4 January 2001
Last year: I think the word we're looking for is draconian.
My PowerBook has shipped! Only, the FedEx page tells me it was last scanned at some airport in "TW" - where the heck is TW? I know TN is Tennessee, and TX is Texas, but those are the only two "T" states we have. Wait. I'll check the details page. "Taoyuan City?"
A sinking suspicion grows in me. I have Yahoo do a lookup on "Taoyuan City." My suspicion is confirmed: My PowerBook is being shipped directly from the factory in Taiwan. I can forget all hope of it arriving early. On the other hand, I'm glad I paid that extra $10 for FedEx 3-day delivery!
Matt and I have a lot of shopping to do this weekend. Luckily, most of it will be fun. We need to return and/or exchange a couple of things, and that really needs to be done this weekend, before the stores' return policies run out. Kris' birthday is coming up on Monday, so we need to get her something. (I know what, but she occasionally checks in here, and I'd hate to spoil the surprise!)
And as long as we're going to be down in Newport News anyway, we might as well stop in at Barnes and Noble to see about spending the gift certificate Jeff gave us for Christmas. And I have a gift certificate at Michael's craft store... And Matt and I both have checks from his dad to cash and spend. Whee!
(Actually, if we're going to be down there, maybe I'll stop in at Sam's Club. We're running low on kleenex again, and I want to see if I can find one of those handout stations with a jewelery cleaner. My engagement ring is filthy.)
Hey, I have a question. But there's a story to go with it. Back in July, I broke my glasses and got some new ones. The optometrist's office had trouble contacting my insurance company, so I paid the full amount - something like $400 (because I'm allergic to just about everything and had to shell out for expensive titanium frames) - and planned to collect from the insurance company directly. (I have relatively good insurance: It covers up to $100 for frames every two years, and up to $100 for lenses every year in addition to whatever it pays for the doctor's visit.)
Now, the insurance company got my form and processed it. By my reckoning, they should have been sending me just over $200 - $100 for the frames (less than they cost, but the maximum they'll pay), plus the less-than-$100 lenses and the 80% they should have covered for the checkup. The insurance company took about six weeks - speedy for them - and sent a check.
To the optomitrist.
After two months (because I didn't know about this at all) I called the insurance company, and they told me about it. I raised hell, and they said they'd get the money back from the optomitrist and send it to me. Another six weeks went by, and I finally got a check.
For $99.
I called again, and was told that was all that was covered. I reiterated the insurance, and was, in essense, told to just cope. By this time, my account had (mostly) recovered from the $400 hit, so I grumbled and mumbled and decided this insurance company sucked.
Shortly after Christmas, I got a letter from the optomitrist's office. Now, all my doctors do a lot of bookkeeping at the end of the year - more than once I've had to pay for visits that the insurance company paid for two months later, just so the doctor's books would be perfectly balanced at the end of the year. It's dumb, but it's business, and since the insurance money eventually shows up in my account as a credit, I don't worry about it too much.
But this was too much. I'd paid that bill in full, and that was the only trip to the optometrist's office I'd made this year! Maybe, I thought, they have a stupid automated system that sends bills to everyone, even if the account balance is nothing. I opened the envelope.
It was a check. For $115 - enough to make up the rest of the difference between what I'd thought I should get and what the insurance company had sent me. Suddenly - although I'm still annoyed at the insurance company for not sending the money to me in the first place, and frustrated that the communication was that screwed up - I feel a little happier about my expensive titanium frames.
So now, the question: Given that one of my New Year's resolutions was to get on track with a budget, and that I ate the cost of the glasses months ago, is this windfall mine to spend, or do I have to put it back into savings? What do you think?
Word of the Day:
aggregate - a body of units or parts somewhat loosely associated with one another; the whole amount
Currently Reading:
- re-reading the Harry Potter series
Current Projects:
- Waiting anxiously for my PowerBook!