"You gonna get another job?"...
- Thread starter Volpone
- Start date
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
The maddening thing is not being able to get everyone into the same room together. Because one person tells me one thing. Then someone else tells me something else. So then I need to go back to the first person to see if the second person's assumption is correct. If I could just have everyone at the same place at the same time, it would be like "oh, no, we haven't changed it to a salvage title yet." But instead a shop will be "if USAA has said it's a total loss, it has a salvage title already." And then I have to get on the phone with USAA to try to figure out if that's true or not.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
All right. I seem to have found someone who can fix the car in a way that USAA won't total it. I've just got to get the shop its at to get everything together so I can pick it up. At this point I should go back through everything on my plate and make sure it keeps moving forward--find out if there's any updates on my home damage claim, update them on what I'm doing with the car, find out why the fucking hood I ordered still doesn't seem to have shipped--even though I talked directly to the manufacturer and thought we were on the same page--and get it shipped to the new address. I'll need to arrange all the transportation. Getting the rental where it needs to be, getting the damaged car where it needs to be, getting myself where I need to be after I drop off the rental and the damaged car. I should see where we're at on the title status on the house I'm supposed to be buying Friday. I've also got bookkeeping to do and work on getting my storage spaces rented out. But I am holding off on some of it because right now I feel like I've accomplished something and as soon as I start herding things along, I'm going to start banging my head into brick walls.
Anyway, it's time for dinner, the news and "Jeopardy!"
Anyway, it's time for dinner, the news and "Jeopardy!"
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
So fucking tired. Trying to find out how the title process works. It's impossible to get someone on the phone from USAA so you're stuck using their stupid "message center" and then waiting until someone gets around to messaging you back. And then they fail to answer your question.
I asked if the car currently has a salvage title; if USAA by pushing a button can magically turn the title from "clean" to "salvage"--especially if I've refused to sign anything and have appealed the determination. A day later they get back to me: "On 3/31/23 it was determined to be a total loss."
Well thank you very fucking much. I know that. I was there. Well, I found out on the 3rd. But I've spent the past 3 days fighting that. What I want to know is, does USAA have the power to turn my clean title to a salvage title without ever having even seen the car? And if so, how and why?
Well, I should get going. I was going to unwind a bit from my ordeal of getting the car back from the shop, getting it to the other shop, and getting back home from the other shop before fighting the 6 fights currently on my agenda, but I guess I'll just keep fighting.
I asked if the car currently has a salvage title; if USAA by pushing a button can magically turn the title from "clean" to "salvage"--especially if I've refused to sign anything and have appealed the determination. A day later they get back to me: "On 3/31/23 it was determined to be a total loss."
Well thank you very fucking much. I know that. I was there. Well, I found out on the 3rd. But I've spent the past 3 days fighting that. What I want to know is, does USAA have the power to turn my clean title to a salvage title without ever having even seen the car? And if so, how and why?
Well, I should get going. I was going to unwind a bit from my ordeal of getting the car back from the shop, getting it to the other shop, and getting back home from the other shop before fighting the 6 fights currently on my agenda, but I guess I'll just keep fighting.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I've said that you should factor in at least $8,000 of expenses when buying a house for crazy stuff you never could've expected. I don't know if getting in a car accident counts in that technically. Or having a tree hit the corner of the roof of your house. Nevertheless, here we are. And hopefully we'll get to the finish line. We'll see. I can still think of a dozen ways things can go sideways but there's no point in worrying about them. If/when they happen, they happen. Deal with them the best you can. Truth be told, I probably should've just moved forward with the salvage title process. Because as it stands, there's some code with my insurance company that says the car is a total loss. And based on their criteria, it maybe should be. But I got the car back and got it to a retired guy who works on cars from a home shop and he's going to fix it without the insurance company having to pay more than they initially paid out. The thing is, because he's retired and this has all been done on a handshake and mutual understanding of what's the right thing to do, I don't know if there's any way to convince the insurance company that the car is fixed and it didn't cost them enough to write it off as a total loss. And if I can't do that...who knows? Maybe I can't insure it. Maybe I can. Maybe I still need to jump through the hoops of getting a salvage title. Maybe I don't. Maybe it is impossible to do this once the damage is repaired.
I need to go back and live in a day when systems, rules, and processes were more easily bent--if it served getting the right thing to happen that made everybody happy--instead of no one being happy but all the "i's" are dotted and "t's" are crossed.
Right now I should be doing some bookkeeping and working on my storage rental paperwork, but I'm freaking exhausted.
I need to go back and live in a day when systems, rules, and processes were more easily bent--if it served getting the right thing to happen that made everybody happy--instead of no one being happy but all the "i's" are dotted and "t's" are crossed.
