Dave’s Good Stuff

I got the copper piping laid today to provide the refrigerator with water for the ice maker, and ice/water in the door. It only took 3 hours and two trips to Home Depot… one for the pipe, and another for a reciprocating saw.

See, when they installed the original (heavy gauge, by the way) pipe, they installed it with permanency in mind. That’s all well and good, but the pipe was crimped and waaaay to short. In order to replace it, I had to start in early on taking the ceiling tiles in the basement out, as well as cut into a cabinet near the floor so I could reach in and feed the pipe through. That’s why the saw. I would have patched the pipe and just lengthened it, but… well, I didn’t think about it until later. I don’t even know if it’s realistic and/or possible. It was crimped pretty near the cabinet, so I’d have had to cut a hole anyway, just to get enough room to attach and extend.

All in all, an interesting Saturday. I’m looking forward to having ready-made ice and cold water. I’m also looking forward to tearing out the rest of the ceiling to see what’s up there. I’m thinking, at least at this point, that I’ll just leave the bare wood and support beams, and paint them black. Later I may go back with some tiles or a ceiling, but that’s a few projects down the road.

Finally heard some solid numbers regarding my car. After bouncing it around town for a week and a half, spending about 6 hours in total on the phone with a dozen different people, I find that the estimated repair, according to the body shop, is $5,200. That’s damn near the trade-in value… we’ll see what the insurance adjuster says. I should hear back on Monday what the verdict is.

Last week, during all this, my lawn needed mowing… badly. I just didn’t feel up for it, though. With timing that almost speaks to the supernatural, two neighborhood kids come by and offer to mow the lawn for $10. What wonderful fortune! I agree, at which point they ask if they can use my mower. Heh. Go figure. No matter, I let them at it, and pay them $20 for their trouble.

They’ve come by three times since wanting to mow it. Seems they figure me and my lawn an easy source of money, and want to milk it for all they can. I really can’t blame them for it… they’re young, and I remember doing exactly the same thing when I was their age… didn’t work for me any better than it’ll work for them, though.

The previous owner of my house, in keeping their promise to repaint the interior, did so. But they did an absolutely abhorred job. It’s terrible. They didn’t trim in the ceilings except for a couple of places, and splashed paint on fixtures here and there. The best part though (note the sarcasm) is how they dumped their excess paint down the kitchen and bathroom sinks! Isn’t that grand? The brand new, gorgeous deep stainless steel sink in the kitchen had white paint drops all over it, and the drains are stained. The sink in the bathroom is nigh unusable, due to the fact that it takes over an hour for it to drain.

I’m sure it’s entirely possible to carry more stupidity around on one’s shoulders, but the previous owner is already carrying around quite a load. I’ve called him and requested he send a plumber out to take stock of the situation. I’ve the name of my own which I’ll call if (when) I don’t hear from the previous owner for an estimate.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

Yesterday, I spent about 3 hours on the phone in the afternoon trying to track down someone at my insurance company who could tell me about my car. The name I was originally given as the insurance adjuster handling the case was on vacation. Apparently, his assistant is too. His supervisor was out, as was *his* supervisor. Voice mail in all cases. I called my agent in Wichita, and over the course of several phone calls got several names and a couple redirections… all leading to voicemail. No fault of hers, either… she was eager to help, but there just wasn’t much she could do aside from try to get me in touch with someone who could do something.

I was told by one of the first live humans I talked to that the scheduled pickup from the body shop by the IC on Monday was cancelled. So I called the body shop and the car wasn’t there. Several phone calls later, I find out that the pickup had been cancelled, but then re-scheduled for the same day. Huh.

In addition, my rental car agreement was originally for three days, and was going to run out in a matter of hours. The adjuster was supposed to call to renew it upon looking at the car. The adjuster not only hadn’t looked at the car, but didn’t even know he was supposed to call the rental agency! I could have picked the car up on Friday. It’s a good thing I didn’t pick the car up until Sunday… Hertz would have been calling me wondering what the hell was going on, and I wouldn’t have had a clue. He did call after I told him about it, and told me about another adjuster would actually be looking at the car, taking photos, and sending them to him.

In summary, the name of the adjuster in charge of the case is not the name I was given last week. The name of the adjuster in charge of looking at the car is not the name I was given last week. I was told last week that it would be taken care of last week, and now it’s this week. It might not be until next week that I know what the final verdict is… is it totalled or not? If not, what’s the damage and schedule? Why have I not been kept in the loop regarding the progress? Why was I given names of people who aren’t involved, and left to track down the names of those who are? Why did *I* have to spend 3 hours on the phone yesterday… I pay nearly two grand a year on insurance, shouldn’t that be their job?

Bah. This has gone from the normal unpleasant one expects in such a situation, to damned frustrating.

Just got off the phone with the woman inspecting the car. She thinks it might not be totalled, but it’ll need a deeper inspection to tell. I’ll know by early next week. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, although unconfirmed by me, the face-plate on the stereo may be stolen. If the car is totalled, I don’t give a shit. If it’s not, then GODDAMNIT, WHAT THE FUCK IS NEXT?!

