Is there a conspiracy or something?
Those of you that have known us for years, know that we use the TriCare medical insurance program, and it has its very own unique way of handling things....the military way. You know, or can imagine, I'm sure...hurry up and wait. OK, I'll admit that they do have very good doctors (in some places) and very good health care facilities (in some places), and they are VERY cheap (everywhere) in comparison to civilian treatment & program costs. Dick earned the privilege by sacrificing over 20 years of his life to get this reward, and by marrying him, I, too, am so privileged. They've done us well, as you know, and I've been able to get a lot of major ailments treated inexpensively, if not quickly. Well, when we landed here in TX, we got a primary care physician chosen as quickly as we could, so that I could resume treatment for my pain in the butt. She was able to see us so fast that we were seen before TriCare had officially recorded us as her patients!! We had a good scare when we were told that WE were going to be responsible for the payments, since TriCare didn't pre-approve our change...of course, a phone call cleared it all up & assued the doctor that they would, indeed, pay for our visits.
So, long story short, she was able to refer me out to yet another pain management facility, and here's where the wait really begins. Seems there are TWO pain managers in all of Corpus Christi that accept TriCare. TWO, for everyone in a 50 mile radius!!! Sooooo, obviously, there's a wait to see either of 'em. Plus, keep in mind that Corpus is on the mainland, and we are NOT. And the quickest way to the office was over the ferry. Even though the office was "only" 29 miles away, it was a 59 minute ride, according to Google & Streets & Trips. Wouldn't you know the max for any kind of travel reimbursement is 30 miles and 60 minutes? Enter the consipiracy theory!!
OK, so, we finally get an appointment, after waiting almost a MONTH!! And, not knowing how long we'd have to wait for the ferry (sometimes we get right on, sometimes we wait for over an hour!!), we left early in the morning, for our 10:45 appointment. And, yup, this time, the ferry was loading as we got there, but since we are so wide, and they give us 2 lanes, we would have to wait, as the ferry was almost full. Almost full, but not enough room left for us. OK, they were running 2 ferries, so we'd be first on the next one, no sweat. So, could you tell me why, please, did the first ferry leave the dock, go across the channel, unload, reload, and COME BACK, all before OUR ferry was loaded & leaving the dock???? Possibly a conspiracy??
No problem, we were still well ahead of our appointment time. Using the GPS and Streets & Trips, we managed to effectively reach Corpus, however, we never did find Broadway St, our suggested exit. We found Brownlee, and eventually, we discovered that was an efficient route to the dr's office, but, we never found Broadway St. Oh well, we got there in spite of ourselves & the construction that narrowed the 2 lane street to 3/4 of one lane. Remember, we are still driving a dually. Geez, not gonna catch a break on THIS trip!
So, we find the office, but, naturally, no room to park in front. And, of course, it's located on a one-way street, so off we go, around the block to make another pass. This time, we pull into the side parking lot and find a couple of adjacent empty spaces & we decide to take 'em. Yeah, we often take two "because they're small." Boy, were they surprised to see us! You see, my appt was for 10:45, and we were there at 9:30!!!! WAAAY too early!! What's to do in downtown Corpus that early???? Absolutely NOTHING! The neighborhood was made up of old, rundown, vacant houses, and some dirty-lookin bars & cantinas. Now, the dr's office was spiffy & newly done, and looked expensive, but it was about the only thing that was! So, we hoofed on down past a couple of humongous churches, and found the waterfront. Now, that was nice! Sand was nasty with small pieces of trash & ciggy butts, and the water was full of jellyfish, but it was clear & warm! Actually, it was HOT walking. We found & watched bunches of hermit crabs, too. Eventually, we walked back up to the dr, picking up a half-pallet along the way. (For my sewing box, silly!! We left our deck in FL, remember?)
After taking my $12 co-payment (I told you, TriCare is cheap!), we sat & waited for our turn. And waited, and waited. Eventually, they called my name & I was taken to the exam room. After a FORTY-FIVE minute wait, I couldn't stand sitting still any longer & decided to see what my options were. I opened the door, and didn't see a SOUL. I figured they'd all gone to lunch and forgot I was waiting there! So, out comes my handy dandy cell phone & I called TriCare! And that's how I found out there were TWO! TriCare told me I could see about going to the other one if I wanted, but I'd have to negotiate to recover my $12 already paid here. OK, so I called the other one (also in Corpus), and THEY tell me they'd have to see all my records before they'd even consent to see ME. UGH! It's not going my way today, fer sure. After another 15 minutes, I find someone to "go check" on the holdup, and Dick tells me that he'd spoken with a young lady in the waiting room that had waited FOUR HOURS to be seen by another dr, and that's why she'd come to this one....UGH. So, after another 10 minutes, the assistant comes in & tells me I'll be seen next, in about 10 minutes. Gee. What a relief. And, sure enough, inside of 10 minutes in walks a dr, shakes my hand, takes all my records & skims thru 'em. Asks me a couple of questions, pokes me in the butt (yep, still hurts) and decides I need another hip X-ray & an injection or two. So, basically, we are now right where we left off, two months ago. And, from there, things went downhill quickly.