Right now I should be doing some bookkeeping and working on my storage rental paperwork, but I'm freaking exhausted.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Got a communication that USAA is reversing the "total loss" and listing the vehicle as "repairable." So at the moment, that's a "win." Meanwhile, The Cat went Out when I took The Dog for her walk and wouldn't come In with us. So I'm sitting here unwinding and realize it is storming like a bastard out. Like, too hard to go outside. I tried just opening the door to call for The Cat but the amount of water coming through the door...it's like those old movies where the stagehands are throwing buckets of water at the actor playing a sailor on deck in a storm. Instantly completely soaked to the skin and unable to see anything anyway for all the water running down my face. Yelled for The Cat a bit before I had to give up and go inside. Kept watching at the windows and one time looked just in time to see him running away from the porch--probably toward the neighbor's barn or whatever his shelter is when he's Out; I know he has one. By the time I got the door open again, he was gone.
When the storm let up enough that a hat and raincoat would actually be useful, I threw them on and went out to look for him. At one point I heard on loud "MEOW," but couldn't locate him. 10 minutes later the tornado sirens start going off so I drop what I'm doing to find out what's going on. Turns out the storm that just pummeled me is now menacing the Rich People side of town.
When the storm let up enough that a hat and raincoat would actually be useful, I threw them on and went out to look for him. At one point I heard on loud "MEOW," but couldn't locate him. 10 minutes later the tornado sirens start going off so I drop what I'm doing to find out what's going on. Turns out the storm that just pummeled me is now menacing the Rich People side of town.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
...aaand we just had another storm on par with the one that hit my house with a tree. Of course I'm warm and basking in electric glow so I don't care--even though it was me without power last month. But then as I watch the news, I see one of the spots that got hit to at least some degree is right about where I just dropped my car off to get fixed.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I'm just dead inside. So tired of fighting. I think things are resolved and then, like a 1980s slasher movie monster, it all just comes back worse. Trying to deal with USAA is literally worse and more stressful than the Iraq war. And I hated every fucking second of that.
So now everything is closed and so begins the long wait to see what tomorrow brings. This fight is like fighting a black box. Stuff goes in and sausage comes out and if you don't like the sausage--well tough because you have no way of knowing what is happening in the box or taking out the stuff that has already went in.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is Good Friday. But I'm supposed to be buying a house. But I don't know how much or who to get a cashier's check for because the title lawyers are still trying to figure that out. Anyway, I may not have a car if I wind up having to return the rental. But right now that's going to take at least a phone call from the rental company. I was going to return the car if that made it less painful for me to get my car fixed, but if my car is going to get totalled anyway, then fuck USAA. I'll hang onto it until when they first told me.
On an unrelated note, The Dog actually got a rabbit in the field across the street. I didn't know that was possible. So she brought it home, buried it once, and carried it around the yard and refused to leave it for most of the day. I took it away from her and buried it for her so she could come in but when she went out she promptly dug it up--even though I wouldn't let her bring it int he house. So in the end I wound up throwing it in the trash. Today is trash day so problem solved. So on the afternoon walk she got a groundhog. By this point I was exhausted and stressed out so as soon as I could, I got her on leash and made her leave it and came home.
So now everything is closed and so begins the long wait to see what tomorrow brings. This fight is like fighting a black box. Stuff goes in and sausage comes out and if you don't like the sausage--well tough because you have no way of knowing what is happening in the box or taking out the stuff that has already went in.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is Good Friday. But I'm supposed to be buying a house. But I don't know how much or who to get a cashier's check for because the title lawyers are still trying to figure that out. Anyway, I may not have a car if I wind up having to return the rental. But right now that's going to take at least a phone call from the rental company. I was going to return the car if that made it less painful for me to get my car fixed, but if my car is going to get totalled anyway, then fuck USAA. I'll hang onto it until when they first told me.
On an unrelated note, The Dog actually got a rabbit in the field across the street. I didn't know that was possible. So she brought it home, buried it once, and carried it around the yard and refused to leave it for most of the day. I took it away from her and buried it for her so she could come in but when she went out she promptly dug it up--even though I wouldn't let her bring it int he house. So in the end I wound up throwing it in the trash. Today is trash day so problem solved. So on the afternoon walk she got a groundhog. By this point I was exhausted and stressed out so as soon as I could, I got her on leash and made her leave it and came home.
Last edited:
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Another "Nature is cruel and horrible"/I've become a redneck (and maybe other things) post:
The Dog got another groundhog on her afternoon patrol. She's scarily good at killing them. Old Dog killed her share of groundhogs, but it was usually a slow, messy affair where she'd get bitten at least a couple times. New Dog sometimes gets bit, but generally, she just finishes them off pretty quickly. A few days back she actually got a rabbit on the morning patrol. Brought it home. Spent most of the day out in the yard, guarding it. I wound up having to throw it in the trash because I didn't quite feel up to dressing it (and I didn't have the ingredients for rabbit stew). Then she got a groundhog on the afternoon patrol. I made her leave it. So she was determined to enjoy her trophy today. And I decided to facilitate.
