A Wonderful way to start Christmas

Here's the short version:

My van got an owie.

Ok so here's the long version:

I was on my way to work enjoying the beautiful weather - yes it was SNOWING when I came to the corner of RT53 and Army Trail Rd in Addison IL.

This intersection has a left hand turn light for all 4 corners since it is near the expressway and is used by UPS since their facility is near it.

As I approach the intersection my light turns green, at this point I might be going 20 mph at the most. As I get closer to the intersection a car traveling south turns in front of me on to Army Trail Rd.

Now I am at the intersection traveling North and I see another car coming straight at me so I slam on my brakes to stop but that does not work. He hit my vehicle hard enough to bend the front wheel and make it un-driveable.

I attempt to get out of my car but my door will not open so I have to basically force it open. I check with the other driver and make sure he is OK. He said that this is the first accident he has been in in 70 years - he was born in 1936.

After we talked for a few minutes I attempt to call the Addison PD because of the accident and he said that he heard you should just exchange information and contact the police later but he does not want to leave me at the scene by myself. While I am trying to contact the PD an Addison fire department vehicle drives up and makes sure there are no injuries and contacts the PD.

I called the little lady in my life and ask her how much she likes the van - she asks why and I tell her the story.

After the police arrive the officer wants us to move our vehicles out of the intersection - I point to mine and tell him that it won't be able to be moved. He mumbled something then called a tow truck. He has me sit in the back of his car to warm up since it is starting to get colder.

Now I have to contact work and let them know that I will not be there on time - I left home early so I would be on time for a change, that will not happen again in the near future. My co-worker says that she will send someone to pick me up - cool I can now get to work when I am done. The nice police officer asks me where I work and I tell him where I work and that it's in Itasca - but he missed the last part and confused my company with a different one with a similar name.

When the officer puts in the other drivers plate number it comes back to a Honda not a Lincoln which is what the other driver is driving. After further investigation it appears as if the DMV might have sent the incorrect plates and his correct plate number is entered in the system.

I let the officer know what happened and what the other driver told me and then he went to get the other drivers story. I see the tow truck pull up in the gas station parking lot with my vehicle on it and the officer lets the driver know that I need to get somethings out of it. I go and get my lunch, the car seats for the boys and a few other things. The tow truck driver gives me a tow sheet with my vehicle information and we put the items in the back of the patrol car.

The other driver has been let go and the police officer is going to give me a ride to work. As he is driving towards my office he pulls into a shopping center and I hear him on the phone telling someone he is dropping me off at the wrong place. I kindly let him know that I do not work here and let him know where I do work. He says that he is very sorry he got the places mixed up but he can not leave Addison so he drops me off at Best Buy.

He was very polite about the mix up and I told him it was not an issue - so I take my things into the entrance to Best Buy and contact work. My co-worker says that the other shift went home as it is now after 8pm and they leave at 7 - 7:30pm. Now we are both thinking of how can I get to work.

I call the insurance company to file a claim and see if they can help me. I file the claim and then they let me know that they can authorize a rental car for 24 hours. The rental car can be extended by someone in the claims office the next day. I ask her if they use any rental car companies and she says no - just call one and give them the claim number.

Work calls and lets me know that they are trying to think of how to get me to work. He will try to contact our old boss who was let go in November. I try to call an old co-worker who lives near my location and he says that he is snowed in and suggests calling our old boss.

My co-worker calls back and said that our old boss will pick me up and take me to work. I call my lovely wife and let her know what is going on and that my old boss will take me to work and she says "The boss who was let go in November is going to give you a ride to work" - I said "Yes". He is a wonderful person to go out in the snow and drive me to work - he even offered to pick me up in the am and drive me home.

I get to work lugging my lunch, 2 car seats, and a few other items and then I call a rental car company to see about getting a vehicle to drive so I can get home which is approx 30 miles away. The company I call looks through their system and tells me that 99% of the vehicles they have are "Sold Out" due to the holiday. Oh Great now what?

I call my oldest brother who was let go from my company in November and talk to his wife. I let her know what happened and ask her if I could possible borrow her car until I can get a rental car. She said no problem that they would pack up the rug rats, I mean children, and drop the car off tonight. I let her know that if she wants to wait until the am it will not be a problem as I will be here all night. She said that she would rather drop off the car tonight than get up very early in the am - Yes now I can get home.

