Done Since 2019-12-01

[mdlbear]

I'm having trouble figuring out whether this was a good week or a bad one. I've had quite a lot of fun reading about music theory (was going to have been a s4s post, but it got pushed), and I've (finally!) found the right printer driver for the Samsung laser printer and rejiggered the makefiles so that I can make a songbook that includes song arrangements from a previous band if they haven't changed (may turn into a curmudgeon post some time).

But I also spent three hours on the phone Monday trying to upgrade my Medicare supplement plan, and it turns out that apparently the only way to do that is to apply for the new one. With my luck the application won't go through, and I'll be stuck with nothing but medicare -- the last person I talked to said that wouldn't happen, but... I'm rather proud of myself -- I managed to keep my temper, not freak out, and even stay somewhat cheerful through the whole ordeal. Now all I have to do is keep on not freaking out until my new plan info shows up. Right.

And apparently one of C's transfers from Whidbey General to Prestige, which was done by "cabulance", turns out not to have been covered, leaving me with a bill of over two grand. I'll try to appeal, but that will involve more phone time.

And my right knee, which has been giving me twinges for a couple of weeks, appears to be getting worse. I'm trying a new brace (which arrived today from $A). Maybe?

Notes & links:

1201Su
  * up 8:15; W=198.0, S=9:16; shower
  # echo `grep Mood ../2019/11/* | cut -f3 -d: | sed -e 's/^ *//' -e 's/$/;/' | sort -u`
      a bit fuzzy; accomplished; annoyed at myself; annoyed, apparently; befuddled;
      calm; compassionate?; didactic; geeky and didactic; grateful; indeterminate;
      mellow; neutral; okay?; reflective; sleepy; slightly down; somewhat flaky;
      still confused; thoughtful; tired; unknown; unqualified; well-fed; wistful;
  @ Opinion | A Better Social Media World Is Waiting for Us - NYT maybe (7c)
  & ordered kibble and brown rice
  ~ tried to log in on Premera; got to the Amazon plan.
    Received letters; I have plan N, C has plan F
    Available plans are A, N, and G (not F).
    N has office visit copays and doesn't pay part B excess charges; F/G pay everything
    -> both of us should have plan G or the equivalent
  * worked on combined lgf/kf songbook; maybe with solo songs too
    for f in ../../lgf/Lyrics//*.flk; do [[ -e `basename $f` ]]  \
     || grep -q '\\tags.*wip' $f || echo $f; done | grep -v -e '--' | grep -v .orig
  * (1201) CPAP change filter
    
1202Mo
  & Awake 3:30ish; back to sleep ~5am
  * up 8ish(?); S=7:17;
  * call Premera about plans.
    -> 800-722-1471 (on letter from premera; will call back in > 1h)
    -> 877-995-2696 (from Amazon after calling customer service # on website.  My phone
       has that as "medical advice line, work")
    tried to log in on Premera; got to the Amazon plan.  WTF?  Do I need a new username?
      -> delete account and reapply
    Received letters; I have plan N, C has plan F
    Available plans are A, N, and G (not F). -> need G
    N has office visit copays and doesn't pay part B excess charges; F/G pay everything
    -> both of us should have plan G or the equivalent
      -> F no longer available but C already has it so it stays
      -> you can't simply change plans, you have to submit a new application
      -> 1-800-722-1471 member services,  ap id# PWA1091594635
      # on the phone for a total of 3 hours (10:15 - 13:15)
      -> DO NOT try to change C's plan!
  * SL: {strawberry, peach} Torani syrup, mushrooms, - tomatoes, - cabbage, other veg?,
    ginger ale, 1/2&1/2, bacon, boursin, ritz crackers, craisins, parchment + juices
    : went with S because she needed to go to the post office
  @ Stop Annoying Everyone With These Common Email Mistakes
  @ On Becoming a Presence in the Software Community – Chelsea Troy
  * 5pm Singing.  The Fox, Gentle Arms of Eden, The October Country, Riverheart
  * called Mom after singing.
  / cleanup, dressing change  % naproxen and heat
  
