A Good Education is Expensive
It's like my Daddy always said, "A good education is expensive". I'm always amazed at the enormous range of situations that statement covers. I was struck by the truth of it again last night... When my $1400 road bike was stolen. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
There are moments in one's life when you think, "I am a man now." Occasionally when I am walking into the house I pause and think, "This is my house. My parents didn't buy it for me, I didn't steal it, every month I make the money that pays the mortgage." These moments are actually fairly rare, and I only bring them up because last night I had the opposite moment, "You're a child. You can't handle having nice things because you'll do something stupid and ruin them."
Allow me to explain. See a few months ago the garage door opener broke. Now had I been a real man I would have immediately replaced it, but instead I disconnected the chain so it wasn't hanging down in the middle of the garage and since then the wife opens the garage by hand in the morning and we close it at night, and in between then it's open the entire time.
When this started I thought about my bike, I thought, "Perhaps I should lock it to something in the garage, rather than letting it sit there the entire time, a tempting target." But I didn't, and after a while I no longer thought about it. Until last night when I returned from Family Home Evening to discover that my bike was gone. What's interesting it that was all that was gone. There are other bikes, there are other nice things in the garage, but that was it, that was the only thing that was taken. What's even more interesting is that with all the crap in that side of the garage they had to step over quite a bit to even get to the bike.
I have a hard time imagining the situation, because after all the door is closed at night. So someone walked up, probably in broad daylight, climbed over all the crap, picked up the bike and walked away with it... Of course the question now is do I try and get the home owners insurance to replace it? Do I report it to the police? I hesitate to do either, for the reason I mentioned. The last thing I need is two more organizations telling me I'm a child... Plus with depreciation, my high deductible and the possibility it would raise my rates I can't imagine it would be worth it to use the home owner's insurance. And the police are never going to find it either...
How many roads?
There are moments in one's life when you think, "I am a man now." Occasionally when I am walking into the house I pause and think, "This is my house. My parents didn't buy it for me, I didn't steal it, every month I make the money that pays the mortgage." These moments are actually fairly rare, and I only bring them up because last night I had the opposite moment, "You're a child. You can't handle having nice things because you'll do something stupid and ruin them."
Allow me to explain. See a few months ago the garage door opener broke. Now had I been a real man I would have immediately replaced it, but instead I disconnected the chain so it wasn't hanging down in the middle of the garage and since then the wife opens the garage by hand in the morning and we close it at night, and in between then it's open the entire time.
When this started I thought about my bike, I thought, "Perhaps I should lock it to something in the garage, rather than letting it sit there the entire time, a tempting target." But I didn't, and after a while I no longer thought about it. Until last night when I returned from Family Home Evening to discover that my bike was gone. What's interesting it that was all that was gone. There are other bikes, there are other nice things in the garage, but that was it, that was the only thing that was taken. What's even more interesting is that with all the crap in that side of the garage they had to step over quite a bit to even get to the bike.
I have a hard time imagining the situation, because after all the door is closed at night. So someone walked up, probably in broad daylight, climbed over all the crap, picked up the bike and walked away with it... Of course the question now is do I try and get the home owners insurance to replace it? Do I report it to the police? I hesitate to do either, for the reason I mentioned. The last thing I need is two more organizations telling me I'm a child... Plus with depreciation, my high deductible and the possibility it would raise my rates I can't imagine it would be worth it to use the home owner's insurance. And the police are never going to find it either...
How many roads?
posted by DireKobold at 4:05 PM
3 Comments:
Horrible news. An education that you can't trust your neighbors or pedestrian traffic on your dead end street is an education I'd rather not have.
So you mentioned other bikes in the garage. If they're not ridable, I think my mission bike is still hanging in the grandparents' garage. Only needs a tuneup, and then you'd be good to go.
Report it to the cops regardless. You never know, and I've seen a few bikes picked up by cops (although I was dealing with homeless folks who had their bikes stolen by other homeless folks).
By all means turn it in to your homeowners insurance. I seriously doubt that your rates will change, so why pay more for your education than is necessary.
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