I've been getting along well in the shop recently. All due to a couple of extra months I gained, of feeling better. The last series of injections proved to be more effective, with the addition of injecting a different level of vertebrae. Makes a huge difference in what I can get done.

Well, those injections are wearing thin now. Pains, aches, stinging feelings, and leg/foot numbness are creeping back in. It's not real bad yet, but we're going to deal with it before I'm in agony again. Add to this mix, a little nightmare that's shown up regarding my home insurance carrier. Evidently the industry is in flux. Many carriers going belly up due to the roaring economic recovery. Many companies merging. The resulting mix are cherry picking who and what they wish to cover. Old houses with all their aches and pains ... not so much. So; there's been a conserted effort to give Gary the old heave-ho. This has not brought any additional joy into my life.

And now, since I've been feeling good and working well; I have to completely grind to a stop and, with Kelly's help, address all of this mess. Because there is nobody else to do it. And, because hiring people to do things is a myth. I know, I know ... but it's a myth here, for us. Seems a simple phone call should net a bunch of eager young craftsmen on the job. Don't tell them it's for me. . Don't mention the words: 1) Repair. 2)Victorian. 3) Limited access. 4) Or a host of others I've found that bring a pause in the conversation, and then dead air.

I'll be sorting thru this bunch of stuff. And then, next week, I begin another of a series of epidural injections. I'm sure I'll need it by then.

Figured I'd fill you in on the plan. Believe me, I'd rather be in the shop.

Thanks for reading.
Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2012 02:21PM by barnespneumatic.

Hi Gary,

It's good to know that the last injections have lasted enough to cover until the next ones. Good luck on the next injections and I hope that they last as much or more than the last ones.

Julio

nice that the new schedule is working... it shows in your production , even your posting is in a brighter tone. health is something that those of us with ,,, take for granted.

Hi Tom,
Pain is overrated.
And, forced interruptions are as destructive as pain.
The ideal situation would involve health and a relaxed state of mind. Nah ... That's just silly ....


Gary

Ya, it's the same here. One little hurricane and suddenly everyone within 70mi of the coast are uninsurable for wind. It has gotten only a little better as 6 years have past and now you can get wind insurance but only with a 5% value of the policy deductible. Yest, a 100K house has a 5K deductable. that would replace a roof on most 100k homes! Many are going bare for wind and are going to depend on neighbors and charity to rebuild. BTW the rest of the policy doubled in price as well. The funny, or not so funny thing is that 2005 was one of the most profitable years for the insurance companies. How so?, well they were all reinsured by larger companies, Lloyds etc, so they didn't take the hit for Katrina.

Glad to hear that your injections have been going better, hope it keeps up when you go back next time.

The insurance thing is maddening. I insure through USAA since I'm former military. Been with them for over 25 years, steady dependable customer with basically no claim history. They've made a TON of money off me from premiums paid over the years (especially when I was a 20 year old insuring a sports car). I've insured cars, boats, motorcycles, various property and a half dozen houses with them over the years. Generally they've been easy to deal with and quite a bit more affordable than the other insurance companies. That said however....

When it comes to dealing with "new" trends, insurance companies are simultaneously slow to react and overreactive. They wait until the trend is painfully obvious before finally dealing with it, and then they pile a grossly conservative reaction onto that late realization. This generally results in their long-time customers being "rewarded" with ridiculous generalizations and wildly inappropriate decisons with no basis in reality.

An example. In 2002 there was a major earthquake in Alaska, the Denali quake. Fortunately it happened way up north away from where most of the people in the state live. This was a week before I was supposed to close on a house we were buying in Eagle River, near Anchorage. Two days before closing I called to confirm the coverage I'd set up earlier, and was told "we're not currently writing policies in Alaska". WTF!?! Since when?!? Oh yeah, since that earthquake that already happened. It's too late for them to prevent any losses from that earthquake, yet they're not writing any policies in the state "just because". I ended up going with another company instead, and it was a huge rush to get coverage started in time to close on the house. A big black eye on USAA from my perspective, and not at all uncommon in the industry.

Hi Sean.
Well, I had that high draft number for Viet Nam. So, I missed the military and your cushy insurance. Fair trade, for sure.
Yep, I've paid for 32 years and had only that one claim. The Carlotta the snow dumped on top of my truck. Remember the pic? Customer loyalty with perks Thanks for the good will brownie points. And they say they don't want to renew about a month before. Thanks for the heads up too.
I'm upping the schedule on maintence. I don't usually plan the painting and repairs in the dead of Winter. Silly of me. Should expect slimy little insurance toads in Smart cars (yeah - he did. All 275 pounds of his backstabbing sliminess). But, I digress ....

Gary, hang in there, and I hope the next round of injections work as good or better then the last.

The insurance might end up being more painful. I live in an neighborhood that was ground zero when Andrew hit in 1992. I move here in 94. When I first got my insurance it was about $1500 for the home and another $2500 for wind storm with $500 deductible. Since no company would insure the house for windstorm, I was put in the state insurance pool. That was for a 100K house. Now my home owners is around $2K and the winds storm is another $4K, with a 5% deductible, on its current value. So basically the first $12K of damage is on me. They have also limited the total loss of jewelry at $500, total loss of art at $500, and the total loss of firearms at $500, along with a total loss of what's inside the home to $60K. To get a separate rider to cover that difference was quoted at over $10K a year.

