Geez...leave my car alone.

Ugh. My car had super bad luck during this spring break. First of all, a rock hit my windshield, so I had to get that repaired - I didn't want it to spread and have to get the whole thing replaced. Fracture mechanics, anyone?

I was thinking about fixing it myself, so I went to automotive stores in the area to look for windshield repair kits. They were selling them at ACE Hardware for around 20 bucks (a pretty good deal - it costs about $200 to replace Toyota windshields), so I bought one and started to head out the door.

An old man stopped me as I was leaving, and told me that a local car wash place repaired cracks professionally for about $50. "Hmm," I thought. "I think I'm going to check the reviews of this repair kit online and see if they're good. If not, I'll listen to the old man." The reviews were baaaddd, so I took my car to the car wash. To get the window repaired.

They did a really good job! There's a tiny, almost undetectable dent where the rock hit the glass, but the cracks that emanated from the origin are gone. $55. Car wash on the corner of N. Main St. and Treat Blvd (across from the Bev Mo) in Walnut Creek.

The guys (Richard and Salva) who took care of it were really cool! They were Christians, too, so I gave them cards to order free study bibles (check this site out http://www.biblesforamerica.org/). I hope they enjoy that bible as much as I do.

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This is what happened today:

Notice anything missing?

This is more for me (so that I have documentation from the incident while it's fresh in my mind), so there might be a little more detail than you'd care for. I was driving on 680-S at around 6:20 PM, on the way to meet good friends for dinner (review will be posted on yelp.com for Meridian restaurant). Here's a little foretaste, though:

Crawfish Po Boy Sandwich with Fries. Drooollll....

Back to the car. That's pretty much the extent of the damage, by the way. Scratched passenger side windows and body, scratched rims, and missing side view mirror. Good thing you only need two mirrors on a car to drive legally.

This is what happened:

I was in the lane marked with the gray oval on 680-S driving straight (I had been in that lane for about 1 mile, so it's not like we changed lanes at the same time), when a man in the lane to the right of me (entering the freeway) changed lanes into my car. It was a pretty quick impact, which is why I think the damage wasn't that extensive. Both of us were under speed limit because there were still a lot of cars on the road and we were in the right lanes.

We pulled over here at the spot right before the yellow traffic sign:

and exchanged info after I got out of the car on the passenger's side (didn't want to get out on the freeway side). The lady (passenger) in the car got out to take pictures of the damage to our vehicles, which was pretty dangerous of her - the damage was on the driver's side of her vehicle, so she was right next to the lane where cars were going 50-60 MPH. I tapped her on the shoulder and suggested that we pull off the freeway and find a parking lot off the N. Main exit.

We drove to this Motel 6 off of N. Main street, finished taking pictures (good thing I had my digital camera), and then parted ways.

I filed the claim with AAA here in the parking lot, and then went off to Berkeley to wind down with my best CAL friends. It was much needed at that point.

The person who hit my car and his passenger seemed nice, but I sure hope they're honest. It'd be pretty messed up if they tried anything shifty. The things that makes me a little nervous are that they didn't apologize (I guess that's standard in these situations), and that the lady said that she didn't feel anything (regarding the impact of the accident). The accident was strange, too. The way both of our cars were damaged makes it seem like we were almost side-by-side upon impact. He should have seen me if he was planning on changing lanes. I guess I just have to leave this one up to God. He is the "Righteous Judge" or something.

One thing I've been experiencing is that you're a lot less anxious when you let things go and leave the major decisions up to God. Philippians 4:6-7 "In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."

In any case, this is a hassle. I hope everything goes smoothly *crossing fingers*. I don't like wasted time.

I guess I should thank God that I'm okay (and that the other people are too). Bad things can happen with cars on the freeway. And there were a lot of cars on the freeway when I was driving. So thank you, Lord, for taking care of me.

life

It's crazy how big of an effect three weeks can have on your life. I was expecting (pessimistically) to revert to my old self upon my return to the States, but it's been over five weeks since I've been back and I'm still flying high. And it's not like I haven't been through some things since I've been back that could have pushed me down.

Exhibit #1: After two weeks of volunteering on a construction project for a Christian conference center and a week long Christian conference in Southern California, I totaled my car while driving back up to the bay. The whole experience has been really interesting, and I picked my brain for weeks trying to figure out how/why it happened.

