US meets UK

Remember our trip to the zoo? Well, I’m sure some people recently will never forget their trip to the National Zoo. Several visitors received an up close and personal look at predator/prey relations.

The odd part of all this? Where officials aren’t sure of where the deer came from.  Really? Have you ever been to the National zoo? There are deer everywhere!

sigh. It’s sad, and perhaps they should take a closer look at the safety of their enclosures. If you were (are) a parent, what would you have said to your kids after they witnessed that?

You see (what you assume is) a 40-50 year old blind man walking with his dog in the metro station.  His dog is on the light gray/marble strip with lights on the edge of the platform, the man is walking on the bumpy warning strip next to the marble/lights part.  He doesn’t look distressed, though he and the dog are closer to the edge of the platform than the majority of people would walk.

(source)

do you:

A. Gently touch his arm to let him know he is walking really close to the edge.

B. Gently say something to him

C. Do nothing, he doesn’t appear in distress or unfamiliar with his surroundings.

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I chose C, someone else chose either A or B, which one I’m not sure.  But I do know something happened. I didn’t say anything because the man didn’t appear in distress, I assumed his dog was walking on the lights so the dog could focus on the lights (to alert the dog the train is coming) and to “curb” the dog from the public so children/others don’t try to pet the dog. I also figured he was walking on the bumpy part to give him a bearing on his surroundings.

But someone else did or said something because the man turned around and yelled, and I do mean yelled “I’M NOT HELPLESS YOU KNOW?!!?! I HAVE A DOG – I’VE GOTTEN THIS FAR WITHOUT YOU!” and then I assume someone said something which maybe they assumed was under their breath, because then the man yelled “I CAN HEAR YOU!!! I’M NOT DEAF!” He was very angry, and very upset by the situation.

The issue I have is that so much of this situation is based on assumption, because what else could you assume it on. Telling if someone is deaf is often more difficult to most people that figuring out if someone is blind or not. Maybe the man was really frustrated because he IS competent and can take care of himself, but people interfere as though he can’t? Those people who attempted to “help” him were (I’m assuming) helping because they were concerned for his well being.

It was just a cruddy situation. Maybe they shoudlnt’ have trued to help, he certainly shouldn’t have taken his anger out on them.  Though, it certainly made me consider who actually needs help.

What would you have done?

After I received my job offer I figured I’d better enjoy my last few days of unemployment.  I also thought I’d do a test run of my new commute.  My new commute that involves a drive, a commuter train and the subway.  This should have been a sign of things to come, because we missed the train on the scheduled test run, decided to sleep in and take the Metro to the zoo later.

I cut it pretty close every single day in attempts to make my train. Enough about my commute, I’ll tell you allllllll about it someday.

We headed back home after missing the 7:45 train and slept a few more hours, zipped down to the Silver Spring metro and popped out by the zoo.

Nick loves to see the tigers and pandas

while my personal favorites are the different kinds of monkeys and little mammals.

This trip though, I might have been partial to a particular pair of pandas.

What’s your favorite animal to visit at the zoo?

I’m going to my first wedding after my own today and I’m so excited! After yesterday’s heavy post this one will be a bit lighter But that’s what Saturdays should be for, right?

When was the last wedding you attended, and which part did you enjoy the most?

Everyone has a health care story, it could be a positive one, or it could be negative.  Whatever the experience though, those stories are intertwined in the lives of people. 

Since I’ve been lucky enough to live around the country I’ve also been unlucky enough to experience different care systems. My experience has been incredibly frustrating and varied.

After i graduated college I was promptly kicked off my parent’s insurance and I paid COBRA for a few months prior to the start of my job in August/the beginning of my health insurance in September. I had no idea what I was in for. Prior to the bump from my parent’s insurance I had only a few dark spots in my history with health insurance. Like that time my orthopedist couldn’t get an MRI approved till months later, and when he could finally see the inside of my knee he told me that it was too late to repair the damage that had been done using physical therapy.  I’d just have to deal with a partial tear in my knee, I was no longer a candidate for physical therapy and I wasn’t a candidate for surgery. I blew apart my knee a year later.

