Today is the ninth anniversary of the marriage of the Queen and I. It's been a great 9 years, and probably the most eventful nine years of my life. Parts of it seem mundane, but there were so many life changing events in that time that I'm no where near the same person now as I was going into it in 99. And really, that's a good thing. I like who I am now more than I was then.
I've gone over marriage before, but I figure since it is my anniversary, I can say a thing or two. First, I've thoroughly enjoyed being with the Queen. Given the choice to do it again, I would. Now, can I say that we've been happy with each other 100% of the time? No. Anyone who says they've always been happy with their partner is living in denial because guess what? We're two different people. Yes, we do our best to live our lives with one mind, but outside of that, we have differences. We like different music; we watch different movies; we have different tastes in food; we have varying styles of discipline; we were brought up differently.
Some people would use that laundry list as a reason to break up with someone, but those differences give us both a variety in life that we wouldn't have otherwise. Have I watched her movies before? Of course. Has she watched mine? Some of them (she won't watch horror). We've had occasion to listen to each other's music, and I've gained an appreciation for the country genre that I would not have had otherwise. I've also learned more about chick flicks than I would have known on my own.
Now, I admit to being a stickler on the food thing, though I encourage the princesses to eat everything. You see, I have found that my narrow palette is more of a curse than anything else. It restricts me from trying a lot of different foods, but I can't get my mind past some things. It's all mental, and I know it, but there you go. Does it bug the Queen? Sure. Do we deal? Of course.
The phrase, "choose your battles" applies so completely to a marriage situation that it's insane. Some people fight over every little thing in the world, and they often won't budge out of selfishness for their own way. We, on the other hand, more selective choose when to stand our ground. If it is one of those things I mentioned as our differences, it's not worth fighting over. Have I tried to get the Queen to enjoy my progressive metal? Yup. Does she like it? Nope. Do I force her to listen to it all the time? No. I respect that she prefers not to listen to it, so if I've had it on in the car, I'll often switch it to something else.
I would say the most life-changing events have been the children and not just the births either. Everything they go through -- every milestone -- is an event that will change me in some way. I look at the world just a little differently as they grow older. I actually rejected songs from a playlist that I would never have given a second thought to even a couple years ago because the song contained references to drinking. Not direct content of the singer drinking, but just a reference to it going on. Wild.
One year for my birthday, we were short on funds, so I said what I wanted was for Rock Girl to have what she wanted for her birthday. Nothing made me happier than watching her open her pink guitar. Before they were born, I would never have consented to such a thing, but something about their happiness makes me happy too.
I'm out of time here because the Queen awaits my presence, but don't let anyone tell you that marriage sucks or that it doesn't work. It works as well as you want it to, and I woldn't have my life any other way. Sharing your life with another brings a joy that cannot be matched.
And for the Queen: I love you and I look forward to many, many more years with you. Happy anniversary.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Strange FISS-y People
You never really appreciate someone until they're gone. That's what all the wise men say, right? Well, I can say there's some truth to that, especially this week. You see, the reason there was no post yesterday is because Optimus Prime is on vacation with his house drama (which continues on, by the way) leaving me alone to tend the house. We had a big-to-do thing go down yesterday which left me completely swamped and lucky to squeeze in a bite to eat somewhere within the chaos. I would kill him when he comes back, but at some point, I'll get a vacation too, which is where the comeuppance will occur.
One thing I noted through all this is that some people out there can both know their job, and at that same time have no clue as to how it all works. You see, I deal a lot with something called the Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (or FISS, for short). It's also called the Florida Shared System and Direct Data Entry, but what it is in short is a method for hospitals to enter their claims directly into a system accessed by Fiscal Intermediary for Medicare (the government insurance program).
I know before I started doing this, I had no idea about any of this, so I imagine a lot of people don't really know about this whole behind the scenes stuff that goes on with how these Medicare claims are actually paid, and to be honest, there's no reason for most people to even care, but I would expect that someone whose job title includes "Medicare biller" would have at least a basic understanding of the process. You see, Medicare is a government entity that actually contracts out to another insurance company to pay their claims, which is where the term "Fiscal Intermediary" (or FI) comes from. Medicare pays nothing; it's usually an entity of Blue Cross/Blue Shield that does. Hence, if you are in Pennsylvania and on Medicare, your claim is actually paid by BC/BS of Western PA. In Oklahoma, it's paid by BC/BS of OK.
What I do is support the automation of the claim entry process into this FISS, so rather than a biller sitting at a terminal entering one claim at a time at however long that would take, we will zap in several hundred claims or more a minute through a process that simulates a biller sitting at this screen and entering information really, really fast.
