Well March saw me make a few changes and get a couple new things. Most importantly, during March, I was able to pay off two credit cards, thus leaving me one more to work with. This is a huge deal for me! I’ve been working toward being more fiscally responsible and it feels good to have them paid off. 
I *should* have the last one paid off early next year and will then be credit card debt free. Those pesky student loans are next, but it’ll be quite a while before I can finish paying off 5 years of undergrad, 1 of law school, and 2 of grad school. hah.
I’ve done some pitching for a company over the last year and I finally got a little direct pay back for it. They offered to get me a computer, so I went with an Alienware M11x laptop. Alienware has been one of those products I’ve drooled over for years and years because the price was always so high. The M11x is a smaller laptop with a much nicer pricepoint. So I wound up with a terabyte of disk space, 8 GB of RAM, 720p high def screen, and the fastest processor they had. Hooray for new things. And an even bigger hooray for Alienware … this is a sick laptop.
And speaking of new things, I switched phones and carriers. Year’s ago I switched from Nokia phones to Blackberry devices and then to Android devices. I finally took to plunge and switched over to the iPhone 4s. I have to say that it was a toss up between a Windows Phone or the iPhone because I was ready to try something new. I really liked Android and may go back some day, but for now, Apple has won me over. The primary reason I like the iPhone over Android is that the software is much more polished. Many of the same apps I use existed in both environments, and they all look and function better on the iPhone. The experience is more pleasing. The other reason I switched had to do with the plans offered by carriers. AT&T simply had a better plan at a lower price. Oh, and because I have U-Verse at home, I can combine those bills and so my life is just a hair less complicated. hah.
And when it comes to complications, here is a pain in the butt kind of thing: I was rear-ended on the way home from work Friday. Yes, the car I purchased on Saturday, November 26, 2011 was hit on Friday, March 30, 2012. I made it a whopping 4 months before this redneck in a Ford F250 wasn’t paying attention in stop and go traffic (when it had only recently started lightly raining … so the roads were slick) and he slammed right in to the back of my car. When something like this happens to my new car, I’m of the mindset that I’d prefer it to be a total loss simply because I then don’t have to worry about potential future issues related to the accident or the loss of value on the car. But, I highly doubt this will be a total loss. So, I have to go through the process and launch the claim to recover diminished value. At the end of it all, I’ll have my car fixed and a check for the value loss. Thats a minor plus.
The hassle is what gets me. I get hit by this guy and it destroys the rear end of my car. I have one working break light out of the three, so, of course, I don’t feel its safe to drive. I talked to his insurance company while I was still at the scene and, of course, it doesn’t matter that I feel it is unsafe. No rentals, no help, no nothing from them until 24 – 48 business hours later when they will be in touch to schedule a time to look at my car. So I have to go from Friday evening until sometime next week to even get the process moving. I understand how businesses work and that they want to be sure they don’t incur costs that they shouldn’t, but still, it feels disgusting.
Anyway, this is the second time I’ve had a new vehicle and been hit. The first was in Charlotte when I was t-boned in the mustang. I still consider myself fortunate to not have suffered any injuries. If dealing with a bit of hassle is the price there, I’ll gladly pay it.