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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 5, 2023 12:29:07 GMT -5
Fall allergies hitting me hard this year. Just got over a 15 minute sneezing fit, that happens at least 1 a day the last couple of weeks. I am just about ready to scratch my eyeballs out. I’ve got Panaday in, and I’m only supposed to use it once/day but by about midday, my eyes are driving me nuts.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 4, 2023 14:43:47 GMT -5
My problem is that, while I have a will and a revocable trust in place, these were set up when we all lived in the same country. Right now, between the three of us, we live in three different continents with very different inheritance laws. So my plan is to wait with dying until at least after I have moved to Germany. Then get my shit in order as soon as possible. Sons will get a chance for input but after that they are on their own. Who knows I might be one of those people who die right when their accounts hits $0. That should make it easy Yeah, I can imagine what problems would arise then! I have seen them just with TD being in the US and the rest of his family in Canada. He's not the executor of his mom's estate because of his residency and his sister is (who really isn't as financially savvy as TD).
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 4, 2023 14:31:59 GMT -5
Absolutely. But I'd bet my ass, hat and gasmask that Congress takes off for the holidays without a budget. They don't give a shit anymore. They need to change it so congress doesn't get paid during government shutdowns so they have some skin in the game. No back pay either! They're not about to vote this for themselves. Kinda like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 4, 2023 12:51:58 GMT -5
Oh, I think this assures we will have a shutdown. Since it is bumping up against Thanksgiving and Christmas, there may be a little more incentive for them to compromise. Going home an celebrating with their families while essential go to work and not getting paid may be even too much for them. We will see. Flying over Thanksgiving may be an even more difficult prospect. Absolutely. But I'd bet my ass, hat and gasmask that Congress takes off for the holidays without a budget. They don't give a shit anymore.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 4, 2023 12:26:19 GMT -5
So where does this leave the US that has a budget that is only good until mid November? I think that the chaos that this is going to bring on the House is going to affect far more than they think it is. It might be good that McCarthy's gone, but the void isn't and no one is stepping up to fill the void.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 3, 2023 13:51:03 GMT -5
There is no interest in fixing the problem with primary care. Medical school costs are absurd. Specialists make significantly more than primary care physicians. Medical students are smart, they understand the economic realities and they vote with their feet. I also think that insurance companies like the way things are going. Replace primary care physicians with NPs and PAs. Pay them less. Pocket the profits. Let specialists care for those who are sick. Cheaper for them than to raise reimbursements to primary care physicians. Not like state governments are going to give medical schools more money to keep tuition down. I hope this works for Arizona. I am just skeptical that it will work. People who want to be doctors will go to any medical school they can get into. I do not see how they are going to prevent these students from specializing when they graduate.I agree. However, unless they learn from the past programs like this, then the results will be the same. What was the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result? Students have not changed.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 3, 2023 11:24:07 GMT -5
Are they doing the whole house? Yes. Only one side of the house is good...but it's perfect, not a single flaw, so it makes me a little sick to rip all that off, but he said they'd never be able to match it anymore. There is damage to the underlying wood and on the south side quite a bit of that will need to be replaced too. Honestly, I'd be thrilled with a 30K bid. I think it will be more. We really lucked out in that we were able to get in on a canceled job just as Covid was ramping up. I know the cost of materials shot up after this….but I can’t tell you what percent they were of the job. We had had another contractor who was scheduled (with a signed contract) to do the work in July. It got pushed off to Aug, then Sept. In Oct (we were leaving for a trip at the end of the month) he told us he wasn’t going to do the job. I asked TD if we could hold him to the signed contract, and TD wasn’t inclined, as he was worried if he did that he’d do a shitty job. We got back the end of Dec and he was able to find someone else who could do it in March. They finished the painting, and a few days later everything shut down.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 3, 2023 10:39:07 GMT -5
I finally broke down and contacted a couple contractors to get bids for my siding. I haven't heard back from the one yet, but the other one came out this morning. He said it would be about a week before he got back to me and it would be next year before they could get to it. All the hail storms have caused a huge backlog for getting roofs on and that's all they're doing for the rest of the season. He asked me about doing windows at the same time, and I said no, but now I'm second guessing myself. Except for one that has a broken pane they're all good vinyl windows. I don't know why they'd need to be replaced.
