News clip/update

Here's a video clip from the news:
http://www.kvue.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=48578

I talked to the insurance company of the driver and found out she only had $15000 worth of coverage for property damage. This is the minimal legal amount in the state of Texas. My homeowner's insurance will pay for any damages in excess of $15000, except I have to pay a 1% deductible, which is $1700. $15000 seems like a paltry amount of insurance for property damage. That won't even cover the cost of a mid-level vehicle . I don't know if it'll be enough to cover the damages to my house. If the damages are over $15000, I'll ask the offending party to pay for the deductible. Technically, I don't have to claim this on my homeowner's insurance and I could force the offending party to pay for any damages over $15000, but I don't want to do that since it could be very messy. If the offending party decides not to pay I'd have to file a lawsuit to get the money. The easiest option is to have my homeowners insurance pay for the excess damages and ask the offending party to pay the deductible, which would be small in comparison to what they would have to pay otherwise..

I don't actually know how much it will take to repair my house. I will talk to some repair people this week to get some estimates. The insurance company will also send people out to evaluate the damage. If the damages are uner $15000, then I don't have to worry about anything.

Accident

The accident occurred around 5 to 5:30 AM. I was sleeping at the time and was awoken by a LOUD boom accompanied by the shaking of my house. I didn't know what it was so I looked out the window. It was dark and hard to see anything since there's a tree right in front of the house. I saw some movement at the street though. I went downstairs to investigate further. I didn't turn on the light at that point. Instead, I put on my shoes and went directly outside. That's when I saw the car in my house. The driver was outside her car trying to reach inside to turn it off. She was disoriented and had blood on her face.
My neighbors at that time had rushed out to see what was going on. They had already called the police at that point. The ambulance and fire department arrived on the scene in about 10 or so minutes. The police arrived about 10 minutes after that.
The driver said the door on her car could only be opened from the outside. She said she didn't properly shut the door and had rolled down the window and reached outside to the handle to open and shut the door while driving. My guess is that she was leaning against the door and when she opened the door from the outside, the door swung open. Since her arm was around the outside of the door, the door pulled her out of the car. At that point, she must have lost control of the car so she jumped out. Eventually, the car careened through my neighbors yard into my yard and finally into my house. It missed my trees and missed my car but hit my house. If it would've missed my house, the car would've probably crashed into my neighbors master bedroom.
The women who crashed into my house lives like a block away. Her house number is 17840 and my house number if 17812. She said she was on her way to work.

Maybe it's time for me to move...

(more picture are available at www.rayyeung.com/gallery)

HOLY SH1T!!!

I'm still in shock.. I'm not even sure what to say. It's not everyday that a car crashes into your house. Yes, a car really did crash into my house.

New Years Eve Pics

I finally got around to putting up the New Year's Eve pics. They are at
www.rayyeung.com/gallery

Allergy Mania

My allergies are killing me. My eyes are constantly itching and my nose running. As bad as my allergies are, this isn't even a particularly bad year for allergies. I remember previous years being much worse. Last year, I would sneeze 4 or 5 times walking from my car to the entrance of my office building, which is only like 50 yards. Last year, I was hooked on Claritin for a month straight.
It just happens that Austin is one of the worst places for allergies in the US. In 2004, it ranked #1 as the fall allergy capital according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. I don't think it ranked as high in 2005.
There's actually a name for the winter allergies here, which is 'cedar fever'. Many people aren't allergic to cedar when they move down here, but seem to develop an allergy after several years. I believe my allergies to cedar started in the 2003 season. Cedar trees release pollen in the winter, with it peaking in January. Sometimes, you can see even dust clouds of pollen in the air around the cedar trees.