Hope Deferred

Last week when I normally would be doing the blog I was on the way to pay a medical bill. The deal they gave me was if I paid it within 30 days, I would save $696.08. I wanted to pay online, but it was showing the full amount not the deal amount. I needed to go in person to make sure I wasn't charged that extra $696.08. When I tried to pay, my debit card was declined. Say what? The cashier lady tried smaller amounts. None of them worked. I ended up calling the bank. There was a problem with the debit card system. They were working on it. After waiting about an hour for it to get fixed, I had to leave without paying anything, because the office had to get ready to close for the day. It's a 39+ mile trip one way. With the other stop I had to make, it was a 4-hour trip. For nothing. I had to go back Tuesday. My bank had fixed the system. It worked perfectly. Yay! But wait. There's more.

I just logged into the online payment system. Guess how much it says I owe? $696.08. Where is my early payment discount? Argh. Do you know how much of that amount I'm going to pay? If you guessed $0, you're right. Because the office wrote my discount down on paper during my first visit. I have proof. I'm holding them to it. Of course, I'll probably have to go to the main medical center in person, not the little office I went to, and argue with them to honor that. And sadly, that bill is only one of several.

If you've followed the blog for a while, you know I've been saving up to start a business of some kind and I was almost there. I was a few months away at the most. The medical bills have destroyed that dream for now. It looks like, short of a miracle, I'm going to be paying off medical bills for a while. It's been discouraging.

I guess I'm back to working on YouTube. I've been practicing. Maybe I'll be able to bless enough people that it will come back to me.

It's getting late in the afternoon, and Todd and Danielle haven't dropped by yet. Today's the day Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes sends out the prize patrol. Their commercials have been on a lot. Todd and Danielle work for them. I hope they get here soon. I've been looking forward to seeing them.

Have a great weekend.

Doing Better, New Book Idea

My throat is doing better. The CT scan was inconclusive. However, a few days before the scan I was so tired I fell asleep in a chair that's not even that great for sitting in. My head was tilted to the side but supported. Over an hour after I sat down, there was a giant pop, and a lot of the pressure I was feeling in my throat went away. Eustachian tube problem? I don't know for sure. How could I presume a diagnosis for something that baffles multiple doctors? I'm still having problems, but I'm much more functional now. When I see how the bills are going to settle out, I might get a second opinion somewhere in a different health network. The ENT specialist I saw was completely useless.

Two good things happened this week. I got a new belt. The old one had some kind of fake leather cover on it that was wearing off. I didn't realize how cheap it was when I bought it. Despite that, it's lasted for a number of years, so it wasn't that cheap. I was more careful when selecting the new one. It's genuine leather and has no fake coating on it. Nor does it have any stitching along the sides like the old one, which is a red flag indicating layers of materials. I expect it to be strong and manly and last for quite a while.

The other good thing is that the solution to a problem I've had with a book idea suddenly appeared, bringing with it a flood of ideas. It's been on the back burner several years. It's a fictional account of real medical malpractice. The original concept never quite gelled, because the main character was an evil doctor. The new idea brings in a different character to expose the evil. "Based on a true story..." Since it's based on real events, for legal and safety reasons I may publish it under a pen name. We'll see.

My working method is to write down ideas in a small pad. I use a legal pad if the ideas are big enough. I started out with a small pad and quickly upgraded. I have lists of characters, scenes, ideas, plot points, etc. I wrote a couple of chapters to help work through some of the problems I was having. It's amazing how many problems go away once pen hits paper. One of the characters got changed into a woman. I couldn't have solved that through brainstorming alone. The story is going to be in first person, which I've never used and have never been a fan of. For this story it works. And it turns out to be easier then third in a lot of ways. I can see why so many writers use it. It lessens the work load. I'm actually liking writing in it more than I like reading it. I prefer third for reading.

So. I'm still struggling with the cover for AoE. I've gotten a minimal amount of progress made on that. Remember the mystery/romance I wrote a few years ago and occasionally reference? I'm going to try to do the cover for that simultaneous to AoE's. It should be simpler and easier. I'll still need to go through that book later and make a change before putting it on Amazon under a pen name. I also need to get the AoE cover figured out before doing much more on the death panel book. That's it for this week. I'm feeling better but not great.

Have a great weekend.

Sick Leave

I've been having some kind of problem with my throat that has doctors baffled. That's why there was no blog last week. I had a CT scan yesterday. I should find out something from that. It's been a lot of discomfort. I haven't been able to do much. I haven't been able to eat as much as usual or get enough sleep. I feel better than I did a week or two ago. If there's no blog next week, it's because of all the problems.

I could use a lot of prayer. I don't have health insurance. 

Break Time

I hope you're having a good holidays and have a happy New Year. The blog this time is pretty short, since it's been a rough week. There might not be a blog next week, or it might be on a different day than Friday.

Is He Still Alive?

Bob Newhart. I remember him from Newhart, a show that ran from 1982-1990 in which he played an innkeeper. I was never a huge fan of the show but watched it some. I may have been too young to appreciate it. I've seen him on Johnny Carson on YouTube since then. He was born in 1929, which would make him 88 if he's still alive. Statistically, that doesn't look good for a man. However, the wealthy have access to phenomenal healthcare that most people don't. What does Wikipedia say? It says, Bob Newhart is still alive! And according to IMDB, he seems to still be working as an actor on television.

