Christmas gift!

Christmas came and went faster than ever this year. By far the greatest gift I received actually came the weekend before Christmas when Alise flew out from Fort Worth, TX to visit for four days. I had not seen her in 5 years, although we have always kept in touch via phone every few weeks and email. Needless to say, it was totally awesome to be able to see her again and spend time with her like the old days when we were single and fancy free!

Alise is one of my two oldest and dearest best friends. Alise, Tami and I were all floor mates in Budge Hall at BYU during our freshman year. Alise lived down the hall about five rooms and Tami lived right next door. So I have known Alise and Tami since August 1992. That is 17 years now!

Alise and I lived together in an off campus apartment in Provo our sophomore year and then she moved to LA after she graduated from BYU (I think that was 1999) and slept on a futon mattress on my floor for a few months before she got her own apartment a mile or so away. We went to the LA 1st singles ward then. Alise met Rick in the singles ward and got married in 2001. Eric and I met and got married in 2003 so we were in the same ward again for a few months right before Alise and Rick moved to Indiana for grad school. We haven't lived near each other since we were in both in LA. Both Alise and I miss LA -- while our respective spouses can't stand it!

I think that Alise is probably the one person who knows me and understands me the best aside from my husband. She has been there for it all, the great times, the good times, the sad times, the bad times, and the stupid times. She has seen me at my best and my worst. I will always be indebted to Alise for her unfailing support, wisdom, insight, patience, loyalty and compassion that are the qualities of true friendship. I owe her so much.

We had the greatest time during her visit. She was on her first "girls only" vacation in years as she got to leave her two daughters at home with Rick! We went out to eat at great restaurants for Indian and Italian cuisine, we went to see The Nutcracker ballet. We got massages, and went shopping! We went to Trader Joes and enjoyed the memories of LA. We had awesome pancakes and french toast at Pancake Pantry. We also got to do a session at the Nashville Temple. We got to talk and talk and talk. I wish she could have stayed for a month! I also think that next time we must try to take more pictures when we are dressed up and not wearing sweats.

We have vowed not to let 5 years pass before we see each other again. I think we are going to try to see each other in 2010 and try to make it an annual event. In the meantime we have the phone, Facebook and email.

I need to get out to Utah to see Tami next... I think it's been 4 years?

(This pic of me, Tami & Alise is from my wedding weekend in March 2003. We're holding a pic of ourselves that was taken in 1993!)

Bovine Politics

This is one of my favorite fwded emails, in the history of my email and receiving fwded emails. All of which I normally delete. But this one is so totally awesome, I'm now going to put it on this blog. It cracks me up everytime. I received this email initially in 2005 and have saved it in my email ever since. I wish I was so brilliant as to have written this myself.

BOVINE POLITICS

LIBERAL
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful.
Instead of giving your neighbor one of your cows, you write to your congressman, demanding that he pass legislation for more government programs to help your neighbor get a cow.
You hold a concert to raise awareness for the cow-lessness.
Barbara Streisand sings for the cow-less, who couldn't attend because ticket prices are so expensive that only people with 3 or 4 cows can afford to attend. You wear a ribbon that signifies that you care about cowless people, even though you really haven't done anything to help them at all.

CONSERVATIVE
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have down sized and are reducing expenses. Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have four cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have eight cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts.
Then you kill them and claim a US bomb blew them up while they were in the hospital.

IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

Rambling Update

I have been a neglectful blogger. I often think about writing, and then I am distracted by something else with higher priority. Often that higher priority is sleep!

• September was a much better month. Eric was hired for a new job, which he absolutely loves. He is the Director of accounting for the Nashville City Club. It is a private business club in the penthouse (20th floor) of one of the high rises downtown. It has a restaurant and bar and they cater business meetings and conferences as well as weddings and other events. Eric is much happier at this job and we feel that this position really utilizes all of his skills and talents, as he functions as the club's controller. This is a wonderful opportunity for him as far as career advancement as well. He also travels 0% of the time! We are so relieved... he was traveling over 60% when he was auditing at Deloitte. The layoff from Deloitte was really hard for him to go through -- but now he sees it was actually a huge blessing in disguise. God will not fail us!
  

