Comparing State Costs

The San Jose Mercury News has a short piece comparing various costs of California's government with those of four other states. Scroll down for links to the individual category comparisons.

Fred's Homegrown?

Yep. I'm thinking of becoming a grower. But not pot: Tobacco. I've thought about this off and on for some time and this New York Times article makes me think it might work. The gal seems to raise enough tobacco at her house to satisfy all her needs. Surely I could do the same?

After doing some brief research this looks a little tougher than I expected. They're a lot like tomatoes, being members of the Nightshade family. That has its own problems down here on the coast, most notably Early and Late Blight. They're also susceptible to the same pests, although I haven't had much of a problem with pests on tomatoes.

Another, and probably the biggest, hurdle I've found is the drying and curing requirements. I found something saying they need to be dried in the right humidity with relative humidity in the upper 60% range being optimum. Since 100% isn't uncommon here (it's supposedly 100% as I write this)that would mean you'd have to be able to dry it where humidity could be controlled.

Aging, or curing, is another issue. I guess most commercial tobacco is aged at least a year, if not longer. I've read that some varieties require up to 6 years(!). That requires long term storage space that would have to be rotated among crops. How could I pull that off?

Still, that gal in New York seems to be handling it ok. I've been trying to find a way to contact her to ask how exactly she does it but can't find a direct e-mail. She does have a Facebook page but it says not to Friend her unless you actually know her.

I'll keep working on this. If nothing else maybe I could just grow a few plants, stumble through the process and see how it works. If it's not too big a hassle, maybe more folks could start growing tobacco and we could have add a new definition to Humboldt Homegrown.

A Short Health Care Adventure

I have to renew the prescription for my blood pressure medication soon but hated the thought of going to my old primary care provider. It was time to look elsewhere. The problem was I'm kind of on MediCal and kind of not and more and more doctors are refusing MediCal due to their poor reimbursement rates.

I was thinking of first trying Eureka Family Practice on Harris Street, although I'd heard they don't accept MediCal patients unless they were prior patients of new medical staff. In my case, I thought that might work as I used to see P.A. John Brimlow who'd move there from the old North Coast Family Practice. I also thought I might give them a try since I pretty much pay cash for all my medical expenses so the rather weak link I have to MediCal shouldn't matter.

First thing I did was check their web site. No mention I could find regarding accepting new patients or patient requirements. Rather than call on the phone I sent an e-mail describing my situation to their contact e-mail address. I never received a reply and told myself when I call them on the phone I should recommend they remove the e-mail address from their web site if they don't respond to e-mails.

A few days went by so yesterday I decided I'd better call them and find out if they'd take me as I only had a month or so of my prescription left. I knew it might take weeks to get an appointment, assuming I could get one at all. I gave them a call.

The girl that answered was nice enough, but once I told her I was kind of on MediCal and kinda not she told me they weren't enrolled with MediCal and couldn't accept me. I emphasized that I'd likely be paying cash for all visits as I paid share of cost and planned on only coming in once a year to get my prescription renewed. I also told her, if she checked the MediCal rolls on her computer, I likely wouldn't be found on them as I'm a Share Of Cost member and folks like me aren't usually added unless we go over our share of cost.

She told me it didn't matter but she'd connect me to their billing supervisor and perhaps she could work things out. The supervisor was out of the office so I left a message on her answering machine and hung up. This didn't look good and I assumed the same would happen with my next choice: Redwood Family Practice on Buhne Street. It didn't.

I called them right away, expecting to be immediately turned down, but the girl said they do accept MediCal patients. She immediately started writing down my personal and some medical info. When we got to the MediCal part of it she said, as I expected, that I wasn't on their list of MediCal patients. I explained I likely wouldn't be unless I had to go to the hospital and called the Welfare Office to have the worker fast track my application.

She said they could figure that out later and we set up an appointment for the middle of March which should hopefully be before my prescription runs out. Not bad, and quite a relief, as I wasn't sure where to go next if they turned me down. I guess I could have gone back to the old place I used to go but I really loathed having to go there.

About the only down side was it was going to cost $102.00 for my first visit. After that the standard fee was $72.00 but they have some sliding scale that I may or may not qualify for after they figure out the MediCal thing as it might apply to me. She didn't elaborate further and I didn't pursue it. That's a bit more than the $65.00 flat fee I'd pay at the place I used to go.

