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Home > Archive: November, 2007

Archive for November, 2007

I'm back from Chicago

November 28th, 2007 at 04:55 pm

My trip to Chicago went well. Except for a flight delay leaving due to fog, everything else ran smoothly. The weather there was beautiful - sunny and clear. Not that I really got to be outside at all.

I landed there about 5:00pm Monday. There was a car service waiting to take me to the hotel about 10 minutes away. I checked in and put my bag in my room and went down to register for the conference. Dinner wasn't until 7, so I relaxed in the room a bit. At 7, I went down and they had a small reception and buffet dinner which was very nice. There were 11 doctors plus several reps from the pharma company and the company running the conference. We ate and talked for a couple of hours and I was back in my room before 10.

Yesterday morning, I went down to breakfast just before 8 and the conference started at 8:30. Other than a short morning break and lunch, we were in the room until we finished up around 3. We handed in our eval forms, got our checks and got right on the shuttle to take us back to the airport.

It was an interesting conference and I enjoyed meeting some other docs and discussing various things with them. It isn't something I'd want to do regularly and I'm glad I don't have a career that involves a lot of travel, but it was fine and the check made it worth my while.

Got my car back today!

November 22nd, 2007 at 04:36 am

I took my car to the body shop Monday morning (see my previous post for the story). The administrator from the company involved in the accident promised he would pay the body shop directly. So today, I called the shop at lunchtime to see if the car would be ready as promised. They said it would be and should they call the other company directly regarding payment. I gave them the number and they called back a short time later to say the payment was made and the car was ready.

I picked it up after work and it looks terrific. Far better than it looked BEFORE the accident. The detailed the whole car, inside and out. Plus, the left front fender was repainted and the front bumper and grill and light assembly is new. It matches quite well, but it isn't hard to tell which parts are brand new and which are 10 years old.

I had to front the money for the rental car but I will fax over the receipt next week and don't anticipate a problem getting reimbursed since they handled the body shop bill so smoothly and promptly.

So an unneeded ordeal, but one that was resolved very easily.

I'm not in collections. Is that weird?

November 20th, 2007 at 10:30 pm

Earlier today, someone was in the office and one of the girls asked him what he does. He said he works for XYZ collection agency (not the actual name). Two of the 3 people in the office beside me said they have accounts in collections with that company and went on to discuss it like it was perfectly normal.

If I had any accounts in collections, I certainly wouldn't be bragging about it and discussing it openly like that. I'd be ashamed of myself for allowing that to happen and not being able to pay my bills. Back when I had student loans, due to accounting problems, I had accounts get turned over to collections by mistake a couple of times and I spent hours on the phone getting those accounts straightened out as soon as possible.

Maybe I'm the strange one.

My car was hit yesterday

November 16th, 2007 at 02:49 am

During work yesterday, someone called the office and asked if any of us owned the red car parked on the side street because someone had hit it. I was the lucky one. I went out and sure enough the left front corner was smashed. Apparently, a plumber was turning into the driveway and misjudged the turn, taking the corner of my car with him. The turn signal got destroyed, the front bumper is shredded and the side fender panel is scratched up.

I called the main office for the company and the business administrator came over to see the car and said they'd pay for everything, including a rental car while it was being fixed, so at least the process shouldn't cost me anything.

After work, I went to the body shop and got an estimate: $1,400. They said they'd need the car for about 3 days. I'm going to bring it in first thing Monday morning so I can have it back Wednesday before the holiday. I'm just hoping everything goes smoothly and quickly and it gets fixed up good as new (or at least as good as 10 years old) by next week at this time.

I'm going to Chicago...for the day

November 14th, 2007 at 06:02 pm

I'm not sure if it will be more trouble than it is worth, but my partner got invited to a medical conference in Chicago and doesn't want to go. We contacted them and I am able to go in his place.

The deal is they pay for airfare, ground transportation, hotel and meals. PLUS, they pay me $1,500 for attending.

So I'll be leaving a week from Monday and coming home on Tuesday. Like I said, it is a bit of a hassle, but for $1,500 I'll suffer.

What I'm really hoping is that this company does programs like this regularly and this will get me on their list for future programs. I wouldn't mind doing that a couple of times each year.