The cool at the end of that day

Here I am at the end of a tough week. Things started poorly when I sunburned myself to an amazing degree on Sunday 1 week ago. Then the new more comfortable shoes I bought for myself caused my heel to blister. Finally I had to fight with my wife’s company’s HR department. I am grateful to be at the of this week.

I bought a jigsaw puzzle on Saturday. Sunday, since the weather was terrific, I took the puzzle out onto the deck and enjoyed (worshipped) the sun. I had no idea that the sun would be quite so strong. About 3 pm my wife said to me, “You’re really turning red. Maybe you should cover up.” I had no idea. I looked in the mirror, put on lotion, put on a shirt and cap. It was too late. My head was so burned that I couldn’t even sleep until Wednesday night. To add insult to injury, I of course, had to go to work. So, by Thursday my skin was peeling so badly that I felt like the eczema poster child. Today it only itches.

I bought a new pair of work shoes on Saturday. I bought a pair of Rockports. They’re like wing-tip tennis shoes. I work downtown and do a fair amount of walking. Naturally, the Rockports caused a blister on my right heel about the size of a silver dollar. Man it hurt! On Thursday, when I began to peel, the fact that I was walking ‘funny’ to account for the blister, had caused me to twist or abuse my ankle to the point of a mild sprain. My ankle was swollen and bruised. Walking in ANY kind of shoe now hurts. In fact, I am soaking my ankle as I write this.

My wife and I decided to drop my wife’s health insurance through her job and cover her through my job. It’s much cheaper for us, and frankly, my plan is better. Here’s the rub. Providence says, “You can only make a change in health plans during a qualifying event, because health insurance is paid from pre-tax dollars. The IRS is very strict about this.” Can it be that the IRS has no fee structure in place to account for someone moving their pre-tax dollars? To be fair, adding my wife to my insurance plan is a qualifying event. We were told that we had only 30 days to make the change. We were out of time on Friday. So on Thursday, we provided Providence with proof, my insurance card and a letter stating that my coverage had started. Providence was adamant that since my wife’s name was not on the form, they would not “allow” her to stop paying into a plan we do not use. So, I had to fight with HR. To be truthful, it was a battle of wits and HR came with their usual set of intellect, in other words, unarmed. (As an aside, my wife and I saw the new Hitchhiker’s Guide movie last night, these people ARE the Vogons) When I began repeating “I would hate to have my wife quit,” they finally relented and decided that the proof they had was enough. What a bunch of talent free, intellectually unburdened, bunch of thimble brained bureaucrats.

I won one battle, re-learned a lesson (sunburn = bad), and am holding firm with a damaged ankle. I fought hard and well. I’m glad it’s over for this week. Nobody can get me until Monday. I’m just going to enjoy the cool at the end of the day. Maybe I’ll find some telemarketers to goof on. I have a new game I like to play. I’ll talk about that next week.

The government is so sneaky

They sent my tax refund via electronic deposit. It happened last week. I had no idea.

Sneaky bastards.

RANT: Healthcare and Customer Service

Dammit! I love oxymoronic titles. The marriage between Healthcare and Customer Service has been deteriorating for several years now and apparently they are at all out war as I write this.

I’ve been trying to straighten out the healthcare fiasco over at my wife’s job. We signed up for Group Health this year. Affectionately known as Group Death to donors like us. The service is hard to access. The service is limited in ways that render it darn near useless. You have zero recourse as a consumer. I would like to see these guys driven out of business.

Just trying to use the health care coverage provided requires you to jump through hoops. You may only visit a physician that the provider approves. Ol’ Doc Gordon may have delivered you as an infant and cared for you to the present, but oh well. Screw you and find a new doctor! But, the provider can drop a doctor without even notifying you. You must only try to purchase drugs on the provider’s list. Got an allergy? Did your pharmacist advise you otherwise? Tough shit, he’s not in the program. The undereducated bureaucrats have decided what’s best for you. Best of all, the doctor that the provider allows you to visit isn’t even a doctor.

