My Experience with National General Insurance

 For those of you who don't know, I was in a gnarly car accident back in November.  The accident was 100% the other driver's fault.  After receiving the other driver's insurance information, I contacted their carrier and started the claim process.  I received a prompt response that they were taking full responsibility for the incident, and I went in hoping for a smooth experience.  Spoiler alert: The experience has not been pleasant.

Since I was injured in the collision, the other agent offered me some money for pain and suffering.  It wasn't a lot of money, but it was unexpected considering that my injuries did not require an immediate trip to the hospital, it was a pleasant surprise.

Once it was time to settle though, things took a turn for the worse.  A full week passed without hearing from National General Insurance regarding my vehicle.  I ended up filing with my carrier because of the radio silence.

I ended up seeking medical treatment a few days later, where I was diagnosed with a concussion and bruised ribs.  They told me they wouldn't pay until I signed a release.  The cost of the ER visit was about $1900, and the release said they'd pay up to $2000 for legitimate expenses.  If I'd signed the release, I'd have effectively capped out.

I went back and asked them to amend the release to $10k max, and give me a longer time frame to submit the expenses, in case additional medical issues popped up.  They agreed, but the release was worded in such a way that I'd have waived my claim to subrogation.  In case you're not aware, subrogation is the process that my insurance carrier will use to recover the cost of paying for my car.  In other words, the release said they'd pay my medical expenses, up to $10k, but I waived the right for my insurance company to recover their loss.  Nope.

So, I've had to go back to my carrier and submit my medical expenses to them, and I've had to contact the medical providers and ask them to submit the bills to my insurance company.  So much for a smooth experience.  On the good side, I've now experienced the benefit of carrying collision on a vehicle that's paid off.  My carrier is taking care of the problem, and they're not raising my rates because the accident was not my fault. 

There is no Line

 This is another post inspired by Sunny.  In a recent post, she said that she's dazed and confused (her words, not mine) over choices that people around her are making.  It's quite apparent that she sees poor outcomes in a few different situations, and she seems to be tying herself in knots over what to do.  She ends her post by observing "I think I might be worrying too much about other peoples problems and just making myself miserable in the process. But that's what you do when you care about someone, isn't it?" Well, yes and no.

I'm in a similar place with my family.  My ex lives with my older daughter, son-in-law and grandson, and there's a bit of drama in their world at the moment.  I'm not going to go into the specifics of the issue, but it is a real problem.  Unfortunately, nobody is tackling the issue head on.  Grandson is talking to wifey and me about it.  Ex is talking with my younger daughter about it.  Older daughter has no idea the problem exists.  Son-in-law caused the problem and grandson observed the problem.  Grandson came to wifey and me, and we said tell mom.  Instead he talked to ex.

This is going to turn into a bit of a shitstorm when everything comes out.  Am I concerned?  Yep.  Have people come to me for advice?  Yep.  Have they followed it?  Nope.  I see the problem.  I see there's gonna be a shitstorm.  Son-in-law is gonna be labeled a bad guy over it, but I kind of get where he's coming from.  It's just a bad scene where there is no good answer.

Yeah.  But unlike Sunny, I'm not going to spend a ton of time and energy worrying about or trying to control the situation, because at the end of the day... 1) I did not create the situation.  2) I am not involved in the situation.  3) I cannot predict, control or influence the behavior of anyone involved in the situation.  In other words, there is zero I can do.  If I were to try to insert myself into the situation, the most likely result is that I'd be the bad guy for butting in.

A lot of people would react to this by looking for that line where they should insert themselves into the situation vs. butting out.  They'll wonder where is the line?  The thing is, there's no cookie cutter answer.  It's the case here, and it's the case in most of life.  Over the years, I spent a lot of time and energy wondering this, and I finally discovered the answer.  There is no line.  It's only judgement and experience.

That same judgement and experience tells me that humans, by and large, tend to significantly overestimate the amount of influence they have over others.  We also tend to overestimate the extent to which our input is welcome.  As a result, I try to not provide input unless I'm asked.  If I'm compelled to give input without invitation, I have a general rule that I ask if the other person is interested in my take.  If they say yes, I will proceed.  However, any time I give advice -- even if explicitly asked -- I work with the understanding that most of the time, people are looking for someone to validate a conclusion they've already made.  This means that our advice and input is at best disregarded and at worst invokes anger, unless the advice matches what the other person already intends to do.

