Holy Rants & Sacred Scribbles

We're blaming the wrong people for "health insurance"...

2008-04-28T14:41:03Z

OK. Someone explain something to me, please.

Why is that, when we get sick or something goes wrong medically with us, and we can't afford it, we blame the Insurance Companies? (either our Lack-Of-Health-Insurance or OMG-They-Refused-To-Cover-This-And-Now-I-Can't-Afford-It?)

Why in the hell aren't we blaming the people RESPONSIBLE for the high costs of health care -- the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies?

The docs/hospitals/pharm companies are the ones setting the prices. They're the ones charging the cash that we can't afford. They're the ones refusing to treat people unless they can meet those high costs.

Think about this -- the health insurance folks have something called "reasonable & expected costs". This means that the in-network doctor is only allowed to charge so much for the service they render; in the worst scenario, the insurance company will only pay what they consider "reasonable" for the service, and you have to pay the rest. Take a look at the statement your insurance company sends you after a doc visit, to see what amount your doctor is really trying to charge.

In other words, the doctors are overcharging. The insurance companies expect them to overcharge, and rein them in.

Come ON, folks. How much does it really take to make those pills? How much is your doctor's time really worth -- especially when his diagnosis is usually his OPINION anyway?

They're overcharging, and wow, we blame the insurance companies when we can't afford it. What a racket.

Look at this another way. We don't expect auto insurance to pay for gas fill-ups, or repairs, or oil changes. The insurance is only there in case something unexpected and out of the ordinary happens -- gods forbid, if I wreck into someone. That's what insurance is supposed to be for, the unexpected.

But health insurance somehow has to pay for the usual & expected. They foot most of the bill for your regular checkups, for routine work. You pay a co-pay, but they pay the rest.

The rest of what the DOCTOR charges.

Something to think about.

NOM NOM NOM

2008-04-25T12:41:30Z

Coworkers who come around selling "warm Krispy Kreme donuts" to fund-raise for charity should be SHOT.

edit: Coworkers who come around selling "warm Krispy Kreme donuts to fund-raise for the March of Dimes, and use the tagline, "awww, come on, it's for the BABIES..." should be SHOT.

If you like shrimp, read this:

2008-04-24T01:19:23Z

This was posted on CNN today:

Thailand's Shrimp product of slave labor & abuse

Pass this to everyone you know. Post it on your own blogs. And spread the word - don't eat or buy shrimp from Thailand. If you have time, let your local grocery store know that you are no longer buying any shrimp from Thailand, and why.

If you love shrimp as much as I do, this will not inconvenience you. Shrimp packages are clearly marked as to country of origin, and the US has its own source of shrimp, the Gulf (and I have found Gulf shrimp at Wal-mart, usually a lot cheaper than the stuff from Thailand.)

So if you refuse to buy Thai and look for the US sources, you're not only refusing to support Thai's slave labor, you're ALSO helping to rebuild the stricken Gulf economy, which is still hurting from Hurricane Katrina.

Peace out...

zenfrodo @ 2008-04-16T18:37:00

2008-04-16T22:39:41Z

Pissed off, snarked off, and ready to kill something describes my mood right about now.

Luckily, there's Warcraft.

Yes, Dish Network is involved. No, Brett no longer works there.

If you have Dish, cancel.

Pardon me while I go hunt down dwarves and renegade elves.

Now. I'm. Pissed.

2008-04-05T23:23:56Z

I spent over 8 hours in the emergency room yesterday.

No. Not because of me. Because of Brett, and that fuckin' shitty place he currently works for, Dish Network.

Monday, Brett called me from Dish. He was sick to the point of throwing up every 20-30 minutes; he'd been fine when he'd gone in, and within an hour of being in the building, he'd developed a major headache, nausea, and vomiting. I will note here that their center is doing major renovation work, re-carpeting, construction, etc.

AND DISH WOULD NOT LET HIM LEAVE...and Brett is so easy-going & mild-mannered, that he didn't tell them to simply FUCK OFF and walk.

Imagine that -- the fumes in a building making you that fuckin' sick, and your employer saying "Tough, you gotta work." I will note further that, per Brett, other employees were also getting sick, but were accounting it to "the flu".

