Not so cool, still damp, possibly raining. Yesterday I was dodging raindrops all over town. No real storms though, that I was aware of. The most rain I saw was a hard drizzle and was very brief.
The rain I did see was while driving around the city doing pickups/dropoffs/meetings with my various local auctioneers, and then doing the airport run. Good news is that I have another auction house willing to take a bunch of stuff that I didn’t know where I was going to be able to sell it. Bad news is that I currently don’t have anywhere to stage 6-10 pallets of stuff. They will do the auction with the stuff in place so I don’t have to deliver it to them, and charge less if I do some of the work. Sounds like a deal to me.
And then I got rear ended in my Ranger. Slippery, light misty drizzle, and as I came over the hill and was forced to slow because of merging traffic slowing the whole lane, the guy behind me couldn’t stop in time. He tried to get around on the right and off to the shoulder but didn’t make it. I might have had less damage if he bumped me straight on, instead of just hitting the right corner of the bumper. The Ranger is a framed vehicle and the bumper is steel. The bumper got bent, pushing the right rear side of the bed forward, which crumpled at the wheel well. The Tail light is popped out of place but works. His little Kia lost the left headlight assembly, part of the bumper and likely the hood and quarter panel, as well as structural components in the front end. MASS wins every time.
I wasn’t even sure we were hit, because I didn’t see him behind me (he was on the shoulder I was in the lane) after the noise and movement. I bounced around a bit, not much as the speed was low. Mom got whipped around a bit more. I handed her a cold pack from the trauma bag, but she’ll be stiff and sore today. She was just feeling good after a previous back and neck injury so she’s not happy at all. The other driver had no license, insurance or english. I’ll be dealing with my insurance today. Cop said they can do most of the work needed before the official report gets through channels, in a week. That should be interesting. Slightly less damage, and alone in the car, and I might have opted to do it informally, but I need for mom to get whatever care she needs.
Hotwash, bonus points for having the ice pack and bag, minus for being caught off guard by the slowing traffic. Bonus for being insured, minus for realizing that my registration was out of date. And while it’s great that the Ranger is drive-able, and insured, it was my backup vehicle, with my primary STILL not having been replaced. I need to get it back to ‘spare’ status ASAP. Bonus, having and showing the city credential finally stopped the other driver from trying to convince me not to call the police, I told him that I was a volunteer, worked with them, and HAD to report it. Never claimed anything that I’m not, but with his limited english it surely seemed to be more than it was.
Second time in two days I had the credential out. Day before was when I gave some gear to the officers that were outside my secondary location dealing with some street guy. Since I had the stuff out (having just picked it up cheap) I thought I’d hand it out and get some karma. PD is much more likely to accept a gift, be it a set of yellow rain gear, or Girl Scout cookies, from someone that is ‘part of the family’ even if just a distant cousin… I still support the idea of Rule of Law, and the guys on the street. And if there are any benefits to be had, I’m cynical enough to want them.
Plan for today is spend time with mom and the kids, do stuff around the house. Work the list. All depending on if I hurt or not. And deal with the paperwork. Maybe I should get my registration up to date too…
Oh, and Costco has a bunch of my normal purchases on sale this week which means I should do an Instacart order so I can…………………. keep stacking!
nick
@Nick
Hope your mother isn’t slowed down too much and recovers rapidly. You , too.
What year is the Ranger?
H1B issues should be easy to fix. Set it up as it is now, but the cost is the starting bid in a Dutch Auction. Highest bidders get them. Renew annually. If you REALLY need that skill set, you ought to be willing to pay for it!
H1B issues should be easy to fix. Set it up as it is now, but the cost is the starting bid in a Dutch Auction. Highest bidders get them. Renew annually. If you REALLY need that skill set, you ought to be willing to pay for it!
That kind of auction of the visas would only make things worse. As it is, I believe the root of the problem is that most of the H1Bs we see from the subcontinent are spoiled rich kids staked by their families to establish a presence in this country.
Plus, something like that already exists in the form of the OPT diploma mill rackets a lot of mid-tier universities run in their CS Masters programs here in the US. I beat that deceased equine here quite a bit over the past six years.
The CS department where I got my Masters even taught remedial C to the Subcontinent contingent pursuing the same degree. Anything for that additional $20,000 in foreign student tuition.
