not quite the same

well, today was the day that I had to take our Murano to the Allstate insurance adjuster to get an estimate for the damage done to our back bumper (insurance company for the person who hit us). The good thing was that my manager was off today, so I was able to use some time during work to take the car in (I mean, during my "extended lunch break"- he he). Also, fortunately for me the adjuster's office was not too far from my work (it was located at Grand and Narragansett). So the appt was for 1:30pm, and I dropped off the car and ducked into the waiting room while the guy did his thing in the garage. Funny thing, at one point he stuck his head in while he was on the phone and asked me if the car was a rental. Um, right - of course I corrected the obvious error. Eventually he called me in and went over the details, gave me a printout to give to the body shop and cut me a check for the damage. The grand total for the damage came out to $894.58 - apparently the rear bumper did what it was supposed to and absorb the impact. The rear hatch wasn't damaged, and the structural integrity of the body wasn't compromised. We'll see, after the body shop does its thing, whatever the leftover charges come to will be covered, so I'm not too worried.

So, now on to Woodfield Nissan for the body shop visit. Why all the way out to Woodfield? Just wanted to have the body shop of the dealer we bought our car from service the repairs. So after battling rush hour traffic, finally got there around 4-ish. Dropped off the car and requested for a rental car. They placed a call to Enterprise and said they would pick me up from the front of the dealer. The manager told me to wait about 5 minutes and they would be there. Well, after waiting around 20 minutes, I asked the service bay rep to call Enterprise to see if they forgot about me. After that, 5 minutes later a lady shows up in a gray Ford Focus to pick me up and take me to the Enterprise office across the street. Why didn't I just go across the street myself? Just in case I decided to walk, and they decide to drive over and pick me up and we miss each other...eh, wanted to avoid the whole scenario. Anyway, after many phone calls and paperwork, we got our rental car:















Let's just say...it's not quite the same. Oh well, at least the rental is covered under the insurance claim - so on that front, it's tolerable until our car is repaired. Man, amidst all the hustle and bustle I forgot to ask the mechanic how long the repairs will take. Jeez, gotta call back on Monday for that...if it isn't one thing, it's another...

new car no more

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish there was a more harsh way for me to express my frustration, but doing so would not be the wisest thing to do anyway. Ok, here's what happened. Duksim and I were on our way to my dad's house in Round Lake, as his parents were there (flew in from Korea) and were leaving tomorrow afternoon. They wanted to see us before they left, so we obliged. It was raining at a good clip through the drive, so keep in mind the potentially slippery conditions on the road. We were on Townline Rd in Vernon Hills and up ahead we saw people were stopping - probably for an accident that just happened. So of course I slowed down to a stop, but through my rear view mirror, I saw a white Jeep Wrangler bearing down on us at a speed that told me that they weren't gonna stop in time. It was one of those slow-mo moments where I pictured myself saying n-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o (I think you know what I'm talking about). Also keep in mind that this particular road was one lane going in either direction, so there was absolutely no way I could have avoided this. Well, we got hit pretty solid from the back by that Jeep, but since I was still on the brakes, thankfully it didn't turn into some chain reaction accident. So we moved over to the side of the road - along with another pair of cars that apparently had the same kinda accident (what are the odds?) That must have been a spectacle for all the gapers passing us by (yes we were causing the infamous "gaper's delay" here). The people who rear-ended us turned out to be a couple of teenage girls (the driver whom we later found to be around 16 years of age, so she just got her license...great!). She was apologizing profusely stating that she was braking, but her tires were hydroplaning and thus the reason she plowed into our car. Regardless, the look I gave her could have curdled milk. Eventually the cops arrived, 2 cars in fact: one that we happened to flag down, and another that was called by another person. At least those girls were insured, so this will be taken care of hopefully sometime this coming week. But for now, our rear bumper is dented in the middle, and apparently pushed up somewhat, as now we cannot open our rear door (which is also kinda bulging out). So now we have to deal with the hassle of lowering the rear seat to access the hatch area, bring the car in for repairs, get a loaner/rental car until it's done, and so on and so forth...yadda yadda yadda...

Duksim already knows this about me, but whenever things like this happen, it usually takes quite a bit of time for me to get over it. For her, she is pretty good at rolling things off her back and moving on. In this case, for me anyway, I think I will not fully get over this one until we get the car back in its original condition. Of course, I know that now it cannot be classified as a new car anymore, but still - until I see our car back in like-new condition, I shall remain in my dark and moody cave...

"summer" cleaning

This past Saturday was a day that I hoped would never come...

I was forced to clean out my junk.

I admit, I am somewhat of a packrat, a clothes-horse...all the adjectives you can think of - I can associate with. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I am nearly as bad as I used to be back at my mom's house, but yeah - it was kinda getting up there (in retrospect). I tried my best to keep them arranged and out of the way, but alas, I think I finally brought home one too many gadgets. This past Saturday, we went to WalMart, and purchased a rather hefty 2 drawer storage chest to use for my clutter. Lo and behold, both drawers are now rather full and HEAVY - man, amazing that it is still holding up under all that weight. What I could not fit in them, I brought downstairs to our storage area in the basement (which by the way is also practically filled to capacity). Believe me, this was quite an effort to accomplish, more than once I tried running Duksim out of the room so that I could somehow enact some "out of sight, out of mind" maneuver on her (he he). Hey, at least that tactic kinda worked in Duksim allowing me to keep whatever stuff I have in my closet in there - at least I can close those doors and hide the contents from view. Man, I think my mouth was turned downward the entire time (those of you who've seen it can imagine how hilarious it must have looked).