Good. A new place to go for medical stuff. I am satisfied and relieved.

The billing supervisor from Eureka Family Practice called and left a message on my answering machine a couple hours later. She confirmed they couldn't accept me and that even if I did pay cash, they'd have problems with referrals to other offices as the MediCal thing was an issue with that, too. Oh well. Luckily, it didn't really matter anymore.

Letting Him Die

Zombie has a touching and interesting piece on letting her uncle die.

Bush/Obama Inflation Coming?

It certainly will eventually, but it's hard to say how much that's playing a part in what's happening right now. First we have CNN reporting that inflation in developing countries will cause higher prices in the U.S. That also allows companies here some wiggle room to raise their prices.

The New York Daily News is reporting the same thing and adds that, despite the down economy, companies will likely have to raise the costs of nearly everything. So much for the notion that you don't have inflation in down economies.

The scariest part of this to me is that we don't know how much of the inflation in this country is the result of the Kirkian/ Zimbabwe style policy of printing more and more money as we've been doing for some years. To quote that CNN story, "The fall in the dollar and the rising commodity prices are the reason to worry,...".

So, the fall in the dollar? That can happen when you print more and more money. How much of what's happening right now is a result of printing money or are the effects still to be seen?

In California we'll likely take a double whammy, mostly self inflicted, since prices for food and energy were already expected to rise because of Prop 2 (cage free eggs) and Prop 23 (failed to suspend AB32). I was already worried about that. Now it's looking like it's happening sooner and might be worse than expected. I've already been seeing higher prices for food and I'm scared to death.

Winco Annoyances

I'll agree with Joel Mielke on this one. I went into the Winco deli section yesterday to grab a salad for the wife and a few El Monterrey burritos for myself. Threw the salad in my bag but there's some guy and his shopping cart blocking access to the burritos.

He just stands there perusing the items in front of him, but I got the impression he wasn't really looking to buy anything. I stood back patiently and waited. Finally I figured I'd just walk to the other side of the store and pick up a couple cans of artichoke hearts. Surely he'll be gone when I return? Nope. I walk back to the deli and there he still is so I walk over to take a look at the fish counter.

After spending a couple more minutes looking at the fish I look over and see he's moved, about 3 feet from where he was standing, but at least allowing access to the section where the burritos were. I take a look at the guy and he's just standing there leaning on his cart. What is it with that guy? To add insult to injury, my ten minute or more wait for him was for naught. There weren't any burritos in stock.
~~~~~

What is it with people and those shopping carts, anyway? Ok. I'll admit many, if not most, of the folks that shop Winco buy a lot of stuff and need to clutter up the aisles with shopping carts, but some don't. I remember seeing one guy in the checkout line right in front of me. All he had in his cart was a gallon jug of milk. What a dweeb.

And then there's the folks who grab a cart from the few that are just outside the exit door and enter through that same door despite the sign saying its for exit only. That can really plug up the works with all the people leaving going the opposite way. How rude!

Of course, most of the people going out the door are going as slow as possible, shopping being more of a recreational experience for so many of them. They're part of the problem, as well, creating bottlenecks both in the store and at the exit: Recreational shoppers.

Now they've got it set up so people can't bring shopping carts in through the exit door and I'm wondering what I should do? I suppose some folks might consider me to be rude, too, as I used to enter through the exit door myself. I figured no harm done as I usually don't use a shopping cart. I just carry one or two of the reusable Winco bags. Saves time and space.

Even after they put up a sign by the #1 checkout that no shopping carts should be going through there I still walked through with my bags. Then they put up a barrier with a sign because people still brought carts in through the exit door. I forget what the sign said but it prompted me to ask the gal at the checkstand if it was ok for people without shopping carts to pass through there. She seemed a bit annoyed with me for even asking so I decided to start using the entrance door.

But that's annoying too as you still have to deal with the recreational shoppers. They grab their shopping cart, take a few steps, then stop and look at whatever is on the shelves around them. Sometimes you really have to be agile to make your way through them. What a pain.

I noticed yesterday they have new barricade up by the #1 checkout that seems to be set to allow people but not carts through. Maybe I'll take a chance and try going in through the exit next time? I'll ask first.
~~~~~

And why do so many people have to bring the whole family along when they shop Winco? That really clutters up the aisle, never mind the kids screaming and shouting sometimes. Can't they leave the older kid in charge of the other ones while they spend an hour or two doing their shopping? I guess not.
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And don't you hate those check writers? Everybody else is pretty quick, even the recreational shoppers, with the cash and debit cards, but there always has to be at least one check writer somewhere holding up the line. And many of them don't fill out the check ahead of time as I always used to do. Some (and it seems they're usually older women) wait until the checker gives them the total, then they grab their checkbook and start filling it out. That is like SO ANNOYING!

