Weeding

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Hey, let me just say I’m really looking forward to seeing what DOGE does, and I have no idea how far they’ll get… I just know they won’t do half the things we need them to do.

Look, I’m not the sort to complain about “the anomie of modern life” or other such nonsense. I’ve lived in earlier ways, and they were no picnic. I guess every way to be a human has its own drawbacks.

But guys, the way we live — a lot of it caused by government sticking its big nose in and causing distortions, if truth be told — has got completely insane.

Someone mentioned the other day that she wondered if there would be quite so much ADD if everything you do didn’t need you to hold on the phone and press now this and now that for hours, then fill a form on line, then wait for an answer and fill another form.

As much as we all work, it seems like all the household and medical and everything else stuff takes all our other time. Taxes of course eats months around here, because i have the absolute nerve to work for myself. And between all of it, we barely have the time to sit down and take a deep breath.

Now a lot of this is just human fuggeheadeness. My doctor has a new computer system. this means whenever I make an appointment it calls me every day at 8 am to remind me. No, not just the day before. Every day till the appointment. In this case, it was a week. I can use them for an alarm. I’m terrified of having to set an annual. It calls me on SUNDAY at 8 am to tell me I have an appointment the next Thursday.

That is normal human mess. But then there is the government. And so much of it is government.

For instance, you can be mad at your health insurance all you want, but do you know how much of the refusals and the idiocy — we lost our neighborhood doctor’s office right after Obamacare — of regulations? For one they put a limit on what the insurances can spend, one way or another, partly by making them cover a lot of strange things that take money from more urgent claims. And then there’s record keeping. Paperwork by itself made it almost impossible to have a private practice.

All this over complication of daily life makes us all run constantly like hamsters on the wheel, to stay in the same place.

And I swear it multiplies every day.

Maybe we’re not all ADHD. Maybe we’re all overbooked, under rested and unable to take a breath.

And maybe the metaphorical Shiba Inu will get us some breathing space. But it’s too much to ask that it removes at least most of the government tape. Not in two years.

It would take a miracle.

134 thoughts on “Weeding”

  1. I have ADD at work. It comes in the form of my supervisors who can’t comprehend the concept of “let him finish what he’s working on and the three tasks you interrupted to get him on that”.

    Baka.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. And in the next hour you do it again and at the end of the day call it a quiet one.

      I call it Crises by Management, they only know how to be in crises mode so that is the environment that is created.

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        2. I’ve long since hit the point of “If everything is an emergency, then nothing is an emergency.
          Then. once the department I was (literally just me and the chemical engineer who oversaw the tolars) got shut down, someone noticed the 85% of my orders were Past Due When Entered Into The System. 7 years of Past Due hey hurry up. all fake. Right now it’s “We’re close down for the Holiday Week, BUT we still expect the same monthly numbers”
          you get what you get and see you next year.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. “If everything is an emergency, then nothing is an emergency.“

            I got that way. I quit answering the phone after 4 PM. Once we got new phone system that gave the number (and client) calling, I refused to answer the phone if one particular client called after 12 PM on Friday.

            Every single time this client called on Friday it was “payroll” crisis (timesheets had to be in by 5 PM). Every single time it was BTCAK problem (between the chair and keyboard). Easily found by running the appropriate cross reports.

            My last 6 months I was even pickier than above. Not slowing down work, just was picking what I was working on. Not like I’d get through the list before the end of my last day.

            Liked by 1 person

        3. I think I have internalized that into my own life to a shocking degree. Hubby has had so many health scares in the past 5 years that now (with things in pretty good shape overall) I have forgotten how to function at less than defcon 2.

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          1. My SIL is like that.

            Almost got sucked into MIL drama back in ’89. What saved me was the fact, first late pregnancy, then a newborn. That baby (after 10 years) was the ONLY priority. Simple.

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            1. Keeping hubby alive/on recovery track is what did it to me. Changing that priority to another human being wouldn’t have made any difference.

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          2. I’ve been crisis mode since I realized dad was declining…that was ten years ago. Eight since he passed. One crisis or another since. I’ve kind of given up on it getting better.

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    2. My dad told about a time when the owner of the company came to him with an urgent task. Dad put his hand on the pile beside his keyboard and said “Which end of the do it now pile do you want it on?”

      The executive apparently decided to do it himself.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I was kind of an odd duck at work (humble, faithful and efficient, and not management clawing) that gave me a certain freedom. One joy was my boss wanting me “to get right on this”. I noted that that I was working on a proposal that the Director (four levels up) asked me to write. No questions.

