Riverside, Jacksonville, Florida. ©Calvin Palmer 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Leica D-Lux 3, 28mm equivalent, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, f/7.1.

This one of the most anticipating mixtape of the year. Curtiss King put a lot of work in this projects from making the beats writing lyrics the long hours recording session, he put is heart into this project. So we have 8 Days until it drop. So Me & Lesa J is doing a countdown, so countdown with us.

Release Party @ The Common Ground Dec.6th,09

Damar Davis Covers Bangin On A Trash Can by Curtiss King

Download the original song ||FREE DOWNLOAD||

-Noa James

The screening of our “secret” Public Service Announcement is going to take place on December 4th, 2009. tbh productions + Frugo Productions + Girl on Girl Concepts have shot a PSA promoting the NEW symbol for Women.

Join us for the first ever premiere in Riverside, CA. Meet the producers, the actresses, the filmmakers(that’s us!), and many other like-minded women. (Men are also welcome)

When:  Friday December 4^th, 2009

             8pm

Where: Coffee Roasters

              5223 Canyon Crest Dr. (in the Canyon Crest Towne Center)

              Suite #20

              Riverside, CA 92507

 RSVP:  webmaster@girlongirlconcepts.com     …bring your friends!! (not necessary, but encouraged)

For more info, contact:   webmaster@girlongirlconcepts.com

www.GirlOnGirlConcepts.com

This week I had several calls from clients asking about real estate investment opportunities in other parts of the state. One of those areas requested was Riverside so I took the opportunity to talk with Robert Markley about the market conditions there. The evolving aspect of real estate investment in his region will be looked back on as a text-book case of long-term investors making shrewd timely decisions.

All the Best,

Lance

Lady and the Lost Boys Nov 28,  The Old Fire Station, Windsor

Playing music from the Berkshire school of damp labradors, green wellies, moist Edinburgh woollens and  ‘Mummy Knows Best ’ attitudes, this band played a short but sweet set at the Firestation Arts Centre, Windsor on Sat 28t November.

The smallish crowd sat in patient lines, cross-legged on the wooden floor, humble like children in the school end-of-term concert.

Lady and the Lost Boys are a female lead five-piece band with chunky bass guitar, tantalizing percussion, emotive keyboards and a multi-talented muso who bounces between guitar, keys and even supplemental percussion, providing layers of texture as each song unfolds.

The introspective topics of the songs are based upon personal experiences and transparent memories – coming largely from a female perspective. Sipping a coffee in the breaks, petite dark haired vocalist Annabel Jones sings the Legoland, Camberwick Green, Technicolor songs from the Lady and the Lost Boys song-book.  Her delivery reminds me of ‘Alanis Morissette’ and to a lesser extent,  ‘Elizabeth Fraser’ (not so ethereal) and her voice is airy, high register and distinct enough to cut above the harmonic texture of music. Some of the songs ended with melodramatic yet creative ‘shoe-gaze’ blended sounds – others ended on a hand-clap or a jingle.

A few pared down guitar riffs are well hidden and tend to illuminate rather than detract from the amorphous sounds and add drama and insistence when required. The experience is fascinating and calming reminding me a lot of ‘Alison’s Halo’.

One of my favourites was the bass heavy (bass by Robin Pearson) song ‘That’s OK’. This is a song rippling with action, combining integrated piano tinkling and rat-a-tat percussion with honey sweet lyrical content delivered in a breathy, whisper-in-your ear style. The clappy and trilling chorus was nod-headingly joyful and the extraordinarily well-behaved and obviously well educated audience showed their appreciation with understated murmuring claps. Gently unfolding lyrics such as  “How many gold coins should I put aside before I’m out of debt in your eyes . . . “ demonstrate the band’s ambitions as poetic quality shoegazers.

This is a band for a damp autumn evening by the open-fire, or to listen to on your Ipod as you take your golden retriever for a walk down the leaf-fall winter lanes.  Thoroughly recommended.