Generally, if she puts her mind to it, she can get the belly open and get an intestine out. If she manages this, I'll pull the guts out. It's surprising how much groundhog weight consists of poop, encased in guts. Once I had the intestines out, I pulled out the stomach too (my groundhog anatomy is still relatively limited, so at first I thought I had the stomach, but later realized I was wrong). Then I got out the Leatherman and opened it up. That's the biggest setback to enjoying a kill--getting through the hide to the tasty insides. Once I had it opened up, she proceeded to spend a very long time eating it. And she actually prefers crunching on bone to the high in protein and soft tasty liver.
Eventually I made her go home. And I think she was actually glad because she was stuffed. She had to have eaten at least 2# of groundhog. I know this because she puked it back up 2/3 of the way home. So yeah. That's what my life has come down to.
The Dog got another groundhog on her afternoon patrol. She's scarily good at killing them. Old Dog killed her share of groundhogs, but it was usually a slow, messy affair where she'd get bitten at least a couple times. New Dog sometimes gets bit, but generally, she just finishes them off pretty quickly. A few days back she actually got a rabbit on the morning patrol. Brought it home. Spent most of the day out in the yard, guarding it. I wound up having to throw it in the trash because I didn't quite feel up to dressing it (and I didn't have the ingredients for rabbit stew). Then she got a groundhog on the afternoon patrol. I made her leave it. So she was determined to enjoy her trophy today. And I decided to facilitate.
Generally, if she puts her mind to it, she can get the belly open and get an intestine out. If she manages this, I'll pull the guts out. It's surprising how much groundhog weight consists of poop, encased in guts. Once I had the intestines out, I pulled out the stomach too (my groundhog anatomy is still relatively limited, so at first I thought I had the stomach, but later realized I was wrong). Then I got out the Leatherman and opened it up. That's the biggest setback to enjoying a kill--getting through the hide to the tasty insides. Once I had it opened up, she proceeded to spend a very long time eating it. And she actually prefers crunching on bone to the high in protein and soft tasty liver.
Eventually I made her go home. And I think she was actually glad because she was stuffed. She had to have eaten at least 2# of groundhog. I know this because she puked it back up 2/3 of the way home. So yeah. That's what my life has come down to.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Why do I have to figure everything out? Why do I understand what's going on better than the person I'm paying to understand what's going on? I think I'm making progress on getting my car declared not dead. But it is a literal telephone game. And I'm never able to have all the people who have input talking to each other and on board at the same time.
To recap, the problem is, the claim was initially opened as me having to pick a shop because USAA didn't have any partner shops with any availability. Unfortunately, the shop I picked happened to be a USAA partner--that did have availability. So they changed something in the system so that the claim could be worked by a partner shop instead of an outside shop. And when the partner shop added new costs to the claim, it pushed it above the total loss threshold. After a fair amount of fighting, I determined that the car would not be a total loss if I could find a shop that could repair it for the original estimate.
I didn't actually expect that to happen, but I figured I could find a shop that would repair some of the damage for cash, which would get the claim back down to not being a total loss. To reiterate, there was no actual mechanical damage to the car from the accident. It's just an old enough car and parts are expensive enough that the cosmetic damage is now "too expensive." (Why no one from USAA bothered to point this out and they let me keep paying collision insurance all this while is another story.)
Turns out there are no shops that have any availability. But I did find one shop who had a guy that retired from them and works from a home shop. He also sometimes comes back to help them on projects. I went to this guy and we agreed he could fix my car. Problem solved?
Not so fast. Because the existing claim is still in the system. And the existing claim still says the repairs are too expensive. So I call the number on the estimate USAA first sent me and after a couple phone calls, find out that this estimate got cancelled when the claim got assigned to the partner shop. (All this was made so much more fun by Easter weekend.) So after running around a bit this morning to try to make sure my ducks were in a row and I understood everything, I called USAA back and explained that they needed to assign the claim back to the 3rd party shop system. Now, why I had to figure that out myself and tell it to my USAA "claims adjuster" is a very good question.
[EDIT: Oh, and the other fun thing is, I can't see the Caliber Collision estimate in the system, just the initial estimate USAA's contractors did. If I knew how close it was on the money, I might be able to make a case that the car is worth more than they're figuring and just get the repair authorized. But no one will tell me that.]
To recap, the problem is, the claim was initially opened as me having to pick a shop because USAA didn't have any partner shops with any availability. Unfortunately, the shop I picked happened to be a USAA partner--that did have availability. So they changed something in the system so that the claim could be worked by a partner shop instead of an outside shop. And when the partner shop added new costs to the claim, it pushed it above the total loss threshold. After a fair amount of fighting, I determined that the car would not be a total loss if I could find a shop that could repair it for the original estimate.
I didn't actually expect that to happen, but I figured I could find a shop that would repair some of the damage for cash, which would get the claim back down to not being a total loss. To reiterate, there was no actual mechanical damage to the car from the accident. It's just an old enough car and parts are expensive enough that the cosmetic damage is now "too expensive." (Why no one from USAA bothered to point this out and they let me keep paying collision insurance all this while is another story.)