We set off to find Best Buy, because my new computer is supposed to have 15 months of Trend Anti-virus installed. Said so on the spec sheet & says so on the box. Lucky for us, too, 'cuz we can no longer find the receipt. Oh, and why is it a problem?? Because I now have a pop-up from Trend that says my "TRIAL VERSION is expiring on July 7, 2009." Wow - quickest 15 months I ever saw!! So, we go to Best Buy, and stand in line some more. Oh, how I just love that store. They all stink (smell bad) and are NOISY. But, there we are, trying to get what we paid for. Remember, tho, in Beaumont, we traded out the shell, because the CD module was bad on the original one. Not sure I ever told y'all, but it was. So, we traded and put my hard drive into a new shell & off we went. Now, tho, the shell apparently doesn't match the box #, and they're telling me the NEW Studios only have a trial version, even tho we bought one that was supposed to be for 15 months. Yeah, I don't get the connection either. We paid for 15 months, the box says we should get it, the hard drive is the original one, who really gives a rat's behind what they're selling for now??? Front-counter geek confabs with back-room geek behind the wall, and they come to a conclusion.....we were supposed to "change serial number" on our software when we got the computer. Who knew. OK, so we get the instructions on how to do that, and off we go, to the Babylock dealer.
Why, you say? What's wrong with my sewing machine? Well, nothing, really, except for the auto-threader not working well. At all, actually. But that's not the biggie! My software for capturing & editing designs and transferring them to the card that is read by my sewing machine does not WORK on my new computer! My darling hubby discovered this after hours & hours spent, trying to install it!!! Enter the conspiracy theory again! According to Babylock support, my options are to load Palette 2, update it, upgrade it, load Palette 6, update it, upgrade it, then upgrade it to 8, which is supposed to run ok on Vista 64 bit. We cannot get it to load 6, much less update it. And upgrading will cost about 2-300$. Yeah, that's not quite what I wanted to hear either. Alternatively, we can spend $999 and just purchase Palette 8 brand new from the dealer. UGH, if that's not a conspiracy, I dunno what IS! BUT, the dealer thinks that, by law, Best Buy should be able to load some sort of operating system that allows 32-bit to run side-by-side with 64-bit, and that should allow me to run my current version of Palette software. Can you guess where we're headed with THAT info? Yep, right back to Best Buy. Aaaaaannnnd, of course, geeks don't have that info....THEY say, sure, you can find & load XP, but it'll take out Vista, but that's certainly my choice, and they're not gonna get involved in that. They were kind enough to review the specs of Palette and suggest that I get yet another little computer, with XP, and not much else, and just load the Palette on it. What they did NOT tell us, until we were almost ready to fork out the next $299, was that those little thingies do NOT come with a CD reader!! We already have the external floppy drive, to load Palette 2 discs, but now we'd need an external CD reader too! Another $199, if I remember my pricing correctly. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! So, here are my options: $599+ for a replacement motherboard (plus some other mandatory cost for some other mandatory hardware) OR $299+ $199 for a new little-computer OR $999 for new software OR - buy a new machine ($7-9000, yes THOUSAND) that hooks right up to my new pc OR and here's a thought - load my software on Dick's pc, and pester him everytime I want to sew something or transfer a design. So, can you guess what I opted for? Yeah, I don't think he's thrilled with it either, but, bless his heart, he's agreed to do it. And it's not like there's a person, corporation or organization I could write to & complain, even. You think Babylock or Bill Gates care that their stuff is no longer compatible? HECKNO.
I guess the irony of all this is that I used to always tell people at work, if they want to be on the cutting edge of technology, they'd better be prepared to bleed. So, now I'm the one hemorraghing. Anyone ELSE got any bright ideas?
On a brighter note, we've heard from our dear friends Janet & Dave, from Lancashire, England. They've sent some lovely pictures of their new camper, which they call a caravan, and of their travels to Wales. Very lovely scenery & cute as a button camper. We've also heard back from our Aussie friends, Ken & Wendy. They've moved on to Kansas, and Kenny is recovering nicely from his life-threatening blod clot in his leg. We were very relieved & happy to hear such good news. Also, Theresas has finally had her torn rotator cuff surgically repaired & is mending well. Now, Jack, on the other hand, is still suffering his headaches, and, like me, working to keep his doctors in the lavish lifestyle to which they've become accustomed.