Your insurance will not cover much medical. Instead any medical claims will have to be dealt with by your health insurance and your mother’s health insurance rather than auto insurance. You will have to pay the deductible to have your vehicle fixed. Your insurance will not even bother to go after the other guy unless it is big money. A couple of thousand out of the insurance company’s pocket, a few hundred out of your pocket for the deductible and is not worth the insurance company’s time. You will also get charged with a claim as your insurance had to pay and that may affect your rates.
The entire system really sucks. My last accident the guy was on drug and high. He had a sleaze bag insurance company that would not respond to my requests. So I went with my insurance company. All reputable insurance companies have agreements with each other that in the case of dispute of who is at fault they go through an arbitrator. The other party’s insurance company in my accident had no such agreements with anyone. According to my insurance company that makes his insurance company a scum company that insures the losers with minimum coverage then finds ways to not pay.
And that insurance company said I was 15% at fault even though the accident report placed 100% of the fault with the other driver. Knowing full well that for me to get a lawyer to take them to court would cost me more than that 15%. However, since it was a DUI, what his insurance did not cover had to come out of the other driver’s pocket. Pay up or go to jail. I got monthly checks from his lawyer for several months. Handwritten, not at all professional, a scum bag lawyer servicing the low life. The first check was late by two days and I contacted the DA who said they would contact the lawyer. If I did not get the check in two days an arrest warrant would be issued. Check arrived in two days.
I was also told by the district attorney who was handling the case that I would be victimized twice. Once by the accident and once by the legal system. She was correct. The DA was handling the case because it not only a traffic matter, but a criminal matter. Thus the reason the other party was required to pay restitution.
Everyone loses in a traffic accident.
Everyone loses in a traffic accident.
Except The Gecko, Flo, The General, Limu Emu (and Doug), The Elephant, …
The other driver had no license, insurance or english.
I wonder if he skipped out on his immigration hearing as well.
Catch and release.
I received a work visa in 1995 for a position in the UK. My kids had left for college and I wanted to live and work there. I used the young internet to conduct my job search and flew to london twice for interviews. The British government was very concerned about granting work permits to non citizens. I needed to exhibit skills and experience that the hiring firm was unable to find locally. Happily I had several years experience designing and building WANs and had recently worked for a California firm making ISO X400 and X500 systems for government. This was a perfect fit for the young Nottingham firm NEXOR who was selling ISO based email and directory systems to UK and EU govermental agencies. NEXOR sponsored my visa application but hit a snag, visas were only available to applicants who had pursued the position found in newspapers or other common advertising medium. The government didn’t consider the new internet as a valid advertising medium. After much lobbying with the Nots MP they consented in my case but refused to add internet to the list of valid advertising medium. Somewhere I still have the letter the MP sent to NEXOR saying I was the first person ever granted a work permit for a position found on the internet and instructing them not to spread that information or my visa may be “reconsidered”.
Since then I have gotten work visas for the UK (again), Hong Kong, and New Zealand.
Ohh, I thought it was to get around some CL requirement not to include your phone number in the body of your ad and only use their pre-defined form field.
Haven’t used CL much to either buy or sell lately – quality of the listings seems to have gone down hill. Using NextDoor successfully for small dollar items, the wife similarly with FB Marketplace. Still on Ebay for selling larger dollar items and buying obscure items. Nowhere close to @nick’s volume so auctions are not best for me.
–I do this with my listings. It’s a CL thing to try and avoid the robots and scammers. They are REALLY good at parsing the listings automatically and robotexting about their scam.
I know at least one marketing company harvests phone numbers and then uses data mining techniques to sell a list of 20 or so numbers most likely to be associated with a particular home address, vehicle registration, or, in my wife’s case professional licenses across all states.
I receive recruiting calls all the time for my wife. They’re either working that list or assume my wife’s name is what I call myself post transition. Please. My wife’s name is a stereotype choice, and I would never do that.
So Caitlyn is not a stereotype choice like Mary or Sue.
BTW, try Lynn. Lynn used to be 2 out of 5 were women and 3 out of 5 were men. Now it is 4 out of 5 are women. So all the cold callers and cold emailers start off with Ms. Lynn. BTW2, Lynn is not my first name.
“Emergency Supplies Are Tax-Free April 24-26, So Stock Up Soon To Save Some Cash”
https://www.houstonpress.com/news/stock-up-on-emergency-supplies-tax-free-april-24-26-11558932
“February’s god-awful winter storm was a potent reminder that the best time to prepare for a disaster is before it hits. With those memories still fresh in the minds of Texans and with hurricane season only 39 days away, this weekend’s tax holiday on emergency supplies couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“As the Houston Press warned would-be generator purchasers back in February, Texans can stock up on an assortment of different items tax-free from 12:01 a.m. on Saturday (that’s one minute after midnight Friday) through midnight Monday, including batteries, hurricane shutters and certain power generators that’ll come in handy when the next disaster strikes.”
