It’s exceedingly muggy and gross today. Yesterday, too. I hate this kind of weather. I just got out of the shower, and I’m already greasy again. A few minutes ago I felt a bead of sweat roll down the center of my back. It’s paradise, I tell ya. Yesterday, at about this time, I posted the following to Twitter, and I stand by it:
It’s ballsy in here. And I’m talking about humidity, not courage.
Soon, we’ll have to drag the clickety-clack Soviet humboxes up from the basement, and “install” them in the windows. We have five at this point, and I wouldn’t mind adding a couple more. Sure, it’s sometimes like watching TV inside a jet engine laboratory around here, but it saves me from being oily, like an otter. …Otters are oily, right? Somehow I believe this to be true.
Also, there are some annoying things going on at work, which I can’t talk about, on account of the spying. And the traffic situation on I-81 is always a treat. Ever since winter ended there’s been so-called construction everywhere, and it’ll continue until it snows again. However, there will be no discernible improvements to the roads… Sometimes it requires more than an hour to travel 36 miles to work. Luckily, I take it all with good cheer, and a twinkle in my eye. Ha!
On June 1 our health insurance changes, and you probably wouldn’t believe how our new coverage works. I’ve never even HEARD of such a thing. I told my parents about it, and they thought I was lying, or mistaken. I don’t want to go into it, for obvious reasons, but I’m feeling a bit… vulnerable.
Our younger kid, for instance, has an ear infection, and went to the doctor today. I feel like hugging him, for getting sick in May. “Thank you!!” I repeated, again and again. I told Toney and the other boy: You’ve got a week and a half… if you’re going to get sick or break a bone in 2013, it needs to be now. Shit.
Tomorrow I’m going to set aside three hours, for yard work. Unless it rains, of course. I have to get my arms around it, before it goes full-Vietnam out there. The bushes need some tending-to, and the grass is getting shaggy. If it’s still this humid tomorrow, I’ll probably lose 10 pounds. But that’s the only positive.
I know, I know. I have two teenage boys… Why aren’t they doing it? They do, sometimes. However, they’re half-assed, like I was at their age. I learned, early on, that if I did a less-than-stellar job with it, my dad would just say “screw it” and do it himself. Clearly, they’ve adopted the same strategy. I need to whip it into shape, and turn them loose on the maintenance phase of the game, over the next few weeks.
Also, I’m waiting on a few important emails, and I’m the world’s most impatient man. It’s driving me insane, but I have to pretend it isn’t. That’s “professionalism,” right? Creating various illusions, and whatnot? Grrr…
So, there you go. That pretty much covers it. It’s a dynamic situation, though: always changing. In an hour I might have a baker’s dozen new things to add. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
And now it’s your turn. In the comments section feel free to unburden yourself. Make full use of the Surf Report Portal o’ Complaints.
And I’ll be back tomorrow, at some point. If there’s no rain, it might be late in the day. ‘Nam awaits.
Have a great day, my friends!
Now playing in the bunker
Use the Surf Report’s webhost: HostGator!
Monday I went to BK to give the new rib sandwich a try. They accidentally gave me a fish sandwich and I had to march in and point out their mistake. They told me to keep the fish and gave me a rib sandwich for nothing. Better than the McRib, IMHO. The “non-meat” is somehow meatier. Damn good sandwich. I guess that’s my only complaint in life. That I had to march in and deal with individuals of questionable lineage.
Being a “McRib” fan myself, I think I need to take BK’s new offering for a test drive. “Meatier non-meat” sounds pretty darn tasty to me! 🙂
am waiting on the frontier phone company repair dude
called 2 weeks ago
annoyed lady said he be here wedsday
between 9-12
so at 4 pm on wed i call repair
different snotty lady say wed, may 22, between 9-12
it after noon now
so wonder what boolshit story i will get when i call in little bit to check
the joys of having frontier phone company’s $89 bundle of joy package, and i only have to pay $160 a month for their crappy service
Health insurance. Christ! the mere mention sets my blood boiling. I dole out hundreds per month, have a multi-thousand dollar yearly deductible—this for two healthy adults—but actually visit a doctor and I’ll be tied up with phone calls and letters for months trying to get those creeps to pay their portion.
I had far better insurance when I was 16 and worked at a grocery store (union job) than I do now as a “professional” adult.
Hee, hee, hee… wait until you have to get a hold of a grunt at the IRS to get confirmation that you’ve paid your tax so you can go to see a doctor who has to consult an accountant who has to talk to homeland security who will see if you’re not a terrorist and are allowed to get a pain killer. But it will take forever at the pharmacy tho, as everyone in line has to give their fingerprints.
It’s gonna get worse! KEEP VOTING FOR FREE SHIT!
Insurance. Just got another EOB from my provider for a 1 and 1/2 day stay for emergency removal of my gall bladder that attacked me last month.
