I hauled my extra-heavy laptop bag into work yesterday and suffered some minor back pain all day yesterday. Had some trouble sleeping this morning, too. I’m sure it will disappear once I do some stretching to work it out.
Laptop bags are evil. I’m buying a bag with wheels this afternoon. Enough is enough.
I’m working a new contract now, at a local datacenter. It should be a good exchange of knowledge. I can add a lot to their knowledge and vice-versa. They’re good people, so it’s fun, too.
Also had lunch with an old coworker and friend of mine. He remembered working with me for a brief three months ten years ago and thought to “Google” for me to see what I was up to. It looks like I may be doing work for his company if everything works out.
I also hear from my old Oculan buddies from time to time, and seem to always miss out on whatever outing brings them together. I’ve got to do a better job of keeping in touch.
As you know, a woman hit my car a few weeks ago as I was out getting lunch. The initial repair work was done two weeks afterward, but not to my satisfaction. The new paint doesn’t match the old paint and a bubble has developed on the fender’s paint.
After getting back from vacation, I spoke with the woman’s father and expressed my dissatisfaction with the work. The response was that he or the repairman would call me back that week to get things fixed.
I left a message with him last week asking him to call, but I never heard back from him. It seemed to me that he was just hoping I would go away. The reality is that I was being patient with him. Today I decided my patience had run out.
I typed up a forceful letter, explaining what I wanted done and why I wasn’t happy. I put a deadline in it and explained that if it didn’t get done, I’d pursue other means of persuasion. I faxed it to them and immediately headed for the post office, where I mailed a copy to them, too.
I had just walked out of the post office when I heard from the woman who hit me. She told me she would talk with the repair guy and see what he could do. This was only after she reminded me how old my car is and that the repair was very expensive, yadda, yadda, yadda.
So my car is youth-challenged. It was in great shape and running fine. Then it was crumpled. Now it is back to its old shape, but with a two-tone paint scheme and mismatched headlight. While I could’ve potentially let it slide, I decided I just cannot accept another burden right now.
I want my car fixed. I don’t want it to look like new, I just want it to look like it did before it got smacked.
So I got a call from the repair guy tonight. He’s always been reasonable to talk with and I was glad to hear from him. He explained the headlight was an aftermarket one which was the same one my initial body shop estimate had suggested.
Fine with me on that, I said. But what about the paint?
He told me the paint was the same as the car initially had, which I’m not too convinced of, since it clearly doesn’t match. While the guy who patched the car up the last time I was wrecked didn’t go a fantastic job on the fender, filling it with a ton of Bondo, one thing he did do was match the color correctly. If this so-called inexperienced repairman could do that, this professional should be able to pull it off, right?
I ended the call reiterating my need to have the colors freakin’ match. I’m still not sure the message was received. The plan is to have them fetch the car this weekend and fix it while we’re away. The deadline I imposed is October 1st, less than ten days away.
Here’s hoping the second time’s the charm.
Hello.
Been busy. Film at eleven.
I spent most of yesterday contorted in agony watching the Wolfpack self-destruct against Ohio State. Thirteen penalties. Three interceptions. Not to take anything away from Ohio State, who played consistently well, but we were our own worst enemy.
Ohio State played with cool heads, whereas we were excitable puppies, thrilled to be running with the big dogs. You’d think this team had never played and beaten Florida State and Notre Dame before. The players are responsible for running their plays, and the coaches are reponsible for making sure their heads are screwed on straight. Amato failed to find a way to keep his team loose, and we paid for it.
That’s just one of the things that Rivers brought to the game. He just wasn’t one to be rattled, and his demeanor carried through to his teammates. Jay Davis will get there as he gets more comfortable. Perhaps this loss will help him find it.
On the positive side, our defense looks much, much improved. If we can get our offense shored up, then pairing it with our defense should make us a formidible challenge for the rest of the new, improved ACC.
So we lost to Ohio State. Been there, done that. Let’s get on with the rest of the season.
This morning, it feels like fall got here four days early. It’s a stunningly beautiful sunny day, with cool breezes and high-50’s to low-60’s temperatures. Fantastic weather.
We’re going to get some outside time this morning before finishing up household stuff. You just gotta love fall in North Carolina.
I read in today’s paper about a consumer group which is taking senior citizens across the border to buy prescription drugs. The group, The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, has organized what they call the Rx Express, offering twenty people a chartered trainride to Canada, where a Canadian doctor will examine them and prescribe appropriate drugs.
This is a token effort designed to get publicity, of course. But it publicizes an important issue that senior citizens deal with. Drug prices are spiraling out of control, sapping the meager savings of our older citizens, some of which are forced to do without other necessities in favor of refilling a presecription. It’s scary to think the life-saving medication I might need when I’m elderly could be priced prohibitively out of my reach.
The federal government bueracracy should not interfere with seniors’ right to purchase their medications from Canada. They’ve already banned internet buying (on the flimsiest of excuses). The train-rides to Canada are a great way to demonstrate that the problem has not gone away. Ride on!
The remnants of Hurricane Ivan moved through this afternoon. The temperature shot up from low 70’s to mid-90’s, and it was windy and muggy. It wasn’t until 3:30, though, before it actually began to rain here.
My rain gauge showed a rate of 4 inches per hour during the torrent! Overall, we got six tenths of an inch here. It seemed like much more, but the deluge moved quickly with the strong winds pushing it along.
I hope it stays moist for the next three weeks, so I don’t have to water my new lawn. And maybe next weekend, we can keep the wind and skip the rain, since that’s when we go to the lake again.
Panama City, my birthplace and the place my family vacationed just last month, got pummled by Hurricane Ivan. A tornado there killed two people, coming dangerously close to my grandmother’s home and destroying the office of a family friend (the man in the next office was killed).
Lots more damage pictures at the News-Herald website.
