NAO Update 6 - A Close Call

I almost drank last night. I didn't, but it was a close thing. We had to get up early this morning because the wife is working, and that played a part in the decision not to drink. I'm glad this morning that we didn't drink last night, but again, it was a close thing.

Two weeks after the transmission went out in my vehicle, and one week after paying over $2200 to have it repaired, I got into a wreck yesterday (Friday) on my way home from work. I rear-ended a car in front of me right after merging onto the bypass; the driver of that car had to stop because wooden pallets were falling off the trailer in front of her.

Good news:

1. Nobody was hurt.
2. The responding officer didn't cite me for the accident because there really wasn't anything I could do to avoid it.
3. The driver cited for "failure to secure load" has insurance, and it's not a fly-by-night outfit like SafeAuto (whom I have a personal grudge against.)
4. This happened in my car, the 15 year-old beater, and not our newer vehicle.
5. I was able to drive the car home, so it doesn't have to be towed
6. We have another vehicle, so I'm not stranded. 
7. I can ride my motorcycle to work, if necessary.
8. I have some funds to buy a cheap, reliable replacement if necessary
9. Nobody was hurt!

Bad news:

1. I JUST PAID TO HAVE THE TRANSMISSION REPAIRED!
2. I'll have to listen to the wife's passive-aggressive complaints about not having her car.
3. The $2200 I spent on the transmission would have gone a long way towards getting a replacement.
4. The at-fault driver's insurance may refuse to pay, saying that I should have been able to stop.
5. If his insurance doesn't pay for my damage, they may try to not pay for the damage to the car I rear-ended.
6. Even if his insurance pays, I'm sure they'll "total" my car, which means I'll get maybe $1000 tops (15 year-old car.)
7. The dash-cam video I should have, which probably wouldn't have made any difference to insurance decisions one way or another, doesn't exist. The data on the card got corrupted somehow (cheap dash-cam cameras will do that) so there's nothing.

All in all, it could have been worse. 

After dinner, I was really tempted to drink, and the wife was all for it! But we knew we'd have to get up early this morning, so I was trying to convince myself that we'd just have one drink, maybe two at the most. I knew, though, that I wouldn't stop at two, and maybe not three. And even if I did stop at one or two, I'd feel like I'd wasted the excuse to drink. I know that sounds kind of fucked up, but it was that more than anything that led me to deciding just not to drink at all. I think the wife was a little disappointed, but like me, this morning she was happy that we'd stuck to our "NAO" pledge.

I'll write another update soon once I find out whether his insurance will pay for my damages, and what I wind up being able to do.