The insurance shell game

So, I get this piece of mail yesterday saying delinquent account amount due! Hmm, well, that is not like me. Looking into it, it is from an unpaid medical bill from a doctor's visit I had last year for a sinus infection. Apparently, United Health Care failed to pay the bill! So, not only did I never receive a mail or phone call saying they denied the claim but, apparently, it has been racking up interest for a year. Yay me.

Upon calling UHC last night, on my first attempt I was disconnected from the rep. Yep, now I am even more pissed. On the second attempt a get some chick who's first language obviously is not English (shocking!). She tells me that they denied the claim because of a pre-existing condition!

"Oh really? What exactly would that be?" I asked. She said "some people have allergies". Wow, was I shocked. So, if people have allergies and go the doctor for sinus infections, you can say no way, not paying it? On the funny side, after drilling this rep, she said "well, some people have sinuses". I was like, um, I think everyone has sinuses, you twit! I tried to escalate to a supervisor but, of course, no one was on duty!

So, I called back today, now on my third representative. They said that the claim was initially denied but we sent you out a form to get it rectified, did you get it? (I do remember this one form, which I sent back filled out). So I say, yes, I received it and sent it back to you. She checks, and low and behold! The received it but nothing was done! Whoohoo! Point for me!

So, now I am waiting for the "expedited resolution team" to call me back regarding this issue. So, hopefully we can get this take care of. Wait and watch to see if UHC ends up on shit list.

Classical with a twist

I remember seeing this artist quite a few years ago in a video and she totally blew me away. Not only was she hot! But she was also super talented. Her music certainly had a new twist on the traditional. Something I think my dad, who loves all things Classical, would really find... interesting.

With the internet just going insane in terms of available content, things are easily found that use to be non existant. So, thanks to one of the newer additions to the web - Youtube.com (which offers videos of, well, anything and everything) - I ran across this artist again.

Her name is Vanessa Mae. She is a violinist. Check out her video/music HERE! She is pretty impressive. Oh, and did I mention she is hot?

I must have dreamed I had a day off

So, today was SUPPOSE to be my day off. As all of you, I am sure, look forward to and enjoy your day off, there is nothing worse than getting called in to work. Especially when it is a bullshit reason.

I get a call today from one of my crew telling me that "Oh, surprise! Some of the upper management is visiting and they want you in the store!" Gee, thanks for the notice and thanks for screwing my day off. So I have to get out of my relaxation mode, switch to work mode, go in and have a day. *sigh*

The visit, of course, went well. Thanks to the crew, who always rock. But damn! It was my day off!! Other interesting things came up, which I am not sure what to make of yet. To put it lightly, I am in "cautious" mode, as I think something may be going down that is heavily on the sketch side. I will keep you updated on that vague statement as I dig out more info this week.

Pardon me, I have to burst into flames now

Holy crap is it friggin HOT! I had the misfortune of having to run some errands today.. gah! It is 110 degress out!! Soon to be 114 they say. Now, dry heat or not, that is hot enough to melt your socks right off.

Alright, my woman was somewhat displeased at my last post in which I vaguely described her much ballyhooed home cooked fish dinner as "crunchy". So, this morning I found on my desk a printout about said dinner. Hmm, wonder who printed that out?! So, to show that sometimes too much information is not a good thing, here are the details about said dinner right from the printout:

Item: Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze!
Difficulty: EASY
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

So, there you have it. Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze - easy to cook in under 21 minutes. Crunchy too!

Oh, on a side note, one thing that I have learned about posting photos on my blog is that I must upload them to Blogger as opposed to linking to the external page. I was searching through some old posts last night for something and realized that most of the external links have dropped there images, leaving me with big empty white boxes! So, to anyone who is reading my archived stuff, sorry about the occasional emptiness! From here on out that will be fixed.

Two weeks... right...

I was suppose to have a manager's meeting today ("every two weeks, like clock work!"). Of course, it was canceled and and rescheduled for next week. Which begs the question, when is the next meeting? Two weeks from today or two weeks from next week? The mind boggles.

