The Decemberists were losers- mini rants.

[Waxwinged]

Just a teensy-little pregnancy rant.

It pisses me off to no end that medical providers have exactly 0 idea as to how much all the lab work that they request costs. “Oh, it’s probably covered by your insurance.” No, Miss Barely-Out-Of-Midwife-School-Or-Whatever-It-Is-You-Went-To, our insurance covers jack-shit until we hit that ridiculously high deductible. Oh, and the deductible doesn’t roll over from year to year. Yeah, that’s why I want to put off starting on a lot of the labs until after New Year. Because our savings account ISN’T BLOODY BOTTOMLESS.

And while I’m at it, don’t you DARE make disapproving faces when I say I want an epidural, and not the fashionable, hipster-esque “natural birth”. There’s 0 evidence that agonizing pain during labor builds the fucking character of either myself or the kid.

And speaking of- Kid? I like you already. I really do. You look as cute as an alien on the ultrasound, minus all the teeth. I’m sure you will do your utmost to continue the Waxwinged legacy and try to take over the world at an early age. Or, at least, write a novel or something. That said, I did not appreciate being unable to eat eggs and mushrooms for the first trimester. Or the fact that I’m still finding ice cream unpalatable. Or the thing about pulling shoulder and neck muscles at a rate of 1 a day in the recent few weeks, while I had to lug set-up to and from craft shows. I’m going to assume that you’re orchestrating all of this because you have the husband’s sense of humor, and not because you’re a little insufferable jerk.

[Lumpy]

@Waxwinged

because you have the husband’s sense of humor, and not because you’re a little insufferable jerk.

Are those mutually exclusive?

[Waxwinged]

@Lumpy

Are those mutually exclusive?

… Now that you mention it…

[Nava]

@Kelevra

We never decorate the exterior of our house, so they also brought us one of those laser light emitters that puts red and green dots all over your house.
I read the warnings. Yes it’s actually two lasers. No, you shouldn’t look at the emitter. Yes you aim it at your house.
You know, the house that has a lot of windows. The house that has a curious 3 year old boy.
Again, my wife asked me to put up with it for 36 hours.
So I spent the last 2 evenings shielding my eyes every time I walked past a window and keeping my boy away from the front of the house.

Now they’re gone and this shit is going in the trash.

I’ve taken advantage of the dates to put up my Swedish Christmas Lights and to bring my other Christmas Stuff to where I can see it, but that gadget would have teleported to the trash.

[MickNickMaggies]

@Waxwinged

Just a teensy-little pregnancy rant.

It pisses me off to no end that medical providers have exactly 0 idea as to how much all the lab work that they request costs. “Oh, it’s probably covered by your insurance.” No, Miss Barely-Out-Of-Midwife-School-Or-Whatever-It-Is-You-Went-To, our insurance covers jack-shit until we hit that ridiculously high deductible. Oh, and the deductible doesn’t roll over from year to year. Yeah, that’s why I want to put off starting on a lot of the labs until after New Year. Because our savings account ISN’T BLOODY BOTTOMLESS.

And while I’m at it, don’t you DARE make disapproving faces when I say I want an epidural, and not the fashionable, hipster-esque “natural birth”. There’s 0 evidence that agonizing pain during labor builds the fucking character of either myself or the kid.

And speaking of- Kid? I like you already. I really do. You look as cute as an alien on the ultrasound, minus all the teeth. I’m sure you will do your utmost to continue the Waxwinged legacy and try to take over the world at an early age. Or, at least, write a novel or something. That said, I did not appreciate being unable to eat eggs and mushrooms for the first trimester. Or the fact that I’m still finding ice cream unpalatable. Or the thing about pulling shoulder and neck muscles at a rate of 1 a day in the recent few weeks, while I had to lug set-up to and from craft shows. I’m going to assume that you’re orchestrating all of this because you have the husband’s sense of humor, and not because you’re a little insufferable jerk.