Somehow, Brett finangled the next day off. After several hours of being home, he was more or less fine.

Tuesday, Wed, Thurs, he was fine.

Friday, he goes back to work. And around 2:15, I got a Yahoo IM from him; he'd gotten majorly ill AGAIN within 30 minutes of walking in the front door at his center. And this time, when Dish told him to tough it out, he'd told the supervisor "forget it", and went home, earning a "verbal warning" for having to call off.

I told him to haul his ass to the emergency room. And MY workplace, being humane & recognizing that their employees are human, let me go so I could join him there (and my manager also gave me a heads-up on action to take; more on that below).

Unfortunately, Friday afternoon/Evening + Columbus's West Side = Long Frakkin' Wait With Lots of Interesting West-Side Personalities In The Same Room.

I made to Doctor's West about 3:15, Brett had been there since 2:30. We finally got in to see a doctor about 8:30 (and were out by 10:30).

TWO doctors, one after the other, both of whom listened to the symptoms, to Brett's explanation of the construction & what happened, and they BOTH said, "Carbon monoxide."

Then they apologized up and down for the long wait, because due to that wait, any test for CO would be useless; it leaves the body fairly steadily. After 6 hours, it'd be gone.

However, we now have doctor's orders for Brett to stay home, AND a Worker's Comp paperwork showing what happened, AND a doctor's strong "recommendation" that Dish test for CO...

...and damn straight I called OSHA, thanks to MY manager's tip.

Ohio might be an at-will state for employment, but that does NOT give Dish the right to ignore federal regulations or worker safety.

And by the way, Dish Network has over 700 consumer complaints of fraud on the Ripoff Report. And over 3000 complaints to the Better Business Bureau.

If you're getting your TV through them, look at what you're supporting.

The way a company treats its employees is the way that the employees will treat customers. It's an abuse-cycle, just as child-abuse, just as domestic violence.

Nothing says "I love you..."

2008-04-04T17:00:41Z

...like a cow shitting.

link is safe for viewing at work.</a>

That's not just ONE card this company offers for you to send to your loved one. They have a whole series of cow-shit related love-cards. Did the implied meaning of "bullshit" just totally escape them, or what?

Things Not To Spring on Me This Godsawful Early...

2008-03-31T13:46:28Z

Actual question from my supervisor: "So...how much pot does it take to roll a joint?"

Either a sign of how great my job is, or sign of how godsawful messed up our customers are. You decide.

no no NO, I don't do that crap. Just get that thought out of your head right now. Immediately.

Sorry, is "tech support" stamped on my forehead? I don't think so.

2008-03-28T17:37:12Z

What IS it with everyone deciding I know everything about whatever tech issue they decide to drop in my lap?

Mom: "How do I remove Vista from my computer?"
Me: "Mom, I run a Mac."
Mom: "Yeah, but how do you do it?"
Me: "Call the place you got it from and ask them to do it."
Mom: "But..."
Me: "Or just wipe your hard drive and install XP."
Mom: "Wipe the drive? Isn't there any easier way?"
Me: "Yeah. Call the place you got it from and ask them to do it."

Or today, at work:

Co-worker: "Ooooo, you got an iPod. I got one for Christmas."
Me: "Nice."
Co-worker: "Can you load other music on it?"
Me: "Other music?"
Co-worker: "Well, yeah, my parents loaded some stuff on it and I can't figure out how to get my stuff on there."
Me: "Did you read the instructions?"
Co-worker: "Instructions?"

Now, mind, the iPod is absurdly easy, especially if you have a Mac (which this co-worker does). Plug it in to your Mac, wait for iTunes to come up, drag & drop the music files onto the iPod icon in iTunes.

Wanna rip a CD to MP3? Easy -- shove CD in your Mac and iTunes will come up & prompt you to import it to your music library. Then drag, drop, it's on your iPod.

The above conversation went on for about 15 minutes after the above point, of me trying to explain the last 2 paragraphs to the continual refrain of "It doesn't do that." (yes, it bloody well DOES, because it's a MAC and an IPOD and they work that way), and of me trying to send her to the Apple iPod /iTunes support area ("They couldn't help me." -- total b.s., those Forums rock for newbies and the documentation is extensive and easy to search). Nothing would do but for her to insist on calling me so I could "walk her through it."