Turns out there are no shops that have any availability. But I did find one shop who had a guy that retired from them and works from a home shop. He also sometimes comes back to help them on projects. I went to this guy and we agreed he could fix my car. Problem solved?
Not so fast. Because the existing claim is still in the system. And the existing claim still says the repairs are too expensive. So I call the number on the estimate USAA first sent me and after a couple phone calls, find out that this estimate got cancelled when the claim got assigned to the partner shop. (All this was made so much more fun by Easter weekend.) So after running around a bit this morning to try to make sure my ducks were in a row and I understood everything, I called USAA back and explained that they needed to assign the claim back to the 3rd party shop system. Now, why I had to figure that out myself and tell it to my USAA "claims adjuster" is a very good question.
[EDIT: Oh, and the other fun thing is, I can't see the Caliber Collision estimate in the system, just the initial estimate USAA's contractors did. If I knew how close it was on the money, I might be able to make a case that the car is worth more than they're figuring and just get the repair authorized. But no one will tell me that.]
Last edited:
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
This is actually a fairly straightforward narrative update. As I type this, things are moving more or less smoothly. Of course tomorrow morning I could open up my e-mail or get a phone call and it could all go to shit again, but for now...
I definitely understand how USAA's claims process works better than USAA's claims adjuster. If she understood it half as well as I did, we could've saved at least a week and quite a bit of stress for me. Monday morning I did a few meetings and phone calls just to make sure I understood what I was talking about and was on sound ground. Then I got ahold of her and explained that she needed to take the claim back from Caliber and assign it back to the independent claim...thingie. I provided an attachment that made my argument slightly more persuasive than this. She complied and now the claim is apparently back to its original amount. I told her to contact me if things weren't on course and haven't heard anything, so fingers crossed. Today I got a picture of my car. Repairs proceed nicely. The weather is nice in the near future so I should be able to use my motorcycle for any necessary transportation, with my van when cargo capacity is required (yesterday I decided to return the rental car). As soon as I can manage, I'm going to get the claim closed out as complete. But I don't want to do it too soon and arouse suspicion--unless the car is actually ready.
Friday I was supposed to buy a house to renovate as a rental. But it was held up by the title attorneys. Or rather the seller's lender. We needed to know what amounts to make the various cashier's checks to. Then we were hoping for Monday. But when we got that, they realized (why didn't they realize this while they were waiting on the amount?) that the wording of the current title wasn't in line with Kentucky law. Further research revealed that the seller's 3 kids needed to sign off on the sale. 2 have. Now we're waiting on the 3rd. I hope this deal doesn't fall through, because the more I think about it, the more I like the property. And I had to sell off some stocks for part of the capital to do the deal.
So I'm twiddling my thumbs without a "daily driver" vehicle. Weather's been nice so I should be fixing up outbuildings and maybe burning some of my brush pile. I should be working on renting out storage space. But currently I'm doing some literal spring cleaning; going through and organizing, consolidating, etc to maximize the space in my house. This came because a lot of the stuff from the garage that is now in the basement was maybe nicer and more valuable than some of the stuff already in the house.
I think that' about everything. Only reason I'm sitting here typing this is because I forgot to put my phone on the charger, so I'm waiting on that to charge, and my cat is currently still outside. Also because going to bed before 11pm makes me feel old.
I definitely understand how USAA's claims process works better than USAA's claims adjuster. If she understood it half as well as I did, we could've saved at least a week and quite a bit of stress for me. Monday morning I did a few meetings and phone calls just to make sure I understood what I was talking about and was on sound ground. Then I got ahold of her and explained that she needed to take the claim back from Caliber and assign it back to the independent claim...thingie. I provided an attachment that made my argument slightly more persuasive than this. She complied and now the claim is apparently back to its original amount. I told her to contact me if things weren't on course and haven't heard anything, so fingers crossed. Today I got a picture of my car. Repairs proceed nicely. The weather is nice in the near future so I should be able to use my motorcycle for any necessary transportation, with my van when cargo capacity is required (yesterday I decided to return the rental car). As soon as I can manage, I'm going to get the claim closed out as complete. But I don't want to do it too soon and arouse suspicion--unless the car is actually ready.
Friday I was supposed to buy a house to renovate as a rental. But it was held up by the title attorneys. Or rather the seller's lender. We needed to know what amounts to make the various cashier's checks to. Then we were hoping for Monday. But when we got that, they realized (why didn't they realize this while they were waiting on the amount?) that the wording of the current title wasn't in line with Kentucky law. Further research revealed that the seller's 3 kids needed to sign off on the sale. 2 have. Now we're waiting on the 3rd. I hope this deal doesn't fall through, because the more I think about it, the more I like the property. And I had to sell off some stocks for part of the capital to do the deal.
So I'm twiddling my thumbs without a "daily driver" vehicle. Weather's been nice so I should be fixing up outbuildings and maybe burning some of my brush pile. I should be working on renting out storage space. But currently I'm doing some literal spring cleaning; going through and organizing, consolidating, etc to maximize the space in my house. This came because a lot of the stuff from the garage that is now in the basement was maybe nicer and more valuable than some of the stuff already in the house.