1203Tu
  & awake 1:30ish; minor cleanup; back to bed 3:30ish;
  * up 8am; S=5:12; S may not include all of second segment
  @ Solar-powered Licola Wilderness Village becomes prototype for off-grid communities -
    ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
  * order CPAP supplies - filters, nasal cushion, tubing.  humidifier tank?
    -> I'm in the queue.  God knows whether I'll ever get anything out of it.
    -> attempt to get another invite for the email resupply - wecare@islanddrug.com
  * (1203) CPAP wash humidifier, change nasal cushion, (filter changed 1201)
  * noonish C Thel.  applied leggings.
  @ What the Charles Schwab-TD Ameritrade acquisition means ->archive.org 
  * L coming - have her load m's workbench into Molly's back seat.
  * (attempt to) deal with ambulance company -> they billed Medicare and Premera; both
    denied coverage.  Redetermination request form being emailed to me.  (No information
    about that anywhere on the bill, of course.)
  * pictures of us and the kids for Mom.  Pretty sure we don't have a current picture of R
  @ Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana: 1939-2019 | ComicMix (ysabetwordsmith)
  * AAA membership -> autorenewed (AX).
  @ Who’s Listening?: Smartphones and Psychotherapy (archived)

1204We
  * Up 6:30; W=198, S=6:37;
  @ Blackouts: What to do before, during and after a power outage - ABC News (archived)
  : C and V are doing Xmas decorations.  I got pulled in because of lights.  We're getting
    rid of most of the strings with incandescent bulbs -- donating the ones that still
    work, dumping the others.
  * SL: ~ shower curtain rod, ~ museum wax/wall putty, pantsu, Magnesium (500mg), lomotil 
  * check C's Express Scripts for things to order
  * compare drug plans.  Near as I can tell, the difference in deductable between value
    and choice plans is close to the difference in premiums, so that's a wash.  Preferred
    brand is more expensive for value, but non-preferred drugs are actually a little less
    -> the easy thing is to stay put.  It's pretty nearly a wash.
  x expect call from Island Senior Resources re: COPES/TSOA/Medicaid/etc (?)
    -> didn't happen; going to assume it won't

1205Th
  & awake 5:30ish; stayed in bed dozing
  * up 6ish; S=5:50;
  @ My Son and I Don’t Do Well with Chaos—and That’s Okay | Katie Rose Pryal
    people who can't handle surprises need "previewing"
    Mom, Interrupted a monthly column by Katie Rose Pryal about family life, mental
    illness, and raising disabled kids as a disabled parent.
  @ The Physics (and Economics) of Wheelchairs on Planes (archived)
  * 11ish C Thel
  % knee seems to be getting worse.  Or maybe just muscle strain trying to compensate
  @ The WSDOT Blog - A star is born on our mountain passes new mascot - a goat
    Life on the shoulder – Methow Valley News
    " The WSDOT guys have a new safety mascot this year replacing Pink Floyd the plastic
      flamingo "
  : letter from Ricoh; needs a signature; I didn't hear anyone knock.  Wonder what it is
    -> pick up tomorrow afternoon
  * ordered j's printer, coat hooks. (3 pkgs of 5)
  : scam alert: ebook4scaricare dot com is a scam.  after you click on a download link it
    takes you a different site where you're supposed to set up an account, and then to a
    third site where they want a credit card for a "free trial".  Each one sketchier than
    the last, all with different owners.  Um... no.  The book descriptions probably
    scraped from $A; I wanted The Science Fiction Of Cordwainer Smith, which
    doesn't appear to exist as an ebook.  Nearly fell for it.

1206Fr  * litter boxen
  & Awake 2:30; back down ~4am
  * up 7:15; ;
  @ Emotion-sensing robot headed to International Space Station to aid astronauts' mental
    health - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
  @ It's not just volume — types of office sounds and where they're coming from influence
    how distracting you find them - Science News - ABC News 
  * discontinue therapy subscription at 7cups  (Talked about this with A')
  * noonish - go to post office to sign for letter.  S needs to go to Rite Aid
  * SL: biokleen bathroom cleaner, silver polish, peanuts, cranberries,  x filberts
    : Passed some Whidbey Telecom trucks on the way out.  It's just barely possible that
      they were pulling fiber.  one can hope.
  @ #HairLove is
    live! It’s an animated short film about an African American father learning how to do
    his daughter's hair for the first time. 
  @ Google’s New Chrome Move: Another Reason To Switch To Firefox? API allows web
    sites and web apps to see whether "their" native app is installed.  What could
    possibly go wrong?  More at The Register 
  * did a little French (finally!  been about 3 weeks)
  % discovered that my hair was badly matted in spots on the left, because I almost always
    just brush it with my right hand.  Have to be more symmetrical.
  * practice:  Get Up and Go, World Inside the Crystal

