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MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
My trip to Hadrian’s Wall is getting very confusing. We still don’t have any dates, other than May 2011. I talked to Bob and he is awaiting some information from a couple of places that offer either walking/bike tours or walking/bus tours of the area. According to him, the walking part is where it is most interesting, the bike or bus part where it isn’t so interesting. Hmmm. I told him I thought that it was time for some decisions in order to get all the tickets. If it happens, I’ll be excited, if not I won’t be devastated.
I think that the Thyroid meds are ‘kicking in’. It may be psychological, but when I got up today, I had more energy than I have had recently. I felt good all, ran errands, and climbed my stairs numerous times with laundry. I did take an afternoon nap but was back to my 20 minutes, rather than the hour I had been doing. When I got up, I was rested and ready to go again.
Well Watson cleaned up on Jeopardy today. It won $1million for charity. It was a scientific marvel, but will be glad to see three human contestants again.
Cheryl is heading for California on a quick trip to see her grandkids this weekend. I’m sure part of it is to take her new pick-um-truck out on the road. I don’t blame her. So Mary and I will be going out to lunch tomorrow at a Greek Restaurant. Hopefully we will only have the dusting of snow the weatherman predicts. The foot is due Friday/Saturday.
I am more than a little disappointed with my BCBS insurance. As the insurance company pays the bills for my two surgeries, I am now getting ‘adjusted’ bills that I do have to pay. When I had my gall bladder surgery a couple of years ago, I paid about $50 total. With these two surgeries I have already paid about $450 with more coming. I haven’t figured out why, and will wait until all the bills are paid before I call BCBS help line again. I have had my BCBS since 1971. In 1985 I got a new card—stating I had the insurance since 1974. I called and they said that the new date was because of changes in BCBS agreements with the government. OK, fine. I got a new card today, stating I had the insurance since 1986. Obviously, lots has changed with insurance over the years. Coverage has changed, new procedures have been developed, costs have certainly changed. On top of that I have ‘used’ my insurance more than I did in the past. What I have to watch for now, is, in a three years I turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. I have been forced to pay into Medicare for many years. I can keep BCBS as a secondary. I wonder what it will cover then. When I picked up my thyroid meds there was another pharmacist at CVS. My Thai pharmacist finally had a day off. This guy said he had been a pharmacist for 26 years. He said when he started, the doctor wrote a script, the insurance kicked in, the pharmacist filled the script, and the insurance company and the patient both paid the pharmacy. He says that in today’s world, he spends about 60% of his time talking to insurance companies to figure out why the script isn’t covered, or the coverage is so small, if there is another similar script that they will cover. One insurance company wouldn’t cover a patient’s script and the patient was to be charged $250. After talking to the insurance company he found that ‘a computer error’ had rejected the script that should have been covered and the patient should be charged $25. I have to wonder how many Pharmacy schools have classes on dealing with insurance companies. I want a pharmacist who knows about medications, knows about interactions, about potential interactions with other meds. I didn’t realize that half or more of their time today is spent dealing with insurance companies to cover medications that heal the patient. This seems so wrong. I wonder if half their education is classes on dealing with insurance. On a side note, I got a final bill from the anesthesiologist for my thyroid surgery. I called the number on the bill because I needed a copy of her report that led to my ID necklace for ‘difficult intubation’. The lady I talked to in Phoenix only deals with bills. She said I needed to call the doctor. I expected that. She does not have the phone number of the doctor, nor does she have the address, nor does she have the name of the doctor’s practice. All she knew was that she was part of a ‘group’. I got on the web and found the office number in Flagstaff. I called. They don’t have the doctor’s report either. I have to call medical records at the hospital. She was able to transfer me, since the office in directly connected to the hospital somehow. The records lady said that I had to come into the hospital and go to medical records on the third floor using Elevator B. I was told to bring a picture ID and I would be given a form to request the records. Then they would mail me the records. It is not possible to pick them up the same day. I could have them mail me the form, I could send it back with a copy of my photo ID and they would mail the records back to me. Lots of people sure have jobs in the medical profession periphery that seem redundant. I can’t wait to see the form…and am wondering what I will actually write on the line that I expect will ask—Why do you need these records?
