Weekend Update - November 18th
Weekend Update
I got a reminder for my high school class’s 45th reunion next year.
Wow, that makes me feel old. That also means in another five years and change it will be time for my class’s 50th reunion. I will be going to the reunion, all other things being equal and my health permits me to attend the event.
Something to look forward to for me; I might meet or, better, reconnect with a woman from my class. At least, we would have a few things in common to talk about.
Visitors
We had a pretty good week for visitors. We had visitors from Japan, Canada [3], Australia [6], Poland, Latvia, Russia, Ireland, Spain [2], Singapore [2], Jordan, United Kingdom [3], Korea, Texas [2], Guam, Yemen, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Hungary.
We had no visitors that came and stayed around for more than ten minutes this week. I guess everyone was busy this week.
I do appreciate all of you who took time out of your days to visit the blog.
The Princess and the Golfer
I phoned the Princess this week to update her on my recovery. She was happy that my chemotherapy was going well and that I was eating well. We talked for about 25 minutes and most of the conversation was about me for a change.
I shared a Clemson University joke with her that made her very happy. She does not care for Clemson at all.
The Princess surprised me when she said she would not come home for Christmas as she has every other year since graduation from the University of Utah. While I will miss her, it is not like I have not had a chance to spend a lot of time with her recently. The Princess went on to say that she and the Golfer were moving to Seattle where the Golfer has a new job there at a great golf club.
On balance, the move to Seattle is positive. It is much easier to fly up and down the Coast than it is to fly across the country. It is also less expensive. The Princess will also be closer to her friends in Salt Lake City and Southern California. Her cousin, the Nutritionist and her husband, live in Seattle. The Princess will have some family there for her.
Happy Days Are Here Again; the Sky Above Is Blue Again
That happy sounding shouting you may have heard on Friday afternoon came from my wallet.
I knew my hospitalization was going to be expensive because I was uninsured at the time of the operation. I was thinking it would be more than USD$100,000. So naturally I was very happy when the bill came in at only USD$76,700. The fourteen page bill, full of codes and words that I could not understand, had a notice that there was a discount if I paid in thirty days.
Discount.
Excellent.
So I phoned the hospital about the discount on Friday. I had spent some time looking at the bill and found some questionable charges on the bill. I saw some medicine that I take regularly now. The hospital was charging me USD$124 a pill when I pay about USD$1 at my local pharmacy.
I was ready to argue and arbitrate the bill.
Then, the hospital representative said that, with my cash, pay in full, discount, the bill would be reduced to USD$23,000.
So much for arguing about a pill or two.
She went on to say that she wanted to check on another discount for me. She would have to call me later on Friday afternoon and would I be home. Of course, I would be home and I would be waiting for her call.
The representative called me after lunch on Friday with more good news. She found another discount for me. My bill from the hospital would now be only USD$18,100. I will still have a couple of bills from the urologist and others to pay but they are relatively minor in comparison to the total hospital bill. It is extremely difficult to complain about a bill after the creditor gives you a 76% discount.
Teaching
I got my teaching assignments for the next term last week. I will be teaching four, new to me, classes. I am teaching Human Resource Management, Market Research, Composition II, and Professional Presentation. I have a Tuesday and a Thursday morning class and two classes on Saturday. A Saturday morning and afternoon classes mean that my Saturday, for other activities, is fairly well shot. I am at school from 8:00 AM until 4:30 or 5:30 PM.
On the plus side, I will save on gasoline since I will only be going to school for three days a week.
Human Resource Management and Market Research will be fun courses for me to teach. I know the subjects very well and can bring in a great deal of outside material to add to the course text. Composition II will be a painful course. The students are weak when it comes to writing. I will have to read student papers every week. I don’t know anything about the Professional Presentation course. It should be fun and not very difficult to teach.
One good thing about the courses is that most of them will be small classes. I think two of my classes will only have four students that I have had before. My composition class will be on the large side because it is a general education course.
I had a chance to talk to some students who will be in two of my classes and have been in my classes before on Wednesday. They were looking forward to having me as a teacher again. One of the students I was talking with got married during the last term. I thought it was not a one of the best ideas since she is more likely to drop out. I was right; the student is now rather pregnant will probably go on maternity leave hopefully after the term ends. It is unfortunate because she is now even more likely to drop out of school once the baby is born. Her life responsibilities will increase and I wonder how mature she and her husband are.
I am not going to work myself into a lather about their decisions. My life is busy enough as it is now.
Football
Our University of Utah Utes have played very well over the last two Saturdays. They now have a record of 8 wins and 3 losses. They play the final regular season next Saturday when they journey to Provo to play BYU. I think the team is coming together at just the right time.
Last week, our Utes beat an admittedly poor University of Wyoming team in Salt Lake City 50 to 0. The good thing about the victory was that the team played all aspects of the game very well.
The Utes beat a slightly University of New Mexico team at Rice – Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City by a score of 28 to 10. Again, our Utes played well in all areas of the game, allowing New Mexico to score only in the third quarter while our Utes scored in every quarter.
That was my weekend and other stuff.
