Oh, sj, I'm sorry. Hope it clears up fast. I am no less attractive than I was last week, just because people want to sell cards.(I was feeling pretty cute last week actually. This week I need a haircut, but otherwise, same basic assets..."package" seemed less than right for Bitches, you know.) Hec, Veronica Hamel should also be persuaded toward a cut. She has the same hair and we thought it was kind of Morticia...

Ok, I just came from a website [link] that says the US Congress is trying to make it even easier for health insurance plans (or things masquerading as such) to screw us out of basic and reasonable care, and wants to send this message to Reps and Senators:

Congress is currently considering legislation - the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005, S. 406/H.R. 525 - that would exempt Association Health Plans (AHPs) from the consumer protections my family enjoys under our state laws. By having this special exemption, AHPs could undermine the goal of promoting greater healthcare access and affordability for all Americans.

Supporters argue that AHPs would lower the cost of health insurance. But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that premiums would increase for 80 percent of beneficiaries, and as many as 100,000 of the sickest plan members would lose coverage altogether.

Furthermore, this legislation would allow AHPs to operate without being required to comply with the valuable healthcare safeguards our state has enacted. Your constituents could be denied access to care, refused important healthcare services like mammography screening, subjected to premium increases without limit, and left with unpaid medical bills.

Congress already tried this once. Why would we want to revive an idea that left over 400,000 consumers with $123 million in unpaid claims?

ETA: formatting and website

Alpha-bits. Feel better, vw and sj! Hope the catching up on classwork isn't too hideous.

Happy V-day, y'all.

Much health~ma to sj, vw, and Teppy's dad.

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all! I have Mashall's Fudge and a ton of fic waiting for me at home. So while I'm continuing my Incredible NGA Streak on this day of happy coupledom, I'm not feeling too bad about it.

Daisy - Any chance you could email me the whole recipe for that pie to my profile addy? It sounds amazing and I *love* cherries.

It's odd but I only dislike Valentine's Day when I'm "with" someone. When I'm totally single, however, I'm a Valentine's Day loving freak. (It's okay if that doesn't make any sense since I don't understand it either.)

vw, take it easy if you can. And sj, I hope you start feeling better soon, too. It doesn't look like you'll be painting the town red tonight so just concentrate on getting well. You and Dave can decide that Saturday is Valentine's Day and celebrate then. Seriously.

I stopped being a fan of Valentine's Day after a conversation with college roommate and a mutual friend. Mutual friend mentioned that he was going on a date for Valentine's Day. Roommate grumbled very loudly because his fiancee was 1000 miles away. My completely unattached state -- well, I kept my mouth shut about that.

wrod. Second that emotion. Because sometimes the greatest love of all...is really nsm.

Daisy - Any chance you could email me the whole recipe for that pie to my profile addy? It sounds amazing and I *love* cherries.

I can. I'll have to do it tomorrow since I don't have it on me. Coworkers were disappointed when they found out it wasn't for them.

Thank you, Daisy Jane!

Just spoke with the guy that's going to be installing my new dryer (my 3rd brand new dryer in less than a month- for those keeping track at home) and he thinks he'll be able to get me hooked up today. Woo hoo!

I'm so excited that I might cancel plans tonight in order to do a bunch of laundry.

OK, well, in lieu of Valentine's Day, happy Iranian National Day! Although I think it was the 13th.

I so don't fit in here, I don't even know. Women's curling was on TV in the lunchroom, and DH and I are all "W00t!" Everyone else who came in either had no clue what it was or dissed it "Oh, what's next, Olympic shuffleboard?!"

I did note that the two guys who knew the rules and didn't dismiss it out of hand were the two smart guys, who also happen to be the ones in good shape. The others, well, I think they were just upset realizing that a 30ish Canadian woman could beat them like a rented mule.