I could probably pretty easily blog everyday about the idiots that I share the road with. This morning I turned on the radio and the first thing I heard is there were no less than 5 accidents in the Salt Lake Valley because it was raining. I only have one question: WTF Utah drivers?
This happens every year when it first snows, there are a million crashes and people freak out and drive 30 every where they go but there is no snow yet! Even if there were snow I don't understand why this happens, do people forget how to drive in the snow in the short 5 months we didn't have any? We live in Utah people, it snows every year and the warnings are the same: slow down, give yourself plenty of time to get to work and make sure you have good tires. So why are we still crashing into each other at alarming rates?!!!
I just don't get it.
While I am on the topic of drivers (and to spare you another rant later on) I might as well address a few other issues. People, moving over from the far left lane when someone wants to pass you isn't just the nice thing to do it is the law! The other day on the radio a girl called in and was complaining because she got a ticket for going 69 in the fast lane. Newsflash stupid girl, not moving over and impeding traffic is breaking the law just like speeding is. Not only are you likely causing a traffic jam because you refuse to move over you are also creating a safety hazard because other cars are weaving in and out of traffic to get around you.
I understand that people (me included) are way too impatient and should just slow down and enjoy the ride but let's be real that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Even if 99 out of 100 people were trying to speed past you for no good reason other than they wanted too, wouldn't you feel bad if that 1 person was trying to get to the hospital before their loved passed away and you prevented them from getting there because you refuse to move over?
I feel like every problem we have in driving, including most accidents, could be prevented by everyone taking two simple steps.
1. Pay Attention: put your cell phone down, stop trying to use your fancy navigation console and program your radio stations and just drive. If someone comes up behind you move over, if your exit is coming up don't wait until the last second to change lanes and then cut someone off and if the roads are slick or snowy slow down.
2. Don't drive like a dick on purpose: everyone accidentally cuts someone off (mostly due to not paying attention as mentioned above) but there is no reason to be an ass on purpose. If you refuse to get over when I want to pass you don't speed up when I do try to pass you, if there is a traffic jam don't change lanes a million times you are making the situation worse and if we are in a line of traffic riding my butt isn't going to help, I have no where to go so back off!
There I am done with my yearly rant about drivers! Drive safe everyone, especially on your way to Thanksgiving festivities!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Something is very wrong here
I am pretty sure there is one thing everyone in America can agree on: the health care system is broken. I don't know what the solution is and I don't know enough about the Affordable Care Act to know if it will help or hurt but I do know something has to be done.
This past few months has been an endless parade of doctors appointment, antibiotics and IVs as I have tried to get a very stubborn UTI infection to go away.
When I was first told I would have to do IV antibiotics I knew it would be expensive but I was in no way prepared for the bills that would come later.
In total I received 24 days of IV antibiotics (the first round of 10 days didn't work) and the total my insurance was billed for those 24 days, not including the numerous IV starts I had or visits to the doctor was $6,676.26. I could buy a car for that much!!! And less than half of it was my actual medicine, which cost about $75 per day. The other $200 a day came from "supplies". When I called to find out why on earth I was being charged so much for two saline syringes, an alcohol wipe and cap every day the answer I got was astonishing.
I was told that they was this particular company bills is on a daily patient average. That means patients like me who are using the bare minimum of supplies are paying for other patients who are using mass amounts of supplies (and probably more expensive ones too) because the daily price for service is based on an average.
I understand that this is how insurance works for the most part, everyone pays into the pool and then if you need it you can use and if not someone else gets to use your money but I couldn't believe that I was being charged $200 a day for supplies I wasn't using.
In addition to the cost of the IV medicine and ridiculously expensive supplies I had six IVs put in, four visits to my doctor (one long, 3 just for urine samples), a CT Scan and other Xrays done, total cost $13,560.72.