Should you foolishly decide to break the unbreakable rules above, you will need some documentation. You need to see a doctor and a pharmacist and an accountant and get specially formatted notes from each to get a waiver from the provider. So what if you have to pay out of your pocket (unrecoverable) to see the proper doctor. Oh yeah, you also have to do all this running around on your time. God forbid that the provider break a sweat to provide service that you are paying for each and every paycheck. On top of all that the provider’s office hours are between 9am and noon, several days a week (M-Tu-Th?), but never on a day when you are actually free. Oh, and they NEVER return your call. Should you miss them, you are S.O.L.

And what recourse do you have should you reach these putrid swine intercourser’s during their working hour? Well now, you can certainly request to be removed from their service. You aren’t able to use it, so why should you continue to pay for it? However, you can only change your coverage options during the 2-week period every year when they have ‘open enrollment’. I mean if you could pick, choose and change people would use the provider that actually provides service. This way no one in the healthcare community actually has to do anything except collect your hard earned money. Oh and on top of that, according to my wife’s employer (Providence Hospital), you aren’t allowed to opt-out and have no coverage, so should you get a better option you have to jump through hoops to prove that you are going to continue to pay into the big non-useful machine. God forbid somebody not be soaking you for money. How else would the bureaucrats get paid?

What a friggin joke.

Lying Fallow

I suppose I should look up the words in the title. I don’t know that I am using them properly. Such is life.

Anyway here are some quotes I like:

Searching for more joy is not a frivilous pursuit. - Goldie Hawn

A writer is someone who has written today. If you want to be a writer, what's stopping you? - J.A. Jance

A little rudeness and disrespect can turn an ordinary interraction into a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day. - Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson)

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. - My mom
Always wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident. – My Mom (also)

Clearly mom has some confused priorities.

Post popularity or Straw polls to boost my ego

You know, it’s always interesting to me. The entry I write that seems most innocuous, most inane, least contemplated is the post that generates the most ‘chatter’. I post about a terrible week or my last hoorah in Vegas and the silence is deafening. Yet I ‘toss off’ a no-brainer, and kaboom! All of a sudden people can’t say enough.

I posted last week about the pope’s death. I only wrote something because of the media blitz surrounding what I perceived as a non-event. Yet, this post has generated more on-line commentary than anything else I have posted.

Is it because my post was so poorly written that people were not intimidated to post their comments as well? Is it because I so thoroughly explore every other blog topic I pick? Is it because this is the first blog subject I have touched upon that anyone other than me cares about? Does everybody just want to celebrate death? Or (most likely) is it because everybody knows the pope (that guy in the funny hat)?

I do try to put together posts that contain well written, structured thoughts. I rarely succeed. Part of the reason I keep this blog is to try to become a better writer. The other reason I post is to feed my ego. I get a rush knowing people voluntarily read the moronic drivel I write here on a regular basis. So I also try to pick blog topics that have some universal appeal. Then I get positive feedback on a post like the ‘pope’ post. It confuses me.

I know that using the number of follow-up comments to judge any post is as scientific as American Idol voting, but it’s the only metric I have. I suppose I should sate myself with good deeds and not look to others for validation. But I can’t help it, I’m shallow! I mean, there were only 2 responses and one was from my dad. I guess I’m pathetic as well.

The pope-liness of it all

The pope is dead. Long live the pope.

I'm not a practicing catholic (arguably the fastest growing religion in the world), so the passing of the pontiff is actually kind of a non-event for me. I'm far more personally touched by the death of Johnnie Cochran or the settling of the sex.com lawsuit. But I am intrigued by the media coverage and the 'over-the-top' tributes from other world leaders.

What really intrigues me is the process of electing the new pope. I have read 2 book that have me really interested in the process this time around, "Shoes of the Fisherman" and "Angels and Demons". I would like to see the puff of smoke when his new holiness is elected.