Banner week for me...yay.

So you've read about the car/accident/totaled/new truck/car payment crap. Well, tonight just capped off the week about as I would expect one of these weeks to be capped off.

Okay, so I used to play Xbox/Xbox Live at least 2-3 nights per week. Since buying the practice, I have become so busy that I have basically been reduced to one night a week of game play time. Friday night. Gaming has always been my way of winding down and kind of shutting my brain off for a while. Kind of my Calgon Moment of sorts.

So Kel is off at the office working late doing office manager stuff (her typical Friday night gig), I get the kids in bed, plop my butt on the nice theater couch, fire up the widescreen and Xbox 360, planning to play a bit of Fable:The Lost Chapters (which I have recently rediscovered as a great diversion and hilarious game when you get past all the Molyneux hype).

Everything is set, and the screen freezes.

This has happened before, and actually started right about the time I re-purchased Fable and started playing it (BC style) on the Xbox 360. I had noticed that it would freeze with these weird lines on the screen, and I would have to shut off the 360 and turn it back on. I tried an Xbox 360 native game when I first noticed the problem, and did not seem to get the same freezing problem than. I thought that it just must be a glitch in the software emulation routine for Fable. Annoying, but workable until it gets updated. Tonight, though, it happened again. I did the turn off-turn back on routine. No help. I took the game out and threw in Perfect Dark Zero. Hmm. Now I am getting no video/audio signal at all to the TV and I am getting the dreaded "red lights" on the 'Ring of Light." Now it has gotten to where it will actually turn on about once every 10 tries, and then it will only stay running for about a minute before it freezes again.

Call Xbox Support. Cliff Notes version: There's a problem. We troubleshoot for about 5 minutes. It is a hardware problem that COULD include a hard drive issue. Return box being overnighted to me for return/replacement.

This is an all-too familiar story it seems, especially with my personal gaming group of about 80 people. Of those in my group who have actually been able to get a 360, I would say about 40%... yes that's 40% not 4%... have had the same or similar problem that has required a return to Microsoft for repair/replacement. Great track record you got there, Billy Boy...

My next issue is all my game saves. Since it may also include a hard drive issue, I have to return it as well, and "there is no guarantee" I will get the same hard drive/my hard drive contents back. So I get to go buy a memory unit for $40, take my hard drive with me, and talk to my guys at EBGames (they are great guys who always take care of me... thanks Ben and Daniel!) to see if they will let me put my hard drive on their demo unit long enough to get all my hard drive contents to the memory unit. Well everything except the FFXI demo. Piece of trash. But that is another blog entry on its own!

Anyway, in one week... totaled car and defective Xbox 360. At this point I am without a replacement for either.

Who said the Irish have good luck? Where are they? I wanna slap 'em.

Ticket to a truck: update

Well, now I sit waiting to find out how much they are going to give me for my totaled out RAV4. Should find out Monday or Tuesday. Of course it sucks that I am going to end up with a car payment (though I am psyched about getting a new truck - start shopping around tomorrow), but I am ready to start the process. However, I had a little pot o' gold yesterday that helped.

The Progressive Insurance guy (the other guy's insurance company) called and asked if he could come by yesterday to get me to sign papers saying I was not injured and wouldn't come after them later.

So we start talking, and he says, "So you and the boys are okay? Injuries are all taken care of?"

I said, "Um, we were never injured apart from a headache that day."

"Oh, so you never got looked at for injuries?"

"Um, no."

"Oh! Well then why do I have these three injury claims?"

"I don't know. I didn't submit them."

"Well, I have to settle them somehow so we can sign the paperwork and close the claim. How about we do this? You did say you had some headaches, but are fine now. So all three of you did have some pain. Well, what we could do is I could settle these claims for a flat sum for each claim, then we'll sign the papers and close them out."

"Okay, that's fine by me." (Thinking he's gonna give me like $25 per claim...)

"Okay, Mr. McKay. Let me get this paperwork filled out, and I'll write you three separate checks, one for each claim, for $200.00"

"Wow! $200.00 for the claims?!"

"Yes, $200.00 per claim."

So, needless to say, I bit my lip as hard as I could to avoid the you-know-what-eating grin I had developing over the fact that I was about to get $600.00 in personal injury claims when there were no injuries to claim!

So at least I have $600.00 more to put toward the new truck down payment than I expected!

Ticket to a Truck...