© Neil_Mach

Link:

www.myspace.com/ladyandthelostboys

staines
live music
rock music
gigs

Feedburn This

Conceiving You

I’ve been watching you
Not waiting for the right moment to make the first move
Do you want to know
Why I keep avoiding your eyes
And why I’m running away?
It’s crazy, I know
I’ve been conceiving you for too long
Or maybe I’m destined to be alone?
Or maybe there’s someone who will understand
That I’m not able to share my world?
I’m still running away
It’s crazy, I know
I’ve been conceiving you for too long
If only I could change all things around
Still conceiving you all along…
I’ve been conceiving you for too long
If only I could change all things around
I’ve been conceiving you for too long
I’ve grown used to that
Still conceiving you all along…

بر روی پیوند بالای نوشته کلیک کردید؟

Moody, dark, in the park

Left the house at 5:30 this morning for a walk. I hadn’t been feeling that great all week, but today I woke up at 5 feeling hale and hearty and in need of walking off the ’tilla-’tater chip binge of the night before. My walk of late involves walking toward Fairmount Park, around the complete perimeter of the park, then to downtown for coffee. (This takes about one hour and 15 minutes, total.) 10 minutes into the walk I felt what I thought were sprinkles so I put on my hood, thankful I had one. All the way around the park the sprinkles continued intermittently — with added excitement supplied by far-off lightning — until just before I exited the park to head up Market St. (which is when I took the picture above). I love rain, so it was exhilarating to be out in the cold, with the wind, wetness and electrical flash accompanying the soundtrack pulsing in my headphones. Fantastic! And, then it happened … just as the outline of the Mission Inn came into view, the skies opened and it began to pour.

Thankfully, there were now plenty of places to walk so I didn’t get soaked, and I was able to make it to the Coffee Bean for a much needed red-eye and a muffin … and, just in time to hear some terrifically  loud thunderclaps. Paul soon joined me, and after riding around in the warm car to see the rainy day sights, we arrived back home just as the sun was peeking around the dark clouds.

Opuntia dressed for the holidays

Wandering around the property I was struck by how some of the succulents were wearing their rainy-day bijoux. A potted opuntia cactus drips with crystal drops as the sun makes its first appearance, looking festive and tastefully appointed.

Saturday sparkles catch the light

At the back gate, ponytail palm has been bejeweled by the earlier downpour and rivals any holiday display with new, if temporary, finery. In the front garden, a very large aloe ferox, native to South Africa, offers up to the first rain of the season signs of its coming flower-head.  Eventually, these little nubs will grow into a tall rust-orange candelabra of blooms. I can’t wait! Back at the gate, a fan aloe’s undulating flat leaves are accessorized with little glistening pools of much-needed winter rain.

I’m delighted that I was out for this first rain of the season — and what a great surprise! It was really fun to see lightning, hear booming thunder and splash around a bit. Plus, I won’t have to spend hours watering today (as I originally planned), so now I can share it with you!

این گروه «ریورساید» کلا زندگیمو زیر و رو کرده. سه تا آلبوم دارن و هر کدومش پر از مطلبه. پر از موسیقی و ملودی. خیلی هم حال می‌کنم که فرد اصلی گروه نوازنده‌ی باسشه. آهنگ «سندروم زندگی دوم» خیلی خداست. توی قسمت سومش قشنگ بیداد/همایون می‌خونن و من همین جور که اوج می‌گیره باهاش می‌رم و وقتی آهنگ رها میشه مو به تنم راست میشه. آهنگو در قسمت اول و دوم روی یوتوب گذاشتن مردم. جایی که مو به تنم راست میشه دقیقه‌ی ۲:۴۰ ویدیوی دومه.

I seriously LOVE my job! When you get a chance to run around and play with cute kids all day what could possibly be better?

.

Email me
jenilee@TurtleDovePhotography.NET

Call me
(909) 534-7825

From Midnight until 11am (November 27, 2009) I will be offer extremely discounted sessions! $100 for a session* along with a high resolution disc of proofs! You can purchase these sessions directly from my blog and they must take place before May 1, 2010. Even if you don’t know the exact day you would like to do your session, you may still purchase the session and I will contact you (or you can call or email me) to narrow down a date!

