of work for this. Ok, I'll manage, but finding the time for this is going to be harder than I thought.

Ok...flip side: I'm paying off my last bit of debt at the start of March. I have most of the money required for this right now, but cuz of timing of my automatic payments, I decided to wait till the next scheduled payment to make the final payment. Seems too far away...March. I've waited over three years for this, and I still gots to wait another 3 weeks. Argh. It's taking forever to get here! Lucky I have a lot of patience...though right now, it feels like a sort of impatient patience. :)

Saturday, November 10, 2001