So, when it comes to interpersonal relationships, the older I get, the less frequently I give advice.  Instead, I try to serve as a sounding board.  I don't do this because I'm worried about crossing a line.  Like I said earlier, there is no line.  There's a fence, and we as humans are neighbors talking to one another over that fence.  Unless we're invited over, we need to stay on our side of the fence and support our neighbors.

I hope this wildly mixed bag of metaphors came out with some coherence.

Hard Pass!

I'm sure you've all heard that our illustrious leader has removed Venezuelan President Maduro from power.  This post is NOT designed to discuss the legal or ethical issues surrounding the removal itself.  No, today, I'm going to discuss the oil.  I'm sure you've heard that POTUS plans to, ummm, liberate the oil, and he's asked the oil industry to participate in the event.  When this story came out, the CEO of ExxonMobil said that the country's oil is "uninvestable."  Before I get into my commentary, I'd like to give you a little background.

To my understanding, Venezuela currently holds the world's largest proven oil reserves. Proven oil reserves are known quantities, using current economic conditions and current technology.  In other words, we know how much oil is there, and we know how much we'll profit by extracting it.

The thing is, Venezuela has a history of not playing nice with international oil conglomerates.  Their oil was state owned in the 70's.  The 80's and 90's brought economic hardship because oil prices crashed, and private companies were allowed to come invest.  In the late 90's and early 00's Venezuela changed their mind and re-nationalized their oil.  ExxonMobil's stake was expropriated in 2007.  Basically, Venezuela said to the oil companies "Hey dudes, we'll be generous and let you have minority stake in your companies, but you need to give us controlling interest."  Some companies, such as Chevron and BP agreed.  ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips didn't agree, so the country took control and kicked them out.  I'm going to refrain from judging the merits of this state takeover of private industry.  That's beyond the scope of this little post.  What I am trying to do is demonstrate that ExxonMobil has history with Venezuela.

Now that the historic story is shared, let me recap the recent events:  Trump invaded Venezuela and deposed Maduro.  Trump then invited oil companies to step in and help "liberate" the oil.  ExxonMobil has politely declined.  This makes sense.  If I worked with Joe Blow in the past and Joe ripped me off, I'd be hard pressed to re-engage, regardless of the circumstances.

But what's Trump's reply?  I'm inclined to exclude ExxonMobil from this offer.  From my perspective, that's kind of like me saying I'm having a party at venue XYZ.  And when I hear that John Smith isn't interested in attending my party, I say that I'm inclined to make sure that John Smith isn't invited to my party.  Meanwhile, John's real reason for not joining the party is because he knows the venue sucks.  There are too few bathrooms, it's in a crappy are of town, and the acoustics suck.  In other words, ExxonMobil is totally justified in saying "Hard Pass!"

People Love Their Technology

I spent the last week in Tampa for work.  While it was a work trip, I did enjoy the deviation from my routine.  Since I live in the upper midwest, I'm sure you can understand how much I relished the warmth and sunshine of Florida.  I also attended my first professional hockey game, spent some quality time with a couple of my military buddies, and took advantage of the opportunity to eat fresh seafood.

For those of you who don't know, I work in the IT industry.  The vast majority of what I do can be done from my home, but occasionally I need to put my hands on the equipment.  Over the last year, we built enough of a list that it was cost-effective to fly me down there for the week.  While I was gallivanting across the countryside, I was a bit struck by how much people love their technology.  Let me share two stories to provide examples.

While I was on the plane, I saw a young woman effectively spend the entire flight engaging ChatGPT with her relationship issues.  I don't know the details, because I tried diligently to not be a snoop, so it's quite possible that she was darting back and forth between different apps, but it absolutely seemed like she was fully engaged with her phone the entire flight; and when curiosity got the better of me and I did look for those occasional, brief moments, she was definitely talking to ChatGPT about her boyfriend.  I found it noteworthy how deeply she was engaged with the technology, considering AI's well-known propensity for hallucinations.

While I was in Tampa, my rental car was a Toyota Corolla.  I've always thought of the Corolla as a budget-priced vehicle, designed to get you from Point A to Point B without the unnecessary bells and whistles.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the car had adaptive cruise control, complete with lane position assistance.  This is only the second time I've driven in a car that tries to keep you in your lane, and it was a bit of an adjustment.  The first time I engaged cruise control, I didn't realize that it was actively trying to keep me in the center of the lane.  I tend to stay a bit left of center when I drive, for better visibility.  The car didn't like that and actively resisted when I'd try to drift left more than it liked.  

