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Jan. 3rd, 2013 03:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* The details of the temporary Farm Bill reauthorization got lost in the shuffle, it looks like. The big things got passed like the milk subsidy. It's looking like a bunch of less obvious things got lost in the shuffle, like them ending the programs designed for conservation and things like organic farming. The end to help for small local organic farms is likely going to be brutal for my region where a lot of organic farming is done. The Conservation cut may sound like not a big deal, unless you know your US history or live in what was once the Dust Bowl. I encourage you to watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl if you don't know why paying folks in Oklahoma to plant fields of bunch grass is an important part of preventing the top soil in prairie states from blowing away. The climate changed caused drought is bad enough and is raising world food prices while you are sitting here reading this. Now imagine a massive ecological disaster taking out a huge portion of cattle country and the farms that grow grain for people and their animals to eat. I'm not saying it will absolutely happen, I'm just saying the money we were paying for that not to happen was worth it.
* Republican corporate welfare and the farm subsidy:
* It looks like John Boehner managed to hang onto his Speakership despite his recent humiliations.
* This is an excellent roundup of people leaving with the old congress or coming in of the new. The pertinent bit starts 4 minutes in approximately. (Damn, I'm particularly going to miss Dennis Kucinich, who's seat got redistricted out of existence and didn't make it to the Senate):
* This is on representation of non-straight white men in the 113th Congress. (It was written before Mr. Boehner secured his gavel so that bit's out of date): http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/01/113th-congress-starts-today.html
* Today in Rape Culture: Follow up on those Football players who raped an unconscious girl at a party and the town rallied to their defense. If you aren't disgusted, you aren't paying attention:
* 409 people have died in this country because of guns since Sandy Hook.
* What happens to the prisoners of our Forever War?
* On implementing DADT repeal:
* The Republican War on Kwansaa:
* "Chills for Our Brave New 1984:" http://liberation-computing.blogspot.nl/2012/12/chills-for-our-brave-new-1984.html
* Today was exhausting. I had an early morning car appointment, so I stayed up all night. The blue monster went in, I then had to deal with the car rental stuff. (The Rental is free. I must pay insurance and gas. It is still cheaper than cabs. There is no bus service for squirrel to get too and from work. There were the usual papers to sign, etc.. It took ages at Metlife had told me that the car was authorized, but not sent the pre-authorization to enterprise. The car was authorized with surprisingly little in the way of time and mileage limits. It still ate even more sleep time.) My cough is getting worse again, and I couldn't take the throat pearls or my melatonin in case the car place needed me to be functional and able to drive, so sleep took forever and I kept getting woken up by the cough, the cats, random banging, phones, etc.. This ramped the pain way up, and my ability to function way down.
I was right not to take the meds, as it turned out they needed me to drive back over mid afternoon to test drive the car and make some decisions. The car bumper is structurally sound, the big rattle is gone, but there is now a weird squeak and a clucking sound intermittently. The problem is that the inspector didn't check the hatch back to see if it still could be opened. Apparently the second rear ending took out the motor that runs the locking/unlocking system for the hatch. This is dramatically more expensive than the all the bumper damage put together. I had budgeted the amount of both insurance settlements plus a hundred for the repairs. (The first rear ending settlement money was tiny, not enough to actually cover the damage, but as the second superseded I didn't fight it). I had prioritized, structural soundness, getting rid of the rattle as most important, followed by the lock I said if there was settlement money left, for them to paint the damaged bumper, but that I cared more about function than aesthetics. The pieces that attach the bumper to the car were cheaper to fix than expected, the result being that I definitely needed both settlements plus a hundred to cover the accident damage. There is hope they can get Metlife to step up to cover the lock damage from the accident, but I still have to pay it ll up front and hope they send the rest of the money later. My insurance company sounds willing to lean on them if need be, but it's too early to tell. The lucky thing is it's early in the month and I actually have the money on my card for the damage deposit and the money in the bank to pay the body shop. I may have to shuffle stuff to cover various bills later in the month, but right now, the money is there. It's worth it to be able to use the trunk for hauling things as the trunk is hard to get at the other way. I had hoped the settlements would cover the whole cost of the accident, but now I'm going to be out money whenever happens. Sigh. Normality achieved. There is some hope of me getting my car back tomorrow, assuming it's not worse than they think.
For the record, working with Olsen's has been amazing considering how inherently stressful this process is. They are pleasant and efficient, are well liked by everyone who's dealt with them including my honest mechanic, all three insurance companies involved, the rental place, and random citizenry. They handle the bulk of the paperwork and calling around to various insurance companies involved in this godaweful process and the work appears to be lovely. Seriously, seeing the cars before and after today impressed the hell out of me. (Some of the cars that were damaged at the beginning of the work day were finished when I went in in the afternoon and I got a good look). I would use them again and recommend them to others.
Anyway, Greenwick and I had a nice dinner of Spanikopita. I have baba ganoush in the fridge for lunch. The rental Kia is small enough I keep hitting my head and have trouble fitting my crutch, but it's easy to park and fuel efficient, which is my preference. Some of the controls are problematic, but no more than in my actual car and I like the big display that says how many miles of gas I have left. I have used most of the spoons and there are animal maintenance things needing doing. I have a nasty suspicion I won't manage it. I was supposed to do grocery shopping today, given my current condition I'm thinking tomorrow and even Saturday may be too much to hope for, especially if the car pick up hits me wrong.
