January 8, 2011 · 7:06 pm

A 5-hour Ride in the Wanhmublance

Today has been a long day.

Technically this all started last Sunday. I was fine all day, but at around 8pm, POW. My lungs suddenly feel as though they’ve been filled with Crisco. By Monday morning, the coughing has started. A constant, dry cough. And my Crisco-filled lungs have the weight of an anvil on them.

A hot (whoops, too hot?) pad on my chest helps with the Crisco/anvil feeling, but the coughing persists.

And there is the coughing. Oh man, the coughing. My abs hurt from the coughing. Hey, involuntary workout! Neat! My throat is getting ripped up from the coughing. I haven’t slept in three nights from the coughing.

By Saturday morning, I’d been beaten. Knowing that my regular doc’s office closes at 12:30 on Saturdays, and there was little-to-no chance of me getting an appointment on such short notice anyway, I set my sights on urgent care.

11:15 am – Check into [Name Withheld] Urgent Care. Fill out 3-1/2 pages of paperwork, realize that my expensive-but-crappy insurance will not cover this, decide that I am not so sick as to pay $327 (actual fee) for a doctor to prescribe cough syrup, leave.

11:35 am – Call regular doctor from urgent care parking lot and beg, plead, cajole for appointment. Receptionist directs me to their own urgent care office, which, while located in Boulder (a not-convenient drive), charges as a regular doctor visit instead of an urgent care visit.

11:40 am – Call the Boulder urgent care office and verify this. Thank them profusely.

12:15 pm – Check in to Boulder Medical Center urgent care desk. Fill out half a sheet of paperwork. Wait.

1:00 pm – Check back with receptionist. Another 45 minutes, she thinks. The urgent care waiting room is packed. Three of us have the same hacking cough.

2:35 pm – I’m finally brought into an exam room. Friendly, efficient, thorough nurse. Friendly, efficient, thorough doctor. I really do love the staff at Boulder Medical Center, and everyone I  interact with there today, at both the Louisville and Boulder offices, are examples of why I’ve been going there for years (and why I made sure even my crappy insurance was accepted by their offices when I was choosing a carrier).

3:05 pm – Diagnosis of acute bronchitis complete, prescriptions for two meds (one for daytime, one for nighttime) faxed to my pharmacy. Instructions to call them if my meds aren’t ready for me when I get there.

3:30 pm – Pharmacy fax machine is down, they don’t have my meds yet. Come back in 15 minutes.

3:50 pm – Pharmacy fax is still down, but they’re working on it. Come back in 10 minutes.

4:05 pm – Oh thank goodness, my meds are finally ready. My feeble lungs can’t take all of this “pacing aimlessly” activity, and I’m actually getting ready to crawl up under the pharmacy counter just to have a place to sit.

All in all, it took nearly five hours to go from Urgent Care A to having meds in hand. Parents, who probably need to deal with this kind of thing multiple times a year, you have my sympathies. And should get a special ribbon or something. I’d make you one, but I only have enough breath to sit here and type. I’m saving my energy so I can get to the couch and lift the remote.

3 Comments

Filed under doctors and dentists

January 6, 2011 · 9:11 am

30 Themes

I saw this on Highway 101 (via my pal at The Kim Show [note: her site auto-plays music]) and since I haven’t been posting with anywhere near the frequency I’d like, I think I may use it as well as a springboard for getting back into writing. We’re already 6 days into the month, and I typically don’t post on weekends, which will conveniently let me skip some of the more uncomfortable themes. I’ll decide as they come up. Also: There may be pie.

Day 01 – Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is.
Day 02 – Where you’d like to be in 10 years.
Day 03 – Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 04 – Your views on religion.
Day 05 – A time you thought about ending your own life.
Day 06 – A photo of yourself and write 30 interesting facts about yourself.
Day 07 – Your zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality.
Day 08 – A moment you felt the most satisfied with your life.
Day 09 – How you hope your future will be like.
Day 10 – Someone who came into your life unexpected and made an impact.
Day 11 – Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up.
Day 12 – Bullet your whole day.
Day 13 – Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.
Day 14 – A photo of a cherished memory.
Day 15 – 5 people in your life right now who mean the most.
Day 16 – Your views on mainstream music.
Day 17 – Your highs and lows of this past year.
Day 18 – Something that makes you laugh.
Day 19 – Disrespecting your parents.
Day 20 – How important you think education is.
Day 21 – One of your favorite shows.
Day 22 – Something you want to do before you die.
Day 23 – Give pictures of 5 guys who are famous who you find attractive.
Day 24 – Somewhere you would like to travel.
Day 25 – A photo you took.
Day 26 – What kind of person attracts you.
Day 27 – A problem that you have had.
Day 28 – Something that you miss.
Day 29 – Goals for the next 30 days.
Day 30 – Your highs and lows of this month.

2 Comments

Filed under Forgot To Tag

December 29, 2010 · 11:36 pm

Thick and Tired

Over the summer, my life unexpectedly upheaved. (I know the syntax is incorrect. Poetic license.) The pain of events has diminished, but still lurks and pesters and sneaks up behind me and taunts and is generally very mean. I have progressed, however, from not being able to eat much at all, to apparently attempting to bury alive my sorrow with dairy products. I mean, really. Butter? Awesome stuff. I’ve been allowing myself to eat as much as I want of whatever makes me feel good.

