Happy New Year

Happy new year everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday break. Aside from a small incident with my Fit, I had a great time. Tons of food, and a wonderful gift from my family and friends.

Alright, the Fit first. I was on my way to my sister's apartment for Christmas Eve dinner with my wife. While at a redlight, a mid 90's Jaguar hit me from behind. I wasn't sure if he couldn't quite stop intime, or was already stopped behind me, and just let go of the brake for a second. I'm inclined to believe the latter since the impact wasn't severe and I didn't hear any hard braking behind me. Anyways, once I showed him there was in fact damage on my bumper, we pulled over and exchanged information. Originally he said he'd pay for the repairs himself. At the time we both thought it was just paint damage. However, the next morning, when I got a better look at the rear bumper in the light and dry weather, I noticed the dent was more severe than I had expected, and there was actually a crease in the bumper.


After talking with my good friend Christmas night during dinner, he sugggested I report it to insurance anyway. He would still have the option of paying the insurance company on his own to avoid his rates from going up. So I reported it next morning. I felt it was better this way because then it will be a third-party assessing the damages. I don't want him to feel like I'm taking advantage of him by claiming extra damage we wouldn't see at the scene at night, in the rain. So I called him and let him know I had reported it. My appointment with the insurance adjuster is tomorrow morning. We'll see what they say.

And for Christmas, my family and friends pooled their money together to give me a pretty incredible gift... They're sending me to motorcycle riding school! I've wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle for a very long time. I'm the type of guy who chose to learn to drive on a manual transmission car, and want to know how to operate a motorcycle just so that whatever place or situation I'm in, I can always drive, or ride any vehicle that are available to me. Some places on vacation are better explored on two wheels, while other places won't be able to rent you an automatic vehicle at all. And since my family and friends know my desire, they figured it was safer for me to learn to ride properly, through a certified motorcycle riding school. I am so happy about this gift, and I know this wasn't cheap either. I'm getting ready to contact a couple of schools that are closer to my residence for their 2007 schedules, and to start studying for my class 6 learners license.