It's snowing somewhere else

The director of the TV show put a satellite feed onto one of the monitors in the studio before today's show started. It was from a station in Kentucky and that area was getting a major snowstorm today.

I walked in front of the monitor and pretended I was freezing from the weather being shown on the feed. One of my co-workers asked for my camera, and the photo you'll see below is the result. It looked a bit like I was standing in the snowstorm (if you use a lot of imagination).

Brrrrrr (a fake brrrrrr).

And...
the Oscar for Best Actor goes to:
Ken Carr for his performance
in "Faking It"

Ken Carr car accident update: A visit to Flo's house

I had a minor accident on Tuesday morning. Today, I went to the Progressive Insurance Service Center to have them look at the Ken Carr car damage on Alvernon Way and 22nd Street.

It's a pretty large and what appeared to me to be a fairly new facility. I pulled into the lane outside and a very nice guy named Jeff came out, addressed me by name (I had an appointment), explained what he was going to do, and invited me to go inside the building to the lobby where they have drinks and snacks and wait while he does the voodoo that he do so well.

I was the only person waiting in the cavernous lobby. They had flat screen TVs in there. One was showing CNN (coverage of the small plane accident that Harrison Ford had earlier today where he crashed onto a country club fairway in southern California) and the other TV had a college basketball game on. The lobby also had plenty of chairs, a few fake plants, and a cardboard cutout of Flo, the woman who is in many of the Progressive Insurance commercials that are on their current advertising campaigns.

After about fifteen minutes, Jeff brought me some paperwork and showed me the figure. Damage estimate came to $553.61. After my $500 deductible, they would pay $53.61 and I'd have to pay the difference. They did tell me that they found some preliminary information about the guy driving the Honda Accord with the Arizona license plate 435DNY that hit me and then denied anything happened. His name is apparently "Bill", and his insurance company is some cheap ass outfit named Apco. They told me that they were reaching out to Apco to see if "Bill" will acknowledge the accident happened and allow Progressive to go and photograph his car to see whatever damage may (or may not) be on his car.

What it translated to: Unless "Bill" decides he has a conscience, there is basically no chance that his insurance company will pony up the $500 and I have a decision to make. If I take the $53.61 from Progressive, then it could raise my insurance rate (of course it would, who am I kidding) and I have to pay the other $500 for the paint damage. Or, I could just not proceed with the claim and not have them write me a check, and pay the entire $553.61 myself. It's an ugly situation either way. If, and of course it's a gigantic if, he acknowledges that it happened and his insurance company pays up the $553.61 in damage, then I'll get a check for the whole thing from Apco.

I wish even more now that "Bill" sleeps poorly at night and has a lifetime of diarrhea. Or maybe never gets a good haircut for the rest of his life. Something awful like that. He isn't a nice person to do this to me. I can't resist the urge to wish him a life of misery if he denies that it happened like he did to my face on Tuesday morning.

I will say that the folks at Progressive have been wonderful. They've been friendly, clear about how this works, and super helpful. Based on this experience, even though I've been a customer of theirs for years now, I will continue to keep this insurance policy and them as my insurer. Flo runs a tight ship over there. Thanks, Flo!

A cardboard cutout of Flo from Progressive
in the Progressive Service Center lobby in Tucson.
She looked thin... and cardboardy.

The cavernous lobby at the
Progressive Service Center
at 22nd and Alvernon.
The grass in that planter is plastic.

Another view of the lobby

Jeff from Progressive assesses
the $553.61 worth of damage
to the Ken Carr car while I
wait in the lobby.
Thanks for nothing, "Bill".

Dylan the two year old guest

We had an unusual guest on the TV show today... a two year old named Dylan. Most of our guests are adults with a few teens mixed in occasionally. A little kid is not usually on the show as a guest.

He was there with his mom for a segment on the Nurse Family Partnership. He was adorable. He walked around with a little toy airplane in each hand, charming everyone and holding the airplanes out to people.

Like many two year olds, he had a pretty short attention span. So, he'd walk up, hold out his airplanes, and about three seconds later be off to do something else.

He didn't contribute much to the segment once it was on live, but he was fun to have around.

I shot some photos of his visit:

Two year old Dylan in a sea
of guests and staff in the TV studio

Dylan and his toy airplanes

Dylan hands host Tina an airplane

He takes his airplane and leaves

Live on TV, Dylan wanders around
while the adults talk

Dylan meets intern Nicolina

Nicolina keeps Dylan occupied
while mom talks on TV

Studio floor = instant airport

Ken Carr car accident on Grant Road

I was in a car accident today.

The first question I asked myself is "why me"? Then, I felt grateful that it was minor. No one was hurt, the car primarily has paint damage, and my life could be sucking a whole lot more than it does right now. Always need to look at the glass half full, no matter what the situation is.

I was driving to work this morning at about 8:15 a.m. when I stopped behind a garbage truck at the stoplight at Craycroft Road as I was heading east on Grant Road. I was in the left lane right at the point where two more lanes open to the far left for vehicles needing to make a left turn onto Craycroft.

I see in my rear view mirror a car driving around 20mph-ish about to make an attempt to squeeze between my car and the median. The vehicle hits mine. The contact point is his front bumper on the passenger side and the quarter panel on the rear driver's side of my car. He stops and I thought he was going to get out or was waiting for me to pull behind him so we can find a spot to exchange insurance and contact information. The Tucson Police Department will not come to an accident scene if the accident is minor, no one is injured, and the vehicles are moveable so it wasn't going to make sense to call 911.

Then, it got weird.