So some of ya'll know about the accident I was in on Sunday coming home from church... but for those who don't here ya go:

Connor, Luke, and I were headed home from church in my white 1997 Toyota RAV4 down a two-lane road - no turning lane. Kelly and Mitch were in the van right in front of us. A car two cars ahead of Kelly decided to stop abruptly to turn left. Since there was oncoming traffic, it couldn't turn immediately so we all had to stop abruptly ourselves to avoid any accident. Granted, no squealing tires stuff or anything, but that quick braking where you can feel the car kind of lurching forward. Everybody stopped just fine. Except for Mr. Domino's Delivery Guy in the - ironically - green 1997 Toyota RAV4. He, instead, decided to slam on his brakes at the last second and slam into me. You can tell that he tried to swerve into oncoming traffic due to the fact that he hit me in the rear driver side with his front passenger side. Seriously, I am glad my car was there to stop him. Otherwise, there would have been a head on collision either right next to me or right next to Kelly. Luckily we all had our seatbelts on. I slammed my head into the padded section of the steering wheel where the airbag is stored, so had a headache the rest of the day. Connor and Luke both said their heads hurt a bit, though not due to hitting anything - just from the jolt. We are all fine, and even though the guy who hit me was taken to the hospital for neck pain, he is fine too (sore and airbag burns, but otherwise fine).

Can you say totaled?

I thought you could. My cousin who towed it for me guessed it was around $5,000 to $6,000 worth of work. The collision guy who Mr. Domino's insurance company had it sent to today said, and I quote, "(Laughingly) I started to work up an estimate on repair, but I stopped at around $8,000.00. I am pretty sure she's a goner."

So here I sit, totaled car in the lot, just waiting for the adjustor to do his work so I can get a check, then go shopping for a new truck (which I have been wanting for a couple of years). Hold the phone, though. I lose a car that, while 8 years old, was in good shape (with mild recent hail damage), had only around 75,000 miles on it, and was completely paid for. I gain a new truck I want with the options I skimped on in the last car, plus a $500 a month car payment.

Am I supposed to be happy about this? I haven't decided yet.

Mr. Urban Cowboy

I don't really have a cute little story to go with these pics, but I had to post them. Mitch grabbed a red cowboy hat we had used as part of a disguise used at Luke's "spy" birthday party. Then he grabbed these Scooby Doo sunglasses (I don't know WHERE he got them), and started pracing around the house. I have more pics, but because Mitch has some sensory issues, he can often be found running around sans clothes in the house. I could not post those pics, because in today's running scared world, SOMEBODY would have reported me for child porn, and my next blog entry would have been from the computer in the prison library. So these were the only ones I felt safe posting. LOL

Telemarketer etiquette from a 9 year old

Okay it really wasn't a telemarketer that Kelly was on the phone with, but close enough. An insurance company.

She was sitting on Connor's bed with him while he was reading, and she was trying to get through to Blue Cross Blue Shield to verify mental health benefits for a patient. Now any of you who have had to call your insurance company will know that they are all voice activated systems now (like that guy in the commercial these days). Of course you also know that it doesn't recognize the information you state most of the time either. This results in saying the same thing over and over. I challenge any of you to have to do that repeatedly without yelling at the phone and nameless insurance lady voice.

Anyway, that was what was happening for Kelly...

"Please state the patient's date of birth."

"January 23, 1998."

"I'm sorry. I did not understand that."

"JANUARY 23, 1998!"

"Thank you. Please hold."

....minutes go by....

"Thank you for holding. Are you requesting dental, medical, or mental health benefits?"

"Mental health."

"I'm sorry. I did not understand that."

"Mental health!"

"I'm sorry. I did not understand that."

"MENTAL HEALTH!"

"Thank you. Please hold."

"Thank you for waiting. Are these for inpatient or outpatient benefits?"

"Outpatient."

"I'm sorry. I did not understand that."

"OOOOOOUUUUUUUTTTTTPAAAATTTTTIIIIEEEEEENNNNNNTTTTTT!"

(followed by a few under-the-breath words.....)

"Thank you. Please hold."

Then all of a sudden Connor stops reading and says, "Mom, are you still on hold?"

"Yeah, Connor. Still on hold."

"Well, yeah," he says, "I wouldn't want to talk to you either if you kept yelling at ME like that. Sheesh."

Ah, the simplicity of kids.

Leviathan resurfaces....

...or whatever.

I have been called worse for sure.

I have been informed by friends that they are sick of looking at my pumpkins, which I really feel is too personal of a comment, but anyway. ..I am going to try and get back to the blog and add a bit here and there. So I have a few things in my head to add, and though I really should be working right now, I am gonna throw them up real quick.

Thanks for the push Bones.