GASping At the Pump

When I went to work yesterday morning, the gas pump said $3.99/9. When I returned home yesterday afternoon, it said $4.03/9. What happened in those 6 hours that made the price jump? The answer is ...nothing. We are being taken advantage by the Middle Eastern oil prices and an ignorant government. The price of oil in the Middle East is about 25 cents a gallon. Oil is abundant. The other day, I was watching our President make a speech, which in my opinion was geared more towards his election, than America's well being. He said that there is a way to get oil prices down to $2.50 a gallon. He said the Republicans are pushing to do it, but it means we need to ...and he said this, with the most arrogant tone.... dig, dig, dig. Ok, why aren't we digging, then. We have the resources, we have the man power and we have the oil on American property. Why in the world aren't we digging? He made it sound like a sin, to dig for your own oil. If the people that we purchase oil from, dig for it, why won't we? The Republicans will dig. The Democrats want us to dig, but only into our pockets, to find the money to pay the inflated oil prices at the pumps.

The Insurance Debacle

The health insurance world is tough to navigate. It can be frustrating and overwhelming. Just this past week a perfect example of this happened to me. I was visiting my parents and saw some explaination of benefits on their table. They were for lab claims that were denied due to no prior authorization. The funny thing was, that the pre- authorization letter was sent to my parents a month back. They made a few calls to their insurance company and got very discouraged, so they just gave up and left it on their desk. That is where I came in. The day I arrived at their house, I decided to call the lab and the insurance company. We had a three way conference call. After two hours, we came to the conclusion that the claims were denied erroneously and would be reprocessed. By the time the call was done, I was sweating and my bladder was bursting. This call was not for the faint of heart. The next time I need to make this type of call, I will be prepared with a good meal and a bed pan next to me.

On The Shelf

I am sure that we have all lived this scenario. We need an item in the store and go to the aisle that has it. We look on the shelf, in the place where it should be and we do not see it. I have a theory that if you stand there long enough, it will magically appear. This might sound silly, but it usually does. I have been known to stand in front of a shelf for over five minutes waiting for the item to "step up" and show itself to me. I am persistent. I was recently in a store with a friend and put this theory to use. The item was not there. No where to be found. Anyone else would have walked away. I said "just stay here few more minutes". After waiting a bit longer, we pushed a few more items to the side....and there it was. The item we came in for. My friend was very surprised. How could something just appear, when it was not there before? Try this for yourself. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Trading Stamps

Last week, I was driving with my son and we passed the gas station. I looked at how high the prices were and commented that years ago when you went to fill up your car, you would say "five dollars or fill it up". Most times the fill up came before the five dollars. Then I told him that not only did we get gas, but we also got drinking glasses and S&H stamps.He looked at me like I was weird. Why would they give out stamps? I explained what S&H stamps were. The practice started in the 1890s, at first given only to customers who paid for purchases in cash, to reward those who did not purchase on credit. Credit, in those days, meant that you put you had a running tab with the shopkeeper and paid it off monthly. Giving stamps grew with the spread of chain gas stations, in the early 1910s and the new industry of chain supermarkets, in the 1920s. Merchants then found it better to award stamps to all customers. Trading stamps were most popular from the 1930s through the 1960s. An example of the value of trading stamps, would be during the 1970s and 1980s when one stamp was for given for 10¢ of merchandise that was purchased. A typical book took approximately 1200 stamps to fill, or the equivalent of $120.00 in purchases. When you filled up your book of stamps, you would browse through a catalog, and pick out the items you wanted. You then went to the redemption center and traded in the stamp books, for the gifts. That is how most families were able to afford the simple luxuries like toasters and pots and pans. Then, I joked with him, that he would never have the pleasure of experiencing a glue coated tongue.

Who Is Watching Who

The other day, some of my friends were talking about jobs that have too many workers. Someone mentioned road workers. These are almost always either government jobs or government contracted jobs. No matter what state you live in, the scenario will be the same. There is a job that needs to be done. Six workers are dispatched. One holds the orange flag, one sits in the truck, one digs and three others watch and talk. That means that 50% of the work force is idle. Seventy percent if we count the man sitting in the truck, talking on his cell phone. I have seen this happen throughout the many east coast states that I have traveled. Coincidentally, the next day, some road work was being done at my office. This is the g-ds honest truth. Five men were there. One man was digging a hole. One was holding a blue tarp. Three were circled around the man digging, just watching him. After fifteen minutes, the digging man stopped. The tarp man laid out the tarp and cut it in half, while the other four watched. Then one of the "fab four" fished a wire into the hole, while the new foursome watched. At no time during those three hours was any more than one person working. My thought was, is there a digging specialist, a tarp specialist and a fishing expert? Or maybe, just maybe, too many men, were on the payroll.

The Tone Setter

We all have one. We have one in work. We have one in our family. We have one with our friends. The Tone Setter. The person that sets the tone for the day. If they get up happy, the people that surround them, will have a pleasant day. If they get up grumpy, the day will not run so well. If they get up nasty, watch out and head for the hills. I was never a tone setter. I am a tone absorber and after many years, it is getting annoying. I no longer want to have my day set by someone else's moods. I have a consistent temperament. I wish other would,too Years ago, I worked for a moody doctor. As a routine test, my cardiologist had me wear a heart monitor for 24 hours, just to see the heart rate fluctuations. A week after I returned the monitor, the doctor called with the results. He asked me what I was doing between 8am and 12:30 pm. I said I was at work. He told me that approximately every 1/2 hour my heart rate would increase for a few minutes and then go back to normal. I thought about it. The doctor came into work at 8am and would come into the front office between patients, which was approximately a half hour time span. He was a moody man and I guess his aura set off my heart rate. He was the tone setter and that day, he must have been setting a bad tone. I would like to see all of the tone setters in my life, put into a room, together. That would be music to my ears.

Security

As I was waiting to go through security at the airport last week, I noticed a sign that said "this airport has enhanced security scans". I did not think much about it, as I was only concerned with getting home. I did the usual taking off my shoes, taking off my coat and putting my carry on bag onto the belt. Instead of walking through the security doorway, I was asked to go into a semi enclosed pass through. I went in and was asked to put my hands over my head and stay still for one minute. I was waiting for them to asked me to turn my head to the left and cough. I stood there and they said I was Ok to move on. As I walked out of the pass through, a security guard talked into her radio and said "female two". She then asked me to put out my hands. She looked at my charm bracelet and turned it around to see all of the charms. She then told me I was good to go. My sister followed the same procedure. After the pass through the guard called in "female three". and began to pat her down. As she was patting down the front of her body, the guard, who was a female, commented on how exquisite my sisters' sweater was. The three of us continued to have a pleasant conversation about clothes. I guess this whole procedure, was what the airport called "enhanced security". It took five minutes. I then realized that this was what people have been complaining very vocally about. The words "invasion of privacy, embarrassment and humiliation" have been bandied around. To me, it was five minutes out of my life, that could have potentially saved my life, had there been a terrorist flying that day. I think everyone should pipe down, go with the flow and have a safe flight.