My Classic Dame Is...

Your Score: Katharine Hepburn

You scored 7% grit, 38% wit, 47% flair, and 16% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.

Find out what kind of classic leading man you'd make by taking the The Classic Dames Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Fun :D I love her. I especially love "The Rainmaker".

Success!

Minor and initial success, but hey, it's something. It's something so good that I am being naughty and sneaking on from work to blog about it.

I lost 7 pounds my first week on weight watchers. I know it will slow down soon, but it was awesome to hop on that scale and see that drop :) My pants fit better. I feel good.

Is anybody else who's doing WW kind of OCD about writing things down? It drives Kerwin insane that I'm always pulling out my little blue bag to jot down this point and that point and those two glasses of water.

Super Kawaii!!!

I dyed my hair last night. It needed it, and I was having a crummy day. It's nice and bright, about the color of deep red poppies ("And now, my beauties, something with poison in it. Poppies... Poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep. Sleep. Now they'll sleep!"). Not quite purple enough for bing cherries, but it's hella bright.

Then I had an eye appointment this morning, just a yearly vision screening - she did a dialated exam as I hadn't had one before.

Kerwin is sitting across the room laughing at me. "You look like you just walked out of an Anime!" Gee, thanks honey. You're so...kind.

Bright hair. Big eyes. Super Kawaii!!! >.< Add that to the fact that I just could not find my own sunglasses and I'm walking around with the awesome paper ones, I feel so stylin.

Car Fun

No more "surfing" at work plus nice spring weather means I don't get to the computer very often for fun.

I had a crappy day today. Not only did I leave my lights on and run my battery down, I also locked my keys in the car when I went down at lunch to go get gas before it jumped and found the car dead. I didn't get gas before the thirty-cent jump, and the only person who could come to jump my car and get the keys out was my DCP's husband. Not that he was grumpy about it, he was telling me about how he'd done similar things and not to fret since he didn't have any plans. I still felt like a tool, though.

In my defense, my car doesn't "ding" when you've left the lights on nor does it "ding" when you leave the keys in the ignition. I don't know if it's a quirk with Geo Prisms or if it's a burned fuse. Not a clue. I should probably look at the fuse box to make sure.

I started Weight Watchers today. Since I get an obscene number of points I feel as though I am constantly stuffing my face. Something has to give, though. I don't want to be morbidly obese anymore.

Non-Content

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Got a Call

Freyja's doctor called me today.

He apologized. He still doesn't quite know what happened or what went wrong, but he's going to look into it and he's going to go over protocol with his staff.

He said he finds the whole idea of insurances and payment "distasteful" because it gets in the way of why he went into medicine - to help people.

I reassured him that this was the first and only bad experience we've had with his staff or in his office at all - which it was.

I'm satisfied. He offered to see her tomorrow morning if we'd like. I don't think we'll be up that early (considering it's 3:25AM and here I sit, blogging), but it's a nice gesture.

Take a Letter, Maria - Final

Dr. SoNSo:

I’m writing to you today to let you know about an experience I had in your front office on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. I had called on Monday, April 30 to schedule an appointment for my daughter, Freyja LastName (birthdate 8/27/04). She has a corn or plantar wart on her little toe. I spoke to M, who scheduled the appointment for me with no problems.

On that morning, A from your office called and spoke to my husband, saying that Freyja had no insurance (which I was aware of, it had lapsed and is in the process of being renewed) and that I needed to bring “paperwork” with me to the office visit. I had no paperwork other than a letter from DHS requesting that I send them a copy of Freyja’s birth certificate.

When we arrived at the office for the appointment, I was told by A that you would not see Freyja unless she had proof of insurance or “paperwork” that said it was in progress. This had not been mentioned on the phone. While I understand that YourPracticePC is a private practice and has the right to refuse service to anyone they like, Medicaid/Healthy Kids covers 3 months retroactively and the visit would have fallen under that. I wasn’t even asked if I would pay up front, just dismissed because of “no insurance”. Is this a new policy for your office? I would understand if we were new patients, but Freyja is well established and has been coming to your office for her primary care since her four month well child visit.

Freyja was very upset, (and I wasn’t pleased myself) as she was looking forward to seeing you. I know that may seem kind of silly, but we’re delighted that she likes and looks forward to seeing her health care provider. We are moving to ThatTown soon and had planned to continue coming to ThisTown for Freyja’s primary care, but if we are going to be treated poorly because we happen to be in a lower economic bracket we may have to rethink that decision.

The YourPracticePC website states “From the first time you walk in our doors or call us on the phone, we want you to know that you come first. While others say they are doing it, we are. Whether it is a friendly greeting by our staff or a “real person” answering the phone or listening to your concerns, ourpracticePC is putting patients first. We want you to know that we value having you as our patient.” Is this indeed the case? We don’t feel very valued right now.

If you would like to call me to discuss this matter, you may reach me at phonenumber1 during the day and phonenumber2 in the evenings.

Sincerely,

Heather LastName

Since his office is an offshoot of a larger practice group, he gets a letter, his office manager gets a letter, and the central admin office gets a letter.

"AmeriCorps Sucks" "I hate AmeriCorps"

Let me guess.

You're "storming".

See, there's five stages in your AmeriCorps year - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. This is from a guy called Bruce Tuckman who originally wrote it to have to do with team building - and every AmeriCorps member is part of at least one team.

It's really easy to get stuck at "storming". Trust me. I've been there. Your living stipend sucks, you spend all your time doing inane things when you really signed up to change the world, and your site supervisor/program director thinks you're a moron (or vice versa). The little things are really starting to get you down, and you're thinking about quitting.