Here's the reenactment of the accident: I was right at the 580-680 interchange, in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I figured it was a good time to drink some water because nothing was really happening on the road, so I picked up a water bottle and unscrewed the cap. Somehow, it slipped out of my hand completely open, and fell on my side of the car drenching the floor of the driver's side. I looked down to assess the damage/retrieve the bottle (didn't want it to stick under the pedals), and when I looked back up, all the cars were stopped. I braked hard (I was only going like 10-15 miles an hour, so I wasn't in danger of getting hurt), but it was too late. I rear ended a silver pickup truck, and we pulled over to the side to assess the REAL damage. It didn't even look like anything happened to the truck, but this is what happened to my car:



Basically, the truck was tall and had a narrow metal bar attached to the bumper. It hit my hood (not the bumper) in the perfectly wrong spot, pushing the engine in a few inches and pulling the rest of the front up. It was a terrible, terrible example of the effects impulse, stress concentrations, and conservation of momentum can have. Sometimes it sucks being an engineer because you can describe these things in technical terms.

The funny thing is that I didn't even get that adrenaline rush when it happened (I wasn't going that fast), and I just started to call on the Lord softly and pray. Apparently, a cop was a few cars behind us, saw it happened, and took care of the exchanging of info for us. He told me not to worry because I have insurance, and my automatic response surprised me: "Yeah, and it's a good opportunity to experience the Lord's supply, too." The cop gave me a funny look (I think he was expecting me to have a nervous breakdown or something), gave me directions back to the freeway, and then took off.

Miraculously, I was able to drive my car home going 50 in the slow lane - the engine was making funny sounds - and during the 30 minute trip, a car in front of me was driving just as slowly and had the license plate "GRACE." That was a sign right there. It was like the Lord was telling me that I can experience His grace, no matter what happens to me. Either that, or some 60 year old Asian lady named Grace got a car for her birthday. I like the first explanation better.

This is the aftermath: AAA came to check out the car, deemed it a total loss, and wrote me a check for $13,481. We still owed $2400 on the car, so I came out with $11,081 (the blue book price of the car is $9000). I spent the last three weeks researching cars, working out insurance issues, and buying a car (which was a really enlightening, but time-consuming experience). These are the major details:

1) No one was injured, and the other vehicle didn't report damage.
2) I used the check from AAA as the down payment on a 2010 Corolla LE. My sister came with me to check out dealerships (thanks Channon!!!), and we got it for $16,800 out the door, including tax and license (Invoice was $16300). We got a better deal on it than on the 2009s that we looked at, and it was an even better deal than my 2005 Corolla S was. It was pretty funny because after we got the offer my sister went outside to call other Toyota dealers in the bay area (we had their phone numbers), and they said that they couldn't beat it and to take the offer. Go Fremont Toyota. The saleslady, Becca, was pretty cool too.

It's actually a really good time to buy a car. Toyota has $1000 rebates for recent college graduates, APRs are really low, and a new law allows you to deduct the sales tax of a new car purchased after February 2009. If you have an old car that gets less than 21 MPG, you can get a $3500-$4500 rebate through the Cash for Clunkers program, too.



A lot of consideration went into the car I chose. I wanted something safe, reliable, with good fuel economy, that I could pay off in three years (in case I decide to go to Europe), and that would be big enough in case I need to transport people/items. I almost got a Yaris because I thought they would be cheaper, but it was only about a $1000 difference in final price.
3) AAA opened up a new policy for me (I was under my parent's plan before), and because I have good grades/safety features on the new car the premium on my new plan is pretty much unchanged from what it was on my parent's plan. It essentially didn't affect my parents or my car insurance plan financially. I do have one point on my record because of the accident, though. It'll be taken off in three years.
4) Most importantly, the experience was not stressful at all. I really have been experiencing the Lord's grace and peace.

Basically, I got a new car for under $7,000, I'm building credit (I took over the car payments), and no one was hurt. Someone shared 1 Peter 1:7 with me, which says "So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold, which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That's the only way I can explain this experience.

Exhibit #2: This one isn't as big. The day after I totaled my car, and during my first week back to working full time, I got the flu. I went to work with a fever that whole week, while dealing with new tasks and sorting through the car insurance paperwork. It was like rubbing salt in a cut, but I was still happier that week than I was before I went to Europe.

There are at least two more big things that happened/are happening, but I don't feel like sharing them on my blog because they're about my family members.

I don't think this trip had such a big effect on me merely because I've never traveled far - it's something a lot deeper than that. I know that I will travel a lot more in the future, but this experience will always be special because I've never experienced God being this real to me. Interestingly, the biggest thing I noticed is that I don't really like to drink anymore. I did drink a little twice with my friends after I got back, but nothing major. I haven't told anyone this, but I used to drink by myself at night - not at "alcoholic" levels, but enough to get me to sleep and enough for it not to be normal. Now, all I need is to go to the gym and I can sleep ok. That's a pretty big blessing.

This pretty much brings me back to today. I finally caught up to life (or it caught up with me), and now you know why I've been MIA since I've been back to the bay. And why I have a new ride.