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    3. I have a family member who does that — and when I object, claims he’s just “reminding” me of the other task. Except when I acknowledge the “reminder” and return to my current task, he’s back jogging my elbow about Task B five minutes later — which does not sound like reminding to me. It sounds like whatever he’s bugging me about should be considered the more urgent task, and I should move to it now. Except as soon as I move to it, he starts bugging me about yet another task, and won’t take acknowledgement that I’ll do it next as sufficient.

      A friend even spent almost half an hour explaining this problem to him, and he gave affirmative responses that sounded like he understood — but he’s still doing it, so it really sounds like his responses were pro forma, just to get the conversation ended.

      It’s part of the reason why I feel so stressed all the time. The other is how I’m perpetually overbooked, and no matter how many tasks I actually accomplished, all I hear is criticism for what I wasn’t able to get to — but I know that, if I had done those tasks instead, all I’d hear about was why didn’t I get the other ones done. Together, they leave me feeling like, no matter what I am working on, it’s the wrong thing and I should be doing something else.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. That’s the one I use at home when I’m getting ‘reminded’ while I’m working.

          “No. I’m not doing it. No, I’m not doing it ‘later.’ No, I’m not doing it tomorrow. I am not doing it at all, ever, until the end of time. No.”

          My other favorite is “Shall I stop doing this thing you told me to do, so I can go do that thing right now?” This is when I’ve got the kitchen ripped apart for plumbing, and I’m being told I must call the car dealership about some repair issue.

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          1. Puts me in mind of The Universal Repair Notice:

            Yes — the damn thing is F’d up.

            Yes — I know it’s F’d up.

            No — I don’t know who F’d it up. If you find out, don’t bug me, just kill the bastard.

            Yes — I’m working on the S.O.B.

            No — I don’t know how F’ing long it will take.

            No — I don’t know what the F you’re going to do in the meantime.

            No — it will never get fixed if you don’t F OFF and LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!

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            1. “This is wrong.”

              “Okay. See it is wrong. Will get it fixed.”

              “How long will it take to fix?”

              Since “IDK” is not an acceptable answer. “Usually a few minutes after I find the problem. Plus testing.” Pause. “Now ask me how long will it take to find the problem.”

              Silence.

              Funny. IDK is not a valid response for “how long to fix” but perfectly acceptable for how long to find the problem.

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                1. Universal response to that sort of idiocy:

                  YLOPINME

                  “Your Lack Of Planning Is Not My Emergency”

                  I actually used that one a couple of times when some idiot program manager (BIRM, generally) had an “emergency” which had been noted officially multiple times as a pending problem. Never time then to fix it before it blew up, of course. :-x

                  Luckily, my boss had my back each time; he had seen the same warnings and had even less patience for incompetence than I did.

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          2. The monster copier at Day Job has a pre-printed sign that appears. “Yes, it is broken. Yes, we have called in the repair ticket. Yes, someone is coming. No, we do not know exactly when.”

            It saves the secretary and friends a lot of headaches.

            Liked by 1 person

            2. The sign saves the users a lot of headaches too, because it does convey the proverbial critical, need to know, information.

              The flip side is “The monster copier is broken. Should we tell the person responsible for sending in the repair ticket?” Because if the person already knows, telling him just annoys him and gets you yelled at. But if the person doesn’t know yet, he really does need to be informed about the breakage.

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              1. This. Often the person asking about it is genuinely trying to be helpful. That person has no way of knowing whether a repair call has been made on the copier.

                And if there’s no visible sign of it, it can be dangerous to assume that the call was made.

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          3. Is this person a child, or a guest?

            Either way, indicate “this behavior stops now” and apply sanctions.

            An adult? Pretty much the same, just adult versions.

            Clearly you allow it to work, or the perpetrator wouldn’t do it.

            Didn’t realize you were participating in the unwanted behavior? Welcome to transaction analysis. Games get played by two or more players.

            Don’t play the game.

            Enforce that “no”.

            Liked by 1 person

      2. “If you have the time to be standing there reminding me, you have the time to do it yourself. Until I get my current task done, I do not have the time. You want task done, go do it.”

        “You are wasting both our time by interrupting this task to nag about that one. The more of my time you waste, the longer this will take. If you have the time to be standing there reminding me, you have the time to do it yourself. Go do it, and let me know when it’s done.”

