w00t w00t booyah

Handles full - no room for coherent thought right now.

I just gave myself a 23% raise at work.

I stopped paying for the PPO plan for kid and I - the one I setup last year? The one I put into place expecting to need specialist care for kid, and then didn't?

And then moved the whole family to Jim's Kaiser plan that he gets gratis as part of his union contract?

The one that was the cost of a new car last year? Yeah, that PPO plan.

23% of my salary. Gahbum.

But that's not the stack overflow. When I advised the HR person that I'd stopped using the policy because we had Kaiser, she told me to get the enrollment date to her - because she was pretty sure if I hadn't used the PPO policy, they could get six months of the premiums back.

Half a new car, folks.

Guys, right now I'm not even looking at all of the help-me-outs right now - I can't. We've gone from peanut butter & jelly down to instant ramen in the last month, and real soon grass and weeds are going to look good. (The lights are on, the kid's in school and all's well, but there's not a lot left over.) I like being able to wiggle a bit - it's a luxury to me, having had nothing growing up until I started working at 15. Seriously - a quarter was a fortune, and I only had one if I found it in the street.

The idea of going without a PPO plan is scaring me a bit, but my rational mind is bitchslapping the other half reminding me I wasn't using it anyway and I know that if I really get into deep sauce, I can always pony up for MRM - I live in California, after all and have that option.

23%.

Even if I had paid everything out of pocket, I wouldn't have spent that.

...no, we don't need health care regulation in this country, omighad....

Handles full - no room for coherent thought right now.

I just gave myself a 23% raise at work.

I stopped paying for the PPO plan for kid and I - the one I setup last year? The one I put into place expecting to need specialist care for kid, and then didn't?

And then moved the whole family to Jim's Kaiser plan that he gets gratis as part of his union contract?

The one that was the cost of a new car last year? Yeah, that PPO plan.

23% of my salary. Gahbum.

But that's not the stack overflow. When I advised the HR person that I'd stopped using the policy because we had Kaiser, she told me to get the enrollment date to her - because she was pretty sure if I hadn't used the PPO policy, they could get six months of the premiums back.

Half a new car, folks.

Guys, right now I'm not even looking at all of the help-me-outs right now - I can't. We've gone from peanut butter & jelly down to instant ramen in the last month, and real soon grass and weeds are going to look good. (The lights are on, the kid's in school and all's well, but there's not a lot left over.) I like being able to wiggle a bit - it's a luxury to me, having had nothing growing up until I started working at 15. Seriously - a quarter was a fortune, and I only had one if I found it in the street.

The idea of going without a PPO plan is scaring me a bit, but my rational mind is bitchslapping the other half reminding me I wasn't using it anyway and I know that if I really get into deep sauce, I can always pony up for MRM - I live in California, after all and have that option.

23%.

Even if I had paid everything out of pocket, I wouldn't have spent that.

...no, we don't need health care regulation in this country, omighad....

*smacks self* I keep forgetting.

Next weekend is also the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (in collaboration with UCLA).

400 authors. Three signing areas - and the last time I went (only for about an hour, what an idiot), it was fabulous. Imagine three days of people reading reading reading - from their own works.

The event is free - you have to pay parking if you bring a car. Maybe I'll bring one car. I got four spaces leftover after me - anyone game?

Wanna tell Lee Iacocca something special? He'll be there Saturday. Oooh. Kirk Douglas! Elizabeth Taylor?

S.E. Hinton. *hyperventilates*

And I keep forgetting this happens every year.

*keeps looking*

Coachella isn't free except for parking. Okay, I feel better now.

Who wants to go with me?

Yo - you know one of the things they tell you in class when you're getting ready to adopt?

They tell you to start collecting "adoption" stories to keep around the house. Think about it - how many of your favorite children's books and media are adoption stories? Superman is a gimme.

You know I have to put Heroes up there on the shelf now. You watched it last night. You know why. *grins*

As good as that show is though? It just keeps reminding me of how much I miss Quantum Leap.

(Also, anime is FULL of adoption themes. Shall I name a few for you?)

Yo - you know one of the things they tell you in class when you're getting ready to adopt?

They tell you to start collecting "adoption" stories to keep around the house. Think about it - how many of your favorite children's books and media are adoption stories? Superman is a gimme.

You know I have to put Heroes up there on the shelf now. You watched it last night. You know why. *grins*

As good as that show is though? It just keeps reminding me of how much I miss Quantum Leap.

(Also, anime is FULL of adoption themes. Shall I name a few for you?)

But all of you who just got PS3s and Wiies? (Not one of them myself. Wii Wii. Say it with me!)

You had to unplug something, didn't ya? Gonna put it away for a while?

Don't.

Somebody can use that old Gamecube, Atari, PS1, whathaveyou. Check the local hospital, long-term care facility or someone like Free Geek.

Particularly since Free Geek was just robbed.

Welcome to the holidays. Where people turn into slavering money junkies in search of the perfect fix.

Me? I need to get to work.