Tombs
Look Up
Stork's nest
Getting completely lost
Serene morning view from hotel balcony
Random highway stop
Young Shepherd
Communal water
Cool mail boxes
Serious shopping cart
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Humanity
My car got hit while I was at work last week. Didn't notice it as it was in the rear and I just got in and drove home as per usual. When I pulled into the driveway, I thought D was just waving but instead he was gesturing at something he saw on my windshield.
It was a note, left by the lady who had backed into my vehicle, held down by my wiper which I wasn't able to see as it was tucked down in the off position.
The note simply stated "I hit the back of your car. Please call me at...".
So we rushed to the back and yes, there was damage. My rear bumper and panel above were dented and stuck out a bit. And the one exhaust was bent also.
As I had never been in this situation before, I didn't know if I had to bring my car to an accident reporting center? Maybe I wasn't supposed to have driven home! We have "no fault" insurance in our province so does that mean my clean record was going to disappear? So many questions.
Decided to call the police and ask them what I should do. Turns out living in a smaller area has its perks. I didn't have to go to a reporting center. They will come to me. By the time they got here, I had given up waiting and was taking a bath, so D took care of the details.
The officer was really nice. Apparently loved my car which made D chuckle. And couldn't believe someone actually left a note. He just doesn't see that. Neither did the body shop nor insurance people either, I later found out. He also contacted the other party and got their info as we had no idea about anything -- What they drove, where they lived etc.
I had already made contact with her and there was hope we could settle it civilly and not have to go through insurance if possible. She told me it was her first accident too, so we have been stumbling through the process together. When I told her how people were in disbelief of how she owned up to the damage, her response was "I couldn't do it any other way".
We've spoken a few times since, and found out that her husband had had it happen to him twice and one person left a note (next to no damage), while the other person (lots of damage) didn't, so they know how it feels to come out and find a surprise like this. She apologized for creating this for me and I thanked her profusely for her honestly.
I've since dropped off a flower arrangement along with the expected copy of the body shop quote. Damages are just over 3K so it will be going through insurance. It is going to take 4 days to fix.
Feeling very grateful. Strengthens my faith in humanity.
It was a note, left by the lady who had backed into my vehicle, held down by my wiper which I wasn't able to see as it was tucked down in the off position.
The note simply stated "I hit the back of your car. Please call me at...".
So we rushed to the back and yes, there was damage. My rear bumper and panel above were dented and stuck out a bit. And the one exhaust was bent also.
As I had never been in this situation before, I didn't know if I had to bring my car to an accident reporting center? Maybe I wasn't supposed to have driven home! We have "no fault" insurance in our province so does that mean my clean record was going to disappear? So many questions.
Decided to call the police and ask them what I should do. Turns out living in a smaller area has its perks. I didn't have to go to a reporting center. They will come to me. By the time they got here, I had given up waiting and was taking a bath, so D took care of the details.
The officer was really nice. Apparently loved my car which made D chuckle. And couldn't believe someone actually left a note. He just doesn't see that. Neither did the body shop nor insurance people either, I later found out. He also contacted the other party and got their info as we had no idea about anything -- What they drove, where they lived etc.
I had already made contact with her and there was hope we could settle it civilly and not have to go through insurance if possible. She told me it was her first accident too, so we have been stumbling through the process together. When I told her how people were in disbelief of how she owned up to the damage, her response was "I couldn't do it any other way".
We've spoken a few times since, and found out that her husband had had it happen to him twice and one person left a note (next to no damage), while the other person (lots of damage) didn't, so they know how it feels to come out and find a surprise like this. She apologized for creating this for me and I thanked her profusely for her honestly.
I've since dropped off a flower arrangement along with the expected copy of the body shop quote. Damages are just over 3K so it will be going through insurance. It is going to take 4 days to fix.
Feeling very grateful. Strengthens my faith in humanity.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Opening Scenes
new school being built
random market laneways
re-purposed from old truck tires
local transportation
Sunday, June 8, 2014
The Future
Perhaps there is something cosmically aligned just so, but we too, like many other bloggers, have found ourselves fine tuning and rearranging the "large stones" in place towards what our upcoming life will look like. As we grow as people, each phase reveals itself like fog lifting and this latest rendition has been the clearest yet.
Aspects that were not acceptable have miraculously become exciting. It wasn't necessarily the specifics of the plan, it has been us evolving reminding me that there are never "perfect" answers, only what makes sense now (assuming sound principles). Plus a corresponding amount of gratefulness for even being able to express ourselves in such a way. I cannot forget just how fortunate we are.
Surprisingly I have been finding that aspect not frustrating at all. I credit the visits to developing countries easing my need to squeeze every detail out into minutiae. I'm going with the flow better than I could ever imagine. This has been one of the biggest and proudest personal developments I've made this year.
