Tension found, tension lifted
A counseling session to-day regarding Spalding's death, I believe, helped a lot...maybe enough to get us to find our way out of a very difficult grieving process. So the tension I have had was lifted a bit. When we left the session it felt like the sun came out (although it had come up before session began, I really felt it afterwards).
To drive the point home, if my life was a movie, Hollywood would make it all dark and dreary until the end of the session, then introduce the sun then! That is because it is more difficult to portray a "feeling" without stronger visual cues.
I was very tense to-day, especially leading in to a lunch out at a place called "East Burn" appropriately on East Burnside and 18th. The last time Marisa and I ate out was when it was probable that Spalding was already dead or being attacked. Relaxing now is not possible.
The earlier part of to-day was also not that great, receiving a phone call that my credit card had to be re-issued because of fraud...a charge of $59 from some Japanese company. I don't remember any such charge and looked through my emails for a record of it: nothing. So I guess it was fraud and glad to have it clamped down. Now I will need to pay the October bill but also will need to pay up front (no credit) for any new purchases for the next two weeks until I get my new card, then re-adjust all my accounts to the new card.
The suspence is really bothering me...the final week, next week, before I am theoretically loaned to a different part of the company. I say theoretically because I have had no communication and have no contact information for this. Even though my manager was pressured into agreeing to it, he knows nothing about it, either.
It all seems rather suspicious to me and, until I get to that week I am worried about what is really going on. As I am not happy with my company's recent stealth method of getting rid of employees, sometimes with no connection to merit, I can not be sure of anything. Simply the support of my fellow workers and my manager would not be enough if some plan is announced to restructure the foundry and eliminate positions. Loaning me at a critical shift in what we are working on would make this possible.
One good thing: last night I finally identified what happened with my bill when four different account specialists associated with Kaiser could not do so. I then paid the last bill I got from the health network in full. Unlike the last bill which said I had an amount past due, this one had a past due amount which made no sense: was not the amount of the previous check. In fact, the bill accounted for all my payments to this point (which the previous bill did not, which I will explain later).
I walked through the current bill and the previous bill to compare payment requests. If I find the same request on both bills, this is a repeated request. If I find a request not on the previous bill, it is a new request. When I totalled up all the new requests and subtracted what insurance was paid, the result was the amount on the bill: zero past due.
The problem was that, for some reason, the company attributed some of the money to PART of one of the new requests, making three of the old requests still wanting for money (in other words, past due).
However, the actual total due, despite incorrect categorization by Kaiser, was correct and I paid it.
Now, why on the previous bill did the company not get my payment in on time? Banking regulations! The amount paid was almost $2000! A check that large, even when honored quickly by my bank, took an extra week to transfer to Kaiser. Even though the check was received before the due date, it was not accounted in time for that bill, thus I was past due the exact amount of the money I had already sent!
So, no more insurance company snafu's to worry about, no more car issues until I get enough money to get some body work done, a safe Cirrus, no credit card use, the closing in on the radiation treatments for Marisa... there is stabilization and calm conditions.
But, there are medical bills coming for me, more medical bills for the treatments (all bills but one to this point were for diagnosis, discussion and the lumpectomy only), property tax, and uncertainty at work and with regard to the safety of Cirrus.
Good news is Cirrus is staying inside a little more now. I will keep an eye on him and also our budget. After mid-November I will revisit our situation and may decide then to put in the back fence and gates.
To drive the point home, if my life was a movie, Hollywood would make it all dark and dreary until the end of the session, then introduce the sun then! That is because it is more difficult to portray a "feeling" without stronger visual cues.
I was very tense to-day, especially leading in to a lunch out at a place called "East Burn" appropriately on East Burnside and 18th. The last time Marisa and I ate out was when it was probable that Spalding was already dead or being attacked. Relaxing now is not possible.
The earlier part of to-day was also not that great, receiving a phone call that my credit card had to be re-issued because of fraud...a charge of $59 from some Japanese company. I don't remember any such charge and looked through my emails for a record of it: nothing. So I guess it was fraud and glad to have it clamped down. Now I will need to pay the October bill but also will need to pay up front (no credit) for any new purchases for the next two weeks until I get my new card, then re-adjust all my accounts to the new card.
The suspence is really bothering me...the final week, next week, before I am theoretically loaned to a different part of the company. I say theoretically because I have had no communication and have no contact information for this. Even though my manager was pressured into agreeing to it, he knows nothing about it, either.
It all seems rather suspicious to me and, until I get to that week I am worried about what is really going on. As I am not happy with my company's recent stealth method of getting rid of employees, sometimes with no connection to merit, I can not be sure of anything. Simply the support of my fellow workers and my manager would not be enough if some plan is announced to restructure the foundry and eliminate positions. Loaning me at a critical shift in what we are working on would make this possible.
One good thing: last night I finally identified what happened with my bill when four different account specialists associated with Kaiser could not do so. I then paid the last bill I got from the health network in full. Unlike the last bill which said I had an amount past due, this one had a past due amount which made no sense: was not the amount of the previous check. In fact, the bill accounted for all my payments to this point (which the previous bill did not, which I will explain later).
I walked through the current bill and the previous bill to compare payment requests. If I find the same request on both bills, this is a repeated request. If I find a request not on the previous bill, it is a new request. When I totalled up all the new requests and subtracted what insurance was paid, the result was the amount on the bill: zero past due.
The problem was that, for some reason, the company attributed some of the money to PART of one of the new requests, making three of the old requests still wanting for money (in other words, past due).
However, the actual total due, despite incorrect categorization by Kaiser, was correct and I paid it.
Now, why on the previous bill did the company not get my payment in on time? Banking regulations! The amount paid was almost $2000! A check that large, even when honored quickly by my bank, took an extra week to transfer to Kaiser. Even though the check was received before the due date, it was not accounted in time for that bill, thus I was past due the exact amount of the money I had already sent!
So, no more insurance company snafu's to worry about, no more car issues until I get enough money to get some body work done, a safe Cirrus, no credit card use, the closing in on the radiation treatments for Marisa... there is stabilization and calm conditions.
But, there are medical bills coming for me, more medical bills for the treatments (all bills but one to this point were for diagnosis, discussion and the lumpectomy only), property tax, and uncertainty at work and with regard to the safety of Cirrus.
Good news is Cirrus is staying inside a little more now. I will keep an eye on him and also our budget. After mid-November I will revisit our situation and may decide then to put in the back fence and gates.