The stereo face plate was in the glove box. The license plate is in my hand. I’m done with this for the next few days… I hope.

I’m pretty much all moved in now. Everything I need for daily living is over, and a good part of it is unpacked… if not finally organized. I still have some small things (records, files, a couple tools, a few knick-knacks) at the other house, but I can pick those up over the course of the next few weeks.

Right now I’m just very tired. I think the mad rush of the last three months is catching up with me… and with so much left to do on the house to get it where I want it.

I’ve got a huge list of projects for my new house, from remodeling the kitchen to replacing all the windows. Most of the things I’ve thought about up to this point are major, requiring major cash. Hell, the windows were estimated at $4,800 last week (9 top of the line windows, with full life-long warranty and installation included - including any frame repairs required to install - but still $4,800), and I’ve got a ceiling in the basement to finish taking down. The sheer cost and scope of what’s on the project list so far is a bit daunting, so I think it’s time to start thinking about some smaller, more easily accomplished things… which mainly center around decor.

The big question now is to go with blinds, curtains, or both. I want simple, clean design on the interior, and I’m afraid that, though definitely adding a "Homey" quality, the curtains might also add a "Busier than I want" quality. Curtains are nice, though… If I go with curtains (with or w/o blinds), I probably won’t go with any of the more expensive setups with hardware to draw the curtains back. It’ll all be manual pull and tie back… less to pay for, and less to break and go wrong. If I go with blinds (with or w/o curtains), I’ll go considerably nicer than Target or Walmart. Something (again) clean and simple.

Basically, I’m looking for an interior look with a definite Japanese flair. I don’t want to go full-on Japanese b/c… well… I’m not, and this isn’t. But I do so love the look.

Along with this is another change that is, in many ways, far more drastic. Those of you that know me will understand why I say this. I’ve been wanting to upgrade my in-home server for some time, but with the house, the projects, the car, and all the expenses that go along with all that, I just don’t have the capital. Thus, I’m seriously considering sacrificing my desktop to the new server. Besides increasing the power of the production server, giving me a development box again, this has the added benefit of keeping me off the computer for browsing and gaming while at home. That will free up time to get the house in shape for the inevitable house warming party. As it is, I apparently don’t have the willpower to keep myself off it, so I have to take the privilege away from myself. With a fully capable laptop courtesy work, if I really need to be online while at home, I can just take it home with me until such time as I can afford a personal laptop. I’ll let you know when/how that works out.

Last night I stayed in my new house for the first time. I slept on my new bed, under my own roof, between my own walls. This morning I took a shower in my own shower.

I’d like to say it was a great night’s sleep, but I really can’t. It always takes me a while to acclimate to a new place, be it a friend’s I’m staying over at for the first time, or a new house. I don’t imagine it’ll take long.

In addition to the "New Place" factor, it stormed quite loudly last night, waking me up around 5:00am with the lightening and the thunder and the rain slapping the windows (I really need to replace the storm windows in the bedroom… right now their just screens. That == rot).

The final element contributing to my relatively restless night was the fact that the AC thermostat broke off in my hand yesterday. That was the second time I adjusted it. Didn’t take long, did it? I going to replace it with one of those programmable ones from Home Depot. That way, the house won’t be freezing when I wake up.

All in all, however… It was extremely cool!

Then there’s the issue of the car. I don’t know for sure what the damage is, but it’s likely that it’s totalled. I rear-ended someone in the rain two days ago. One half-second of having the eyes off the road and it’s a world of inconvenience. No one was hurt, including the other guy’s freakin’ Ford Focus, but my front end is crushed beyond recognition. I’ll find out today what the story is, and if it is totalled, I think I’m going to look at a new Saturn ION-3 Quad Coupe, and use the insurance payout for down payment.

I haven’t written in a while, so I thought I’d bring you up to speed on the house front.

Last week I was presented with a new Kenmore Elite refrigerator and a new Kenmore radiant glass top stove. I got them cheap from the Sears Outlet Store here in KC, and saved about 43% off retail. The only thing I was worried about was being able to get a warranty on new-but-slightly-damaged goods. The stove has a dent in the side, and the fridge has a scuff on one of the plastic pieces. There was no cause to worry though, b/c a full warranty was available for both of them, which I promptly bought. They’re in the kitchen right now, waiting to be put to use. I did try out the stove, and was absolutely amazed at how quickly the coils lit up. Compared to all other electric stoves I’ve seen, this bastard is quick. Boo Ya.

Yesterday my bed and mattress were delivered. The mattress came ok, but the bed had a broken piece… what came of it, that is. One piece was broken, and two other critical pieces were missing entirely. I placed a few calls to Benchmark, where I bought it, and they assured me they were working on it as fast and thoroughly as they could. Today they delivered the rest and set it all up for me. Can I get another Boo Ya?

