Baby You Can Drive...?

[apple47]

Larry,
I know that some states actually base rates on a person credit report in part.

        I understand this part. I'll let the ACLU handle that.

 What I have an issue with is this;

Further, they sent us a letter stating there would be a negative mark put ONher credit record because otherwise she'd qualify for much lower rates 

               I assume Jet to know what he is talking about.
        I strongly object to an insurance co. putting a black mark  ON  a credit report.  You pay for insurance upfront and there are remedies  by contract if you don't continue your coverage beyond what you have paid for. A method most use to end there coverage ,just let it lapse. No need for a mark on the credit report   In the case of hiring a contractor you pay after the service has been rendered.  If you don't pay ,you get a black mark on your credit report.  Fair enough.   

           Under what condition was the insurance co. justified putting a black mark on a credit report in this case.   I don't get it .



                                                            ...Larry
         

[Ronnie]

Where the state legislatures let big business have their way...consumers suffer from unjust practices.

[Turboguy]

Sorry Gator, I think I got confused as to whose wife was taking the test.  I meant to ask Turboguy. 

Ronnie,  VWRW officially joined the ranks of the liscenced drivers today passing her test with flying colors.  Now I can start worrying anytime I am not with her and the phone rings. 

[KenC]

Ronnie,  VWRW officially joined the ranks of the liscenced drivers today passing her test with flying colors.  Now I can start worrying anytime I am not with her and the phone rings. 

Congrats VWRW!!!!!!!!!!
That is a huge step and you should be proud to have accomplished it!
KenC

[viking]

Hey VWRW

Great job and good luck. Please let me know when you are in my area ....so I can park my car and stay off the streets!!   

[Ronnie]

Ronnie,  VWRW officially joined the ranks of the liscenced drivers today passing her test with flying colors.  Now I can start worrying anytime I am not with her and the phone rings. 

Boy do I know that feeling.  She needs to go somewhere everyday and each time she calls, I brace myself for bad news.  Knock on wood, so far, so good. 

But yesterday I had a meeting in a town about 50 miles away.  She wanted to go with me and wait in the car just so she could drive back home.  I had a hard time finding the office building and when I came out to the car where she had waited for two hours, she told me that she wanted to go find a Starbucks she thought she saw earlier.  She got disoriented and ended up getting on the freeway.  Only because she could see the tall building I was in from the freeway did she manage to work her way back.

She's still learning to walk but wants run in a 400 meter race already.

Congrats Turboguyand VWRW!

[Turboguy]

VWRW has her nose stuck in books today doing her homework and asked me to thank KenC, Viking and Ronnie for the nice comments and congratulations.   

I would advise anyone traveling through western PA on the Turnpike to take a detour up 79 and across 80 to avoid driving in the Beaver Falls area which is now a severe danger zone.   Yes, if you see travel advisories on CNN to avoid this area you know why.

[KenC]

Boy do I know that feeling.  She needs to go somewhere everyday and each time she calls, I brace myself for bad news.  Knock on wood, so far, so good. 

But yesterday I had a meeting in a town about 50 miles away.  She wanted to go with me and wait in the car just so she could drive back home.  I had a hard time finding the office building and when I came out to the car where she had waited for two hours, she told me that she wanted to go find a Starbucks she thought she saw earlier.  She got disoriented and ended up getting on the freeway.  Only because she could see the tall building I was in from the freeway did she manage to work her way back.

She's still learning to walk but wants run in a 400 meter race already.

Congrats Turboguyand VWRW!

I think driving on the expressway is a lot easier than driving on surface roads.

When Lena was first driving in America, we lived in Michigan.  She would always call me and ask for directions.  It was pretty easy to help her out as I lived there all my life and the roads were laid out with a sense of order to them.  The main "north south" roads radiate out from Detroit like spokes of a wheel while the main east west streets are "mile roads." (9 Mile Road is one mile north of 8 Mile Road and one mile south of 10 Mile Road)  It was easy to explain and easy to learn.