Are they doing the whole house? This house was built the generation after your’s, so didn’t fall under the law suit for defective materials. I guess ‘only’ about 40% of the siding had rotted out, and we were told that it takes less time to rip it all off than to take selected rotting boards. Luckily, nothing needed to be replaced underneath, and the window frames were all good. In this ridiculous COL area, it was a $30k job. They did have to rebuild the privacy wall. The numbskulls that built it did not use pressure treated lumber as supports and it was rotted through. I’m sure that added a decent sized chunk of $$ to the cost.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 2, 2023 11:17:28 GMT -5
When I was flying out to see TD all the time, I bought a flannel robe to leave out here. I bought it off the sale rack at Dillards for a whopping $7. I love this robe, that’s got to be at least 15 years old. I put my hand through a hole in the elbow this morning. I think I got my $$ out of it! Patch it! I just did that with a jean jacket that had holes in the arms. I dyed it a really pretty burnt orange color but you can still see some of the original blue denim. I've never been able to replicate the results despite multiple attempts with other jackets. I'm determined to keep patching it until none of the original jacket remains. The fabric has worn too thin to support a patch. When my hand went through at the elbow, I took it off and got a good look at it. There is an area larger than the size of my spread hand where you can practically see through the fabric. The hole is itself about 3-4” in diameter.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 2, 2023 9:50:51 GMT -5
When I was flying out to see TD all the time, I bought a flannel robe to leave out here. I bought it off the sale rack at Dillards for a whopping $7. I love this robe, that’s got to be at least 15 years old.
I put my hand through a hole in the elbow this morning. I think I got my $$ out of it!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 2, 2023 9:47:11 GMT -5
Just did 50 toe touches. Man, I am out of shape. Aiming for 10 minutes of semi difficult movement every 2 hours, starting today. Next up - squats. I put on my own shoes, by myself, last spring. Are you impressed? 😄😄😄 LOL! I was at the doctor’s last week and he wanted to see my feet. I had on socks and sneakers. I tried to talk him out of it. ‘Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to put on my own socks?’. Where I sit has to be at the correct height, and I have to have space to angle my knee outward. I got ne shoe and sock off (which is harder for me, but not as hard) and I think he took pity on my about seeing my other foot. He also put my sock back on me! Shoes are easier, but not easy. I have a cute pair of booties that TD needs to help me with. If they weren’t so cute, I’d ditch them as I hate owning shoes I can’t take on and off myself.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 1, 2023 20:31:59 GMT -5
Apparently, when I was knitting during my hip surgeries, I found half a scarf that I had started. I can see where I really screwed up throughout it, so frogged the whole thing. There was nothing I could do, and my cables were gorgeous……the ones I hadn’t screwed up. I have no idea where I got the pattern from.
I started rolling up the yard after I ripped it out, only to find a tangled mess at the other end. Apparently, I tried to knit directly from a hank of yarn and that didn’t work well. I have several hanks of this yarn, and it’s a very pretty dark jade green. This will be perfect for my niece, if I can ever get it untangled!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 1, 2023 18:17:10 GMT -5
I just cut up all but 6 of the freebie onions I got last week for French onion soup tonight. They are now caramelizing in the oven per Cook’s Illustrated. I think the soup is going to have a ton more onions in it than usual as I started it on the stovetop and they were cooking down as I was cutting up the onions and tossing them into the pot.
We did a fast run to Vancouver last night to see TD’s mom. She fell and has a compression fracture of L2-3. TD’s sister is there for the next couple of weeks to help her out, but imagine we will be going up again soon. She’s in a lot of pain and is having a hard time moving.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 1, 2023 14:41:37 GMT -5
Great idea. The challenge will be on admitting the right class. They will need to identify applicants who really agree with the focus. With the recent affirmative action ruling, it may be difficult to use race as a way to make this happen. In addition, given the competitive nature of admission to medical school, students may apply, hoping to get in, and then pursue the specialty training that they were planning to do. Plenty of studies show that students from disadvantaged communities are more likely to practice in those environments, and students from rural communities are more likely to practice in those areas. Encouraging and identifying those with talent is paramount. But we seem to be getting away from that. Maybe this will be the start of turning that around Studies are one thing, reality another. When I was working on my PhD in public health, I had a physician classmate who had been in a similar program. She grew up in the area, and chose to practice in a severely underserved area where she grew up in an attempt to get rid of her medical school loans. What she found out was that her engineer husband did not like being a house husband and watch his career languish while she worked. Her kids were falling further and further behind in school as th3 schools were not good. Those problems she dealt with. The problems she couldn’t deal with was the isolation, the fact she had no peers to bounce off problems with. She had a miserable problem getting CE credits done because she couldn’t get anyone out to spell her for a few days, getting a vacation was impossible as she was on call 24/7/365 and no one would go there to help her out in the community, so she felt like sh3 couldn5 leave. As a result, she burnt out. She moved to the city, was quickly able to pay off her student loans and had no intentions of ever going back. So while the premise is good in practice, they really need a support system in play too. Education isn’t everything, a lot of this is how it impacts the rest of the family, and the sacrifices that they will have to make too. It’s unclear how NAU plans on dealing with this, but IMO unless they do…..this program is going to be no better than an6 of the others.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 1, 2023 13:23:42 GMT -5
Heartbroken.
