It’s likely to be some whines at first. I have a few built up.

The new site is catch19.com

All ravenous fans can find me there. So… start ravening.

Reality is broken.

Insurance companies and their evil minions.

And so, I undertook the treacherous journey. I called the insurance company to start a claim. My hands shook with trepidation and my voice nearly cracked with sheer horror when I reached a human being to talk to. Then something–miraculous–happened.

I found myself dealing with real people who tried to do their best to help me and were all competent and through and efficient! YES! OH GOD YES! YES YES YES YESYESYESYESYES YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSssssssss..

Wha-? Oh, um blog post, right. Sorry.

Yeah, so I was completely shocked that not just my adjuster, but the rep in the call center that I initially called were both really excellent. They took my info, had the info I needed on hand, anticipated most of my questions and had useful answers, and got answers for those questions they didn’t already know. It was really ready to be stuck in insurance hell for at least 2 weeks. but by the end the day I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen. And as it happened, I was kept updated by my adjuster.

Less than a week later I had checks in hand for the entire amount of damage. And that included getting a check cut from my insurance co. even though Mia was 100% not at fault (as shown in the police report). There is some statute in NJ that limits liability of municipal vehicles, which is what hit Mia. So their ins. only had to pay the amount of the deductible and my ins. payed the rest.

The point is that they did so without dragging me through 80 miles of shit to get it. And I thanks them for that.

I have the name of my adjuster and I’ve sent an email in asking for an adress I can send a letter of commendation. I’d really like to see that she gets recognition for a job well done.

In case anyone is interested, the company is First Trenton Indemnity, also called Travelers of New Jersey.

But then, sometimes, get a glimpse into a real hell. A hell that millions of people willingly submit to. Here is one such glimpse:

via Neatorama

Me and Rowen were on our way to dinner (Baja Fresh) when we saw a very small brush fire in a bank parking lot.  SO I pulled in to take a look. In truth, it looked like it would have burned itself out in a short while. it was isolated and there was no additional fuel nearby. But, despite the other cars nearby, one of which had likely already called the fire dept., I called 911. They thanked me, and let me know that fire dept was already dispatched. The arrived even as I hung up.

We drove on, and being the annoying dad I decided this was a learning opportunity for Rowen. So I asked her what she thought about me calling 911. She said she thought other people had already done so. And I told her that, yeah, they did. That led to talking about doing the right thing, even if you think it’s needless. Or redundant, or time consuming. She got it, and didn’t seem to mind my little detour into learning-land.

I’m still surprised that I’ve never before had need to call 911. And even in this case it wasn’t really an emergency.

I take great pleasure in the righteous indignation and rage that I feel when someone does something stupid on the road. I take even greater pleasure in expressing it loudly and colorfully with hand signals as appropriate. So today when some ass cut me off and then proceeded to slow to a crawl, I filled my lungs in anticipation of cursing a blue streak. Then I noticed the distinct shape and knew I was dealing with a Prius hybrid.

The problem is that by driving a hybrid, that person has demonstrated a minimum of human decency. In fact, they at that moment, on the open road, that person is a demonstrably better person than I am, aside from the observed asshole behavior. They are actively doing something to try and minimize damage to the environment, and I’m not. So when they then go and do something so obviously full of ass as cut me off then slow down, I’m thrown into a quandary. By demonstrating that minimum human decency it makes me think twice about condemning them to a fiery hell where they will suffer the eternal torment of having their face rubbed off with medium grade sandpaper and be taunted by small demons disguised as children speaking in a language so maddeningly close to their native tongue that they think they should know what is being said but don’t.

But really, is it so difficult to follow the basic rules of safety and courtesy on the road?  How hard is it maintain a steady speed +/- 1 MPH? Or to avoid asinine lane change that do nothing but give a one momentary advantage of one car length?

(Let me turn aside here and say that, No, I do not ask that driver maintain a +/- 1 MPH steady speed. I know that that sort of margin is not really possible. I even recognize that we are all fallible beings and that sometimes you just space out and go really slow for a bit. I don’t expect perfection, not by a long shot. I do expect you to at least try to drive in a manner that is minimally acceptable. It does not require superhuman concentration to occupy only one lane at a time. It does not require the patience of a saint to refrain from making 13 lane changes between lights. Hell, I’m not that bright and I manage to not pull out in front of cars going 60 MPH when I know that I don’t have enough room to accelerate. So yeah I get it, people make mistakes. I’m not taking about that. I’m talking about jackassery.)

I decided to curse that Prius owner anyway. I feel a good fellow like that, acting in enlightened self interest, trying to do the responsible thing and protect the environment would probably want to be cursed out after the things he did on the road. I know I would.

Some folks really must have a working internet connection. Some of those folks need it essentially 24/7 as they are doing business with people around the world. For them, it makes perfect sense to have a web enabled phone on their person at all times. They have a wireless laptop in the home in addition to a desktop. And that same laptop or another one goes with them when they go anywhere.

Most folks do not need that level of connectivity. No where near that. For most, a connection at work that’s not too horribly crippled by company installed nannyware, plus a desktop or laptop at home with a cable or dsl connection is sufficient. Kids of course require more connectedness.

For me, all I really need to meet my internet needs is this desktop machine with it’s cable connection. But I have Treo with web access as well. Really slow web access.

And I expect more. Recently I came to the realization that the internet in the basement was just way way to far away. If I’m watching a movie with Mia and she insists that the star played the brother of the pimp in SLASHERS ON BROADWAY and I know for sure that she’s wrong because she’s thinking of the actor that played the love interest in BROADWAY SLASHERS 5: THE RETURN OF NATHAN LANE, I need to be able to look that information of NOW. How else will I be proved wrong in a timely fashion?

More people are coming to feel that way. The ‘net is slowly becoming to feel like less of a luxury and more of a necessity. I’m almost to the point that I’m surprised when I can’t just hop on the ‘net.

BTW, I’ve acted to rectify my appalling lack of connectivity by buying an Asus EEE PC. I’m giddy with anticipation of it’s arrival.