Been there, done that

 Cycling, Life, Politics, Restaurant Reviews, Vacations  1 Response »
Oct 092010
 

Well I got my dose of NE Ohio and Pittsburgh this past week, and the experience can pretty much be summed up by those 4 words.

I didn’t expect much from Newton Falls, but neither did I expect what I saw. The area is unbelievably depressed. Abandoned factories, store fronts and houses are everywhere, and what houses aren’t abandoned are unbelievably dilapidated.

It was truly depressing, to see a place I lived for 4 years, and where Edie grew up, deteriorate so much.

But I was even disappointed in Pittsburgh as well.

I had heard so much about how Pittsburgh had changed, and while there where a lot of improvements, especially in the downtown area, most of the city was either unchanged or depressed as well.

The streets are narrower than I remember, the houses smaller, the streets in worse condition than in LA, and riding a bike in this city can definitely be hazardous to your health. Plus all my favorite breakfast and deli haunts were replaced by Starbucks and Brueggers.

Even the famous Primanti Bros Restaurant that has been featured on many network TV shows was a disappointment. They say it’s been around since 1933, but I don’t remember it from my time living in Pittsburgh, and I think I know why. Anyone who thinks a sandwich topped with [tasteless] cabbage (they called it coleslaw) and [tasteless and soggy] french fries is any good, can be fooled into believing anything, and I’m not easily fooled. This place exists on the hype alone.

It was still good to get home to see what I wasn’t missing, and to get any thoughts of ever moving back out of my system.

It’s so good to be ‘home’ in Long Beach, CA, and back on the bike again. Pittsburgh doesn’t have anything on LA or Long Beach (except maybe for the Steelers, but I can still root for them from afar). I plan on being here for the duration, even if Meg Whitman gets elected governor.

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 Posted by Marc at 2:42 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Summer has finally arrived

 Edie, Health Care, My MCL, Politics  No Responses »
Sep 272010
 

When I first sat down this morning, I had every intention of writing a political rant.

I was pissed off because I believe Kaiser overcharged Edie for a prescription. I find it so amazing, that after 7+ years of dealing with the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, Kaiser still can’t get it right. [Fortunately the quality of care they provide is better than their financial and billing prowess.]

This last prescription put Edie $200.50 into the donut hole, but instead of charging her only $200.50 for the prescription, Kaiser charged her $270.50. I assumed, and later confirmed, the extra $70 was the copay for the 3 month prescription for Lyrica. So why was she charged the copay? After all, if she had been within $1 of the donut hole (instead of $721.61), they wouldn’t have charged her $995.61 (the drugs only cost $926.61) for the prescription. They would have only charged her $925.61. [At least logic tells me that would be the case.]

So why are they charging her the copay in this case?

Of course the customer service people, didn’t seem to grasp that concept, and were adamant about charging the copay.  So now I’m forced to write a letter to the Appeals Board to file a grievance. Hopefully they are a little more intelligent than the customer service representative(s).

Then I saw the following article at Marketwatch.com “Real Estate 101: How to buy property in college towns“, and wondered when did the US stop making stuff? When did investing become such a huge part of the economy to the point companies are no longer concerned with their products or employees, but only their bottom line? When did the financial industry become an industry? They don’t make anything. All they do is move money around, and then charge you for doing just that.

What ever happened to hard work as a way of making money? My father did it, and I’ve done it for the past 35 years.

But then I thought, what’s the point? Who’s going to pay attention to me anyways? There are a lot smarter, and more influential people trying to get the same point across, without much success, so what makes me think I can accomplish what they can’t?

So rather than dwell on the perverseness of the US health care system, or a national psyche that favors greed and profits over hard work, fairness and moral principles, I decided I would find something more uplifting to write about.

I decided to complain about celebrate the fact summer has finally arrived. It only took 3 months, but it may actually be here now. I know that because it’s been hotter the last two days than it has been this entire year, and today is not supposed to be any different.

These are the first days this year, I’ve been able to go without arm warmers, or a long sleeve shirt at the start of a bike ride, and sitting at the coffee shop afterwards has actually been very comfortable.

Oh, and then I just realized, yesterday marked my 8½ year anniversary of dealing with my MCL, and not needing treatment.

I guess those are two things I can celebrate.

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 Posted by Marc at 6:10 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Boy, I went and did it this time

 Cycling, Politics  2 Responses »
Aug 072010
 

Last night I discovered I pissed off a friend with one of my recent posts. I won’t mention which post, but if you frequent this blog, it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out.

Be it known, that certainly wasn’t my intention. It’s just sometimes I’m compelled to express my feelings of frustration. It’s a big reason I continue with this blog. Let’s face it, I’m a pretty liberal guy, and when confronted with something that goes against my core beliefs, I vent. I could scream and yell (which I do on occasion), but this blog seems to be a more appropriate venue to do that, not only because it’s less confrontational, but I can usually get some support from at least a few people here.

