Phase 3 Begins

This is a picture of my office during Phase 3 of the storm.  Laptop mounted on pedestal towards the left, sticky notes front and center, Toronto traffic (in the rain) all around.  Bad traffic days = 60 minutes to go 30 miles (refuse to learn Kilometer stuff).  Adjuster Dog rides left of the laptop between Mom &Dad ... she insists on being able to see where we're going!

This here is Adjuster Dog in action.  She loves to travel and we appreciate her assistance.  Oh ... Phase 3 ... Phase 1 was contacting insureds and scoping losses.  Phase 2 was uploading the info into the mighty powerful database ... Phase 3 is meeting with the insureds to settle their claims.  This has been one wacky storm schedule; whatever!

This here is Anne Davey looking like a sorry sack.  Twas very cold and rainy yesterday, thus the hoodie.  Had to borrow Philobertos socks and crocs (he's very generous).  Why?  Because my legs are covered with chigger bites from the knees down (red, swollen, itchy).  I happen to have a steroid cream to apply but it needs to be covered (thus the cool socks).  I know, ya'll are thinking about imitating my style; that's OK.

Till later, Peace & Love & Pray For Storms!

Weird Canadian Stuff

Adjuster Dog is so confused ... she can hardly stand it!  EVERYTHING IS SO EXPENSIVE!

Philoberto speaking in BLUE:

Chicken is over $10.00/lb ... gasoline is over $5.00/gal ... one case of beer is $50.00 ... and everything is in Liters and Kilometers.  It's an English speaking country but everyone's English is difficult to understand; every sentence begins with "sooooo" and every sentence ends in a question, eh?  Adjuster dog has never seen a phone booth in her little life, but they are everywhere!  

On most every corner is not a 7-11 but a Tim Hortons.  We were here for a week before we finally asked someone what they sold; we thought it was like a Dennys or IHOP but NO!  Turns out they are a donut shop, fashioned after Dunkin Donuts, absolutely raving about their coffee of all things.  Seems Krispie Kreme came over, big whoop la, and within a year they were gone and Tim's is here to stay!  

So, on the work front, AD is here for another 2 weeks (at least), things are going well, we are seeing claims, writing reports and now the "phase 3" has begun where the bosses ask us to go see all of our claims and "settle" them. Will take awhile and when you're on a "day rate" so be it.  AD is really happy with her digs, great campground, great WIFI, and lots of grass to sniff and of course do her biz in.

Anne made friends with 2 little boys, Mason and John, they are Brits on holiday for  a month from London, they are very proper and Adjuster Dog thinks they speak funny.  Nice kids.  Everyone is truly agog about the new royal, seems Canada is in the British monarchy, who knew?

This is Amanda and Trent and Philoberto posing under Amanda's palm tree. Pink Flamingos are named "Poncho" and "Lefty" ... very nice addition to the campground!

Allow your eyes to meander to the lower right corner of the egg carton.  Our eggs are "Extra Gross".  Colorado is moving towards all signage in English and Spanish; here it's English and French.

Adjuster Dog Blending In With The Couch

Off to scope more claims ... the people that we're seeing this week waited 2-3 weeks post storm to report their damages.  That's weird but oh well, more work for us!

So until later, Peace & Love & Pray for storms!

Thursday Update

Well we're still working ... loving this storm (adjuster lingo for job) and learned last night that we'll probably be here until August 6 (one extra week)!  That's great news since we're paid a day rate rather than on a fee schedule.  That doesn't mean that we can lay around and eat bon bons; they have us held to a very rigid production schedule.  Today's goal is to have all of our 37 claims uploaded to the company database and I'm proud to report that we will achieve that goal.  Several folks have been struggling and were called to the principals office yesterday.  Yikes!

Other than work, we really don't have fun info to share.  After we're released we;ll begin touring the area.  Niagara Falls is just 1.5 hours from here so we'll hit that for sure.  Not sure what else but I can guarantee it will be fun!  Adjuster friends Amanda and Trent are parked next door and another adjuster Richard is parked on the other side of us.  The weather has been beautiful this week but we don't get to see it; everyone is tied to their computers inside.  

Adjuster Dog now guards the unit rather than the truck.  She's a good little doggy (other than barking at the neighboring four-footers).  This is an overview shot of Adjuster Dog spotting her first horny toad EVER!  Also included is a close-up shot of the little guy. I guess I'm finished for the day cuz I can't figure out how to type below the images, dammit!

So, until later ... Peace & Love & Pray For Storms!

Changes Again

The CAT world is constantly changing ... I figure that CAT Adjusters are adrenalin junkies!  It's so cool to see how it all works from the inside; beginning tomorrow I'll get an even better inside view!  I'll be working in the CAT call center for a few days helping them answer the thousands of calls that are still coming in.  Although I despise the telephone, I'll take it for "the team".

