I don't know what the hell I was thinking, or maybe I was just overwhelmed by the multitude of options and minute differences between plans, but I delayed applying for health insurance until Monday because I ASSumed that I would be approved (or not) almost immediately. No, sorry. It will be about 20 days. Here's hoping that neither the boy nor I will need any health care till the new coverage kicks in, because our last day of coverage under Michael's plan was June 30. I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach at the thought of everything that could go wrong. Ugh.

I almost opted for a cheap plan that excluded maternity care, but then I noticed that it didn't cover prescriptions either, and if we ever had anything serious happen, we'd be screwed. I mean, we'd probably be screwed anyway. I've heard multiple stories of how cancer patients will need a certain type of drug, I think to counteract the effects of chemo, throughout the entire month, but the insurance will only cover 7 days of it per month so the rest of the $3000 monthly cost is out of pocket.

I really think that this country needs a genuine alternative to private insurance. And just forcing people to get insurance, any insurance, is not the answer. I read in a NYT article today that 75% of the people declaring bankruptcy due to medical costs actually had insurance--it was just bad insurance. What about nonprofit insurance companies, especially ones that were not allowed to spend millions of dollars on naming rights for sports stadiums? Apparently this concept got floated as a third alternative in Congress (and here I thought I was being so clever) but is being shot down for reasons that I'm not entirely clear on, aside from insurance company lobbyists.

Anyway, Regence Blue Shield's mostly-comprehensive coverage came in at $287 and includes some basic vision benefits. Michael's plan was $350/month with no vision. And my employer plan would have cost $450/month with vision and dental. With the exception of the $1000 crown that I am currently paying for out of pocket (oh joy), our dental expenses generally don't amount to $1200/year, so I didn't think the dental insurance was worth the extra expense.

Tags: health, health care reform

Injecting science into conversation about H1N1 flu is pointless, isn't it?

http://hyenacart.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=114983

I'm sure you can guess who I am.

Tags: dumb people, health

The thought of this paper going out of business makes me so sad. It was an integral part of my childhood, like listening to the Red Sox game while doing yardwork. My first published work was in the Globe (I wrote a letter to Confidential Chat, which I suppose has gone the way of the dodo). I can't imagine the world without it.

To support them (and also to stop freeloading with my Kindle before they take away my free wireless service), I've been paying $10/month to subscribe to their mobile edition. It's well worth it. Before, I'd just go to their web site to read Red Sox articles, but now I can pick up the Kindle before bed or when I've got a few minutes and glance through headlines. (It's also reinforced my belief that Boston politics are much, much dirtier than Washington state politics.)

With the largest union voting down the concessions package by 8 votes, and management set to institute 23% pay cuts for those members next week, I don't know if the paper is going to survive as we know it. It's a sad and scary day.

Tags: books

Michael just got word that his employer is cancelling health insurance for dependents, as of July 1. So I will need to pay for insurance through my job since it will be just a little more than paying through his job and we'll get dental and vision. But of course it won,t cover the $1200 crown I'm paying for tomorrow, and it also means I can't quit my job. We'll look at indiv. plans as well, but I'm feeling angry and sick at the same time. Sorry for typos, writing on the kindle.

Just look at this beautiful, beautiful pot.



I have this thing for enameled cast iron right now, and man, does this ever fill that dutch-oven shaped hole in my heart. I don't even know which color I would pick, had I $150 burning a hole in my pocket. That lovely cherry red? Or the crisp apple green? I'd have to get one of each.

Tags: cooking

Considering how much I like to read, and how much value I placed in my own pre-college years on academic achievement, I am surprisingly unmotivated to put any pressure on the boy to perform intellectually. I mean, I get excited when he makes unexpected connections in his head, and when he figures things out on his own, beyond what most kids his age are able to do (according to his teachers). And I am definitely intending him to go to college, whereas Michael is more "if he wants to." But I'm not worked up because he can't read yet (I was reading at 3). I'm not going to try to test him into kindergarten this fall, though I imagine he could probably handle it, both academically and socially.

I think a lot of it has to do with how much fun he has being a child. He loves playing. He runs around outside like a total nutjob, is thrilled to ride a bike without training wheels (did it over the weekend for the first time), can spend hours playing in his sand table or throwing daisies into the creek. I am, honestly, afraid of how school will change him and his interests. He'll be in school for so many years that I'm just in no hurry to start him on the process. I never thought I would have said that, before I had a baby.

