Thoughts from an inquisitive mind

 Sitting watching the Chauvin trial from Minneapolis. Listening to the medical examiner testimony and whether prior conditions contributed to the death. I'm seeing a double standard here. 

Standard rule is usually that if someone dies from the stress of being held up (for example), the charge is no longer larceny, but homicide. In this case, it looks like the defense team is trying to prove that, if not for prior heart disease and drug use, the 9.5 minutes of neck compression would not have killed Floyd. 

Sorry, but a bad cop is a bad cop. Don't try to justify his actions. We have a few rotten apples that make honest, hard-working cops all look bad. Once upon a time, people like Chauvin would never have met the police hiring standards. I had one friend who was turned down by the Detroit Police Department (in the old days!) for a lousy speeding ticket. Standard have fallen.

Yesterday and Today

Back in the mid-'50s, I fell in love with a gold Sheaffer Touchdown Snorkel pen and pencil set that my grandfather owned. The pencil used ultra fine lead and the pen sported an extra fine accountant's nib. I drooled over that set and finally talked him out of them when I was in high school. I've kept them all these years.

A few years ago, I sent the pen out to be restored, but I'm almost afraid to use it. The set never leaves the house, so I can't lose them. In fact, they sit in a lined wooden box next to the TV in my office. 

Recently, I spotted a gold Sheaffer Sagaris on Facebook that is a near replica of the old Sheaffer Touchdown. Yep. Had to buy it. Fortunately, it didn't cost an arm and a leg. The only problem? I could only find it with a medium nib. For once, I really wanted a fine nib. What can I say, I'm a sucker for memories of my grandfather. 

The solution? I found one in black and chrome with gold trim. It was easy to swap the nib sections. Now, every time I pick up that gold Sagaris, I think of my grandfather. Salut', Don Cicino. I miss you.

Off the top of my head

I'm amazed at the gullibility of people today. It seems like too many take negative things at face value and never stop to question the source or probability of the truth of it. When I was in school, I was fortunate enough to have a few teachers who would force us to think. Does it sound logical?  Think about it. Newspaper editors never ran hot topic stories without having the facts backed up by 3 independent sources. 

In our current "instant access" internet days, the race seems to be who can get a story out first, facts be damned. It's on the internet, so there must be some truth to it. And anyone with enough cash can start their own web news site, biased though it may be. It's either extreme right or extreme left. I sometimes wonder if there are any old time news reporters left. 

And then, there are the news spoof sites. How many of their spoofed stories are quoted on platforms like Facebook, and taken as the gospel truth by the gullibles of the world. No matter how outlandish the story, somebody out there is going to believe it.

When I was growing up, we always had two newspapers. The Detroit News (right leanings) and the Detroit Free Press (more to the left). When it came time for political endorsements by the Editorial team, you knew that the News would back the Republicans and the Freep would back the Democrats. The thing was, if you read both and did some reasoning, you could probably pick out the best candidate for the office. 

Today, the newspapers are pretty much a joke, and TV news is not much better. I used to love talk radio, but thanks to the Limbaughs of the world, I've given it up. Middle of the road has pretty much disappeared. Too many drank the orange kool aid. I just want to go back to a society that wasn't wrapped up in name calling and bigotry.

Later.

Has it really been that long?

So, after a nearly 5 year hiatus, I think I'm ready to blog again, maybe on a weekly basis? Time will tell. This last year has been crazy. I'm not a heavy socializer anyway, but it has been strange not going out to dinner occasionally, or visiting friends. I miss the human contact. The only hugs I get lately are from my favorite chiropractor. He's semi-retired and doesn't go out much either, so we take our chances and don't bother with gloves and masks. We both have always had decent immune systems. 

It's probably been 25 years since I had a nasty virus. Christmas 2019 my daughter and I both had what I'm convinced was a mild case of Covid-10. My GP is certain that they saw their first case 2 months before that. My problems were mostly upper respiratory and wouldn't quite let go, but hung on for months. 

Vaccines? I'm still undecided. Maybe the J & J, if it's ever released. I'm not big on vaccines with my auto-immune problems. I think that in some cases they just weaken your own natural immunity. We're too much of a big Pharma society. Pills for everything and big bucks for the drug companies. As for drug testing, let's just say that I don't trust all of them. I was tossed out of a final phase test of one very expensive drug because of a bad potential problem. I'm sure my records were deleted. If it happened to me, how many others were also excluded at the first sign of a problem? 

