Glad to be here

Its been one week since I had a near fatal accident that shutdown
highway 26 in Portland. Ultimately, a one car accident with only
myself and Rachelle in the passenger seat suffered only minor
bruising, stiffness and swelling that has since subsided, and a
chipped bone in my right thumb. I've heard airbags older than five
years or so have inflicted signifgant injuries on impact to
passengers. The 11 year old airbags in our accident worked perfectly,
despite her 1995 Volkswagen Jetta being totaled after hitting a
barricade dividing east from west, ricocheting across three lanes of
traffic (avoiding the other cars) and finally coming to a stop after
hitting the opposite barricade head on.

It was Memorial Day and I was meeting my family for a picnic. I was
changing lanes from the center to the left. By the time I noticed the
car in my blind spot I was too close to him, I thought, and corrected
to the right with the intent to return to my lane and avoid hitting him.
Doing so I corrected to far and again corrected left to stay in
my lane and hit the first barricade. The whole accident took less then
three seconds I would guess. It felt like three days.

Ironically, a near fatal accident I had in Phoenix 12 years ago
involved me crashing my motorcycle at over 60 miles and hour having
these identical injuries: minor stiffness, swelling... and a chipped
bone in my right thumb.

I am so thankful to God, my family and Rachelle's, my co-workers, and
friends for their love and support.

Glad to be here.