It's Happening Again

It's happening again, faithful readers -- for the past three weeks, during the work day mornings, I've been waking up at 6:34.  I thought it was bizarre when this happened before; now, I'm kinda freaked out a bit over it.  It's odd that it's just been Monday through Friday - not on the weekends.  There's no logical explanation for it, either - Mom doesn't set her alarm, so it's not like I hear her alarm clock going off.  And she gets up at usually 6:00 to do her daily Bible reading before me and Dad get up, so it' not like she's roaming around the house making loud noise at 6:34 every morning and the noise wakes me up.  There's honestly no explanation for this.  If any of you, my faithful readers, can explain why you think this is happening, I'd love to hear from you. 

Baby It's Cold Outside

We've had some very bizarre weather here in the Ohio Valley this week.  We went from a high of 72 degrees two days ago to a high of 34 degrees today.  When I left for work this morning, it was a frigid 27 degrees.  As I suspected, the down coats and stocking cap were out in full force this morning, as they should have been.  It's just difficult to comprehend that we live in an area where two days ago we were wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts outside, and today we had on sweatshirts under our heavy coats.  It's just weird.

My family and I have always followed the weather and the forecasts closely - partly because we've always had a garden, and we needed to plan for planting and harvesting accordingly; but mainly because we like to know what it's going to do outside.  We need to know what type of jacket/coat to wear for the day. I'm the first to admit that we three have too many coats.  We've got rain coats for dress-up, for everyday, and for bigtime heavy rains.  We've got lightweight jackets, we've got heavy coats with Thinsulate that keep us warm in sub-zero temperatures, and we've got many other coats in between. We're truly blessed when it comes to coats.  Yet somehow, when we go shopping, we're drawn to the coat section of the store like moths to a flame.  We can't resist looking at the new coats, and trying them on.  Mom and Dad are stronger than me - when they buy a new coat, they will take another one out of the closet that they don't wear and give it to the DAV.  Not me.  I save them all, thinking they might come back in style some day.  We've each got our favorite coats:  Mom's favorite is affectionately called "Old Blue" - it's a blue down-filled coat that she got for Christmas last year; Dad's favorite is a camouflage, and my current favorite is a Tennessee Titans Starter jacket.  I love it.  It's probably one of my favorite eBay purchases. 

I'm picky about my coats, though.  I've already decided that when I go to the VFW tonight, I'm parking close to the door and leaving my coat in the car.  There's no way I'm taking my coat inside and have it wreak of smoke for weeks.  I'll take my chances and run from the car to the building in just my shirt sleeves to protect my coat. So much for the big smoking ban.

Top Ten Weather Terms Used By The Weatherrazzi During Last Night's Storms

1.  Tornadic
2.  Rotation/Rotating
3.  Seek shelter immediately
4.  Straight line winds
5.  Severe/Severity
6.  Bow echo
7.  Storm cell
8.  Dopplar radar
9.  Super cellular storm
10. Energetic jet stream

Wipe Me

It's been a rough day.  On top of preparing for the upcoming Storm of the Century that is supposed to hit within the hour, I had a very interesting morning.  I was still reeling from last night's dealing with Medicare's website, plus was mentally preparing for a wild day at work with the upcoming Storm of the Century (which, incidentally, is supposed to hit within the hour.)  It was pouring and messy this morning, and my blue jeans were soaked almost to my knees after just walking out to get the newspaper.  I was cruising along down Cane Run Road, about 5 minutes from work, when something very bizarre and unexplainable happened: my passenger side windshield wiper broke off.  No, it wasn't just the blade; it was the entire wiper arm.  For once, I had a slight bit of good luck - it was the passenger side wiper and not the driver's, so I could still see fine as I made my way to work.  And thank goodness it broke off when the wiper was on the down position.  It didn't scratch my windshield nor the hood of the car; it just broke off and laid in the little gully between the bottom of the windshield and the hood of the car.  I felt like hitting my head against the steering wheel.  All I could see were $$$$.

I got to work, and tried not to think about it until lunchtime.  The entire company was abuzz over first, the new smoking ban that went into effect today in Louisville, and second, over the pending storm.  At lunch I drove across the street to trusty  Senn's Body Shop, and had them check it out.  I was expecting to have to fork over a few C-notes for this one, but I almost fell down in a heap when they told me $89 for parts and labor.  I told them while they were ordering that part, to go ahead and order me a new air deflector (the old one has been cracked since I got the car).  Once again, I almost fell down when they said that would be $11.  I thought for sure they left off a digit or two.  My spirits lifted and I went back to work a happy woman.  That is, until all of the reports started coming in about the pending storm.  I'll deal with rain and wind later; for now, I'm getting off with the cheapest repair so far on the BMW.  It was a good day after all.

We Survived

If I had a webcam on my computer right now, focussed on me as I'm typing this, I'm sure viewers would think they've stumbled on a scene from "The Exorcist", with Linda Blair's head spinning around.  I've just spent an hour and a half at the Medicare website, trying to decipher their new Medicare prescription drug plan information for Mom and Dad.  I probably could stop right here and you, my faithful readers, would give me all the sympathy you could muster.