This whole process is further complicated by how you get into this FISS. First, you need a special provider that can access this 3270 (old style DOS-like) connection. Then in most cases, there is a datacenter that provides the connection to the FI. Think of it like accessing your bank account online without owning a computer. Well, the easiest way to do this is via a library. Getting a library card is like getting the provider. The card allows you to access the library's computer system, which is like the datacenter. Then, once logged in there, you can login to your bank through their connection. And yeah, it's that complicated.
So, I caught a problem today. I noted that a login was not able to access the FI that it was supposed to be able to based on the claim info. So I give the person who handles it a call to let her know. I explain what is going on and she tells me they don't use BC/BS of Western PA. I explain the FI bit and go back to accessing through a specific datacenter, and she corrects me saying they go through X provider. I acknowledge this and continue to dumb down the explanation, leaving out more and more details of the process until we're at the root of the problem where she "gets" it.
The kicker here is that I talk to her a little later. She logs in, understands the application selection required in the midst of this, and understands the error I got and who to call. Me, I'm wondering how she can not get one piece at all and get the other. That's some limited understanding (and I apologize for the complicated nature of this post).
So last night, the Queen and I watched a fabuluos piece of American cinema: King Solomon's Mines from 1985 with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. This film was even better than its sequel, Allen Quartermain and The Lost City of Gold. Although based on novels, this film was every bit an Indiana Jones knockoff, right down to a lot of the scenes were lifted straight out of the first two Indy films, although the execution was far more ridiculous here. It was hard to take either of these films seriously. The dialogue was awful, the plot was silly, the exposition pedantic, the setups were blatant and ridiculous, the action unbelievable (and not in a good way) and the woman's only function seemed to be getting things explained to her. Perhaps the point was to be silly, but it seemed to be trying to be serious. I did love the mysterious disappearing ceiing in one scene though. And Sharon Stone was wearing the most fascinating shorts. As the movie progressed, they got shorter. Not torn, mind you (well until the end), but the hem was shrinking.
The Lost City of Gold was this way too, but even worse in so many ways. It involved the painfully typical plot of a guy who decides to blow off his wedding to go exploring. My personal favorite parts there were this "lost city of gold" was a city of white plaster where the streets are made of dirt sitting out in an open plain and populated by white people in togas. And should we mention the somehow directed lightning strikes that melted the golden dome? I mean, seriously.
Oh well. Some other movies I've seen recently were much, much better. Suspect Zero, for instance, was quite good. Cloverfield was really good. Spiderwick was meh. And I loved the episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Well, not a lot of time here, but it's better than nothing. Back to being swamped...
One thing I noted through all this is that some people out there can both know their job, and at that same time have no clue as to how it all works. You see, I deal a lot with something called the Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (or FISS, for short). It's also called the Florida Shared System and Direct Data Entry, but what it is in short is a method for hospitals to enter their claims directly into a system accessed by Fiscal Intermediary for Medicare (the government insurance program).
I know before I started doing this, I had no idea about any of this, so I imagine a lot of people don't really know about this whole behind the scenes stuff that goes on with how these Medicare claims are actually paid, and to be honest, there's no reason for most people to even care, but I would expect that someone whose job title includes "Medicare biller" would have at least a basic understanding of the process. You see, Medicare is a government entity that actually contracts out to another insurance company to pay their claims, which is where the term "Fiscal Intermediary" (or FI) comes from. Medicare pays nothing; it's usually an entity of Blue Cross/Blue Shield that does. Hence, if you are in Pennsylvania and on Medicare, your claim is actually paid by BC/BS of Western PA. In Oklahoma, it's paid by BC/BS of OK.
What I do is support the automation of the claim entry process into this FISS, so rather than a biller sitting at a terminal entering one claim at a time at however long that would take, we will zap in several hundred claims or more a minute through a process that simulates a biller sitting at this screen and entering information really, really fast.
This whole process is further complicated by how you get into this FISS. First, you need a special provider that can access this 3270 (old style DOS-like) connection. Then in most cases, there is a datacenter that provides the connection to the FI. Think of it like accessing your bank account online without owning a computer. Well, the easiest way to do this is via a library. Getting a library card is like getting the provider. The card allows you to access the library's computer system, which is like the datacenter. Then, once logged in there, you can login to your bank through their connection. And yeah, it's that complicated.
So, I caught a problem today. I noted that a login was not able to access the FI that it was supposed to be able to based on the claim info. So I give the person who handles it a call to let her know. I explain what is going on and she tells me they don't use BC/BS of Western PA. I explain the FI bit and go back to accessing through a specific datacenter, and she corrects me saying they go through X provider. I acknowledge this and continue to dumb down the explanation, leaving out more and more details of the process until we're at the root of the problem where she "gets" it.
