Just another gray day

Photo taken last year

A tire swing sits idle in the snowy quiet of Coshocton county. Pulled from my archives taken in February 2007. Not much different today. Had some snowy, slick roads I found myself driving in last night. I stayed indoors today.

Even when a lot of my friends have quit smoking, just two or three who still smoke can fill up a room and poison the atmosphere. My eyes stung like somebody had shoved hot pokers in them and then to drive home on snow covered roads where I couldn't see the lane lines made for a miserable journey. Ugh. My eyes still sting.

The snow days have spoiled me as far as driving goes. As the years (dare I say decades) go by, I find my night vision dimming a great deal. I always did have trouble driving in the rain at night. My eyes seem to be sensitive to headlights on cars and the glare they give off on the wet highway. I suppose I need to pay attention to the weather a bit more and not catch myself out driving after dark in precipitation. I hate limitations of this sort.

Peek - a - boo

Left to right. Titten and Mr. Tibbs

I call Titten "Marmalade". Sometimes I call her a name not printable here because every once in a while she still does not use the litter box.

Internet is slower than molasses today.

Uncertain

My Grand Nephew

It is Ohio. It is January. Let's go sliding in the snow. It is always a bit scary at first. I remember pulling the little ones and they were never ready. One good jerk on the sled and they always fell off backwards. LOL! Good times.

I cannot let the evening go by without mentioning how much my daughter and I enjoyed watching Heath in A Knight's Tale. Too tragic. Nuff said.

My day today. I have to really hand it to some folks. But, first. I can tell you honestly that when I was in my 20's I was a bit full of myself. I was cold and aloof at times. Not all the time. There were some folks that would remember me as uppity and bitchy. I am not sure where along the way I discovered that I had control over my attitude, but I found it. I can only figure that I must have been one unhappy person. And so, goes my conversation with somebody who reminded me of myself.

I called my Insurance provider to see if my daughter's upcoming surgery would be covered at the new hospital we were going to go to. At first you get an automated voice asking you questions. It wasn't long before I was transferred to a live cold-hearted human being.

Here is how that conversation went:

I dialed the toll free number.

MM automated voice : Does your membership ID have a letter in it?

Me: yes

MM automated voice: Okay. Please give me your membership ID number.

Me: 123-45-6789A

MM automated voice: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?

Me: Speaking very distinctly. 123-45-6789A.

MM automated voice: I'm sorry I am having so much trouble. Please hold for the next available operator.

Pause (cheesy music)

MM Next Available operator: What is your membership ID number?

Me: 123-45-6789A.

MM Next Available Operator: And, your Social Security number?

Me: That is my Social security number.

MM Next Available Operator: Pardon?

Me: The membership ID is my social security number.

MM Next Available Operator: (sarcastic tone) I've never known a social security number to have a letter in it!

Me: Laughing. Without the "A" (is she an idiot?) (Am I an idiot for laughing?)

MM Next Available Operator: (annoyed tone) I didn't know that.

Me: (Still laughing. Certainly, I am an idiot.) Sorry.

MM Next Available Operator: (very annoyed tone)How may I help you?

Me: I'd like to check and see if a hospital is covered in my network.

MM Next Available Operator: What hospital would that be?

Me: Akron Children's Hospital.

pause

MM Next Available Operator: I don't see that hospital listed, ma'am.

Me: Hmmm. (a bit confused because it is very large). How about we check the surgeon's medical group?

MM Next Available Operator: Are we done checking on the hospital, because you are jumping around!

Me: (A bit taken aback). It's Akron Plas...

MM Next Available Operator: (clearly interrupting me) What is the name of your surgeon?

Me: (Really taken aback). I said the name of the surgeon, Layman.

MM Next Available Operator: First name?

Me: James.

MM Next Available Operator: Your surgeon is in your network and she named the surgeons' Practice.

Me: (Incredulously thinking to myself: Akron Plastic Surgeons to Akron Children's hospital. Big jump, there!). Okay. How about the hospital - Akron Children's Hospital?

MM Next Available Operator: What county is it in?

Me: Summit county.

MM Next Available Operator: Hold on.

Cheesy music.