I get home the next morning and the insurance company is on the line so I explain what happened and give them a recorded statement. I also call the other drivers insurance company and start the claims process with them.

On Friday the adjuster calls from my insurance company and gives me a rough estimate to fix the vehicle and tells me I need to get the vehicle out of the tow yard asap. I let him know I am waiting for the other insurance company to get back to me so he said he will hold off on the estimate.

I call the other insurance company and they tell me they are closed for the holidays but that I need to get my van moved to mitigate my damages because they will not pay excessive storage fees. I tell them that I am waiting for them to tell me what they are going to do about the damage to me van. I will have to wait until Monday.

I call a friend who gives me the name of a repair shop when I can have my van towed and I call then but they are not answering their phone - probably closed for the holidays. I call my insurance company and leave a voice mail message for them to call me regarding my van

I call the tow yard because I have to get a few things out of my van. They tell me what I need to gain access to my vehicle so I take it to them. When I get there the guy says that my insurance does not list collision so I can not get to my van. I tell him the bank owns the car and collision is required. He tries to call my insurance company but they do not answer. I go outside and call my insurance company and get everything straightened out. I am finally able to get the few items from my van that I need.

Now my left are is starting to bother me so I call my insurance company and the lady says to go see my doctor, who is closed to the holiday, and give them my claim number.

So I am now waiting for Monday to hear from the other drivers insurance company, the body shop and to call my doctor to get a check up got my left arm. I am also hoping that the rental car companies will have a vehicle for me to drive.

In case you are wondering what the van looks like now - here are some pictures:

Parent Teacher Conference

When I was growing up I was not very good in school - even today I tend to get bored of things quickly.



On Tuesday We had to visit Liam's and Eoin's teachers - I am always hoping to get good reports from their teachers but both boys have endless energy and that can spell trouble.



The first conference was with Liam's teacher - she said that he does well in class but that he has a hard time sitting down at circle time. When he first started going to class he always wanted to do his own thing but now he is getting better and listens very well. The teacher keeps him up front near her so that when he does get distracted she can reel him in.



Eoin's teacher showed us his progress and I was almost amazed at what she said. I really think the boys get their smarts from their mother. Eoin is doing really well and in fact he is ahead of where he should be.



On his first assessment the teacher said that some of the things he currently knows is what she would look for when he is ready to leave Kindergarten and enter first grade. He was able to count up to 49 where he should be able to count up to 20, he was able to read some colors on a sheet of paper - this is something that they don't even check for at the first conference but since he read the colors she marked them down anyway.



His teacher even stated that when kids state that they are bored in her class it is because they can not perform the task they are asked to do or they have a hard time doing it but when Eoin says he is bored - he is actually bored and she looks for different ways to challenge him.



His teacher brings in a special reading coach who works with some of the children in the class so that they can learn at their level - this provides E with more training.



I was so excited to get good reports from their teachers - it tells me that when they are at school they love learning. I hope they always continue to do this well.

Halloween

Now that October is coming to a close it's time for Halloween. We went out last week to purchase our pumpkins for the holiday.

I love this time of the year - the weather is great during the day and cool at night - the leaves are turning color and......

The SNOW will be here before you know it.

First we had to pick out our pumpkins - so many to choose from.

Then we cleaned the dirt off of them

Eoin thought the inside of the pumpkins were yucky to start with then he wanted us to make Pumpkin Juice.

Digging out the pumpkins was so much fun.

Carving was even more fun

It took a while to carve out the pumpkins.

My pumpkin, the tall skinny one, almost fell over and onto the floor at the end of the clip.

ATT U-Verse

Back on Fathers Day I received a wii game, Transformers, and I was getting pretty good at it but then after having it for only a few days, the game dissappeared and I could not find it anywhere.

Yesterday ATT came buy to install my new cable and internet - we are lowering our phone and cable bill by switching to ATT. In order for the installer to hook up my house for the new system, I had to dismantle my entertainment center so I could move some of it out of the way.

This meant moving my tv and placing it on the ground so I could slide the cabinet the tv sits on out of the way.

After moving the tv I found my game - it somehow slid under the tv stand. I don't know how the game got under the tv but since fathers day I have moved the tv at least 6 times and never saw the game there before. This is the first time I actually pulled the tv off of the cabinet that it sits on.

Now I have to figure out if there is a way to repair the disk since it has some scratches on it and it will no longer play.

