I hate doctors

I have ever since I was young and they 'experimented' with me to see how they could best treat my hypoglycemia.

"Try this diet"
"That made it worse? Ok, try this one and add these supplements"

"Eat complex carbohydrates"
"Ohh, sorry you ended up in the hospital, try and avoid complex carbohydrates"

I felt like I was a ping pong ball that they had fun hitting around and measuring my blood sugar results.

So for years, I avoided doctors even when I've been sick I'll only go if I think I need an antibiotic. I try to lead a medicine free life so when I do need a medicine it works. Too many people these days take Advil every day and then complain when it stops killing their headaches. Doctors only build on this with their prescriptions and their increasing attitude of "take these pills you'll feel better, I know what I'm talking about" which annoys me to the core.

Six months ago I went to see an orthopedic doctor for problems with my knees. I was an athlete years ago until two major knee injuries stopped that. Now as I’ve gotten older my knees hurt every day in various degrees of severe pain. The last five years it has gotten progressively worse so finally my wife convinced me to go get it looked at.

The doctor had plenty of theories, did some manual tests, and had lots of ideas for how I could ‘help’ my problems. He ordered an MRI to see inside my knee and had hope that I would not live with this pain the rest of my life. The MRI came back and the same highly enthusiastic Doctor said, “Nothing looks overtly wrong or displaced, it is probably
Chondromalacia patellae.” He sounded disappointed. Chondromalacia patellae is where the cartilage directly behind the kneecap is damaged. It is also known as retropetellar arthritis.

This seemed accurate as the symptoms of pain behind the kneecap and difficulty with stairs and sitting for long periods of time fit me exactly. So I asked “What do we do about it.” To which he replied, “Not much we can do.” He told me to wear knee sleeves, those fabric meshes with the hole over the kneecap. Some help he was… I’d been wearing those things for years when I first got hurt and they did nothing then either. Doing web searches I got more ideas then this…

Now I have to go see a doctor soon for medical reasons relating to blood sugar and I'm not looking forward to it at all. I understand the necessity and I should not prejudge, but....Experience is the best teacher

Frustrations of a somewhat experienced homeowner

So I was just talking to a colleague and my own brother the other day about the 'unexpected costs' of owning your own home. How you need to set aside money for these costs so they don't eat you alive and force you into difficult decisions.

So I sit here today having fallen into the trap myself, well sort of.

Last month I knew that I needed my gutters cleaned out and for the cost of that it wasn't much more to have good gutter guards installed. So I was moving forward with that project. At the same time I knew I had some drainage issues with my back yard. I'm a slightly lower elevation then one neighbor and a much lower then the other, so when it rains all water pools in my back yard. I had really good grass growing back there before this season's rains came and my kids love to play back there. Now it is a swamp. So I knew I needed to take care of that. I had wanted to add a drainage system in myself with the help of my friends however finding the time is always so difficult, especially when we all have young kids or other responsibilities, so I just decided to bite the bullet and pay someone for it. As the gutter cost was not too bad I felt alright with spending the money. I received several bids and was generally happy with what I got.

Well the day after the gutter guards went up and the drainage system went in my Heating/Cooling guys showed up for a checkup on my systems. What they found was not fun. My second floor Air Conditioning system had a few leaks and the outside unit was 13+ years old. My first floor air handler was rusted all over, had it's own leaks, and was 16+ years old. With the brutal NC Summer coming and having had my air conditioning fail 3 summers ago I did not wish to repeat the experience, so I haggled with the guy and came to a final price for replacement. Well it was obviously higher then I had wanted to pay and definitely outside the budget for the month (after just paid for gutters and drainage).

Yes, I knew this could happen, and this is what does happen when you own a home. But why did it have to happen right as I just shelled out a few grand for other things. It just hurts.

So last week I ended up spending more money then I ever have any other time, except purchasing a car or buying a home, and even then most of that was credit based. Writing that last check really hurt.

So if you want to own a home, make sure you keep that money aside for the 'unexpected costs' because they come when you least expect it and when it is most likely to hurt. -- Murphy's law redefined for homeowners

You know what drives me crazy....

....Well lots of things do (inefficiency, illogical arguments, and much more) but today's craziness is caused by poor customer support.

Being in the Support Business, and having been there much of my life, I am a fair judge of customer support. I believe I am understanding of what a person manning a phone can and can not do. When you received good support you feel good, like you were heard and understood, and bad customer support can make you feel like beating someone down.

So today I'm trying to deal with IT Support; not because I don't know what I'm doing, but because things are just not set up right for what I'm trying to accomplish. I wasn't calling to blame or judge or make life worse; I just wanted it to work right.

So of course it goes badly...

