When It Rains...

It began with a clogged line in my furnace that leaked into the wall and created mold in my 10-yr old son Michael's closet.

It ended with a $30 dollar service fee from Best Buy.

The past two months have been a monumental pain in the pocket book, one that I pray never raises it's dreadful head again.

I discovered mold in my son's closet right after Christmas, while clearing out a mountain of stuff he doesn't play with anymore in his closet.

The leak started in a pool closet that sits adjacent to his bedroom closet around Thanksgiving.

A quick call to my State Farm agent began my first odyssey through home owner's insurance claims.

I can pick anyone I want to repair the work, as long as it's one of their preferred providers.

A few arguments later, the repairs are in the works.

Two days before Christmas my wife Lori and Michael are hit by a red-light runner in the fog.

They're both OK, but her car needs a new front passenger door, quarter panel, wheel, etc.

It's currently in the shop, both claims paid minus my deductible.

Then, my car doesn't start late one night after work and it's in the shop for a quick fix.

No insurance coverage, that's out of pocket.

The coup de gras, provided by Best Buy.

A new laptop for Christmas came complete with a 2-yr service warranty, plus a virus plan that they installed for an extra bill.

The HD Video player didn't work.

I took it back to discover that the HD player is not covered under the $150 warranty they sold me.

That's for hardware issues. The driver is software. Who's the geek now?

They want an extra $30 to fix it.

Maybe I shouldn't complain, it's the cheapest fix.

Only 357 days left in 2008.

After all, it's a leap year. One I'd like to skip over so far.