It seems so outrageous! That is almost six months of income for me. I am very grateful that I have insurance and luckily my cost is much, much lower than that but it seems so so crazy to me that the services I received can cost that much. I was watching the news last night and heard that on average in Utah the cost to have C-section delivery costs less than this, how is that even possible? I didn't stay in the hospital, I didn't have surgery, I didn't give birth to a child that needs cared for. I gave myself my own medicine at home everyday, I kept my IVs in as long a physically possible so I could have less of them and I didn't let them give me anymore "supplies" unless I actually needed them.
Every time I got to my doctors office to do a urine sample my insurance is charge $61.99. That is 60 bucks for me to pee in a cup and them to stick a piece of paper in it and read the results. The actual urine culture to decide which medicine will hopefully work to get rid of my infection is another $156. It just blows my mind.
Again I am really grateful that I have insurance, even if I do have a really high deductible, because I couldn't imagine facing more than $13,000 worth of medical bills.
Something has to be done about the way medicine is practiced and payed for in the country. I just wish I knew what the solution was and how I could help!!
This past few months has been an endless parade of doctors appointment, antibiotics and IVs as I have tried to get a very stubborn UTI infection to go away.
When I was first told I would have to do IV antibiotics I knew it would be expensive but I was in no way prepared for the bills that would come later.
In total I received 24 days of IV antibiotics (the first round of 10 days didn't work) and the total my insurance was billed for those 24 days, not including the numerous IV starts I had or visits to the doctor was $6,676.26. I could buy a car for that much!!! And less than half of it was my actual medicine, which cost about $75 per day. The other $200 a day came from "supplies". When I called to find out why on earth I was being charged so much for two saline syringes, an alcohol wipe and cap every day the answer I got was astonishing.
I was told that they was this particular company bills is on a daily patient average. That means patients like me who are using the bare minimum of supplies are paying for other patients who are using mass amounts of supplies (and probably more expensive ones too) because the daily price for service is based on an average.
I understand that this is how insurance works for the most part, everyone pays into the pool and then if you need it you can use and if not someone else gets to use your money but I couldn't believe that I was being charged $200 a day for supplies I wasn't using.
In addition to the cost of the IV medicine and ridiculously expensive supplies I had six IVs put in, four visits to my doctor (one long, 3 just for urine samples), a CT Scan and other Xrays done, total cost $13,560.72.
It seems so outrageous! That is almost six months of income for me. I am very grateful that I have insurance and luckily my cost is much, much lower than that but it seems so so crazy to me that the services I received can cost that much. I was watching the news last night and heard that on average in Utah the cost to have C-section delivery costs less than this, how is that even possible? I didn't stay in the hospital, I didn't have surgery, I didn't give birth to a child that needs cared for. I gave myself my own medicine at home everyday, I kept my IVs in as long a physically possible so I could have less of them and I didn't let them give me anymore "supplies" unless I actually needed them.
Every time I got to my doctors office to do a urine sample my insurance is charge $61.99. That is 60 bucks for me to pee in a cup and them to stick a piece of paper in it and read the results. The actual urine culture to decide which medicine will hopefully work to get rid of my infection is another $156. It just blows my mind.
Again I am really grateful that I have insurance, even if I do have a really high deductible, because I couldn't imagine facing more than $13,000 worth of medical bills.
Something has to be done about the way medicine is practiced and payed for in the country. I just wish I knew what the solution was and how I could help!!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Get it together Congress
Politics make me crazy. I can't understand how 536 (congress plus the president) people can sit back in Washington and fight over tiny things, while real people are being impacted by the decisions or rather lack of decisions, they are making.
Sure its fine if you shut down the government for 3 weeks because you're still getting paid.
I have literally lost count how many times we have had "last minute" budget debates and deadlines and deals to make before the whole country is sent into a spiraling recession.
Why can't they pass a budget that will last for a whole year? Why do they wait until the last minute to start negotiations?
I get it, the nation is divided, if the nearly 50/50 split in the popular vote for president last year was any indication, but it is Congress's job to make decisions and choices that benefit the American people.
