Adventures in Yesterday
So, today started out pretty oddly.

First off, I went into my "zone" when driving to work and managed to drive to the wrong company nearly. I about 15 minutes out of my way before I was stopped. The rain had just started coming down in a torrent, so I must have missed my exit and not thought about it, just driving the same way I've driven for years upon years.

When the cars in front of me started to show brake lights, I started to slow down. I was a little worried that I might not be able to stop in time because they were really slowing down fast and there was a lot of water on the road up ahead. I was fine, though, I had left myself plenty of room. I also felt the comforting massage of anti-lock breaks and stopped with PLENTY of room as the car in front of me came to a complete stop before a small pond of water across the freeway.

The car behind me, however, did not stop. Well, it did after it hit me. It left a nice, deep gouge in the rear hatchback of my wife's prized Saturn Vue. I stopped, trying to decide "What do I do next? Do I call the police now?" I decided, "Let's try to get out of the car" but saw that the pond was across the shoulder too. The guy behind me shouted, "Let's go on the other side of the freeway," which seemed like a good idea so we did.

Once we got there, he got out of his car and looked at his damage. He didn't see much, so he came over and we looked at the damage on my wife's car together. The "dent" looks horrible, but I tried the door and it opened and shut without problems. The car drove across the freeway ok, so I am thinking "We're ok, this is just a matter for insurance companies to discuss."

It's at this point the guy starts telling me how he just got his car, how he hadn't transferred his plates yet, how he hadn't gotten insurance yet, and asked if we could please not report it. I respond, "No, I can't do that. My wife would kill me." I'm also thinking, "I have broad collision coverage, this is completely covered since it's all your fault buddy." He tries to persuade me, but I don't budge. So, he walks back to look at the damage again, says "this is not good" a few times. Then asks, "Can we pull off the exit up ahead?" I'm suspicious of him at this point, so I grab a pen and write down his license plate number and a vague vague description of the car as best as I can do. He's a little bit ahead of me because of this, but that's fine I think.

The exit was a few feet up, the rain was still coming down heavy, and it really was difficult to talk on the phone in the rain. So, I agree and we pull off the Michigan Road exit on 94W. Remember, by the way, I still am not aware that I'm driving the wrong way. So, for some reason, I think I'm on 275N which is where I was supposed to turn.

As I get to the stop light I don't see him. It's raining heavily, I think "maybe he had a car pull behind him" and so I look for him. I turn right, since I didn't see him in the left side. I don't find him along the road until the stoplight, so I turn around and turn around. I spend about 10-15 minutes looking for him. I also call agent00groovey to ask him to tell the others at work that I'm going to be late.

So, I pull over in a gas station and call my insurance company (USAA, they rock). I wasn't sure who to call first, but my insurance company has a "In case of an accident" phone number. I should have read the text above the number, which told me all the other things I should do, but the lady took my claim and told me I could call the police afterward.

Of course, they ask me where I had the accident and I tell them the wrong place, but I don't know the exit number. So, I go into the gas station to find out what city I am in. "Ypsilanti? Really?" So, at this point, I decide I need to drive back to the freeway to find out for sure.

Sure enough, it really is 94 and so I tell the lady that and a vague idea of what area. When she's done, she tells me that I should just call 911 to report the accident to the police. I do that and find out basically where I am, and the nice lady on the 911 line tells me how to go to the state police, which she tells me is where I need to go next.

I figure I'll drive home to get my wife at this point. First of all because the insurance person told me that I should probably warn her to set her mind at ease, but also because I realized at some point that she had taken the folder out of the car which has all of the registration and insurance information. I had my own copy of the insurance, but I never kept the registration for her car in my wallet.

So, together we go to the police station and the world's nicest policeman runs me through all the questions, deals with my complete inability to identify cars beyond the writing on the back, general shape and color, and the license plate. He shows me the picture of the owner of the license plate, "No, that's not him. The guy I saw was thinner, and had scruffy facial hair, and was in his mid twenties or early thirties. My wife is snickering under her breath because she's thinking I'm horrible with age-guessing too. The next picture he shows me, of another licensed driver in the house, does look like a younger and clean shaven version of the guy I saw. The picture was apparently 3 years old, so that would make the guy 24. (If it was his 18 year old license picture, he would have had to have gotten his 21 year old picture. So, therefore, it had to have been his 21 year old picture, and thus 3 years later he's about 24.)

Anyhow, if that was all, the day would have been fine. I mean, the car is going to get fixed by the insurance. (We have broad collision, it's just paid for.) The wife gets me to work and I point at the damage to the guys I work with, who are leaving for lunch, and so on.

... but once I sit down, agent00groovey points out, "Did you know there's a hole in your pants?" "So THAT'S why I had these in the 'do not wear pile.' Shoot shoot shoot."

Some paper clips as thread in sewing the seam shut in the bathroom fixed it, but a great way to end that whole ordeal.

(Good news was, they got my IBM email working, so I finally got to submit my expense report for my Atlanta trip and also to sign up for health benefits, so it wasn't all bad yesterday.)