Friday, August 15, 2008

New Bike

29km / 29km

I got my new bike. It's a Marin Novato. It rolls smooth, like a (good) dream. Since the REI assembler set the odometer to kilometers instead of miles, I don't know how fast I was going (up to 30kmh, usually closer to 20), but it did seem faster than the old Giant. I fixed the setting; we'll see.

Monday, August 11, 2008

F <-> SR

460.6; 31.0

There ya go--31 miles! I did the 16-mile West County Trail, and then went through Sebastopol and did the 15-mile round trip out to Santa Rosa, basically a Forestville to Santa Rosa round trip. Not too bad, but I really took it easy for lots of the distance, knowing I was going to go farther than usual.

Insurance scare after dentist visit Friday--looked like I was not covered, and the possibility arose that maybe the extended coverage through August was only for certain body parts. I realize this is par for the course with the insurance "industry," but is it not still absurd, and even Kafka-esque (appropriate for today, as we read about the discovery of Franz' porn collection!)?

So, what happened to the Better Business Bureau? Is that even an avenue for a common citizen to complain against the corporate behemoths of today? To whom DO we complain, when we discover that the afflicted part of us is the one that happens to not be covered in our policy? "See the fine print here? 'Except in cases where left butt cheek is involved.'" So, dental and vision are a little more obviously different from general medical, I suppose, but it doesn't take much to see it extending down a slippery slope, to ear nose and throat, or podiatry, or heart-and-lung, or liver, or any other specialty, each falling under its own insuredness, such that we are paying for a Chinese menu of potential areas of ailment. And mind you, all of these are in addition to the THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH they want for basic medical health coverage.

Well, actually, dental IS covered, so I guess I have little basis for complaint... but I certainly was NOT a happy camper on Friday--indeed, no happy tent, no happy firepit, no happy spork and tin plate, not even happy weiners and S'mores.

I'm shopping for insurance for this difficult time of underemployment. I sure hope we can do a LOT better than the COBRA quote (1K/mo).