Right now, no one in Congress or the president, is looking out for the actual people. They are fighting like children and embarrassing themselves in the process. How does this look to the rest of the world? Here is the U.S.A. getting involved in Syria and Afghanistan and Iraq, when we can't even solve our own problems at home. It is ridiculous.
I don't know a lot about the budget specifics and what they are really arguing over (except Obamacare) but the fact of the matter is that what they are doing is hurting the general public. Going into to default won't benefit anyone, in fact it could hurt a lot of people, including many people I know who rely on their social security checks to live every month. Refusing to sign any bill that doesn't defund Obamacare isn't going to get the Tea Party Republicans anywhere! It has already been funded, let it go through and see what happens. It could fail catastrophically and end up killing itself off or it could be wildly successful but at this point, years after its passing, there is no point in continuing to fight something that is already going into effect!
I think there should be a clause that if Congress allows the government to go into a shutdown or default or anything else that harms the majority of the population they should have to work unpaid until they figure it out. We wouldn't still be in a shutdown 3 weeks later if Congress wasn't getting paid, they would have never let it happen in the first place.
I think its really too bad its not a major election year this year, because I imagine this whole situation would be playing out very differently if their jobs were at stake. If I refused to negotiate with my coworkers and my boss and was costing my company money every single day I would be fired in a heartbeat.
Congress is failing at their jobs and in the meantime they are letting you and me down, I just hope the American people remember this next year when some of the people responsible are up for reelection. In the meantime here is my message for Congress: Put the bickering and finger-pointing and politics aside and for once make a decision that will benefit the people you were elected to represent!
Monday, October 14, 2013
A case of the Mondays
For a while I thought today was going to be a good Monday, you know as far as Mondays go.
My CT scan this morning was quick, painless (except for the IV stick) and much shorter than expected, my coffee from Starbucks was tasty and I made it to work on time despite going to the doctor first.
Then I found out I still have an infection after more than 3 weeks of IV antibiotics, BUT the good news is it is susceptible to oral antibiotics this time and my fancy new (also expensive but supposedly amazing) cranberry pills arrived today so I feel confident this will get rid of it, finally.
I was able to move a few other doctors appointments to earlier dates and the internet provided all sorts of great entertainment for me today (see my facebook page for a few examples).
Then I had to wait at the pharmacy for more 20 minutes to pick up my prescription, which come to find out is only partially filled because insurance is stupid and won't give me all 14 pills at once. Then I come home to find Willy has shit all over the apartment. Not nice little turds either, gross little piles of poop, not in 1 or 2 places but 5, then of course he won't poop when I take him outside because he already did all over the place. I know I shouldn't get mad because he only poops on the floor when he is sick, I can literally count on one hand the number of times he's pooped while we've been at work. But to top it all off when I went to go get the paper towels out of the trunk of my car to clean up the poop I find I have locked my keys in my car, so no paper towels, instead I have to keep washing out the same rag, gross.
And my only pair of black dress pants now has a hole in the thigh from where my thighs rub together when I walk, thank you fat thighs.
Is it Friday yet?
My CT scan this morning was quick, painless (except for the IV stick) and much shorter than expected, my coffee from Starbucks was tasty and I made it to work on time despite going to the doctor first.
Then I found out I still have an infection after more than 3 weeks of IV antibiotics, BUT the good news is it is susceptible to oral antibiotics this time and my fancy new (also expensive but supposedly amazing) cranberry pills arrived today so I feel confident this will get rid of it, finally.
I was able to move a few other doctors appointments to earlier dates and the internet provided all sorts of great entertainment for me today (see my facebook page for a few examples).
Then I had to wait at the pharmacy for more 20 minutes to pick up my prescription, which come to find out is only partially filled because insurance is stupid and won't give me all 14 pills at once. Then I come home to find Willy has shit all over the apartment. Not nice little turds either, gross little piles of poop, not in 1 or 2 places but 5, then of course he won't poop when I take him outside because he already did all over the place. I know I shouldn't get mad because he only poops on the floor when he is sick, I can literally count on one hand the number of times he's pooped while we've been at work. But to top it all off when I went to go get the paper towels out of the trunk of my car to clean up the poop I find I have locked my keys in my car, so no paper towels, instead I have to keep washing out the same rag, gross.
