Pushy or desperate?

After a great day out on Derby Day Perry and I returned home. We were tired and exhausted. We grabbed the mail and walked into the house thinking only of bed. Then we looked at what exactly we had received in the mail.

Earlier this year and late last year, we had gotten rid of two of our cars and added two new cars to our insurance. This meant multiple changes to our car insurance policies since we didn’t do these transactions all at the same time. But we have kept the same insurance company through out all these transactions (actually pretty much since we’ve been married…I went with Perry’s insurance company).

Since December, when the first of the cars was decommissioned and the first insurance change, we have received phone calls and mailings from State Farm Insurance. I even called back once to tell them that we weren’t interested (partly because Vincent said the phone calls were keeping him from getting class work done…I wasn’t going to give him any excuses).

Well, Derby Day, State Farm showed how aggressive their marketing campaign really is. I received six different quote offers and, since Perry has a different last name, he also received six different quote offers. That means a total of twelve different envelopes and twelve different letters. That is a lot of trees being killed…even if we do recycle.

I was a little concerned about the flood of marketing. I called State Farm to be removed from their mailing lists. I did tell them that I understand that in this bad economy they are looking for people who can afford their insurance but this marketing ploy makes me wonder…Do I want to be insured by a company that is that desperate or pushy? How financially sound is State Farm if they have to resort to this kind of marketing?

The answer is…I’ll keep my own insurance company thank you. Even if I were looking for new insurance I wouldn’t go with a company that is giving off the vibe of being financially unsound and desperate for my business.

Sorry State Farm. This was a bust marketing ploy.


---- Stephanie

Dental saga

Dental professionals have been working on three different teeth of mine over the last few months. I think back in January the crown over one of the two teeth I had root canaled a couple of years ago – the same crown that came out once before – came out half a dozen times. Finally, my dentist sent me straight to the endodontist (office pictured above) who had done the root canals and he did a mini-root canal, where he went back into the tooth, pulled out some of the stuff, and put in a pin that would keep the crown from coming out. My dentist then put in a temporary crown, ordered a new one, and a couple of weeks later put in the new crown – this was seven or eight visits to my dentist – at no cost to me, our dental insurance, or health care flexible spending (including for the new crown).

Also in December and January my dentist – who like many modern dentists also specialized in cosmetic dentistry – made her annual pitch to get two front teeth veneered – my crown replaced and my one good tooth covered over with a thin matching veneer. I smiled as usual – figuring we wouldn’t have the time or money (and I wasn’t dying to have more dental surgery and haven’t been terribly dissatisfied with my metal-based crown (even with the dark edge around the gum) and the real tooth chipped and filled in three different times). But then I recalled that we actually had almost $3,000 left in health care flexible spending (tax-free) (use it or lose it) money for 2008 that we had to spend by March. At the beginning this was before I went to the hospital in Florida (and early one even before Stephanie went to the hospital for the blood clots?) – and before we sent Vincent to the hospital after he got suspended from school (all of which cost some health-care-flexible spending money). Partly not predicting all of that, I would ahead and signed up for getting the veneers.

I also started committing to this before I realized how many times I’d have to go to the dentist for the other crown.

My front teeth had gotten crowned and chipped as a result of a playground accident in Japan. A Japanese dentist who subsequently retired had done the root canal and crown. The crown was metal based and covered in porcelain. But the veneers would be ceramic. A risk with the reshaping the good tooth for the veneer was that it would damage the tooth enough that a root canal would be required.

Pictured below is my face and teeth through various phases of the four-hour process that day – from my old teeth to the temporary crown, etc. (including some ugly in-between photos - that harken back to that day when I came home from the playground - as it turns out - on the way to the dentist - and smiled for my Mom - and freaked her out since much of my one front tooth was gone - a gap.)

During the four-hour visit several weeks ago, the dentist – a woman who works 3 ½ days a week and takes spring break and Christmas break off to be with her kids – with her assistant out sick – drilled out my crown and shaved my good tooth some – and burned my gum on one side back – after pumping me full of anesthetic. She then fashioned two temporary crown/covers that didn’t look bad. Next, I went to a Korean American lab tech (pictured below) in New Albany – across the street from Stephanie’s old school – who confessed when he learned that I have a metal pin protruding from the root-canaled tooth that it would be challenge to make the veneers look their best – so the light shines through them like real teeth. He looked at the molds the dentist had made and looked at the color of my teeth (that I had been bleaching for almost a month – which makes them sensitive) and also told me some about the secular part of the local Kentuckiana Korean American community.