MM Next Available Operator: The hospital name is Children's Medical Center of Akron. Please make sure you have the name right, or we cannot accurately look it up in the network.

Me: (Thinking to myself: JESUS H. CHRIST!) It is listed all over the Internet as Akron Children's Hospital, the website is www.akronchildrens.org (I had located it on Google while on hold).

MM Next Available Operator: (silence)

Me: So, it is covered under my network?

MM Next Available Operator: It is listed in the network.

Me: Okay. Thank-you (and I hang up.)

I mean really. Am I supposed to guess how they have the hospital listed? The surgeon told me Akron Children's. The receptionist told me Akron Children's. The Internet lists it as Akron Children's and that is what it is called all over the web page until you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where in tiny little letters it reads: Children's Medical Center of Akron. Good God! Maybe Medical Mutual could reference Akron Children's to Children's Medical Center of Akron. What a database!

Yes, I am ashamed to say that my uppity secretary attitude from twenty-seven years ago has come back to bite me in the ass. A taste of my own medicine.

Mr. Tibbs

He is a pain, he is a joy

He is extremely lovable. He curls up beside me whenever he gets the chance. He has to be touching me or laying over me or part of me. My daughter asks "Why does he like you so much?" I have this relationship with Casper, but Casper is content to sit next to me. Not on me.

I felt that for Martin Luther King Day I would mention "Mr. Tibbs." The older I get the more I have to come to the terms of folks who have no idea what "Mr. Tibbs" is or where I came up with that name. What do they call you up there?

Even after watching The Lion King, where Pumbaa shouts: "They call me, Mr. Pig!" Here is a little bit of trivia for you. The guy who voiced Pumbaa on The Lion King is the same guy who stripped down to nothing on the Seinfeld episode "The Subway".

I have always liked Sidney Poitier since I first saw him on screen. I have never seen "In the Heat of the Night." I think I must remedy that.

We are headed north to Akron today. Park West Center for Plastic Surgeons. The physician we are meeting with will be the one to remove the next set of moles from my daughter. They are not located on her back. They are in a more sensitive area where she will need more than just a few shots to numb the pain. We are so thrilled about this. Today is just a consultation.

She nor I had to miss work or school for this appointment. I am going to try and schedule it during her spring break so that she doesn't have to miss school. Her school is very strict about absenteeism. It is almost to the point of where she goes even if she is sick. If you miss more than 18 days in the school year it is as if you didn't go at all. No credit. My feathers are ruffled a bit. They started with me and the red in her hair at the beginning of the year and we sidestepped that issue. Now, they are on me about her attendance. Between migraines and the mole removal I am about ready to sink my teeth into some superintendent's jugular vein.

I did speak to the attendance officer about my daughter. At that time she had only missed 5 days. I think we are up to 7, now. She said that she only knew of exceptions when there was a serious car accident. I have called the director of the school twice leaving a message. I told him I was aware of the policy and there have been medical issues. He has never returned my calls, so I imagine he is not all that interested in any excuses. Huh.

The sentry

Checking me out

As I slowly drove my car along the back road, this guard dog paused and turned as if to give me a stern warning. I moved along.

It is getting cold in my neck of the woods this week-end. Extra blankets and throws are all washed and ready for use. Because of pet hair, they need washed more often than usual.

Cupboard is stocked with plenty of hot chocolate. Crock pot is full of shredded roast beef for tasty, hot sandwiches.

Tomorrow I travel. Computer work for family. That's okay. Her house is toasty warm and the last time I checked, my car's heater was working pretty good.

Check it, folks. We are in the middle of January in Ohio.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Three pictures layered together

For a sample of what my daughter does, go here.

The good:

All my sisters and brothers are on-line, now. One brother does not actually get on-line himself, his wife does. The last one - the sister closest to me in age lives out on a country ridge. It is beautiful and private, but little in the way of new technology. She went with her dish satellite. A little bumpy at first, but improving.

The bad:

Removed by the author.

The ugly:

I watched A Mighty Heart over the week-end. I can't believe that was four days ago. My time does go fast. Oh. That's right. I lost almost a complete day due to a migraine Monday. Figures. Anyway, I did want to see the movie because it is based on fact. I doubt that I will read the book. I do believe that Miss Jolie did very well in the role. I like about 2 of her movies. Three, now.