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DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Pour old baking soda from the refrigerator down your drain to freshen.
Dry out used tea leaves and sprinkle them into cat litter. The leaves will absorb odors, and the catechins in the tea will kill germs.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION… Ground Hogs
The name “woodchuck” comes from an Algonquian (possibly Narragansett) name for the animal, wuchak.
The average animal weighs between four to nine pounds but some (in places where there is alfalfa farming, for example) have been known to reach 30 pounds.
Groundhogs are champion diggers. On average, an animal will remove about 700 pounds of soil to make a burrow. The burrow is designed with several rooms and extends for 25 to 35 feet. One to three entrances are included.
PUZZLE: Trivia Quiz […answers at bottom…]
1. In which city is the world's largest carpet manufacturer?
2. If you suffer from epistaxis what is wrong?
3. What's the only written number, in English, where the letters are in alphabetical order?
4. Where does the American flag fly 24 / 7 and is never taken down?
5. Sanskrit is an old language word. What does the word mean?
6. Why was Fred Lorz disqualified from the 1904 Olympic marathon?
7. Where did Jim Morrison die?
8. By law in Boston, what is banned from being in the back seat of a car?
9. Who is the Patron Saint of Artists?
10. 53 is the international dialling code for what country?
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… MORO, OR
— A sheriff's deputy didn't need a drug dog to point out a stash during a recent traffic stop. The driver's dog did it for him.
KGW-TV reports Sherman County sheriff's Sgt. John Terrel was pulling over a pickup truck Feb. 9 when he saw a sock fly out the window. It turned out to be stuffed with marijuana and hashish.
The driver told Terrel he was trying to hide the sock, but his pit bull mix grabbed it and wouldn't let go, enjoying a tug-of-war game.
The dog won the tussle and tossed the sock out the window, and the 32-year-old driver was indicted on drug possession charges.
Sheriff Brad Lohrey says he wished everyone traveled with their own personal drug dog.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
I took four tires to a friend’s garage sale and was asking $30 apiece. I needed to leave for a few minutes, so I asked him to watch them for me.
"Sure," he said, "but if someone offers less, how low are you willing to go?"
"Try for more, but I will accept $15," I said, and left.
When I returned, my tires were gone. "How much did you get for them?" I asked excitedly.
"Fifteen dollars each."
"Who bought them?"
“I did.”
Top 10 In The World…Largest Countries in the World by area
CLOSEUP PICTURE…
Can you identify this close up picture
♫ 60’s Rock ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
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DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
13-19 ► International Flirting Week ♥ National Secondhand Wardrobe Week ♥ PTA Take Your Family To School Week
14-21 ► Alzheimer’s and Dementia Awareness Week ♥ Love a Mench Week ♥ National Condom Week: ♥ National Nestbox Week ♥ NCCDP Alzheimer's & Dementia Staff Education Week ♥ International Friendship Week ♥ National Conference on Education
¤…TODAY IS…¤
Champion Crab Races Day
My Way Day
National PTA Founders Day (1887)
World Human Spirit Day
China: Lantern Festival (元宵节)--(Chap Goh Meh(Chinese: 十五暝; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: cha̍p-gō-mê; literally "the fifteen night") Festival in Malaysia and Singapore or Yuen Siu Festival in Hong Kong, or "Tết Thượng Nguyên" or "Tết Nguyên Tiêu"(Vietnamese: Tết Nguyên tiêu) in Vietnam; is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar year in the Chinese calendar, the last day of the lunisolar Chinese New Year celebration.) See video above
Kosovo: Independence Day, (2008)
Sri Lanka: Maha Shivaratree (Mahashivaratri marks the night when Lord Shiva performed the 'Tandava'. It is also believed that on this day Lord Shiva was married to Parvati Ma.)
Today’s Births...