UNC vs Wofford

I saw something new this week: the Bob Ross Chia Pet. When I was trying to learn to paint, I watched tons of Bob Ross on television. Every once in a while, I'll see a Bob Ross reference in popular culture. I had no idea he was such a widespread phenomenon that he has his own Chia Pet. I'm also kind of amazed that Chia pets unlike Bob are still around. He passed away in 1995. :( His shows still run on PBS.

So, when it comes to sports, I generally watch my few favorite teams but don't follow other teams or a sport as a whole. Sometimes, I'll leave an ACC game on in the background or a National League game. I don't watch American League games, because that's not authentic, American baseball. Nothing with a designated hitter is. This week I was going to watch a Perry Mason from 1961 I taped. The book after AoE is supposed to be a mystery. I've been taping Peter Gunn and Perry Mason to get the old flavor and to see what older shows were like. I was shocked when Peter Gunn used his car phone in a 1959 episode. I thought those were invented in the 70s. Whoa.

One night I fixed something to eat and was going to watch Perry Mason. A UNC(University of North Carolina) game was on. They're not my team, but they're in the ACC. My team has to play them at some point. UNC was playing Wofford, who had barely beaten Georgia Tech a few games back. Since two of Tech's best players were out and another was playing injured, it was not a quality win by any stretch. Wofford scored right before the buzzer. If Tech had had all their players, they would have won easily.

Going into the game against Wofford, UNC was ranked #5 in the country and is last year's national champion. Wofford was unranked and had never defeated a top 25 team. Based on the Tech game, I figured I'd watch three minutes of UNC stomping Wofford and then watch Perry Mason while I ate. Unfortunately, UNC had some early turnovers. After three minutes Wofford was actually ahead. I had to keep watching. Wofford kept the lead for over 6 minutes before UNC finally got on track. Wofford came back but fell behind due to poor shooting. UNC took a good lead, and I was getting ready to switch to Perry Mason. Then Wofford went on a run and was ahead at the half. How could that happen against the 5th best team in the country? They barely beat an injured, suffering Tech team. On the whole the first half was a bit of a nail biter.

It turned out to be an amazing game. I was on the edge of my seat. It's one of those classic underdog victories against a giant. Wofford ended up winning 79-75. Wowie Kablowie! You can see an article here. It doesn't really show how awesome the game was. Beating Tech seemed like a bit of a fluke, but maybe Wofford is for real. They played hard the entire game and completely deserved what ended up being a spectacular win. Hats off to them. If they keep it up, they'll be in the tournament in March.

Is He Still Alive?

This week's Is He Still Alive features Lindsay Wagner. I remember her mostly from The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man. Looking at her IMDB entry, she was in tons of things I didn't know about, but is she still alive? Born in 1949, she would be 68. Statistics are on her side, but you never know what can happen on an individual basis. Nevertheless, according to Wikipedia, Lindsay Wagner is still alive! IMDB tells me she's also still working and has something coming out next year.

Time to Pivot

I saw Grav3yardgirl in a commercial! I couldn't believe it. If you've never heard of her, she makes tons of YouTube videos. She has a series called Does This Thing Really Work? I've watched some of those in the past. The premise is she opens and tests products sold on television that make people ask themselves, Does that thing really work? Some of them were funny. And if you've ever been tempted to buy one of those products, you can see ahead of time what it's really like.

There was good news and bad news this week. It snowed, and I lost power. It kept going on and off. The longest stretch of being off was maybe 5 hours. I didn't lose anything in the freezer or refrigerator, because I had ice ready for that. That was the good news.

I've been talking about starting a business and doing research. In one of those blogs I mentioned going to the dentist. It cost $103. What I didn't mention was I had a followup visit scheduled for this week. Since I don't have dental insurance, it cost $570. One of my motivations to start a business was for health insurance. So, hmm. That was a big hit to the business account. I'm going to have to put some thought into what to do now. I may take what's left and invest it for a year. I'm not sure.

Is He Still Alive?

Kirk Douglas. He was born in 1916 and had a serious stroke in 1996. I remember him mostly from the 80s, when he was in various movies. Statistically, his chances of being alive are very slim, since he would be 101. Who lives that long? Nevertheless. Is he still alive? Absolutely! He turned 101 on the 9th.

Party in Jerusalem

The U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Celebration and outrage abound. The news is interesting, but will it change anything? I'm waiting to see whether the embassy actually gets moved. Recognition of reality and moving the embassy are completely different things. Even if the embassy is moved, it will almost have to be moved to western Jerusalem and not eastern Jerusalem that the "Palestinians" claim as theirs despite the fact that Israelis have been buying as much of it as they can, making it more Israeli all the time. At some point the "Palestinians" won't own enough of it to care about fighting for it any more.

And if the U.S. moves the embassy, will anyone else? I'm sure some nations will, but what about the ones who are moaning and screaming so much today? Are we going to have a situation where some embassies are in Jerusalem while most are still in Tel Aviv? That's a lot of driving back and forth. :)

I have a silly theory. Jerusalem is about twice as large as Tel Aviv. That means it's twice as happening and has twice as many parties. Partying is about the self not about God. The nations who don't care about God are into self. They'll go where the parties are.

Is He Still Alive?

I forgot to do Is He Still Alive? last week.

Martin Mull. Not just an actor with a long career but also an artist. Mull was born in 1943, which would make him 74. That's a borderline age for men. I remember him mostly from the 80s. He's in something that comes out in 2018, but is he still alive? Yes, according to Wikipedia, Martin Mull is still alive!

 Have a great weekend.