On the other hand, D has been struggling greatly with his work. Ever since coming back from out west last summer, the gap between his current role and where he would like to be has been glaring, creating a huge amount of dissatisfaction. His work environment has become increasingly caustic and I have detected negative changes in his demeanor to the point where it has been affecting me. Not good.
There is pride involved I understand. But I draw the line at health. No amount of money is worth exchanging it for and I believe he is seeing it now (significant number of the team are on stress leave). I wouldn't not encourage him to see it anyways. His tension level is at an all time high and is unsustainable. There is an unacceptable amount of negativity for a role that isn't changing the world for the better.
And because he works 2 days a week at home whereby I'm around for at least half the time, I will not tolerate that atmosphere being created under our roof. If it cannot be resolved in the long term, then a change will have to be made. At this point, neither of us are scared of change.
My office building has been sold. It firmed up while I was in Vietnam. Am waiting for future lease details. Have a plan B should need be. Not losing sleep over it. I've seen the future building plans and it looks exciting. Am interesting in being a part of it, should everything make sense.
However I do hope to sleep much better on this next journey than my last. That one flight I need to take this year to maintain status I booked during my 3 days of alertness in Hanoi? Well, it has arrived. Just dawned on me recently that there isn't one place I'm going to this year that doesn't involve high levels of heat and carrying my own toilet paper. What a change from last year.
Aspects that were not acceptable have miraculously become exciting. It wasn't necessarily the specifics of the plan, it has been us evolving reminding me that there are never "perfect" answers, only what makes sense now (assuming sound principles). Plus a corresponding amount of gratefulness for even being able to express ourselves in such a way. I cannot forget just how fortunate we are.
Surprisingly I have been finding that aspect not frustrating at all. I credit the visits to developing countries easing my need to squeeze every detail out into minutiae. I'm going with the flow better than I could ever imagine. This has been one of the biggest and proudest personal developments I've made this year.
On the other hand, D has been struggling greatly with his work. Ever since coming back from out west last summer, the gap between his current role and where he would like to be has been glaring, creating a huge amount of dissatisfaction. His work environment has become increasingly caustic and I have detected negative changes in his demeanor to the point where it has been affecting me. Not good.
There is pride involved I understand. But I draw the line at health. No amount of money is worth exchanging it for and I believe he is seeing it now (significant number of the team are on stress leave). I wouldn't not encourage him to see it anyways. His tension level is at an all time high and is unsustainable. There is an unacceptable amount of negativity for a role that isn't changing the world for the better.
And because he works 2 days a week at home whereby I'm around for at least half the time, I will not tolerate that atmosphere being created under our roof. If it cannot be resolved in the long term, then a change will have to be made. At this point, neither of us are scared of change.
My office building has been sold. It firmed up while I was in Vietnam. Am waiting for future lease details. Have a plan B should need be. Not losing sleep over it. I've seen the future building plans and it looks exciting. Am interesting in being a part of it, should everything make sense.
However I do hope to sleep much better on this next journey than my last. That one flight I need to take this year to maintain status I booked during my 3 days of alertness in Hanoi? Well, it has arrived. Just dawned on me recently that there isn't one place I'm going to this year that doesn't involve high levels of heat and carrying my own toilet paper. What a change from last year.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Trust Management
I've been asked by friends to be a co-administrator of a trust set up for their kids should something untoward happen. Am totally flattered. They have hinted about D and I being godparents as well.
As I tend to approach most requests that come my way seriously, I've replied with a number of questions ranging from basic framework, logistics to what values were they hoping to impart about money, so we could all determine if this would be a good fit. My role would only come into play when large amounts are involved.
I'm not sure how the rest of the family will respond to a potential outsider being involved. I've read enough books about estate planning to appreciate the complexities and emotions that can arise. In my mind, the more thought and detail we work through in advance, the easier it will be to act on directions without interference from differing personal values. The other person is quite different from me.
Their motivation for asking me stems from the impression that I am able to manage money in a reasonable way. Whereas their respective siblings and family members on both sides do not have a great track record and could be trusted to interpret a sudden appearance of a sizable sum of money as opportunity for personal gain.
I have zero problem with standing firm to protect those kids. However the most tricky aspect is that the guardians for these children will likely end up being said family members...
As I tend to approach most requests that come my way seriously, I've replied with a number of questions ranging from basic framework, logistics to what values were they hoping to impart about money, so we could all determine if this would be a good fit. My role would only come into play when large amounts are involved.
I'm not sure how the rest of the family will respond to a potential outsider being involved. I've read enough books about estate planning to appreciate the complexities and emotions that can arise. In my mind, the more thought and detail we work through in advance, the easier it will be to act on directions without interference from differing personal values. The other person is quite different from me.
Their motivation for asking me stems from the impression that I am able to manage money in a reasonable way. Whereas their respective siblings and family members on both sides do not have a great track record and could be trusted to interpret a sudden appearance of a sizable sum of money as opportunity for personal gain.
I have zero problem with standing firm to protect those kids. However the most tricky aspect is that the guardians for these children will likely end up being said family members...
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