I can hear the call now:

me: "Plug it in."
Co-worker: "Um, okay..."
me: "iTunes is up?"
Co-worker: "Um...yeah."
me: "It has an iPod icon on the left?"
Co-worker: "Um...yeah."
me: "You can drag your music files onto it?"
Co-worker: "Um...yeah."
me: "Problem solved. $50, please."

zenfrodo @ 2008-03-28T09:46:00

2008-03-28T13:55:57Z

The match burns down
It nips your fingers
wakes you from the dream
of where you thought you were

Run, run, put your face right in it
as if the world could care

and sliding under
the wing to starboard
the moon goes up and down
on some city somewhere

your heart is jammed
the chamber's loaded
silver bullets of joy or despair

you can trust in the power of music
you can trust in the power of prayer
but it's only the white of your knuckles
that's keeping this plane in the air

I've got scar tissue
i've got cash in hand
got a season ticket to the promised land

And i do this for a living, mister,
don't you understand?
that I'm dancing, dancing, dancing as fast as I can.

and when you're dry
they bring you brandy
the gates of sleep
you gotta push on through

who stands guard
while you're dreaming
of blue skies, blue o'er blue?

you can trust in the power of music
you can trust in the power of prayer
but it's only the white of your knuckles
that's keeping this plane in the air

i've got scar tissue
i've got cash in hand
got a season ticket to the promised land

And i do this for a living, mister,
don't you understand?
that I'm dancing, dancing, dancing as fast as I can.

-- The Oysterband, "Dancing as Fast as I Can"

Dancing as fast as I can...

2008-03-27T15:56:44Z

Wow.

It's always a rush to get introduced to a new band.

It's DOUBLY a rush when the CD in question connects so hard to not only me, but also to my writing, connects so hard that I'm gasping in sheer amazement.

The band is the Oysterband (aka The Oyster Band) -- hardly "new", actually. They've been around for 30 years. But OMG, how come I've never listened to them before this?

This past weekend, the local Celtic music show, "Toss The Feathers" (http://www.wcbe.org to listen, Sat 3-5 PM EST), featured two tracks from their 2007 album "Meet You There". I was in another room, concentrating hard on another project, and even from that distance, the music caught my attention and drew me away from the computer & to the radio -- and I was at the iTunes store right after they finished, downloading the whole album.

Yeah. I believe in paying for good music. I'm weird that way.

Anyway, I've been obsessively listening to "Meet You There" ever since. THIS is the CD that the band in my stories would have put out after the events of the first three books. Granted, John Jones's voice (lead singer) is nowhere near the tenor that Perry's is, but dammmmn. "Meet You There" bounces between trad-influenced rock/borderline country, emotional, yearning, damning, lyrically deft...

Just...wow.

Best tracks:

Over the Water ("the spirit of a troubled life is all that I can give to you...")
Dancing as Fast as I Can ("the match burns down, it nips your fingers, wakes you from the dream of where you thought you were..." -- holy SHITE, this song just became the new theme for the Seven Kingdoms series...)
Here Comes The Flood (the trad-flipside of Journey's World Gone Wild)
Where the World Divides
The Boy's Still Running (I've been re-reading "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows", and THIS song just seems tailor-made to the book. I doubt the Oysterband intended it that way, though. It's a haunting, eerie song.)

How can you REALLY tell Journey's still popular?

2008-03-25T17:49:27Z

...oh wait for it, wait for it. This takes a bit of setup, so bear with me.

Screw The Sopranos, car commercials & whatnot...this is how you REALLY tell when Something Is Back In The Public Eye.

Ok. A while back, I used to run The Journey Webring. Point of fact, I started it & built it, ground-up (it's now run by The Journey Digest team).

Now, as Ringkeeper, I got very very familiar with all the Journey domains and URLs and website. VERY familiar. Like, practically memorized. I could probably still rattle them off.

