Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop...

Oh, it's a sad, sad story.

Tuesday evening, March 27th, I'm driving home from a meeting at church when an idiot kid in a Mazda of some kind left turns into our van at about 30 miles per! The whole side of the van is crunched in, but I'm okay at least. MLM picked the KIA Sedona because it was the only minivan with an overall five-star crash rating - that means five-stars for front, back, and side impacts. Thank goodness. So the kid gets ticketed for failure to yield, his passenger has to go to the hospital briefly, and both cars get towed and totaled. I begged State Farm to fix the thing and they tried their best to justify it, but on closer inspection at the KIA body shop they found motor mounts and suspension parts that had to be replaced (I was pushed into a curb which I hit at about 40mph) and that made the cost of repairs exceed the value of the van which means "totaled." Luckily, MLM also insisted we purchase Gap insurance on the loan, so we are covered for the difference between the settlement from State Farm and what is still owed on the van - almost five grand. Whew! So, the good news is we don't lose any money; the bad news is we have no van and no money to get another one. Also, you'll recall, the Aspire is not running right now.

So at the scene of the accident I called everyone I could think of but no one was home except my old Home Teacher, Trevor. He drove right to the accident sight to give me a lift home and when he learned I was without wheels promptly offered his car for my use (they have two)! Whatta friend! I have a rental car rider on my insurance but it only allows for $25 a day (that gets me a compact car from Enterprise), and a mobility van costs $85 a day for two weeks or longer, so that's $60 a day I would have to make up and later sue the other driver for which would take months and probably cost more than it was worth. So I went without the rental car for the time being. Meanwhile, my in-laws were kind enough to help with getting my Aspire back on the road – paid to have it towed to my local mechanic and then for a full tune-up. This enabled me to get Trevor’s car back to him when he and his wife returned from a vacation trip – good timing for a change. We’re going to cook a turkey dinner for them I think to say thanks. And, as soon as I can, pay back my in-laws for their help. This Saturday I’m going down to the salvage lot where the van is and pull out MLM’s wheelchair lift. When we get another van we’ll need it, so at least we’ll be that much ahead.

Move ahead one week. May 3rd I’m called into a meeting with my boss, his new boss, and an HR person to tell me they are moving me to another department and building on campus. My reporting structure has changed and I am no longer supporting the people I was – it’s a whole different group of folks in a mostly empty building. Now, the word is that a new university initiative will be moving their offices here and hiring a bunch of people so I could be real busy then, hopefully. Mary Lynn thinks this is just the first step in ushering me out the door. If there’s too little work then they can let me go. So, since her insights are almost always right, I reactivated my account on Dice.com and started putting out feelers for another possible job. God, I hate this! I thought I had a nice, secure position, but it looks like not. My new boss told me they have had IT layoffs in the past so there is nothing more certain here than at any other company. Crap! At least at the new assignment I have a nice office – not a cube – and the people here are very nice, so it could be a whole lot worse!

Last Friday, then, Mary Lynn had three doctor appointments and I had two (got my eyes checked – need new glasses). So we rented a van with an automatic rear ramp for the trip into Chicago. It worked out okay, although it was a Dodge minivan and it drove like a truck! Not at all like our lovely KIA. Mary Lynn saw an Orthopedic surgeon about her shoulders which have been really giving her pain for some time now. He said her cartilage in the joints is pretty much dissolved! That her arthritis is that virulent. She is going to have her shoulder joints replaced – the first one in the first week of July, the next about six months later. I pray this will go well and will give her some relief from her constant pain and perhaps a little more mobility. It surely can’t get worse. A good thing is that shoulder replacement is not nearly so invasive and traumatic as knee replacement, so hopefully this will be a good thing overall. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers, please.

So, we have another doctor trip to Chicago this coming Wednesday and that’s it for a while. I figure we can rent a van up to three times a month and still be money ahead over what we were paying on the loan for the KIA, so maybe we can get some cash ahead for a change. We’ll just have to keep on keepin’ on.

Oh, MLM did a cool thing for me. She checked on Neopets for any MegaTokyo presence and found none, so she immediately created a MegaTokyo guild in my account so I can maybe attract some like-minded individuals who want to have fun on Neopets as well as being fans of MegaTokyo. Sweet, huh?! Anyway, if you’re a Neopetter you won’t see the guild yet as it is still private until I do a little decorating, then start advertising.

Spring is coming too. It got nasty cold here for a few days last week, but there is definitely a warming trend – and I see leaves starting to pop.

Well, that’s enough for now I think. I won’t wait so long to post next time. Promise. ;-)