Well, the whirlwind cleaning of the computer room has been accomplished and all my junk put away in one location or another. I have to admit though, it does look more spacious - imagine that, I wonder where all that space came from? Duksim told me that the next time we move (single family home), I will have a room all to myself (home office) where I can junk up to my heart's content. Whereas I was initially elated by that prospect, I now realize that before that happens, I'd probably better purchase a dust mask and more storage bins...

what are the odds...

I had to do a double take when I saw this in the Bally's parking lot today as I pulled in after work (note the color):












What are the odds that I would actually see another one of these apart from the one in Jae's driveway? he he...

busy weekend...

Ugh, what a weekend! Busy, but glad it turned out that way. Each day had something going on, so let's see how it all broke down:

Friday - I had the day off, and spent it running errands while Duksim was at work. Why did I have Friday off, you may ask? In all fairness, I totally forgot that I had that day off (I think we were planning on spending the Labor Day weekend at her sister's in St. Louis - but didn't pan out). Ah well, it was all good - at least I was away from the office, that alone was awesome!

Saturday - Another kinda lazy day - made even more so because I took care of most of the usual things we would do on this day yesterday. But we did section some time off to visit the park area of The Glen. Usually we would go to that area to see a movie. But this time we took a detour and perused the park area, sat on a swing bench and watched the kids play, had some ice cream from a truck that passed by, and walked the trails. We got to see brand spanking-new tennis courts, the new Kohl's Children's Museum (opening next month), and the Glen Club (great golfing facility - the LaSalle Bank Open is held there every year).












































Sunday - During lunch after service, Duksim received a call on her cell regarding her Honda Civic that we're trying to sell off. It is currently parked in the parking lot of her aunt's cleaners (for better exposure to the public). We agreed to meet up with them, so after lunch we went home, changed and went to meet them at her aunt's cleaners. We got there, and after some negotiations, they wanted a test drive. Unfortunately, when Duksim tried to start it, it wouldn't start! My guess was that the battery finally kicked the bucket. It's been sitting there for a week, and found that after 7 years, she was still using the same battery in her car. But man, what a time to find that out! It was an embarrasing moment, to say the least. Really didn't matter though, those people were still trying to undercut our price, so we passed on their offers. Next up, we went to a farewell BBQ get-together at the house of one of Duksim's coworkers. It was pretty entertaining, turns out he's leaving because he managed to sign on full time with US-99 as a radio DJ. He was already doing it on the side, but the opportunity came up to go full-time, and he grabbed it. We don't listen to country, but knowing he'll be on the air may cause us to tune in once in a while...Lastly, we ended our day by seeing "The Lion King" at the Cadillac Palace Theatre downtown. Very nice production all the way around - stayed true to the animated film storyline, visual/vocal/musical aspects were all great. It was the final show of their run in Chicago, so I guess we lucked out in grabbing tickets while we were able to...

















































Labor Day - Duksim and I decided to take a chance and go visit James over at his neck of the woods in Indiana. The 2.5 hour drive over there was not bad - not nearly as punishing as a drive down to St. Louis would be...but then again, maybe taking a new car helped to cushion the effect of the road trip. Ah well, in any event, the visit was great - and James was right on the money when he forewarned us on the lack of things to do there. Yeah, it was pretty dead - but we had a nice picnic and mini-hike in a nearby park area. Judy was there as well, so it made for a good time all around. We saw a chestnut tree, knocked some nuts down, but they weren't ready to be eaten. We even cracked open one with two in it (cool, a bonus!) James acted as our official tour guide on our hike, and wouldn't you know, I found myself in a bit of a jam at the end...maybe it was those chestnuts - I didn't take any, I swear!

it is now official...

Well, this has been mentioned internally for seemingly forever, but now the contracts have been officially signed - all the t's crossed and all the i's dotted, and now released to the public. The scheduled cutover will be in November of this year.

As it has become painfully obvious in recent days, nobody is immune to these things - no matter how large the company, no matter how financially stable things may seem, it's the cold hard reality of the world we live in. Five years ago, when I started working here, my company was absolutely thriving (I'm talking about year end parties at the John Hancock, generous bonuses for everyone, the whole shebang). Those glory years seem like such a distant memory now. Can the blame be put on 9/11? The war in Iraq? Globalization/synergization of corporate resources (of which my company is largely affected, due to their Dutch roots)? It's hard to pin down just where things started on this downhill slide, not just here in my company - but all over the world (or so it seems). Amidst the negativity and pessimism that is becoming increasingly rampant among my coworkers, it's hard not to become affected by it all in some way.

But you know what, one thing I have gradually learned from Duksim is not to dwell on it. Doesn't do a bit of good, and actually fosters even more of the same negative behavior (from myself and from others around me). Like it was said to me, I can't be depressed over things that I cannot control, and I find that to be very true. All I can do is take it as fact and move on from there. My company mentioned that the changeover will be a lateral move from here to the vendor, along with other provisions. I'm honestly keeping all my options open, but we'll see what happens...