Email
Jenilee@turtledovephotography.NET

call
(909) 534-7825

happy thanksgiving!

wow, i can’t believe it’s already thanksgiving, and christmas is only a few weeks away.  there’s so much i’m thankful that i could never list them all.  i’m most thankful for my family and friends and health.  i know that everyone typically says they’re thankful for their family and friends but i’m truly thankful that i’m surrounded by people who love and care for me.  i think that i forget to tell people how thankful i am for them so i should do that more. oh and i’m thankful for you for reading my blog hahaha

i’m pretty excited for today and the holiday season because i get to spend time with family and eat lots of good food.  i think i’m going to anaheim a little bit later in the afternoon and then to riverside in the evening.  i can’t wait for all the good food, games and good laughs with cousins, and shopping tomorrow.

my thanksgiving break has been alright so far.  i’ve spent over like 12 hours so far digging and moving dirt in my backyard so we can get part of the backyard looking nice.  it’s so tiring and i get so sore after but it’s getting easier and i get paid for doing it. although it’s tough when i’m actually doing the work, it’s a pretty good feeling knowing that i’m working hard to earn money instead of just receiving it for doing nothing.  i’ve been procrastinating a lot on my homework like usual so no surprise there. :p i’ve also been going to sleep really late but it’s been worth it <0.3  i didn’t go to six flags with cousins but i did get to hang out with my aunt from florida.  claim jumper’s – yummy.  i also had my last driving lesson finally and i’m feeling pretty good about getting my license soon.

i can’t wait to eat pumpkin pie tonight ;P

I went to a PACT meeting in Butetown last night where a police officer was talking about dealing with the growing problem of khat use in the city. It’s been a problem brought up at lots of meetings before, but this was the first step residents had seen towards an official response.

It’s a tough issue from officialdom’s point of view. Khat is legal to buy in the UK, but tends to be associated with various forms of anti-social behavior. For Butetown’s residents, noise and littering are the biggest problems; users often congregate in public areas to take it, leaving rubbish behind them.

But short of fully criminalising the drug, no-one really knows what to do about it. Technically the dealers are selling it without a license and without paying tax, but the Inland Revenue seem to think mounting operations on these grounds wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

PC Vince Donovan is a community development officer of the Channel Project, a police scheme looking at softly-softly approaches to preventing the radicalisation of Muslim youths. With the slightly tenuous link that khat is leaving young minds susceptible to extremist ideology, PC Donovan has set up a focus group in Cardiff looking at what can be done about its usage in the city.

For now, the plan is to issue a questionnaire early next year to users and relatives of users in Butetown, Grangetown and Riverside, in order to compile a report for the Welsh Assembly Government by the end of the year. The idea is to find out more about the reasons people have for taking khat, and perceptions of the impact it has on health and the community generally.

Encouragingly, the focus-group isn’t just made up of po-faced health experts and police officers. It includes the Somali Youth Association and various elders of the Somali and Yemeni community. Particular efforts have been put into finding women from both communities to get involved with the process – given that khat is largely used by men, their wives and daughters are important to talk to in looking at the impact of the drug on family life.

The counter-terrorist credentials of this project clearly look a little suspect, but I don’t think it’s pursuing a hard-line criminalisation agenda either. PC Donovan genuinely seemed to have community concerns at heart; he dealt with the usual PACT-meeting heckling with good humour, and was keen to hear about residents’ own experiences of living in an area where the drug is used. Quite what effect he expects the report to have is unclear, but I think he’s asking the right questions.

On a more general note, let’s have a poll on khat criminalisation. I think I’m going for ‘no’, on libertarian grounds, but I’m not all that sure. Leave some comments if you have a strong opinion either way.

O sol brilha tão forte que converte minha mão morena em plena luz. Perscrutando os sulcos e refletindo o espírito de Apolo, o sol transmuta meus dedos em algo que eles não são. De plano é evidente que tudo que se transmuta se converte em algo que não é, em outro caso permanecem sendo a mesma coisa.

Mas mais que meramente revelar uma nova silhueta ou faceta, o brilho transforma a matéria em algo que ela não é. Eu não sou luz. Eu não sou onda-partícula. Não sou energia, não sou fulgor. Mas a luz não se importa. Sem mim, ela é luz, eu sem ela sou eu. Mas, sem mim, a luz não é sequer cognoscível. A luz não pode existir sem meio, objeto e objetivo. O alcance a transmuta em calor, iluminação e verdade. Até chegar a mim, a luz é inspiração, potência e desejo incompleto. Sem mim a luz é solidão.

