Last Friday I received a voice mail from the insurance adjuster assigned to my claim telling me that my claim had been completed and that I should be getting a check in the mail within seven to ten business days. Knowing that I had a $500 deductible on the policy I was surprised, as I felt the depreciated value of the items stolen would be less than the deductible.
Color me pleasantly surprised.
The formula used on the “personal property worksheet” I received from my insurance company started with a full replacement cost figure and then calculated a depreciation amount. I had though they would start with the original purchase price and depreciate that value. Starting with the current replacement cost greatly increased the total amount of my loss, and even after the deductible was subtracted from the total I will regain about $645 of my lost property.
I now have a year to replace the items taken and track the receipts. By submitting the receipts to my insurance company in a subsequent claim I can recover some (or all) of the depreciation applied, about another $266.
Not a bad deal at all.
Writing something at least once a day on ones web site is not as easy (for me anyway) as it sounds. There are days when I have several ideas for things to write about and share via my site. I’d venture to say that maybe half of all the ideas I get never make it to the screen. Either because I start the posting and decide that I don’t want to share it, or because the idea happens when I am not conveniently in front of my computer, ready to type away. Many a good posting has been composed while standing in the shower or driving the car; only to be lost in the same way half remembered dreams are lost upon waking.
So today’s posting is really a posting, except that it fulfills (technically) the need to put something new on my site for November 13, 2006.
Just over a week ago, Nekko had her follow up visit at the animal hospital. At the time I expressed my frustration at having to inject her twice a day with insulin to the doctor. He firmly, but politely, explained to me that there was really no option. The longer lasting insulin wasn’t nearly as effective, especially with felines, as the twelve hour stuff. In short he said that I had to find a way to inject her on a regular schedule as close to every twelve hours as possible.
I am happy to say that I have been successful in achieving that goal for the past ten days. Her favorite hiding spot is under my bed, which being king-sized, leaves her plenty of room to hide. Not wanting to move the bed and chase her I needed a way to guarantee me access to her for a shot. By sliding an air mattress under the bed and inflating it I was able to cordon off half of the space there resulting in her being within arms reach from the other side.
Now when I need to inject her I simply “chase” her under the bed and, once she is there, lay on the floor and reach under to give her a shot. I am greatly pleased that I am now (finally) giving her the insulin on a regular basis. Already I am seeing some changes in her urine output that signal, perhaps, that her blood chemistry is becoming more stable. Over the Thanksgiving holiday she will be staying at a local veterinarian’s where they will be able to test her blood and give me an idea of whether the insulin dosage is correct.
Coordinating my schedule in order to be at home every twelve hours (actually anywhere from nine to fifteen, but still) isn’t easy. I may yet have to resort to hiring someone to come into my home and inject Nekko when I want to be away and don’t want to board her. Also, it would be nice to have someone on hand in case of emergency.
One of the best ensemble movies of recent years., <a href=“http://imdb.com/title/tt0240772/" title=Ocean’s Eleven”>Ocean’s Eleven is well paced and acted. I’ve watched it again and again and still delight in its presentation and style.
Rating: Very much worth owning a copy of
Many of you, who have home owners or renters insurance, may have a “replacement value” clause. The common misconception is that when your insured widget, gewgaw, or family heirloom is lost, damaged, or stolen you’ll get enough money to go get yourself a new one. This is a nice misconception, but a misconception nonetheless.
Reality is, once you successfully jump through all the claim process hoops, all you get is a check for the current depreciated value of your trinket, bauble, or antique. Then you have a year to replace the missing, destroyed, or pilfered item. Keeping the receipts then allows you to jump through new hoops to get a second check, for the difference between the first check and the purchase price of the replacement.
All of this is fine and dandy, unless the insurance adjuster assigned current value is less than the deductible on your account. In which case you get zilch. In my case the stolen camera is no longer state of the art, it’s not even county of the art any more. I highly doubt that the depreciated value is going to be anywhere near my deductible amount.
When Bicentennial Man first came out it was a bit of a sleeper, it wasn’t until I rented it and watched that I realized what a good movie it actually was. Robin Williams shines as a robot seeking humanity. Poignant and moving, this movies is one of my favorites.