Anyways, I figured since the store was already covered, I would take a personal day and chill a bit. I had a nice, calming day today. So it was a good call. The woman even cooked a special dinner of salmon something or another which, despite its intended crunchiness, was quite good.

Apparently I missed the season premieres of Stargate and Atlantis at some point this week. How did that happen?! Luckily, I caught a Sci-FI Channel commercial today advertising a second airing of them tonight. The VCR is recording away as I type! Yay me!

Who doesn't like Pirates?

Well, go me! My visit with the dentist yielded a delightful "no problems"! How that is possible after all these years, I will leave to the scholars. But there it is. Good news!

I downloaded.. er, I mean rented. Yeah, rented. Pirates of Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl for myself and the woman to watch the other night. About half way through, the woman expressed her displeasure with the movie. Plus she was tired, so that was that. Personally, meh. Only reason I grabbed the flick was so she could watch it. I am not really into movies myself. So, hey, whatever right?

Speaking of the woman. Today she is fricking flipping out. You see, today is her mothers birthday! I big one at that. (I will not post this until after the secret festivities, just in case a certain someone is reading). But, damn, woman! Calm down! It's a birthday! You are not trying to garner peace negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah!!

I take my vitamins! What gives?

The past few days, whether or not I work or have the day off to relax, it seems around 4:00pm I just get DAMN tired out of the blue. Like, hmm, I think I could take a nap, tired. Or hmm, why the hell can't I keep my eyes open tired. I am not sure what gives, but it's really starting to piss me off! I don't mind being tired if I have a reason for it, like staying up until 3am the night before. But nothing has changed in my routine, yet I'm getting exhausted in late afternoon. Maybe it's the heat somehow. Dunno, but maybe the 115 degrees can get you even inside.

I go to the dentist tomorrow. I am glad I am going, but also certainly a bit apprehensive as well, wondering what they may tell me since I have been "away" for so long. To top things off on the fun parade this week, I was suppose to have Friday off, but now it seems I am having to attend a mandatory training/meeting that day. Luckily, it is only for about 3 hours but, damnit, it's my day off!

Ready to head over to my folks in a few for some free food! I am told steak! Have not seen the folks in a while, so it will be good to see them. Plus, well, free food! I just hope I can stay awake long enough...

The changing face of the dreaded USPS

Upon my most recent trip to the much despised US Postal Office - of course walking in and seeing about 20 customers and only 1.5 postal employees - I noiced a new item! And what a glorious item it turned out to be! It is a new machine that allows you to weigh your package and purchase the appropriate postage and services by yourself!! Then you can simply dump your package off in a bin with simply ZERO interraction with the dreaded postal employee!

I was in and out of that place after shipping three packages in a mere few minutes. Meanwhile, the regular postal line had only diminished by two people! Sad! However, I do commend the USPS for finally realizing the absolute uselessness of their employees.

In time though, I am sure this new machine will prove amazingly effective and successful. What will become of the US Postal Service employee? I am pretty sure you can't fire them under any circumstances. So, what will the USPS do with them in the face of the streamlining and modernization of the USPS? Well, waste not want not...

North Korea makes my teeth hurt

I am finally doing something that I should have done a long time ago. I have avoided it for a few reasons, but it is time to take care of business. I have made a dentist appointment! Yes, I know it's terrible. But I have avoided the dentist chair for far too long. I think, going back, it was firstly the fact that dentists suck, cuz they give PAIN! Plus, I have not had insurance forever. But, finally, I have insurance and my fear of not going has overcome my fear of going. I am still dreading it though, cuz I feel they are going to just look at me and go, damn you suck, you have 138 cavities, what took you so long to get in? We shall see though, the appointment is next week.

The news has been full of this bullshit with North Korea launching missles this week. *sigh* Big deal! The North Koreans are a bunch of backwards nut jobs. Thier leader, Kim Jong Il, is just like a little insane kid in playground full of big boys. "look at me! Pay attention to me!".. All we should do with this guy and his country are ignore them. They just want attention, but in reality, they deserve none. This is a country that can not even power or feed itself. What exactly are we worried about?

I think this image really says it all. South Korea vs North Korea. Freedom vs being ruled by a crazy, communist bastard.