Here and There

(Alternate post title: How HR screwed up my dental insurance)

Perhaps this post belongs on White Whine. I had a dentist appointment scheduled for the end of the month, and hadn’t yet received my new dental insurance information. My benefits kicked in May 1, you see. I had received medical and vision cards. Just no dental.

But as the appointment wasn’t until May 31, I figured I had plenty of time for the card to arrive at my house.

I asked a coworker yesterday whether she had got hers yet. She had. Something seemed fishy.

I spoke with HR today, and the rep read my address back to me, off by one digit. Awesome.

But this all reminded me: Why are we still filling out forms by hand? There are so many reasons why we shouldn’t be doing this, namely:

1. It increases the chances of error (see: this post)
2. It wastes paper
3. It wastes time
4. It creates at least twice as much effort as is necessary

If you’re an office, and you ask people to fill out a form that you will then enter into a computer, do us all a favor, please: Stop. Just set a computer terminal out where people can access it, and let us fill our own damn information in.

Okay, carry on …

They’ve been plaguing me for at least six months, maybe longer. They are calls from various numbers, various area codes (never local), and because I typically screen unknown numbers, up until yesterday, I had only heard the voicemail extent of their message.

The voicemails always began the same way. “The warranty on your automobile is about to expire.” Oh, you mean that warranty I don’t have, for that car I also don’t own? That one?

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No, I don’t know a damned thing about economics. So, here goes:

Diagnosis:

• Credit companies got rich by loaning people money to buy things they didn’t really need, mostly by collecting on interest on those loans over many, many years.
• This system worked fine until it crept into the housing market, where the overall amounts of the loans skyrocketed, and of course, more fraudulent/deceptive loans were being issued.
• When borrowers then began to be unable to pay back loans en masse (that’s really the key, that it happened on such a widespread scale, right?), it started to affect the credit companies (i.e., banks), and the situation spiraled.
• Credit itself began to dry up, as the sources of loans saw what was happening to their money, and started holding back.
• This, in turn, forced individuals and businesses alike to no longer be able to afford day-to-day operations as things stood, and trimming began (read: jobs were cut along with individuals’ expenses).

Treatment:

• Pay down debt, and live within your means.

(Those of you reading this who do know what the hell you’re talking about, please, enlighten me.)

Was the so-called Bush deficit more a result of Republican über-spending, or Democrats not paying their taxes?

Sorry to be writing so much about Facebook these days, but I suppose being unemployed has left me with infinitely more downtime, and so, more time to poke around on Facebook. And due to a few interesting situations on the site lately, I have more to think about.

A few days ago, my new sister-in-law, whom I hardly know, friended me. She’s a really nice girl, so naturally I accepted. She seemed new to the site, and really, why not? I already have dozens of “friends” on Facebook whom I rarely talk with, much less truly know anymore.

Then, late last night (Christmas Eve), I was shocked to find a friend request from … my mom.

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I can see the comments that could roll in with that hed, as well as who will send them ;) (you know who you are)

But I’m listening to a woman named Stephanie Ramage (nice name, btw) on Hardball say that while she doesn’t want to demonize the auto unions (mhm), without an industry, the workers would have no jobs.

Ahem, Miss Douchebag, without the workers, the industry would have no … industry.

Couple other tweetables here: Pat Buchanan, when he’s not talking, always looks like he’s straining to hear something. And Hardball’s guest host, Mike Barnicle, doesn’t seem like a real journalist. He’s not bad, he just seems to have walked on the set. Off the street or something.

what percentage of traffic is caused by people not letting other cars into their lane? how about cars who cross the intersection before it’s clear, and end up sticking out?

The worse the economy gets, the more pop-up ads proliferate.

Last night, a lot of people saw me cry for the first time.

Just watched Andrew Sullivan on Colbert Report. Anyone else notice how he didn’t move his left arm? Is he hurt? He kept it on his left thigh throughout the “interview.”

Jeff and I headed back at lunch from a hugely successful pro-Obama bakesale fundraiser. They were mostly sold-out of everything.

I’m wearing an Obama sticker right now. On my desk are a couple of “Guerrilla artist” Shepard Farley stickers just next to my computer monitor.

In San Francisco, an Obama sticker or flag is a badge of honor, since you’re mostly preaching to the choir. However, what will happen when McCain or Obama takes office? When Obama becomes either “the man” or the loser of the last presidential race?

How sad is it when you see a Kerry/Edwards sticker? Would you have held a bakesale for Kerry?

I’d venture to suggest you would not. When the stickers and posters come down and you realize you’ll never wear that McCain or Obama shirt ever again, and our new president will be facing some of the greatest tasks ever asked of our empire, where will your unbridled enthusiasm turn?

- Scott

I know I’m not breaking any intellectual ground here, but it did just occur to me what the big deal is, or at least stems from: It’s really the first choice they make after having been de facto anointed their party’s candidate.

In that sense, I feel absolved of the guilt of having horse-raced this whole thing.

And I hate to lock onto a figure so presumptuously, but if it’s truly down to Biden, Bayh, and Kaine, let’s get the show on the road.

Okay, wait, as someone who’s worked in news the last few years, announcing on a Tuesday is a pretty dismal idea. Never mind.

Go back to living your life now, please.

Can anyone out there point me to studies done to determine how much gas is wasted and pollution emitted, in aggregate, from all the cars out there that needlessly idle?

Another concern I have is poorly designed traffic lights that lead to an abundance of cars stopping at many intervals of what should’ve been a simple drive. I see this in Texas a lot, with the green light on the street with no traffic for minutes on end, while the cars that are stopped by the red keep lining up.

But I see it here in San Francisco, too. On downtown’s one-way streets, especially.

This morning, I rode my bike to work a little earlier than normal, and noticed that the cars I was riding with were forced by red lights to stop at 11th, 10th, Ninth, Eighth, Seventh, and Sixth streets, before being granted a green light at Fifth. Seems very wasteful, in terms of energy and time, and all those unnecessary stops have got to be spewing an ungodly amount of emissions into the atmosphere.

Multiply all the stops at all the intersections of any given city by all the other towns across the country, and seems we’ve got a very fixable problem on our hands.

But I need data to back me up here. Anyone?

Just maybe not kickin’.

Just a quick odd thought: It struck me as puzzling and anachronistic yesterday that iTunes still uses a compact disc as part of its application icon. That’s all.