*happy insurance dance*

[wendyzski]

With careful budgeting as well combining items (ie: rather than replacing the laptop AND the portable DVD, I'm getting a laptop WITH DVD playing capability) I will be able to replace everything without going out of pocket - even after the deductible.

I have ordered a Dell Outlet laptop that is much more more suited to my needs than the one that was stolen (even if the keyboard and sound had worked) for significantly less than I was allowed to spend, and have documented my request to recover the depreciation on it. As of right now, provided everything goes as smoothly as it has so far, I can spend $63 on a replacement camera (from either eacole or e-bay) and still break even.

While I could have gotten all kinds of shiny new laptop for what I was allowed to spend, I went outlet for 2 significant reasons:

• 1) I do NOT want to deal with Vista. Have seen no compelling reason to learn it yet, so I'd much rather my desktop, my laptop, and my office workstation all work the same thx.


• 2) Since I have dial-up at home, I wanted an actual modem. Those don't come standard any more.

So while I am not going to replace all the individual items per se, I am replacing and upgrading the functionality of them. I can still do the same stuff, with less equipment to tote around, and I can do it without spending any cash. OooooOOOO!

And to make you all even more jealous - our insurance vendor is buying us all lunch today! (which is good because my Right Style Lemongrass Chicken is slowly melting on my kitchen counter as we speak....