Month: March 2004

“Looks like you got hit harder than you thought,” said the man from the auto-body shop. Which, I’ll admit, is not what I wanted to hear, but at least I won’t be the one paying to repair it. I mentioned to him this morning, as we stood outside the Honda dealership, that the trunk had popped open when the other car hit me. So he decided to take a look. Lifting up the board that covers the spare tire, he revealed more extensive body damage than either I or the damage appraiser had seen. So the car’s probably going to be in the shop for a couple of days — although I won’t know how many days until I hear back from him next week. He needs to put the parts on order and talk with the damage appraiser, and he’ll give me a call by next Thursday. So I’m still not sure if I’ll need to rent a car. In the comments, Rob mentions that most rental agencies will drive you to and from their lot. Which is good to know and something to consider — I’ve rented a car all of twice myself, and that’s never been an issue — but it still leaves the issue of swapping cars, and I”ll have to make some phone calls to inquire about shuttle service policies if it turns out my car’s going to be in the shop for more than a day or two. I’ll not only need to get from the dealership to the rental agency, but also back again to my own car once I’ve returned the rental. It’s at times like this when I realize I could really use local friends who drive.

There’s also the fact that, in the next few weeks, I’ll probably need to be on campus more than a few different nights. I’m attending a talk next Wednesday as part of an article for Voices of Central PA, I’m working on a sketch with the other writers of “Girl’s Night Out”, the local TV show, and there’s the Python Society on Sunday evening. The bus stops running at around 9 PM Monday through Friday and doesn’t run at all on Sunday. So a rental car might be in my best interests after all. The other insurance company indicated they’d pay for it — I’ll need to double check that — but there’s not a whole lot I can do until I find out how long my car’s going to be out of commission.

A couple of quick updates for those few of you playing along at home:

The squeakiness in my left ear (which is probably a better way of describing it than “like water in my ear”, since it doesn’t really feel like water but does make a sort of squeaky noise whenever I move my jaw) has not gone away. It’s only been a week since I saw the doctor (or, rather, the physician’s assistant) and started using the nasal spray she gave me, but there’s been no change. It’s not painful, and it’s good to know my ear is not infected (she diagnosed it as an eustachian tube dysfunction, but it is more than a little annoying.

The damage appraisal and check have arrived from the other insurance company, so I can finally take my car in for repairs following the accident two weeks ago. I’m bringing the car into the Honda dealership tomorrow morning — or, rather, I’m leaving it with someone from the body shop to which the dealership outsources its work. The repair work that’s needed isn’t extensive, but I’m under no illusion they’re going to have it finished and back to State College by the end of the day. Which means I may be taking the bus. The insurance company has offered to cover rental car costs, but unless my car is the shop for more than a few days, I’d like to avoid that. It opens up a lot of other potential problems, including how I get to and from the rental car lot or swap my car for the rental when I only have one driver, me.

I’ll see what the guy from the body shop says tomorrow morning. With any luck, the repairs won’t take long at all.

The internet was invented for pointless memes. Who am I to stand in their way? This one, like the last one, comes courtesy of Betty at Maximum Verbosity

Write a random phrase from each of the following:

Nearest book to you: The two-layer approach treats only the turbulent kinetic energy equation in the near-wall region. (“Prediction of Hybrid Fuel Regression Rate in Confined Turbulent Boundary Layer Combustion” by H. Y. Wang et al., Combustion of Energetic Materials, K. Kuo and L. De Luca, eds.) (I merit a brief sentence of my own in the book: “A special thanks to Mr. Fred Coppersmith for his great help in the English editing of numerous papers written by authors from non-English speaking countries.” Just sayin’.)

Nearest cd insert: Farscape: Music from the Original Soundtrack: “I really enjoy weaving in and around the ups and downs of the spoken word.” (The CD was a birthday present.)

Nearest piece of paper that you wrote on: “ME 516 Projects due 3/29/04 — Give to Damian to grade.” (My boss is out of the country this week, so he’s asked one of his graduate students to grade a class project. So far, only one student has handed in the assignment.)

Nearest piece that was written to you: “Fred — Vacation and sick time is now being recorded in hours instead of days.” (I don’t know why I still have this Post-It note. Three months into the new time cards, I think I’ve figured this out.)

Something on your desk: “Made in U.S.A.” From a box of paperclips. I am, after all, in an office.

The birthday celebration and visit with my parents and sister were going so much better until the food poisoning. Or whatever it was that sidelined me for most of today, keeping me on my couch or asleep in bed, at first sick to my stomach and then just lightheaded and feverish. I’m feeling much better now, but I could have done without the sudden sickness altogether, thank you very much.