My old undergraduate advisor died this morning. Other than the fact that this man was a tremendous teacher, he was a concentration camp survivor from Auchwitz (complete with his number tattooed on his forearm). The outpouring from his students on Facebook is incredible, the man touched so many lives and inspired so many careers.
He will be missed.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Oct 1, 2023 13:06:21 GMT -5
I see former president Trump is saying they will Shoot Shoplifters as they leave the store if he becomes President again. So yeah we will be throwing out the constitution then. You would no longer have a right to a trial before a jury of your peers. If the sentence for shoplifting is Death, what about embezzlement or Rape?It’s ok if he does it. He’s spechul.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 29, 2023 23:47:09 GMT -5
Yes, TD is getting hit by this, but he will never collect as you have to pay into it for a minimum of 10 years. So he gets to pay, but since he is mostly retired (he says he’s only gonna to this retired/not retired thing until 2025, or likely our next WC).
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 29, 2023 13:49:23 GMT -5
I am so done with this week. Unfortunately I also have meetings till 7 Skipping out at 6:30 so there what kind of sadist plans a meeting on friday evening? The same ones tha5 plan them at 7:30 on a Monday morning.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 28, 2023 23:25:58 GMT -5
This evening we went to an old favorite for SLAP. It’s a pub really out in the middle of no where, in Bow.
Anyway, I recently was sold, and the new owners started it out as only being open part of the week. It’s now open all week, for most of the day. Pretty much the same menu, so all was good. I had a plum and basil dry cider. It was quite good, I need to find out who makes it.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 28, 2023 9:55:48 GMT -5
And today is booby squeezing day. Ouch!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 28, 2023 9:36:44 GMT -5
Eeek! I’m a great aunt! My nephew’s wife had a little boy this morning.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 27, 2023 12:20:43 GMT -5
This and Fb are the only places I ever see anything about Taylor Swift. And I don't get most the references anyway. Same here, I pretty much have all this on ignore in my brain. Same with the Kardashians.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 27, 2023 12:19:54 GMT -5
So ordered a dryer this morning, should be delivered Saturday. No new washer. I don't ever thing I'll have a matching set!
Need to call my neighbor this morning to see how she's doing and if I need to run out for anything for her.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 27, 2023 11:20:12 GMT -5
Well refusing to accept the money is out. DHS will not allow me to turn down an inheritance which I kinda figured. They aren't going to allow money to escape. But it will probably take a year or longer for probate to settle the Medicaid lady said we can worry about that then. The fastest route would be get GU to sign a will giving it to dad and/or myself. If he can verbally consent and scribble on a page that is good enough. I can be a witness and so can my dad. That would solve the entire problem. GU can name whoever he wants the state cannot force him to give it to grandma. But if there is no will that lives her as his direct living descendant. Unless GU has a love child we don't know about but that tends to only happen in soap operas. I'd probably get a lawyer in there to draw up a will ASAP. At least then you won't have to deal with more paperwork. Can you really be a witness for a will that bequeaths to you?