I think that' about everything. Only reason I'm sitting here typing this is because I forgot to put my phone on the charger, so I'm waiting on that to charge, and my cat is currently still outside. Also because going to bed before 11pm makes me feel old.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Quick(?) update: I've been going through my house, decluttering. Haven't gotten the kitchen finished yet. Junk is tossed and everything is organized, but I still need to decide where some of it is going. Then it is on to a walk-in hall closet that is about 4' wide--and 10' long. That is going to take some time. After that it is down to the basement, which will take even longer, and then I'm done. For this time.
This morning I got a ping from USAA and worked up a decent amount of dread at checking in to see what it was about. Turned out it was just that they'd approved paying for my rental car.
Oh, jumping back to the kitchen for a bit. That's where I keep pet stuff and it was surprisingly tiring throwing out all the old pets' prescriptions. You get some prescriptions that you don't have to use the whole thing so you put it aside for an emergency where you can't get to the vet and have to make do with what you've got (the pandemic was a great example of this). Well every little pill bottle was a reminder of worries and tough times that we'd faced but I'd managed to pull her through. Until the last one, that I couldn't pull her through. *sigh*
Got a text today about the job I got offered. Hadn't heard anything for long enough that I was kind of hoping that maybe it had fallen through. But they want me to come in tomorrow at 1 for an orientation. So I had a bunch of stuff to fill out tonight and still have a bunch of stuff to read and all of it just reminds me how much I hate having a job. The kicker is, in these PC times, apparently now they call a "Supervisor" a "person leader." And every time (and there were a lot of times) that the manual said "...your person leader..." I cringed a little bit. I was not cut out for the 21st century.
This morning I got a ping from USAA and worked up a decent amount of dread at checking in to see what it was about. Turned out it was just that they'd approved paying for my rental car.
Oh, jumping back to the kitchen for a bit. That's where I keep pet stuff and it was surprisingly tiring throwing out all the old pets' prescriptions. You get some prescriptions that you don't have to use the whole thing so you put it aside for an emergency where you can't get to the vet and have to make do with what you've got (the pandemic was a great example of this). Well every little pill bottle was a reminder of worries and tough times that we'd faced but I'd managed to pull her through. Until the last one, that I couldn't pull her through. *sigh*
Got a text today about the job I got offered. Hadn't heard anything for long enough that I was kind of hoping that maybe it had fallen through. But they want me to come in tomorrow at 1 for an orientation. So I had a bunch of stuff to fill out tonight and still have a bunch of stuff to read and all of it just reminds me how much I hate having a job. The kicker is, in these PC times, apparently now they call a "Supervisor" a "person leader." And every time (and there were a lot of times) that the manual said "...your person leader..." I cringed a little bit. I was not cut out for the 21st century.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I gotta start a screed here about Social Security. But not tonight. Too many irons in the fire.
Had the "new hire orientation" today at 1.
I really don't want to go back to punching a clock. If you're going to retire, make sure you've got the money to do it when you do. Because it sucks to be retired for hald a year and then get a part time job. 1 is when I ordinarily have lunch. Then I have a siesta with my dog and cat. So I had to eat early and skip my nap. And because the car is in the shop, I had to ride the motorcycle. It was a nice day, but riding a motorcycle--especially a cafe racer--is surprisingly more tiring than driving a car. And it wasn't just a "welcome aboard, sign you I-9 and show up on Monday." There were videos. And presentations. And handouts. And online training. Then, at the end--which took far longer than I'd hoped--the question was "can you be here at 9 tomorrow?" Now, if you're a Gen Z doofus, the answer might be "I don't get up until 11 and then I watch 'Spongebob Squarepants' while eating my Froot Loops," but if your my age and your new employer asks if you can show up at 9am you say "Yes, I can." So now I'm thinking how much that's going to suck. Generally I get up...generally the alarm goes off around 7:15. Ideally I get up by 7:45. The place is less than 30 minutes away. But along with having to shave, brush my teeth, put on pants, and at the least drink some coffee, I need to take my dog for a walk that generally lasts an hour or so. So yeah, I'm working the logistics.
Meanwhile, it sounds like I'm buying a house Monday afternoon. So I need to make sure I'm not working Monday afternoon. And the motorcycle has enough gas to get across town. And I have one or more cashier's checks made to the right people in the right amounts. And hope it doesn't rain.
But I'd be nuts to burn a bridge on this job right now. The house could go sideways. My assorted insurance claims could go sideways. My medical visits could have unexpected bills. And, from the limited amount I've seen, I'm actually impressed with the company. If they practice half of what they preach, it should be a pretty neat job. And the bar is pretty low. While I was getting my paperwork processed, someone showed up for work--on a day she didn't work. She apparently thinks the schedule means nothing and she can just come in and work whenever she feels like it. And she hasn't been fired yet. So that's what today's employer is dealing with.