○ AUTHORS/COMPOSERS
1766 Thomas Malthus economist, demographer: The Malthusian Theory: population growth exceed production growth
1758 John Pinkerton Scottish historian
○ ATHLETES
1908 Walter L "Red" Barber sports announcer (Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees)
James Nathaniel (Jim) Brown, 75, Hall of Fame football player, activist, actor
Michael Jordan, 48, former basketball player, sports executive
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1867 William Cadbury English chocolate manufacturer (Cadbury)
1844 Aaron Montgomery Ward founded mail-order business (Montgomery Ward)
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
1934 Alan (Arthur) Bates actor: An Unmarried Woman, Women in Love, Zorba
Brenda Fricker, 66, actress (Oscar for My Left Foot; The Field), born Dublin, Ireland
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 30, actor (Inception, (500) Days of Summer, The Lookout, “3rd Rock from the Sun”)
Paris Hilton, 30, socialite, television personality
Hal Holbrook (Harold Rowe, Jr), 86, actor (Magnum Force, All the President’s Men)
Dame Edna Everidge (Barry Humphries), 77, actor, comedian,
Richard Karn, 52, actor (“Home Improvement”), game show host (“Family Feud”)
1914 Arthur Kennedy actor
1919 Jock Mahoney actor (Dallas, Yancy Derringer, Day of Fury)
1941 Gene Pitney singer: Town Without Pity, The Man Who Shot Liberty
Lou Diamond Phillips, 49, actor (La Bamba, Stand and Deliver)
Denise Richards, 40, actress (Wild Things, The World Is Not Enough)
○ POLITICIANS
1942 Huey P. Newton, American political activist
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1781 René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec French inventor (stethoscope)
Today’s Obits…
1908 Geronimo (Goyaałé, "one who yawns") Chiricahua Apache chief, pneumonia @ 79
1989 Lefty Gomez Yankee pitching great, @ 80
1954 Evert Gorter Dutch pediatrician and children's artist (Kindergeneeskunde), @ 72
1793 Creek Chief Alexander McGillivray killed in battle @ 43
1673 Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] French playwright (Learned Lady), TB @51
1982 Lee [Israel] Strasberg father of method acting/actor (And Justice for All), heart attack @ 80
Today’s Events…
○ ARTS
1776 1st volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire" published
1933 Blondie Boopadoop, the title role and flapper in the comic strip, Blondie, married Dagwood Bumstead. The marriage took place three years after Chic Young’s popular strip first debuted
1955 KTVF TV channel 11 in Fairbanks AK (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 Comic strip "BC" 1st appears
1962 The Beach Boys started making waves with their first Southern California hit, Surfin’ the start of the Surf music style
○ ATHLETICS
1924 Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard freestyle record (52.4 seconds)
1953 Baseball star/pilot Ted Williams uninjured as plane shot down in Korea
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1817 1st US city lit by gas (Baltimore)
1876 Sardines 1st canned (Julius Wolff-Eastport ME)
1933 1st issue of "Newsweek" magazine published
1934 The first high school automobile driver’s education course was introduced in State College, PA
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1690 While traveling through the area, French explorer Henri de Tonti visits the Natchitoches Confederation near what is now called Natchitoches, Louisiana.
○ POLITICS (International)
1854 British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
1867 1st ship passes through Suez Canal
1947 Voice of America begins broadcasting to USSR
1969 Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister
○ POLITICS (US)
1621 Miles Standish appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony
1870 Mississippi becomes 9th state re-admitted to US after Civil War
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1931 1st telecast of a sporting event in Japan (baseball)
1997 Carl Sagan Public Memorial at Pasadena CA
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ANSWERS
Quiz ANSWERS…
1. In which city is the world's largest carpet manufacturer? Kashmir
2. If you suffer from epistaxis what is wrong? Nose bleeds
3. What's the only written number, in English, where the letters are in alphabetical order? Forty
4. Where does the American flag fly 24 / 7 and is never taken down? Moon
5. Sanskrit is an old language word. What does the word mean? Put together or Perfected
6. Why was Fred Lorz disqualified from the 1904 Olympic marathon? Hitched a lift passing car
7. Where did Jim Morrison die? Bath - in Paris hotel
8. By law in Boston, what is banned from being in the back seat of a car? Gorillas
9. Who is the Patron Saint of Artists? St. Luke
10. 53 is the international dialing code for what country? Cuba
Close Up Picture…
Burnt Wood
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
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