Today was the first time I paid for parking while living here in Auckland. I feel dirty inside.

Things I’ve spent way too long on this week:

• 1 hour 15 minutes, waiting in line to get a bus pass.
• 2 hours 15 minutes traveling on said buses.
• 2 hours rescuing my CDs from the CD stacker that was damaged in the car accident.
• 2 hours trying to diagnose a problem with a server, over the phone.
• Many hours not sleeping when I should have been…

On the upside, I’m slowly getting settled in to Auckland (bus-related incidents included). More to come on that front.

Pre-post Side Note: I was going to title this post something along the lines of “The True Cost of Meetings”, but then realised that wouldn’t do it justice. I then thought something like “Counting Blessings” might work, but it occurred to me that this could sound boring, meaning people wouldn’t read it…. alas, now you’re left with the title I ended up choosing…

There really is no catchy way to say this: At approximately 10am this morning, in the fast lane of the Southern Motorway into Auckland, carnage happened. The guy in the car in front of me slowed down suddenly, meaning I came to a screeching halt to avoid hitting him. Unfortunately, the guy behind me also came to a screeching halt, the halt part of that event provided by the rear of my car! …Subsequently causing my car to be pushed into the car in front.

Thankfully no one was seriously hurt… well, except for my poor car. Chances of survival: minimum (still waiting for the insurance assessor to call, but it doesn’t look good). The good news is that I don’t have to pay the excess on the insurance, because I’m not at fault.

Please pray for the three of us involved that there would be speedy recovery from any whiplash (I’m feeling it, so I’m sure they are too). Please also pray for the other two guys that they don’t get too stressed out by the ordeal! (Especially the guy who is legally at fault; thankfully he did have insurance though). Please also pray that if I have to find a new car, I can find the right one quickly! (I don’t know when I’m going to have time? How do I finish support raising without a car?)

Oh yes, that other thing. Both car accidents I’ve now been involved in were on the way to staff meetings… I knew staff meetings had hidden costs!