Then we moved to California where the roads snake around mountains and ravines and make no sense at all.  Ahh, but the worm has turned for us now.  I now ask Lena how to get places.
KenC

[Misha]

Ronnie,  VWRW officially joined the ranks of the liscenced drivers today passing her test with flying colors.  Now I can start worrying anytime I am not with her and the phone rings. 

Congratulations! My wife also passed her drivers license last week. We managed to do it without much need for a professional instructor: we hired one for an hour, mainly so he could drive with my wife and then give me some advice as to what we had to work on so my wife could pass the exam. I was probably happier than my wife that she passed. Teaching your wife to drive is certainly one of the greatest tests any marriage can go through   

[ScottinCrimea]

Even more trying than teaching a RW to drive is trying to give them directions anywhere.  Even among Russians, it's a 5 minute discussion on how to get to a place two blocks away and then they still aren't sure.  I've drawn more maps than Magellan since my wife has been here.  One RW friend of hours was in near hysterics the first time she came to our house because it was impossible for me to explain how to get here with less than two turns off the freeway.  We were on the phone giving instructions most of her drive here and she only got more nervous. We actually had to promise to go out to the corner where she could see us.  She still turned down the wrong street.

One of the strangest things for me has been explaining which exit to take off the freeway.  I have always known the exits by their names, for example "The Downtown Exit"  Now there are signs going way back saying, "Downtown exit 2 miles....Downtown exit 1/2 mile", etc.  This is entirely useless for her.  She must know the number of the exit.   I couldn't tell you the number of an exit anywhere I've lived.  I'm forced to go online to Mapquest and find the exit numbers anytime I give her directions anywhere.  "The Downtown exit" just won't cut it.

[Blues Fairy]

Why don't you guys get your gals a little GPS unit with a pleasant voice in it telling them where to go.
I expropriated one from my husband and use it on every new route I have to take.  Quite helpful and easy to use once you get used to it.

[groovlstk]

Why don't you guys get your gals a little GPS unit with a pleasant voice in it telling them where to go.
I expropriated one from my husband and use it on every new route I have to take.  Quite helpful and easy to use once you get used to it.

My wife and I were headed to a cottage in Vermont for a week of skiing last February. I had the GPS guiding us as it was pitch black and snowing as we hit the mountains. My wife was a little nervous and couldn't stop gabbing, but each time she'd talk she'd be interrupted by the GPS's female voice, advising me to keep right or continue for x miles, etc. After four or five times she was exasperated. "Blin, it's like there's a woman in our back seat competing for your attention!" 

[Blues Fairy]

My wife and I were headed to a cottage in Vermont for a week of skiing last February. I had the GPS guiding us as it was pitch black and snowing as we hit the mountains. My wife was a little nervous and couldn't stop gabbing, but each time she'd talk she'd be interrupted by the GPS's female voice, advising me to keep right or continue for x miles, etc. After four or five times she was exasperated. "Blin, it's like there's a woman in our back seat competing for your attention!" 

Aren't there any GPS units with MALE voices? 

[groovlstk]

What self-respecting guy would want another guy - in person or synthetic - to know he's essentially lost?

 

I have a Garmin Nuvi 250w and it comes w/several voice options, of course male is an option, but I'd sooner toss the unit out the window and drive in circles for a few hours rather than have him question my sense of direction!

[KenC]

Why don't you guys get a little GPS unit with a pleasant voice in it telling them where to go. .

What?  And replace Lena?
KenC

[ConnerVT]

What?  And replace Lena?
KenC

This made me laugh.  My wife is always quick to remind me that she received the highest grades in two orientation classes that she took.   

We were returning from a quick vacation from the coast of Maine, where I missed my turn, and continued happily down the Interstate, until I realized I was well past where I needed to be.  My wife jabbed me a little, saying I was like her father, who is always getting lost.