I was billed room and board of $1,217.70 and my insurance of course has a negotiated rate that reduced the bill by -$9606.85. That’s right…they negotiated the cost UP by over $9600. Then they paid $8659.64 and say I owe the balance which is $2164.91. What in holy fuck kind of math is this?
I called and was told this was to so I would meet my max deductible for the year and now only have to pay 10% of any future bills this year. I asked, “so we are paying the hospital $9600 more that they wanted and I still have to pay 10% of any and all medical bills the rest of the year?”
Silence on the line. Still waiting for a supervisor to call me back with a suitable explanation.
That sounds like an excerpt from a Vonnegut novel. Reality is getting strange.
And so it goes…
As someone from a country with the “dreaded socialized medicine” I can rant and rant about how surreal the so-called health care is here. I pay $10,000/yr for my healthy family so we can pay co-pays (WTF?) on the rare occasions we use a service, even when it is scheduled stuff (like child inoculations). Good grief.
Every year I get a letter from Blue Cross telling me my rates are going up many times more than inflation so they can ‘provide better service’. You know they’re laughing at us in the meeting where they draft these form letters, right?
If you bought a goat you wouldn’t have to mow the lawn.
Or is your fancy pants HOA against that sort of thing.
We have great insurance through my husbands job. He paid nothing for it but It’s changing in August. He will have to pay weekly for it and co-pays are going up but it’s not major so I can’t complain. Coverage is still amazing.
Fresh outrage is the ammount of car accidents in my area (some deaths) these past few days. I swear you get a couple of warm days and people think they are in a Nascar race. I honestly don’t know if it’s weather related but it seems that way. Driving to the gym this morning, I passed a car wrapped around a telephone pole, 2 young guys, speeding, what a shame.
I would say your solution would be to turn right at your first opportunity.
Check and double check.
My bitch is also the weather. We’re on the cusp of swamp ass season, and I don’t like it one bit.
Nothing wrong with what you wrote in context, but the sentence, “My bitch is also the weather” raises broad existential questions of whether existence precedes essence in a world that is growing climatically warmer and weirder. I’m just saying.
jtb
JTB, you’re so ontological!
Just like Cyndi Lauper….
Other drivers.
Sumer – sweltering heat and humidity. And I can’t stand A/C. I hate having the house closed up like a casket. I’m claustrophobic to begin with. And the bees. Holy hopping Christ on a jackahammer. Wasps, hornets, yellow jacks – fuck no.
Don’t even get me started on work. Was told Tuesday that some twit’s last day is Friday. So next week I’m covering for someone, training someone and trying to coordinate a big lunch. I can’t… I just can’t anymore. I don’t get paid enough for this level of bullshit.
Traffic, the little bastard who threw a fit in the supermarket, the drunk at the wine tasting event, the bitchlette who wouldn’t hold the door for me, the prick who threw his garbage out of his pristine BMW’s window… it goes on and on and on.
“Sumer – sweltering heat and humidity.” OK, it’s a simple spelling error, and we all make them. I would just comment that the heat and humidity were particularly galling in Larsa, Uruk, and Ur. And by all accounts, the Sumerians didn’t hold truck with the cool urban streetwear we take for granted today.
jtb
As much as I bitched about the long winter, you’d think I’d be happy about warmer weather. But this is ridiculous. It went from 20 degrees to 90..hot and sweating balls humid.
Here too and Saturday it’s plummeting down to 61 degrees. WTF?
My damn insurance will only cover 4 Cialis pills a month and it still costs me $30. It would be $30 per pill without insurance so I have to limp along all month with only 4 pills. What I am I supposed to do if I actually get a partner? Sheez…
For those of you who suck
“limp along”
It’s the last day of school here, so I’ll start the clock on when the first kid will cry “Booooooooooored.” I’m predicting before the weekend ends.
. . . and at night I think I can actually hear my grass growing.
You wanna know what’s got me all pissed off these days?
Justin Bieber
Wow…where do I start?
There are several Mexican restaurants in Parkersburg with real Mexicans in the kitchens, but apparently not one of them thought to bring some seasonings with them from Oaxaca.
Todays cars handle better than ever but most people still slow to a near stop to go around a corner. I drove faster than that when I ran the Rubicon.
I took a sick day from work and should have been paid for it. But noooo.
I think the guy in front of me at the bank drive-thru this morning was getting a second mortgage.
The thermostat in my apartment is wildly inaccurate. I have the choice of growing orchids or hanging sides of beef in the closet.
At least now that Winter is finally over I can go outside at night to smoke at work and not feel like I am in an out take of Yukon Men. (I know, serves me right. Fuck you.)