• Now that Eric is working again, we feel we can spend some of our money in fun ways. When Eric was unemployed we didn't spend anything because we didn't know how long his period of unemployment would last. It is nice to feel some freedom with our income. Last week we bought new furniture for our family room and two lovely rugs, one for the kitchen and one for our office. Even though we have been in our house for over 2 years, we haven't decorated it very well. We are starting to work on this so our house will look more lived in. We got the entire house painted in July. But, so far I have only 1 picture hanging on a wall -- and that's in the powder room downstairs. For some reason I have never "moved in" to this house. I want to change that. We also took my Christmas present from last year to be framed so we can finally hang it. It is Christ in a Red Robe by Minerva Teichert. It is one of my most favorite paintings. One of the reasons I love it is because it is fairly abstract. I don't feel like I'm being hit over the head with "THIS IS JESUS" -- everyone STOP and stare at him -- image. I want people of any religion or spiritual persuasion to be able to come into our home, know that we are Christian, but not feel like they're being stared at. This painting has a very peaceful, spiritual feeling in it that people do notice, though. We took the canvas to two different framers to get estimates, and both of the people who looked at it commented on how calm and beautiful the image is. I also love the warm colors in the painting. It is going to go downstairs next to our stairway. I'll post a picture of it when it's framed and up on the wall.
  

• I turned 35 on September 17. I am now officially in my mid 30s. That does not sound as good, exciting or fun as being in my mid 20s. Overall, I am proud of where I am at this stage in my life. I believe I am at the stage I dreamed I would be at this age when I was in my 20s. I am married to my soul mate. I am in the middle of my second successful career as a clinical social worker (the best career move I ever made). I am a homeowner. I have two dogs who bring me so much joy and love. I have maintained wonderful friendships with those who were the most important to me in my 20s. I have developed stronger faith. I know that God knows me. Really the only thing I would change is where I live. If I could click the heels of my ruby slippers, I would be in Santa Monica right now ... eating a Poquito Mas black bean burrito followed by a Diddy Riese icecream sandwich.
  

• I wish I lived closer to my friends. Ironically, none of my closest friends (other than Eric of course!) live in LA anymore. It would be nice to go shopping with Alise, go running with Tami, or out to eat with Rachel... We all live in different states and almost all my friends have at least two children so lives are too crazy and too busy for those things. Now I'm remembering the glory of my mid 20s!
  

• I've been in Nashville for 2 years, 4 months. I have found a great hairstylist (Whitney), MDs, dentist and vet (Dr. Singleton!). The quest continues for a chiropractor that is convenient to my house or my office. Oh how I miss Dr. Michele Boston in Santa Monica -- chiropractor to the stars! and regular people.
  

• I hate the fact that it's October now which means that it will only be getting colder... not warmer. I dread the winter so much. At least we have new TV. I do not have much time for TV but my appointment shows this season are: How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Glee, Top Chef, 30 Rock and The Office. That's it. I will watch Lost when it comes back in February. I will watch Dancing With The Stars if there is nothing else on and I'm not otherwise busy with something else. I also will watch So You Think You Can Dance if it is on and I'm not doing anything else because Eric likes that show (for Kat Deeley of course!) and usually watches it. Right now I am getting the biggest kick out of Glee. It is so sick and twisted in this hilarious, satirical, geeky awesome way.
  

• Eric should be home soon with pizza. I love pizza. It is probably my favorite food. I especially love it with onions, olives, green peppers, tomatoes... sometimes pepperoni but I peel it off so I don't have to actually eat it but then I get the spicy flavor baked into the cheese. Friday night is always a good night for pizza!
  

Health Care Reform #1

Unfortunately, there hasn't been anything truly blog worthy to report lately. Eric is busy studying for the CPA exam and looking for a new accounting position. I have been working the crazy hours as usual at LTCG. I was reassigned to a new set of responsibilities overseeing all of the executive complaints, Dept of Insurance and legal complaints for care management. I can't say it's a promotion as I was not given a new title, nor a raise in exchange for this added responsibility and the inherent stress. But no risk of lay off at present. For this, we are grateful!

So the health care reform/debate has been on my mind lately and I've been wanting to post my thoughts about it. In my career as a medical social worker to date, I have worked for an HMO, a long term care insurance TPA (third party administrator) and for two hospitals (psych and med/surg), so no one can tell me that my opinions are uninformed. I have a lot to say on the subject as it is so complex. With that said, anyone who believes that the debate ultimately boils down to issues of economic cost has no idea what they're talking about.

Following are my thoughts on the subject, organized by the fallacy/topic being perpetuated by the media/politicians I feel most passionately eager to write about!

#1 Fallacy: Uninsured Americans can't/don't get quality healthcare because they can't afford it.

My in-laws did not believe me when I told them that it is against the law for a hospital to deny treatment to anyone who needs it or asks for it regardless of their ability in pay. They also did not me believe me when I explained to them that a hospital is legally prohibited from pursuing reimbursement for care and services from those who do not have insurance and cannot afford to pay. I don't blame them. The fact that the US government already mandates access and delivery of emergent and inpatient medical care to anyone (legal or illegal) regardless of insurance and financial status is not advertised or discussed by the media. The media and politicians want to perpetuate the myth that uninsured Americans are denied healthcare services, or forced into bankruptcy to pay the bills.