Then there’s the whole issue of getting copper piping to the refrigerator to supply the ice maker with water. Turns out it’s a good thing I intended to rip out all the ceiling tile in the basement anyway, b/c that’s what I’m going to have to do in order to get to the point of origin on that pipe. Well, not the entire ceiling, but enough of it to justify (to my mind) just ripping it out and starting over. I don’t like the tile, and I don’t like the faux wood paneling on the walls. It’s got to go. And so it will. It’ll be my first true Home Improvement Project… and it’s got me a bit excited. I should be taking pictures, but since I don’t have a camera, and don’t want to bother with scanning non-digital photos, I probably won’t. You’ll just have to rely on my mad descriptive skillz, yo.

Following my talk with the adjuster this morning, I test drove a couple Saturn ION 3 Quad Coupes today. Actually, one was an ION 3 with an automatic transmission which, except for that and black leather interior, matched my feature wish-list to a T. The other was an ION 2 with the sports package they started offering. It had a manual transmission, but was lacking quite a few of the other features I wanted.

I’m not a fan of automatic transmissions, so I drove both, thinking the manual tranny would be enough to allow me to live without the rest of the missing features. Not so. It just didn’t feel right… there was no tension/friction point when I pushed in the clutch. Without that feedback, it felt awkward, and I just wasn’t sure exactly where the clutch met the accelerator. That being the case, I’m going with the automatic (sorry Dad).

As for the black leather interior, I’d rather have tan, but I can live with black. I’ll just deep tint the windows to eliminate/minimize the issue of interior heat during the summer.

If all goes well, I should have the settlement check next week, and ought to be able to pawn off the dead car to a salvage yard somewhere, both giving me a hefty down payment on the ION. I may just have it this time next week… a full month from the day of the accident. Maybe that’s being too optimistic…

I just wish the new trunk mounted bike rack I bought two months ago would fit. Anyone want a Yakima MoJoe rack? It’s been used… maybe 5 times.

Well… not so much a Phoenix… more along the lines of a Saturn ION 3 Quad Coupe.

I finally got in touch with someone at Farmer’s Insurance who is helping me out, and giving me his honest thoughts. He told me that I’d be foolish to repair the car. With a repair estimate of $5,200, and a total retail value anywhere from the repair estimate to $7,000, I’d be wise to take the money and run. I even called my Dad last night to get his advice on it, and given that both he and the adjuster are of the same mind, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take the settlement check and sell the car to a salvage yard (I hear one is already bidding $1,300 for it - wouldn’t that be nice?). All that money, and possibly some of my own, will go to a down payment on the new car.

Working with Farmer’s through this whole thing has been… interesting. I’ve talked with a different person almost every day… when I’ve been able to get a hold of anyone at all. I wasn’t ever clear on who is in charge of what, who is handling what, and I’ve gotten different stories from many of them. It’s been three weeks since the accident (as of this afternoon), and I’ve heard from friends and others that this is a long time. I don’t know. Maybe it’s average. It’s certainly been frustrating.

I’m sure part of it is the holidays. Being around the 4th of July, schedules were a little crazy. I can forgive them that, and now that I’m seeing a glimmer (not a light, mind you, just a glimmer) further down this tunnel, I’m inclined to forgive them more. Maybe it’s because it’s almost all over, and I can finally move on (in much nicer wheels, no less), or maybe it’s b/c there’s a silver lining…

Aside from the upgrade in the ride department, I came to realize that I was being grossly overcharged for my insurance, by possibly as much as 2X as much as I should be. After talking with my agent (if "talking" be the word), he was able to cut my semi-yearly payment almost in half… of course, with this accident, it’ll likely go right back up again, but at least it won’t go up on top of an already exaggerated rate.

For now, I’ve faxed my feature list over to Jeff at Saturn of Olathe, and hope to hear good things back from him soon. I’ve missed the cut-off date for ordering a car to spec, but they’re still getting them in, so I’ll probably get what I’m looking for, or damn near it.

Heh. I just heard. They have damn near it, but not quite. I’m going over at 11:00am for a test drive and to check out what they have.

Why new, instead of used? Call it my personal preference…. I just feel better about it.

We had something of a server outage for the last couple of days. A power outage knocked everything offline (no, we don’t have battery backup yet… shut up), and when it came back, our router wasn’t behaving. A reset brought it back on-line, but without any of the proper and correct configuration settings. Those back in place, we’re back on-line again.

While all that was going on, I bought a new bed, refrigerator and oven. All told I spent $ouch money on those three items. I still have a microwave, toaster, bed sheets and comforter and all the thousands of little things that will add up until I’m completely and totally broke. It’s fine, though. It’s very much a new beginning for me, and I’m more than looking forward to it all.

The oven and fridge two will be delivered to my new house tomorrow, while the bed will come on the 9th. By that time, I should have enough moved over there to start living there more-or-less permanently. I’m done with the books, CD’s and DVD’s, so now it’s to the knick-knacks, clothes and all the other miscellaneous little things. My goal is to have nothing left to move on the 19th but the furniture… I’ll even try to get desk drawers moved over in advance.