sorry for the broken links in the post below… The plugin (Fotobook)we use to pull the photos from Facebook sucks. I tried to update my albums and they all went away.
I’ve been troubleshooting for 3 hours. It’s not getting any better. It’s still broken.
Now I’m just mad.
Grrrrr…
Thursday a week ago the Oak Ridge Observer reported that Alex Moseley, the always bridesmaid, never bride political man about town, who recently lost a bid to be the Anderson County election chief, and who less recently lost a bid to to the Tennessee House of Representatives, has decided to throw a referendum out there because the Oak Ridge City Council recently voted to opt out of Tennessee’s recent law allowing concealed carry gun permit holders to go packing in city parks.
Now, for those not in the know, what you do in Oak Ridge when the local government doesn’t do what you want is to:
a) Go to the website of one of the local newspapers and leave halfway incoherent comments indicating how the town is crashing and burning
b) Start a referendum to try to overthrow the decision
This worked fantastically in keeping shopping out of Oak Ridge back in the halcyon days of ought six, saving us from the scourge of using abatements on the tax money that would have come in on a big ass shopping center, leaving us with the (preferred, obviously) no tax money coming in from the no shopping center that came up because the referendum was successful.
Therefore referendums=problem solved.
With that I boldly submit my own referendum. Now, I might need some help with the legalese, and the fact that there isn’t really anything to appear, necessarily, but those things are just details:
We, the undersigned voters of Oak Ridge, pursuant to a stronger and more productive community, hereby protest the lack of assistance being made by the City of Oak Ridge in finding relocation for those whom have deemed Oak Ridge an unacceptable place to live. We request immediate grant funds be placed, preferably from the election and city rehabilitation fund, to be immediately made available to allow for these poor bastards to get the hell out of town.
Something like that. See, theres a reason I’m not in politics.
Except now apparently, Mosely’s not allowed to do it?
Weak.
So last night I couldn’t sleep. Like at all.
We went to bed, and I was somewhat sleepy, but in the same way that sometimes when you really have to go to the bathroom, but once you get in there you try and try and try but nothing ever happens…
Um, I couldn’t sleep. And actually that doesn’t have anything to do with going to the bathroom.
I digress.
So, I rolled around some, got up, got some water, got back in bed, rolled around some, kicked the dog (I’m on a silent campaign to make the doberman uncomfortable without Bell knowing about it, except now I think she knows about it), rolled around some more, flipped on the tv, and finally wandered into the den.
Where, evidently, I passed out watching something about the Big Bang Theory.
I woke up all ninja like with the dobie licking me in the face. I’m pretty sure it was all ninja, it felt very ninja, and I seem to vaguely recall jumping up and flipping out all across the room until I realized that I was not truly in mortal danger. Bell sez that I kinda flailed my arms and went “AAWAAWWAWAAWA” but I think she’s just trying to keep me from getting a big head, or maybe getting me back for kicking the dobie.
Or hell, maybe he’s getting me back for kicking him. I’m looking at him now, asleep next to me on the futon, taking up roughly 8 cubic feet of space (I think that’s 30 bushels), and, well, I *do* have a vague urge to kick him, but I’m not quite flexible enough to get my foot up there.
Ninja’s aren’t flexible either, people. C’mon.
So anyway, the whole adrenaline rush thing upon waking up had to do with
a) I was in a goofy room b) A hairy beast was putting tongue all over my face c) The TV was no longer playing geeky science crap, but instead something about how you should give people with square breasts money to show you how to exercise d) This weird ass dream I had about how those damn robots finally started killing off all of the humans, and my family and I were running through the woods trying to find the secret source of their robot power, which ended up being a pool that I had to jump into not unlike the climax of the Rocky Horror Picture Show (except that I was dressed, I think), and jumping into that thing managed to deactivate all the robots (whew). But then my brain (because evidently I needed to know) decided to swing to a prequel dream explaining how the robots came to be, and turns out that it was all started because Iron Man and a bunch of other scientist people were hanging out at The Blueberry Farm (I think the family was somewhere else, since my dream didn’t seem to link culpability to them) and somehow ended up making a robot that looked just like Ali Larder, but she was evil (and I swear I’ve never seen Battlestar Galactica, ever), and then she turns everybody else there into robots and they end up going and subjugating and exterminating the human population.
Oh, and everybody were lego people. I think thats the 7 yr old’s influence.
I don’t know where the hell the rest of it came from.
So, the moral of the story is I’m giving up sleep, because you end up having asinine dreams and waking up either with or without ninja skills.
Yep. Dragon got his ass disabled.
Why?
What’d he do?
Not quite sure. Thing is, with Facebook, much like with certain third world countries, you can wake up one morning and find yourself ‘disappeared’. Where’d you go?