Now that the new cable is installed and I have had a chance to use it for a little while there are a few things that I am not crazy about but I should be able to live with them.

The nice things are:

I can schedule a recording from the internet - this can be a one time recording or a series recording.

I am getting more channels but the entire package will save me money.

The picture seems clearer than the Dish and I should not loose my cable when it rains or snows. Although with the Dish we only lost reception a few times.

I now have the boys tv hooked up in the loft so they can watch cartoons up there.

I can configure each tv and block out different content on each one of them. That way when the boys are upstairs I know exactly what they are watching.

I can record up to 3 things on the DVR and watch something else - this has a price though.

Now for the items that I'm not 100% crazy about:

I can not pause live tv on the tv in the loft or my bedroom.

I have to set up all of my DVR's again.

I can watch up to 4 items on the different tv's in the house but if I am recording one item I can only watch 3 channels on the different tv's. If I am recording 2 items then only 2 tv's can watch something. The ATT tech said that they are working on providing 8 streams but they were not there yet. Right now this is not an a major issue since when we were recording something on the Dish I either had to watch a DVR or watch what I was recording.

The DVR controller is a little slow and you have to point the controller in the right direction or it does not work.

I'm sure most of these items will take some getting used to and eventually ATT should be able to enhance some of these functions but for now we will see how well it works.

The Doorbell

My house can sometimes be a zoo - if it's not the doorbell ringing for Eoin, it's Liam acting like a 3 year old. Now that he is in school I hope he will get better but if Eoin is any indication it will still be a few years before that happens.

Take today for instance - I get up from my nap and the boys are watching Zathura, quietly, for the 2nd time in 2 days. That lasts all of about 5 minutes then they start making noise, running around and playing.

Next thing I know the door bell is ringing and it's one of Eoin's friends asking if he can go out and play - before Di can get out the full 'yes' he is getting his shoes on and running out the door. It's really amazing how fast he can move when he wants to. Ask him to clean his room and you would think I was asking him to dig a tunnel to China or write a novel.

Maybe 10 minutes later the door bell is ringing again - I think to myself "Who is it now, Eoin's outside". I open the door and it's one on Eoin's friends sister - she has a habit of ringing the door bell and running to the sidewalk, This is her normal routine.

When I answer the door she mentions Eoin's name and tells me someone got hurt - she said that "she fell and got hurt". When I try to decipher the clues she has given me, I ask her if it is Eoin that got hurt and she said no that he was playing with 2 boys and she got hurt. More confused than ever at this point I ask if it was one of E's female friends that got hurt and she said 'No". I said where is Eoin and she said that he was in the next alley. I said let's go find him and see what's wrong.

I go over to where Eoin is and find out that one of the boys that came over to get Eoin fell down and hit his mouth on the ground and broke one tooth and lost another tooth. Luckily it's a baby tooth that broke and got knocked out. I send Eoin to help look for the missing tooth but they could not find it. While this is going on the mother of the boy that got hurt is on the phone with a dentist to see if she needs to bring him in right away - the dentist said that she could bring him in the next day as long as the bleeding stopped.

I check with the boys to see what happened and Bennett said that he was walking or riding his bike and went off the sidewalk and fell down. I'm just glad that Eoin was not the cause of it - he can play a little rough at times.

So I come home and a minute or so later the door bell rings. I say to myself "Now what?" as Eoin is still outside. This time it's a different friend looking for Eoin - I tell her he is in by his other friends - she says ok and goes to look for him.

Two minutes later Eoin is back asking if his friend Piper can go to the pizza party with him at school. I said that that is up to her mother. She comes back and lets me know that he mom will call us later.

30 more seconds of quiet and the mother of the girl Di baby sits for shows up and Liam and Elaine start to make a bunch of noise.

Now Di goes out to get Eoin because we are going out for a while - he will probably come in kicking and screaming but who knows.

I keep thinking about going to Home Depot or Lowes and seeing if they sell a doorbell that plays a different melody. I was thinking about one that plays a sound like Dum Dum Dum Dummmmmm or one that has a woman's voice screaming in a high pitch.

Maybe they have one I can upload a wave file to so I can change it every once in a while.

October Blues

Did you ever notice how one thing leads to another and another - like how When January ends here comes February then March, etc...


