USAA - attaboy!

It's not often that you read Good Things about an insurance company, but .. golly gee whiz .. I'm quite happy with mine.

You may recall that I was sideswiped last month, the very day Addison was holding its Kaboom Town celebration (July 3, for those of you who track such things). Although our schedules didn't initially mesh, I finally got a call from my claims adjuster - on a Saturday afternoon - and after describing what happened, she offered to use the Uninsured Motorist deductible ($250) versus my Comprehensive deductible ($1000). She was even so nice as to wire transfer the $750 difference into my checking account.

Woo hoo! I think I'll spend this windfall by adding more insulation to my attic. Oh wait, I already did that. Maybe I'll have my trees trimmed (required every 4 years)? Oh wait, I already did that, too. Hmmm .. maybe I'll treat myself to a Sno-Kone™?

Kudos to USAA (insurance and other Financial Stuff) - above and beyond the call.

Mmm .. doughnut !

Although it was a Dark And Stormy Day yesterday, I moseyed about 6 miles south to take in the conversion of a local 7-Eleven to a Kwik-E-Mart. This is proving to be quite a marketing coup, as even the rain couldn't keep the crowd away from the Squishees; Krusty-O cereal; Buzz Cola and (of course!) the pink Sprinklicious doughnuts.

Outside, a local radio station (Mix 102.9) has setup a Simpsons couch complete with the main characters, where you could have your own photo taken, provided you had a camera of your own handy.

Inside, the clerks were wearing green uniforms and one of them had an [Apu] nametag. Sadly, they were completely SOLD OUT of Krusty-O's and Buzz Cola, although Squishees and Pink Doughnuts were still available. But not for long.

Only 12 locations across the country were converted, and apparently only for the month of July (when The Simpsons Movie debuts). I suspect one of their competitors (Circle K, etc) could have come up with this idea first, but they didn't. Kudos, 7-Eleven.

changing another shopping habit

Wow. Very cool .. I may never shop at Home Depot, ever again. Thanks for giving me a good reason to pull the plug on them, Lowes.

Lowe's pulls advertising from O'Reilly show.

Everybody Knows™ that the last time Bill Orally at Faux Noise (kudos to Keith Olbermann) told the truth was when Adam & Eve were riding their dinosaurs to church.

Meanwhile, Texas lawyers are apparently Licking Their Chops after the 2007 Texas Legislative Session. Why? Concerns Abound Over New Religious Laws Passed By Legislature

a drop a day keeps the doctor away

Partial good news from my ophthalmologist yesterday: the prescription eyedrops I've been using since my last visit had the desired effect. In my right (control) eye, my intraocular pressure [IOP] has fallen into an acceptable range (10-21 mm Hg).

I've been seeing this doctor for 2+ years and my IOP's never been below 24 mm Hg, and had risen to 26 mm Hg in my right eye (the one where the cataract is developing). So, he asked me to try one drop/day of Travatan Z. It worked; in 30 days my IOP dropped to 18/19 mm Hg (left/right). Presumably, continued use of these Magic Beans will bring it closer to the middle of that range (15.5 mm Hg if my math skills are intact). Noteworthy: while I only applied drops to one eye, my IOP fell in both eyes; the doctor explained that this proximity effect (he had some Fancy Medical Term for it, but I fërgôt) is not unusual.

The bad news is that I now have Yet Another Prescription and will have to add this to The List. Now that my IOP's controlled, the next step is to contact a cataract specialist (they're not open 24x7) and undergo an evaluation. {sigh} Getting old isn't as much fun as getting young.

Texas 34, Kansas 2

Entertaining spot today on the Red State Rabble blog: Somewhere in Texas. Indeed, it's been my experience that Kansas is waaaay behind Texas when it comes to religious zealots making educational policy.

Don McLeroy's appointment is just another example of Governor PrettyHair's pandering to His base. Kansas is starting to look saner and saner all the time.

überwüzy

I got an email from the local blood bank, who said their supply of my blood type (O+) was low, and they needed donors. So, I waddled over at 6:30pm and gave them a unit (my last prior donation was 3 May). Nurse One missed my left arm vein, whispered something about "hematoma" to Nurse Two, at which point Nurse Two took over, switched to the right arm and proceeded. 15 minutes later (not even enough time to catch up on one podcast) I was out of there. Nurse One had disappeared.

I didn't notice anything unusual on the drive home, but about 3 hours later started feeling überwüzy* when walking|standing and decided to crash early. This morning, I'm still feeling the effects a little, so will take it easy (I usually spend my Fridays operating heavy machinery).

* take that, Google whackers!

Aside: they always have some article of (promotional) clothing when leaving - sometimes a ballcap but most often, a white T-shirt. Yesterday, it was a brown T-shirt .. whazzup wit dat?

10 years, $141

My car's back from The Body Shop and looks as good as new, mostly. There's a scrape on the rear (plastic) bumper that I don't remember .. it could've been there before The Tragic Event (3/7/7). My cost was the same either way (the deductible) but I noticed the cost rose from $3100->$4400. Good thing it was only the door!

Since Paula was in town, I didn't need to rent a car while mine was being repaired. Why rent a vehicle when it'll be parked the bulk of the time? That changed yesterday, when I decided to slay two birds with one stone. There's been a Herd of aluminum cans in my carport which have Bred over the past ten years or so, and become a Sentient Life Form. It was (past) time for them to GO.

So, I rented a (Dodge Ram) pickup (about 1pm) and proceeded to load bags full of cans into the bed until the pile became One Less Than Unwieldy. It was then time to take them to the recycler in Dallas - about 15 miles 20 minutes away. Amazingly, it netted to 177 pounds of cans (and at 65 cents/pound became $113.75 in my pocket - including a couple $50 bills and one $2 note).

The scene at the Dallas recycler was amusing - about a dozen vehicles unloading various metals - including several suspicious characters selling copper (it's become a high theft item in the past few years). For some metals they asked for photo ID but waved me off when I offered mine.

Easily 80% of the workers and customers were Latino, so there was a fair amount of gesturing but nothing difficult.

Needless to say, I stopped at the nearby Dallas Farmer's Market on the way out of downtown, and got a small supply of fresh fruit, which I'm now happily consuming.

Alas, the place closed at 5pm and it was already nearly 4 .. so no time to bag and schlep the remainder - it'll wait until morning. Today, I decided to locate a different recycler and picked one in Garland. The last five bags were Problem Children - those bags were the oldest (dating to the Pleistocene era) and had begun to decompose - they broke upon lifting. I rebagged those cans and started the journey. Garland only paid 60 cents a pound, but the drive was easier (no freeways). These were Good Ole Texas Boys (with a trifle of An Attitude) .. very different than the day before.

Bottom line total for two trips: $141 for 223 pounds of cans -- and there are now NONE on the property! When I returned the pickup (11am-ish) I paid them ~$60 so actually made money on the exchange, and it only took ten years of can collecting.