I hope your weather is pleasant, or at least turns so very quickly. We've been watching the rains in the East, but we know they're sorely needed. Here, it's just plain H-O-T. I believe it's typicaly, and we did ask for warm!
Y'all take care and don't work too hard! Stay tuned for the next technology update!! haha!
So, long story short, she was able to refer me out to yet another pain management facility, and here's where the wait really begins. Seems there are TWO pain managers in all of Corpus Christi that accept TriCare. TWO, for everyone in a 50 mile radius!!! Sooooo, obviously, there's a wait to see either of 'em. Plus, keep in mind that Corpus is on the mainland, and we are NOT. And the quickest way to the office was over the ferry. Even though the office was "only" 29 miles away, it was a 59 minute ride, according to Google & Streets & Trips. Wouldn't you know the max for any kind of travel reimbursement is 30 miles and 60 minutes? Enter the consipiracy theory!!
OK, so, we finally get an appointment, after waiting almost a MONTH!! And, not knowing how long we'd have to wait for the ferry (sometimes we get right on, sometimes we wait for over an hour!!), we left early in the morning, for our 10:45 appointment. And, yup, this time, the ferry was loading as we got there, but since we are so wide, and they give us 2 lanes, we would have to wait, as the ferry was almost full. Almost full, but not enough room left for us. OK, they were running 2 ferries, so we'd be first on the next one, no sweat. So, could you tell me why, please, did the first ferry leave the dock, go across the channel, unload, reload, and COME BACK, all before OUR ferry was loaded & leaving the dock???? Possibly a conspiracy??
No problem, we were still well ahead of our appointment time. Using the GPS and Streets & Trips, we managed to effectively reach Corpus, however, we never did find Broadway St, our suggested exit. We found Brownlee, and eventually, we discovered that was an efficient route to the dr's office, but, we never found Broadway St. Oh well, we got there in spite of ourselves & the construction that narrowed the 2 lane street to 3/4 of one lane. Remember, we are still driving a dually. Geez, not gonna catch a break on THIS trip!
So, we find the office, but, naturally, no room to park in front. And, of course, it's located on a one-way street, so off we go, around the block to make another pass. This time, we pull into the side parking lot and find a couple of adjacent empty spaces & we decide to take 'em. Yeah, we often take two "because they're small." Boy, were they surprised to see us! You see, my appt was for 10:45, and we were there at 9:30!!!! WAAAY too early!! What's to do in downtown Corpus that early???? Absolutely NOTHING! The neighborhood was made up of old, rundown, vacant houses, and some dirty-lookin bars & cantinas. Now, the dr's office was spiffy & newly done, and looked expensive, but it was about the only thing that was! So, we hoofed on down past a couple of humongous churches, and found the waterfront. Now, that was nice! Sand was nasty with small pieces of trash & ciggy butts, and the water was full of jellyfish, but it was clear & warm! Actually, it was HOT walking. We found & watched bunches of hermit crabs, too. Eventually, we walked back up to the dr, picking up a half-pallet along the way. (For my sewing box, silly!! We left our deck in FL, remember?)
After taking my $12 co-payment (I told you, TriCare is cheap!), we sat & waited for our turn. And waited, and waited. Eventually, they called my name & I was taken to the exam room. After a FORTY-FIVE minute wait, I couldn't stand sitting still any longer & decided to see what my options were. I opened the door, and didn't see a SOUL. I figured they'd all gone to lunch and forgot I was waiting there! So, out comes my handy dandy cell phone & I called TriCare! And that's how I found out there were TWO! TriCare told me I could see about going to the other one if I wanted, but I'd have to negotiate to recover my $12 already paid here. OK, so I called the other one (also in Corpus), and THEY tell me they'd have to see all my records before they'd even consent to see ME. UGH! It's not going my way today, fer sure. After another 15 minutes, I find someone to "go check" on the holdup, and Dick tells me that he'd spoken with a young lady in the waiting room that had waited FOUR HOURS to be seen by another dr, and that's why she'd come to this one....UGH. So, after another 10 minutes, the assistant comes in & tells me I'll be seen next, in about 10 minutes. Gee. What a relief. And, sure enough, inside of 10 minutes in walks a dr, shakes my hand, takes all my records & skims thru 'em. Asks me a couple of questions, pokes me in the butt (yep, still hurts) and decides I need another hip X-ray & an injection or two. So, basically, we are now right where we left off, two months ago. And, from there, things went downhill quickly.
