#!/usr/bin/perl -w use Acme::Scurvy::Whoreson::Bilgerat; my $insultgenerator = Acme::Scurvy::Whoreson::Bilgerat->new( language => 'pirate' ); print $insultgenerator; # prints a piratical insult
finally got a few minutes to breathe after finally getting ${PRIORITY_ONE_PROJECT_DU_JOUR} mostly done, and called the hospital billing to inquire (only mildly panicky, i swear) about yesterday’s bill. turns out that they only billed the first part of that bill so far, and only submitted the bill for the remaining four-plus grand yesterday, which is why it still shows as a balance due.
WOOHOO! it’s NMP!so we’ve reached the point where i’m getting all the hospital bills for the surgery and emergency care and such. i finally got an actual bill — as opposed to a not-a-bill — from the hospitals. the thing is, they screwed up my insurance info, so i have no idea if it’s money i actually have to pay, or if i have to give them the right insurance info to bill, or if i have to yell at the HMO to pay the money.
long time readers of this blog will remember, way back in those halcyon days of august, 2003, when i had that weird vision thing and my primary physicial sent me in for an MRI of my head (…BRAAAAAAINS!) to make sure i didn’t have a tumor or anything. back then, i was using the university’s PPO for health insurance. after i got the bill for my portion of that, i decided that i’d better switch to the HMO in case anything ever happened to me, as 20% of medical bills can be sort of a scary prospect. so i switched to the U of C HMO — which basically means i have to use the university for all of my health care, which i was going to do anyway because it’s right here, so it didn’t matter. so when i went in to the ER for my wrist after i got back from atlanta, they took my insurance info, but apparently didn’t check it against the system, and just started billing the insurance company i had on record. so i started getting, in addition to my not-a-bills from the hospital, these notices from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois that they were refusing to pay my bills because i wasn’t covered on the date of service. (duh.) then not-a-bills started showing up that were, correctly, being billed to the UCHMO. so yesterday i called and got that straightened out for the one not-a-bill i received which reflected BCBSIL instead of UCHMO, but i’ve gotten several notices from BCBSIL so i know i’ll have more yet to straighten out. then yesterday i got this actual bill, for my surgery on 24th november, which is for the thirteen grand of the surgery — correctly billed to UCHMO, and paid for — plus an extra $4700, which i’m now liable for. and i have no idea if i’m actually liable for that — in which case, I AM UTTERLY FUCKED — or if it’s the stuff they mistakenly tried to bill to BCBSIL and were denied so i just have to correct that, or if UCHMO is just not paying that portion for some reason and i have to yell at them. this is altogether too much fun.now i have something new to count down to — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 16 July 2005!
too bad i’ll be too broke to be in the UK for the release of this one, like i was for OotP. :(my grandma gave me her homemade caramels recipe yesterday. i’m going to have to go grocery shopping so i can try my hand at it. the only candy i’ve ever really tried making is english toffee, so this should be interesting.
1 c. sugar3/4 c. dark corn syrup
1/2 c. butter
1 c. light cream (grandma uses condensed milk)
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 tsp. vanilla butter the sides of a two quart saucepan. combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, and half of cream. bring to boil over low heat, stirring constantly. slowly stir in remaining cream, and cook over low heat to medium ball stage, stirring almost constantly toward and. remove from heat, and nuts and vanilla, and pour into a buttered 9 x 5 x 3 pan. mark squares when warm, cut when cool, wrap, and store.