But I don’t feel good. I’m bloated. My pants don’t fit. My lower back is starting to hurt. And I feel, generally, like poo.

I know that the “holiday” season isn’t yet over. I know that resolutions typically start on January 1st. But I’m sick and tired of feeling thick and tired. So I started today. I won’t be doing anything crazy, no cabbage-juice-and-bird-nest diets, but I am very much looking forward to being more conscious of what I eat, what I drink, and to feeling better. And to once again fitting into that spectacular dress that I bought just in case I go to Viva14.

Here’s to good health.

_____________________

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some very dear friends in Chicago sent me a gorgeous and meaningful teapot (see above) for Christmas. It will make the whole drinking-plenty-of-fluids thing that much more graceful, and will continue to remind me how lucky I am to know such cool people.

4 Comments

Filed under food, friends, holidays, Viva Las Vegas

December 13, 2010 · 7:31 am

NEW Eyeglasses!

For someone who wears her contact lenses as much as possible, I sure do spend a lot of time in eyeglasses. Sometimes because my eye is having an inexplicable physical “reaction” to wearing lenses, and sometimes because eyeglasses can be so stinkin’ cool! In a previous post, you saw my current lineup of prescription glasses in addition to one pair of frames that I managed to part with and sell at Tiddleywink Vintage. Yup, that means that I have three pairs of Rx-filled eyeglasses. Now, to be fair, one of those pairs is an outdated prescription, and they were my “backup” glasses when something was awry with my “go-to” pair. Last spring, you may recall, I added the vintage aluminum cat-eye pair just in time for wearing during the wee hours of the VLV weekender, when the cigarette smoke and long hours are too-too much for my contacts to handle.

Recently, my “go-to” pair started to lose its anti-reflective coating.* The scratches and imperfections in the coating were now starting to give me a headache, and my first instinct was to have fresh, new lenses put into my frames once again. I usually go to Costco for this sort of thing, and I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with the staff at the two Costco optical departments that I’ve used. But…

You may recall that after asking around at what seemed like EVERY local lab, I wound up sending that previously-mentioned vintage pair of aluminum frames to 39DollarGlasses.com to be re-lensed. That wound up working out so well that I decided to have another pair of vintage frames fitted with prescription G15 lenses and I thought that perhaps I’d send these frames in along with that pair, or hey, maybe splurge on a whole new pair, since the cost would be the same!

I don’t recall what unrelated thing I was looking up when Google came back with a Sponsored Ad for ZenniOptical, but I was intrigued by their promise of a complete pair of (single-vision) eyeglasses with prices starting at $6.95. I mean, really. $6.95? Who are they trying to kid? I took a look. I got distracted. I went back a few days later (the tab was still open in my browser) and did a new search… and found the frames at the top of this post. Advertised for $29.95, they’re one of the more expensive pairs on the site. I uploaded my photo so I could “try on” the frames, decided I liked them, and went ahead and filled out the order form so I could find out what they’d actually cost when filled with my prescription (My Rx is affordably single vision, but the strength that I require often results in an extra fee).

There was no surcharge for my strength. I placed my order. I looked around for reviews of the site (NOTE: I recommend that you do this BEFORE buying from a vendor you’re unfamiliar with). It was all too easy to find reviews written by folks who had to wait three or more weeks for their order to arrive. Folks who complained about the quality of the frames. Folks who complained about the quality of the frames, and then noted that, well, they did spend all of $10 so maybe you get what you pay for. I was a little nervous, but not too much. After all, this wouldn’t be my only pair. I’d still have back-ups. And I’d only be out $30.

I placed my order on the evening of November 29th, and received my new glasses in the mail on December 9th. If you don’t want to do the math, that’s 8 business days. They arrived in a padded envelope, packed inside a hard case with a lens cloth and a PD (Pupillary Distance) ruler. I wore them for three days before writing this post so that I could give an accurate review, and I report no headaches, no wavy lenses, no problems whatsoever.

If you need your existing frames, particularly vintage frames, re-lensed, I still heartily recommend 39DollarGlasses.com, where there is also a large selection of attractive new frames, and top-notch customer service. But now I know that ZenniOptical is also a fun option, and while the frames won’t likely last the 50+/- years that my older frames have, or perhaps they won’t last even three years, it’s a small investment to make to have some pretty nifty specs.

____________________

*Having worn glasses for nearly 30 years, both with and without anti-reflective coatings, and working daily on computers (the usual excuse for needing ARC) for 15+ years, I believe I am fully qualified to say it’s a crock. Skip the coating, save your money. The ARC coating does photograph better, if that’s something you’re concerned with. And if you are, you probably wear contacts anyway.

3 Comments

Filed under collections, reviews, shopping

November 4, 2010 · 1:01 pm

Flinty Eyes

I am a graphic designer. I make what you see, from business cards to billboards. But more frequently, I am a production artist. I work on what you don’t see: Bleed/trim/live areas. Kerning. Leading. Line breaks. Color builds. Correct use of open or closed single quote marks. If you can spot my handiwork, that means I’m doing it wrong. To the untrained eye, it should be invisible.

I am a ninja.

3 Comments

Filed under day job, design, pet peeves