Rating: Excellent from start to finish
Starting last year about this time I have been searching for a martial art activity for myself. Initially I started with karate as that is what I had done before. Being out of shape and trying to return to something I was once very good at was disheartening to say the least. The mental image I had bore no resemblance to the physical reality I was experiencing. My return to karate lasted exactly two evenings.
Discouraged, I sat out the entire winter, thinking about doing something but never following through. Eventually I decided to go and watch the local kendo club. Since I had never participated in kendo before I wouldn’t have prior experience clouding my expectations. At first I really enjoyed kendo; it was new, the people were nice, and it felt good to be out doing something again. That I was also altering my lifestyle so as to lose some weight helped.
My enthusiasm for kendo has diminished, however. It is more tightly focused than karate and therefore more repetitious. My karate experience encompassed principles and techniques from jujitsu, judo, aikido, and plain old boxing. The focus of practices were varied. The kendo workouts have become predictable and a bit boring. I find that I always look for excuses not to attend, and when I do attend, I spend the entire time looking forward to the end of class.
Organizations or clubs are like living organisms. And like all life forms they will reject that which is foreign to them. I don’t feel rejected by the club or its members, but I don’t feel like I fit in either. My goals or objectives are being met by the style or practice, or the style of the art. In short, I need to move on to something else.
There is some sadness at ending my kendo workouts. I will miss the shared camaraderie of two hours in 108 degree heat, I will miss the people. I will not miss the feeling that I have to go. I need to keep looking until I find something I want, so that attending is what I do, not what I have to do.
Last evening I went out for pizza. While in the restaurant a large group of women and their daughters gathered in one end for some kind of awards dinner. There was laughter and shrieking and the general mayhem that accompanies a gaggle of ten-year girls. Eventually they got around to passing out awards and praising the efforts of different people. After the awards I became aware that the girls were performing cheers or chants of some kind.
One of the cheers/chants that was repeated several times involved the line, “shake your booty” and an actual shaking of the booties of all performing. Even the moms got up and shook. My thought as soon as I heard and saw this was one of dismay. These ten or eleven year old girls were being objectified without their even being aware of the process. That the moms were going along with this behavior, encouraging it, and participating in it was even more disheartening.
I do not condone, nor do I support, any thinking that absolves boys or men from their actions. Males in our society need to be taught right and wrong, they need to understand the violence is wrong, and that other people have a right to personal safety. No action by a girl or women “makes” the man do anything. So, should these young girls now, or when they become young women, be molested or sexually attacked, I hold the boys or men responsible. However, teaching young girls that they can get attention by using their bodies is dangerous ground. Abstract thinking skills, the ability to understand consequences, is not something children possess. I fear that we as a society show young people a way to act without also imparting all the ramifications of those actions.
I’ve been a regular user of instant message chat since ICQ first became available (my ICQ id has only 6 digits). With AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, and now Google all offering semi-proprietary chat clients I have accounts on each service. Running five different chat clients is cumbersome and somehow not elegant.
For years, when I was primarily using Windows on my personal machines and at work, I used Trillian as an all-in-one solution to multiple chat services. Upon switching to Apple and the Mac OS nearly four years ago, I started hunting around for a multi-protocol client once again. At first I was using Proteus, but I soon switched to Adium.
Changing employment engagements to a client with restricted Internet access, I once again needed a new solution. Enter Meebo. A web-based multi-protocol chat client, meebo has rapidly replaced all my other clients, regardless of operating system. I get the same look and feel on any machine, on any OS. Better still, using the “load page in sidebar” feature of Firefox, I can have Meebo up an running along side my regular browsing - I don’t even have to switch to a new window or tab to continue a converstation. Each new release of Meebo brings more desktop client features to the mix as well. If you haven’t tried it yet, and you are a fan of more than one chat service, I high recommend Meebo.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a light comedy with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. Neither the best nor the worst light comedy every, just good clean fun.
Rating: He doesn’t say “Judy” in this one either.