The kicker here is that I talk to her a little later. She logs in, understands the application selection required in the midst of this, and understands the error I got and who to call. Me, I'm wondering how she can not get one piece at all and get the other. That's some limited understanding (and I apologize for the complicated nature of this post).
So last night, the Queen and I watched a fabuluos piece of American cinema: King Solomon's Mines from 1985 with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. This film was even better than its sequel, Allen Quartermain and The Lost City of Gold. Although based on novels, this film was every bit an Indiana Jones knockoff, right down to a lot of the scenes were lifted straight out of the first two Indy films, although the execution was far more ridiculous here. It was hard to take either of these films seriously. The dialogue was awful, the plot was silly, the exposition pedantic, the setups were blatant and ridiculous, the action unbelievable (and not in a good way) and the woman's only function seemed to be getting things explained to her. Perhaps the point was to be silly, but it seemed to be trying to be serious. I did love the mysterious disappearing ceiing in one scene though. And Sharon Stone was wearing the most fascinating shorts. As the movie progressed, they got shorter. Not torn, mind you (well until the end), but the hem was shrinking.
The Lost City of Gold was this way too, but even worse in so many ways. It involved the painfully typical plot of a guy who decides to blow off his wedding to go exploring. My personal favorite parts there were this "lost city of gold" was a city of white plaster where the streets are made of dirt sitting out in an open plain and populated by white people in togas. And should we mention the somehow directed lightning strikes that melted the golden dome? I mean, seriously.
Oh well. Some other movies I've seen recently were much, much better. Suspect Zero, for instance, was quite good. Cloverfield was really good. Spiderwick was meh. And I loved the episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Well, not a lot of time here, but it's better than nothing. Back to being swamped...
Monday, April 14, 2008
Vents and Strings
So I've managed to get myself into playing guitar at church, which only serves to add to my instrumental repertoire (to date, I've played piano, bass, and drums at church and now guitar). But all was not clear sailing yesterday as I had finally swapped the B & E strings on the guitar to new strings that are the correct pitch. You see, I managed to bust the E string while going to town on it during one of the songs.
Undaunted, I retuned the instrument and went after church to get new, heavier strings so I could continue rocking and not worry about breaking anything. During the subsequent rehearsal, I broke yet another string (that actually unwound on me), so I was determined to change all of the strings to these new ones I'd gotten.
So, although dead tired after being up for nearly 24 hours by that point, I removed the old strings and set myself to stringing the new ones and getting myself a preliminary tune. Much to my surprise however, the bridge, which has a hole for a whammy bar and moves, started pulling up off the instrument and sitting at an angle as I tried to tune it. None of the strings would tune as they continued to pull up on the bridge every time I cranked them to raise them into tune.
Well, being that I was, as I said, dead tired, I left it in that angled position and went to bed, figuring I'd just look up the info today. And look it up I did.
Turns out this guitar has something called a floating bridge that is kept in check by spring tension. When you change the strings to those of a heavier gauge than the factory strings, the bridge doesn't have the tension to support the extra "weight" the strings require to stay in tune. Is there a solution? Of course there is. You can adjust the tension on the strings, and if that doesn't work, you can get an extra spring for it to create the additional tension required.
After getting some help from the Queen who is at home, I found the model number to be RG150, which is a basic model of the RG series on Ibanez guitars. Checked online and these springs are actually pretty standard and run around $7 for a pack of three. What's that? Why don't I just get the lighter strings? Did I mention I busted two of those lighter tension strings? Perhaps when I get better at playing I can move back to the lighter strings, but for now, Mr. Heavy Hands will try to go with the heavier strings.
Of course, one might bring up whether I should spend $7 on the springs or $4 for the lighter strings, but to this I must remind the viewer that I've already spent $8 on strings since I quickly busted one of the new ones. I still have the other five, of course, and I'll just let Rock Girl have them since I've found the lighter ones are what comes from the factory on most guitars. Ironically, however, there are four strings remaining in that batch and five strings remaining from the spares that came with hers. Can you guess which one I busted on hers? Yup, that high E. Mr. Heavy Hands strikes again.
But hey, when I know and can hit all the chords, it's a lot of fun. Gotta keep practicing.
What else is going on in my world? Well, given that I'm coming out of the weekend, I've been stuck at the world's largest retailer practically sequestered from my family thanks to the sleep hours involved. The amusing part is that although I've shopped there all my life, the more I work there, the less I like the business.
