All Sorts of Tidbits II

Ah, yes, the compendium type post. Sure to be of interest to no-one, except, guess what? You're here reading it. So it must interest someone at least little on some level. That or your RSS reader has let you down in a spectacular fashion.

1. First, the blog is approaching 200,000 posts and I expect we'll hit that number this summer. Though recent traffic has dropped off a bit. I cannot believe how many hits I get, though about 70% of them are what I deem a "worthless" hit. To me, that's someone who reads the one post they came across and never comes back to the blog again.
2. Secondly the mix of visitors has slowly started to change. Search engine referrals are down to 73.5% while website referrals are up to 26% -- Google still provides most of our traffic (75% of that 73%).
3. My post on Led Zeppelin still remains the single most popular post and it generates people who linger and read the 300+ comments. Following that is the post about Daniel Radcliffe's Penis which generates more worthless hits than anything -- apparently people think they're getting the goods from my website. I think not. In third place is the Dell Sucks post which generates traffic as well as getting me lots of sympathetic e-mails. In fourth place is the Crazy Frog post, which like the Penis post, is worthless for valuable traffic. All other posts generate insignificant traffic when measured over time. Short-term some posts like mine on Wolfgang Van Halen and Terry Brooks generate short-terms bursts but then people move on to whatever else is news.
4. A special shout-out goes to Maury Wilkinson. She's the one who challenged me to make a blog. So I should thank her for that. But that's not why she's getting the shout-out here. She's been bugging me forever to get a TiVo. I broke down and got a DVR today (which she calls a Ti-Faux because it's a generic one) so I don't have to miss House, Heroes, and Lost any more. We'll see how I like it.
5. I love being a grammar Nazi. No, really. I'm not perfect but I am better than most people. And I certainly know the difference between your/you're and it's/its -- which about 80% of the people who write me obviously don't. I started a thread on my Panthers Hockey Message Board (which actually tracks back to another thread on a different board). I am only mentioning this because the thread is awesome. And better yet, the spiteful bitch on the original thread, who apparently runs the LED board, made an ass out of herself, engaged in petty-name calling, and then used RED on the matrix board to make the error worse.
The thread got locked and the entire ad was gone from the last game. Victory is mine! (Okay, it's got nothing to do with me or anything I said, but still.)
6. My guest room is now wired for HDTV for the benefit of my guests. And I've installed a new flat-screen LCD TV. Isn't that great? Except I don't like guests. Damn -- I think that may be ironic. That's why I'm in the process of finding a new home for my Sony KV27EXR10.
7. I saw Horton Hears a Who. It is surprisingly good. Really. Except when they break into song at the end -- a clear Shrek rip-odd. Everyone knows the story, has read the book, etcetera so there's no point in me going over it. You will like it. Visually appealing, very entertaining, and just a good film. Really. Saw previews for Ice Age 3, Narnia: Caspian, Wall-E and Speed Racer. I can't wait to see the first three. I was looking forward to Speed Racer but the preview has me reconsidering.
8. My neck still hurts (see accident report) and though it was getting better, it's acting up again. Not sure why. But my C4 vertebrae is in the wrong place according to the x-ray the chiropractor took. I definitely have whiplash. Progressive Insurance are being serious poopy-heads about it, and I've written a letter to their CEO and the State of Florida Insurance Commissioner. They lied to me, and I caught them in the lie. They also tried to get me to sign a waiver of rights including all future rights. I'm not even cured yet and they want to buy me off for a small pittance. I was very up-front. I want them to pay my medical bills. Nothing more and nothing less. Apparently they think this is unfair. State Law entitles to me reimbursement for missed work and other benefits. I wasn't really excited about the paperwork, but I suppose I have to do it now. It's clear they are lying scum and do not have my best interests at heart. Ultimately, I will be better so I'm not worried about long term issues, but if they think I'm signing a waiver for something down the road, they're nuts. What if something was missed on the x-ray? Too many things could go wrong. Woe be the person who gets rear-ended by a Progressive policy holder. Progressive Sucks. They must use Dell laptops :)
9. I am opposed to bio-fuels. Why? Food should not be used to operate cars when people are starving to death all over the planet. I can't imagine why anyone thinks this is a good idea.

Pain in the Neck (Literal)

Ouch. Today hurts much worse than yesterday. I am sore in my shoulders, my entire neck, upper back, and a little in my lower back. I have this burning sensation that goes from one shoulder blade to the other. And the weird random pain in my right hip. The insurance people told me that this is normal -- a few days after is when it hits. Well, it hit.

I am going to hospital first thing in the morning for x-rays to see if there's anything obvious. After that it's up to the doctor, but perhaps an MRI or two. Joy. Joy. Joy.

In other related news, Progressive is not being cooperative (they're the insurers of records of the lady who hit us). Per state law, I've contacted my insurance company who is going to have to deal with it now. I am displeased.