I reminded her we weren't lost, we just weren't where we wished to be.  Besides, here father always came home, so he has never been lost.  Just occasionally misplaced.   

We still laugh about how I kept teller her, "Even though I missed our turn, I still love you..."   

[KenC]

This made me laugh.  My wife is always quick to remind me that she received the highest grades in two orientation classes that she took.   

We were returning from a quick vacation from the coast of Maine, where I missed my turn, and continued happily down the Interstate, until I realized I was well past where I needed to be.  My wife jabbed me a little, saying I was like her father, who is always getting lost.

I reminded her we weren't lost, we just weren't where we wished to be.  Besides, here father always came home, so he has never been lost.  Just occasionally misplaced.   

We still laugh about how I kept teller her, "Even though I missed our turn, I still love you..."   

I hear ya Conner.  All I know is that it is sometimes aggravating being married to "Mrs. Mapquest."  I always tell Lena that she has a great sense of direction for a girl!
 
KenC

[BC]

I hear ya Conner.  All I know is that it is sometimes aggravating being married to "Mrs. Mapquest."  I always tell Lena that she has a great sense of direction for a girl!
 
KenC

Here there are many roads that lead to Rome..

[Ronnie]

I hate to break up the light hearted banter here but....

I just came back from the mailbox.  It was literally stuffed with advertising letters and pamplets from criminal defense attorneys who specialize in defending DUI cases.  They were all addressed to my 23-year-old stepson :burnedup:

Apparently he got arrested for DUI and probably for driving without insurance as I told him I was taking him off my insurance because he didn't honor his promise to pay his share of it.

His mother is upset and embarrassed.  This is his second arrest - the first involved he and his friends being drunk and getting into a fight.  I helped him with that one getting it reduced to an infraction distubing the peace, but I warned him that if anything similar happened again, he was on his own.

The pity is that he is not really that bad a kid....he's just so damn stupid!  I think his already limited opportunities just got more limited.

Guys, and gals, I'm ever more of the opinion that the epidemic of worthlessness of so many FSU men is why there is an exodus of FSUW.  I can't see that ending anytime soon.

[KenC]

Ronnie,
So sorry to hear.  Just remember,kids will be kids.
KenC

[Ronnie]

Alcohol culture?

[ScottinCrimea]

I think it has more to do with youthful stupidity than culture.

[Ronnie]

The vast majority of the ladies I met in FSU, when referring to the cause of their divorces, blamed his drinking too much.  In fact, I can't think of one who didn't point to alcohol as the reason.  Being able to drink is considered a mark of one's manhood.  I remember watching an old Soviet era movie where the protagonist had a drinking contest with a military officer.

[ScottinCrimea]

The vast majority of the ladies I met in FSU, when referring to the cause of their divorces, blamed his drinking too much.  In fact, I can't think of one who didn't point to alcohol as the reason.  Being able to drink is considered a mark of one's manhood.  I remember watching an old Soviet era movie where the protagonist had a drinking contest with a military officer.

And have you ever asked the divorced RW why they drank so much?

Of course it is much easier for a RW to blame her husband's drinking than to mention bad behavior on her part or simple incompatibilities.  What do you think they would say?  It's easy to use his drinking as the scapegoat. While not discounting at all the problems with alcohol among RM, we shouldn't so easily just accept this as the one or only reason.

[Ronnie]

Scott, what you're saying who have weight (and I have floated the idea myself previously) but that doesn't explain the single guys drinking so much, does it?

After my stepson got his DUI, it turns out that the majority of his FSU single buddies living in the states, have had their own DUIs.  Most of the drunks I witnessed in FSU were younger, presumably single, guys, some not much older than 20.

Again, these young boys grow up from an early age with the idea that drinking is manly and the more you can hold, the more of a man you are.  My stepson told me that his .17 alcohol level was for him not a problem.  I told him it must have been or why did he get pulled over for driving erratically, driving over a curb, etc.

So, I'm thinking the culture is the problem.