Ok, sitting down and checking in. Mom feels fine this morning and I have my normal aches and pains, no significant difference in my neck than normal work would explain. Spent the morning learning to play Rummikube? something with numbered tiles…
Late start this morning and slow day. Wife is having her first haircut in a year…
Grandma wants to take the kids birthday shopping, but needs to have the wife and her car to drive…
Currently 90F in the sun, and 43%RH, quite a nice day. So much for the weather liars.
n
ranger is an ’03 with 106K miles. No accidents until this one. Good runner and good condition.
“Emergency Supplies Are Tax-Free April 24-26, So Stock Up Soon To Save Some Cash”
Great. I just bought a Noco Boost jump start/USB battery after we got back from Florida.
During the trip, we spent a couple of hours in the Gatorland parking lot after closing, waiting for AAA, because my mother-in-law failed to close the door properly on the rental. I vowed never to be in that position again. Plus the Noco can recharge phones if necessary.
When AAA arrived, instead of jumper cables, he pulled out a Noco Pro.
ranger is an ’03 with 106K miles. No accidents until this one. Good runner and good condition.
Valuable beater truck. My guess is that Cash For Clunkers 2.0 will try to take all of those off the road — Ranger, Tacoma, and Frontier, 15-20 years old. The first program took the last Cherokees off the road that Iacocca put into the pipeline.
The agenda is that you buy a truck from The Real Life Tony Stark (TM).
the two best features of the rangers, lower deck height, and a full size standard pallet will fit flat between the wheel wells.
n
oh, and I’ve had half a ton in the back, and it has a 320 mile range with a five minute refill time…. let the reel lyfe stinky fart match that…
the two best features of the rangers, lower deck height, and a full size standard pallet will fit flat between the wheel wells.
Useful. That can’t happen.
One of my wife’s Chinese cousins has an unregistered Mazda B-series (rebadged Ranger) from the 90s he doesn’t do anything with beyond parking the vehicle in the driveway on a Saturday afternoon and getting his thrills when people knock on the door and inquire if he wants to sell the truck.
You Ain’t Got No Ice Cream.
He’ll give an insane price, like $6000, and the more the potential customer argues, the more of a thrill he gets.
“What are you doing with it now? I noticed the tags haven’t been renewed in a decade.”
“Nothing!”
Lots of people up there want clean beater pickups for hauling on the weekends, but not for $6000.
I always watch similar rangers when the are in the auctions. They routinely go for $4500 plus TTL and fees.
n
Dilbert: Back Up
https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-04-24
Dogbert is evil. But we already knew that.
I always watch similar rangers when the are in the auctions. They routinely go for $4500 plus TTL and fees.
A Ranger from the 2000s? Yes.
A B2300 from … 1994? … with an automatic transmission? No.
Dogbert is evil. But we already knew that.
Teams audio/video has been awful to deal with lately, but a lot of big companies go with the system as of late because Microsoft provides the chat and call audio transcripts to management upon request in legal situations, mostly when the HR wants to fire someone.
Slack considers chat messages to be their property, and Zoom doesn’t transcribe every call.
The NFL draft is going to be done over Teams again starting Tuesday. That should be fun for everyone else in the system.
Microsoft’s transcription is scary good. There must be some Mechanical Turk type work arrangement involved.
We should definitely do everything we can to import more of these type of people…
–we definitely don’t have enough “clandestine burial sites”.
Oh, and I think random sniping of attempted border crossings would slow them down some.
n
n
Was it ‘he has a license but left his wallet in his other pants’ or ‘no license at all’? I presume the latter would have gotten him a ride in a (Ford of course) HPD squad car and his car impounded?
Btw, do you carry collision coverage for it?
We should definitely do everything we can to import more of these type of people…
Everyone in Riverside County needs a “gardener”, even if they live in a condo. Discount toll tags. The maid already has the landline phone service in her name.
My former employer expanded their toll lane network connecting to SR91 recently, opening express lanes on I15 running north and south of the interchange. The plazas west to I5 on the 91 express lanes should be open by now.
Well, just got off the phone with StateFarm, and will make an appointment to get the truck fixed by a place just a couple of miles up the street.
