Settling.....

I swear to God that's the story of my life. Settling. I want the best, but I settle for what I can afford.

Case in point....
The home computer died the other month. Hubbie and I decided that we were tired of Microsoft and wanted to get an operating system that wasn't so retarded. We wanted a Mac. We saved our money, we hoped, we dreamed.....

Then the water pump went out on the old car (Sherwood). Since Pip will need this to get to and from school (occasionally -- sometimes Hubbie needs it to drive into work), we needed to get it fixed. (($457))

Followed by the State of Ohio letting us know that we'd figured our taxes wrong and needed to cut them a check by the 20th for $89.

There went everything we'd saved for the new computer.

So we settled. We went to Best Buy and bought the cheapest thing we could find. I'm sure that the technology in it is long outdated, but at least it has that new, "Vista" operating system.

In case you're curious -- it sucks.

But now I can pay my bills and balance my checkbook at home again. I suppose that that's a plus.

I don't mean to sound whiny or spoiled. We have a roof over our heads, we eat 3 meals a day (not provided by the government), and from time to time we are actually able to go out and have a little fun. I'm just getting SO friggin' tired of having to settle for second best! (...or third... or that stupid Vista thing...)

We're back to saving for the Mac again, but it's a lot harder when Pip is with us. Especially since the Senior Portrait Industry is just NOT set up for shared children. (Seriously! It's cheaper for each household to buy their own package than it is to split a larger one since they don't allow you to substitute another friggin' 8 x 10 for a useless set of wallets!)

I don't suppose that I could get Pip to settle for a nice picture taken with my cell phone?

I Have the Best Friend -- EVER!!

So I got home from work last night and brought in the mail.

There was a padded manilla envelope shoved into the mailbox, but I didn't think much of it. My husband is CONSTANTLY buying books and stuff online and I'm generally bringing one or two of these in a week anyway.

I put it on the counter where he could find it when he got home and sorted through the rest of the junk mail, bills, and college info (Pip gets TONS of "Look at us!" college shit weekly). When I turned back to put the bills in our inbox, I noticed the writing on the package looked suspiciously like Kimba's writing. I looked closer and it was! The envelope was for me!

I tore into the package like Rosie O'Donnell tearing into a package of Ring-Dings and there it was-- an iPod Shuffle. I read the note enclosed. Since she already had a Nano and I was still saving my duckets to buy one of my own, she sent me the Shuffle!

But wait!! It gets better!!!

She charged it and put some songs on it for me!!!!

Thank You Kimba!!!!!! You're the best friend EVER!!!

Be Our Guest!

I can hardly believe it.

Somehow I made it into the local community theater's next production, "Beauty and the Beast". This surprises the hell out of me because I didn't really prepare well for auditions. --I suppose that's what happens when you work full time, are involved with outside the home activities, and don't want to keep your husband up past midnight as you hammer away at music (our apartment is tiny, so even if you're in the next room, you're only 12 feet away from each other). I almost didn't waste the director's time, but changed my mind in the 9th hour.

No, not the 11th hour. That would have been rude.

I'm just in the chorus, but I kind of like it that way. You get more stage-time.

Just thought I'd share...

The Secret's Out

I am the only full-time employee in my office. That's right, the only one here 8 hours a day, five days a week.

What that means in the medical office community is that I have to be able to learn (or at least sound intelligent about) a lot of various stuff.

Some of it is easy. Any one of us can handle routine med refills. I can give you an excuse slip for work. I can set you up an appointment to see a doctor and explain the basics of the nuclear stress test, echocardiogram, and heart catheterization. I handle all med records (scanning in, indexing, and entering in the computer --hooray for Electronic Health Records!!) in my office.

Some of it is a little more difficult. Reading doctor's handwriting, getting prior authorization from insurance companies (medical and prescription) for testing and meds, determining who gets an office visit and who is directed to the E/R for their chest pain, knowing which ICD-9 code will allow what kind of visit/lab/medication, and which ekg strips faxed from the event monitoring company need a doctor's review ASAP and which ones are safe to wait for my RN to address when she comes in.

I have had to learn what exactly is going on during the stress test and how the chemicals affect patients simply because they ask me questions and it seems kind of foolish to say, "I don't know, I just answer phones and collect copays. --Do you have that $20 with you or would you like me to bill you for it?"

I learned how to hook patients up to a holter monitor because when the primary docs from downstairs call for one it seems ridiculous to tell them that no one here can do it. --Not to mention that it's bad for business. So I learned to hook up and download holter monitors.