I’ll tell you this for free: I’m good and tired of smoking outside with my chattering teeth continuing to bite off the end of my cigarette. And by the way, I understand that Chesterfields are good for us.
jtb
The weather too. It’s suddenly full-on DC summer weather, and it won’t actually be summer for another month. The temperature and humidity were both in the 90s today.
Email spam is getting worse; looks like 98 received here since this morning.
My paycheck continues to shrink.
.
My usual complaint is bitches at the grocery store that PULL their carts down the middle of the isle as if they are the only people there. I don’t mind grocery shopping, I just hate being there with rude, self centered bitches. Not to mention health insurance going way up and pay getting smaller.
Don’t worry. When Obamacare kicks in, this will all be fixed.
Hahahahahahahaha.
Weather. Humidity causes me to have the strangest headaches/body aches/too much stomach acid (?!!) Stupid medicine, be less stupid!
The lack of insurance. Before the “health care plan” idea came about, I could work extra hours, and when I actually ran into problems, I could at least pay ON the bills…now, no fucking chance. So, the next time I need an echocardiogram, this means “everyone else” is paying for the fact that I haven’t found full-time work yet. (Well, full time work WITH insurance!)
Politicians. I don’t care what party you’re with. I pay taxes, I’m paying for YOUR health care, even though you’re screwing with mine.
Workplace. I’m tired of people saying the budget’s shrinking, but the president’s still running around spending shitloads of money. Cut some of her shit out, then go after the peons.
Politicians (again). Why must you say that certain drugs can’t be bought online? If I can get a cheaper price (free enterprise!), then why can’t I? I can’t help some dipshit chose to abuse the same drug and ended up dying. He had no prescription, he was underage, and it wasn’t even his card. GAH!
My insurance, too, changes on June 1. Not happy news! My doctor won’t accept it because of so many past issues of not getting paid by them. So, to continue going to this doctor that I’ve gone to for 27 years, I have to pay out of my own pocket. My deductible is doubling. I hope to have any upcoming illnesses within the next 2 weeks or I’m doomed!
Quit taking so fucking long at the ATM you shit chuking apes.
I’m sick and tired of burger joints calling their hamburgers “sandwiches”. Die in a fire, assholes.
My new insurance is fucking absurd. The deductible is equal to the entire economic output of France. Go fuck yourselves, “do gooders”.
I just got a new job after a long dry spell (thanks again, fucking “do gooders”) and I just learned that our next assignment isn’t for another 3 weeks. And I’m almost out of dog food to eat. Go to hell.
Stop using the self-checkout lanes dipshits. You’re slow and retarded and you’re ruining my life.
My attempt at gardening this year is a total clusterfuck. I hate the world as a result.
I’m sick and goddamned tired of the perpetually offended too. Every time I say something some dick sucker has to chime in that he or she has a sister (or whatever) with that particular disease or situation, and they’re very offended. First, you’re a liar. Second, drink bleach.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
LMAO!
Now I’m going to drink some Clorox because my slow, retarded third cousin was eating a sandwich at the self checkout, after spending 42 minutes at the ATM. She was buying potting soil for her beautifully lush garden.
my biggest complaints are that nobody in my house lets me get my work done. i’ve got 2 projects to do to finish my degree, and since the house burned down i’m at the mercy of my family to get them done.
nobody understands that the constant yelling and blasting of tvs etc makes it impossible to write these last 2 reports…
OK, so let the health insurance rant begin. Dear Diary:
In 1989, my employer offered the standard health insurance policy. I paid 20% of the bill until each family member paid out $1,200 deductible for the year. Then they paid 100% after that. Pretty simple math and standard policy for 25 years ago. Maximum out of my pocket was $3,600 per year.
In 1993, the company surveyed everyone and offered a choice. Stay with the current insurance plan or everyone agrees (majority vote, I think) to forego one year’s cost-of-living salary increase which is 2 or 3%, and get really good insurance that works like this: $5,200.00 annual family deductible, then insurance pays 100%. The company paid the $5,200 up front (they give you a Visa Mac card with $5,200 already loaded on the card early January. You go to the doctor, present your insurance card. They submit the claim. Insurance company tells the doctor your deductible has not been met, the doctor sends you the reduced, negotiated bill and you pay it from the Visa Mac card. When the card hits ZERO, insurance pay 100%. If there is anything left over at the end of the year, the balance rolls over to a personal health savings account that is yours to keep. This Highmark Blue Cross plan was the best insurance we ever had. My insurance cost was Z-E-R-O. It even covered prescriptions, emergency room, chiropractors, everything you can think of.
In 2010, our company bought a competitor. We inherit their management, HR department, payroll people, and all their shit. They cancel our great insurance plan and force us into their shit plan:
They begin to deduct $92.00 per week from my paycheck for a portion of the insurance cost.
Doctor visits cost $20.00 up front day of the appointment.