I have un- and under- insured coverage, so once they determine that he doesn’t in fact have insurance, that will reduce my deductible of $1k. I’ve got $10K of personal injury too, and he said to just let them know if either of us see a medical professional. (I have a big general personal liability umbrella too, if needed, because of my business exposures.)
And while the big brother aspects of having the licenses, registration, required auto insurance, etc all on line bother me, it sure makes it easier if you need it. In TX the state knows all about your insurance when you get your registration renewed, so that info is all available to the cops. They didn’t even ask for registration or insurance info at the scene.
The other driver claimed no license no insurance but the car has plates and current registration. I left before the cops were done talking to him. Given that HPD is not INS, they probably wrote him a ticket and continued on their way, unless he has open warrants or there was an issue with the vehicle.
n
I have comp and collision on everything. My thinking is “would I want to take the total loss of this vehicle, or not?” The additional coverage was pretty cheap iirc. The un and under are the only prudent choice in a state with as many illegals as TX.
And I don’t know how or why, but you can get state required auto insurance without a driver’s license.
n
Well, just got off the phone with StateFarm, and will make an appointment to get the truck fixed by a place just a couple of miles up the street.
Your choice of repair shop or State Farm’s?
In the case of the latter, before signing to accept the car back, go over everything repaired carefully, comparing to “before” pictures if you have to.
I’m not with “Flo” insurance anymore because, following one repair on my 93 Probe on an underinsured claim — dumba** Yuppie who rear-ended me in his wife’s Volvo grocery getter let the insurance lapse on her car — as problems popped up with the repair over the next two weeks which *their* contracted body shop refused to address, “Flo’s” adjuster told me that it was between me and their shop once I signed to accept the repair.
The damage was pretty minor, but the car was never right again. The good body shop in town gave me an estimate to fix the repairs which exceeded the wholesale value. Six years old. Done.
To be fair, the car had mechanical issues unrelated to the accident, but the exterior was fairly pristine. I got rid of it before it hit the seven year mark.
I need to up my coverage.
Wednesday I went into town to get some pipe at Lowe’s (about a mile total on city streets there and back, the rest freeway and rural). Five people ran solid red lights this trip, up from one or two a year ago.
And then I got rear ended in my Ranger. Slippery, light misty drizzle, and as I came over the hill and was forced to slow because of merging traffic slowing the whole lane, the guy behind me couldn’t stop in time. He tried to get around on the right and off to the shoulder but didn’t make it. I might have had less damage if he bumped me straight on, instead of just hitting the right corner of the bumper. The Ranger is a framed vehicle and the bumper is steel. The bumper got bent, pushing the right rear side of the bed forward, which crumpled at the wheel well. The Tail light is popped out of place but works. His little Kia lost the left headlight assembly, part of the bumper and likely the hood and quarter panel, as well as structural components in the front end. MASS wins every time.
Bummer. Hopefully you have uninsured / under-insured insurance so that will fix your Ranger, minus your deductible. Especially if your frame is bent. You will never get a penny out of the illegal alien. I have been down this road before in Texas, my insurance fixed my truck which went on TOP of the Nissan Sentra who ran the red light that I tboned. They sued the person without the insurance for the $10,000 damage and rental car. That person tried to buy a house one day and my insurance company got their pound of flesh from the mortgage company.
I won’t drive anything smaller than a Toyota Highlander now. Mass does win every day.
My thoughts while in San Antonio was that maybe half of the drivers had no insurance. Probably 25% had no license. Especially on the southwest and west side of town in the I-410 area.
My thoughts while in San Antonio was that maybe half of the drivers had no insurance. Probably 25% had no license. Especially on the southwest and west side of town in the I-410 area.
Back in the 90s, a state-sponsored study in Florida proved that 50% of the drivers on the road at any given moment didn’t have insurance coverage for whatever reason. I imagine the numbers are much higher now.
As the emu says, “You only pay for what you need.” A lot of the uninsured drivers say, “I got no assets so I don’t need no stinkin’ insurance.”
And speaking of the emu (and Doug), I don’t ever recall an auto insurance company that didn’t let you pick and choose what coverages you wanted.
I’ve always used a body shop that’s been recommended by someone I know and that I’ve stopped at and spoken to the manager and lubricated things with a bottle of his favorite beverage. Also looking for a neat, clean, organized shop, clean floors, cars in work bays, not just scattered about. I ike it too when I see that moldings are taken off rather than just masked so you don’t get any over-spray on them.
