Try your Congressman/woman.
There are days when I’d really like to have Like button, because this is awesome.
Something (likely fungal) is going wrong with the toenail on my left big toe, and it’s starting to curl into a narrow shape, digging in on both sides.
So far, it only hurts when there’s direct pressure, so if I sleep on my tummy I have to let that foot hang off the edge a bit. Tight socks hurt.
But it’s summer and I’m wearing sandals and flip flops, so I can go days on end without even noticing it.
But winter is coming and eventually, imma hafta see some kind of medical somebody about this. Don’t have medical insurance. Doubt my liver can tolerate internal antifungal meds, and topical stuff doesn’t really work. Not to mention, the fucking thing is slowly carving into my flesh, which seems … problematic.
Maybe it’ll just fall off.
Woke up this morning and the sky was kind of orange-ish. Turns out we have fires on three or four sides of us. Most of them are about 50 miles away, but the wind is coming from the west and bringing smoke from the Vacaville fires.
When I went to work, there was a sprinkling of ash on the car. Some of the bits were long and thin and made me think of conifer needles. They were probably too short to actually be needle ash.
So we’ve got smoke and ash to go with the 106F heat today. Although it’s currently only 88F. Just slightly infernal.
My 91 year old mother was admitted into the hospital last night. They are running tests. And due to the coronavirus, I can’t visit her.
Update: Called the stimulus info number again today, and was told that if I’m getting the “unable to determine the status of your payment” message then there’s no way that anyone at the IRS can find out what the problem is, or when I’m likely to get my payment. Also, despite what I was told last month, it could be several more months before my payment is sent out, and this could be either a check sent to the address on my tax return or direct deposit to where my pension is sent. So apparently there’s no point in making future calls to the stimulus payment (no)help number.
Jeebus. That sucks.
How does a federal govt. lose track of its own retired employee that thoroughly?
You may be at the “call the CongressCritter” stage of escalation, I’m sorry to say. Tell 'em you’re one of their own e.g. a federal employee. That should add a bit of grease to the stickiness.
that was us last week… although i think our fires still going …but it did rain here for about a half hour and cooled things off for a bit
I think I’m going to try this. When I was working for Social Security we would occasionally get priority requests from Congresscritters to take action on someone’s case ASAP. If I’m remembering correctly in addition to these cases being put on top of our work list, a manager had to be kept updated on our progress and sometimes had to send a notice to the office if there was going to be any sort of processing delay.
Well, that was a pain, but the cord has been cut and that is $50 less I have to send to Comcast, or whatever they are calling themselves this month.
I was supposed to see my GP in April, but canceled due to Covid fears. The last six weeks or so we’ve gotten calls from their office at least once a week ‘reminding’ me I need to call and reschedule.
I’ve been letting the calls go to the answer machine and ignoring them. Nothing against my doctor, it’s just I feel perfectly fine, so why would I want to go to a place mainly full of people who DON’T feel fine? When it’s likely at least some of them have Covid…
But I’ve finally admitted Covid is not going away in any reasonably close time, and I do have various chronic conditions that have to be monitored, so I gave in and called to set up the appointment.
The EARLIEST they could offer me was the end of FEBRUARY.
Seriously, guys? My delayed annual physical is soooo important you call me about it at least a dozen times, and yet so unimportant it can wait for another SIX MONTHS?
Not that I mind the reprieve.
I rarely have issues with government, but on two occasions in my life I’ve had issues with government bureaucracies, once with the Ontario provincial government, once with the federal government. On both occasions I went to the office of the appropriate parliamentary representative, and on both occasions the problem was dealt with very rapidly and effectively. It seems that a note on the letterhead of a Member of Parliament puts the fear of God into civil servants.
I sent emails to both of my state Senators and to my Representative. One of my Senators requested me, in addition to my email, to fax or mail a signed release form authorizing them to access my records. Now let’s see what happens.
At least you got a real response from one of them. I’ve emailed both my Senators and my Representative, twice, about the Post Office debacle and gotten nothing but automated responses.
Meantime, they’re still taking sorting machines apart.
My gf diagnosed me with PLMD. She thought I knew, but I didn’t, that I periodically rhythmically move my legs while I’m asleep. She googled “moving legs while asleep” and I suspect I owe her a copay.
Periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) is repetitive cramping or jerking of the legs during sleep. It is the only movement disorder that occurs only during sleep, and it is sometimes called periodic leg (or limb) movements during sleep.
I interviewed for a new job at a large company that would have been really interesting, if not for all the travel it entailed. They turned me down. Rejection sucks, even when I wasn’t sure I would take it. Maybe that’s why they said no.
You’ve got the Jimmy Legs!
Heh, no. RSL (restless leg syndrome) is more commonly seen in people with PLMD (periodic limb movement disorder) than in the general population, but in my case I have PLMD but no RLS. My movement is rhythmic and periodic. My leg moves for ten seconds, then there’s a twenty-thirty second pause, then it happens again. Rinse/Repeat.
I can’t believe my gf knew I did this but never mentioned it, so I had no idea. I actually had her lay down and show me what I did. It’s creepy/weird.
Ok. This drives me nuts. Hope this ranty thread is the right place to unburden myself.
I’m spending more time visiting with people on the phone these days. I’m actually not socializing with anyone in person at all. When you’re visiting with someone in person or eating a meal together or just hanging out, you can have periods of silence. One or both of you stare off into space for a few (or more) seconds, or you take a sip of beverage, or pet the dog, or look out the window, and it’s not the end of the conversation. Sooner or later-- usually sooner-- one of you picks up with another thought/topic and the visit continues.
But on the phone, a few seconds of silence feels like “dead air” on the radio. And often, the person I’m talking to takes that as a signal that the conversation is over and quickly wraps up, when I’m not through, but I just don’t have the next topic right on the tip of my tongue.
I have two people in mind who do this and it makes me nuts. With one of them, I feel like I have to have a list of topics before we get on the phone so I can quickly move to the next one before she cuts me off with, “Well, I’d better let you go…” It’s almost like they feel they’re bothering me. That the phone call is an intrusion, and they have to conclude the call quickly and efficiently so I can get back to whatever important thing I was doing. These days, nothing could be further from the truth.
There is the possibility that the call is in fact an intrusion into THEIR world and made only out of obligation, and they want to quickly get back to whatever important thing they were doing now that they’ve ticked the box “call ThelmaLou today,” but I don’t dare let myself go there as I’m already feeling quite isolated and cut off from the world…
That’s what my family does wrong. Not all of us, but some of us will meander through phone calls with significant pauses that start back up with, “I guess I don’t have much to say” - “Yeah, things haven’t been exciting around here either.” And then after speculating about whether we ought to wrap up, we mention something that we probably should be doing and oh, me too, I haven’t done that in months, I’m so behind. And then someone else in the family called recently and said that they never do that any more and the conversation goes on for another half hour. Some of us, and we know who we are, can put the phone down and then notice that it’s been two hours since the call started.
I tend to put off making those calls, which I shouldn’t do.