Or after I blew apart my knee (hospital visit, big co pay 1) , and my mother’s health insurance had been switched from a PPO to a POS. Which meant i had to go to my (small co-pay 2) primary care provider (PCP) to get a referral to go to the orthopedist (big co-pay 3) to get an (big co-pay 4) MRI. Then I had to go to my (co-pay 4) PCP to get a referral to go to my (co-pay 6) orthopedist.

But really, I should have been grateful for what I had then because once I got to Tucson I realized the problem wasn’t just efficiency it was also access to care. The HMO I could barely afford granted me a list of five doctors. Three of which were board certified, the other two? I have no idea whatthey were, but they weren’t certified.  When I needed to see a doctor i couldn’t, which, with my allergies is frequent.  Between eye drops and sinus infections, to bronchitis to asthma I’m a bit of a “high maintenance” patient. I would call each doctor’s office and the phone would just ring, and ring and…ring. I couldn’t see a doctor, so I’d have to go to an urgent care facility, pay the higher co-pay, receive less care and wait longer. EVERY TIME.

When I was in England I (shockingly) was hit with a nasty sinus infection and bronchitis.  I called the doctor in the next village over, got a same day appointment, saw the doctor within 10 minutes of my appointment time and was out the door with antibiotics within 30 minutes. This cost me? $60 prescriptions included.  For my husband (an English citizen) it would have been free.  I’ve seen doctor bills in the US, and I’m sure that same appointment would have cost me over $100.

I’m not saying the NHS is perfect, I’m just saying there is a better way. There has to be, only 55% of adults in America are getting the care they need. Dont believe me? Check with the Kaiser Family Foundation. KFF has tons, TONS of graphs, charts and statistics to give you an overall picture of the current state of “care’ in America.

Back to my story, I moved to Miami with the same organization.  Somehow, in the shuffle of paper work my health insurance wasn’t switched.  I was living in Florida with Arizona health insurance. How did i discover this? I tore the ligaments connecting my leg to my ankle and i was desperately calling BCSB to let me know if I was pre-approved to go to the closest hospital and BCBS asked said i could go to the hospital, but I couldn’t see a doctor in network unless I went back to Arizona. yeah…let me hobble over there.

My job thankfully straighted it out within a few days, but I was pretty much laying in bed with an ace bandage on my (now)  swollen club foot. It was horrible, because when you’re in pain, or scared the last thing you want to deal with is wondering IF you can get care for your newly detached (on the inside) foot. After my job straighted it out, due to their clerical error I had to put on a PPO and I received fabulous follow up care. Then my contract ended with my job and i went on COBRA – at $350 a month…for almost a year. I don’t want to calculate what $350 times 12 is because I’d probably have to hospitalized if I knew.

The funny part of my experience with health care is that i thought it couldn’t get worse than the care I had received while employed. But during my 12 month COBRA business i repeatedly attempted to get individual coverage and I was repeatedly denied.

That’s why I’m calling my congressman today and telling him to vote yes on the house bill. Yes, I do with there were more amendments that strengthened the public option, yes, I want less control from the drug companies.  But, that’s also why I’ll be calling my senators, to call on them to create a bill the house couldn’t. Want to find your rep? go here.

What’s your story?

Seriously, what has happened to Halloween? When I was a kid we went out in droves of kids, surrounded by other droves of kids to tons of houses with pillowcases in the hope of filling them to the brim and getting juvenile diabetes devouring the candy for months to come. We’d all get dressed up, meet at our friend’s houses and go out with our parents. We’d get to see other costumes, check out how scary the houses were and figuring out which houses were giving away full size bars.

For the past several years we’ve noticed a marked decline in the amount of trick or treaters at our house.  For a bit, I blamed the aging/child turnover of the neighborhood. After 6+ years though, whatever babies moved into the neighborhood then should be trick or treating by now. Is it because people think trick or treating is unsafe? I just don’t get it, can someone fill me in?

