Great Sky of the North: Someone is getting screwed and is it June yet?

OK...I thought the whole box of free steaks auto glass insurance scam was done. Yes, I broke a windshield which had nothing to do chasing related activities. I was driving home from work when one of the local Bubbas in his 3/4 ton pick up with the stacks coming out of the bed drifted off to the right shoulder while possibly digging for that Camel straight he dropped. Big tires vs rocks on the shoulder at 60 mph with me following 100 feet behind put me right in the fire zone. WHACK...rock chip on the passenger side...and a doozy. Too deep to epoxy it but it was not in the field of view for the camera mount so no biggie...until I had to turn the defroster on the other morning at -15°F. Yep, split that bastard all the way across. Good to see some of the basic principles of physics still work. I never turn in chase related damage to my insurance as it isn't ethical to me. I don't care of other chasers do but to me it just seems wrong. Last spring I replaced a windshield in the same vehicle out of pocket for $335 installed. It was chase damage so no biggie plus the video from that event more than covered the cost of the windshield, a couple of steak dinners and still put ching in the bank account. So I call up my insurance guy and let him know what happened, they refer me to a "reputable" glass installer they use. I couldn't care less as I have full glass coverage. I jump through the flaming hoops and Auto Glass Today comes to my office and pops in the new windshield while I toil away inside. I come out for lunch and the work is done. On the seat there is the work order and shows they are billing my insurance company $508 for the same f-ing windshield I pay out of pocket almost $200 bucks less! Someone is getting a steak dinner out of this scam and it isn't me!

On to another subject. I have gotten asked at least 50 times why I didn't chase either of the big events this year already. The answer is simple. I don't care. Give me a slow moving June supercell out in SD or ND when pretty much everyone else has quit for the season. I am so fed up with the "see and be seen" idiots who see chasing a social Who's Who event. Go ahead and duke it out down south just so you can say "I was there". Yeah, nice identity crisis you are suffering from. You guys down south who beat the bushes year after year (Shane Adams specifically) for the simple beauty of the sky, kudos to you. I would go bonkers and move north to avoid the testosterone spewing masses within a year.