In every Medicaid/Medicare participating hospital (more than 9 out of 10 hospitals other than VA hospitals fall into this criteria) there are signs which are printed by the government and in multiple languages posted on the doors and walls which advise patrons that services will be provided to them regardless of the ability to pay.

Have you ever heard of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act? I would encourage you to learn more about it. You will feel better knowing that anyone -- and I mean ANYONE -- can walk into virtually any ER and ask for services and are guaranteed to get them at no cost if they do not have the ability to pay. ERs are overcrowded with long wait times... EMTALA is one of the reasons why because EMTALA only applies to ERs/hospitals.

I worked at UCLA Medical Center in the ER for three years. UCLA is ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the country on almost every measure of quality for patient care and medical practice standards. I can assure you that the homeless population in West LA have the best deal going when it comes to healthcare services -- much better than most of you who have insurance. They walk in or are brought in via ambulance for an illness or emergency to one of the greatest state of the art ERs in the world, they receive the greatest medical care from the top doctors in the world for free, and walk away, back to the streets. No deductibles, co-pays, or insurance precerts for them. You, oh "privileged" insured person, are not so lucky.

But the government and the media will continue to tell us all that unless we have "universal coverage", the poorest among us will continue to suffer and be denied care when they most desperately need it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMTALA

Pay special attention to the section entitled "Hospital Obligations Under EMTALA". Of note, one of the obligations is that "individuals requesting emergency care... must receive a medical screening examination to determine whether an emergency condition exists." This is important because this means that if a patient comes to the ER for an ear infection or strep throat, they qualify for services under EMTALA as they have requested emergency care and are thus entitled for their medical exam. Regardless of the ability to pay.

Among other requirements enacted with EMTALA:

• Patients cannot face criminal prosecution for failure to pay, even if the patient came to the hospital aware of inability to pay. Hospitals and third-party agents may not threaten patients with prosecution as a means of scaring the patient into making payment. Patient can be prosecuted under existing federal, state, or local laws for providing false name, address, or other information to avoid payment, receiving bills, or to hide fugitive status.
• A hospital may not perform a credit check on a patient either before, during, or after stay. The patient cannot receive a negative credit mark for failure to pay the hospital or any related services, or any third-party agent collecting on their behalf. Such services may not threaten patient with credit reporting to scare them into paying.

BFFs

Most readers of this blog will not know the lady in this picture, so I will provide some history.

This picture was taken over Memorial Day weekend here in Nashville at Radnor Lake with my oldest friend, Kim White. Kim and I met in 1st grade when we were in Mrs. Davidson's class at Sulphur Springs School. We became best friends when we were in 5th grade in Mr. Pelletier's class.

Over the summer between 5th and 6th grades, Kim and her mom and brother were in a car accident when they were hit by a man who ran through a stop sign. Kim had a serious head injury and was in a coma for a month. Kim's brother did not make it.

Kim and I became even better friends in 6th grade after she came back to school following months of rehab. She went through a lot that year as she recovered from the accident. Her family moved to Valencia before we went to 7th grade so we didn't go to school together after that, but we stayed friends. I'm sorry to say that we lost touch with each other after high school. Over the years since I often thought of Kim and wondered what had happened to her and what she was doing with her life.

Then came a random search I did on myspace after we moved to Nashville in 2007. I couldn't believe it -- thanks to myspace I was able to reconnect with Kim after almost 15 years! I got her to join Facebook (cause it's way better) and we have stayed in touch. She moved to Destin, FL around the same time as we moved to Nashville. For Memorial Day weekend, Kim drove up to visit us. It was so wonderful to see her. It was like we had never lost touch at all.

On Saturday we spent the majority of the day touring The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home. We had a wonderful day and learned about his life, as well as Southern culture during his lifetime.

On Sunday we hiked around Radnor Lake and saw a lot of animals including squirrels, chipmunks, baby ducklings, baby geese and turtles. It was a beautiful day.


I am so proud of Kim and all she has accomplished in her life so far. She has traveled around the world, published a book (Humboldt), worked as a radio and print journalist, and lived in different states like Washington DC and all over California. She continues to live a rich, full life full of adventure and joy, and has so much courage, persistence and a wonderful sense of humor. Most of all, I am happy to say that Kim remains the loyal, sincere and kind friend I still remember from those days of childhood innocence at SSS.

Belated Easter post

I have to admit that as I get older I become less and less interested in holidays, or celebrating holidays. If I was still single I probably would never celebrate anything! My feelings have (sadly) evolved into an overall boredom and even frank annoyance at being obligated to celebrate holidays. Nowadays my attitude is that a holiday is just like any other day but isn't because society says so. So we believe we have to spend money we would never otherwise have spent, and exhaust ourselves preparing for and cleaning up afterwards. However, since I am married and Eric does enjoy holidays I usually do try to come up with something.