For now, we just continue social distancing and masking and hope for the best. One good thing is that I haven't had a cold since all of this started, just my usual sinus allergies. I can live with that. 

That's it for now. Signing off. Maybe I'll be back next week.

Once again, long time no blog

And, another year has gone by. SSDD.

New hospitalization insurance this year, but the same old battles. BC-BS wanted a significant increase in premiums, so the union negotiated a better (maybe!) policy at the same rate we've been paying. Hospital my doctors work through was involved in what they are calling a merger with two others, but in reality it was a takeover by the biggest of the three. Billing has been flaky. Received a notice from a collection agency for a fee that was paid by insurance months ago after being billed four, yes four times. Insurance people straightened it out. And yes, I called just to verify. (Me, paranoid?)

Received a bill for my copay for an April visit to the ER. The bill was for just short of $75. Checked the insurance payment, and they said my copay was $65. ER bill also said the balance reflected $25 already paid, and if there was a problem, just call their number. After a week of busy signals, I called the hospital and got the billing department answering system. Leave a message and they'd get back within 24 hours. Yep, and the moon is made of green cheese. I finally wrote them a letter, enclosing a copy of the statement from my insurance company. Told them that per the insurance people, my copay was only $65 and as they already had $25, "enclosed please find my check for $40." Haven't heard a word from them, but they did deposit the check. I should have gone to law school.

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll be back when something else stupid bugs me.

It Will Never Stop

Sooooo... 2 weeks ago I spent nearly a week straightening out my dental insurance. Even though all the paperwork was duly filled out, notarized, etc.,etc., they dropped my coverage. Did I mention that I'm having some expensive crown and bridgework done? Yeah. Great timing. Took 5 days to get that fixed (I hope!).

Had a stress test last week. No word from my cardiologist, so I'm assuming it wasn't too bad. I was scheduled for a routine ultrasound tomorrow, but the hospital called to say my insurance coverage was no longer valid. What? That was changed to my name weeks ago. Nope. Called the insurance company. BC-BS had a letter from the city saying that I wanted to unenroll. Apparently, when they reinstated my dental coverage, they managed to cancel my health insurance. After several phone calls to contact the right person, city told me I cancelled it. No way, Jose. I pointed out to her that they even took the monthly premium out of my pension check the first of the month. Oops!

The last I heard, the city acknowledged that I did indeed have coverage and they were trying to contact their person at BC-BS to cancel the cancellation. To play safe, I've postponed my ultrasound for two weeks. It should be straight by then — maybe. Next step? I may have to contact one of our local TV reporters who love to ruffle feathers over stupidity.

The Check is in the Mail

Yep. Still waiting for the check from the nursing home. Called again yesterday and got the 'let me check and call you back.' 5 minutes later — the check is in the mail. Any bets that they waited for me to call to actually mail it? I get the distinct feeling that it takes a call for each step required to be carried out. How the working staff can be so great and the administrative staff so unfeeling is beyond me.

Finally tending to my own health issues. Saw my cardiologist today. Precautionary stress test in 2 weeks.

Oh, and it never stops. Used my new waterpik last night and it blew off one of my crowns. I know. At least I still have teeth to crown. I see my dentist in the morning.

One Down

The mail brought a pleasant surprise. The one life insurance I wasn't aware of, and therefore the last payment applied for. Thank you, Detroit PBPA. Your staff is the best.

Want more salt in that wound?

To nursing homes/extended care facilities everywhere: When issuing refunds of advance payments for care to surviving family members after someone in your care passes away, don't drag your heels and take a month and multiple phone calls to issue that check. Oh, and that check? Please issue it to the person who gave you the original check. Don't automatically make it payable to "The Estate of" because not all people have assets that need to go through probate.

I understand that you want to hang onto every penny as long as possible so that you can make more money, but it's not a fair and proper thing to do. You've taken what was a great experience with a fantastic frontline staff and turned it into an ulcer-inducing nightmare all in the name of bureaucratic red tape. Let me rephrase that — Bureaucratic Bullshit.

And City of Detroit life insurance? I'm listed as the primary beneficiary. Why do you need a copy of my marriage license when I'm already listed as the beneficiary? The last time your bringers of red tape 'required' proof of our marriage, it ended with a stolen social security number that the IRS and I will be dealing with forever.

Greed

Owe someone money and they want it yesterday. But, if they owe you? Whole different story. Wait for them to do the right thing, then call and get the ‘I guess we should process that.' Wait a couple of weeks more and call again only to be told to call again if it's not in by the end of the week. Call again? You bet. The name of the game? Keep the money as long as possible.