I have a friend whose daughter started kindergarten this year. He misses his little girl; he said that it used to be when he came home from work, she'd run to meet him and show him the pictures she drew just for him that day. Now he comes in the door, she glances up and says, "Hi, Dad," and goes back to what she was doing.

That makes me sad. I always want my little boy's face to light up as he shouts, "Mama!" and runs to me the second I come in the door.

Tags: education, parenting, preschooler

My job has evolved into something a little more entertaining and deadline-driven, which is good in that I don't spend every day unhappy. But the lack of acute discomfort is also allowing me to settle for it.

HBK doesn't generate enough revenue to replace my income, or even cover the mortgage payment (the downside of a 15-yr mortgage). Also there is the worry that I will be wasting my brain and my life by pursuing it as a career.

Today I read this NYT article, The Case for Working with Your Hands, written by a PhD in political philosophy who ditched his office life to become a motorcycle mechanic, and this line jumped out at me:

A good job requires a field of action where you can put your best capacities to work and see an effect in the world. Academic credentials do not guarantee this.

My job neither uses my best capacities nor produces an effect in the world--that's why I haven't enjoyed it for, oh, about eight years now. (God, that sounds just sick when I think of it that way.) Yes, it pays quite well for part-time work in this region, and allows me to stay with my kiddo half-time without living on ramen. But satisfaction? It ain't happenin.

Not that I think HBK would quite fit the bill, either. Although I actually see more effect in the world with my yarn dyeing than I do with my job. When I sell out, or when a skein goes at auction for $34, I feel pretty darn good about it. People who don't know me, and have no investment in being nice to me, are telling me that I do great work, in a very clear way: they're giving me money. They value my work. I like that.

Tags: career, hbknits

We listened to quite a bit of baseball this weekend, since the Sox were in town and their games were on the local radio station. Apparently they were running a lot of hardware ads, because the kiddo spent most of the afternoon announcing, "That's the power of Home Depot!"

Tags: baseball, preschooler

There's a tooth in the right side of my mouth that's been hurting, so I went to the dentist today. He couldn't find anything there, but on the other side he did find a fractured tooth that will need an onlay (kind of a partial crown). Costs the same as a freaking crown, of which I already have four, and I've got no dental insurance, and not enough in my flex spending account to cover the cost of the crown. Of course this never happens during the open enrollment period for FSA. Argh. Screw universal health care, what I need is universal dental care.

Anyway, I was talking to the hygienist as she was cleaning my teeth (I had a regular checkup as well), and I commented that what I really want for the boy is to have better teeth than I have, because I had a ton of dental work done as a kid. Then I reflected that probably why I always had candy and soda as a kid (and hence, cavities starting at 3 or 4) was because my dad wanted us to have the treats that he never had as a child. The Japanese bombed his house during WWII, his father had already died of complications related to opium addiction (which apparently my grandmother fostered because she didn't want him taking a concubine, as he had intended to do, oh the drama), and they had nothing for years and years.

The thought made me cry. I've known perfectly well why I had so many cavities as a kid (drinking Coke instead of water every time you're thirsty will do that to you), but I had never really thought about the root parenting cause behind it. My wish is to spare my child the many unpleasant hours in the dentist chair--but my dad's wish for me was to have all the things that he could never have. In a weird way, these lifelong dental issues are a symbol of my dad's love for me, and of how bitter his own childhood was.

Tags: health, health care reform, parenting, relatives

A couple of days ago, I was reading a Grimm-like fairy tale to the boy (on my fabulous new Kindle, incidentally). It was about three sisters, one of whom had two eyes. Another had just one eye, and the third had three eyes. The mother and two of the sisters hated the one with two eyes because she looked like other people. Gave her nothing but scraps, made her do all the chores, etc. Wise woman reveals to her that her pet goat can bring her good food--evil sisters eliminate goat. (I censored on the fly and changed "cut the goat's heart out with a butcher knife" to "took the goat away.) You know the drill. A handsome knight rides by and saves her, they live happily ever after, and she shows how she's a much bigger person by opening her home to the sisters, who come begging later in life.

By the end, I was wondering a bit about the meta messages, but the boy had a much more direct take on it. He said distastefully, "I didn't like that story. It was too mean."

Tags: books, preschooler