Monday, November 19, 2007

My HMO vent.

We pay so so so much for health care. $700 per month in my case, but of course, I "only" pay $17 a month, the rest is taken out of my wages. So, when I hurt me knee (or hip, or back...) I expect to be able to see a Doctor, not any doctor, but a doctor who knows a lot about Orthopedics, you know, because I have history in this area and I'm pretty sure that's what I need!

Instead, scenario A happens: I call up my PCP (read: was put on hold for 5-7 minutes), and to then, to my surprise, my PCP isn't accepting any new patients! Even though she's supposed to be my doctor!!! So I have to call another office, oh GUESS WHAT? Not a single primary care physician at UCSF is accepting new patients, WOW. Unbelievable. So, I call some other random PCP, oh wait, no, not that easy, I find out that first my insurance company must approve the switch! So, I call my insurance company (read: was put on hold for 10-15 minutes this time), and I was finally able to make the change, but of course, it will take 3-4 business days to process.

So basically, I can go to the Emergency Clinic, wait about 2 hours and have some snide doctor think that he has seen my case before and I don't really need an MRI, because, you know, we're trying to cut medical costs in this country and frankly my knee/hip/back just isn't worth it.

BAH.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Respect to the lawyers of the world

I'm not going to lie, I don't really like lawyers that much (I'm not just talking about those on tv crime shows). For instance, if it wasn't for lawyers finding loop holes in meaningful, good laws surrounding pharmaceudical patents, then we could have shorter patents for drug like lipitor etc and save our government millions of dollars in prescription drugs. Or, when someone asked Mitt Romney if as president it is constitutional to wage war on a certain country, he defers with, "that's a question i'll have to ask my lawyer". Does that mean for the 2008 election I should vote based on which presidential candidate's lawyer I agree with the most?! There's something about lawyers that just makes me a little nauseous most of the time.

However, events happened last week that gave me a little hope about lawyers, what type of character some of them have. I have the utmost respect for the lawyers in Pakistan who are protesting the imbalances of power in their country that occurred in the past week. They are courageous, they have such a respect for the positive power of law, checks and balances, and fair justice that they have won my respect through their complete rejection of the regime's attempt to overthrow justice in their country.

Sometimes, lawyers can be cool.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Sugar Highs and Runners Highs

Oh my oh my, I just had one of the best running workouts ever (limited by the fact that I was indoors and on the treadmill of course) I ran 3 straight miles around 8:30 pace, took a break, did some abs and weights, and then jumped on and off for 3 more miles, 7:10, 7:20, and 7:25, heehah!

I think this spurt of treadmill energy is due to the enormous load of sweets I've eaten between yesterday (Halloween) and today (the day after Halloween-even more candy!) Seriously, the sugar in my veins just propelled me to run like crazy! And I was enjoying it! I think I'm going to have sugar more often now.... :)

Having a good workout is one of the best feelings in the world. For me, there are two points in every running workout, the low point and the high point. The low point generally hits me at about 3 minutes into the run, where I think I've run a mile only to realize I've barely run anything. This low point can stay with me for quite a while. If I'm doing a larger run, my high point doesn't really start to hit me until like mile 3, and then, for whatever reason, I get this absurd burst of energy, one second before my legs feel like weights, and the next second it's like I'm gliding. I figure this is my runner's high, I only get it after running for a while, but it is so worth it! I feel lighter, I start picking up my pace, such an awesome feeling!!! I only wish it didn't take me 25 minutes or more to get to it!