        “No. I am currently overwhelmed. You are clearly not, if you have the time to stand here complaining. Go do it.”

        “The proper answer to ‘I am overwhelmed’, if you love or care about someone is not (whatever excuse), it’s ‘I’m sorry; how can I help.’ How you can help is by <i>not interrupting me</i> and <i>Doing the thing you realize needs doing.</i> If you feel you can’t do that, then you can at the very least Go Away and get something else that you <i>can</i> do, done.”

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      3. One of my pet peeves are people, actually a certain person who shall remain nameless, who when they forget an important appointment or deadline, blame YOU for not reminding them of it, instead of taking responsibility for remembering it themselves. The person in question is not elderly or memory impaired, at least not yet, and has gotten better about it. I can understand helping someone out with a reminder or doing this for children or the memory impaired, or someone with such a high pressure job that they can’t possibly track everything at once, but if you are a capable adult IMO it is YOUR responsibility to remember what you have to do and when, not someone else’s.

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        1. In my case, the person in question is elderly, so it’s possible a mild cognitive impairment could be keeping them from grasping that no, this behavior is not productive.

          Also, the person’s last several years before retirement were worked in an increasingly dysfunctional work environment — even when getting out of there is a huge relief, bits of that toxic mindset can linger and show up in counterproductive behavior with friends and family.

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        2. Drives me nuts too.

          I was never military but I follow this: “Early is ontime. Ontime is LATE. Late is unacceptable.”

          I can be late. No excuse. But I will be calling to say so. Usually traffic. Which is a PIA. Yes, plan for traffic to be “bad”. Usually way early because planned for bad traffic that doesn’t happen. But can’t plan for last minute accidents that stop traffic with no way out. Otherwise it is because I have the wrong time (happened once, now when I get the 24 hour notice I check that time against the time on my phone and kitchen calendar).

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    4. One of my military mentors described this as “pulling a plant up by its roots to see how well it’s growing.” While I espouse Management By Walking Around, it works best when my manager walks somewhere else. Far away.

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      1. I don’t despise Management By Walking Around… but we came to an impasse, my manager and I, when I had a million-square-foot facility. Namely, that if I spent my shift walking around…

        …my subordinates could never find me, and wasted a lot of time trying to catch me to solve their problem.

        If I instead stayed right next to a station with All The Tools to Fix Their Problems, they all knew exactly where I was, and could come get problems fixed at a time and pace most convenient to their workflow.

        So, I stood still, and almost always had a queue of people trying to get The Thing Fixed, with a steady flow of trouble tickets to IT and Quality Assurance, and sometimes over to other departments, to explain what the high-risk, high-consequence, and persistent problems were, and how they could be mitigated at the source. (which turned into even more tickets off to IT and QA to fix minor problems in other departments that weren’t so minor when they rolled downstream.)

        I then sat down with my direct report, and his boss, and pulled out the data showing that my entire department was 14% more efficient than our counterparts on all other shifts, including our counterpart on the back half of the week.

        This was NOT what the devotees of Management By Walking Around wanted to hear. They sung the praises of catching employees in the act. I pointed out that if one respected their employees, and held clear and consistent standards, act-catching wasn’t necessary, because those who goofed off couldn’t meet standards. They sung the praises of showing the employees that management understood their positions. I pointed out that whenever crunch time hit, I made sure I hit 110% of rate when I had to hit the floor, and could they say the same?

        They, of course, banished me to a new project, because they were determined to have a manager who Walked Around.

        Two weeks later, they came by New Project, and were alarmed that it was already in its fifth trial iteration, enthusiastically embraced by the subordinates I got to keep (who’d been banished with me for being ‘troublemakers’), far more efficient than they expected, had already uncovered several Major Bugs in the Code…

        …and there was a line of my old subordinates waiting for me to have free time to Fix Their Problem, because they couldn’t find the new manager, and it was far faster to come to me anyway, since I already had the tools and the knowledge.

        Pulling a plant up by its roots to see how well it’s doing, indeed.

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      2. Standard Farmer thing demonstrated by one of my relatives on my last visit to Indiana, on a soybean plant, because there’s an entire vast field of the things, and one won’t matter. Appalling in the instance to me, being a suburban garden amateur, where maybe I planted two.