We set off to find Best Buy, because my new computer is supposed to have 15 months of Trend Anti-virus installed. Said so on the spec sheet & says so on the box. Lucky for us, too, 'cuz we can no longer find the receipt. Oh, and why is it a problem?? Because I now have a pop-up from Trend that says my "TRIAL VERSION is expiring on July 7, 2009." Wow - quickest 15 months I ever saw!! So, we go to Best Buy, and stand in line some more. Oh, how I just love that store. They all stink (smell bad) and are NOISY. But, there we are, trying to get what we paid for. Remember, tho, in Beaumont, we traded out the shell, because the CD module was bad on the original one. Not sure I ever told y'all, but it was. So, we traded and put my hard drive into a new shell & off we went. Now, tho, the shell apparently doesn't match the box #, and they're telling me the NEW Studios only have a trial version, even tho we bought one that was supposed to be for 15 months. Yeah, I don't get the connection either. We paid for 15 months, the box says we should get it, the hard drive is the original one, who really gives a rat's behind what they're selling for now??? Front-counter geek confabs with back-room geek behind the wall, and they come to a conclusion.....we were supposed to "change serial number" on our software when we got the computer. Who knew. OK, so we get the instructions on how to do that, and off we go, to the Babylock dealer.
Why, you say? What's wrong with my sewing machine? Well, nothing, really, except for the auto-threader not working well. At all, actually. But that's not the biggie! My software for capturing & editing designs and transferring them to the card that is read by my sewing machine does not WORK on my new computer! My darling hubby discovered this after hours & hours spent, trying to install it!!! Enter the conspiracy theory again! According to Babylock support, my options are to load Palette 2, update it, upgrade it, load Palette 6, update it, upgrade it, then upgrade it to 8, which is supposed to run ok on Vista 64 bit. We cannot get it to load 6, much less update it. And upgrading will cost about 2-300$. Yeah, that's not quite what I wanted to hear either. Alternatively, we can spend $999 and just purchase Palette 8 brand new from the dealer. UGH, if that's not a conspiracy, I dunno what IS! BUT, the dealer thinks that, by law, Best Buy should be able to load some sort of operating system that allows 32-bit to run side-by-side with 64-bit, and that should allow me to run my current version of Palette software. Can you guess where we're headed with THAT info? Yep, right back to Best Buy. Aaaaaannnnd, of course, geeks don't have that info....THEY say, sure, you can find & load XP, but it'll take out Vista, but that's certainly my choice, and they're not gonna get involved in that. They were kind enough to review the specs of Palette and suggest that I get yet another little computer, with XP, and not much else, and just load the Palette on it. What they did NOT tell us, until we were almost ready to fork out the next $299, was that those little thingies do NOT come with a CD reader!! We already have the external floppy drive, to load Palette 2 discs, but now we'd need an external CD reader too! Another $199, if I remember my pricing correctly. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! So, here are my options: $599+ for a replacement motherboard (plus some other mandatory cost for some other mandatory hardware) OR $299+ $199 for a new little-computer OR $999 for new software OR - buy a new machine ($7-9000, yes THOUSAND) that hooks right up to my new pc OR and here's a thought - load my software on Dick's pc, and pester him everytime I want to sew something or transfer a design. So, can you guess what I opted for? Yeah, I don't think he's thrilled with it either, but, bless his heart, he's agreed to do it. And it's not like there's a person, corporation or organization I could write to & complain, even. You think Babylock or Bill Gates care that their stuff is no longer compatible? HECKNO.
I guess the irony of all this is that I used to always tell people at work, if they want to be on the cutting edge of technology, they'd better be prepared to bleed. So, now I'm the one hemorraghing. Anyone ELSE got any bright ideas?
On a brighter note, we've heard from our dear friends Janet & Dave, from Lancashire, England. They've sent some lovely pictures of their new camper, which they call a caravan, and of their travels to Wales. Very lovely scenery & cute as a button camper. We've also heard back from our Aussie friends, Ken & Wendy. They've moved on to Kansas, and Kenny is recovering nicely from his life-threatening blod clot in his leg. We were very relieved & happy to hear such good news. Also, Theresas has finally had her torn rotator cuff surgically repaired & is mending well. Now, Jack, on the other hand, is still suffering his headaches, and, like me, working to keep his doctors in the lavish lifestyle to which they've become accustomed.
I hope your weather is pleasant, or at least turns so very quickly. We've been watching the rains in the East, but we know they're sorely needed. Here, it's just plain H-O-T. I believe it's typicaly, and we did ask for warm!
Y'all take care and don't work too hard! Stay tuned for the next technology update!! haha!
Comments