My Process

I've finished my first year of my doctoral program. The second semester was very illuminating and very trying...I swear to never take three doctoral level classes while teaching two masters level classes ever again. Ever.

One of the things that's come out of this semester has been my understanding of how I work, what my process is. I have a couple of summer gigs, one of which is pretty big. I'm sorting through my approach to this project in my own way:

1. Think about project, imagining a timeline and possible deadlines.

2. Open up project and look at all the pieces. Read randomly, dipping into different pieces and think about how the pieces all go together. Close up project and have a 15 minute panic about how it's all going to work out. This step is not optional and I can't seem to skip it. I've stopped panicking about the panicking and I now just ride the wave and wait for it to pass.

3. Open up project and read carefully and methodically. Start plotting possible trajectories on the calendar. Make notes and think about how all these pieces fit together. Sketch out an action plan. Close project and feel better. Wait 24 hours.

4. Start what looks like actual work on project.

This is how my brain works. Doesn't matter if the project is an assignment, a book for class, or something for work. No matter what it is, I have to spend some time tiptoeing around it, thinking, turning it over in my mind and letting things stew on the back burner.

I am clear that the pre-work thinking and plotting is actually working, it just doesn't look like working, really, to people who might be watching. It's similar to my writing process in that I absolutely must go through a (hopefully) short panic period and the tiptoeing around it thing.

Sometimes, there's a tremendous power in knowing how to give yourself space to work in the way you need to.

The Joys of Rural Living

How to confuse people in a rural Target store:

1. Be female and over 40.

2. Go to the store at 8:45 am.

3. Be adorably zaftig and dressed in old jeans, scuffed up sneakers, an orange hoodie and a winter coat.

4. Sport a dark red faux-hawk with obvious grey roots.

5. Pick out some sexy underwear.

6. Take underwear to the checkout.

7. Buy it.

8. Walk to great big, muddy mini-van and get in.

For serious. The entire front of store staff came to watch me buy my stuff and leave.

Today, I am Proud

I am not always proud of my country.

Today, I am.

I Think Her Name Was Stella

Medication achievement; Unlocked!

My world-weary insurance friend mentioned in the last post appears to have been the real thing. Not fifteen minutes after hanging up with her, we had medication approvals for Gameboy. Biker Hubby called me from the car, on the way home, to tell me that he'd grabbed the medications and hustled outside quickly before anyone could stop him.

I won't lie, we did a little medication jig in the kitchen. Then we woke up Gameboy and made him take a bunch of meds. 

It seems to be helping.

So now I can concentrate on other things, like preparing to teach two classes and take three classes this semester.

But not right now, because it's doing this outside:

So I am going to make soup and prepare for our power going out. The last weather report I heard said 8-10 inches for us.

Sledding tomorrow!

Living Dangerously

Every day for the past two weeks, I have started the morning with a bracing phone call to one or another insurance companies.

First, it was to try to save our coverage with our previous company. Then, for the past week, it's been to try to speed along our enrollment into the new company's system so that we can pay for Gameboy's very pricey medication. (Medical and drug costs in the US are another series of posts entirely) After many, many phone calls and being promised many things by very polite people who failed every single time, we now have a diagnosed bipolar-NOS person who has missed three doses of his medication. Everyone we talk to agrees that it's awful and says they can help but so far, nothing.

The pharmacy has advanced us as many doses as they can. They have been the most helpful so far. Finally this morning, I got hold of yet another person at the new insurance company. Unlike the other employees, she was brusque-bordering-on-rude. She told me to just go get the medication and get reimbursed, so I told her the retail cost of a 30 day supply of one of the medications...over $1,000. She stopped talking at me, and then I asked if she could just let me know how many more days before we were all uploaded to the system because maybe I could buy a few doses out of pocket to tide us over.

"Wait a minute," the lady said, "it can't be that much. Let me talk to the pharmacy department here." And off she went. I spent some time on hold, futzing around on the internet. Finally, she came back.

"Honey, I did an emergency override for your family member. You should have no trouble getting his medication now. Call me back if there's an issue."

I am not, at this moment, particularly hopeful, but we'll see.

In other news, I was supposed to go and get a long overdue hair cut today, but Biker Hubby took my car and forgot that I needed it. So I have no transportation.

This would be a great time for someone to give me a legitimate reason to cut them to shreds. I am not in a good mood.

The Lost Day

Yesterday was a morass of being very ill and spending hours on the phone and on my computer dealing with health insurance madness. At one point, I was so frustrated that I posted about it on Facebook. I try to avoid posts like that, because it makes my parents worry. And I did have to do some calming down and explaining as soon as my father saw the post.

The gist is that we have private insurance. Every year, we have to re-enroll in the plan, which basically means that the company raises our premium by $50-$75 and we agree to pay it and then life goes on. This November, I sent in a check for the new premium amount, or so I thought. Actually, I shorted the company by about $30. So the insurance company cancelled our policy and then refunded us our check. Except...they didn't tell us that. The company insists that they did, but a thorough search of our paperwork and theirs revealed that they didn't have a record of sending us a letter saying "Hey, so...do you guys want insurance or not?" and we don't have a letter saying that, so perhaps, you know, someone kind of screwed up?

So, essentially, we've been without insurance for about five weeks. Except we didn't know that and apparently some claims were paid but others weren't...and the next right wing family member that pops off about how American health insurance is just fine and dandy and people come from all over the world to access our health care system...well, I'm not going to be held responsible for my reaction. The main problem for us is that Biker Hubby and Gameboy bring pre-existing conditions to the table, which means that any private insurance we can get is both terrible and insanely expensive. Like, double our mortgage expensive.

The past week has been no fun at all, for me, for Biker Hubby and mostly for our insurance agent. Super Agent is a great guy and he's been working on this full time all week, but yesterday Gameboy ran out of his prescriptions for some of his medications. People on mood stabilizers can't not have their meds. Cold turkey is an insanely bad idea. We needed to do something, and fast.

I took another look at the student health insurance available to me through my university and I signed us up. It looks entirely workable, though some of the coverage isn't as great, the prescription drug coverage is much better, and there's no pre-existing condition investigation...you qualify by being a student and having an assistantship and the university subsidizes 90% of your premiums for the term of the policy. Which is August through July...and then you have to re-enroll.

I signed us up, agreed to the payroll deduction (ouch), and hopefully we will get our insurance cards next week and our insurance coverage will be backdated to Jan. 1, 2013. The nice pharmacy people took some pity on us and gave us a few days worth of meds until we get assigned a policy number with the new company.

There are many great things about America, but holy cats, the insurance industry is NOT one of them. We just have to hang on until 2014, when the complete Health Care Reform Act kicks in and we'll have much more of a choice about our insurance, and health insurance companies are required to consider the uncomfortable fact that they actually work for the consumer, not the other way around.

If I get rid of this damn cold, I may take a picture of my butt and send it to our former insurance company. Because I can be just as mature as they can.

No, Really, I Am Working

I admit that I'm sitting here in sweats and slippers, but I've been up since six am and I've whipped two conference proposals and one syllabus into shape. I've also scheduled a meeting and answered about 20 work emails.

I'm also fighting off some kind of really weird virus, which made me really ill for about six hours on Monday and then made me tired and stuffy for the last two days. So after lunch, I think I might take a big ol' nap...which will then confirm the worst suspicions of those people who think working at home means taking a nap whenever you want to.

So, yeah.