Desesperada, a luz me procura, me pede. A luz suplica. A luz anseia pelo mundo inteiro como forma de subsistência. Se joga desvairada sobre cada canto do universo sedenta por matéria além do éter, do vácuo e do ar rarefeito. Na natureza e em mim a luz fica. Em algumas substâncias e superfícies ela demonstra ojeriza e repulsa, fugindo imediatamente. Nesses locais não há espírito. Há o vazio da matéria-que-não-se-conforma-como-matéria. O ser se nega, apresentando somente um fac-símile do ser-verdadeiro que a envolve. Lástima, jamais se enamorarão de luz.

A luz, bela luz, austera luz, deseja possuir a nós todos, de forma que me possui. Eu e a luz somos energia e respiração. A luz me revela e me delimita, me exalta a matéria do universo, parte do todo, e eu a amo e lhe abrigo. Somos o uno.

Turkey is to Thanksgiving what sufganiyot is to Hanukkah or what nothing is to Ramadan. I get that. But I am a vegetarian and the son of a vegetarian. So traditions be darned, I’m not doing the dead bird ritual (Tofurky and stuffing, on the other hand…).

If you’re nodding your head, this post is for you. If you are of the omnivore kind, I’ve got something for you too. Read on.

So I announce that I want to do ethnic Thanksgiving this year, Mexican maybe. My spouse glares. “But I want to do traditional Thanksgiving food,” comes the reply.  I give it up. When it comes to culinary superpowers, I lose. That can’t stop me from fantasizing. My thoughts float to a little Ma & Pa Mexican joint off the 91. Papi’s (appropriately named).

Papi’s is Riverside’s best kept secret. A Mexican couple owns and operates the place, and they serve a full (I mean FULL) menu of d-lishous dishes sin carne. Good veggie food can be tough to sniff out–good veggie Mexican food even more so. Papi’s for the win!

Tacos, flautas, burritos, huaraches, fajitas, tostadas…Or if you’d rather, lasagna, fettuccine alfredo with veggie chicken, veggie hotdogs and hamburgers.  All made to order. All made fresh.

Papi’s is clean, uncrowded (which means fast service), reasonably priced and diverse. If you prefer meat items, Papi’s provides all the traditional dishes you might want in a Mextaurant.

Papi’s Tacos al Carbon
11860 Magnolia Ave.
(Entrances on Pierce & Magnolia)
Riverside California 92503
951-688-5900

I love the K family! They have been with me my entire photography career, from portfolio building/learning what I was doing all the way to now. This is my 5th or 6th session for them and I always have a wonderful time taking pics and chatting

Email me
jenilee@turtledovephotography.net

Call me
(909) 534-7825

I had a wonderful session with the R family! I’ve talked to the mommy online for quite a while and it was so nice to finally meet her in person

Email me
jenilee@turtledovephotography.net

Call me
(909) 534-7825

The University of Redlands Bulldogs basketball team topped La Sierra University’s Golden Eagles in NCAA Division III play Tuesday night. With the win, Redlands is 1-1 after losing their season opener, an exhibition match against D1 team UC Riverside last week. La Sierra falls to 1-4, its only win against Cal Tech.

Playing on their home court, the Golden Eagles soared to an early lead in the opening minutes of the game.  But the Bulldogs bit back quickly. Andrew Maertens hit two consecutive threes to give Redlands a one point lead. La Sierra’s Robert Johnson threw away a pass, and the Bulldogs converted for two more. The two teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half, with Redlands center Jordan Sanvictores tossing up a buzzer beater to put Redlands up 52-47.

La Sierra opened the second half like the first, all energy and speed. Redlands guard Pat Coffey tried to slow La Sierra by burying a shot from behind the arc. Miles Robbins responded with two three-pointers of his own and a quick assist to DePaul Williams, who made the shot with a foul. Williams made his free throw, bringing La Sierra to within a point. The home crowd went nuts. A moment later, Williams scored on a slick reverse layup putting the Eagles up by one point. It would be their last lead of the game.

Redlands coach Jim Ducey changed out his entire lineup and called for a full court press. Redlands’ defense and numerous buckets in transition helped the Bulldogs to a 13-1 scoring run. With under five minutes to play, Redlands led by 11. The Eagles mounted a determined comeback, but in their haste turned the ball over several times down the court. Redlands shot better from the free throw line, and played more consistent basketball.