1207Sa
  * Up 7am; S=6:59;
  @ Recordings reveal that plants make ultrasonic squeals when stressed (Arrogant Worms on
    Twitter: "We've been saying (well, singing) this for years and all people do is laugh
    at us. (madfilkentist)
  @ AI Dungeon 2: Creating Infinitely Generated Text Adventures with Deep Learning
    Language Models – Perception, Control, Cognition (7c) looks like a cross between a
    rabbit hole and an oubliette.
  @ California is leading a sex education revolution - Vox (kengr)
  * some French on mondly
  * 15min: installed solar-powered light on utility post.  Probably not in a useful spot
  & dive into Solfege and the Kodály / Curwen hand signs
    " his technique assigns to each scale degree a hand sign that shows its particular
      tonal function. For example, do, mi, and so are stable in appearance, whereas fa and
      ti point in the direction of mi and do, respectively. Likewise, the hand sign for re
      suggests motion to do, and that of la to so.
    " (took me a while to find a good description of the reasoning behind the signs)
    Seen toward the beginning of this clip from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and starting at 2:02 in this one
  @ Silver cleaning, silver polishing, and silver storage
    Silver Polish Reviews & Ratings, Best Silver Polishes & Abrasion Ratings
  & spent most of the afternoon trying to print a songbook.
    -> apparently the correct driver (according to Nova's config) is
       Samsung ML-3470 Series, Postscript-Samsung 20160401 (OpenPrinting LSB 3.2)
    -> whether that stil has the buffer problem is unclear  -> apparently solved
    -> ... this does *not*, however, solve the cat problem.
    <- it's 170 pages; 316 in looseleaf format, so nearly twice as big.
  : I seem to have lost the chords for ninety5.  That may not be a bad thing
  * work on the combined songbook.
  * combined lgf/kf songbook; maybe with solo songs too.  build in kf/Lyrics; 
    for f in ../../lgf/Lyrics//*.flk; do [[ -e `basename $f` ]]  \
     || grep -q '\\tags.*wip' $f || echo $f; done | grep -v -e '--' | grep -v .orig

Comments

[acelightning]

Whidby Island was mentioned on the news out of NYC today. Two four-year-old girls were riding in a car, carefully fastened into booster seats for safety. The car skidded off the road and hit a tree. The driver was killed instantly. The two little girls figured out how to undo the restraints on their booster seats, and crawled out of the wrecked car and walked to the road, where another motorist picked them up and took them to the police, who reunited the girls with their families. The newsies are making a lot of noise about how brave the children were, but I'm more impressed by how capable they were.

[madfilkentist]

My experience with changing my Medicare Plan D was that the old one was automatically cancelled when the new one was authorized, not before. Hopefully you won't have any problems, though that's never a certainty when dealing with a computerized bureaucracy.

[mdlbear]

Just looked that up. Apparently the driver -- their father -- wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

Yes, very capable.

Medicare Complexity

[andyheninger]

My sympathies on having to deal with changing your Medicare options.

I finally retired earlier this year, which meant signing up for Medicare, which meant trying to understand all of the ridiculously confusing options and choices. Blech.

Parts A, B, C & D. Medigap and Choice. Supplement/Gap plans lettered A..N, not all of which are available. Separate sign up and billing for each of the pieces. Drug coverage and Gap coverage offered only through private insurance companies (by the dozens), with hard to understand pricing. Restrictions on changing supplement coverage after initially signing up (pre-existing conditions count!!!!). Why should we even need supplement/gap coverage in the first place? Scam-like "Choice" plans galore, with slick promotions, that can leave you screwed. IRMAA. Creditable Coverage. Guaranteed Issue.

It's all too complicated. A poorly informed choice, or missing a non-obvious timing window, can leave you screwed. I think I made it through OK, but it took way more work and research than it should have.

The political cry for "Medicare for All" really wants to be "Good Health Care for All". Medicare itself needs to be simplified, the corporate influence reduced.

Getting more specific, comparing gap plan F with G. Both were available when I signed up. F covers the original Medicare deductible, while G does not; they are otherwise the same. In my case, the premium difference between F and G was slightly larger than the Medicare deductible amount, making plan G an easy choice. The premium savings with G were larger than any possible increased payout from F.

Re: Medicare Complexity

[mdlbear]

Yeah; the health doesn't-care system is totally broken here. It's a nightmare.

In my case Colleen had F, but I had N, which has fairly hefty co-pays. F is no longer available in my area, so I switched to G. Left Colleen's where it was rather than wasting time on a change.

Congrats on your retirement!

[acelightning]

He made sure each of the girls was properly secured in a safety seat, and then didn't buckle his own seat belt. Humans :-[

[jesse_the_k]

You made me LOL at looks like a cross between a rabbit hole and an oubliette -- in my experience, that's generally the same thing.

Thanks for the solfege explanation, something I've idly wondered about for ... 60 years?

That wheelchair article raised a ray of hope that I could fly in an airplane in this lifetime. (I don't want to risk my chair in baggage handlers, and I need a custom-enough setup that driving is just easier. /easy for me to say since MuGuy does all the driving