I’m going to laugh a little at the first because I’m in Eeeeeeuuuurooooope (for now, sigh). We pay a lot of tax, sure. But that tax helps pay for everything else. No way we could afford Bean 1.0 in the US, let alone Bean 2.0.

Point the second: your midwife is a jerk. First time around, I said I didn’t want an epidural when they showed me the device. She laughed, said ‘OK’ and told me they’d ask me again when I was in labour.

I had the epidural.

Point the third: I had my 3 hour GTT today and may not get any more ice cream, either.

[Lightray]

@Kelevra

…My wife takes me aside and asks me to put up with it for the 36 hours they’re in town.
…Again, my wife asked me to put up with it for 36 hours.

Well, at least you’ve seen your future.

[Chimera]

@Lightray

Well, at least you’ve seen your future.

Shorter and shorter visits with her parents?

[Kelevra]

I just came this close to falling victim to an email scam.

I tried to buy a piece of equipment for work but the company credit card was declined (due to an unrelated issue). In the midst of trying to figure out the problem I got an email asking to confirm an order. Almost clicked the link when I realized it was not the company I ordered from.

Just the timing that got me to let my guard down.

And also, fuck these criminals! I hope they all get their testicles stepped on!
(even the women…)

^^^
What he said!

[Waxwinged]

@MickNickMaggies

I’m going to laugh a little at the first because I’m in Eeeeeeuuuurooooope (for now, sigh). We pay a lot of tax, sure. But that tax helps pay for everything else. No way we could afford Bean 1.0 in the US, let alone Bean 2.0.

Point the second: your midwife is a jerk. First time around, I said I didn’t want an epidural when they showed me the device. She laughed, said ‘OK’ and told me they’d ask me again when I was in labour.

I had the epidural.

Point the third: I had my 3 hour GTT today and may not get any more ice cream, either.

Blah. Smug Euros. Shakes fist at.

Eh, on the bright side- it’s a very sizeable teaching hospital, and I’ve seen different people for the monthly checkups thus far. So it’s very unlikely that I’ll actually have to deal with that particular jerky midwife during labor.

[MickNickMaggies]

Okay, going to add that I hate medical tests where they say ‘we’ll call you tomorrow if it’s positive’.

For the love of god, call me either way so I don’t obsess about having missed the call.

[SeaDragonTattoo]

Facebook friend just posted a mini rant about snitching. Pretty sure it has to do with her calling in sick on a crazy busy shift, one she short staffed us on for 12 hours. She might not have posted on Facebook that day, but one of the people she was with tagged her. At a sauna and hot tub party. No one snitched on you, girl, you managed it all by yourself, all your managers are Facebook friends with you and see your tags.

[Catamount]

I’ve been on the verge of a panicky breakdown at the looming prospect of Holiday Obligations for the last week. The College Foundation of North Carolina must have found out because they’ve decided to add to it. My income-based repayment plan recertification paperwork came in today, December 20–it’s dated** December 13**–and it’s due on January 7 or my payments go up to damn near $1K a month.

Really CFNC? Can you work on your timing a bit? Could this not wait two more weeks? Can a sister at least get a chance to get her W2 before you start sending the dunning notices? Didn’t y’all used to send these out in February after a sister got her W2 and had a chance to file her taxes for the year?

This used to be the reasonable Carolina. I miss those days.

They do accept last year’s taxes, but I really did not need any more fucking pressure on me right now.

[russian_heel]

So I paid for my mothers burial with a credit card. The saleslady at the funeral home leaves the room like a plant is growing out of my forehead, then finally comes back with one of those old-timey manual carbon copy credit card machines.

Last week I was told I needed to put a down payment by Friday to get 20% off the marker and she asks if I can drop off a check. No, I live an hour away how about if I give you a credit card over the phone?

She emails back that will be OK and to call her Monday. I give her the credit card number over the phone. OK thank you she says. Don’t you need the expiration date? I ask. “Oh yes, ha ha yes I’ll take the expiration date, ha ha.”

