Two Long Years That Went By Too Fast

When last you heard from me, I had rear-ended a young lady at the Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru by accidentally hitting the gas instead of my brake. That was two years ago and so much has changed! Let me list a few pertinent occurrences, in no particular order.

No more trips to Jack-in-the-Box. Two years ago, Steven and I were eating fast food several nights a week. I was either too tired and/or too lazy to prepare dinner most nights, so I spent a lot of time in line at the drive-thru. We alternated among JitB, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Carl's Jr. and In-N-Out Burger. When we wanted something not quite that "fast" I would hit up a Japanese restaurant for take-out teriyaki bowls or an authentic Mexican place for burritos. My favorite was Taco Bell and my meal always included at least one caramel apple empanada. Steve liked Whoppers or Big Macs, usually accompanied by an additional double cheeseburger and large fries. It wasn't enough that I ate fast food for dinner most nights, I got into the habit of driving through McDonald's in the morning for iced coffee and cinnamelts, often with a couple of pies thrown in for good measure. I made the rationalization that we could eat less expensively at Taco Bell than we could if I bought and prepared something fresh. Plus, it could be really convenient and there were no dishes to wash. Many evenings I definitely spent more time in traffic than I would have by avoiding the drive-thru, but then I would have had to actually drive home and cook something!

Now, Steven and I are pescatarians. We became vegetarians in January 2009, then added some fish last summer. If we really crave fast food there are fillets o' fish at MickyD's or Garden Burgers at BK. Also, Steve has learned to cook, so if I'm too tired he's able to fix dinner. I don't miss meat, especially not handling it raw. Down the road I may go all the way to vegan, but I'm still hooked on dairy; things like ice cream, cheese and yogurt still taste too good to me.

I'm Rear-Ended Rather Than Rear-Ending. I have been hit by other drivers three times in the past year. The first time was the worst, resulting in over $4,000 damage to my poor little Honda. It was the Monday before Thanksgiving 2008 and I was on my way to work. Having just missed hitting the car in front of me by mere inches, I had taken and exhaled a great cleansing breath. I was in that totally relaxed state when I was slammed from behind by a big old tank of a BMW. Since I was totally loosey–goosey at the time, I suffered no ill effects. My car, on the other hand, was hit so hard the frame buckled. Not initially realizing that my car was damaged, I almost let the other driver take off, only at the last minute asking for his contact information. As soon as I started up and tried to drive, I could tell something was not right. I headed straight to my mechanic, who was located on the way to work anyway. He took one look and sent me to the body shop next door, where they originally assessed the damage at $1300. In the meantime, the BMW owner had taken his big old tank home and changed his clothes, arriving at the collision place -- when they phoned him for insurance information -- in a suit and tie, as well as in a brand new BMW. He first got pissy about my choice of body shop, then when the estimate was finished, he put away his credit card and sped away in his shiny new Beemer.

Steve and I were planning our annual Thanksgiving trip to San Luis Obispo for dinner at Jacob's place and I had already prepaid a motel room for two nights. The Honda played a major part in our holiday plans. Although the guy who hit me had originally claimed responsibility, he was now reneging, which was delaying my getting a rental car. One of my coworkers suggested I open my own claim under my own policy (we both had Mercury anyway) to expedite the rental. Enterprise finally picked me up Wednesday evening after work and I soon found myself behind the wheel of a new Kia Rondo -- a funky little mini-van cross-over. It's best feature was the satellite radio, which I never really figured out how to work, even though I drove that funny-looking vehicle for five weeks! One of those weeks, on the way to work, I was rear-ended. Fortunately, the rental suffered no damage. The third time I was rear-ended in the past year was on the 10 Freeway, when a pick-up tapped me on the off-ramp, tearing the cover on my spare tire. I promptly received a check from Mercury (yes, that insured was with Mercury also) in the amount of $183.74, which I didn't spend on a new tire cover.