There may have been something else to say, but I forget. I need to go to bed soon. Or have another cocktail. Or get The Cat inside.
Had the "new hire orientation" today at 1.
I really don't want to go back to punching a clock. If you're going to retire, make sure you've got the money to do it when you do. Because it sucks to be retired for hald a year and then get a part time job. 1 is when I ordinarily have lunch. Then I have a siesta with my dog and cat. So I had to eat early and skip my nap. And because the car is in the shop, I had to ride the motorcycle. It was a nice day, but riding a motorcycle--especially a cafe racer--is surprisingly more tiring than driving a car. And it wasn't just a "welcome aboard, sign you I-9 and show up on Monday." There were videos. And presentations. And handouts. And online training. Then, at the end--which took far longer than I'd hoped--the question was "can you be here at 9 tomorrow?" Now, if you're a Gen Z doofus, the answer might be "I don't get up until 11 and then I watch 'Spongebob Squarepants' while eating my Froot Loops," but if your my age and your new employer asks if you can show up at 9am you say "Yes, I can." So now I'm thinking how much that's going to suck. Generally I get up...generally the alarm goes off around 7:15. Ideally I get up by 7:45. The place is less than 30 minutes away. But along with having to shave, brush my teeth, put on pants, and at the least drink some coffee, I need to take my dog for a walk that generally lasts an hour or so. So yeah, I'm working the logistics.
Meanwhile, it sounds like I'm buying a house Monday afternoon. So I need to make sure I'm not working Monday afternoon. And the motorcycle has enough gas to get across town. And I have one or more cashier's checks made to the right people in the right amounts. And hope it doesn't rain.
But I'd be nuts to burn a bridge on this job right now. The house could go sideways. My assorted insurance claims could go sideways. My medical visits could have unexpected bills. And, from the limited amount I've seen, I'm actually impressed with the company. If they practice half of what they preach, it should be a pretty neat job. And the bar is pretty low. While I was getting my paperwork processed, someone showed up for work--on a day she didn't work. She apparently thinks the schedule means nothing and she can just come in and work whenever she feels like it. And she hasn't been fired yet. So that's what today's employer is dealing with.
There may have been something else to say, but I forget. I need to go to bed soon. Or have another cocktail. Or get The Cat inside.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I may break this into two posts. We'll see how long I ramble.
First off, I'm getting old. My entire childhood, I was underweight. At about 5'10" as a young adult, I struggled to maintain 135. By my 30s, I settled in around low 160s. My scale has little markers you can set. I've got one at the lowest I weighed since buying the scale (that may have actually went down when I was loading trucks for UPS in my 40s. I forget). One is the most I ever weighed. That definitely went up a year or two ago. And one is around my target weight of 163. I'm happy with 165. 155 is my superhero top-shape weight.
These days I'm pretty well pegged at 174. And I really can't say I'm 5'10" anymore. Just over 5'9" is more accurate. (Apparently Harrison Ford was 6'1" for "Star Wars" and these days he's more like 5'10".) I'm doing plenty of cardio, walking The Dog but I really should be adding some strength training. Of course it all may be futile. I'm around the age Arnold was for the movie "Eraser." He looks good in it, but I think it's the first movie he doesn't take his shirt off in. And it's all been downhill for him since then. He's still in good shape for a guy his age, but there aren't going to be any gay guys clamoring him for him to take his shirt off these days.
***
Finally supposed to be closing on the next house Monday afternoon. Real estate investing is hard for someone with empathy and compassion. Oh, you can convince yourself you're helping someone out of a financial jam, but part of me always feels a little like a vulture, preying on someone's misfortune.
I think I mentioned that this house, the woman is selling it because she's in poor health and she's been getting behind on the mortgage since her husband died. In fact, she can't move out until she gets the money from the close. There are ways to do that and I think we've done them as well as possible. The title analysis took awhile. Then they needed the amount that would go to the mortgage company. Once they got that, they realized there was a discrepency in the title that would require the woman's 3 kids to sign off on the deal. That's supposed to have finally happened and I've got my cashier's check ready for Monday.
But here's the kicker: In the breakdown of where the money goes, she's only going to wind up getting a little over $7,000 from a $125,000 deal. $109K goes to the mortgage company. Heck, between the realtors will be splitting almost as much money on the deal as she's pocketing. And if I read things right, the mortgage is actually around $11K more than they paid for the house.
