Argh! The cutting board built into my kitchen counter is stuck closed. I use that thing all the time, it's my preferred work surface! I vaguely remember this happening years ago - all I remember about how we fixed it is that it was very difficult, both to figure out a solution and to execute it. The only thing I can think to do involves mostly dismantling the drawers on that side of the kitchen and I really don't want to do that today.

We are constantly collecting clothes for donation, mostly the kids' but it does remind me to cull my own closet as well.

Happy Birthday Suzi!

I put coffee filters in my shopping basket, but I just now realized that they didn't make it into my bag and I don't see them on my receipt.

Aw, coffee, no.

I finished another Lynda.com course. Now I'm making bread and later on there will be pizza, I think.

Happy Birthday Suzi!

I have barely left my house this weekend. And I just bailed on a Buffy viewing party. I seem to be in hibernation mode.

Now it's possible AOL did pay for her care--some companies take that risk, and just have insurance companies handle stuff but the company itself pays. But if so, that's the risk they take and probably they have reinsurance for it (see here re self insurance. One of my former companies did this, which seemed like a stupid idea to me).

Yep, my company does the "insurance company handle stuff" part (I actually negotiate the agreements with the companies). One of the reasons why companies do this is to control the insurance plan. When we sell a "fully insured" plan, the company has to take what we're offering and generally has no say in the administration or structure of the plan (aside from some standard variables). When it's "self insured", we administer whatever they want, however they want (presuming it's legal, of course). The company gets to control the benefits offered, any limits to those benefits, how the benefits are paid, how often they are paid, etc. Also, benefit plans are often controlled by a federal law called ERISA, and if the company has its own benefit plan, they can structure it so that ERISA doesn't apply and they don't have to follow those rules.

Oh, no, shrift!

Final load of laundry is in the washer, penultimate in the dryer, all prior loads have been folded and put away (or hung up, whatever).

The kitchen, however, may well defeat me. This cutting board thing is getting me down, and I have yet to get enough washing up done to make cooking easy. Blergh.

I put away my laundry! It took me twenty minutes. I feel shame that I let it sit there for two days.

I also went to home depot and bought ALL THE CABLE TIES and will have a go at organizing them now. I will still need to test and repair them later, but that job is not getting done right now. I did also buy all the stuff I needed to make the studio work, I think, except for the DI boxes I need at the music store.

So, Vortex, why would a company with roughly 5000 employees choose to self-insure? I guess it seems like a lot of risk with that number of employees.

But fascinating.

Also, on the insurance front, my union has asked for a 16% raise, along with back compensation of some sort of the furloughed days. I would rather we keep our amazing insurance (where my entire family is insured with no premiums) than get a raise. That shows you my fucked up priorities.