I mean, first and foremost, they've got to hire the laziest, most self-centered people in the world. Occasionally, you'll get someone willing to actually work, but a lot of them will take a narrow field of "this is what I do and nothing else," and if you're lucky, they'll do that one job. And this includes departments, since it's a department store. I think I've hit this before. As both a customer and associate, I've heard the phrase, "that's not my department." The only time I've ever uttered anywhere close to that phrase is when I've already tried to find whatever it is and flat can't, and I have to explain why all the trouble before I find someone who can really help.
A few things from just this last night that really brought out the laziness and egocentricity of the people there. Occasionally, people will park pallets having stuff from where I typically work in front of the door to the freezer making it impossible for the freezer people to get their stuff out without moving these pallets. So, me being the nice guy I am, I tell them straight out that I'll go ahead and move the pallets and remarks that the people who truck these around the store shouldn't set them there to begin with (because they really shouldn't).
So as I'm jacking one up to move it, this...person...who works in the freezer tells me that I need to get them out of their way because they're blocking the freezer. A) duh. I was already doing that. B) Guess what? They aren't in my way; they're in yours. I don't have to move squat since I can work with them where they are. You're the one who needs them moved; curse me for being such a nice guy.
The second thing that happened was during this wonderful little institution called a cart rally. Now, these events are the biggest instance of disorganization and chaos you ever did see. They say "all overnight associates," but in reality, it amounts to whoever feels like screwing their peers and not pulling their own weight outside in pushing these carts. Don't get me wrong; the principal behind the cart rally is as solid as a rock: push in the carts for the customers to use. Trouble is that if people don't want to go out, no one will give them any grief at all. Might as well be optional. Those of us who understand the impact of that action, however, go on out.
Now, while out at this cart rally, there are ways for these lazy people to look like they're doing work when they aren't. One such way involves the carts around perimeter of the lot. These parking lots are enormous, so carts that have drifted to the outskirts are a long way from the store and take a long time to get. Usually there are so few that only one person is really needed to get these. Only one.
Well, on this evening, I'd gotten several of the other carts on that side of the lot and was getting the last of the carts along the perimeter when this other guy walks over to a few spaces down, takes the last three carts and walks them back. I just shook my head and thought this was a pathetic way to get out of doing anything. I, incidentally, didn't see him pushing any other carts that evening.
Our final offender in this bout of laziness got everyone shaking their head. In the back is a large machine called a baler that is used to compress the cardboard boxes into this large cubes called "bales." Making a bale is a simple process that only takes a few minutes, but it's a little involved in doing it. There is also a mis-conceived notion that it takes some kind of strength to accomplish this, but the machine does all the work, so it's fairly non-intensive strength-wise as well.
Well, this call comes over the intercom, "Attention grocery associates: I need someone to grocery receiving to make a bale." I rolled my eyes. I know full well if I don't go back there, there is only one or two others that actually might. I show up, and sure enough, the only other guy there happened to walk up at that moment, and was willing. No one else showed up, not even the person who paged. Yup, they paged for someone to make a bale (which is understandable if they don't know how), but they didn't even stick around to help.
This goes back to the company's un-official (yet unfailingly practiced) motto: Somebody else will do it.
On the bright side over here, it's been so busy for me today that I haven't had any chance at all to be tired. I am busy in part because Optimus is on vacation this week taking care of that house thing, so I'm doing the work of both of us. It's a lot to handle for one person.
Undaunted, I retuned the instrument and went after church to get new, heavier strings so I could continue rocking and not worry about breaking anything. During the subsequent rehearsal, I broke yet another string (that actually unwound on me), so I was determined to change all of the strings to these new ones I'd gotten.
So, although dead tired after being up for nearly 24 hours by that point, I removed the old strings and set myself to stringing the new ones and getting myself a preliminary tune. Much to my surprise however, the bridge, which has a hole for a whammy bar and moves, started pulling up off the instrument and sitting at an angle as I tried to tune it. None of the strings would tune as they continued to pull up on the bridge every time I cranked them to raise them into tune.
Well, being that I was, as I said, dead tired, I left it in that angled position and went to bed, figuring I'd just look up the info today. And look it up I did.
Turns out this guitar has something called a floating bridge that is kept in check by spring tension. When you change the strings to those of a heavier gauge than the factory strings, the bridge doesn't have the tension to support the extra "weight" the strings require to stay in tune. Is there a solution? Of course there is. You can adjust the tension on the strings, and if that doesn't work, you can get an extra spring for it to create the additional tension required.