The second time I drove the car, I realized what was going on, so I snapped to the opposite end of the spectrum and let the car do its thing.   For the most part, I served as a human monitor for the vehicle.  I negotiated turns and traffic signals, but the car generally did the rest.  The car didn't like that either; it randomly prompted me to slightly move the steering wheel so it knew I was paying attention.  I played with adaptive cruise a bit more, but eventually concluded that I enjoy driving far more than I trust the technology and went back to driving old school.

Since I work in IT, I get why society is enamored with technology.  I used to be a gadget geek.  I was a reasonably early adopter of the PC.  I jumped on the Internet when AOL was popular.  My love for and knowledge of tech has kept a roof over my head and food in my belly for almost three decades.  However, I think we've hit the point where we are abdicating our personal judgment.  As a result, I believe that we are indeed becoming collectively dumber, less curious, and less individual.  I can't help but wonder if that woman would kill the boyfriend if ChatGPT said it was the best course of action.  I also wonder if my grandchildren will be the last generation that really understands and appreciates the wonder of a road trip with no destination.

Ready for Retirement

You may have noticed that I went a few days without posting.  (But then again, maybe not, considering that long hiatus I previously took.)  Either way, I'm returning to work after a few days off for Christmas.  That time off included time away from the computer.  I'm working today and tomorrow, then I'm off for the rest of the week.  Either way, I learned (or reinforced) a few things...

1) I'm ready for retirement.  I understand that some people need to always have a schedule, or must be doing something.  I am not one of those individuals.  I'm totally fine with the idea of sleeping in one morning, and then being up before dawn the next day.  I did not experience boredom; I was relaxed.

2) Detoxing from the news and social media are real things.  Yes, I did read the news, and I did a quick daily check with social media, but it was a quick cruise of the headlines for news, and I only read posts directly sent to me.  I managed to avoid the rabbit hole of the news and the cesspool of social media.

1) I'm ready for retirement.

3) I had forgotten how much I enjoy curling up with a good book.  I'm currently on book six of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.  It's fantastic!  It's become my new favorite, dethroning my previous fave Incarnations of Immortality.

1) I'm ready for retirement.

4) While this winter isn't hitting me as hard as previous years, I'm ready for warm weather.  We've hit the time of year when I'm questioning my life choices.

1)  I'm ready for retirement.

5)  I'm looking forward to shooting league.  I'm in a local competitive league, which runs during the colder months.  It gets me out of the house, gives me something to do, and hones my hand-eye coordination.  Plus I love the smell of gunpowder.  I had a rough season last year, because my astigmatism changed a bit and the optometrist can't fully compensate for it.  It took several months, but I am using a different style of optic, and I believe I'm dialed in and ready to go again.

1) I'm ready for retirement. 

The Main Mission Became a Side Quest

I just got back from an awesome hunting trip.  My buddy James and I were selected to participate in a semi-guided hunt, sponsored by an area non-profit dedicated to veterans.  We met at the lodge on Thursday afternoon, with two other veterans selected for the event.  After quickly unpacking our rifles and cold weather gear, we were soon in the blinds for the evening golden hour.  We didn't see any movement, and returned to the cabin at the end of the day.

After dinner, the four of us, and the two hosts, spent the evening discussing local hot spots, claiming our areas for the next day, and getting to know each other for a bit.  Day two was a bust as well, though the other guys did see some promising signs.  After dinner on day two, I shared that James and I are novice deer hunters, having only taken up the sport a couple of years back.  I said I've never bagged a deer, and James acknowledged that his only harvest was a fully guided hunt.  I asked if they'd be willing to partner with James and me separately, and they were fully on board.

We spent the rest of the evening poring over the maps and determining how we were going to pair up.  Through all of this, we spent a lot of time swapping stories over a few adult beverages.  Day three brought the opportunity to improve our stalking skills, which is far more interesting and challenging than sitting in a blind all day.  On day three, I finally saw a relatively young buck, but I didn't have a clear shot.  James saw one doe, but again no clear shot.  Both of the other guys hit a deer, during the last 30 minutes of the day.  On day four, I saw two does, but again no clear shot.

This is the third year I've hunted deer, and the third year I've come home empty handed.  You would think I'd be getting frustrated by now, but that's not the case.  This year especially, I went out hoping to bag a deer, but I came home with something far better - new friendships.  Yes, it's true that harvesting a deer was the primary goal.  But when James and I left, I realized that somewhere along the way, the main mission became a side quest.  Here's hoping I can successfully harvest a deer next year. 

In Other News...

According to this story, the parent company of Truth Social is merging with a nuclear fusion company.  I'm not going to attempt to claim that I understand this specific merger.

In other news, President Donald Trump has announced that he's created a new type of fusion.