Philoberto will be turned loose for a few days on his own; he is briefed as to how the schedule flows and he'll be fine.  Adjuster Dog, however, will be sad that Mama won't be along taking and uploading photos; she'll get over it.

I'd love to share pics but having data issues now.  Still don't know how long we'll be here.  Adjuster Dog has locked the truck doors at least 3 times daily but we each carry a set of keys so we're good.

Gotta go prep for new adventures.

Peace & Love & Pray for storms!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously WOW!  What a whirlwind it's been this past week.

Got the call @ 6:30AM last Wednesday, wheels up at 11:30AM same day.  Drove till midnight, have no idea where we stayed.  Up at 4AM Thursday, drove to the Canadian border and drama ensued.  After 3 hours with immigration interrogation, we were allowed to enter into Canada; they confiscated the shotgun.  WHAT?????? Yep ... we can have it back when we leave their country, but only if we produce the special piece of paper we were issued.  YEP!  They searched the entire unit and truck (3 gun-toting dudes) and we were not allowed to be in the vicinity whilst they searched.  I got yelled at by a gun-toting dude to "SHORTEN THE LEASH"!  It's true, she was looking around the concrete and the big fat dude was afraid she would bite someone (nobody was there).  RUDE!  Horrible experience at the border!

We arrived at our campground at 9PM, parked in the dark and discovered we had no cell phone or wifi coverage.  Yikes for sure, can't work without wifi so we knew we had to move on but it's hard to find a place to land without a data connection.

We were scheduled to be at the storm office in Mississauga, Ontario at 8AM on Friday morning.  We transferred our stuff and Sadie to the truck, went back to lock the unit door and returned to hear a "click".  Sadie locked the doors; both sets of keys were inside and after 30 minutes of trying to get her to unlock the door and to find a way in, we "dropped" the rear window glass (just $225.00 to repair).  Thank you Adjuster Dog.

When we finally arrived we were issued 15 claims and went to work, kind of.  Had to buy a Garmin GPS and a temporary cell phone because Verizon does not have service for us here.  We got lost on the way home and passed a campground that was closer and cheaper ( with wifi and cell service!). Inquired about taking up residence there, they said "yay", we got the unit, moved it over, and landed at 10PM that night.

Next day we hit the ground running and have been running ever since.

Adjuster Dog guards the truck while we scope claims ... it's 92 degrees and humid so we leave the truck running so she can live to tell about our adventures.  Gas is around $5.10 gallon (US) but she's worth it.  $100.00 per fill ... sheesh!  Everything is uber expensive, 20-30% more than home, yuck!  

People talk fast, drive fast ... and while everyone "technically" speaks English ... it's a struggle to communicate.  Asian, African, Indian, French and of course the Canadian (eh) lingo is amusing.  Traffic is HUGE and we have not yet even been to Toronto (hanging in the burbs, also known as GTA).

We leave the campground by 8AM daily and return around 7PM.  Do more paperwork, fix dinner, more paperwork, off to bed and do it all over again.  It's so crazy busy here we hope to have work for some time.  We love working for this company, it's like a dream come true and we're trying to "shine" so they invite us to play again.

Got no pics to share ... don't know when we can update again ... I'm hoping for a shorter day on Sunday.

Peace and Love and Pray for Storms!

$$$$$$

If you're reading this you might think we're on the road; DON'T BE FOOLED!  We are still fat, dumb and anxious in Thornton!  This is a picture of one Mother Duck and her 8 ducklings to prove we are here ... and bored!  This is the crew on June 12, 2013.  Earlier this week we checked on them to make sure all was well.  Sure enough, all eight ducklings are still swimming with their MAMA ... she is such a patient Mother!  Very Cool!

 
The purpose of this post is to get input from ya'll as to what the following means:

We take Adjuster Dog on daily walks to maintain her girlish figure (OK maybe some for us too).  Last week Anne found $$ on the street.  One $5.00 bill wrapped inside of one $2.00 bill (when was the last time you used a $2.00 bill?).  She also found one quarter and one penny on the same walk.  Phil immediately thanked The Lord for the gift and offered his condolences to the person(s) that lost the cash.  Anne put the $$ in a safe place while pondering its meaning.

On today's walk, Anne found one penny on the street (whatever ... she finds and picks those up regularly).  Shortly thereafter, she found one $20.00 bill on the street ... interesting, right?  Now we're really listening to the message that we're supposed to get ... but we don't know what it is.  Anne says we're supposed to keep our eye on the prize (God's Kingdom) and not worry about day to day things like money; He will take care of our needs.  Phil says, "cool".

What do ya'll think?  We haven't worked in over 6 months ... cash is tight ... two recent "gifts" ... WHAT?

We hope to head to Calgary soon!  So, Peace and Love and pray for storms!