Do you have less trick or treaters?

For several reasons:

1. I think everyone should build a fire .  There is something pretty satisfying about building your own fire. Bonus point for cooking on it.

2. Snuggle time is crucial for fall camping because it can be very cold. Especially if you only bring a single person sleeping bag (not recommended).

3. You can purchase a $1.00 “camping knife”.  While useless it can make your husband happy to have a “man-tool”.

4. Smores.

5. You can meet great people!

On Columbus day weekend we headed down to the Shenendoah National Park to go camping. Nick had never been camping before whereas I am a seasoned girl scout. So I was excited ot get him out in the woods and show him the ropes. For his first camping trip I decided to break him in with car camping… I thought backpacking it might be a bit much for his first foray.

Shenandoah reserved spots but if you’re going last minute during a federal holiday near the DC area – there won’t be any left.  We tried our luck with first come/first serve and here is a tip – it’s first come first serve to the camp site, NOT the ranger station.  After waiting for an hour for someone to deposit a tag at the station I realized that it was first to the campsite, so I asked Nick to wait in the station I jumped in the car and started harassing asking people if they were leaving that day or staying for another night. I luckily found a site and threw a few belongings on it to mark my territory till the woman who had it previously left.

We set up camp and realized there weren’t any stakes in our tent bag, trip to the camp store #1. We started to realized we hadn’t gotten enough firewood so Nick made trips 2 and 3 to the camp store. I noticed some rocks at another campsite and stole them to make a “fireplace”.  The rocks heated up all toasty and warm – it was divine.  I then set up our tent and unrolled our brand new “king size” sleeping bag.  When we purchased it we thought it was a 2 person sleeping bag.  When we opened it on a chilly afternoon in preparation for a chilly night we realized that we had actually just purchased a really nice single sleeping bag. crap. Let me tell you, it’s a tight squeeze.

Our camping neighbors came over and introduced themselves, everyone lived/worked in the DC area and they were all nice and friendly. We agreed to meet up again after dinner so Nick and I made a few hot dogs. Real hot dogs for him and veggie hot dogs for me.

The camp store had amazing berry wine that our camp neighbors had brought over and we joined the party a campsite over. We also enjoyed meeting Barrett, a super sweet bichon.

Skyline Drive is gorgeous, and I highly recommend driving it sometime. My family has even taken Skyline Drive home just for funsies after vacations.  It has beautiful vistas and during the fall? Well… it just can’t be beat!

We really enjoyed our camping trip, and next year, we’ll be sure to go for longer.  And you know, get the right sleeping bag.

Did you go camping this year?

I should preface this post by giving you a bit of background.  My mother has celiac and my sister has an epi pen style allergy to Tapioca.  There were also tons of foods I couldn’t have as a kid because I was so sensitive to them, like strawberries, milk and an abundance of milk products.  If you know me at all, you can just imagine how I wouldn’t stand for this.  I snuck strawberries every chance I could get and I’d break into hives and now? Now I can eat strawberries – take that food sensitivity!

So imagine my surprise (yes, I was actually surprised) when I began reading about the symptoms of a food intolerance in this book. I wanted to read the book because I have an interest in food politics and the safety of our food supply – not because I thought I had any issues with food.  Isn’t everyone else always sick, always congested and can never breath out their nose? I’ve even had multiple surgeries to beat my sinuses into submission. So on a recent business trip to Boston I decided I was going to give up the big eight starting that weekend.  I was simply sick of being sick all the time and desperate to try anything that would help me.