You check writers need to enter the modern world and get a debit card. Nearly all banks offer them. If you can't handle that, at least fill out everything but the cash amount before you get to checkout and save the rest of us the wait while you indulge yourself.
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Anyway, that's a partial list of annoyances from Winco's fastest shopper. What are yours?

Freddy Silenced Again?

I was just checking the comments to a My Word column that ran recently. This a result of a post over at the Humboldt Herald on that column and the Richardson Grove realignment project.

I made a comment on February 13 along the lines of what I wrote at the Humboldt Herald:

The irony of that My Word piece being that trees that have lived right next to the road for decades are still there and seem to be healthy which brought us the need for the realignment in the first place. And I’m sure they’re doing more to protect the trees in the realignment than when the road was first put through the grove, yet the trees still stand.

Looking at it just a few minutes ago, there's only 5 comments. Mine isn't there and 4 of the 5 there are anti- Richardson Grove realignment comments, the other being neutral. I'm guessing that this has something to do with using Facebook for their comments and comments are deleted after a few days? Not a good way to handle comments, I don't think, if that's the way it works.

Or did someone, somewhere, delete my comment?

Antich Does Mechanicnet

Cute online business application I was made aware of yesterday. You'll recall I got a $5.00 discount on my truck repair bill earlier this month for giving Antich Automotive my e- mail address.

I had an e-mail in my inbox from them yesterday morning thanking me for using their service. The e-mail had links to this site, where you can make an appointment with them, check your service history and give feedback. The service history looked even more detailed than the paper invoice I was given.

Pretty neat. I wonder if any other local auto shops are doing this?

Buy American?

Sure. Why not? Still, I get more than a little annoyed by those who advocate heavy tariffs to bring the price of foreign goods up to match American ones. As this fellow explains, high prices have their own harmful effects on the economy:

"- Because “buying American more often” means buying low-priced imports less often, Americans’ spending power will shrink. Americans will then have less money to spend at the movies, at local restaurants, on premium cable-tv packages, and the like."

So true, and I'm one that generally can't afford higher prices on anything. Still, it is a shame there aren't more things available we can buy that were made here. I want to see more American manufacturing jobs available along with more quality goods. It seems most things I buy nowadays are made overseas, and often the quality is lacking.

Here's your chance to plug American made products. If you know of an American made product that's not too much more expensive than a foreign one, let me know and maybe I'll consider buying it now and then.

Only two things come to mind off the top of my head: D- Con Rat Poison, although I'm not sure if the Chinese make rat poison, and New Balance shoes. I've been told New Balance are made in America, although I'm unsure of the cost/quality comparison.

Anything else?

Eureka Makes Top 12

of the National Trust of Historic Preservation's 2011 list of heritage destinations. Thanks to Matt Owen for the link.

Press- Democrat Does Eel River Trails

The Santa Rosa Press- Democrat has a story on the Humboldt County based Eel River Trails Association. It includes some rather stunning figures as to how much some trails cost- $350,000 per mile to convert old rail lines to trails.

Atlas Shrugged- The Movie

I guess I'll have to watch this movie. I read the book, twice, back in the early eighties and loved it. I'm not sure how well the movie will mirror the book, though. The trailer doesn't make it seem all that appealing.

The big question is whether I'll wait for it to come out in DVD, or watch it in a theater? I used to not mind going to the movies but I stopped doing that years ago. I hate being stuck in those seats. I'll probably find some way to watch it at home.

Funny thing about this movie is that I recall Atlas Shrugged being about Dagny Taggart, a railroad magnate, wanting to go ahead with her business plans without government hindering her. Nowadays the ones pushing all the railroad proposals are either government or businesses wanting government to subsidize them. Doesn't really seem like the movie would make sense when you compare it to the world today.

Crescent City Making News

A number of fun items in The Daily Triplicate recently:

First off, annexation rears its ugly head in Crescent City with the Mayor proposing areas just outside of town become part of Crescent City proper. Naturally the Mayor makes it sound as if this is all for the benefit of the proposed areas.