But if it’s any consolation to my friend (who incidentally I don’t hold any animosity against because he doesn’t believe how I do) this morning was not a good one.

It started off by getting up late. So I was already in a rush when I decided to grease my left bicycle pedal (that’s the one I believe is causing the clicking I’ve been experiencing as of late again), and in the process accidentally got some grease on my nice clean riding shorts. This caused an ugly, obtrusive stain, which I only discovered after spending about 5 minutes looking for the little [tiny] screw I lost, which covers the grease hole in the pedal, and to no avail I might add. So after giving up looking for the little screw, I still had to change my shorts, which put me even further behind schedule than I already was for the start of the club ride.

I did manage to catch the group, but not without some extra effort.

Then to top it off, I got dropped by group 1 in the hammer zone. Normally that wouldn’t be such a big deal, but there was only one group today, a third of which were group 2 riders. There were some mitigating factors which I could use as an excuse, but it doesn’t make the feeling any less demoralizing. I should have been able to keep up.

So is that what some might call bad karma?

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 Posted by Marc at 12:27 pm  Tagged with: ,

Just how much longer can this go on?

 Cycling, Edie, My MCL, Politics, Work  5 Responses »
Jun 122010
 

It seems the longer we go, the worse things get.

The fiasco in the gulf is just one of many example.  We’re so busy politicizing this, and trying to place blame and fault (often where it doesn’t belong), little focus is being placed on the real issue, and that is an ecological disaster that will linger on [for uncountable years], creating unimaginable consequences from which the southeastern coast of the US may never recover, and place an undue burden on the rest of the country.

Another example is the politicization of physician reimbursements for medicare patients by the Republicans. But I’m not going to get into that. It would take up way too much of my time, and result in even greater aggravation.

Then there are the customers [at work] who are becoming more stupid by the day, designing systems that are so complicated and convoluted, and change by the minute, they guarantee errors, and non compliance with requirements, forcing suppliers to change procedures that have worked for the past 30+ years [and still work for 99% of all other customers], all in the name of improving quality. But in the end all it really does is create delays in production, and increased costs, without any improvement in quality.

And on top of all this, Edie is going through 10 days of radiation (3 more to go), and my fatigue [or maybe it's just depression] seems to grow worse by the day, forcing me to face the reality, I may not be able to delay treatment much longer.

There just doesn’t seem to be any reason to get out of bed any more, except maybe for a bike ride, the only thing that seems to allow me to maintain my sanity in this insane world.

All I want to know is, when will all this insanity end?

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 Posted by Marc at 7:12 am

It’s happened again :(

 Life, Politics  No Responses »
Apr 092010
 

I know I said I was done, but I can’t help it. This morning, I received an email from someone I thought knew better. I couldn’t have been more disappointed, especially when I wasn’t feeling good to begin with.

What the email was about isn’t relevant in my opinion. Some of the facts may even have some validity [albeit exaggerated and old], but what is relevant is it seems too many Americans have become so brainwashed by special interests, they are blind to what is really occurring in this country.

The special interests in this country are so adept at diverting the discussion away from the real issues confronting this country, to areas which admittedly attract strong emotions, but have little or no relevance to the problems facing this nation, and are only meant to inflame and polarize an already divided nation.

If I can’t expect the people I consider intelligent seeing through this facade, is there really any hope left that we might emerge a stronger and more unified nation down the road.

I know I shouldn’t say this, as I fleetingly cling to a belief the vast majority of Americans aren’t that stupid, but it’s times like these I almost feel thankful my days on this planet are numbered.

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 Posted by Marc at 8:23 am

MCL Update

 My MCL, Politics  1 Response »
Feb 252010
 

You know it’s hard being upbeat all the time, especially considering the state of the economy, and the continual partisan bickering by our elected representatives, further evidenced by today’s health care summit [which I turned off after about 10 minutes], who seem to be more concerned with their own well being rather than the well being of the American public.

But that not withstanding, at least the weather has cooperated enough to allow me to get over 500 miles in [on the bike] so far this month, I didn’t get called in for jury duty this week, and my latest blood work continues to show stable disease, if not some slight improvement.

My absolute lymphocyte count still continues on its downward trend [ever so slightly], and it looks like my platelets have finally stabilized, with the latest count coming in at 181 thou/cumm. Hemoglobin has also remained stable at 11.8 g/dl. Not great, but all things considering it could be a lot worse.

So as long as I can continue to avoid the nightly news, and confrontations with ill informed individuals [at least IMO], wishing to engage in political discussion, I may yet be able to keep an upbeat attitude.

Plus a good bottle of wine never hurt either. :)

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 Posted by Marc at 7:21 pm  Tagged with: , ,
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