For a while, Hugo's Journey Tribute Band, Evolution, was in the Journey Ring. Remember Hugo, from Valentine?

I'll spare you the rant about how Hugo ended up building his career on becoming Steve Perry.

Some of you know I work for a major credit card company in their Compliance department. To be blunt, I make sure we don't have criminals taking our card as payment for their services. To that end, I work a LOT of queries on a LOT of questionable sites.

So. In one of my godsawful way-too-early-in-the-morning-to-look-at-this-shit queries today, this URL turned up:

www.JourneyTribute.com (don't visit the link, seriously.)

I look at it, and stare at it, and go...

..."Okay, why is Hugo's site in THIS query?"

Then my tired brain kicks in a little more, and goes,

..."um, why is Hugo's site in this query NOW?"...

And then My Curiousity tosses My Common Sense out the window, and I go ahead and visit the site...

Does the word "Facials" describe it clear enough?

If not, just settle for "hard core porn" and leave it at that.

No. Really. Leave it.

Now, think about this. The porn scum that pull domain tricks like that (like the infamous White House.gov/.com URL or the misspelled Disney thing) will only pull it on domains that have a reasonable chance of pulling in a good amount of traffic to their site.

Which means that someone, somewhere, decided that JourneyTribute.com was still gonna get lots of traffic -- that there's enough Journey fans looking for sites/news/Brazen-Steve-Perry-Fakes that they put out the money to snag the domain & route it to their porn.

Though, dammit, I was sooo hoping it was airbrushed/Photoshopped Perry/Schon celebrity nudity.

Maybe next time. *eyes JourneyMusic.com*

Have a Coke and a...er...what?

2008-03-21T15:42:16Z

Coke Sponsors The Crucifixion

Hell, Coke grabbed Christmas with Claus & the Polar Bears. Might as well grab the other end, too.

Man, this is just my day for whacked-out shit, I swear.

this has NOTHING to do with Journey's new singer being Filipino. I swear. At least, I hope not.

They're BIG. They're BAAAD. They're HARDCORE...

2008-03-21T14:50:42Z

They hunt freakin' ducks.

Dear gods, they look like Rambo rejects from a Weird Al parody.

Good lord, the man's turned into Barry Manilow on 'ludes...

2008-03-13T14:38:37Z

The Other Missing Lead Singer that no one in the music industry gives a shit about anymore

...and...the horror, the horror...the man's turned The Hunchback of Notre Dame into a musical...

Weird Wide Web, Scouring #2: WHAT?????

2008-03-12T18:22:59Z

Holy SHITE, this explains a LOT about the current Dubya idiot...

Just take a look at #30.

Things that make ya go Hmmmmmmm.

And the rest make for fascinating history reading, including one that will give you the "why" of why the Middle East is such a fucked-up mess at the moment.

Yet another scouring from the corners of the Weird Wide Web...

2008-03-12T18:15:15Z

30 Things That Should Never Be Adapted To Film

...though dear gods, the Shoots & Ladders with Jackie Chan sounds like something that might actually be done...

SNOW?!? OMGWTFBBQ?!?!?!?!!

2008-03-08T14:21:25Z

WOW.

When I went to bed last night...about 5 inches of snow, maybe a little more.

This morning, when I got up at 7 am....that 5 has multiplied to well over a foot, and I can't get our screen door open. Across the way, the snow is up to our neighbor's windows (first floor); Mr. Wilks is out shoveling (at 7 am on a Saturday???), and the drifts are easily up to his waist.

I take that back...he's just gave up the fight.

I haven't seen this much snow in this area for about 10 years.

NOTHING beats the blizzards of 1978, though. NOTHING.

i'm what?

2008-03-06T18:33:01Z

ganked from ladyrazorsharp. :)

Gary Gygax is DEAD????

2008-03-04T20:21:35Z

Let the deluge of "failed the saving throw" jokes begin...

YOUZ FAILZ LOLZ

2008-03-04T15:31:40Z

On the trolling of the Internets...be amused. Be very amused: The Fail Blog

CREEEEEPY...

2008-03-03T18:13:18Z

OMG, creepy Eugenics Poster Children with gene-geneered smiles...