And my only pair of black dress pants now has a hole in the thigh from where my thighs rub together when I walk, thank you fat thighs.
Is it Friday yet?
Friday, October 4, 2013
Is it October? or December?
I woke up this morning needing to wear a coat outside to walk Willy, not a jacket, but a full on coat. My mom sent me a picture of her car showing the temperature as 29 degrees. It is October 4th! What happened to fall? I love fall so much! That chill (but not too chilly) in the air, the pumpkin treats everywhere, the pretty leaves but snow and freezing cold temperatures are too much.
I need fall!! I'm not ready for winter yet. After a super hot summer (which you will never hear me complain about by the way) I need a few weeks of nice 60 to 70 degree temperatures before it starts being wintery and cold. I need a few weeks where just a sweater or light jacket would be enough to keep me warm. I am so not ready for snow.
So Mother Nature what do you say you bring back those awesome fall temperatures and save winter for another day?
I need fall!! I'm not ready for winter yet. After a super hot summer (which you will never hear me complain about by the way) I need a few weeks of nice 60 to 70 degree temperatures before it starts being wintery and cold. I need a few weeks where just a sweater or light jacket would be enough to keep me warm. I am so not ready for snow.
So Mother Nature what do you say you bring back those awesome fall temperatures and save winter for another day?
Thursday, September 12, 2013
My favorite time of year
I am so excited that fall is almost here! I say almost because it still gets into the 80s most days but you can definitely tell its coming! The pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks, some of the leaves are starting to change and there is a little chill in the morning that hasn't been there before.
I love love fall. It is finally cold enough to eat yummy soups and chili and all sorts of other things that you don't really eat in the summer, there are pumpkin treats everywhere (and everyone knows I love pumpkin), it is chilly enough that I don't sweat like a beast everywhere I go and all the good TV shows come back.
I only wish winter didn't come after fall because winter an I are not good friends. Fall never lasts long enough. It seems like one day the leaves are starting turn such pretty colors and the next day they are gone and the snow is falling.
I am determined to enjoy every moment of fall I can! That means regular pumpkin spice lattes, walks outside before the weather gets too cold, pumpkin treats for everyone and enjoying just jacket weather!
Bring on the fall.
I love love fall. It is finally cold enough to eat yummy soups and chili and all sorts of other things that you don't really eat in the summer, there are pumpkin treats everywhere (and everyone knows I love pumpkin), it is chilly enough that I don't sweat like a beast everywhere I go and all the good TV shows come back.
I only wish winter didn't come after fall because winter an I are not good friends. Fall never lasts long enough. It seems like one day the leaves are starting turn such pretty colors and the next day they are gone and the snow is falling.
I am determined to enjoy every moment of fall I can! That means regular pumpkin spice lattes, walks outside before the weather gets too cold, pumpkin treats for everyone and enjoying just jacket weather!
Bring on the fall.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Peace and Quiet
Yesterday I mentioned my incredibly annoying, rude and inconsiderate upstairs neighbors. So today, you get to hear all about them.
These delightful people moved in sometime in February and I knew instantly there was someone new upstairs. If anyone had lived up there from the time we moved in November until February I didn't know they were there. But these people you knew. When they were moving in there was loud and constant crashing going on. I assumed it was just moving noises and it would go way. A few weeks later nothing had changed, there was still almost constant crashing and not just normal walking noise either, like seriously loud wake you up in the morning crashes. Sometime in March after I had been woken up three mornings in a row before 7 a.m. by this noise I went up there to see what was going on. A child, maybe 9 or 10-year-old boy, answered the door. He was there alone and was apparently jumping around like a monkey and then tried to say that they were hearing crashes too and that it was probably just the blow dryer.