I'm not complaining. I'd rather be busy at work than waiting around trying to make my mental powers force the clock hands to move.

The one thing I've learned in life is that if you act like you know what you're doing, the general public will assume that you do.

So then today I get a call from our home office. It seems that the images from the nuclear stress tests that we did on Tuesday didn't load onto the server like they should have and would it be possible for me to re-load them and send them over to be viewed?

Apparently I give the impression that I'm secretly a Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologist.

Perhaps I should tone down the confidence a little, eh??

Just to Catch Everyone Up...

I suppose that I should start this by mentioning that our home computer's motherboard blew up the other week and I'm limited to when I can update this site. Somehow "The Man" just doesn't feel that blogging is an appropriate way to spend company time. I'd like to point out to "The Man" that as blogging is life and I feel like I sacrifice enough of my life to the workweek, it seems only logical that blog-time should include work time, but I value my paycheck too much to split hairs with the guy who signs them.

So, anyway...
The show went as well as it could, really. It's the sappiest Rodgers and Hammerstein out there! I mean with lyrics like: "Our state fair is the best state fair in our state" you can't expect the bar raised THAT high, now can you? Naturally, I totally kicked ass as a drunk pickles and mincemeat judge. Who'd have thunk that, eh?? The best thing about small community theater is the people you work with, and these people were some of the best. No one was too important to help schlep set pieces and/or props on and off the stage or to help with backstage costume changes.

I got to hang out with the "young adult" portion of the cast and found out that while I really enjoy hanging out with them, they tend to talk about themselves a lot. I guess that it's to be expected as they're still in college or have just graduated and don't know much else. I wanted to point out to them that they didn't even REALLY know themselves at this point in their lives, but it's such better lesson when you learn it yourself!

Besides, then I would have had to start hanging out with the 'parents'. Those people are no fun. (Just kidding- Inge, Tom, and Karen!!)

This weekend is auditions for "Beauty and the Beast". Yeah, I'm working on an audition piece in my spare time even though I don't really think that there's a part in it for me. There aren't any drunks -although I was told that there's a feather duster who's a little coquettish. (I only ever get cast as floozies and drunks...) I just can't picture myself in feathers.....

Well, time to get back to "The Man's" work.

Damn The Man!

24 Hours from Now

24 hours from now (if everything goes right and the cats aren't being too needy) I will be waking up and leisurely getting into the shower.

I'm actually taking a day off for the sake of taking time off.

This goes against EVERYTHING my parents EVER taught me about being a responsible, working adult. I know that they meant well and that they felt it was important to impress upon me their proud, German work ethic, but let me tell you --all work and no play makes Jill a friggin' bitch to hang around!

It's my own dang fault, I guess.

I get paid vacation and sick time, but I'm always scared to use it. I mean, what if I'm in a horrible accident and need to take 3 weeks off of work? Sure, short-term disability will kick in after 2 weeks, but what if I use up all of my paid time off on something frivolous first? I can't go two weeks without a paycheck.

So I go to work every day, get my 40 hours + every week and slowly my patience and sanity ebb away....

...but not this week!

Which is a good thing because opening night for the play I'm in is also tomorrow. (See how the day off and my personal life cross there?)

I mean, I need to rest up for the cast parties.

Priorities, people!

Jumping Off the Cliff of Life

I kid you not.....

(Not so) little old man in wheelchair is in the office today for his stress test. Due to the fact that he is not able to walk the treadmill, he has had a chemically-induced stress test. So he hasn't had anything to eat since 7am. Now that his "stress" portion is over, he can eat something.

Daughter: "So, Dad, what would you like for lunch?"

Little Old Man: "Oh... can you run over to McDonalds and get me a double cheeseburger and fries?"

I just want to point out that it takes friggin' balls of pure, unadulterated steel to order this kind of lunch in a cardiology office. It's kind of like setting up the grand altar of Satan in the nave of the Catholic church, don't you think?

I hope he's not too surprized when his results come back and show that he needs a heart cath.

PS--Because I'm THAT good of a front office person, I explain to the patients when they schedule that they'll have a 6 hour fast prior to their test and that generally it takes 2-3 hours to complete. I further explain that should this seem like too long to go without eating, they may bring a snack to tide them over. Usually, people bring peanut butter/crackers.

I think that they're afraid of the lightning bolt that will hit them should they think of bringing anything else.