Don’t ask.
So, he logged into the account, and got a big ol’ THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN DISABLED RRRRAARARARRAR message.
Then he cried, and he called me in, and I said “Damn boy, you got yourself disabled. What kind of pictures were you putting up?”
Once the picture issue was resolved (turns out he doesn’t know how to put pictures up), and we also determined that he wasn’t posing as William Shatner, or participating in hate groups, or prison riots, or third world dictatorships, we determined that we have no idea why the hell his account was disabled.
Copied this right from the internet. Kinda shocking.
Anyway, so Dragon emailed them, or more appropriately, an email from Dragon’s account was emailed to the disabled@facebook.com address, where I’m fully expecting them to send a canned response indicating that they got it (ding, already came), and then after about a week, I’d anticipate that we’ll just go ahead and make an account for Dhragon, and just pretend that its a completely different person (see the h? duh).
Yep.
Not that I have a specific beef with Facebook for this. I can full on respect a web presence that offers something for free just to arbitrarily and unexpectedly remove it, because damn, isn’t that what we all do with our children anyway?
Hey Dragon, you wanna have something to eat? TOO BAD!
(and everybody laughs)
There seems to be a leak in whatever container the bank keeps our money.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. We’ve had a summer chock-full of memory making activities and trips (and a unplanned, misquoted car repair). Unfortunately, our bank account is going to remember our summer activities long into winter. We’re lucky to have jobs right now. And I’m thankful that we have the ability to do the things we can do.
The cool part about it (if you wanna look at the bright side), is that Jacob and I are both VERY good at penny-pinching when we have to. We’ll just have to ride it out. And we can.
We have been forced to be creative with meals – using leftovers and whatever we actually DO have in the cabinets until it’s gone…and hopefully we’ll learn some new things that we can continue to do to ease up on the future grocery store bills.
This week, we’ve had:
hee!
Hope Mom doesn’t count our “reunion week meals per person $$ amount” all the way through this week, too. Hmm… that would make this turn out a bit counter-productive ; )
We are planning a trip to the grocery store this weekend. We don’t have any detergent for the dirty clothes. And I’m putting my foot down on this one.
I am NOT making my own soap. : )
boiling lye soap
Poor Bell is sick. And for her, thats saying something. She called into work this mornin for only the second time in 12 years.
Its lookin like good ol’ strep throat has her number this time, and ironically, was the reason she called in, oh, 8 years ago or so.
Sucks.
And, apparently, now that Dragon is entering mighty Canada as we speak (type) with Damama, mebbe we’re spreading our streppy goodness internationally.
Hopefully, the Netherlands won’t get it, oh, next week or so.
That’d suck.
So at some point over the weekend, while we were laying back at the dock (which I believe is a post that will be forthcoming), weirdness happened to the trusty ol’ server.
Weirdness which, while not apparent at all to the common, pedestrian viewer, or perveyor of blogs, was all to apparent to anybody who wanted to take advantage of the DYNAMIC nature of the internet.
Yep. Weird ass errors kept us from logging on.
After several hours of screwing around with stuff, I’ve managed to fix it.
Might have been the fact that I deleted a lot of crap.
Might have been the fact that friendly guy at the web host’s live chat line (named Jacob K, oddly enough) suggested I reload PHP.
Might have been the voodoo ritual.
Theres a lot of damn might have beens, but the bottom line is, its working. And I’m now dealing with the irritated ‘damn internet’ feeling.
When instead I should have the ‘woot, fixed it’ feeling.
Freakin internet.
It’s been a wild week over here. And Friday brings more fun and excitement… can’t wait to share.
But for now, you’ll have put up with some reminiscing.
I worked all weekend. Sat and Sun were crazy busy. Sunday evening we got to hang out with James for a bit…and that’s always fun.
Monday was Monday.
Tuesday, Jake had his wisdom teeth pulled. He’s a dentist’s dream, evidently…cuz he was in and out of the chair in 30 minutes. His teeth were well-behaved, I guess. Mine weren’t…so I’m still a little jealous about that. He’s having absolutely NO trouble out of the holes in his mouth. They called me back to the recovery room 30 minutes after I left him (when they were getting ready to start his IV)
He’s cute when he’s wounded. And he was stoned out of his mind. He smiled at me with a big ol’ gauze-y smile. And I kissed his head. The nurse left me with a few instructions…and we sat for 30 minutes before we headed home.
And then came the ramblings…
Something about a conversation that occurred while he was going under. (Add MAJOR slurring and drowsy eye rolling and a little hand gesturing…and you get the speed of our conversation) “And somebody said this. And somebody said that. And I needed to set them straight. And they laughed…and then I said “listen to me, g$# d#$^3^_!)… and then I was out.” “It was something about the Rolling Stones. And I don’t know if it was the doctor or the nurse, but I need to find out and set the record straight”
I pulled Jake’s phone out of my purse to send a text message to his parents to let them know all was good. Jake was intrigued by the phone and asked if he could have it. “Why? You can’t see straight…what makes you think you can text?” “Because I need to set some things straight and I need to remember” I gave him his phone.
