As some of you know, I found another job. Today is my last day with a company who I’ve been with since August 2006. My first real experience job. My first job out of college. A company who actually gave me a chance.

It’s been great for the most part, I do have to say. I’ve learned a lot. I am who I am today because of them. Working with a small business has given me the opportunity to work in a lot of areas, which I like. I think I’m a well rounded person.

I’m leaving behind a few friends, which I don’t like to do. However, I’ve seen quite a few friends leave. Hopefully we will all keep in touch. This company has changed so much since I started here.

I’m trading in my scooter for my Prius and a longer commute and a smaller company. I know I will do well there just as I have here.

I figured out that I’ve been spending four years at a time at places:

• Four years at high school (Broadneck)
• Four years at college (Frostburg)
• Four years at this job

Twelve years of my life in only three places.

I can’t help but feel so happy and so sad at the same time. It’s kinda surprising, I’m not as emotional as I thought. I haven’t cried here yet. I cried at home but not here. I guess, when I’m here, it doesn’t feel like it’s hit yet. I cleaned out my stuff. I took it home yesterday. I’m riding my scooter for the last time here, at least as a full time employee.

A new journey awaits, a new chapter in my life.

Tags: Personal, Work by Janny
1 Comment »

I’m really starting to take issue with people feeding my dog table scraps and treats. None of my friends do it, but my family does. My Aunt Ruth has always been bad with her, giving her numerous hot dogs. It’s not good for Candi.

My Aunt Janet said that’s what killed her dog, Emma, was people feeding her table scraps. She got obese and died early.

Candi is overweight as it is. I’ve always been a stickler for giving Candi table scraps. I only do it on rare occasions, and it’s always in small quantities.

My mother in law constantly gives Candi treats. Treat after treat. It’s pretty frustrating when I’m trying to keep Candi healthy and active. I’ve tried talking to her about it but there’s like no arguing with her. I just want to keep my dog.

Candi is going on 14 now. That’s pretty old for a dog. I want to keep her around for as long as it’s possible and she’s not in pain. I can’t help but feel sabotaged when Candi gets fed an abundance of treats and things that aren’t good for her.

Also there’s the fact that I don’t want to lose my dogs love. It’s clear anyone or anything would prefer the person giving them good stuff. With me, Candi doesn’t get many treats. It’s gotta be clear she prefers Brian’s mom.

I feel so helpless in this argument. How do I tell someone NOT to feed my dog, please?

Tags: Family, Personal by Janny
3 Comments »

The other post I blogged about Another Victim Of The Health Insurance Industry, Me Part I still hasn’t been settled, but I’m just dealing with it. I guess my body got used to the forced medication from my health insurance company.

Another incident happened. This time with my ChoiceCare Card. Don’t let the name fool you, there is NO CHOICE.

I had signed a HIPAA Substantiation form which gives CareFirst the access to my medical records so they can pay the doctors without me having to fax them 3,973 things proving I went to the doctor… typical things insurance companies are supposed to automatically do.

I went to one doctor this year, one. My OBGYN… way back in August. In late October they emailed me and sent me a nasty gram saying they denied my claim. My copay of $30 to my ChoiceCare card. I was told by HR I can use my card to pay my copays. ChoiceCare card threw a fit.

After receiving the nasty gram, I talked to the HR about it. They told me what to do. Call my doctor, ask if they filed the claim, if so did it go through, and could they fax it to me. That was the easy part. I got the detailed patient log. The problem was getting in touch with them to fax it. I tried calling them before like 10 times, all the time being put on hold for periods of 15 minutes. I eventually gave up since I have other things to do (my fault since I have to make a living).

A few weeks later I received another nasty gram saying my card had been FROZEN. I tried to resolve the matter quickly, you know, in case something happens to me that I would actually need my health insurance. I called directly at 8:00AM. That seemed to get me to a representative pretty fast. They told me to fax it to them, so I did. I also emailed them later in the day to make sure it went through. No response.

I called earlier today to make sure they got everything they needed so I can have health insurance again. I was only on hold for 16 minutes! What a surprise! Anyway, they were able to unfreeze my card so I have health care again.