After getting some help from the Queen who is at home, I found the model number to be RG150, which is a basic model of the RG series on Ibanez guitars. Checked online and these springs are actually pretty standard and run around $7 for a pack of three. What's that? Why don't I just get the lighter strings? Did I mention I busted two of those lighter tension strings? Perhaps when I get better at playing I can move back to the lighter strings, but for now, Mr. Heavy Hands will try to go with the heavier strings.
Of course, one might bring up whether I should spend $7 on the springs or $4 for the lighter strings, but to this I must remind the viewer that I've already spent $8 on strings since I quickly busted one of the new ones. I still have the other five, of course, and I'll just let Rock Girl have them since I've found the lighter ones are what comes from the factory on most guitars. Ironically, however, there are four strings remaining in that batch and five strings remaining from the spares that came with hers. Can you guess which one I busted on hers? Yup, that high E. Mr. Heavy Hands strikes again.
But hey, when I know and can hit all the chords, it's a lot of fun. Gotta keep practicing.
What else is going on in my world? Well, given that I'm coming out of the weekend, I've been stuck at the world's largest retailer practically sequestered from my family thanks to the sleep hours involved. The amusing part is that although I've shopped there all my life, the more I work there, the less I like the business.
I mean, first and foremost, they've got to hire the laziest, most self-centered people in the world. Occasionally, you'll get someone willing to actually work, but a lot of them will take a narrow field of "this is what I do and nothing else," and if you're lucky, they'll do that one job. And this includes departments, since it's a department store. I think I've hit this before. As both a customer and associate, I've heard the phrase, "that's not my department." The only time I've ever uttered anywhere close to that phrase is when I've already tried to find whatever it is and flat can't, and I have to explain why all the trouble before I find someone who can really help.
A few things from just this last night that really brought out the laziness and egocentricity of the people there. Occasionally, people will park pallets having stuff from where I typically work in front of the door to the freezer making it impossible for the freezer people to get their stuff out without moving these pallets. So, me being the nice guy I am, I tell them straight out that I'll go ahead and move the pallets and remarks that the people who truck these around the store shouldn't set them there to begin with (because they really shouldn't).
So as I'm jacking one up to move it, this...person...who works in the freezer tells me that I need to get them out of their way because they're blocking the freezer. A) duh. I was already doing that. B) Guess what? They aren't in my way; they're in yours. I don't have to move squat since I can work with them where they are. You're the one who needs them moved; curse me for being such a nice guy.
The second thing that happened was during this wonderful little institution called a cart rally. Now, these events are the biggest instance of disorganization and chaos you ever did see. They say "all overnight associates," but in reality, it amounts to whoever feels like screwing their peers and not pulling their own weight outside in pushing these carts. Don't get me wrong; the principal behind the cart rally is as solid as a rock: push in the carts for the customers to use. Trouble is that if people don't want to go out, no one will give them any grief at all. Might as well be optional. Those of us who understand the impact of that action, however, go on out.
Now, while out at this cart rally, there are ways for these lazy people to look like they're doing work when they aren't. One such way involves the carts around perimeter of the lot. These parking lots are enormous, so carts that have drifted to the outskirts are a long way from the store and take a long time to get. Usually there are so few that only one person is really needed to get these. Only one.
Well, on this evening, I'd gotten several of the other carts on that side of the lot and was getting the last of the carts along the perimeter when this other guy walks over to a few spaces down, takes the last three carts and walks them back. I just shook my head and thought this was a pathetic way to get out of doing anything. I, incidentally, didn't see him pushing any other carts that evening.
Our final offender in this bout of laziness got everyone shaking their head. In the back is a large machine called a baler that is used to compress the cardboard boxes into this large cubes called "bales." Making a bale is a simple process that only takes a few minutes, but it's a little involved in doing it. There is also a mis-conceived notion that it takes some kind of strength to accomplish this, but the machine does all the work, so it's fairly non-intensive strength-wise as well.
Well, this call comes over the intercom, "Attention grocery associates: I need someone to grocery receiving to make a bale." I rolled my eyes. I know full well if I don't go back there, there is only one or two others that actually might. I show up, and sure enough, the only other guy there happened to walk up at that moment, and was willing. No one else showed up, not even the person who paged. Yup, they paged for someone to make a bale (which is understandable if they don't know how), but they didn't even stick around to help.
This goes back to the company's un-official (yet unfailingly practiced) motto: Somebody else will do it.
On the bright side over here, it's been so busy for me today that I haven't had any chance at all to be tired. I am busy in part because Optimus is on vacation this week taking care of that house thing, so I'm doing the work of both of us. It's a lot to handle for one person.
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