Little is said about tax redistribution until later in the story and I think we know that taxes is what this is all about. At least those proposing annexation of Eureka's outlying areas are honest about it.
~~~~~

Fluoride is back in the news up there, too, with the City Council voting 3 to 2 in favor of reducing the amount of fluoride the city water is treated with to the lower level recommended by Environmental Protection Agency. Seems there's some concern now over the higher levels being used.

Fluoride proponents on the council are opposed to lowering the levels at all. Jeeesh! They're just talking about lowering the level, not taking it out altogether. I never cease to be amazed how cavalier some folks are about literally shoving stuff down other peoples' throats when they don't have to.

The fight over fluoride goes on.
~~~~~~

Lastly, Crescent City is going after a property owner for letting the brush on his property grow unchecked and they're declaring his property a public nuisance. Hits home with me after the City of Eureka ragging on us about our ivy growing out over the sidewalk last year.

Seems strange to hear complaints like that from people who live in relatively wild areas to begin with. I know some people enjoy the more "wild" properties in town. A couple stopped by my house years ago telling me they really enjoyed the wilder look of the property, the opposite being those properties where owners think everything has to look controlled.

Still, I can understand the complaints to some extent, just as I understand the view of the owner of the Crescent City properties who is reported to have wrote, “such vegetation possesses a natural beauty, certainly offering a more attractive vista than a lot scraped clean of all trees and bushes”. Nicely said, but I know some who might disagree with him.

The SquiresES

Boy, they sure told me. I've ragged twice on the Times- Standard for their last two stories on the Squires lawsuit. They keep referring to them as Squireses, at least in the title. I kept commenting that it's Squires. Then Ryan Burns replied, and Kimberly Wear e-mailed me, that SquiresES is the plural of Squires, since the lawsuit involves both Floyd and Beth.

Ok. Fine. Still, I think it looks wrong and I suppose you could argue that they're actually a single entity since they're both being equally sued, aren't they? It's not like one or the other will be judged against and the other not held liable.

Whatever.

THE GAME

I couldn't care less about sports and, no, I won't be watching THE GAME today. I figured most other folks would be. Once again I felt like the loneliest guy in town. Then I saw one of those opinion polls on the CNN web site. Last time I looked, 38% of the votes cast said they wouldn't be watching THE GAME.

Maybe I'm not the loneliest guy anymore?

That's kind of like Memorial Day weekend when everybody supposedly goes to THE LAKE. It's life as usual for me on any holiday so long as I can help it. I certainly wouldn't try to go to THE LAKE on a holiday.

Last year CNN had one of those same type polls asking how many people would be traveling during Memorial Day, at least I think it was Memorial Day. I believe it was 30% or less that said they'd be going somewhere. Most were staying home.

I guess I'm not alone in wanting to go to THE LAKE on slower days.

I was wondering what became of him.

Now I know.

Stan Schmidt was an Arcata Police Officer years ago. I knew him from back when I went through the College of the Redwoods Police Academy in '84. He taught classes there, usually involving weapons use. I'd wondered every now and then what became of him as I knew he must have retired.

Lo and behold, while checking out the January 2011 edition of the Gardening Gazzette (pdf file) I found a short piece about him at the bottom of the page. He was a life long hobby gardener. A big time gardener, it sounds like. I had no idea.

Strange Dealings With Dish Network

Had my first ever chat session with Dish Network Support yesterday morning. I noticed our monthly bill recently went from just over $25.00 to $36.74, the $25.00 being the promotional price we signed up for that was supposed to be in effect for a year.

After looking at my account page, I noticed a "Service Plan" charge of $6.00 that I thought I'd opted out of when I signed up. I couldn't find any way to remove it using my account page so I clicked on their Support Chat button rather than call them on the phone. A gal soon popped in and asked what the problem was. I asked her why my bill just went up around $11.00.

I also mentioned the service plan I thought I opted out of. She said the service plan was a part of the promotion and was included free for the first 6 months. After trying to talk me into keeping it, she finally removed it from my plan and told me our new monthly rate would be $29.99.

I replied that wasn't much of a difference as we were paying a few cents over $25.00 three months earlier as part of the original promotion deal. She replied that on February 1 all plans went up $5.00 because their costs increased due to what they have to pay for programming. I replied that I thought the promotional price was supposed to last a year. She said it applied to all plans, regardless.