In the closing minutes of the game, the Bulldogs started running down the clock. La Sierra began fouling to send the Bulldogs to the line, but the strategy didn’t bear fruit. With seconds left, Redlands led by eight points.  Even a buzzer-beating three-pointer (this time by La Sierra) couldn’t put the Eagles over the top. Redlands beat La Sierra 92-87.

Redlands will face Whitman College on the 28th in Redlands, and La Sierra tips off against the University of La Verne on the 30th.

LSU’s Robert Johnson sets a screen for Laviel Pickett

Everyone has a crystal ball/prediction that tells the future for all of us in the real estate market. The only problem is that each one tells us something different.

On just about any given day I can read three conflicting reports on the current & future real estate market.

A very big problem is that even within a single state, what is going on in one town and what’s going on in a town less than 50 miles away can be very different. The home prices in one town may not have fluctuated as high or low like many others. In one town prices may be on the rise and in another not so much.

To top it off, these reports are reported after the fact. What happened any particular quarter or month can obviously not be reported until that quarter or month is over and all the data is collected. By the time the reports are out the real estate market can and often has changed or is well into changing.

Lender guidelines are changing so fast it’s hard to keep up. The prices have been going up but they may come back down. You qualified for a loan but by the time you are able to get an offer accepted you no longer qualify for that same loan. Interest rates are up. Interest rates are down. Interest rates are projected to go up 1% over the next 9 months if…

The only facts I care about are what’s happening in the Riverside area today. In three weeks from now things could be very different. But I do know what I am in the midst of now. I am seeing it, feeling it, and experiencing todays market – today. Waiting until a report for the Country, Region, State or County comes out that includes other areas so is not very accurate for us and is months or weeks old – will not help either of us.

Forget about what may or may not happen (I will go into that more in a future blog). Forget about conflicting reports of recent history. Just give me a call and we will join up together and as members of the same team we’ll get your goals accomplished.

951-756-4051

How can we be more sustainable through going shopping? Head down to your local farmers market apparently – I braved some blustery conditions over the weekend down at Riverside Farmer’s market in Cardiff and this is what one shopper had to say about the experience.

Eating more locally grown produce and reducing food waste were just two of the things spoken of at a debate that I went along to as part of Cardiff University’s sustainability week.

In a question time styled debate, a panel including Environment Minister Jane Davidson,  Dr Pam Robinson, School of Social Sciences (who knows her stuff about the supermarkets),  and Professor Kevin Morgan (of an Urban and Regional governance background), fielded questions from a fully charged audience of academics and students.

The most enigmatic of the bunch was Steve Garrett, who is the founder of the Riverside and Roath Farmers markets. Agriculture, farming and food production is one of the biggest contributors to global warming, and with populations set to rise food shortages will become a huge issue.

A big question is, how can you ensure a level playing field when supermarkets have economies of scale on their side to drive down prices and squeeze a farmer’s profit margins ever lower? Remember the dairy price fixing allegations of the ‘big four’ by the Office of Fair Trading in 2008? Even then the OFT got its fingers burnt with claims of defamation, so the supermarkets certainly have some legal clout behind them.

It’s inevitably about cultural change; how can people be persuaded it’s wrong to eat strawberries in December after accruing thousands of air miles to get to the fruit aisle?

There are some good reasons why people should make a farmer’s market a higher priority for their weekly shop.

There is a general misconception that farmers markets are for the bourgeoisie, and although there were stalls with specialist cheese’s and olives at riverside, you could still get all the staples. Also people fear that farmers markets just aren’t as cheap as the supermarkets, although that wasn’t according to the people i asked.

With pros there usually always come a few cons though.

So there are clearly things that a farmers market can’t do that the supermarkets can. Perhaps the answer is a mixture of the two, and this is something that was suggested at the debate.

Anyway back to the point, what are the three key things people need to do eat more sustainably?

1. Eat less meat
2. Eat locally grown seasonal food
3. Throw less food away

Sounds simple. However, we’re struggling to get to grips with the thought of having to pay for plastic bags here in Wales, so the Welsh Assembly need to come up with something good to get people away from the supermarkets and out buying more locally produced food. Maybe they could even teach us how to grow our own!

Riverside, Jacksonville, Florida. ©Calvin Palmer 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Leica D-Lux 3, ISO 100, 1/400 sec, f/6.3.