Be well and stay happy.
I got a reminder for my high school class’s 45th reunion next year.
Wow, that makes me feel old. That also means in another five years and change it will be time for my class’s 50th reunion. I will be going to the reunion, all other things being equal and my health permits me to attend the event.
Something to look forward to for me; I might meet or, better, reconnect with a woman from my class. At least, we would have a few things in common to talk about.
Visitors
We had a pretty good week for visitors. We had visitors from Japan, Canada [3], Australia [6], Poland, Latvia, Russia, Ireland, Spain [2], Singapore [2], Jordan, United Kingdom [3], Korea, Texas [2], Guam, Yemen, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Hungary.
We had no visitors that came and stayed around for more than ten minutes this week. I guess everyone was busy this week.
I do appreciate all of you who took time out of your days to visit the blog.
The Princess and the Golfer
I phoned the Princess this week to update her on my recovery. She was happy that my chemotherapy was going well and that I was eating well. We talked for about 25 minutes and most of the conversation was about me for a change.
I shared a Clemson University joke with her that made her very happy. She does not care for Clemson at all.
The Princess surprised me when she said she would not come home for Christmas as she has every other year since graduation from the University of Utah. While I will miss her, it is not like I have not had a chance to spend a lot of time with her recently. The Princess went on to say that she and the Golfer were moving to Seattle where the Golfer has a new job there at a great golf club.
On balance, the move to Seattle is positive. It is much easier to fly up and down the Coast than it is to fly across the country. It is also less expensive. The Princess will also be closer to her friends in Salt Lake City and Southern California. Her cousin, the Nutritionist and her husband, live in Seattle. The Princess will have some family there for her.
Happy Days Are Here Again; the Sky Above Is Blue Again
That happy sounding shouting you may have heard on Friday afternoon came from my wallet.
I knew my hospitalization was going to be expensive because I was uninsured at the time of the operation. I was thinking it would be more than USD$100,000. So naturally I was very happy when the bill came in at only USD$76,700. The fourteen page bill, full of codes and words that I could not understand, had a notice that there was a discount if I paid in thirty days.
Discount.
Excellent.
So I phoned the hospital about the discount on Friday. I had spent some time looking at the bill and found some questionable charges on the bill. I saw some medicine that I take regularly now. The hospital was charging me USD$124 a pill when I pay about USD$1 at my local pharmacy.
I was ready to argue and arbitrate the bill.
Then, the hospital representative said that, with my cash, pay in full, discount, the bill would be reduced to USD$23,000.
So much for arguing about a pill or two.
She went on to say that she wanted to check on another discount for me. She would have to call me later on Friday afternoon and would I be home. Of course, I would be home and I would be waiting for her call.
The representative called me after lunch on Friday with more good news. She found another discount for me. My bill from the hospital would now be only USD$18,100. I will still have a couple of bills from the urologist and others to pay but they are relatively minor in comparison to the total hospital bill. It is extremely difficult to complain about a bill after the creditor gives you a 76% discount.
Teaching
I got my teaching assignments for the next term last week. I will be teaching four, new to me, classes. I am teaching Human Resource Management, Market Research, Composition II, and Professional Presentation. I have a Tuesday and a Thursday morning class and two classes on Saturday. A Saturday morning and afternoon classes mean that my Saturday, for other activities, is fairly well shot. I am at school from 8:00 AM until 4:30 or 5:30 PM.
On the plus side, I will save on gasoline since I will only be going to school for three days a week.
Human Resource Management and Market Research will be fun courses for me to teach. I know the subjects very well and can bring in a great deal of outside material to add to the course text. Composition II will be a painful course. The students are weak when it comes to writing. I will have to read student papers every week. I don’t know anything about the Professional Presentation course. It should be fun and not very difficult to teach.
One good thing about the courses is that most of them will be small classes. I think two of my classes will only have four students that I have had before. My composition class will be on the large side because it is a general education course.
I had a chance to talk to some students who will be in two of my classes and have been in my classes before on Wednesday. They were looking forward to having me as a teacher again. One of the students I was talking with got married during the last term. I thought it was not a one of the best ideas since she is more likely to drop out. I was right; the student is now rather pregnant will probably go on maternity leave hopefully after the term ends. It is unfortunate because she is now even more likely to drop out of school once the baby is born. Her life responsibilities will increase and I wonder how mature she and her husband are.
I am not going to work myself into a lather about their decisions. My life is busy enough as it is now.
Football
Our University of Utah Utes have played very well over the last two Saturdays. They now have a record of 8 wins and 3 losses. They play the final regular season next Saturday when they journey to Provo to play BYU. I think the team is coming together at just the right time.
Last week, our Utes beat an admittedly poor University of Wyoming team in Salt Lake City 50 to 0. The good thing about the victory was that the team played all aspects of the game very well.
The Utes beat a slightly University of New Mexico team at Rice – Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City by a score of 28 to 10. Again, our Utes played well in all areas of the game, allowing New Mexico to score only in the third quarter while our Utes scored in every quarter.
That was my weekend and other stuff.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 3:16 PM
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