It’s a comfort to know in the event of an emergency, my health insurance company can freeze my card over a matter of $30… that of which they already had permission to view my claims.

Tags: Health Care, Personal, Work by Janny
3 Comments »

I’ve been taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen Low birth control since as long as I can remember. I started taking it probably in 1998 to help regulate things. In college, I didn’t have the privilege of having health insurance so I relied on Planned Parenthood to supply me and to give me my yearly check up.

Since I got a job, I’ve had CareFirst Blue Cross, which, up until a month ago has been pretty good. I was able to get the prescription with ease and it was cheap.

A few months ago I had to switch my plan since the POS plan got way too expensive. I switched to the cheaper plan. It required me to fill out a bunch of forms to do simple stuff that the POS used to do automatically (like paying the doctors). I now have this card I use.

The problem I’m having with them is that they changed my birth control on me. I order from Walgreen’s Online Pharmacy, so my prescription is shipped to me. My doctor prescribes me the name brand (Ortho Tri-Cyclen Low) since it’s what I’m used to and what I’ve been taking for years.

Being name brand is more expensive for my insurance company so they took it upon themselves to switch me to the generic version WITHOUT TELLING ME. It’s their policy that if there is a generic form of the prescription, they have to dispense it rather than the name brand.

Much to my surprise when I got my prescription in the mail, it was stuff I haven’t even heard of. I asked my doctor, I asked anyone I could think of who would know if this changed anything. They basically all said no.

However, I found out last month when I started taking it that it wasn’t the same. I got sick. It also didn’t have the same effect that the name brand had. I don’t want to be gross in a blog post, but let’s just say a lot of weird things happened.

Now I’m faced with… well… weird things still happening. I called my doctor. He’s going to try to talk to CareFirst to tell them to put me back on Ortho Tri-Cyclen Low… not that it should be their decision but that’s the kind of health care system we have in this country.

Tags: Health Care, Personal, Work by Janny
2 Comments »

As you know, I am very Earth concious and I try to be as “Green” as possible. I’ve decided to list out what I try to do in my daily life in order to stop wasting the Earth and stop Global Warming. Some of them are really small but I do what I can.

• I drive a Hybrid, my Toyota Prius. Yes, it still pollutes but it’s the most fuel efficient thing out there.
• I car pool with Brian everyday to and from work.
• I reuse my old water bottles and refill them.
• I use hand towels instead of paper towels to clean spills and things. It’s easier to throw them in the wash.
• I always try to use energy saver everything like light bulbs.
• I turn my room temperature to 68 in the winter and 75 in the summer. I open the windows as much as possible on nice cool days.
• I recycle everything I humanly can; beer bottles, cans, junk mail. In MoCo, it’s hard to recycle but I put aside cans and jars and paper to recycle over Brian’s parents house. I also have a special recycling drawer that I put useless non-identifiable paper and things in to recycle later.
• I reuse paper if there’s not much written on it, I just scratch it out.
• I reuse my lunch bags and other bags. When I go to the mall, I take a plastic bag with me, that way I’m not using one of theirs. I also reuse my sandwich bags by wrapping my sandwich up with a napkin. I need a napkin anyway.
• I turn my computer and speakers off whenever I’m not using them. Except for my work computer which needs to update itself. I turn that off for the weekend.
• I turn off lights whenever I exit a room. Except at work. I was instructed to leave my light on forever since I have the front office and the bosses want it to look like our office is busy even though no one is in the office.
• I use rechargeable batteries for remotes, cameras, controllers, etc.
• I buy Green things. Like our shake flashlight.
• I manually open doors instead of going through automatic doors whenever possible. I also use the stairs instead of elevators (unless it’s really high like 4+ stories).
• I reuse tinfoil and plastic wrap as much as possible, if I can.
• I roll down my windows like all the time in the car instead of air conditioning. This sometimes helps fuel efficiency.
• Over Dad’s, I do the same sorts of things. I recycle whatever I can. When I find metal I put it in one of the junk cars that goes to the scrap yard to get recycled. I’ll pick aluminum cans out of the trash to put them into the recycling.

Tags: Environment, Personal by Janny
No Comments »