Ok, so I noticed earlier they had a 60 channel plan listed. We're on the 120 one. I asked if we could change to the 60 channel plan without penalty. She said the 60 channel plan wasn't available yet. I'm guessing that means not available to us as we're still obligated to the terms of the promotion for about a year and a half.

That kind of burns me up. I figured promotional plans are something they can't change before the terms are up. I guess not and I'm sure I'd find something about that in the contract's fine print.

So, our rate has already gone up $5.00 in just over 6 months- $11.00 if I'd kept the service plan. I also notice they show the current 120 plan at around $50.00 a month, instead of around the $35 to $40.00 we were told we'd be paying after the promotion was over. I wonder if the satellite folks' rates will eventually end up higher than cable TV?

Just a little over 6 months and we're already paying more for TV than we did with Suddenlink, although we have a much larger selection of channels.

The Benzonelli- Gool Mystery

I was intrigued when I saw Heidi Benzonelli posting over at Humboldt Herald. She's the one spearheading that Jefferson School purchase effort.

The intrigue was because back around 1975 I knew a gal named Jaime, Janie or Janey Benzonelli- Gool. She was either the daughter or step- daughter of local gadfly and self- proclaimed Mayor of Old Town, Eureka, Bonnie Gool. There was a physical resemblance between Janie and Bonnie so I had the impression she was her daughter.