Randomness Part Eight

What a weekend. The Panthers won Friday and Sunday giving us a total of four wins in a row. Yay, Panthers.

Next up, I'm sitting in Thomas' car on Sunday and he's driving. We're both wearing seat belts. Though I often give him crap for his driving, he's a pretty good (ie: very cautious) driver. So Saturday afternoon at around 310pm, we're leaving Office Depot, and he stops at a stop sign. He starts to go, but someone comes flying by at warp 30 in a car, so he stops again. They pass. He's in the process of looking both ways when some lady in a Black Honda Accord rear ends us at a high rate of speed causing us to lurch forward about 6 to 10 feet. We both get out and survey the damage -- most of which is to Thomas' car. They trade insurance info, though Timmy fails to get her driver's license number, and I got down her tag number. They decide not to call the cops. Thomas is fine, me not so much. As they're wrapping up I notice my neck is unusually sore on the left side where it joins the shoulder.

Thomas goes home (a five minute drive) and calls his insurance agent and their insurance agent. They want to talk to me since I'm injured. They ask me for my auto insurance details. Really. I refuse to provide it since I was not driving and my car was not present. I hate this already. In other news, gets worse as the hours tick by. I try to ignore it because that's how I am. Today it hurts more, sore to the touch. My back hurts a little and my right hip a lot.

Adrian cancelled skating on me today, which is probably for the best anyway. I went grocery shopping and then to Walgreens for some drugs. Yay, drugs. Doing laundry now.

Watched some of the Pens vs Capitals game on TV and some stuff on the science channel. I did a great deal of work my tax packet. I hate taxes. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. So much work.

Had dinner with Jason last week. That was fun to see him, Jenny, and Erica again. We really have to do that more often.

UK newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Telegraph are reporting yesterday and today on an expected deal between Sir Paul McCartney and Apple, Inc. to bring the Beatles catalog to iTunes. According to the Telegraph, the deal could be worth as much as £300 million. An Apple Corps label spokesperson said that the date "has not yet been set." The deal has been much delayed. But industry insiders say that by the end of the year fans using iTunes will be able to buy songs from albums such as Help! and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Former hits from albums such as Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the White Album, and Help are expected to top the download charts for several months on release. I envision the long rumoured Yellow Submarine iPod which I will purchase on opening day because I must own one.

Post 299: More on Aetna and other unrelated stuff

Let's see, this is the 299th post in my blog so the next post will be a milestone of sorts. I will be sure and either commemorate it or perhaps entirely ignore it.


Aetna Sucks Worse Than A Two-Bit Whore

Today, I sent a formal complaint to the State of Florida department of insurance regulation about the crap Aetna has put me through. More importantly, I sent a copy of that complaint to Ronald A. Williams, Aetna's CEO. I doubt I'll get an answer, because as you've seen in my previous posts (especially this one) you have by now realized Aetna cares not one whit and not one iota about its clients and would prefer they all drop dead rather than actually try and help them -- think of all the money they'd save!

I realize some Aetna employees may be reading this, and I believe some of you may actually care about your clients, but I maintain that your company as a whole and your company's policies are grossly negligent towards the care and well-being of your patients. When you become so arrogant that you feel your policies are more important than those of a licensed medical practitioner, then there is something horribly wrong with your company. I deeply resent a computer and a clerk telling me they want to question my doctor over my prescription, and as much as I resent, I can assure you my doctor resents it more, because he told me so. You have forgotten that your patients are human beings, if you haven't forgotten then you just don't care. I'm not sure which is worse. Repulsively disgusting.


Product Recalls

In other news, there has been yet another product recall (today: mouthwash) which has been contaminated. In recent months there's been cat food, dog food, mouthwash, spinach, lettuce, peanut butter, and so forth. A slew of recalls in recent months. There are forces at work here, mostly the government letting companies get away with murder, perhaps? I almost am ready to agree with conspiracy theorists on this one and we all know how much I loathe conspiracy theory. But there's just too many in too short a time. And what's worse, if it's as easy as a farm worker crapping in a field to cause massive outbreak of e-coli, just think how easy it would be for a terrorist to drop something far, far, far worse into the food supply. Or, perhaps, it's best if you don't think about it -- especially if you have Aetna because you'll probably die.


My Photo & Home Movie Library

I've also decided to digitize my entire photo library. I should thank Rangeek for this because he and I were talking (ie: e-mail) and I thought it would be cool to see old photos but I bemoaned the lack of patience to do the job and thought it would be a good business idea. Of course, with Google, you can find anything. And, indeed a search found any number of companies that do this -- not all of them reputable.

