February 7, 2008 - This morning started out with me taking the dogs out at 3:30 AM. They didn't want to sleep. They just wanted to run around the bedroom making a lot of noise. So I let them out. Then around 6:45 AM I heard rain downpouring. Uh oh, the dogs were still out there. Rather than sitting in one of the places in the yard that is protected from the rain, they were out running around in the dirt, having a good time. So I had to let them in and feed them in the laundry room. Ellie stayed home again today sick. I had another hard day of labor at work, cutting cables off printers all day long. After work I met up with Mike at my house, and we loaded the canoe up, and went to Taylor Lake to hunt for discs. Our theory was that Thursday afternoon would be the best day to find discs. Well, not this Thursday. The rain raised the water level even higher, and caused the water to be really murky. We didn't see any discs, and had to hurry back to the car to make it out of the park before the park closed. I got dressed to go to the gym, and was on my way, when Ellie called and told me she was in a car accident. I drove to the scene and it took about an hour and a half for the FHP Community Service Officer to fill out and brief everyone on the paperwork. No tickets handed out, no one was hurt (although supposedly one of the drivers was going to the hospital), but Ellie's car took 95% of the damage. We left the car in the McDonalds parking lot right nearby and went home. I made hamburgers for dinner and by then it was bedtime. I was disappointed with a few things that the FHP guy said. First, he admitted that no one was getting tickets since all the drivers were women and he didn't think "beautiful women" should get tickets. He said if I was driving, he would have given out a ticket. Ok, everyone suspects that this is the case with men and women, but who actually comes out and admits it? Ridiculous. Second, the FHP guy said that everyone should feel entitled to go to the hospital to get checked out because "you've already paid for it in the years of car insurance payments you've made". That is ridiculous and irresponsible to say. I agree that if someone feels they were hurt, they should be looked at, but to encourage people to go because they already paid for it only further increases all of our insurance costs. Insurance companies wouldn't charge as much today as they do if they didn't have to spend as much on doctors and lawyers used frivolously. It's nice to know the hospital is there when I need it, but I'm not going to waste my time and everyone elses money just so that I can try to get a few extra bucks out of the insurance company. Something is wrong with our society.