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      3. “got what you need for the mission?” “Yes.” (Walks on) “Need anything?””No.” (walks on) “Anything holding you up?” ” No” (walks on)

        (grin)

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  3. People like creating bureaucratic problems. Create a new form, and they’ll spend hours finding ways to get people to fill out those forms. It really doesn’t matter if the form has no real purpose, except to justify a position that has no use. Justifying that position leads to an increase in paperwork, the need to hire help (probably a member of the bosses family), more attorneys, a burden on courts, and more taxes, with regulations. It’s a Gordian knot of bureaucracy, and the best solution is how the Gordian knot problem was solved. To the bureaucrat it’s a horror. To the taxpayer, it’s relief.

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    2. The Prime Directive of any bureaucracy is to perpetually increase its budget and head count. Moar Money! Moar Minions!

      Anybody trying to thwart that imperative gets attacked with fanatical frenzy.

      ‘Weeding’ should start with taking a chainsaw to the federal government and pruning off about 95% of it.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. ‘Weeding’ should start with taking a chainsaw to the federal government and start pruning off 95% of it, and increase pruning from there.

        FIFY

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Funnily enough, the pest way to get rid of excess paperwork is to make the paperwork inconvenient for the bureaucrat that imposed it.

      Then they figure out a solution that doesn’t involve paperwork right quick.

      Of course, by that time you’ve finally succeeded in getting all the faculty to actually do the paperwork (which can take years) and now it’s obsolete, and you have to tell them “Well, ackshually… you don’t have to do that anymore.”

      Which, naturally they keep doing, because that’s how you told them to do things, and nevermind that the situation changed.

      Too-rapid change is as bad as no change at all.

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      1. I envision fifth level d-n-d spell

        G’s Delayed Immolation Paperwork of Firey Vengeance

        Looks like a well done scroll reporting in detail on some complex topic, or immense tabulation of number-bashing some complex process or accounting. Very hard to detect as anything but what it seems.

        Can be set for either a specific time delay, or until a specified quantity of combustibles/flammables are nearby, or when above are met plus “disturbed”.

        1pt x caster level flame damage in 10′ radius. Ordinary combustibles/flammables in range ignite and burn 100% to ash, without some sprt of magical intervention. Note, this burndown includes anything lit by the range of spell, even if object is massive and far larger. (Board, beam, shelf, rope, tree, etc) Those items will have the normal chance to ignite stuff outside range.

        Not fast. Not terribly destructive directly. But horrifyingly inevitable.

        Liked by 1 person

    4. that is how doge will work best.

      1. Is this a proper function of govt?
      2. is this being done by another agency?
      3. Is this being done right?
      4. Is this being done in the most efficient manner?

      Then present potus with a list of positions/branches/functions to rem9ve from agencies.

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        2. What the Moose said, with its name in lights. When you prune a rose bush, you start next to the trunk, not at the buds. Bring out Mr. Milei’s chainsaw!

          For that matter, knowing that the Constitution calls for the provision of a post office, and seeing that every function of the same (aside from printing collectible stamps) is now met in the private sector and usually more effectively and more efficiently, let a bill pass Congress (or even a “pork barrel” rider on the NDA along with everything else, but that sets the kids a bad example) to the following effect:

          1. The Constitution requires national Postal Services (cited Art , §§).
          2. The following functions constitute Postal Services [list follows, narrowly defining same].
          3. Any company which provides Postal Services within the US as its primary business [UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc implied but not named] is recognized by this Congress to fulfill the mandate, and upon application is eligible for tax-exemption as a recognized Post.
          4. [Anti-monopoly clause for Post companies, perhaps setting a minimum number of private Posts at ≥ 3.]
          5. As current non-USGOV enterprises now serve these ends within the US, the government and (numbered) Congress do hereby dissolve/privatize/sell/divest the USPS: its assets will be sold on TBD date.

