So, what HAVE I been up to?
Well, I reviewed my last actual content posting - Back in the middle of January, f'cryinloutloud. Guess I better catch everybody up - Quick! To the Bullet-point-mobile!
More importantly, should I have used an LJ-cut?
- I bought a car. To wit, This car, a BMW 740i. Extravagant in the extreme, certainly, but who can blame me? Sweet ride, passable gas milage (Was 15mpg, now up to 20-something, hopefully further at some point).
- Work, sleep, work, sleep, work. (Seriously, it felt like that)
- Ren has this accident in my car. Seeing as how I was 'smart' enough to get full coverage, Progressive decides, rather than paying the $3000 that the body shop wants to repair it, they refuse to do anything other than total the car out.... and give me less than a third of what I paid for the car three months ago.
- I spend two weeks going back and forth with the Progressive agent, who keeps ignoring my phone calls, and was actually nasty and belligerent until I point out that A) Jersey is a one-party-consent recording state B) I am in fact recording him and C) I know the arbitration requirements for the state. Eventually I realize that I actually have things to do other than try and deny my claim (And that he's trying to drag things out until he can withdraw his original offer and offer even less)... Eventually I settle for about half value, and get the body shop to make the car drivable, then pocket the rest of the money.
- Ren finds me a set of replacement doors at a diiiiistant junkyard for $300. I borrow her car and a trailer, go out and get them.
- After finally getting an appointment with a doctor and telling him about this whole tired-as-hell thing that I've been having for the last few years, he looks me over and points me to a string of specialists, which leads to a sleep study, which leads to a diagnosis of (dum-dum-dum) SLEEP AAAAAPPPPNIAAAAA, which apparently kills you at some point. So they got me hooked up to a face-inflation thingie, which I have to wear every night, or I die. Apparently.
- I've been cleaning out the garage so I have room to work on the car in it this winter. It's about half empty at this point, and the other half is clearing up nicely.
- Got a book on doing body work from the library, took some of the money from the car settlement and bought an oxyacetylene torch at Lowe's, and a set of body hammers from the local cheap-tools place. Going to start by trying to straighten the original doors - After that, I'll move onto fixing up the original body. By then, I might have enough saved up for a decent paintjob. Who knows?
- I went to a little fly-in down in Maryland this weekend, and took a ride in an experimental airplane - Specifically, an RV-6. My first flight in a small aircraft. It was a little unnerving, but fun!
- Which leads to the current crazy. The other reason I'm cleaning out the garage is so I might have room to start working on an airplane of my own - I was originally considering a Hummel Bird, but after looking around for a while after attending an EAA meeting I started considering a Sonex (or perhaps a Waiex, cause I feel they DO, in fact, look cooler.), for a number of practical reasons.
- And my current company is being bought out by another company. And I just got my invitation to continue with the company at current salary and whatnot. I wind up losing all my matching contribution to the IRA because I'm not vested, but that feels like damned little compared to not having to look for a job in this economy. Heck, two months unemployed would eat every penny of my match money.
More importantly, should I have used an LJ-cut?