I wasn’t going to post it. And then I was going to wait until he was feeling better…enough to see how funny it is. And now, we’ve told so many people about it… it’s being demanded. (And he told me it was ok to put up)
So – here it is (turn your volume up..it’s soft spoken):
Heh.
Wednesday, I had to “last warning” one of my managers at work. It’s never fun. Stressful. Wears me down. Then I made cupcakes and cake with the boys. Then went birthday present shopping (we are last minute around here, yes?). Then wrapped presents. Then passed out at 10.
Today was a great day. Wildcat turned 7. We woke him up singing ‘happy birthday’.
Then we opened presents. He dressed “fancy” in some of his new birthday clothes (in plaid shorts and a collared shirt that would have made any preppy, country club golf pro jealous). And he had a great day. They ate his yellow cupcakes w/sky blue frosting at school. His girlfriend(s) gave him a little stuffed teddy bear. He talked to his 3yr old cousin T on the phone tonight. (He’s so cute…he called him 3 times today and kept missing him “Happy Birfday!” He loves Wildcat so much. It’s neat.) During bedtime prayers, he said “Thanks for letting him have such a great birthday”
Tomorrow… we have IEP meeting at school. And then to Dragon’s talent show after work. He’s in a group of kids that are doing a full-on choreographed Thriller dance. There will be video…
oh, yes… there will be video.
Saturday afternoon, Jake’s gums around his remaining bottom wisdom tooth started getting swollen. Last night, he couldn’t sleep. This morning, he couldn’t bite his jaws together due to pain and inflamed gums.
And after a quick phone call to the oral surgeon’s office this morning….tomorrow, he’s having his 3 remaining wisdom teeth removed.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” I’m sorry that it’s broke, baby.
—————–
It’s been a pretty busy year for us in the medical and dental offices.
My teeth.
Jake’s infected leg.
Jake’s “elective” surgery
Jake’s teeth.
——————
Good news? I think we get to do this on our next tax return —- IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses
What Are Medical Expenses? Medical expenses are the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and the costs for treatments affecting any part or function of the body. They include the costs of equipment, supplies, and diagnostic devices needed for these purposes. They also include dental expenses….. What Expenses Can You Include This Year? You can include only the medical and dental expenses you paid this year….
What Are Medical Expenses?
Medical expenses are the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and the costs for treatments affecting any part or function of the body. They include the costs of equipment, supplies, and diagnostic devices needed for these purposes. They also include dental expenses…..
What Expenses Can You Include This Year? You can include only the medical and dental expenses you paid this year….
Only?
Heh…. I can do that. And ya know what? We actually have all the receipts.
—————
Poor guy. He needs a break.
Maybe a European vacation?
Maybe someday…. like when we sell our house.
…or something.
Jake called all of the parties involved with his surgery- to find out about, question, and then nicely mention that “maybe next time …when someone is paying out of pocket…and asks what’s involved/how much does it cost……they really shouldn’t leave out anything.”
The doc’s office manager was VERY apologetic. She thought the anesthesiologist was included in the surgery center fees.
The surgery center? Well, she was nice. But she did nicely remind Jake of the sign on the desk where he paid the surgery center fee that says ” All doctors will bill you seperately” — the problems with that?
1. THE SIGN ISNT ANYWHERE YOU CAN SEE IT UNTIL YOU PAY FOR YOUR SURGERY (for Jake, it was 30 minutes before the surgery started– and I never saw it, because they just took him back alone).
2. Well, duh. We know we have to pay our doctor. But we organized this with him. And scheduled this with him. THEY set up the appt for the anesthesiologist …they should have at least told us a ballpark amount…that was their responsibility.
Oh well.
The anesthesia group involved doesn’t really have a phone number where someone answers. We found 3 non-working numbers and one that kicks over to a voice mail. Jake left a message..on Monday. No one has called him back.
So- Jake talked to the “not so local” billing company. The lady was nice. Non-argumentative. Listened. And then explained that she CAN give us a “cash” rate for the bill. She dropped the bill by 30% – and gave us a month to pay it….vs the 10 days on the bill. She said we could write a letter to her…and she could forward it to the doc’s office and MAYBE get more dropped off (and followed that by saying it doesn’t usually work).
Sigh.
It’s not so much the getting the bill. It’s about NOT KNOWING about the bill. This was a big ticket deal.
Jake just said not to worry. He “won’t EVER get another vasectomy reversal.”
