Bad News Bears

Whenever you're down on your luck, I want you to remember Dave. Dave is a real person, a genuine mid-western guy with a strong work ethic and personal responsibility. However, Dave is truly down on his luck. The bad news bears make regular visits to Dave and have brought him the following life events:

• Cheating wife
• Unsolvable medical condition
• Broken nose
• Failing business

So his friends take him out for a night on the town, buy him dinner, and work to cheer him up. He decides to repay his friends by buying a round of drinks. As he squares up his tab his friends head outside. In the meantime, the valet is handing over Dave's car keys to a guy who paid him $5. Dave walks out of the restaurant to see his car driving away. So much for a fun night out. In his car were

• His beloved golf clubs
• All his business files including potential job leads

The insurance company determines the car's worth, but since it was leased, the dealership wanted full value. So Dave had to pay the different out of pocket for the stolen vehicle. Sue the valet company you say! Valet company went out of business and cannot be located as they were not in contract with the restaurant. Just plain out of luck. So a friend of Dave loans him his Porsche to drive around in the meantime until Dave gets a new car. Luck it up! A loaner Porsche never happens! Sitting a stoplight, feeling pretty good about things, a delivery truck flips on his reverse lights and begins to back up....oh no! Dave has nowhere to go and the front of the Porsche is crunched. It still is drivable, so at least it still is transportation. Well, to add insult to injury, the mid-west had a huge storm this past week with golf-ball size hail. The Porsche was outside. Total car damage:

• Destroyed Porsche hood and front end of car
• Hail damage to top of Porsche
• Hail damage causes structural damage to Porsche
• Porsche is potentially totalled.

So next time you feel like you're down in the dumps - remember, you're not Dave.

May peace be with you.