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 27, 2023 10:58:33 GMT -5
Looks like my dryer went totally kaput. TD called a repair place and to get someone in just to see what’s wrong is about 1/3 the cost of a new dryer. This one is 20 years old. I found one on Costco, and ordering it yesterday could get it in and installed on the 29th. Repair guy is scheduled for the 4th. Tossing it into TD’s lap as to what to do. At least my neighbor is willing to let us use her dryer in the meantime. Speaking of which, she canceled our lunch yesterday. She has a pretty bad UTI, and had a call in to her doctor. I wound up going into town for her last night to pick up her prescriptions because she’s afraid to get more than a few feet from a bathroom! Also, I wanted her to get those meds in her ASAP. My MIL was hospitalized with a UTI, and apparently in elderly they can get real ugly, real fast. That could just be the prices but if you could find a more reasonable repair person we've had our old appliances repaired for $100 a handful of times and they last so much longer than the ones we end up replacing. Sadly, the price is this area. We pay far more for stuff like this than the rest of the US. It’ll be $180 for someone to just see what’s wrong, plus $120/hour plus parts.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 27, 2023 10:55:58 GMT -5
Looks like my dryer went totally kaput. TD called a repair place and to get someone in just to see what’s wrong is about 1/3 the cost of a new dryer. This one is 20 years old. I found one on Costco, and ordering it yesterday could get it in and installed on the 29th. Repair guy is scheduled for the 4th. Tossing it into TD’s lap as to what to do. At least my neighbor is willing to let us use her dryer in the meantime. Speaking of which, she canceled our lunch yesterday. She has a pretty bad UTI, and had a call in to her doctor. I wound up going into town for her last night to pick up her prescriptions because she’s afraid to get more than a few feet from a bathroom! Also, I wanted her to get those meds in her ASAP. My MIL was hospitalized with a UTI, and apparently in elderly they can get real ugly, real fast. If she didn't already have some pick her up some AZO. It really helped cut down on the contractions and made it less scary to go to the bathroom while I was waiting for the anti-biotics to do their work. Do warn her it turns her pee neon orange and it stains EVERYTHING. So wear underwear she doesn't care about. She has it, actually the doctor prescribed it for her along with the antibiotics. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was available OTC.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 27, 2023 9:40:49 GMT -5
Looks like my dryer went totally kaput. TD called a repair place and to get someone in just to see what’s wrong is about 1/3 the cost of a new dryer. This one is 20 years old.
I found one on Costco, and ordering it yesterday could get it in and installed on the 29th. Repair guy is scheduled for the 4th. Tossing it into TD’s lap as to what to do. At least my neighbor is willing to let us use her dryer in the meantime.
Speaking of which, she canceled our lunch yesterday. She has a pretty bad UTI, and had a call in to her doctor. I wound up going into town for her last night to pick up her prescriptions because she’s afraid to get more than a few feet from a bathroom! Also, I wanted her to get those meds in her ASAP. My MIL was hospitalized with a UTI, and apparently in elderly they can get real ugly, real fast.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 26, 2023 13:37:36 GMT -5
Plus it makes everything taste like metallic dirt I hope Amelia and Maddow are taking good care of you. Maddow and Amelia are great nurses. Today is a better day. My ribs are sore from the coughing yesterday but I can deal with that. I’m sorry you got hit so hard. I wonder what it is where some skate through Covid, yet others get slammed?
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 26, 2023 12:33:47 GMT -5
Ugh. I'm going to have to call Caremark to get a stupid prescription card for my grandma. Or maybe I can see if the nursing home has a copy because they had to have gotten it somewhere to give to the prescription company. I need it for Medicaid. I can't get a print out online because it wants my Grandma's phone number to verify her identity. She doesn't HAVE a freaking phone number. I tried putting in all her infomration but used my mobile number. Nope. I swear to God. Old people who can't use technology drive me insane and the fact that everything and anything expects you to be able to use it is insane. What are people who don't have younger or technology savvy friends/neighbors supposed to do for this shit?
When we were doing the cruise around South America during Covid, many of these countries (ahem.....Chile, I'm talking about you in particular) had all of these online hoops that you needed to jump through in order to be allowed into the country. Realize, the average age on a Viking ship is probably mid 60s. TD and I were able to jump through the necessary hoops, but there were LONG lines at the Explorer's desk of passengers asking for help. In many of these passenger's defense, the website was poorly set up and about as clear as mud, as it was translated into English - not written in English. It also glitched regularly, halfway through the application process. If you have any visual impairment, it was impossible to read.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Sept 26, 2023 12:26:14 GMT -5
So I went online to change the credit card number in my NEXUS application - but the payment has been received according to the website. Everything has been checked of green and I'm pending review. However, I did not see the charge on my AmEx card. Maybe AmEx Let the charge go through as a NEXUS charge is unlikely to be fraudulent as they are verifying your identity to process the renewal? Did you try calling AMEX or going online to look at your charges? I went online to look at my charges. I didn't see anything there. I probably should call AmEx to double check, but I'm increasingly hating doing anything over the phone as there are so many freaking phone trees you need to deal with and they never are what I need. They're talking a 12-14 month renewal time for NEXUS, and I renewed 2 months after I should have (card expires in July 2024). At least my NEXUS card is still good while it's pending. Get this though.....I have my AmEx card set up in my Apple Pay and on Amazon. AmEx automatically shifted those accounts over onto the new number. The new number does show up on my online account too, so sure it's legit. ETA: Whew! My NEXUS payment did go through.
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