AC: "Hi, I'm trying to do -this- and the default is not set up so I can not see anything. I believe this is the same problem a coworker of mine had regarding the default not being set."
IT: "Did you try and login?"

AC: "Yes, that is how I know I can't see anything."
IT: "Well tell me what you see."

AC: "The page frame (a section of a page on a portal for you non-geeks) is blank and there are no options, errors, or notes of any kind. In fact the HTML for this page frame is empty."
IT: "You mean the whole site is down? You need to call production Support."

AC: "No, the site is up, my default page is not set up right in the system. That is why I called you guys. Can you see my default page and change it?"
IT: "We don't do pages here, we do workspaces, let me see something."

--Time passes--

IT: "Ok, you need to log in to this special email and get a new password."

AC: "Wait, I had a valid password. Why did you change it?"
IT: "I needed to. Trust me, I do this every day. I know what I'm doing."

AC: "Ok, so hold on while I do that."
IT: "Well I wasn't going to hang up on you."

--Login works, but is very slow, got new password. Problem does not get fixed--

AC: "So now what?"
IT: "It must be a problem with your email account, you just didn't get the right information."

AC: "Um, email is working fine. I got the email that the system sent, and that part all worked. The problem is with the page being blank."
IT: "Let me think a moment."

--Several moments pass--

AC: "Ok, can you just check my default workspace and make sure it is set up right? As I said I have a coworker who had the same problem, and it was resolved by changing the value from NULL to a real page."
IT: "No, that is another team. I'll log a case with them for you."

AC: "Wait, you said you do workspaces. Why can't you do this?"
IT: "I can help you edit one, but not set it up."

AC: "Great. Can you send me the case # via email along with a phone number to directly contact them?"
IT: "I'll ask them to contact you."

AC: "Well I'd like that information so I can follow-up with them myself."
IT: "They will contact you."

AC: "So what do I do if they don't? Can I call you back?"
IT: "No, I can't help you further so calling me back is not a good idea. Honestly you will get a call back, we provide excellent customer service here."

--6 hours later, no call back--

However, I will have the last laugh. Once the case is closed I get to fill out a customer survey. *Evil Grin*

First Complaint

Ok, so here is where I release a little steam. So what is it today? Medical Coverage....

So I left one company this month and I asked about Medical coverage for my family. I was assured it was taken care of through the rest of the month, which is what I needed.

Today I found out that was not so. :(

So I called the health care provider up to talk about it. Here is how the conversation went:
(I'll leave out names and companies to avoid slander)

--Only a short hold time, a good sign--
AC: "Hi, I hope you can help me. I recently left the company and I was told that my medical coverage would continue for the rest of this month because I already paid for it, however I was just told that my coverage ended, can you help me."
--Provide My personal Information--
Respondent: "Yes, Your coverage was cancled."

AC: "So I have no coverage at all for my family?"
Respondent: "No, that is a COBRA. You don't have that. Your coverage was cancled."

AC: "Well I was told this would be taken care of."
Respondent: "Did you sign up for COBRA?"

AC: "I did not receive paperwork on that. When do I get that?"
Respondent: "It can take up to two weeks depending on your company."

AC: "Well in two weeks I won't need it. Can we work something out?"
Respondent: "No, you need COBRA."

AC: "Ok, can I sign up for that over the phone and how much does it cost?"
Respondent: "You will have to call your former company for that."

AC: "You know, this is very odd as I have already paid for this coverage."
Respondent: "Technically your company paid us, not you. So we have no obligation to you."

AC: "Fine, I want my money back."
Respondent: "I'm sorry sir but we can not do that."

AC: "Let me talk to your manager."
Respondent: "Ok, a member of my management can call you next week."

AC: "You can't put someone on the phone now?"
Respondent: "That is our policy sir."

AC: "That is ridicluous, isn't there a supervisor there now?"
Respondent: "None available, I do appologize."

AC: "In a week I won't need coverage from you guys."
Respondent: "I do appologize."

AC: "So can you help me at all?"
Respondent: "You will have to call your former company's HR department."

AC: "Do you have that number?"
Respondent: "I do not work there so how could I have that?"

--Hang Up--


So I'm pissed off. It takes me a while to figure it out, and I call my former company's HR. Got no one, so I had to leave a Voice Mail Message.

Hours later no one called me back. So I called again, got a person.... Another conversation ensues:

--I explain the situation--
Respondent: "Yes you need COBRA."

AC: "Ok, what are the parameters and how much does it cost?"
Respondent: "I don't have that information."

AC: "Don't you know how I set up COBRA?"
Respondent: "You have to call another company."

She at least provided a number and was nice about it all... but I still didn't get my money back.

So when I call the COBRA company they want almost $1k for a month.

I was so mad I almost threw my blackberry against the wall.

Today is not my day.