Doctor submits a claim to insurance, I pay 100% of the first $200 per family member.
Then, I pay 20% after that until I have paid out an additional $1,000 per family member for a total possible deductible of $1,200 per person annually.
If we had a bad year, it could cost $3,600 in deductibles plus the $4,784.00 payroll deductions for a total out-of-pocket over $8K.
Additionally, we had a really good profit sharing plan under the old company that could double my salary in a good year. The new management capped the annual bonus at 6% of salary. Sorry to report that I will barely get out of bed in the morning to earn 6% of anything.
Fuck them, my last day of employment was April 12, after working there (sales manager) for 23 years. I sincerely hope they go bankrupt and die choking on their own vomit.
I am now self employed (3 part-time ventures). So far, everything is going OK. My stress level and blood pressure is way down and I work at my own pace, and goof off half a day here and there when I feel like it.
Thanks for reading my vile rant.
By the way, the Golden Insurance we had from 1993 until 2010 is no longer offered unless the policy was grandfathered. Once canceled, never to be seen again.
Since I don’t need health insurance here, I have no gripe. I need to go to the doctor – I go. He gives me a prescription – the pharmacy give me meds. No cost. Oh, wait – except my carpal tunnel surgery. Here, we get a choice. Wanna wait for that surgery and go National Health Service? Great – €40. Want to go private and have that surgery RIGHT NOW? Great – €2000 (as opposed to the 14,500 bucks the same surgery cost in the states and I had to pay 10% of. Plus insurance premiums). Yeah, I don’t mind paying my taxes here.
This fucking WEATHER on the other hand, is harshing my buzz. It’s the end of May in Tuscany. I should be bitching about the heat, humidity and mosquitos and instead I’m bitching about the rain and cold. What. The. Fuck.
Not only am I bitching, but I hafta listen to my GUESTS bitch and the other TOURISTS bitch and the people who have summer homes here bitch and the locals bitch because their vegetable gardens are drowning – everyone is bitching about something.
That’s my bitch.
‘It’s the end of May in Tuscany. ‘
When I become dictator of my own third world country there are a number of people I will march straight into the volcano. Cable TV news media, lazy people, corrupt politicians and businessmen, unemployed procreators…and obsessive users of that popular social media site – what’s it called…narcissist book? Yeah, annoying users of narcissistbook will be included in the first group too.
Oh gee…all the things I could rant about.
Let’s start with people in general. I’m really sick of people that leech off of welfare, and yet seem to have nicer things than I (who works two part time jobs just to barely make it by). I can’t count how many times I ride the subway, and will hear people bitching about not getting enough of the welfare/food stamps, and yet playing Angry Birds on their iPhone and wearing Gucci sunglasses. The only nice thing I own is my Rayban Wayfarers (paid out of my own hard earned money), but I still own a five year old PDA that barely runs. Must be nice to sit on your ass all day, doing nothing and getting nicer things than people that actually work.
And the young and old people seem to piss me off the most (everyone in between seems to be okay). Young people like blaring shitty pop music and acting like dipshits, and old people like to bitch about not getting their ten cent re-usable bag discount at the grocery store, and holding up the line.
But my most recent rant involves not getting my state ID. I went to get my ID the other day, bringing just about every form of acceptable documentation (birth certificate, other state ID, SS card, proof of residence, my first born child), and they refused to get me one. They basically told me that I needed to get a passport to get a state ID, which I thought was complete and utter bullshit. So you’re telling me that some foreigner can move here with a passport, and can get an ID, but I’ve lived in America my whole life and I can’t? Fucking bullshit man. I think she was just one of the earlier mentioned lazy bitches.
I am with you on the freeloader mentality. I volunteered one year for the “secret Santa” distribution center where the “needy” were to show up and pick up their free Santa gifts for their children. When going over the rules they were clear that the person should only get the gift bought for them. You would not believe how many freeloaders were pissed they could not just select the gift of their choice. And then as I walked past my 10 year old car in the parking lot I would load their “bounty” into a much nicer car than my own.
God Bless America! Where the less you do, the more you get. I see and work with “you owe me” mentality on a daily basis. It is appalling to me the total disregard of manners and gratitude by people these days. No one knows the meaning of “please” and “thank you” anymore. And I only see it getting worse. In fact, just today, I’ve had 2 people hang up on me over the phone. Now I am in a doctor’s office. I am not allowed to be rude and obnoxious, but for some reason, some of these patients think since I can’t respond to their bullshit, they can say what they want. One of these days, my big mouth will runnith over and I’ll let the cards fall where they may. Fuck these disgusting animals.
Well said.
I hope you feel better. I do, and I only read it.
Here in cleveland it is roughly 7 degrees. WTF?
I am so happy to see we have finally launched a political forum here!!! What took so long? 🙂