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          2. Tell me of any other entity other than the US Postal Service (which hasn’t been a branch of the government since 1974) that delivers to EVERY address in the country, and letters at a consistent rate to ALL of those addresses? Oh, wait, there IS no such thing. The Canadians are already having trouble with THEIR mostly privatized Post Office coping with delivery to all addresses, since the alternatives are undercutting them for the ‘cherry’ routes that are easy to cover, and leaving any rural areas underserved or not served at all. With their recent strike, a LOT of older people who don’t live in cities and can’t get their provisions or pharmaceuticals any other way are finding themselves in dire straits. While most US rural areas aren’t quite THAT remote ( quietly ignoring Alaska…) I suspect there are a lot of rural areas that UPS, FedEx, etc won’t bother with unless they charge exorbitant prices. One of the regulations that makes it so hard for the USPS to make money is the one requiring them to deliver to all addresses, and even for package mail to be at something like equivalent prices ( per distance or some such). The Postal Service has many problems, many of them caused by ‘Congressional Oversight’ and others as part of the regulatory structure originally intended to fight the cronyism and favoritism that Ben Franklin himself set out to battle. Never allow a politician near a regulation he can bend to his own benefit, and then blame on the institution it was SUPPOSED to protect.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Fair enough: on one hand, one might rewrite it to deregulate the USPS instead of defenestrating it. Or one of the Functions Of A Recognized Post (Item 2) might be to deliver to all addresses, or to all addresses within its postal service jurisdiction (and explicitly allow jurisdictions to overlap).

              Or both.

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  5. Got a new phone. Immediately disable as many notifications as possible. Two weeks later, I’m still turning more of the things off.

    Back in the early days of the web, a pop-up ad was considered rude, an annoyance. Now they’re de rigeur, even mandated (Would You Like to Have one of our Cookies?).

    Very little actually needs YOUR. ATTENTION. RIGHT. NOW. On the phone, calls and alarms. Maybe texts.

    I’m waiting for the first car wreck caused by a forced update while driving.

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      2. Which is why I play the old fart card and use a flip phone. My wife has the number, and I’ll let a medical practice have the number when necessary (with the proviso that the default state of the phone is “Off”. If I don’t expect a call from them, they shouldn’t bother trying).

        I’ve tried bluetooth linking in the vehicles that support it (’16 Subie, ’19 Honda), but in general, it’s easier to stop and call. (It’s also easier to see if I’m in one of the many cell phone dead zones. Rural cell coverage is interesting.)

        Liked by 1 person

        1. We have our phones connected. Rule in our house is “Don’t recognize the number? Don’t answer it.” I only answer the phone in the car and I’m driving if it is family.

          Rural cell coverage isn’t just interesting, it is nonexistent. From our POV, not getting better. We have Verizon which has the best coverage.

          OTOH I don’t expect mountain areas, or wide swaths of open unoccupied to minimal occupied areas to have coverage. What we’ve discovered is if there is a demand, then there is a large farm/ranch that is willing to let a cell tower to be installed. Not universal coverage, but you’ll get blips of coverage out in the middle of nowhere.

          It is amazing that people don’t know there are areas with no coverage. We presume there is no coverage.

          I get questions like “How do you report an accident on Hwy 58?” (Any highway over the Cascades). Answer. “Like always has happened. Nothing has changed.”

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            1. Rural cell coverage isn’t just interesting, it is nonexistent. 

              In my experience, the “coverage maps are “areas we’re licensed to operate in”, and have zero to do where you can actually get a signal.

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              1. ” “coverage maps are “areas we’re licensed to operate in” “

                I believe that of T-Mobile. We had them for a whole 3 months. Was not a good experiment. Even at home it was iffy, let alone between home and Junction City, or the outskirts (golf coarse) of Monroe, on Territorial Road. That isn’t even out of the valley. At least with Verizon cutting in and out, or no coverage, you know why. Either in a canyon, traveling a road along a mountain, or other reason. Along highway 20, if you know the road, lose coverage coming out of Bend, nearing Brothers, the Pine Observatory, valleys with no towns, but can see ranches/farms, sudden coverage happens.

                Even at the family cemetery, which is on private ranch land, coverage, except for Verizon is iffy. I know there is a tower at the top of the hill. They pay the rancher to have it there and have access. Although they don’t keep the road graveled, grousing … lower part of it is the same road to access the graveyard. Technically non-profit only responsible for the parking lot gravel. But really need the access and it helps the rancher. Actually the county is responsible for graveling the road to the graveyard from the county/state highway. Good luck with that. (Douglas County is in serious tax base problems. Between feds, and the reservation lands, and the Seven Feathers casino is using money to buy up more land, I think non-taxable lands is more than 64%, and increasing. While the casino donates money to schools, that doesn’t help the county road obligations.)

                Liked by 1 person

        2. I have never given my current cellular number to any medical or insurance company or doctor’s office. I’ve only given the number to a handful of people who have a legitimate reason to contact me when I’m not at home near the land line.

          Somehow, the number wound up in EPIC’s medical database, as my default number. Which has caused occasional trouble, as I don’t answer unrecognized numbers, nor do I have voicemail set up, so their calls go to /dev/null.