I plan to have my entire photo collection (photos, negatives, slides, everything) put on CDs and my home movies including the infamous New Year's Eve parties put on DVD. I will make them available to my friends who attended. I will slowly post some of the photos to my Flikr page. This project will cost me at least a grand and take two months, but it's worth it. I have photos of some good memories that are irreplaceable (such as this one). And I'd like to have a set of CDs to put in a safe-deposit box somewhere after I make copies to share. I can also clean up some of the older, grimy photos with Photoshop. I plan to ship off three cases of material to the company within two weeks.

I have photos from my Boy Scout days, college days, childhood, and such. I have photos of relatives, pets, places, vacations. There's so much there. 90% of it is meaningless to anyone but me. But people are funny about photos. Survey after survey asks people what they would save first if their house would burn down (excluding people and pets) and the answer is overwhelmingly photos.

I may post some of the videos on a secure password protected web-page on my site one day for your download amusement. But it's really boring if you weren't there in many cases. Parties, trips to the zoo, a road trip. Then again there are some very interesting things on there that, perhaps, I may not want to share. I'll watch 'em first. But the video of Paul counting shoes on the bridge to Tomorrow land is pretty damned priceless. Maybe I'll charge him $50,000 not to post it. Of course on that same tape I'm terribly hung-over the next morning, so I won't win any prizes either. Heh. Seriously, once it's done (updates posted here) I will report what is and isn't available.

Limited Medical Update

Oh, wait, there isn't much of one. I'm sick -- but don't feel bad except for the damn infernal 24/7 hacking. The doctor says I'm sick and am suffering from some unknown viral malaise. Doesn't that sound fun. My throat is shredded to bits from the constant hacking. Talking hurts, so I haven't been doing much of it lately despite some people's efforts to try and make me talk.

I begin antibiotics today for a week coupled with some highly narcotic cough syrup (yay) Hydromet Syrup which my insurance has inexplicably declined to pay for even though it's clearly covered. I asked the pharmacist why. He explained as follows: "Your doctor prescribed a 1/2 teaspoon dose once per day and gave you enough for 48 days. But the insurance company will only pay for 30 days worth."

I explained to the pharmacist that I'm supposed to take 1/2 teaspoon dose at least twice (as needed) per day which means I got a 24 day supply at most. But, the prescription says one per day or as needed. So I asked him to give me less, and he said it's a liquid in a standard size bottle and he can't. My choice is to call the doctor back tomorrow and have him re-issue the prescription or pay for it. I'm very cranky already and decide I'll just pay since I'm already pissed off and the talking is killing me. All that, and it's only $15.82 -- if my insurance had covered it, it would have been $20 which is my minimum drug copay. Fucking insanity, I say. I paid less not being covered.

I also went to the otolaryngologist (ENT) to discuss my results from the Endoscopy in more detail but he referred me back to the original doctor who did the procedure instead and said he should go over it with me instead. That pissed me off. I paid $30 to get sent to another doctor. So that's two co-pays today. Although the ENT did give me a lecture and a half for taking Orange Juice for my cold (which is a no-no for Acid Reflux patients). I assumed that the cold was worse and a few days of that wouldn't be a problem -- I stand corrected. No citrus ever again for any reason. He said OJ for colds is an old-wives tale anyway though he supports chicken soup. He then gave me the official "endoscope up the nose" procedure -- which is a problem because with my cold I can't breathe so well through my nose and we almost had an episode like before (previous blog post).

Then of course, I didn't mention the insurance crisis. We have two plans at our office a regular plan and the same plan with the Open Access option. The OA option is quite a bit more money (nearly double the price) but I gladly pay it because I'll be damned if I'm letting some insurance company book tell me what doctors and I can or can't see and double-damned if I'm going to keep going to my primary care to get a referral. If I know what's broken and I know what type of doctor can fix/treat it, then I'll find one that's good and go to him/her right away and shave days and dollars off the process.

So I go to the otolaryngologist and check-in like always (remember, I've been before) and pay my $30 co-pay for a specialist. No worries. Sit down. I get called back to the window and told "You need a referral to see the doctor or you have to pay $290 for the visit plus any additional money for whatever the doctor does." I ask why because I'm on the OA plan. She says I'm not and she shows me a printout which conflicts with the card I have. She gets her phone, dials the physician access line and presses my card number into the automated system. Sure enough it says I'm on the regular HMO without the OA option. I call my office and ask the controller to get the insurance agent involved but it's too early and we can't get it resolved. We come to a compromise: I leave her a signed note saying she can charge my card if it isn't resolved in 24 hours. When I get back to the office later, Aetna insists I'm on the OA plan and can't explain the failure of the physician's automated line to get it right. They promise they'll call me back within an hour and also call the doctor and straighten it out. That was 10 hours ago. Not done. (My primary care doctor was nice enough to fax a referral to the doctor so I don't get charged. Technically not proper but nobody feels bad because the insurance company screwed it up.)

I hate insurance companies. I wish I could stop coughing.