BetterMost Community Blogs > Skipping Stones Across the Pond of Life
Phil Skips Stones Across the Pond of Life
Jeff Wrangler:
Sorry to hear the news, Phillip. Good thoughts and prayers comin' your way for all of you. ...
Brokeback_Dev:
You and your dad are in my thoughts and prayers. We can only hope and pray for the best. Definitely get that second opinion. Take good care of yourself too.
Phillip Dampier:
Thanks to everyone. We may approach Sloan-Kettering if Roswell also wants to take a wait and see approach. This whole thing is just crazy. What is also evident in how much things have changed in my life since BBM is the back-of-my-mind consideration of Ennis' coping without both parents a lot earlier in life, sort of reminding me some people have it even worse than I.
My biggest fear is going through a year of declining health for him similar to what happened with my mom and the enormous stress that put on her as well as the entire family. I'm doing reasonably okay with this right now because the situation isn't immediately dire.
Meanwhile, the police report for the car accident arrived and couldn't have been written more in my favor. I didn't realize there were two witnesses to the accident who gave their info to the sheriff's deputy. State Farm has settled for around $12500 after the $500 deductible which I'll likely get back in the spring after subrogation, plus a $150 inconvenience bonus (I didn't rent a car so they pay $10 a day to help you with gas/inconvenience for borrowing someone elses.)
The biggest inconvenience in driving the land yacht my mother had - the 2001 Buick Park Avenue Old People Edition is the $52 it costs to fill it up. After driving this boat around, it clues me in better why people who drive these things often irritate me because they are 10 miles under the speed limit and take forever to get up to speed. That's because it takes a lot to get these things up to the speed limit, and the entire feel of the driving experience and the engine noise encourages people to drive slower. A V6 Malibu has serious get up and go and is much more responsive than the Park Avenue.
The biggest thing I am missing, outside of the car itself, is the XM Radio, which I got hooked on and have managed to keep going in the car through their retention plan (when you threaten to cancel because it costs too much and you tell them you heard about a yearly plan for $77 they give to people to keep the service, they usually let you have that plan over and over again.) I can't stand local radio.
BTW, State Farm pays nothing for a total loss for what used to be the add-ons XM Radio and OnStar (I only had XM) which they call "subscription services." Both are now standard on all GM vehicles, so it's becoming a dead issue, but they encouraged me to take the XM Radio box out of the trunk and keep it/sell it. I had managed, of all things, to leave the garage door opener in the Malibu after cleaning it out on Friday so yesterday we returned to the car dealer to collect both of those things. The car will be towed to an auction house for scrap later today. My father seems to think based on the lack of damage to the interior and rear that the car will likely live again through a technique they call "clipping."
Everything north of the windshield wipers will probably be sawed off on my car, and they'll find some totalled Malibu that got rear-ended and basically weld together someone else's undamaged front end to my undamaged passenger compartment and rear end and create a "new" car out of it.
What a concept. I wouldn't own something like this, but for someone who wants something under $5000 with a refurbished engine and a perfectly good interior and rear (and six month old Michellin tires I just put on the thing which were completely undamaged), it might work for them.
Alternatively, they will simply take the thing apart and resell individual undamaged components as "salvaged parts."
CellarDweller:
Phillip, I'm sending as much positive energy and prayers to your dad.
I can't believe they would take a "wait and see" approach with cancer. Makes no sense to me at all.
Phillip Dampier:
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