Bliss

I am sitting on my upper level deck....(the one you can see on the right hand side) in the sunshine, with my laptop and dogs just the way I imagined I would be when we bought this house. I couldn't be happier. I have been anxiously awaiting Spring and coming back from Florida's 80 degree temps to 20F did not help with my anxiety. Thus, although it's a bit chilly out here and I have a bunch of work I could be doing for post doc mentor or in my house I am not moving from this spot until my nieces and nephews get here and we go to the park and do kid things.. I am happy and I am going to do everything I can to remain in this state as long as I can.

I'm baaaack!

Sorta. Lots of catching up to do (still around 300 posts in my reader, I'm working on it though).

DH and I had a fantastic time! 2 days of beaches and 2 days of baseball = a great vacation.

Here's a picture to hold you over, I'll be back with more later this week.

What is it good for?

Want to know what my new phone is good for?

• Entering notes about what I KNOW I'll forget to pack such as my new phone charger and beach towels
• Entering the need to check in to my flights 24 hours in advance into the calender which nicely alarms me at the right time so I don't forget to do this.
• Reminding me to post a blog about how I leave for FL and Spring Training tomorrow. Yippee.

This is my first vacation without bringing any work in 8 years!! No work = no computer so I'll be sure to check in when I get back next Tuesday.

New Phone!

I just submitted an order to upgrade my cell phone, I loved my current one when I first got it but not I hate it. So I took advantage of an upgrade discount and got one that I will love for another year and a half (that's about my love for cell phone life span).

Here is my old one:
I loved it because it was small and had a screen on the front that let me see who was calling before I flipped it open. But it drives me crazy now because I lost the cover for the charger so there is a hole in the bottom, and because the buttons are so small I always hit the wrong key


Here is my new one:



I love it because it's still pretty small, and it has a full key board ( I didn't really text when I bought the other one but now i do a lot more often and this will help).

I should get it on Friday! Yay, can't wait to play with my new toy.

P.S. I have no idea why some of this text is underlined and I'm too tired to figure it out.

Why do I bother?

On Sat I received a bill from the lab that did my blood test ordered by my doctor as follow-up to my physical. The bottom of the bill said they had tried to bill my insurance company but insurance company had denied the claim.

I check my benefits statement (relatively new insurance from ANJ), and it clearly states they cover blood work diagnostics 100% as long as they're ordered by my doctor.

I call insurance company... nobody there until Monday.

Forgot to call yesterday. Call this morning.

Call goes right through to Bubbly Brianna (BB) at member services:

Me: "I got a bill from the lab that did blood work ordered by my doctor that you guys denied"
BB: "Please give me a list of all your personal information so I can find you in my computer and confirm that you are indeed who you say you are"... "oh and give me the date of service".
Me: "rattle off list of personal information to prove that I am me" and "oh 2/13/09 is date of service"
BB: "We don't have any claims submitted for you after January"
Me: "um.. would you if you denied the claim"
BB: "Yes, and we'd have a claim rejection code that would tell me why we denied it, so call the lab and tell them to send it to the right insurance company."

Call Lab Bill Services

Wait on hold for 20 minutes (yeah, really happy about this)
Finally reach Smoking all my life Sue (SamlS)

Me: "I received a bill from you that said that my insurance company denied the claim, I called the insurance company as instructed on the bill and they have no record of the claim"
SamlS: "what's the claim #"
Me: "claim #"
SamlS: "you have Big Insurance Company plan right?"
Me: "yes"
Samls: "oh yes, we submitted that claim to them today for $29 less than the bill I received"
Me: "That's weird because the bill I received says you sumitted the claim a few weeks ago and it was denied oh and that it's $29 more than the quoted amount "
SamlS: " Oh yeah, I see that we did send it a few weeks ago and they paid $29, so we submitted it again today, so don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll pay the rest"
Me: "um.. you're sure? Shouldn't you check to see you have the right member # or spelled my name correctly"
SamlS:" I guess, go ahead and tell me"
Me: carefully read off "member #" and spell "my name"
SamlS: "yeap we have it, don't worry about it, they'll pay the rest"

So.... how many of you think I'll be making at least two more phone calls in about 2 weeks when my insurance maybe makes another $29 payment (less than 1/4 of the bill!)??

Progress and Productivity Week 10

1. Work- Had a long working lunch meeting with my boss last Thursday, it was positive however I suspected I had just heard a bunch of lip service as there weren't any concrete plans for change that came out of the meeting. Then first thing on Friday those suspicions received some strong support. Today, more of the same. Ugh!

2. Research-Still coding data for my Post Doc Mentor, I'm guessing I can probably get it done by the end of this week. Yippee.

3. Health- Went dancing on Saturday which was good but the pain I was in on Sunday was yet more evidence that I really need to get some regular exercise.

4. Home- No home organizing this week.

5. Finances- Got my reimbursement $$. Still need to really look at my budget to start meeting my financial goals.

It did not last...

Remember here on Sat when I said I hoped all the snow would be gone and we'd be able to see the dirt and grass?? Well, it was! My husband and I both remarked how nice it was to be able to see the back yard.

Well... this is my backyard now, when I woke up this morning.

RBOC: Finally a Nice Weekend Edition.

• We have the windows open and the heat off, it is going to be in the 60's today!
• DH and I have a birthday party this AM/early PM, a dinner and dancing date tonight, and another birthday party tomorrow.
• The dogs are at doggie day camp today. We're test driving this place for when we're in FL for spring training.
• We leave for our spring training trip in 11 days!!
  
• I need to shower and get presents wrapped before DH gets back from having his hair cut.
  
• Here is to hoping that all this snow is gone by the end of tomorrow and we can see dirt/grass once again.
  

A Letter

Dear City that I drive through every morning to get to and from work,

Thank you for filling in the post holes uncovered by this last major snow storm. I (and my low profile tires that are so screwed up that I'm contemplating buying a new car in order to stop paying for new tires) thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Just one teeny, tiny suggestion though... perhaps (just maybe) you shouldn't plan to do this during morning RUSH HOUR. Because

1. The poor public works guy has to run out the middle of the street with a shovel full of hot asphalt and almost get hit by oncoming traffic and
2. Cars drive over the asphalt that hasn't been pushed down and knock it right out of the pothole, which means we're back to #1 again in a week or two.

Thanks again.

PPD, her car, and the car's tires.

Progress and Productivity Week 9

1. Work- I don't even know why I put this on the list since everything is unbloggable. I'm back to feeling frustrated and wondering how long I can last here. Every time I think I'm making progress, I realize I'm nowhere near where I thought I was. And it is insanely frustrating.

2. Research-Still coding data for my Post Doc Mentor, I'm about 60-70% done.

3. Health- Not a great week last week. I did go for my monthly massage though. That was great. I ate out a lot and didn't get any real exercise.

4. Home- No home organizing this week.

5. Finances- Turned in my reimbursements forms at work so those checks should be coming any day now. Need to examine my budget closely so I can figure out a way to contribute more to my retirement fund and I'm waiting for DH to turn in our taxes so I can use that cash to pay off a credit card.

Over a foot of snow today!!

I am NOT happy about this.

I just keep telling myself... "only 16 more days until Florida". I'm not sure I can make it with 16 more days of this.