What The Heck Is That Noise?

Imagine fingernails across a chalkboard, a spoon scraping the sides of a Styrofoam cup, and grinding teeth. Not pleasant sounds; downright annoying. Now imagine the subtle squeak of a rocking chair; back and forth, back and forth.....squeek..squeek...squeek..squeek. Even though it is a "noise", it's rhythmic nature could lull you to sleep. Think about a mother rocking her baby, or your Grandmother rocking on the front porch of the 'ol homestead.

Now....put the squeaking noise together with an annoying circumstance and you get a little old lady grinding her teeth and making a noise that sounds like a squeaky rocking chair (wood rubbing against wood).

Bryan and I were visiting Mom yesterday. It was dinnertime so we took her to the dining room. The meal hadn't been served yet so Bryan and I sat at the table with her for awhile. We began hearing the above stated noise. A constant and rhythmic squeak. "What is that noise Bryan?" "I don't know!" "It's coming from that lady over there." "No way, it sounds like it's coming from the table behind her." "No Mom, look! the noise comes every time she moves her jaw." "There is no way that noise is coming out of a human mouth." "Watch her!" "I see, but I can't believe she can make that loud of a noise with such little movement of her jaw. It still sounds like it's coming from behind her. She must be a ventriloquist and she's throwing her voice." Bryan was pretty sure she was her grinding her teeth. I was still not convinced. I'd never heard anything like that before. All doubts were erased when one of the residents asked an aide about the noise. The aide confirmed that it was indeed her teeth. Amazing! Bryan figured that she's probably done it for so long that she has worn her teeth down to smooth nubs that could easily glide across each other producing that specific tone. Squeaking is ok coming from an old rocking chair, but not from an old lady.

I asked Mom if that noise was annoying to her? She says: "what noise?"

I'm Not Asking For Too Much...Am I?

If it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to deal with the VA and Medicaid for my Mom, this TV thing might drive me to the loony bin. The TV quit working last night, but it works today. Problem is I don't want to watch TV during the day. I reserve my days for staying on hold with the VA and Medicaid offices. I was on hold yesterday for a total of 67 minutes. I put the phone on speaker and carried it around with me from room to room while I waited for someone to answer. When they finally did answer it's was like starting all over from the beginning because everyone tells me something different. It's not necessarily that they give me wrong information, it's that they don't give me complete information. Every time I call it's like getting another piece of the puzzle. This is one of those 1000 piece puzzles with all blue sky. I'm at a stand still right now because Medicaid can't figure out if my Mom is eligible until the VA reduces her award and the VA won't reduce her award until she is approved for Medicaid. Really?????? How does this happen? I thought this only happened on TV to other people. But then again, how would I know that, my TV doesn't work. Mom's application for Medicaid should go through like diarrhea through a colon (sorry, being in the medical field that's the only analogy I could think of). My Mom has zero assets, zero savings and limited income from Social Security and the VA. It's a no brainer; however, somehow the government has figured out how to make it complicated.

If anyone reading this is close to having to apply for Medicaid for a loved one, my advice is to start ASAP. It takes time to sort through the bull shit. After all of this work I have put in, I may end up having to hire an attorney that specializes in Medicaid. That concept pisses me off.

I have to admit that I don't know much about the government run health care proposal. Short of reading the actual bill, I don't really listen to the arguments of Republicans or Democrats. I consider politicians to be a bunch of narcissistic individuals that want to promote their own agenda no matter how many lies they tell. I can't however, help but worry that if the health care system gets in the hands of the government it will be run like Medicaid and the VA system. We'll have to hire lawyers for our medical claims. I should have pushed for my kids to go to law school; at least they would have job security.

I'm happy, healthy and I have a great family. I don't want to be greedy, I just really want to be able to watch TV and know that my Mom is taken care of. That's all!

Zumba; It's Growing On Me

I went to my 4th Zumba class tonight. After the first class I wasn't really sure I wanted to try it again; however, subsequent classes have been much better. I think I'm getting the hang of it. It gets easier with each class. Even Queen L was dancing in my shadow. I was droppin it like it's hot all over the dance floor, shakin my money maker, flyin my freak flag, gettin my grove on, cuttin a rug, etc............... Be watching for me on Dance Fever...oh wait, that went off of the air in the 80's. What about Soul Train?




Update: TV not working again. yeah! :p

Again With The TV

I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but this horse is starting to stink. The DVR receiver went out on the TV AGAIN! I did all the requisite calling and trouble shooting over the phone. Dish wanted to send me a new receiver. I say "really? What are the odds that two receivers are bad?" My friend in India didn't understand the American terminology about odds, so I had to rephrase. He says: "We could send a technician out." "YES, PLEASE!" How exciting, a real person was coming to hopefully take care of the problem.

Orlando showed up at my door as scheduled. I explained the problem as efficiently as possible since all of the details are mind boggling. He replaced the receiver again (this is #3 in case you lost count). He surmised the problem was due to the fact that the initial installer hooked the satelite line through the surge protector which apparently is a no no. While he did a few more repairs and we waited for things to download, we had a nice chat. We discussed the bull shit that you have to go through to get to Dish customer service and the fact that the operators are located in India and/or the Phillipines. He said the operators have a standard script they read from. That's why when you ask a question their response usually doesn't fit the question. They can't deviate off script because in all reality they don't know shit.

Orlando and I became buddies. He left me the local phone number for any future repairs as well as his own cell number. He also showed me how to use some of the cool features. Then the best of all.....he spotted my old rabbit ears antenna and says: "You want me to show you something cool that I can do with them?" My first thought was that I hoped it didn't require him to use any of his body parts or mine.
When I was confident he was talking about doing something with them on the TV, I said: "sure!" He hooked up the antenna to the receiver and programed in the local digital channels. They now show up on the guide and the cool thing is that when the satelite goes out because of weather I can switch to the digital local channels and still get a picture. Orlando is my new TV guardian angel.

Everything is working at this moment in time. Whether it stays that way is up to the TV gods.

PS: If anyone has to call Dish Network for service, tell Raymond in India I said "Hi!" Tell him I won't be talking to him anymore because I got a new guy.