When I showed up at the dentist this week – two weeks later – Mr. Young was in fact there – but delivering someone else’s fake teeth. For two hours I was in there again – as the dentist shaved off the teeth again and replaced them with the brand-new custom-made teeth. The dentist encouraged me to goo over them – but with the anesthetic and tired it was hard for me to evaluate them on the spot. I have a feeling that they look much better than my old teeth. But with all of the work I’ve missed with all of these dental activities – when I’m behind on projects and missing work due to Vincent goings on and we’re all worried about my job and we’ve spent more of the health care flexible spending in other ways even without this and these teeth – more fragile that my old tooth – may end up feeling a little funny in comparison – it’s hard to know if I would have done all of this if I had to do it all over again. At least I’ll never wonder how I’d look with better-looking teeth – since I’ve already got them. Pictured below is me through phases of this shorter process – with the last two photos with my new (permanent) teeth.

Thanks much to Dr. Burton and her staff. One of many reasons why I went ahead with the switch was that she did all of that free work for me – with the crown that she felt bad kept falling off – that I thought I should have her do some paid work – and – even tax-free – it was paid. Back in February I did a $1,700 charge on my health care flexible spending card – certainly one of the biggest charges of any sort I’ve done. Good work , Dr. Burton, Dr. Norton (the endodontist), Mr. Young, Brittany, Libby, and colleagues!

-- Perry

It's done!

After a week in the shop (and two days with a rental car), Mom's old Camry - now one of just two cars we own - is ready - for $1,500 less than we thought ($520 for a new water pump and timing belt instead of $2,000 for a (2nd) new engine) (old water pump only lasted for 3 1/2 years). Plus we probably saved $100 or so due to returning the rental car five days early. Yes - our back-up mechanic (when Phoenix Hill's Firestone service center can't handle something too complex) really is Jim Hendrix Automotive. I met Mr. Hendrix (Sr.) today - he had trouble running my credit card through. He said he started the business in 1964 and has since passed it on to his son, also Jim (not Jimi) Hendrix.

I paid but haven't actually picked up the car (it's maybe a block from our house and next door to our counselor). We'll pick it up tonight after returning the rental car (pictured below, early Monday morning, on our first full day with it).

-- Perry

Great news

Jim (aka Jimi) Hendrix Automotive (picture from their Web site above) called today to tell us that it's the water pump - not the engine - that's ailing the car - and that they could fix it today (meaning we could return the rental car today or tomorrow). They called to find out when the timing belt had been fixed last, and Mom helped me find records to show the water pump and timing belt were last fixed three years ago - in December 2005. Fixing all of that will cost $500, instead of $2,000 for finding and installing a re-built engine. Plus renting a car for a day or two will probably cost $100 instead of $250. Now - if we can just raise the $750-1,500 for a lawyer for Vincent (plus making Stephanie's student loan payment for March)!

-- Perry

Car news

A mechanic down the street is still looking at our Camry. He thinks it needs a new (or rebuilt) engine and will look for one and look around the rest of the car. He said he personally wouldn't replace the engine. It'll cost about $2,000 and he says the car is worth about $1,000 and who knows if something else like the transmission might go bad next month. We tend to be more conservative about these things and may get it fixed - if he can find an engine. This is the Camry's second engine - this one we got re-built after I drove the car into a flood in 1999. Stephanie reminds us that - although new car sales have hit rock bottom - because some people still need cars - used car sales are actually up, probably pushing up the price somewhat. Unfortunately, we're probably going to have to rent a car next week as I have several errands to run and Vincent hasn't been a reliable dog walker.

P.S. I've already landed the rental car. No car will be needed - but dog walking probably will - while I'm away in Guatemala for a week, at the end of the month. . . . The Kelly Blue Book Web site says the car is worth about $2,500.

-- Perry

Furlough!?

The Presbyterian Center leadership went ahead and announced that all employees are going to have an unpaid one-week "furlough," May 17-23, during which we are not allowed to come in (to the building pictured to the right - in the middle - of the 2nd Street bridge) or work at home. This will cut our pay 2%. It's not clear how this will affect my recently scheduled trip to South Florida for the May 14-17 American Association for Public Opinion Research conference at a posh beachfront hotel in Hollywood, Florida (which was to include some pre-conference training). I have a feeling that will still go through, but I will be volunteering on the final day (Sunday). It's not clear whether the savings (ostensibly half a million dollars) will substantially cut into our deficit (which is said to go as high as $10 million) and whether this means a bunch of people will or will not get laid off in early April. We're told we may know within a week or two (in general). They also made official what we really already knew, that no one will get pay raises next year. Obviously, lots of other people around the country and world are going through this. They ostensibly timed this partly because May was to have three paydays, and people like us who face monthly bills will still get 2 1/2 pay checks in there (we'll see how that goes over with my family and my colleagues). I wonder about all of the many people working to plan the Big Tent conferences in June in Atlanta. They're not going to be told the conferences will be canceled because there isn't enough time. They'll just have to work harder/longer the rest of the time. I've already started to tell clients to expect delays of up to a week because of the furlough.

-- Perry