Now that September is here October is right around the corner and that is one month that I do not really look forward to. Don't get me wrong I now have two things to celebrate in October, Eoin and my birthday's, but I still think of October as a generally bad month.


For the longest time I really hated October - In 1985 my father passed away on Halloween and ever since I have not looked forward to this month.

Now we are attempting to plan a birthday party for Eoin, a costume party, where he can invite all of his friends but with the weather the way it is lately I am almost afraid that it will be too cold to have an outdoor party but who knows - maybe it will be 80 degrees outside.

The closer it comes to October the more I think of the past and the future - I want to be able to give my boys more than I had growing up and thankfully they do not have to share a birthday.

I have heard a number of people say that twins have a special bond growing up - apparently these people never had a twin. When I was younger I very rarely spent time with my twin brother - now that we are older we talk once in a while. Every other year I will call him and wish him a happy b-day and he usually calls the years that I don't. I forget who's year it is but one way or the other we will talk on or about our birthday.

If you are wondering where I am going with this - so am I.

I guess that this is part of my yearly ritual where I think of my past and wonder about the future. I have learned that what was true yesterday is not necessarily true today. You can go to sleep one night and wake up 8 hours later and life has changed. I still get sad when Halloween comes around but I now have two very good reasons to enjoy the day. I hope to teach Eoin and Liam all that I know and learn from them when they get older.

Now that Di and I regularly attend church I know that when your time is up on Earth, you have a better brighter future ahead. I know that while life is a challenge - that challenge is there to help you grow and to push you into being the best person you can be and I am thankful for it.

I kind of remember an old phrase that goes something like this "Live for today as tomorrow will never come and yesterday is past".

To Today - I hope you have a fun and exciting time with your families.

Walt

My Music - My Life

I can't believe it's been a month since I created my last entry.

Over the last week or so i have been remembering some of the songs from my past - songs that in one way or another have a special meaning to me - have added a few of these songs to the player on this page others are not available and could not be added (or I just don't know the name of the song).

One of the many songs that I remember is from M*A*S*H - I taped the final episode of M*A*S*H last week and finally watched it. I thought when they originally aired the last episode that they played the words to the song 'Suicide is Painless' but when I watched it - they just played the song. One of these days I will have to get this on DVD to see if they actually sang the song as I remember or if they just played the music.

Another song is by Mike & the Mechanics called the 'Living Years' - this song is special to me because it reminds me of my father. There are many things I remember about him but the one thing that always sticks out in my mind was that I never really knew him. He went in the hospital in the beginning of October 1985 when I was 16 and passed away on Halloween when I was 17. He was very strict when we were growing up - we had chores to do and he always woke us up in the morning singing 'School Daisey's' in his worst singing voice. I never really got the chance to really sit with him and ask him the many questions that I have to ask him today.

He was a very loving parent but as a child I was concentrating on my school work and my many social activities. Like everyone else I knew - I figured I had many years to ask him these questions, I was wrong. I am very thankful for the things he taught me and now that I am older with children of my own I realize that he taught me more that I ever thought he did. By being strict he taught me how to take care of myself and my family. I hope to pass these on to Eoin and Liam.

One song that I do not know the name of or could not find is the title song, at least I think it's the title song, to 'The Mirror has Two Faces'. I first heard this song when Diane and I were engaged to be married. This song describes two people who just met and when I heard it with Di it seemed to describe both of us to a tee. Although we met a different way - it just described how I felt for her. Now almost 11 years later and I love her more and more each day - I do have to thanks her niece Kerry for getting her to go on a second date with me.

Other songs are from my favorite group, Alabama, that I used to love listen to when I was growing up. Until I watched 'Footloose' with Kevin Bacon I did not like anything but Country music. For some reason this movie made me realise that there was other music that I liked. Now all I listen to is talk radio but who knows that might change in the future (I doubt it but who knows).

I also like listing to 'The Statler Brothers' - this was one of my mothers favorite groups. I bought s set of CD's with their songs on them and left them with her when she moved to Florida along with my radio. I still love to listen to their songs but when I play them it reminds me of how much I miss her as well.

As my life goes on I know that there will be more songs that have a special meaning to me or someone close to me - I guess that is one way I can help mark the very special moments in my life. Right now I am sitting with my boys - they are watching cartoons and I am listing to the songs on my blog. I need to update my journal which I have also been neglecting and get a little more sleep before Church today.