For example, we did have a Christmas tree this year which was the first tree we have had since we've been married. It was nice. (But, we were hardly ever home to see it and it took twice as long to take it down than it did to put it up.)

Another example, I learned how to make matzoh-brie and make it on New Years Day morning (this was our second year running).

But this year for Easter I made no plans whatsoever.

Until Heidi & John invited us over to dye Easter eggs, which I haven't done in probably 15 years and Eric has not done since he was in elementary school and was taught something about religious traditions around the world. Given that he was raised Jewish, the dying of eggs and the ensuing hunt were certainly not an annual tradition!

Needless to say, Eric was excited with the prospect of egg dying and gleefully rummaged through boxes to find his collectable Star Wars egg dying kit for the occasion.

We had a blast and it was probably the most holiday-y endeavor I have embarked on for some time.

Following the dying, we sampled some Gigi's Cupcakes. This is a local bakery in town that I had heard rave reviews about for awhile. We now understand why. Those cupcakes were to dye (ha ha!) for! We tried Scarlett's Velvet, Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip, Lemon Dream Supreme and a special Easter one that was devil's food cake w/ buttercream frosting that had little bunny ears.

Then, Heidi showed us some episodes of her new favorite show, Big Bang Theory. We were both pleasantly surprised, and think the show is hilarious! We love Sheldon! "Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock!"

Walking in Memphis

Busy season at Deloitte meant Eric was assigned to an audit engagement for Anderson Tully in Memphis for six weeks. He was home only on weekends due to the 3 hour travel time between Memphis and Nashville. But because Deloitte put Eric up at the Hilton in Germantown, we enjoyed a "free" vacation one weekend. I wasn't all that excited to play tourist in Memphis initially, but we ended up having a great time! It was nice to get away and stay in a hotel and eat at good restaurants.

The weather was rainy and cold, unfortunately, but we drove around the city to try to see as much as we could.

We saw Graceland from the street as we didn't want to spend money or time on the tour. At the time Elvis built Graceland it was on a large piece of property in the countryside... now it is in the middle of a really bad section of town with run down public housing projects, laundromats, check cashing businesses and liquor stores. Then you get to the block where Graceland itself is located and it is row after row of cheap hotels, souvenir shops and the official Elvis museum on both sides of the street. Graceland itself is on one side, and the other side is a complex of exhibits and an official Elvis store. A private jet that must have been owned or rented by Elvis is also part of the tour. Maybe if we ever go back and we are truly bored or interested in blowing $60+ we will actually take the tour. The tickets are unbelievably expensive, in my opinion. It's $28 just to see the house -- none of the other exhibits are included!












We drove downtown along the Mississippi and Riverfront Park, past the Pyramid, St Jude Children's Research Hospital and across the bridge to Mud Island to see the fancy real estate available in that section of the city. We drove back into the city and found the Lorraine Motel and the National Civil Rights Museum. The Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968. We were disappointed because the museum closes early on Saturday and it closed 15 minutes before we got there. When we go back to Memphis someday we will make sure we can go to the museum when it's open.














We went back downtown, and went to The Peabody Hotel. Unfortunately, we missed the Peabody ducks march that day. Someday I would love to come back and watch the march! We went across the street and up the back alley to have dinner at Rendezvous, one of the most famous BBQ restaurants in the South. The restaurant is in a warehouse with the entrance halfway up an alley. There is no alley in America that can possibly smell better than that alley did. And I actually ate ribs -- which is probably the first time I have had ribs in 20 years! The food was delicious and we would both go back again. We walked down Beale St which was totally crazy because it was St Patrick's Day weekend and there were thousands of people celebrating. We then went to a famous local bakery called The Cheesecake Corner for cheesecake, one of my most favorite desserts. It was delicious.

We also went exploring in Germantown and Cordova in east Memphis which are upscale areas of the city. We went to a mall in Cordova and I got to go shopping. Banana Republic was having a huge sale so it wasn't difficult to do some damage there, and of course, at Abercrombie. I got a great spring A&F tee and a sweater on clearance. I passed on the new spring polos because Eric would have had a heart attack if he witnessed me drop at least $100 on polos (because there's no way I would only buy one!). I'll buy a couple next time I'm at Cool Springs and alone. :)

We had breakfast on Sunday at a local breakfast place called Brother Junipers near the University of Memphis and drove around the campus a bit.

We did a lot, and we had a wonderful, full weekend! Memphis is not a place we would probably have ever gone to visit had it not been for the audit, but I'm glad we got to go and enjoy a great time.

And now busy season is over and we're very relieved that his next audit is on a client based locally in Franklin!