Honor your debts. Stop being greedy.

She's baaaak — Maybe

I think it's time to start blogging again. I limited myself to Facebook for a long time, but FB tends to drive me a little pazzo. Time for a new beginning. After being married to the same man for nearly 50 years, I lost him last month to multiple cancers that originated in his pancreas. The only good part of pancreatic cancer is that you don't linger. He spent only 18 days in hospice care, and he was diagnosed just 3 months before his death. This was the third go-round with cancer in 3 years. So, now I try to pick up the pieces and deal with all of the paperwork involved with pensions, insurances and the like. Oh, and there's also the little matter of home maintenance, grass cutting, weed pulling(?). So far, my wonderful neighbor across the street is cutting the grass when he cuts his grandmother's. Have to figure out what to pay him. He has a beautiful little daughter and is about to be married to a super gal, so I know he can use the extra bucks. Also need to start thinning out my husband's tools and yard equipment. He wanted our neighbor to have what I won't use. I'm converting all of the bill paying and banking to online/computer work. Spouse was a total computer-phobe and insisted on paper records. Keeping my banking data on my iPad. Gave up on Quicken. Have a $5 app that does all that I need and keeps the data backed up to my Dropbox account. That's it for the moment. I'm thinking of trying to blog once a week. We'll see what happens. TTFN

Lytro

Picture sent using Quickpic

Testing an upload from my touch.

iWeb/MobileMe Going Away

So, Apple has double-crossed many of us and is doing away with iWeb and MobileMe. Bad, bad Apple. Maybe I'll come back to Blogger. Maybe something else. Time will tell.

Liar, liar

Yep, just as I thought. The promise to ship yarn on Monday was just so much smoke. Told them that if it had not shipped, please refund my money and stick the future free shipping where our home star never sheds illumination. Received my refund this morning. Of course, they still had use of my money for more than 3 months.

Dear Indie Dyer,

When you offer limited edition yarn colors, know your limits on what you can produce in a reasonable amount of time. Set your order limits and stick to them.Don't accept all orders to the point where you are hopelessly swamped. If you do accidentally accept too many orders, ADMIT IT. Don't keep stalling. After SockSummit turned into late September or early October. By early October it became another week or two. Now, into November, and it's soon — but we know you'll love it and we'll include a coupon for free shipping. Duh! Not a chance. You've had my money since late July. Screw me once, and you don't get a second chance. There are too many reliable indie dyers out there. As soon as I have my refund, I'm spending it on something from Lisa Souza.

Mama Knows Best!

I love it when I'm proved right. DH has developed a problem with a slow heartbeat. I've maintained from the start that one of the meds he was on for hypertension was the wrong thing to use. New cardiologist confirmed it today. Drug in question may indeed be the cause of the problem. Stress test and echo scheduled for the end of the month. In the meantime, that pill is g-o-n-e!

Everything Old Is New Again

So one of the stories on the local news tonight concerns a "new" idea — a traveling produce truck. Buy fresh fruit and veggies from a mobile vendor, just like the ice cream man.

Uh, I hate to break the news to our local news readers, but this is nothing new. We had an adorable little Italian man who drove a produce truck around our neighborhood in Detroit up until the late 70's. We would joke about how this half-breed Sicilian was married to a non-Italian, but it was okay. The best part of buying from this lovely man was that I knew that what he sold me was fresh from Eastern Market — brought in that morning. Can't get fresher than that unless you live on the farm.

Yes, I miss the good old days of the street vendors and mom & pop stores. I hate the big box stores and avoid them as much as possible. Support your local people. I do, as much as possible.

Playoff Time!

You know you’re a hopeless hockey nut when you have the game on the TV but dig out the USB TV tuner to watch Bones and CSI on the computer, all while knitting a red Wendy sock in honor of the Red Wings. And the Wings won game #1. Oh, and my red octopus is sitting on top of the computer screen.

Go WIngs!

The world is run by Idiots!

Time for another rant. I tried to login to our online banking to see if our tax refunds have arrived yet. It didn’t recognize me. Gee, did I screw up the login? Try it again. Nope, still not working. Error message says please call the bank. So I called the bank.

Someone, in their infinite lack of wisdom, decreed that those with accounts not accessed at least once a month must lose their login info and must apply all over again for web access. Are they nuts? I don’t pay bills online. Sorry, I’m old fashioned. I check periodically to see if EFTs have been posted, but usually not more often than quarterly. S-T-U-P-I-D!