No coffee! That's like saying you can't provide water.

Here is the crazy part- for our staff meeting the members of the staff committee take turns paying for the coffee!!! And I found out that our Christmas party is also paid for from the pocket of the staff committee.

Meanwhile, at the theatre, all the food and wine for the opening night party, at the director's house, is paid for by the department.

Mark Boreanaz?

No coffee! That's like saying you can't provide water.

Ha! We have a specific policy that we are not allowed to provide bottle water. It's supposed to be an environmental thing, but I suspect cost has something to do with it.

A case manager nurse called me from my insurance company. I guess that's inevitable, and I guess--a long time coming.

She opened with "I think you might not want to talk to me." No, I didn't, but I'm not sure what she thought her angle was. Her takeaway from the conversation was that I am currently working on my health issues, and have been for years. I have answers to all the questions she could ask, and there's a licensed professional working on or testing everything she could suggest. And they're not the first guys I started off with--I'm on my third or fourth in each category since the stupid flareup started years ago.

I didn't tell her I didn't want to talk to her. I asked her what she thought she could do for me that no one was doing now.

Nothing, she concluded.

Then, I said, I was okay. Thanks. And if this is going to happen after every hospital visit, we'll be talking a lot. Cheers.

Man, I wish I had it in me to take a walk at lunch. And by "had it in me" I suppose I mean "had a pair of large frame sunglasses so I could". Because mine are all pretty small, because I don't like things on my face. I need to work out a balance between exacerbating a headache and not exacerbating a headache, if that...that doesn't make sense.

Case managers from Anthem call about Grace all the time. I always ask them how to help me secure therapy or smooth appointments or if they will do home visits and recommend home health. They always decline and say, "Oh it sounds like you have this covered. Her asthma sounds like it's being handled."

Asthma? You mean chronic lung disease and trache-related issues? BAH.

I still have to talk to a "health coach" this week about my numbers--high triglycerides, elevated cholesterol, borderline blood sugar issues, my HUGE BMI and my ginourmous waist measurements.

"Well, I hope poor Grace gets over that cough soon."

If I thought I had a fight that insurance could vaguely help me with, but nope. I have to get bits of UCLA to listen to other bits of UCLA. I do need to schedule acupuncture appointments with the place, again UCLA, the pain place recommended, but I'm not at an escalation point yet. I finally got the prelim paperwork faxed yesterday, and they say the appointment wait is two weeks. I'm not sure if the pain guys wanted feedback from how acupuncture was going by their next appointment, but that's so incredibly not going to happen.

Also--how do normal people with normal jobs fit in acupuncture appointments? I'm assuming me working from home will make it easier, but physical therapy was always difficult enough.

Also--how do normal people with normal jobs fit in acupuncture appointments?

I scheduled mine as late in the day as possible. Not a perfect solution, but it worked.

Heck, I don't know how my dry-cleaner stays in business if they're only open 9-6 on weekdays (9-5 Saturdays). I can almost never get my clothes to them during the week, and often forget on Saturday.

I mean, seriously: if your primary market is people who work office hours, wouldn't you make more of an effort to be open during non-office hours?

I mean, seriously: if your primary market is people who work office hours, wouldn't you make more of an effort to be open during non-office hours?

I guess it's that holdover from the '50s, when housewives and housekeepers were doing those errands, but it's absurd now. Especially if you have any kind of commute.