Once upon a time I had a classically trained art teacher. He always maintained that there was no reason for us to suffer through the stuff he learned but even at a young age I disagreed: You have to know the rules in order to have the option of breaking the rules. If you don't know how to do something, you can't decide if it is important to your work. That's the way I feel about real estate investing too. You have to know the rules to know when to break them. Anyone who tells you the basics of real estate investing tells you how important leverage is. You get loans to buy your houses. Then you use the profits to get more loans to buy more houses. Stack up a house of cards. Now this isn't a bad idea if you're just starting out. What 25 year old has $125K to drop on a house? But I've invested in stocks literally since I was born and lived very frugally. I've also made some pretty good real estate deals that paid off quite nicely. End result is that I owned 3 houses free-and-clear. So instead of collecting $1,000 rent and then paying $650 to the bank (plus some for the insurance company, some for the tax man, etc), I keep that $650 (can't do anything about insurance, expenses, or taxes) for myself. So The Plan is to pay this bastard off as quickly as I can. Live frugally for another 10 years or so so I can live comfortably (well, by my standards) for the rest of the time. At that point (barring the Apocalypse, in which case money will be the least of my worries) my money should have reached critical mass where it will continue to make more money faster than I spend it. (And that isn't even factoring in Social Security.) That's right. I still need to write a screed on Social Security.
First off, I'm getting old. My entire childhood, I was underweight. At about 5'10" as a young adult, I struggled to maintain 135. By my 30s, I settled in around low 160s. My scale has little markers you can set. I've got one at the lowest I weighed since buying the scale (that may have actually went down when I was loading trucks for UPS in my 40s. I forget). One is the most I ever weighed. That definitely went up a year or two ago. And one is around my target weight of 163. I'm happy with 165. 155 is my superhero top-shape weight.
These days I'm pretty well pegged at 174. And I really can't say I'm 5'10" anymore. Just over 5'9" is more accurate. (Apparently Harrison Ford was 6'1" for "Star Wars" and these days he's more like 5'10".) I'm doing plenty of cardio, walking The Dog but I really should be adding some strength training. Of course it all may be futile. I'm around the age Arnold was for the movie "Eraser." He looks good in it, but I think it's the first movie he doesn't take his shirt off in. And it's all been downhill for him since then. He's still in good shape for a guy his age, but there aren't going to be any gay guys clamoring him for him to take his shirt off these days.
***
Finally supposed to be closing on the next house Monday afternoon. Real estate investing is hard for someone with empathy and compassion. Oh, you can convince yourself you're helping someone out of a financial jam, but part of me always feels a little like a vulture, preying on someone's misfortune.
I think I mentioned that this house, the woman is selling it because she's in poor health and she's been getting behind on the mortgage since her husband died. In fact, she can't move out until she gets the money from the close. There are ways to do that and I think we've done them as well as possible. The title analysis took awhile. Then they needed the amount that would go to the mortgage company. Once they got that, they realized there was a discrepency in the title that would require the woman's 3 kids to sign off on the deal. That's supposed to have finally happened and I've got my cashier's check ready for Monday.
But here's the kicker: In the breakdown of where the money goes, she's only going to wind up getting a little over $7,000 from a $125,000 deal. $109K goes to the mortgage company. Heck, between the realtors will be splitting almost as much money on the deal as she's pocketing. And if I read things right, the mortgage is actually around $11K more than they paid for the house.
Once upon a time I had a classically trained art teacher. He always maintained that there was no reason for us to suffer through the stuff he learned but even at a young age I disagreed: You have to know the rules in order to have the option of breaking the rules. If you don't know how to do something, you can't decide if it is important to your work. That's the way I feel about real estate investing too. You have to know the rules to know when to break them. Anyone who tells you the basics of real estate investing tells you how important leverage is. You get loans to buy your houses. Then you use the profits to get more loans to buy more houses. Stack up a house of cards. Now this isn't a bad idea if you're just starting out. What 25 year old has $125K to drop on a house? But I've invested in stocks literally since I was born and lived very frugally. I've also made some pretty good real estate deals that paid off quite nicely. End result is that I owned 3 houses free-and-clear. So instead of collecting $1,000 rent and then paying $650 to the bank (plus some for the insurance company, some for the tax man, etc), I keep that $650 (can't do anything about insurance, expenses, or taxes) for myself. So The Plan is to pay this bastard off as quickly as I can. Live frugally for another 10 years or so so I can live comfortably (well, by my standards) for the rest of the time. At that point (barring the Apocalypse, in which case money will be the least of my worries) my money should have reached critical mass where it will continue to make more money faster than I spend it. (And that isn't even factoring in Social Security.) That's right. I still need to write a screed on Social Security.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
So fucking tired. I've made no discernable progress in anything I've attempted since the beginning of March. Well, that's not true. I have electricity after a 5 day outage. The car is still at the new shop. No updates on that. The hood that is supposed to go on the car at the shop hasn't shipped yet. No updates on that. Yesterday evening, while walking The Dog, I got a call from USAA. They've lost the paperwork on my home claim from the April 3 storm. Again. So they've decided to just start over and send another adjuster out Tuesday. For fuck's sake, what is this level of incompetence?! They probably wouldn't have even realized except that, after giving them the 10 business days since they lost the first paperwork and said they now had it and were working on it, I still had no updates. Meanwhile I was in my new job training this morning and my realtor texted me that they still don't have all the signatures to complete the closing on the house, so that is now pushed back to Wednesday.