All dressed alike, all smiling that corpse-like smile on their pale blonde faces...and this site expects this image to SELL their product?

:shudders:

:plays Twilight Zone Theme:

In the "You Must Be Frakkin' JOKING" department:

2008-03-01T04:59:40Z

...aka The Women Who Announce Their Lack Of Lives To The World Dept. I mean, just stamp "loser" on your forehead and be DONE with it...it'll be cheaper.

Dear fuckin' gods. Nothing says "sad & pathetic" quite like that. Though from what I've seen of the -ites, the Small & Medium sizes are very unnecessary.

VINDICATED!!!

2008-02-26T19:25:45Z

Folks who read my rants know I'm a huge fan of Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, and I've long thought she was a secret Journey fan...mostly because of High Wizardry having a key scene hinge on Perry's "Running Alone" and a character in one of her Star Trek novels being named Steve Perry (no joke, though I forget which one...not much of an ST fan, here).

Now...goofing off...I found THIS great blog entry on Journey's resurgence: Whatever, Don't Stop Believin'

The great part? Scroll down the comments to July 28 2006, and there is Diane Duane, expressing a hope that ...dear gods... I pray comes true too:

-----------------------
(waves) Another Journey geek over here.

My great secret desire is that, when the YW series becomes a TV series or movie, Steve Perry will sing the theme song (Janis Ian's already professed interest in writing it).

(falls on knees and petitions a hopefully kindly universe to make this happen)
-----------------------

OK. Two-fold hope, there, that the Wizards series DOES come around and that Steve does do the theme song. That would so totally rock. and YES YES YES!!! Diane IS a Journey Fan!

That makes me very happy, for some reason, that one of my favorite authors loves one of my favorite bands.

*eyes my own Kingdoms books*
*sighs in frustration*

In The "Thank God You Died Before You Hit The Gene Pool" Dept...

2008-02-26T16:17:47Z

Let's do a shark dive! In bloody water! Without a cage!

If this doesn't win the 2008 Darwin Awards, nothing else will.

Journey "Generations"....

2008-02-25T18:48:42Z

Ok. Finally broke down and loaded ALL the Journey albums & solo projects on my iPod.

(well, almost all -- the early Steve Smith & Vital Information albums are not on CD or iTunes or even *gasp* P2P servers, that I've ever been able to find. *sigh* Yes. I am really that big a fan. Though I draw the line at Tane' Cain/McClure's one solo album -- some things are just too blandly hideous even for MY diverse & weird music tastes -- and Jonathan's album of cartoon love songs...ergh...dammit, Jonathan, you've got too much songwriting talent to resort to such things, like I still haven't forgiven Neal for that one album of bland pop covers HE did. Yeesh, talk about unintentional self-parody.)

And with that rant, I'm reminded of a Calvin & Hobbes strip:

Calvin: The problem with rock and roll is that the generation that created it is now the establishment. Rock pretends it's still rebellious with its video posturing, but who believes it? The stars are all either 45-year-old zillionaires or they endorse soft drinks! The 'revolution' is a capitalist industry! Give me a break! Fortunately, I've found some protest music for today's youth. This stuff really offends Mom and Dad!
Hobbes: Easy-listening Muzak?!
Calvin: I play it real quiet, too.

Neal, Jonathan, come ON, Bill Watterson did NOT mean for you guys to take that seriously...

ok. back to real reason for post.

So. Red 13 rolled into Generations, and DAMN, I'd forgotten what great albums these are...especially Generations. ESPECIALLY Generations (though my jury's still out on Neal's retake on Self-Defense). "Walking Away from the Edge" gives me chills...then add in "Butterfly", "Every Generation", "Faith in the Heartland", etc etc...and the total blues-whiskey STOMP of Gone Crazy (PLEASE, Journey, release a re-take on "Walks Like A Lady" with Ross doing lead, please oh please oh please...). Man. Both Red 13 & Generations now rank just below Escape on my "favorite Journey albums" list -- Generations, especially.

Figures that just when Journey seemed to be hitting its stride with Aug, they let Aug go.

Dammit, Journey, Augeri, will you guys just kiss & make up & get back together? Please???