At the end when she was narrating, I did catch a very interesting point. She said that she had learned something because when somebody e-mailed her they had included an e-mail that had been sent to them. Reading that other person's email told her something, I can't quite recall what it was. I think it may have been that her husband's body had been cut up into 10 pieces. So, remember when you are forwarding email, that most of the time the one you just read will be seen by the person you are forwarding to. It is quite common for folks to read unsavory stuff this way.

I cannot even imagine the life that her son, Adam will have to lead. That video of her husband's beheading is out there somewhere for viewing. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can't even bring myself to search for it, to see for sure. I don't want to see any part of the damn thing. You can read more about Daniel Pearl at www.en.wikipedia.com and search for his name. Of course she has not viewed the video. Can you believe that a reporter asked her that question? "Did you see the video?" She replied with "Have you no decency? How can you ask me that?" Crass.

Fractured

Pretty much how my head feels recovering with a migraine headache

The background is fuzzy, but there are these spots that appear or make themselves known in blaring and obvious ways. This is how my brain feels when I have a migraine. Fuzzy, yet acute spots that hurt. Painful and piercing through the murk. Prickly blobs of abstract thoughts.

I took the medicine and after 90 minutes I was feeling great. So good in fact, I ate. I had skipped lunch and I felt hungry. Big mistake. Now I am back to sunspots. I always described eyesight during a migraine as this. When you come into the dim house after staring at sun-blinding snow. You see spots. That is what a migraine does to me. When I was 12 I stared at the chalkboard in science class. The teacher wrote a bunch of stuff across it. Letters were missing as I stared. If I looked at another area, those letters appeared and other ones disappeared. The vision speckles made me sick to my stomach. Still do.

So when I started to work on the above photo, I was feeling great. Now, not so good. I wanted to write about something, but now I don't much feel like it. Maybe later.

Paloosa

Never was one of my favorite coats on a horse.

Not so bad

This was my world today. It wasn't gray. It wasn't cold. It is unseasonably warm for January in Ohio. The sun was shining bright. The wind had whipped clouds into a frothy mix in the sky and then the wind left. The puffy clouds remained. It brought in a bit cooler weather. I think we are still above normal, though.

My drive was brief. I swapped some network equipment out. The work was brief. The school went down 3 hours after I left. I knew it. It wasn't my equipment. It was the telephone company. Usually is. They don't care. They don't have to face the angry customer. They arrange it so that they do all their work remotely. A pole in a field somewhere. Rarely do they come inside the building.

And they know they are the only game in town. But, for how long?

Iron my shirt!

Women. Keep on keepin' on! We have come a long way. Our daughters will have it better than we. Their daughters even better. Keep on keepin' on. Iron my shirt, hell. We are iron. (Giving the raspberry) Change my tire, so I can run over your ass!

Calgon bubbles... take me away!

I do not have a stressful life. Really, I don't. I play things pretty low key. I don't jump to conclusions (very often) and I don't get excited easily. I do get angry, but I did not learn how to properly address anger. That is another story.

I have had a mini vacation of sorts. Not from work, but from my co-worker. I have worked in a lot of offices. She is back one day and I am ready for the bubbles. You could say she had a melt down. I don't mind listening to how her time off helped her. It didn't. She came back pretty much the same as shortly before she left.

She is completely self absorbed.

I read something so disturbing in the paper this evening. It makes me sick to my stomach. A dog was discovered frozen to death. The guy said one of his kids gave it a bath last week and the next day he found it frozen to death. I am trying very hard to swallow the lump in my throat. Not tears but vomit. I think I'll go give my galoot a big hug and a treat.

A Christmas couple

My niece and her beau

Since my niece moved to Toledo, I don't see her very often. Here is a snapshot of her and her beau on Christmas day at my sister's house. They both go to school in Toledo and she is too far away for my liking. My nephew takes good care of her though, he is mid-way between us, near Columbus.