Things seemed to settle down for a while and I didn't have any major problems (just minor annoyances) with them until the end of April, I again was woken up by loud crashes before 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, so I called the apartment managers and they said they would call them and remind them that quiet hours are between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
That seemed to help, until they decided to start dumping water off their balcony, which incidentally runs onto my balcony, multiple times a week. Lucky for them they have yet to do it when I am actually on the balcony, because I guarantee if that happens I might go ballistic.
I have actually come to a conclusion about the water. These people now have a dog, I know this because it barked for hours on end a few days ago while they were gone somewhere.
One morning after I had gone running I was sitting on the balcony and heard the kid come outside and tell the dog to go potty, because naturally if you are going to leave your 9-year-old home alone all day you don't want him to walk the dog. So I think they let this dog do its business on the balcony and then wash it off down onto my balcony!! So instead of just water I am getting dog-crap water washed onto my balcony, grill and the chairs I sit in!
I swear these people have no idea they live on the third floor. They stomp around, literally stomp, I can follow their every move in their apartment based on the noise coming from upstairs, drop things or jump around on a regular basis making extremely loud crashing noises, let their dog bark incessantly and throw water off their balcony without any warning whatsoever. John decided people with children shouldn't be able to live on anything but the first floor because kids naturally make a lot of noise.
If I could afford it, I would break my lease and move right now that is how bad it is. I have even considered moving to a different apartment in the complex if the managers would let us transfer our lease. That is how much I hate these people upstairs, that I would consider making an unnecessary move.
Lucky for me there has been very little noise the past two days and I have finally been able to get a little peace and quiet. Unfortunately, I don't expect the peace to last.
These delightful people moved in sometime in February and I knew instantly there was someone new upstairs. If anyone had lived up there from the time we moved in November until February I didn't know they were there. But these people you knew. When they were moving in there was loud and constant crashing going on. I assumed it was just moving noises and it would go way. A few weeks later nothing had changed, there was still almost constant crashing and not just normal walking noise either, like seriously loud wake you up in the morning crashes. Sometime in March after I had been woken up three mornings in a row before 7 a.m. by this noise I went up there to see what was going on. A child, maybe 9 or 10-year-old boy, answered the door. He was there alone and was apparently jumping around like a monkey and then tried to say that they were hearing crashes too and that it was probably just the blow dryer.
Things seemed to settle down for a while and I didn't have any major problems (just minor annoyances) with them until the end of April, I again was woken up by loud crashes before 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, so I called the apartment managers and they said they would call them and remind them that quiet hours are between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
That seemed to help, until they decided to start dumping water off their balcony, which incidentally runs onto my balcony, multiple times a week. Lucky for them they have yet to do it when I am actually on the balcony, because I guarantee if that happens I might go ballistic.
I have actually come to a conclusion about the water. These people now have a dog, I know this because it barked for hours on end a few days ago while they were gone somewhere.
One morning after I had gone running I was sitting on the balcony and heard the kid come outside and tell the dog to go potty, because naturally if you are going to leave your 9-year-old home alone all day you don't want him to walk the dog. So I think they let this dog do its business on the balcony and then wash it off down onto my balcony!! So instead of just water I am getting dog-crap water washed onto my balcony, grill and the chairs I sit in!
I swear these people have no idea they live on the third floor. They stomp around, literally stomp, I can follow their every move in their apartment based on the noise coming from upstairs, drop things or jump around on a regular basis making extremely loud crashing noises, let their dog bark incessantly and throw water off their balcony without any warning whatsoever. John decided people with children shouldn't be able to live on anything but the first floor because kids naturally make a lot of noise.
If I could afford it, I would break my lease and move right now that is how bad it is. I have even considered moving to a different apartment in the complex if the managers would let us transfer our lease. That is how much I hate these people upstairs, that I would consider making an unnecessary move.
Lucky for me there has been very little noise the past two days and I have finally been able to get a little peace and quiet. Unfortunately, I don't expect the peace to last.
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