          I have tried a dozen times to get the number changed to the correct one, to zero effect.

          I’m reasonably sure they bought the number from Verizon. Verizon markets caller and number data commercially.

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    2. I recommend turning off one’s phone, or at least its ringer, before going to bed. It’s better for one’s health and family life.

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      1. At least on Apple, and I can’t imagine Gurgle’s phoneOS does not offer such as well, there‘s a mode where you can block anyone not on a specific “allow” list from making any noise by attempted contact, neither text ping nor email ding nor phone ring, for a block of time so you can sleep, but still get calls or contacts from your MUST GET THROUGH list.

        Really useful once configured, though you have to keep that list up.

        Liked by 1 person

        2. that “hush mode” usually allows two calls from same number in short time to activate the ringer. In my case, the “dont block” requires two calls. Team and Family know to doubletap. Our auto-dial for alerts has double entries.

          so far, works pretty good.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Ah, that explains the recent instances of spam call double-taps – I’m rejecting them manually, but they try right back.

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          2. That might be why I see so many spammers double-tap their calls, one right after another.

            Another spammer tactic is to let is ring only a few times – usually five – before hanging up. I suspect they expect to connect to a person or voicemail by then.

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    3. I’ve seen one report of a EV that was bricked because the entertainment console got stuck on an update. Car had to be towed.

      so far, it looks like forced updates only happen when a vehicle is parked.

      but, the crash will happen at some point.

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  6. Donald Trump / DOGE will not be allowed to do jack. Section 605 of the continuing resolution will guarantee it.

    https://open.substack.com/pub/amuseonx/p/the-continuing-resolution-congress?r=6em1o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

    Let’s strip away the camouflage. Section 605 does three things with surgical precision:

    First, it declares that Congress retains perpetual possession of all “House Data”—a broad, almost limitless category including emails, metadata, and any electronic communication touching official House systems. This means providers like Google or Microsoft, who store or process this data, are mere bystanders, unable to act as custodians for investigators. The House claims total dominion.

    Second, courts are ordered to “quash or modify” subpoenas for House Data. Investigators from Trump’s Justice Department, no matter how compelling the evidence, will now face a procedural minefield laid by Congress itself. Compliance with legal process will be, in essence, denied.

    Third—and most chilling—this protection applies retroactively. Any ongoing investigation that hasn’t yet secured House data is now dead on arrival. Existing subpoenas? Nullified. Pending warrants? Quashed. Section 605 doesn’t just safeguard future misconduct; it effectively buries the past.

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    1. Yet another reason so many on both sides of the aisle seem to be looking at that stinking mess and shaking their heads. (When everyone hates the bill, you start wondering just how much [rude word] they crammed into it.)

      Liked by 2 people

      1. While I’ll believe it when they slink off home, I made sure to contact my Congresscritter, Self, this afternoon, and tell him that I expected him to vote no and tell his cronies the same thing.

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        1. The usual Democratic emtional blackmail. Shove “disaster relief,” in with ugly stuff, and then pull the, “I guess you don’t care about disaster victims,” crap.

          Liked by 1 person

      4. I didn’t hear about that one. I did hear about Dems screaming en masse because Speaker Johnson slipped in a provision that would ban Federal funding for “gender affirming care”.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. More things got slipped into that bill than into the dude that passes out face down at a Diddy party.

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      1. New CR rejected last night containing CR, Helene relief, and continue farmer relief.

        Today 3 bills, one each for each of the above. The new CR bill is 119 pages. VS 1500 pages that the original DOA with pork that was killed. As of 4 PM PST the CR bill was headed to the senate.

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        1. I’ve heard from a few sources that the ‘revised’ ‘compromise’ bills have almost as much pork, it’s just not defined in detail. 1,400+ pages of the original bill were all about the porky little details of who got paid off with what.

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          1. IDK. Those who have read it say the most egregious has been removed. What passed the House tonight was the CR for current funding (not that current funding doesn’t need cut to the bone) until March. Money for Helene damage. And extension of the farm relief. Senate still has to pass it. And Biden has to sign it. Everyone is saying that senate is likely to pass. Biden? Who knows. I can see Dr Jill, I mean P. Biden, saying “S You” and not signing.

            Liked by 1 person

              1. Sounds like progress, and a confirmation that “Just say NO!” applies to bills as well as to drugs, but with greater effect.