Miss “Inependent” is turning one this week, and although I heard she was walking, I was surprised by how mobile she already is. Not just walking, but running! This bitty thing made me work! I had so much fun chasing her around in Ortega and Avondale. While I love going into a family’s home to photograph them on their turf, I also have enjoyed exploring our historic neighborhoods on recent sessions.

Many thanks to Let Them Eat Cake! for letting us make a bit of a mess!

I love how you can glimpse Mom and Dad watching attentively from inside and outside the bakery window.

Share this…   …and a few more pics from this session will be on the JMP Facebook page ().

As a Riverside Wrongful Death Insurance Attorney with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar plus settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Riverside, other nearby cities and internationally, I know many of you are attempting to settle your own personal injury, dog bite and wrongful death cases by yourselves for the maximum and the biggest settlement you can to save the cost of an attorney.

In this article I’ll tell you the secrets of how attorneys negotiate for top dollar and I’ll also tell you why insurance companies lick their chops and rub their hands together with glee when individuals try to settle their claims without an attorney and why, in most cases, you’ll receive a larger, much greater amount in your pocket or in the trust fund you set up for any children injured in the accident, even after an attorney’s fee and costs if you hire a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney.

If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.

Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.

The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.

To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them. While most insurance companies, unfortunately, simply won’t do that, here’s what you need to do to try to obtain the maximum settlement value.

First, you need to obtain all of your medical records and bills. You can’t rely on the insurance company to do this. As soon as you tell the insurance company you want them to do this or agree to having them do it and tell you how much your medical bills come to and what your medical records say, you are giving up control of the situation. I can’t stress this enough.

You will need to sign authorization forms to obtain your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require you to use their authorization forms. Some require you to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records.

Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, you’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made to you, you’ll need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and you can expect to be on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases you will need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell you this information.

You will need to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to you for free. You can pick it up at the police or CHP office yourself or request one by mail with an authorization form and a check for the proper fee.

You’ll also need to obtain your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.

You should obtain witness statements if there is any issue as to the liability of the other driver for the accident and you should take photos of the scene if there was something wrong with the road conditions or other unusual circumstances.

You will also need to obtain a number of good photographs of your car damage, copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.

Here’s a secret. In California you are entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. It’s automatic. Just tell the insurance company the make and model or find out the cost for the make and model child seat and the insurance company will send you a check for a new one, even if the old one wasn’t broken. Why? It’s in the California insurance code. The insurance companies, however, don’t volunteer this information. Why? They’re in business to make money, not pay it out.

Finally, when all your treatment is done, you will need to put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, a summary of your injuries and medical treatment (from your medical records), an itemization of your medical bills, a discussion of your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, a discussion of your wage loss and how you determined the amount, and finally the amount of your demand and a time limit (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer. The demand letter should be a minimum of four pages in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter should be copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.

If all of this is too much work for you to accomplish (and it is a lot when you are just trying to get better, get on with your life, raise a family and still go to work to put food on the table) you may want to hire our law firm to represent you.

The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.

When you rely on the insurance company to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay you a skimpy amount on top, you are giving them the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement.

Keep in mind that as soon as you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.

Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insights as to how to obtain the maximum settlement from an insurance company for an auto, car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, truck, dog bite, or wrongful death claim. There is much more that an experienced attorney does, especially in the negotiation stage to maximize the settlement and this is where an attorney’s experience kicks in.

An attorney such as Sebastian Gibson who has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations.

What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”

An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.

Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.

If you are negotiating with an insurance company yourself, there’s no need to be unpleasant. Yes, you are probably going to hear that the insurance adjuster has evaluated your case to be worth much less than you think it’s worth. But you’re forgetting that, that’s just their first offer. Communicate with the adjuster. Tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what you tell them.

Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some lousy insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to you in 40 days with an offer after you present them with your demand package. Some take longer. Some will sound unpleasant, even snotty. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make your counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. Your job, just as it is the job of your attorney, is to get these unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.

We wish you good luck and a speedy recovery from your injuries. You’ll find that your health, in many cases, will drastically improve, once you remove yourself from the stress of handling your case and resolve it either yourself or with the assistance of our law firm by way of settlement. If on the other hand, your case goes into litigation, as do the cases of many lawyers who don’t have the settlement experience or negotiating tools to settle their cases advantageously for their clients, your stress level will almost certainly rise.

The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Riverside, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website.

We invite you to visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Riverside.