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
"I would relax... I would sit on my ass all day... I would do nothing." -Office Space.
Doing nothing is my preferred natural state. When things are going terribly sideways, the inclination is to just curl up in a ball and hope things will be better tomorrow. When things are going well...the inclination is to just walk around in the sun with The Dog for fear that anything I attempt will break the spell.
Lately, everything has been a huge struggle. Nothing goes right and everything needs to be watched for every second. Today everything seems like it is going right. And I've got an hour or two that I could/should be productive, but the inclination is (having already walked around in the sun with The Dog and screwing off here) to organize the hall closet. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Worked" yesterday. Right now, that consists of getting up early enough to walk The Dog and still take a (very chilly) motorcycle ride to the hardware store by 9am, so I can sit at a computer and watch video after video and take quiz after quiz and read little scenarios about selling hardware until 11am. When I got home, I uploaded the pics of the storm damage to the USAA site and then got on the phone with the auto parts company about my missing hood. They had me call the freight company and after various stretches on hold with both of them, it turned out the freight company had the hood, but they'd written down the phone number wrong for arranging the delivery.
Today USAA was sending out a different adjuster to look at my March 3 storm damage *again*, so I had to be at the hardware store a half hour early so I could get back in time for the adjuster. Been getting texts from my realtor that it looks like the house closing is FINALLY going to happen tomorrow (fingers crossed). Got an e-mail from my property manager that my tenants paid their rent for April and it is in my checking account. Got a couple photos via text from my auto body guy that he's got the hood and he's doing the last of the painting (if I understand everything correctly). So all told, things are going well. And just typing that gives me a tiny shiver of dread because I can't help but wonder if everything is going well today because everything is finally going well or because this is just the prelude to the latest twist that utterly crushes my spirit.
And that is why I find myself wanting to organize a closet instead of doing something more productive. I'm wanting to enjoy things apparently going well as long as possible before I have to have my next battle.
[EDIT: Oh, and the HR person is off until Friday, so we don't have to come in and sit at the computer and do training again until Friday.]
Doing nothing is my preferred natural state. When things are going terribly sideways, the inclination is to just curl up in a ball and hope things will be better tomorrow. When things are going well...the inclination is to just walk around in the sun with The Dog for fear that anything I attempt will break the spell.
Lately, everything has been a huge struggle. Nothing goes right and everything needs to be watched for every second. Today everything seems like it is going right. And I've got an hour or two that I could/should be productive, but the inclination is (having already walked around in the sun with The Dog and screwing off here) to organize the hall closet. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Worked" yesterday. Right now, that consists of getting up early enough to walk The Dog and still take a (very chilly) motorcycle ride to the hardware store by 9am, so I can sit at a computer and watch video after video and take quiz after quiz and read little scenarios about selling hardware until 11am. When I got home, I uploaded the pics of the storm damage to the USAA site and then got on the phone with the auto parts company about my missing hood. They had me call the freight company and after various stretches on hold with both of them, it turned out the freight company had the hood, but they'd written down the phone number wrong for arranging the delivery.
Today USAA was sending out a different adjuster to look at my March 3 storm damage *again*, so I had to be at the hardware store a half hour early so I could get back in time for the adjuster. Been getting texts from my realtor that it looks like the house closing is FINALLY going to happen tomorrow (fingers crossed). Got an e-mail from my property manager that my tenants paid their rent for April and it is in my checking account. Got a couple photos via text from my auto body guy that he's got the hood and he's doing the last of the painting (if I understand everything correctly). So all told, things are going well. And just typing that gives me a tiny shiver of dread because I can't help but wonder if everything is going well today because everything is finally going well or because this is just the prelude to the latest twist that utterly crushes my spirit.
And that is why I find myself wanting to organize a closet instead of doing something more productive. I'm wanting to enjoy things apparently going well as long as possible before I have to have my next battle.
[EDIT: Oh, and the HR person is off until Friday, so we don't have to come in and sit at the computer and do training again until Friday.]
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
And barely an hour after this post, I got to argue with the salvage company USAA outsources to, explaining, ONCE AGAIN, that the car is not totalled, it is currently almost completely repaired, they will never get my title or power of attorney and they will never get my car and USAA has no claim to the car. And they said "well there's nothing we can do except keep calling you until USAA tells us to stop." I was like "that's fine. We can keep having this same conversation over and over agin and there's nothing you can do to get this car."
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
I suppose today I should try to get someone on the phone from USAA and try to get my house fixed and my car claim closed out. I'm just dreading this because both should be relatively simple, you'd think. But they've been absolute nightmares. Like, "Thank you, Mario, but our princess is in another castle," only without the "thank you."
Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Decided to go after the "low hanging fruit" and get things moving on my home claim FROM MARCH 3. Spent 5 minutes trying to find a phone number. Spend another 5 minutes fighting with the telephone robot. Then spend a couple minutes talking to a human before spending 5 minutes on hold to be told to "sit tight and someone will get with you in the next day or two." Now I'm even more afraid to call about the car.