Some Days You Get The Bear...

And some days that som-bitch gets you. That's the type of day I had yesterday. First off, I had a doctor's appointment at 10:40 a.m. This called a fasting for blood work, since I hadn't been insured for quite some time and hadn't been to the clinic in quite some time. Since I recently got health coverage, I went in for a long overdue checkup. That's when the proverbial sh#t hit the fan. The receptionist that check me in informed me that I would have to pay for this visit and try to get reimbursed from my insurance company. What? I had listed this clinic as my primary care facility, but my card listed some Warshowski outfit thirty miles away. A quick call to the company revealed that even though their forms listed this clinic as eligible, they were contracted with this other system. I would have to go there since it was "near by". If i wanted to appeal, it would take about thirty days to change things. No physical for me. Not yesterday, anyway.

Next, a trip to the pharmacy to get test strips for my glucose meter. They don't give them away, being around a dollar apiece. I use One Touch Ultra strips, probably the most common one out there. Now wait for it..... My new insurance company strikes again!! Here's this tale of red tape and no common sense: The strips I use aren't covered, I have to switch brands. Yes, they will buy me a new meter and strips, but here's the rub. No alternate site testing. This is not good, since I test on my fore arm, not my fingers, since peripheral neuropothy has made my finger tips overly sensitive to things like finger pokes. And for the more serious problem with this whole affair, the meter they want me to use isn't even available at this time. It's on back order, as are the test strips. Do you thinks my insurance company would authorize the strips I currently use temporarily. No way, they will not budge. So there went another $100.00 out of pocket.

One last thing, even if it's minor. I dropped the wheel for my road bike off at the LBS to have a broken spoke replaced. They said it would be a couple of days as they would have to order a matching spoke. Ten days later, I hadn't heard from them, so I called. I was told the spoke had come in that day, and it would be done this last Monday. Monday came and went with no call to say it was done. I finally stopped in yesterday to pick it up and the shop guy handed it to me and said it was all set, but he had to put in a silver spoke since he didn't have a black one in stock. ? What happened to the one you had ordered? Blank stare. I should have just done it myself, but the owner is an old friend and I would like to give him some of my business. But I don't think that will be happening. A simple phone call to tell me they had to use a silver spoke never happened, a call to tell me it was done never happened, and done in a couple of days never happened. The only thing that happened was poor customer service.

After that crap, I wasn't in a good mood. Hungry and frustrated was my mood, but L switched that around pretty quickly. She had a great lunch and fresh coffee ready when I got home. We hung out together the rest of the day and had a fabulous time.

I think I ate that bear for lunch and dinner. I'm going riding today to work it off.

Train Wrecks

Seems like a lot of things in life are just beyond our control. Jim over at Unholy Rouleur , seems to have run into this sort of situation. Pop over to his site and read his interesting post on that subject today. He's a funny guy who when not lampooning something, often himself, writes some very insightful stuff. I've been running into plenty of stupid in my personal and professional like myself.

We bought a Chinese scooter to ease the burden of gas prices. Of course the novelty wore off quickly for my other half, and I am the main driver. We sold my van and were going to be a one car /bicycle/scooter family. Cool. It made an immediate impact, financially, but not practically. It broke down after 1400 miles and is now waiting for parts.

The novelty of car pooling quickly wore off, too. Kids going to activities, shopping, going to the camper, all sometimes need 2 vehicles. No one but me in this deal has had to make any sacrifices but me. Cut backs on other things didn't happen as planned. The simpler life style doesn't appeal to all concerned. Realizing I couldn't fight city hall, I bought another van. It's actually quite an upgrade over the old one, 50,000 less miles, all wheel drive, heated leather etc., all for the same price I sold the old one for. A lot of brain damage for the upgrade, though.

Some of the moves at work are putting the strain on my thought process. Less is more, human nature can be manipulated, if I believe it, it's true. I've learned over the last 30 years, none of that is true. 2 things are happening in this world that are absolutely true. The haves are getting a bigger share of the pie everyday than the have not's. And the gap gets bigger every time you stick that nozzle in your cars filler neck. Every time you go to the grocery store, turn on the heat in your home, in fact every time you pull out your wallet. I have to work 7 days a week to live the same as we have been. So that just means our quality of life suffers. I haven't spent near enough time on my stress relievers (ie the bikes), so my blood glucose is up and the hopeless feeling sinks in. Maybe after the election things will change. Let's hope for the better.

Because right now, this is a train wreck.