What exactly is the big eight you may ask? It’s what 90% of those with food intolerances/allergies react to. This means for two weeks I’m supposed to avoid Eggs, Milk, Wheat, Soy, Fish,Shellfish and peanuts/tree nuts. I say supposed, because I accidentally ate a few corn chips that had used peanut oil.  Today, I just couldn’t take it anymore, I had to go back to the soy.  As a vegetarian, it’s super hard to do. As a meat eater it would be hard to do, soy is in EVERYTHING. Check your labels, “soy lecithin” and “vegetable (often soybean) oil” are in everything!  Lest you think I went back to wheaty fake meat products I actually caved because I wanted gluten (wheat) free pretzels and the lack of carbs  was killing me.  I love potatoes, but after a week of having homemade chilli + potato I didn’t want to see another one for awhile.

Yes yes, I could have beans, and veggies and fruit and oh wait… that’s all I could have.  And yes, I did do eat to live for several weeks, but at least I had the OPTION of eating 150 calories of cheese or an egg or something.  To not have the option was killing me, on Friday I was nearly in tears at my desk.  It was our work holiday party and since I’m new, I wanted to go and socialize/participate with everyone. I went and ate an apple while everyone else around me was noshing on 7 layer bean dip, cupcakes, caramel/chocolate cake, pumpkin cheese cake! It was hell.

So now I’m at the point where I’m wondering is it worth it? Is it worth it to live like this for another week? I just don’t think I can handle it.  I thought for my health I’d be able to give up my way of eating and I can’t believe how difficult I’m finding it. I’m miserable and wondering if I’d rather just not breath than drink another cup of coffee with rice milk in it.

Do you have any food allergies/sensitivities?

or, this post could be called “don’t be late to catch your train”.  I ride the MARC commuter train to work every day and I’ve come to learn that the MARC system has a love/hate relationship with it’s riders.  There was the time where I asked for 4 tickets and the machine only printed one yet charged me for four. Or the time it was really rainy and cold and the train was late because of a freight train. But this last time I’m choosing to blame on MARC although I myself should have woken up earlier, worn sneakers instead of flats and slowed it down just a little bit on the wet, slippery stairs.

Do you see where this is going? Nick and I pull up and I realize that the train is on the opposite side platform. Which means to get to the other side I need to race up the stairs several hundred yards away, across the overpass, down the stairs on the other side, across a street that cars tend to travel on and down a few more stairs onto the train. Nick tells me to run for it, and so I do.  But on the way down the first set of stairs I trip, falling headfirst, reaching in vain for the wet, slick railing.  I manage to snag the railing, but since it’s so wet there is nothing to really stop me and I tumble down the concrete stairs.  When I finally come to a stop I can tell I’m bleeding, but since the next train won’t come for another hour I’m still trying to hustle for the train.  I get on what I think is the right car and sit down trying to stave off the asthma attack headed my way.

As I start to be able to breath again I realize that everyone is staring on me.  I wear a bright red coat most days and I’m guessing it was pretty obvious that I was the one who went flying down the stairs. I also realized I’m in the wrong car – I DON’T KNOW THESE PEOPLE?!!? So at the next stop I walk to the car over pleased to see my train friends wondering where on earth I’d been, and why I’d just turned up.  After telling them where I was we all had a good laugh and I tried to stop the bleeding.

I thought that it was just my ankles that had been hurt, but the next day I woke up so stiff and sore I left work early to work from home.  After my butt/back pain made itself apparent my neck has also started to ache. I’m hoping this will all go away in a week or so, because it’s really been, well, a pain.

Have you ever tumbled down the stairs? I hope you were wearing something less conspicuous and no one saw you <3

Oh man… so I go on one little business trip and I let myself get all off the blogging horse.  So perhaps I should start with smaller goals, instead of 365.. how about 30 days? November is actually the busiest month in terms of business trips so it’s still a lofty goal for me to post every day in November, but on one of those trips I’m flying Air Tran.  Air Tran…with wifi – I COULD BLOG FROM THE PLANE! Am I the only one that excited about the possibility?

I loved (love) blogging for Weddingbee and I think I just needed a blog/wedding detox.  I’m able to read WB again without feeling overwhelmed and I love looking at other pictures again.  Which leads me to the conclusion that I could be ready to blog again.

Are you doing NaBloPoMo? Would you blog from a plane?