Gustav and Ike

I started my new job last week and on day 3, I was deployed to Hurricane Gustav to work two huge tree-on-houses claims. It's very unusual for a new adjuster to get two claims like that off the bat, but I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself. I stayed in New Orleans and drove to Baton Rouge for both claims.

And Monday, I am heading down to Hurricane Ike. I am not sure yet where I am going, but I think they are putting us all up in San Antonio and we'll be driving back and forth to the Houston area. Not really sure yet on that one but we'll see.

To all of my readers in the Gulf Coast areas of Texas and Louisiana, I will keep you in my prayers. I know that this is a hard time for you, especially those that suffered severe property damage to their homes and those that are without power. Just hang in there.

A little hurricane humor to share from my travels...I recently picked up a souvenir t-shirt on Bourbon Street. It reads:

FEMA EVACUATION PLAN
RUN MOTHERF***ERS RUN!

I don't know...I found it funny in a sick way because FEMA just disgusts me. One of my insureds actually approached the FEMA truck asking for a tarp to put on their house that had a tree on it and the driver said, "Oh, I'm sorry, these tarps are for the next parish over." My OTHER policyholder actually was told by FEMA that in order to even 'consider' their request to have the generator paid for that they bought so they could stay in their home (since there was no power and no hotels in the area with vacancies that were open), they would have to see the original receipt. Not a copy, not a fax, but the original. Since I agreed to pay for it anyway, the insured gave it to me when I was out there, and I had to turn around and overnight it to her the day after so she could give it to him. And then the jerk never even showed up the next morning to collect it.

WHATEVER. And they wonder why they are ridiculed. I get that they are overwhelmed and wading through layers of red tape, but do they have to act like jackasses in the process?

I'm home today doing laundry, packing and cooking. I made spaghetti and salads for P and I and I have brownies in the oven right now. I need a little normalcy before I hit the road Monday!

See y'all on the flip side. Be safe.

Has it really been over four months?

Wow. I can't believe my last post was April 22.

So much has happened over the last four months...but the biggest thing to report is that effective yesterday, I am now a regular field adjuster again. No more supervision. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't hugely relieved. The last two years have been extremely stressful and I am looking forward to resuming life again as a field adjuster.

This time will be different though...I am joining our large loss department which handles losses in the lower 48 states that are at least $75,000 in size. I will be receiving a new claim every tenth day. In other words, I will be traveling a lot; however, it is 100% virtual and I will never have to go into an office. My boss lives in Little Rock. I am so excited and this is SO great!

And...we just got back from a week in Destin, Florida...Faye was kind to us and we got home just ahead of Gustav, and the weather was beautiful. I was stung twice by jellyfish and got sunburned on the second to last day, but otherwise the trip's weather was gorgeous every day.

And...Moira just brought a mouse in the house and dumped it in the middle of the kitchen. Very nice.

That's all for now!