I've been my typical self; procrastinating and putting off the inevitable - actually taking the time to go online to the Medicare site and see what the actual deal is with the new prescription plans.  I already sent off for a booklet from Medicare.  When I hear the word "booklet" I think 5 or 6 pages.  Au contraire.  When dealing with the government, a booklet means 50 or 60 pages.  When we got the book, we were scared to death because it was so big.  But (taking a deep breath) believe it or not, the booklet is actually very helpful.  Not as helpful as the site, but still helpful for those that don't want to venture online.  It's set up by state, and it basically lists all of the plans, the amount of the deductible if they have one, how much the monthly premium is and how much you'd approximately pay per prescription.  The website is much better - you can enter in the exact prescriptions a person has, and the pharmacy you'd like to use, and it will bring up the plans available in your state, with the exact dollar amounts you'll pay for the montly premium and the prescriptions. I have to say I was pretty impressed.  Frustrated and wanting to scream, but impressed.

The first frustration came when the site was busy and took forever for the Medicare homepage to download.  I thought it might have been a glitch in the desktop, so I ran back to my bedroom and got the laptop out, and sure enough, it was slow too.  So I came back to the desktop.  By this time, my audience (consisting of Mom and Dad) had assembled in chairs behind me and were anxiously awaiting me to start spewing forth knowledge and insight about the Medicare prescription drug plan.  Well, the longer they sat there, the more nervous and frustrated I got. They weren't bothering me or anything; they were just thumbing through the "booklet" as I was looking online.  The second frustration came when at the "compare the plans" page on the site.  It brought up 39 plans available in Kentucky that cover all of Mom's prescriptions.  Yet the site would only let you compare three plans at a time. WTF? And of course, my ink cartridge is on its last leg, so was only able to print out 3 pages before it was dry. But in the middle of this, the fog lifted, the clouds rolled back and I had the epiphany - I actually understood what the plan was all about.  It made sense.  Mom had an AARP booklet and was looking things up; Dad had the Medicare "booklet" and was picking plans for me to look up, and I was comparing them online.  After a slow start, we finally made some progress and started to make heads or tails out of it all. 

It was frustrating for all of us, not just for me - a person with no patience.  But we made it through the ninety minute ordeal without even cussing or raising our voices.  Mom and Dad thanked me for taking the time to research that for them, and said how sorry they felt for people who had nobody to help them figure it all out.  That made it all worth the effort. 

Link Of The Week

This wasn't a major election year in Kentucky or Indiana, or the nation for that matter, but I came across an interesting political site the other day.  Yes that seems very odd words to come out from me - the person who usually avoids political sites like surfers avoid smam and viruses.  But I didn't actually do a search for this topic, so that should redeem me.  I was looking line the other day for any new info on my beloved Knots Landing star Donna Mills, and I found a site that listed all of her polital campaign contributions.  I checked out the site, and it was pretty interesting.  They have practically every star listed on there and how much they contributed and who they contributed to.  Pretty cool.  But the fun doesn't stop there.  You can enter a name of a regular person, just like us, find out how much they've contributed to a candidate.  Now that's cool.  Take a look for yourself at http://www.newsmeat.com. And don't waste your time entering my name. 

File Under: WTF?

Customer glued to toilet seat sues Home Depot
Man claims workers ignored cries for help after he was victimized by prank

The Associated Press Updated: 12:06 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2005

BOULDER, Colo. - Home Depot was sued by a shopper who claims he got stuck to a restroom toilet seat because a prankster had smeared it with glue.

Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding.

“They left me there, going through all that stress,” Dougherty told The (Boulder) Daily Camera. “They just let me rot.”

The lawsuit, filed Friday, said Dougherty was recovering from heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack when he got stuck at the Louisville store on the day before Halloween 2003. A store employee who heard him calling for help informed the head clerk by radio, but the head clerk “believed it to be a hoax,” the lawsuit said.

Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said she could not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit said store officials called for an ambulance after about 15 minutes. Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, and as they wheeled the “frightened and humiliated” Dougherty out of the store, he passed out.

The lawsuit said the toilet seat separated from his skin, leaving abrasions.

“This is not Home Depot’s fault,” he said. “But I am blaming them for letting me hang in there and just ignoring me.”

I normally try not to post two articles in a row, but this is too good to pass up.  It seems I remember seeing something like this on "AllyMcBeal" or "The Practice" or some other legal-themed TV show.  The judge was hardcore, and ruled his courtroom with an iron gavel.  He would always recess the court at the same time every day for fifteen minutes so he could go to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette while he "concentrated."  This guy was a terrible, unfair judge, and one of the lawyers decided to get even with him.  The judge always went to the same bathroom stall at the same time every day, so the lawyer decided to put glue on the toilet seat so the judge would get stuck to the toilet seat when he went to conduct his business.  Sure enough, in the middle of the trial, the judge went to the bathroom and he got stuck to the toilet seat. 

You'd think you'd see something like this happen on an old episode of "I Love Lucy" but not in real life.  I did some research, and I found out that this guy is suing Home Depot for over $3 million for pain and suffering.  I could see Home Depot paying the hospital bill to get the toilet seat removed from the guy's ass, but not $3 million.  I smell a shiester.