Yesterday

 Well, it's Thursday and I have to work today.  A full 8 hour shift.  After so many short shifts, this will almost be an endurance record for me.

Yesterday was so, so.  One thing that's nice is that I have a free Capital Blue Cross account, part of my Medicare package, that provides me with a debit card that's loaded with $200.  This is supposed to help me purchases things throughout the year.  Yesterday it paid for my omeprazole.  I figure the card should cover about 8 months worth.  That's money not coming out of my pocket.

They're working on the house next door.  Yesterday, they carried in sheets of dry wall, and ripped out the suspended ceiling.  The pile of junk in the yard has become amazingly large.  The side yard is filling up fast, too.  Everything that was in the kitchen has been dumped there.  From what I understand, they haven't even gotten to the attic yet.

Yesterday, I experienced a bit of fitness tragedy.  My treadmill.  I always start it a 3.4 mph and increase the speed and incline slowly.  Yesterday, when I pressed the start button, the speed hit 3.4 mph and continued to increase to 12 mph.  My friend Steve might run that fast, I don't.  I updated the software, and the problem continued.  The speedometer can read .5 mph, and the belt is traveling at 12 mph.  I sent Horizon tech support and email.  Not good.  There was no automatically generated response letting me know they had received my query and would be getting back to me shortly.   I will call them later this morning to see what's going on.  I have a bad feeling about this one.

What's under the hood

Many terrible things are being said about the Republican party and all of them are true.  An important one is that they never learn.  Take Nancy Mace, a Republican representative from South Carolina who made news yesterday by saying her party's not learning from past mistakes.  She was talking about their anti-abortion stance, a position which caused many, many women to vote against them during the midterms.  After talking to several media outlets about this problem, what does Nancy do?  Well, the Republican majority in the House floated 2 anti-abortion bills yesterday and reliable Nancy voted for both.  That isn't the only stupid thing Nancy has done.  Yesterday, she also floated a bill requiring Pete Buttigieg to fly commercial until the problems with the FAA computers are fixed.  You simply cannot make this shit up.

New drugs

So, yesterday was busy for me but then it was a day off work and I'm not one to slack around, though sometimes I would really love to.  First thing, at 0720 was my Ophthalmologist appointment.  The Travatan Z drops work, my eye pressure is down, now ain't that great?  Well, maybe not.  You see my insurance says they're too expensive, oh, and if you're wondering, I have Anthem Blue Cross.  They also want to know why a less expensive drop wasn't tried first, and I can understand that.  If they ask, I'll tell them why.  Originally I was going to get a different test / sample drop, however, when the assistant opened the storage drawer none were to be found.  All gone.  So instead I was given the more expensive Travatan Z.  My friend Patty, who works in insurance says this is an "old trick," running out of older, less expensive drugs in order to prescribe newer drugs which, while being more effective, are also more expensive.  How expensive are these drops?  $165 for a 2.5 ml bottle.  That's smaller than my thumb, and I have teeny, weenie hands.

Anyway, while the Ophthalmologist and the insurance company battle it out, I called the Veteran's Administration.  Veteran's Insurance.  They're a little slow sometimes, but they're the way to go if you want a new drug.  $8 a month copay, that's it.  I'm so lucky to have this 2nd option.  Most people would end up getting screwed over.