                Just a note… “Weeding” isn’t really what we need, given that the “good parts” of the current government are like a 10-foot-square plot of food plants in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. What we need is more like an Arclight strike (the Vietnam B-52 version, not the RuneScape sort), but with napalm. :twisted:

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    1. Can’t check any social media without a flood of the ignorant and the arrogant cheering on Luigi as awesome and a hero and the loony spouting lefty gibberish as she shot up a Christian school as a victim of patriarchy and/or gun manufacturers. But it’s all America’s fault either way, amirite?

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      1. Threw a brush back pitch at a Lefty acquaintance.

        “You make a persuasive case that these are good ideas of valid methods. What does your world look like if most folks like me agree?”

        “uh…. “

        “No? Then persuade your associates. Before they persuade others.”

        Liked by 2 people

  8. You’re so right about the regulative pressures on medical offices. My wife spent 48 years in medicine, all but the last few in one private practice. In her first years she was frequently called upon to assist in delivering babies; by the end doctors couldn’t even visit patients they had admitted to the hospital. Meanwhile, recordkeeping went from paper charts (which always worked fine) to cryptic computerized coding which demanded more tiny subdivisions for each medical condition than the Inuit have for snow, and woe to the office that accidentally used the wrong modifier on an ICD-10 code! Obamacare changes blew it up.

    Regarding the computerized reminders, try setting a custom ringtone for the calling number. Most cell phones today permit creating your own, so you could hear the sound of a cat purr or rustling leaves, for example, when those reminders arrive, enough to know but not annoying.

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    1. I do the custom ringtone thing too. I even uploaded a silent mp3 file fir special numbers. No rung, no vibration, nothing. I find out about that call later. Really helps.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. Simply requiring insurance companies to standardize coding (as in, X code means precisely this procedure) would take care of a lot of paperwork, but it would require a lot of work on the insurance companies’ ends, so it’s never going to happen. (Or worse, we’d end up with the Department of Official Operating Medi-terms that would have to get cut down in the future.)

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      1. We already have ICD-10 codes, one standard set for diagnoses and another for procedures, which are a vastly huge list of annoying specificity to the point of being vastly confusing. Everyone has to use those. It does not solve this problem.

        The issue at base with the US medical system today is that, in the medical care transaction, the seller is the medical provider (Doctor or Hospital or Pharmacy or whatever) and the buyer is the insurance payer.

        If there’s a transaction involving you, and you are neither the buyer nor the seller, then you are the product.

        Liked by 2 people

          1. One of the reasons our primary care physician does everything on the computer during the exam, and can code appropriately (can’t have “senor wellness visit” and combine with any other issues, because “insurance”. Plus we generally discuss anything mom might be hiding, and yes I am entitled to the information because mom said so.) I have the report notes before I get home. He still has to review any lab notes and add comments (so I get two copies, one from the lab, and his additional notes). But at least he is freed up some.

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    3. Here’s an irony, or rather coincidence, that the popular literary types among us might appreciate. The Illinois Department of Insurance is adopting new rules for its state-based Obamacare exchange that includes setting up a program for small businesses to find Obamacare-compliant health insurance for their employees. It’s called the Small Business Health Options Exchange, with the acronym SHOP (because SBHOP doesn’t sound or look as catchy). So the rule repeatedly refers to “the SHOP”, which makes me think immediately of the mysterious and sinister government entity featured in Stephen King stories such as ‘Firestarter”. I figure the person who came up with that acronym either never read Stephen King, or if they did, has kind of a dark sense of humor.

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  10. The DEI and Equity crap, including all the “social drivers” that DHHS is pushing is ripe for being cut. Absolutely useless when it comes to actually improving healthcare outcomes for anyone: white, black, red, yellow, chartreus, or lime-green-polka dot.

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  11. When Naomi Wolf and Candace Owen’s are fighting on X, it is time to sit back and make popcorn, right?

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  12. I’ve been dealing with so much hurry up (applying for backup jobs, dealing with issues both personal and professional) and wait (waiting on banks, my current employer to get their billing resolved, investors, etc, etc, etc) that I feel like a freaking ping-pong ball.

    Add the holidays and the stress it generates (mostly envy, I see far too many happy people that make me sad for not being happy in some form).

    Home stress (Dad is trying to…talk to me, and when I start talking back the gears don’t quite mesh).

