God Dammit, Iran

While we were or were not looking for WMD in Iraq, Iran is rattling their sabre and choking our chain.

I would dare say that one of the hazards of messing around with nations in order to gain "stability" in the Middle East is that eventually that country you pissed off will later be a major pain in your ass later on. Yesterday, they booted out the Shah and took some hostages. Today, nukes. Great.

I find myself fascinated by the Hajj ritual. More thoughts to come on this.

In light of the recent storming activity in my part of the state, I acquired a quote for Flood Insurance. I am in a low risk zone (good news!), and it looks like flood insurance would cost me 300 buckaroos per year. Or about $25 per month, essentially. Quite worth it if we're building up to some nifty-keen sudden flooding.

My ipod was acting a bit wonky the past few days. I bit the bullet and did a full restore, and now I'm re-syncing the ipod with my computer. That bad boy should be churning all night to restore 6000 plus songs onto the iPod.

I worked late tonight engaging in much heavy lifting of Cisco routers. I feel so brawny, yet slightly sore.

Issues of Indemnity

You, the gentle reader, get to live vicariously through my adventures in Insurance Coverage.

I’ve been doing some analysis of my insurance coverage for my home in light of the fact that the recent flooding has affected a number of northern California folks with regard to flooding. Some folks in Vacaville were not in designated “flood planes”, but due to poor infrastructure, levees in our area and other “no-floodums” may suddenly turn low risk areas into high risk areas.

I’m still feeling lucky in Sacramento with regard to Earthquakes, so I’m still going to hang loose on that. But flood insurance. I’ll be getting flood insurance.

It is interesting to note that when you get flood insurance, there is a 30 day waiting period. I suppose this prevents the mindset of “Hey, it’s raining hard! Let me get coverage” and then promptly suffering a loss. So, if any of you are in a similar boat, be prepared for that. Flood Insurance is a government run policy, but many Insurance companies will broker it for you.

As a result of seeking a quote for flood insurance, the question of the replacement cost of my home came up. My policy is set to replace my dwelling for up to 125% of the value I insure it at. There is some adjustment for inflation from year to year on my policy. I originally insured the home for $113,000, as that was what it was appraised at. Remember this is not the same as the purchase price, which also includes the cost of the land upon which my home was built. With inflation, my humble little ‘ome was insured for 148,000. Given current housing costs, I didn’t think that was right. So I asked for a re-evaluation of the cost to replace my home, as I have not had that done for 6 years.

It’s a good thing I did. The evaluation came in at $177,000. That was within $8,000 of 125% of what my home was covered for. Thankfully, with my policy, my home would be replaced for 125% of that in the event of a total loss. Now I have some peace of mind, as well as the knowledge that I probably could wait about 7 years before evaluating my home’s replacement cost, barring any remodeling efforts of a significant value. The increase in coverage did give my insurance carrier an extra 100 bucks of my wages, though. But that’s okay, because being underinsured would suck if my house was flooded out or burned down (because of the Earthquake candle I keep well lit).