* "Architect builds house inspired by 'The Hobbit'; Stone cottage is homage to works of J.R.R. Tolkien and his creations:" http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/pennsylvania-house-inspired-hobbit-article-1.1219402
* A Review of Doctor Who and WWII: http://squid314.livejournal.com/275614.html
* Greenwick is taking commissions: http://greenwick.livejournal.com/169197.html
* The Tumblr thing picked up again after the holidays. 3050 notes when I checked earlier. The idea of trying to deal with the latest batch of complex responses exhausts me just thinking about it.
* Republican corporate welfare and the farm subsidy:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* It looks like John Boehner managed to hang onto his Speakership despite his recent humiliations.
* This is an excellent roundup of people leaving with the old congress or coming in of the new. The pertinent bit starts 4 minutes in approximately. (Damn, I'm particularly going to miss Dennis Kucinich, who's seat got redistricted out of existence and didn't make it to the Senate):
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* This is on representation of non-straight white men in the 113th Congress. (It was written before Mr. Boehner secured his gavel so that bit's out of date): http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/01/113th-congress-starts-today.html
* Today in Rape Culture: Follow up on those Football players who raped an unconscious girl at a party and the town rallied to their defense. If you aren't disgusted, you aren't paying attention:
* 409 people have died in this country because of guns since Sandy Hook.
* What happens to the prisoners of our Forever War?
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* On implementing DADT repeal:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* The Republican War on Kwansaa:
* "Chills for Our Brave New 1984:" http://liberation-computing.blogspot.nl/2012/12/chills-for-our-brave-new-1984.html
* Today was exhausting. I had an early morning car appointment, so I stayed up all night. The blue monster went in, I then had to deal with the car rental stuff. (The Rental is free. I must pay insurance and gas. It is still cheaper than cabs. There is no bus service for squirrel to get too and from work. There were the usual papers to sign, etc.. It took ages at Metlife had told me that the car was authorized, but not sent the pre-authorization to enterprise. The car was authorized with surprisingly little in the way of time and mileage limits. It still ate even more sleep time.) My cough is getting worse again, and I couldn't take the throat pearls or my melatonin in case the car place needed me to be functional and able to drive, so sleep took forever and I kept getting woken up by the cough, the cats, random banging, phones, etc.. This ramped the pain way up, and my ability to function way down.
I was right not to take the meds, as it turned out they needed me to drive back over mid afternoon to test drive the car and make some decisions. The car bumper is structurally sound, the big rattle is gone, but there is now a weird squeak and a clucking sound intermittently. The problem is that the inspector didn't check the hatch back to see if it still could be opened. Apparently the second rear ending took out the motor that runs the locking/unlocking system for the hatch. This is dramatically more expensive than the all the bumper damage put together. I had budgeted the amount of both insurance settlements plus a hundred for the repairs. (The first rear ending settlement money was tiny, not enough to actually cover the damage, but as the second superseded I didn't fight it). I had prioritized, structural soundness, getting rid of the rattle as most important, followed by the lock I said if there was settlement money left, for them to paint the damaged bumper, but that I cared more about function than aesthetics. The pieces that attach the bumper to the car were cheaper to fix than expected, the result being that I definitely needed both settlements plus a hundred to cover the accident damage. There is hope they can get Metlife to step up to cover the lock damage from the accident, but I still have to pay it ll up front and hope they send the rest of the money later. My insurance company sounds willing to lean on them if need be, but it's too early to tell. The lucky thing is it's early in the month and I actually have the money on my card for the damage deposit and the money in the bank to pay the body shop. I may have to shuffle stuff to cover various bills later in the month, but right now, the money is there. It's worth it to be able to use the trunk for hauling things as the trunk is hard to get at the other way. I had hoped the settlements would cover the whole cost of the accident, but now I'm going to be out money whenever happens. Sigh. Normality achieved. There is some hope of me getting my car back tomorrow, assuming it's not worse than they think.
For the record, working with Olsen's has been amazing considering how inherently stressful this process is. They are pleasant and efficient, are well liked by everyone who's dealt with them including my honest mechanic, all three insurance companies involved, the rental place, and random citizenry. They handle the bulk of the paperwork and calling around to various insurance companies involved in this godaweful process and the work appears to be lovely. Seriously, seeing the cars before and after today impressed the hell out of me. (Some of the cars that were damaged at the beginning of the work day were finished when I went in in the afternoon and I got a good look). I would use them again and recommend them to others.
Anyway, Greenwick and I had a nice dinner of Spanikopita. I have baba ganoush in the fridge for lunch. The rental Kia is small enough I keep hitting my head and have trouble fitting my crutch, but it's easy to park and fuel efficient, which is my preference. Some of the controls are problematic, but no more than in my actual car and I like the big display that says how many miles of gas I have left. I have used most of the spoons and there are animal maintenance things needing doing. I have a nasty suspicion I won't manage it. I was supposed to do grocery shopping today, given my current condition I'm thinking tomorrow and even Saturday may be too much to hope for, especially if the car pick up hits me wrong.
* "Architect builds house inspired by 'The Hobbit'; Stone cottage is homage to works of J.R.R. Tolkien and his creations:" http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/pennsylvania-house-inspired-hobbit-article-1.1219402
* A Review of Doctor Who and WWII: http://squid314.livejournal.com/275614.html
* Greenwick is taking commissions: http://greenwick.livejournal.com/169197.html
* The Tumblr thing picked up again after the holidays. 3050 notes when I checked earlier. The idea of trying to deal with the latest batch of complex responses exhausts me just thinking about it.