Don't quit. You want that education stipend, and you won't get it if you quit. You also won't get the chance to challenge yourself, push your own boundaries, and really discover what you can do. Frustrated? Vent. Call your program director and tell them what's on your mind. Start your own blog. Vent to me here - I'd love to hear your frustrations. What you're feeling is completely normal and part of the process.

I'm telling you from my perspective as a second-year member - it's worth it. Stick it out. If you've quit everything else you've ever tried, stick it out. If you're so broke you're looking for coins in the couch cushions to buy a loaf of bread, stick it out. You CAN get through - and you WILL be proud of yourself. You deserve it. See your year through.

ETA (4/8/09) Some of the comments have expressed a desire for a forum. 

http://theserviceexperience.yuku.com

Take a letter, Maria

On Eden and Thor's suggestions, here's the letter I wrote to Freyja's doctor. I haven't printed it yet.

Dr. So n So:

I’m writing to you today to let you know about an experience I had in your front office on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. I had called on Monday, April 30 to schedule an appointment for my daughter, Freyja lastname (birthdate 8/27/04). She has a corn or plantar wart on her little toe. I spoke to M, who scheduled the appointment for me with no problems.

On Wednesday morning, A from your office called and spoke to my husband, saying that Freyja had no insurance (which I was aware of, it had lapsed and is in the process of being renewed) and that I needed to bring “paperwork” with me to the office visit. I had no paperwork other than a letter from DHS requesting that I send them a copy of Freyja’s birth certificate.

When we arrived at the office for the appointment, I was told by A that you would not see Freyja unless she had proof of insurance or paperwork that said it was in progress. While I understand that YourPracticePC is a private practice and has the right to refuse service to anyone they like, Medicaid/Healthy Kids covers 3 months retroactively. Is this a new policy for your office? I would understand if we were new patients, but Freyja is well established and has been coming to your office for her primary care since her four month well child visit.

I realize that no one can make me feel inferior without my consent, but I felt low as we had to turn around and leave your office without being seen the other morning. A’s attitude was “well if you don’t have insurance, we don’t want you”. I am glad that it was only a corn on Freyja’s toe and nothing more serious that she needed to be seen for.

Freyja was very upset as she was looking forward to seeing you. I know that may seem kind of silly, but we’re delighted that she likes and looks forward to seeing her health care provider. We are moving to ThatTown soon and had planned to continue coming to ThisTown for Freyja’s primary care, but if your front office staff (who have all been wonderful every other time we have been in the office) are going to treat us poorly because we happen to be in a lower economic bracket we may have to rethink that decision.

If you would like to call me to discuss this matter, you can reach me at phonenumber1 during the day and phonenumber2 in the evenings.

Sincerely,

Heather LastName

Three-freaking-twenty-five?!

Gas prices have hit $3.25/gallon here - that's a 30-cent jump.

If we don't move closer to town, I don't know how we'll afford to go to work, much less do anything else. I know we pay less than most European nations, but most European nations have decent, safe, affordable mass transit systems. Unless one lives in a large metropolitan area, there's no real mass transit to be had in the US. There used to be a light rail that ran right through my town - but it's been gone since the 60's.

This is ridiculous. And it's only going to go higher. I hope the fat cats at the oil companies are enjoying their profits.

Feeling Bookish

What have you read lately that you would recommend?

Fiction, non-fiction, anything. Self-help, even. I keep rereading the same things over and over, and it's just not satisfying anymore. I need to broaden my horizons past Anne McCaffrey, Jodi Picoult, and Robert Heinlein.

Denied.

Freyja has a corn on her toe. On Monday, I talked to her doctor's office and made an appointment for today since a pumice stone hasn't helped. They called this morning to tell me that she doens't have insurance. I'm aware of this - I just faxed in the last of the endless paperwork (since Congress now needs to make sure every person getting medical help is a valid citizen, you know) to get her re-approved for HealthyKids (medicaid). She was up for renewal, her caseworker sent me a paper that said "send this crap in" yet didn't tell me what it was for and never returned my call, so it ended up lapsing. They only spoke to Kerwin (who has no clue about how any of it works), and wanted me to bring "paperwork" in with me. I had no idea what "paperwork" they meant, since they didn't specify so I didn't bring anything.

They refused to see her, since she didn't have "current insurance". The new MA who was manning the front desk was snide and had the air of "take your government tit-sucking ass out of my office". I explained that Medicaid covers 3 months retroactively, so what was the big deal? Well, there's no "proof" that she'll be covered and it's "too much hassle" to see uninsured people, since they "rarely get paid".

It was only a corn on her toe, but Freyja LOVES her doctor and was looking forward to seeing him today. I told her we had to go home and she screamed "I WANT DR. GREG TO LOOK AT MY CORN TOE!!!" and started crying. Boy, did I feel like a jerk - except why should I? Has our medical system become that broken that they won't see children who need health care? It's a private practice. They do have the right to refuse service to anyone - but Freyja is an established patient, not some unknown new person. What if she had been really sick, like with a high fever or something?

On one hand, I can see their reasoning. On the other, that MA was a royal bitch. The MA's there are usually very nice and never have talked down to me. I don't know what I should do - wait for her insurance confirmation to come back and make the appointment again? Find a new office - maybe an FQHC so they CAN'T refuse her service? Write a firmly-worded letter to the doctor to let him know my displeasure? Frankly, I'm disgusted.