The driver pulls his car back into the lane that I had been in and heads east. I thought, "Okay, I'll follow him since he's obviously going to find a safe spot to pull over to exchange information". However, that is not what happened.

He continues driving east. I continue following him. We passed the cemetery on Grant and I started believing that he wasn't going to stop. I kept repeating his license plate number to myself over and over so I could remember it when I had a pen and paper handy to write it down.

He signals a left turn about half a mile east of where the accident originally happened. I follow him into the Old Farm Executive Park and he pulls up next to a guy who was detailing a car. I parked, got out to inspect my car, confirm that there was damage, and walked over to talk to the guy in the car that struck mine. I asked him if he realized he hit me at Grant and Craycroft. He looks at me and says "I didn't hit any car." I explained that he did and I just inspected the damage to my car to verify. He repeats "I didn't hit your car or any car. I have no idea what you are talking about."

He then backs up, turns his car around, and drives away. I realized I had a couple of choices. One was to call the police department who I estimated was not going to come anyway and I'd stand around for hours waiting for an officer even though I had just experienced a hit and run. The other choice was to head on in to the TV station, call the police department non-emergency line, file a police / accident report, and then call my insurance company and let them figure it out. Despite my frustration, I opted for the second option. My momentary dream of having a real life "Cops" episode play out over a minor traffic accident quickly faded.

I have to take the car to the Progressive Insurance adjustor's facility on Thursday evening to find out what they'll pay for getting the damage repaired. The Progressive folks were super nice on the phone today and I'm sure they'll do whatever they do in this kind of situation, and I'm also sure that whatever that is will likely be disappointing especially since I still pay $1,500 a year worth of insurance premiums on an eleven year old car and the chance is high I'll end up with about two dollars, a fake smile, and a pat on the head.

They have to deal with people who have accidents that are a whole lot uglier than mine on a daily basis. To their credit (on the phone) they were patient and helpful to me anyway. I was told that it'll fall under the collision portion of my policy and I'll have to pay a $500 deductible to get the car fixed. Then, they'll track down the guy's insurance because I have his license plate number and attempt to collect the $500 (plus what they'll end up paying me as the difference to cover the damage) from his insurance company. It'll be a miracle if it actually turns out that they are successful since he denied doing anything and drove away. I think it's likely I'll be screwed. I have no idea at this moment where I'll come up with that kind of money for the deductible. Maybe if I eat less for the next year I can save up for it or hold a bikini car wash or a bake sale.

In the meantime, the one thing I can do to make myself feel better is publicly shame the bastard who hit me by publishing his license plate number. Arizona license plate 435DNY, a early 2000's model silver Honda Accord and the man driving was an older dark skinned thin Asian. If you know him, feel free to let him know that he's a crappy human. All I can hope is that he somehow has a conscience and at the very least his guilt makes him sleep poorly at night. I don't wish anything hideous on the man, just some sleepless nights would be fine. And $500 for the deductible.

Ken Carr car accident damage on 3/3/15

This is the damage caused by the driver
who said he didn't hit any car.
Hey buddy, I drive an "any car"
and it looks like you hit it to me.

A cock and bull story to warm your corn

It's Sunday, which is the day each week that Anthony and I eat dinner out and shop for groceries.

Today we ate at Wendy's at Speedway and Woodland. It was moderately busy for a Sunday evening. There were some new staff being trained. I know this because they were having trouble getting orders out as fast as Wendy's usually does and the girl at the front counter taking orders was struggling with oddities like Anthony asking if they had any pretzel buns left. All was fine though when we got our spicy chicken sandwiches, they were hot and delicious.

We sat by the front window at Wendy's and I took a couple of photos of cars going by. I always wonder what someone else is thinking or doing when they are in their car. Could they be a millionaire? Or getting road head? Drunk? Rushing home because they really really really have to pee? Hate their husband? Have a bad back? It's always a mystery.

After dinner, we went grocery shopping at Fry's at Grant and Swan. I don't care for that store very much -- prefer Walmart Market instead -- but Anthony likes it better and sometimes it's not all about me, even though deep down in places I don't talk about at parties, I wish it was. In the end though, making other people happy even if it is momentarily has it's own rewards.

Weekends go by so quickly. I try to take advantage of Saturdays and Sundays to catch up on the sleep I don't get during the week with the large volume of work that I do. Even though I got some extra napping in, it seems like it wasn't enough this weekend and I'm kind of exhausted. I'm working on the last few loads of laundry now so I have something to wear to work that at least is clean. When I go back to work tomorrow, I'll be tired but have on clean underwear in case I have an accident.

Wendy's at Speedway and Woodland.
A few people in the dining room.

Spicy chicKEN sandwich and fries

We sat by the window while eating.
I wondered what this person was up to that drove by.
My guess was rushing to a hot date.

This cab driver zipping by
is probably angry that Sundays
are so slow in Tucson.

Fry's Food and Drug at Grant and Swan
A mom and two daughters at the deli.

"Warm Your Corn"
Sounds like a date I've had

Cheetos Sweetos
Chester Cheetah is getting
all sweet on us

Neuro Sleep drink
"Officer, I can explain why I fell asleep
at the wheel. I drank this
drink called "Sleep" and
it knocked me out and
into this power pole"

Cock and Bull Ginger Beer
I'd prefer mine with more cock, I think.

Kellogg's Disney Frozen cereal
It was in the cereal aisle
and I expected it in the frozen section.
Frozen section! Get it?

Pace Beer and Cheese Dip
Probably invented by someone
from Wisconsin.

Anthony pointed out this cake and I said
"When I eat cake with this much dyed frosting
my poop comes out the same color as the icing."
He said, "Mine does too".
Aww, we have that in common.