One of my credit card companies called today. I canceled a "rewards" program. I guess last year I agreed to a free year of a rewards program. I did not cash in my rewards. I am not exactly sure why I would have signed up for it. I don't believe in that type of business. The cost was $25.00 for one year. I had accumulated exactly $25.00 worth of points towards a Starbucks or iTunes gift card. Hmmm. I pay the credit card company $25, they turn around and give me a $25 gift card. I thought that was silly, so I called to cancel.

They didn't want me to cancel. They offered me a $50 Sears card. I have to admit, I did pause. Then I said "Nope." They canceled my rewards and removed the $25 fee from my bill. Today was the "survey" call. They wanted to know how pleased I was with the credit card service. I gave them excellent reviews. It isn't the card or the company. It's the rewards program that I have a problem with. I don't like that way of business. I shouldn't have to "pay" to be rewarded, should I?

On second thought, if you bought everything with this credit card I can see where you would rack up a huge amount of rewards points. Then just cash them in on stuff. It would have to be enough purchasing though, to compensate your lost $25. I am still not certain that using a credit card for all of your purchases is a good idea for the average American. I think the credit card company is going by the old stand by that if a buyer uses a credit card, they often purchase more than they originally intended.

My niece has a cousin that purchases all her Toys "R" Us gift cards at a certain grocery store. You get gas dollars for the gift cards. She then uses the gift cards to purchase her boys their toys and she gets a lot of free gas. I suppose that makes sense. You can only use a certain gas station, though. She happens to live very close to one. I don't. I also imagine that she just doesn't walk into this grocery store and buy the gift card. I am sure she does her grocery shopping there, too. This is what the grocery store is aiming for. Anything to get them in the door.

Another problem I have is the lottery. I just don't like the idea of it. It isn't because of a religious belief, although I think I can see where that could be considered an immoral way of life. It is a form of gambling. It is just that "get rich quick" way of thinking. Everybody wants more money, even me. Far be it from me to turn down a pay raise. But the lottery just seems evil to me.

Rolling hills of Ohio

Taken a few months back while on my way to Harrison county, Ohio.

It doesn't look this way today. We have lots of gray and white. I have heard that the temps will be warmer than normal. So we can add sloppy to the mix. I think I'll stay indoors as much as possible. It might be a good week-end to clean up. Put decorations away properly. Clean pet hair off of the carpet and furniture.

Not a lot of fun, but this is January.

My daughter is having an enormous amount of problems with her new X-box. I imagine that I will research on-line to see if others are experiencing the same issues. She has called technical support many times and she gets the "we are experiencing problems" recording. This is with the x-box "live" portion of the product. She is becoming so frustrated with the game, I am considering sending it back for a full refund.

Leftovers

Pork, kraut, potatoes and bread

One would think that kraut was German, but my research tells me it originated in China and the Germans preserved it with salt instead of rice wine. I can relate to the potato originating in Peru(by). The pumpernickel bread is German. Pork - China again. Margarine - French?

I did not eat all that is shown. My eyes were bigger than my tummy after skipping lunch today. Give me the above meal and my crossword puzzle and you won't see me for an hour. Ice cold ginger ale to top it off. I left it on the back porch and I had ginger slush. It melted quickly once brought inside, though.

The true point to this post is one of my presents. A potato ricer. A while back I was dismayed at my lumpy mashed potatoes. I researched and decided to try russet potatoes and I asked for a potato ricer for Christmas and got one. Between the two of those my mashed potatoes have been picture perfect. The second time I made mashed potatoes, I didn't even have to bother with the mixer. Another plus for Miss "Don't Like the Kitchen".

A blue bullet

One of my living room lamps. Photo taken below the lamp looking up at the ceiling.

Curled up

Mr. Tibbs has the right idea today. It was cold. After some very calm days for December we were blasted with a cold, biting wind today. It was supposed to bring in a lot of snow, but it missed us. As per usual.

New Years was wonderful. Family fun and laughs. Way too much food. We watched Transformers. It was much funnier than I expected. Then we watched the ball drop and the sisters talked about going to New York City one New Years to see the event. I'm thinking to myself "If it were warm enough, I'd go." What a sissy.

We had the traditional sauerkraut and pork at midnight. I always have shrimp cocktail. I can't believe I had enough so that people got sick of it and I had some left over. Rare!

Back to work tomorrow. Ho hum. January is my least favorite month of the year.