When I finally saw an e-mail address for Heidi this morning, I sent her an e-mail asking if they were related. Heidi replied immediately that she didn't know Janie, which I found strange. She thinks maybe Janie was Bonnie's husband's daughter. Heidi said she'd ask around.
~~~~~~~

I didn't know Janie very well. She was mostly an acquaintance that I knew from a rather rough crowd I hung around for a short time back then. I believe she was married at the time, too, but somehow one day we made plans for a party at my place for just the two of us. I used to live on the corner of West Del Norte and Albee Streets back then.

I forget where I picked her up from, but it wasn't too far from my place. Maybe at Bonnie's house on H or I street? She hopped on the back of my Honda 450 and we stopped by the Wabash & B liquor store for a couple quarts of beer (She was older than me and could pass easier for 21), then drove down Wabash towards my place.

We were a block from my apartment. It was about 4pm and Cal Trans was closing down so people were going home. I saw a Volkswagen at the stop sign in front of the Cal Trans building, noted he was stopped and turned to check the other direction when Janie screamed. I look up and the Volkswagen had pulled out in front of me.

It was too late. I couldn't avoid him and smacked right into the side of the Volkswagen. We flew over the top of the car and, believe it or not, I was thinking I had to get underneath Janie as I had a thick coat, helmet and gloves on but Janie was only wearing pants and a blouse. I couldn't pull it off and landed almost on top of her, instead.

I bounced off Janie and landed probably twenty feet away, the back of my helmet striking the pavement and sending the helmet flying down the street since I didn't have it strapped on. I got up and looked at Janie and she's laying there with a pool of blood beneath her head. I walked over to her, trying to pull my gloves off and noticed my forearm stretch as I pulled my glove off. My arm was broken.

The ambulance came quickly and we ended up at St. Joseph's. She got out in a day or two, if memory serves me correct. I was there a week and ended up with my arm in a cast for 6 months. She stopped by my place to see me briefly after I returned home. I found it odd she chose to wear the same torn pants she was wearing on the day of the accident, the pants having been torn in the wreck.

Bonnie set us up to see an attorney to go after the guy who pulled out in front of us but he didn't have insurance so the attorney wasn't interested. I ended up paying my hospital bill out of pocket over time. Not sure what Janie did, but I wondered if she would have gone after me if I owned anything?

After the attorney said he didn't think it worth his time, Janie starts talking about how I was racing down the street, suggesting it was my fault. She never said anything like that until the attorney said he wasn't interested in suing the other guy. As it was she didn't try to sue me, maybe because I didn't own much back then.

Ah, such fond memories of the good old days. I'm wondering where Janie is now?

Adopt- A- Block: Already Doing It

Fun idea this Adopt- A- Block that the Eureka Chamber of Commerce is pushing. I wonder how many other folks have already been cleaning up their streets and sidewalks as I have? I started doing it a while back, having not seen the streetsweeper except maybe once or twice a year.

I don't do it on any particular schedule. I just grab a 5 gallon bucket and my Pik- Stik (Shafer's still has Pik Stiks for just over $20.00) when there's enough trash accumulating that I can't ignore it. It only takes 5 minutes or so to clean the area on both sides of my house and across the street. I think it's fun. I also take Round Up and spray the weeds on the sidewalk at least a couple times a year. That's fun, too.

Ironic, in a way, as last year the city sent us a nasty note about the overgrown ivy on the Trinity Street side of our house. That's since been cleaned up.

Walking Old Town, And Worrying

I need to walk around Eureka more often. I used to walk around quite a bit when I first moved up here and enjoy the variety in houses. So many different designs from different mindsets.

Got my second taste in a month doing that this morning. The first time was after we'd got back from being stranded in Weott. I took my truck down to the place at 7th and B in Eureka and decided to walk home. No big deal and I did look forward to taking a closer look and what the neighborhoods look like.

A fun walk, seeing all the different houses. I'd never noticed until then just how many apartment buildings we have on the northwest side of town. Walked by one place on the corner of Cedar(?) and C Street I did something at before, but couldn't place it. I either did some work there decades ago, or visited someone.

Took another walk this morning. Had to take my truck in to get looked at. It acted up again on Sunday. I'd scheduled one of those discount oil change/ annual check up deals with Antich Automotive for today, anyway, so the timing was perfect. Again, I figured it wasn't all that far from my house so I might as well have another adventure and walk home.

Turned the truck in and told the guy of the recent problem with my Check Engine light being on (again). He said they'd check it out and had me sign the work order. I was hoping, since they would be checking my electrical system as part of the check up maybe they'd just throw in the CE light problem with that.

Nope. As I left the place I looked at the copy they gave me and it would be $138.44 more to check out the light problem. The last guy that read the trouble codes did it for free but didn't offer much in the way of advice as the truck seemed to be running ok despite the trouble code saying a spark plug was misfiring. Well, if these folks can isolate and fix the problem it might be worth it, depending on how much it costs to fix it.

I left the place around 10am walked down Second Street towards home already worrying about what the final cost would be. Other than that the fun began, although there's not a whole hell of a lot of business activity right near Antich Automotive (corner of 2nd and A streets).

I did notice the Good Relations sex store place. I was thinking of taking a quick look through there but it was closed. Then I got my first look in a long time at Imperial Place. I've always thought that a quaint little cluster of businesses. It used to house Advanced Computer Solutions but I see a knitting place there now. Anyone know what happened to ACS?

I turned up E Street and headed south, almost walking down a few more blocks just to take a closer look at the rest of Old Town, but decided to just head home. I really liked the quiet yet somewhat busy atmosphere down there. As I walked up E street, business owners would call out a greeting to someone passing by and here and there a couple folks might be chatting on the sidewalk.

That brought back to mind how it was when I worked at Sabrina's Restaurant which was a across from the Eureka Theater back in the 70s. You knew all the folks that ran the neighboring businesses and it really felt like your own little neighborhood. Nice to see that sort of thing still exists down there.

I got to the corner of 9th and E and noticed the building on the southeast corner. I painted that building shortly after I moved up here, I reminisced, although it's a different color now. It wasn't until a couple block further up the street I realized that wasn't the house I painted. The house I painted was one block over on F Street. If I'd noticed my mistake earlier I would have gone over to F Street and take a closer look at the house I did paint. As it was, I kept walking.

I love all the different houses and designs. I drive by those houses nearly every day and can't pay much attention because I'm driving. Walking lets you appreciate the uniqueness of so many of those homes. But it didn't last long. Before I knew it, there was my house and I was home.

I was surprised when I got inside and looked at the clock it had only taken me 20 minutes or so to make that trip. It seemed longer than that. I think I left the auto place at just about 10am, at least that's the time the guy that worked there told me. Yet I got home at around 10:22? Hard to believe.

So here I sit. Waiting for a phone call to tell me what's wrong and how much it will cost. Playing Aces High ate up some time but the worry in me grows. This is like waiting for the results of a cancer biopsy. No matter how much this costs, we can't really afford it and it wouldn't surprise me if it ends up an unpleasant surprise like my visit the Urgent Care back in December.

He told me it might be an hour and a half, or so, before they have everything taken care of. I'm still sitting here waiting and worrying.