On top of this, on Monday she tells me she needs me to sign the contract. I left her three voicemails saying I don’t have a copy of the contract. Finally, she calls and says she will mail it, just send an email okaying the credit card. I do that,

THEN, at 8pm I get en email from her with scanned copies of the contract, and she needs the signature right away. So I print the fucking documents, sign them, scan them and email them back.

The next day, wouldn’t you know it? She needs the security number. Now its TUESDAY. I was told we needed all this stuff by Friday to get the 20% off. It better go through. Its been TWELVE phone calls to get this done. WHEN WILL IT END??? HOW MANY MORE FUCKING PHONE CALLS???

Look, I know its a funeral home. But, its also almost 2017. GET A CREDIT CARD SYSTEM TOGETHER. We also have something called EMAIL. So, congratulations on learning how to scan documents (hell, you can just snap them with your phone—oh that’s right, she probably still has a Jitterbug) and send them. Its technology that has only been around for, I don’t know, 20 years?
**
GET WITH THE TIMES OR GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS.**

[Nava]

@MickNickMaggies

Okay, going to add that I hate medical tests where they say ‘we’ll call you tomorrow if it’s positive’.

For the love of god, call me either way so I don’t obsess about having missed the call.

I love that the last few times I’ve donated blood they’ve sent me “your lab tests are ok” via SMS; I got them by letter a few days later. If they had found anything funny they would have sent “your lab tests had some off-spec values, your doctor has them” instead. And the last time I had a checkup from the worker’s health system, I got a SMS with a password to log into a webpage and see the results. I can miss calls and emails may walk themselves to the trash, but SMSs arrive just fine.

russian heel, remember that killing her is still illegal. Even if she deserves it. And sorry for your loss.

[MickNickMaggies]

@Nava

I love that the last few times I’ve donated blood they’ve sent me “your lab tests are ok” via SMS; I got them by letter a few days later. If they had found anything funny they would have sent “your lab tests had some off-spec values, your doctor has them” instead. And the last time I had a checkup from the worker’s health system, I got a SMS with a password to log into a webpage and see the results. I can miss calls and emails may walk themselves to the trash, but SMSs arrive just fine.

Oh, see, there is a web portal where I could check this stuff. If the hospital that did all these tests could access it. But they can’t. Only the midwife at the GP and I can access it.

And the only things she can update are my weight and the test results that she calls to get. I won’t see her again until March. She’s asked me to email her any results I get in the meantime. Because their records systems can’t speak to each other.

[Yllaria]

This is extremely minor. I occasionally log into the Pitch Drop Experiment, even though it’s a decade away from the next drop falling. And every time I log in, it says I’m one of seventeen visitors. EVERY TIME. I think their counter is stuck.

It’s very mildly annoying.

If I knew eighteen people that I could get to log for the same five minutes, I’d be able to test it. I’ve considered trying to set up something here at the Dope, but I’m not going to be organized enough to try that until a few weeks after the new year.

Darn.

[Lumpy]

@Yllaria

This is extremely minor. I occasionally log into the Pitch Drop Experiment, even though it’s a decade away from the next drop falling. And every time I log in, it says I’m one of seventeen visitors. EVERY TIME. I think their counter is stuck.

It’s very mildly annoying.

If I knew eighteen people that I could get to log for the same five minutes, I’d be able to test it. I’ve considered trying to set up something here at the Dope, but I’m not going to be organized enough to try that until a few weeks after the new year.

Darn.

I’m in, just message me when you’re ready.

[MissTake]

@Lumpy

I’m in, just message me when you’re ready.

Ditto. I just looked - One of seventeen viewers. That is weird.

[kayaker]

@MissTa ke

Ditto. I just looked - One of seventeen viewers. That is weird.

Might there be 16 permanent/continuous viewers (say, as part of a display at a science center) such that you are always a single viewer at some random time?

[WolfpackJeep]

Next to the red “LIVE” tag at the upper left corner, there’s a little silhouette with “37” next to it. (It just changed to “31”.) That’s probably the actual viewer count.

No idea about the “1 out of 17” thing though.