    And that the next two to four years is going to be all sorts of fun coming down the pike from DC and New York and Sacramento…

    I’m just so very tempted to weed with a flamethrower right now.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. I understand why there are appointment reminders that are automated. That doesn’t mean I agree with their use or like them. I however decline phone ones whenever possible, email is sufficient and less intrusive. I have one regular provider and their receptionist calls each patient once, the day before.

    In my own office that closed about 4 years ago, we had no automated system. We had VERY FEW no shows, as the few folks we knew might have a problem remembering did get a call a day or so beforehand, but to check on how they were doing and ask if there was anything else they’d need at the appointment other than the scheduled reason. Sneaky, sort of. Of course we weren’t a high volume practice, my income wasn’t as important as covering my employees, and the importance of patient quality care superseded that only a little.

    I think it’s worth considering asking your doc whether they would like if you’d call their office daily to remind them you remembered their appointment. After all it’s just returning the courtesy. And it might change their system. Oh wait a minute. Bet they have one of those phone menu firewalls and you don’t get a live person. Well there are ways to get around that…

    Liked by 1 person

        1. color ink is more expensive but most electronic systems don’t print faxes, just store them digitally- there are electronic versions of your plan that take up lots of memory

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    2. My favorite reminder was this Monday. I had my yearly appointment with the cardiologist in mid-September, 21025. When I saw the retina doc, I forgot that appointment and scheduled a visit for the day after (not good, since there’s travel and a hotel stay involved.) Note to self; print an appointment list…

      I got the cardiologist appointment redone, and a few minutes later got a helpful robocall telling me not to forget my appointment for early December, 2025. Seems the dust under the computer desk is bad; had to wash my eyeballs after that phone call.

      I don’t mind the calls a day or two ahead. OTOH, the big medical center will call until you acknowledge the appointment. And might still get a call the day before.

      What is helpful is the pharmacy calling to tell me that the prescriptions are ready to pick up. I’ve had a couple that had stocking problems, and it’s nice to get confirmation of success.

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      1. I’m getting confirmation of appointments made (text or email depending on method allowed) usually day made, sometimes the next day. But no call. Then I get notifications a day or two before. Sometimes (dog groomer and I don’t blame them) one 48 hours before, and one 24 hours before. Which makes sense because the 48 hour one allows you to say “oops, need to cancel” without a fee. The 24 hour one it is too late to cancel without a fee. They’ve had some major problems with late cancellations. More than 24 hour notice allows filling the slot.

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  14. Who was it that proposed The House of Repeal as the 4th branch of government?

    I suspect that’s what’s we’re going to need, in the end – the Founders did a great job of setting up a government with 3 branches permanently at war with themselves. Unfortunately, the world built better idiots such that capture and collusion instead of internal warfare happened.

    We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and we certainly don’t need socialism to “save us.” We need to go back to what was on the paper, and original intent.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Did someone mention ADHD? I am editing. When editing, the ADHD comes in spades.

    I am currently correcting for culture, mental noise, minor plot details, and grammar on top of adding in a plotline that was improperly taken out, which I may take out again if it doesn’t fit. On a manuscript that has been lost for seven months because the computer died and took the backup drive with it. I finally have a working copy of the (now triply backed up) zombies in space ‘script.

    It has been three days. I’m on chapter 15 of 57 of fixes.

    Things are going swimmingly.

    If I see one more misplaced comma or apostrophe, one more step out into “out of head” noise stream of consciousness…

    Gah. I have to do this to get the plot moving again. Maybe by Christmas. We shall see.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Oh yeah. I keep telling myself it can’t get any worse, I had the MC with three arms at one point, which, while technically possible as this is scifi, would be really jarring to the reader if it was not introduced properly.

        Then I find my proper little researcher is using slang like a surfer dude, Not helpful, that. I’m finding plot holes in abundance. I need to create a document just for plot holes at this point.

        I will not drown this story in the bathwater and bury it under the roses. But the temptation is there. I know I can do better than this. That is what is so annoying.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. Good on ya! I’m just getting to the point where the plot hole diverged. Fixed a few minor dialogue issues and culture stuff. The MC now sounds more like the scientist he’s supposed to be, with subtle hints of the scrappy orphan hood rat he once was.

            Deleted a few nonsensical bits, added in a few glaringly missing things. Made the Wampus cat a bit more adorable.

            I’m going to have to upload the revisions though. Crap. Forgot about that part. Going to have to do it twice,

            Who was the idiot that told me to start doing my fiction in public? Oh, right, that was me. Are all writers closet masochists? Asking for a friend.

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