In my experience though, a lot depends on the adjuster. He can be generous or a scrooge, so working with a good, knowledgeable shop manager never hurts.
I have no preference for body work so I accepted their shop and their service. They have something that is like a concierge service, drop the vehicle off, come back when it’s done. There isn’t an adjuster. They will fix the truck. He specifically said the only thing the adjuster will talk to me about is if they confirm the guy has no insurance, then my $1K deductible will be reduced. The shop is local, has a good rep, and State Farm warranties the work when you accept their service. It’s all only words until it’d done anyway, but my experience with them and my roof couldn’t have been any better or easier.
I have two houses, three cars, and my business insurance with the same office so the bundle was very competitive and they had lines for all those so I’m only dealing with one agent in one office. I’ve looked at changing the auto, but it was never worth it to save $200 at most.
n
I am removing a bunch of stuff from behind the seats. 3 bins so far.
I found a different 2007 Expedition Limited with 147,202 miles that I am going to pursue:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=583165477
It is a little more than I want to spend at $7,491 but I need a usable vehicle for the office. Mostly so I can put commercial auto insurance on it and cover my employees vehicles through it (hired and non hired auto insurance).
Sold this afternoon before I got there. Wow. They listed it yesterday afternoon on http://www.autotrader.com .
BTW, I had forgotten that http://www.autotrader.com gives out free carfax reports. I like that.
Used car prices continue to soar…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/used-vehicle-value-index-smashes-record-used-car-prices-continue-soar
And surprise, surprise. /sarc
https://nypost.com/2021/04/24/are-nypd-officers-rushing-to-retire-amid-citys-anti-cop-climate/
Dallas, Minneapolis, Chicago, anywhere with a lot of crime and no support.
n
prudent choice in a state with as many illegals as TX
My thoughts while in San Antonio was that maybe half of the drivers had no insurance. Probably 25% had no license. Especially on the southwest and west side of town in the I-410 area.
The official is that 35% of the drivers in Texas do not have insurance. So, in reality, maybe 50% of drivers do not have insurance.
Dallas, Minneapolis, Chicago, anywhere with a lot of crime and no support.
n
Dallas has had a lot of police retirement since the lone gunman killed five officers one day five years ago. City Hall pretty much glossed it over as just another day.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36748145
They don’t let Dallas officers take a lump sum anymore. Not enough money in the retirement fund.
“They don’t let Dallas officers take a lump sum anymore.
–when it’s time, those who act and go first have a better outcome than those who delay. Like white flight from a neighborhood or town, there is a point where you can’t sell your house and you are stuck.
n
“The United States Of 2 Americas”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/reasons-why-leftists-will-never-successfully-disarm-americans
“If you haven’t noticed, the United States is reorganizing itself into two Americas – blue and red. Although there is a president of the United States, state governors are in many ways now driving the national narrative in this new America.”
“The president and the vice president are who they are now because six Republican-controlled states forwarded questionable electoral votes, and Vice President Mike Pence missed a historic opportunity to challenge those votes. The current president and vice president seem trapped in foggy and abstract ideological slogans rather than providing executive leadership. Vague generalities and virtue signaling aren’t replacements for executive leadership.”
“And who are the true executive leaders of the two Americas? Florida and Texas on one side, California and New York on the other side. Their governors essentially dominate the bully pulpit formerly occupied by a sitting president. Many of the rest of the American states have aligned with one side or the other.”
This does not bode well for the union.
And he thinks that the workers in the blue states are moving to the red states leaving the woke people behind in the blue states. Interesting theory.
Don’t forget Ducey (AZ) warming up in the Red team bullpen.
And speaking of Blue team, interesting how Cuomo’s “troubles” seem to have dropped below the MSM radar. And Cali? Maybe they deserve KJ as Governor.
“The United States Of 2 Americas”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/reasons-why-leftists-will-never-successfully-disarm-americans
Lets try this URL instead:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/united-states-2-americas
“And who are the true executive leaders of the two Americas? Florida and Texas on one side, California and New York on the other side. Their governors essentially dominate the bully pulpit formerly occupied by a sitting president. Many of the rest of the American states have aligned with one side or the other.”
Don’t forget Ducey (AZ) warming up in the Red team bullpen.
AZ did not vote for Trump. That is not a red state. That is a purple state.
”
AZ did not vote for Trump. That is not a red state. That is a purple state. ”
–depends how much fraud there was.
n