I also have USAA, but they will not cover my home.

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2012 03:20AM by Keith.

It gets better.

When I bought my current house in S.E. Alaska, I already had a house insured with them here in the same town, about a half mile away. When it comes time to get the policy info to the title company they called me back with a note to call my insurance company. I call them up and they tell me that "we're not writing any policies in coastal areas due to wildfire risk". I was stunned, to say the least. I'd talked with them less than a week earlier and they said "no problem". There were some choice words involved on my side of the conversation that my four year old probably shouldn't have heard (parroted back at wildly inappropriate moments, naturally). I called back and worked my way as high up the phone tree as possible, got to a V.P. of something or other, got told that they have a "new algorythm" that judges wildfire risk, and that we were in the danger area. This is all happening in one of those years where it seems like most of Californias coast is burning, so I can see exactly where it comes from. We're on the west coast of the continent, so we must be just like California, right?

Now...you've got to experience S.E. Alaska in person to see just how inapplicable this is. It's so wet here most of the time that you couldn't light the forest on fire with a nuclear weapon. Things rot standing up while you're still using them if they're not galvanized or aluminum. Even in the "dry season" it's still wetter here than most forests get during their rainy season. Wildfire risk...yeah....right... So I call them back and tell them to cancel everything; the current home policy, the two cars, the works. Send me a refund of my subscriber savings account as well (USAA is a reciprocal insurance company, "excess" profits are rolled into individual accounts that you supposedly get back eventually, mostly an accounting dodge). Since I've been with them so long it had about $5k in the account....send me a check tomorrow, thank you.

Long story short, I get a call back early the next day with a very different attitude. The new policy is all in order, we're making an exception for you, yadda yadda. This is strike two. They're not gonna get another one without a damn good reason.

Wow Gary I been in Asia for years this is all new stuff. Here is what is Insurance?

I know if I would go back to L.A. it would be hard to get auto insurance, age, no record for years all that. Here I don't have any insurance for the compound/business, car, or truck. But I know with all the stuff going on lots of Insurance companies got pounded last 5 years or so.

Sad they don't reward the guys who don't claim often and pay on time.

Sorry you two are having problems.


Larry

I hope your next set of injections go as well for you as the last ones did.
As for the Ins. crap, just say the word & maybe they will start having 'car & property problems' of their own!
No Love Lost Here!!

Hi Rick,
Hey, the poor guy already has car problems. He was driving a Smart car! Haha.

"smart" car...was there ever a vehicle that was more mis-named?

You couldn't get me to drive one in traffic on a dare, I'd hardly feel safe in one even on a golf course. Nothing that small should be legal on the highway, they're just deathtraps waiting for a place to happen.

i wonder if he checked with his ins. co to see if he would be covered for personal injury in case of an accident in his 'Smart' car.
i would think the ins co's would NOT want to touch them with a 50' pole for injury ins. Blows me away to see them on i95 and other Major
highways and turnpikes.

You can bet that insurance companies have been MANDATED to insure them. The point is, don't you know, we are ALL supposed to be driving these. That way we all have an equal chance of being mangled. That way too, it saves our Buicks for the Chinese market, where GM sells a multiple of the number sold domestically.
We only need to save OUR SIDE of the planet. The other side can do as they please and continue with their 9% growth per year.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2012 03:08PM by barnespneumatic.

Good luck with those shots and your insurance quest Gary, hope it all turns out fine....
All the best
Neil

Hi Neil,

Well, our insurance agent is checking around. He took it upon himself to make sure there wouldn't be any questions about the building in the back yard. So; he told everybody that the owner has a GUN AND KNIFE SHOP in there. Can you picture the images of one of these crazy paramilitary outfits on TV? Right, he just makes mortars and rocket launchers in the shed there. Thanks bud





So, I've tried to explain that I do NOT deal with any firearms, and i fear he's most likely spread enough invalid insinuated misconceptions, to enough data bases now; to insure I'll be living in my trailer in a Walmart parking lot



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2012 12:45AM by barnespneumatic.

Oh brother....

I think he could have use the terms "metal shop" or "welding shop" since both apply and are more accurate then gun shop when doing that type of search. A gun shop has a lot of things that go boom inside and are more prone to robbery. A metal shop not so much. Have you known your insurance agent very long?

Hi Keith
Yeah. 32 years.

Must be an east coast thing. Screw your long-term clients, ruin your customer base, and work on commission. Did I miss anything?

So...is the Texas hill country looking any better yet?

light fabrication ,,,, covers most things.

"light fabrication" also covers selling insurance. Make light of your clients issues, and fabricate endless excuses why you need to charge more for the same thing.

rotorhead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "light fabrication" also covers selling insurance.
> Make light of your clients issues, and fabricate
> endless excuses why you need to charge more for
> the same thing.


wise words there ,,,