Follow up: Big Companies Behaving Badly

Or: Comcast, Where Are You?

Several weeks ago, I posted a rant about Comcast and the difficulty I was having with their customer service department.  I received a reply from someone apparently in the national office.

It took me a while to get back to this person. 

Evidently using the e-mail address he left me gets the same sort of answers that I got when I called my local Comcast office. 

NONE!

It has been a week. 

Comcast, Where Are You?

That might work. 

Leave me an address I can use.

Countries that visit

One of the interesting things that the back part of this blog does is keeps interesting statistics.  It lets me know where the visitors to this blog come from.

I have a large following in:

The United Kingdom

Germany

Canada

France

Canada

Australia

Russia

Spain

Mexico

Sweden

Hello, there!

Today I recorded 100 countries!   Hello, Ghana.

Through the magic of the internet, I am translated into 47 languages.  For the benefit of my Norwegian relatives, I am translated into Norsk.  It is also translated into Danish, Bengali, Persian, Vietnamese, etc.  Magic!

Wow!

 

 

THEN GOD CREATED MARYLAND (Even non-Marylanders should love this one.)

THEN GOD CREATED MARYLAND (Even non-Marylanders should love this one.)

 I have a backup of things my friends have sent me.  I’m going to try to post some of them to get caught up.  This is one.

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired, "Where have you been?"

God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God, and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."

God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people.

“Balance in all things." God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that one?"

"That's Maryland, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, the ocean and plains.  The people from Maryland are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things"

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance."

God smiled, "Yes. Right next to Maryland is Washington, D.C. Wait till you see the idiots I put there."

Do you remember these?

My sister sent me this.

Do you remember putting these in the middle of your 45’s?  So they would fit on the little spindle in your hi-fi?  We could play the Beatles and the Bee Gees. 

This was all before 8 tracks…. And transistor radios…. And boom boxes…. And cassette tapes….

Another Website Issue

Another Website Issue

Does anyone know what happened to HealthCare Roundup? 

This is a site that had lots of smaller blogs, including mine, listed on it.  Each day the new posts would be on there.  It’s where I got my “start”.  I also got a lot of info from there.  The last week or so, I get “this site is active but no information is loaded.”

What is going on?

Around the Web – Making Your ER Visit Easier

Found another great article. 

This is written by an emergency room nurse.  Title is 4 ways to de-stress your ER visit.  I’ll list the short version, but strongly recommend you actually read the article.

1. Make a list of medications you take and bring it with you

2. Bring no more than two people with you.  Bring at least one in case you need a ride home.

3. Bring something to do.

4. When someone is talking to you, ignore the cell phone and pay attention.

Here’s a link:

http://www.emergiblog.com/2012/01/four-ways-to-de-stress-your-er-visit.html

For all those friends and relatives who wonder how I have time to do all that crocheting, I have the bag perpetually packed.  I just grab it when I go somewhere I think I’m going to wait.  From the local high school sports events to my kids’ medical appointments – it gives me something to do.  Of course, I got a kindle for Christmas, and it fits nicely in the bag.  So there may be less handcrafting.

Techno – Dinosaur – 8 – Hacked!

I started out today doing just fine.  I got the kids off to school, got to the office, cranked up the ol’ laptop, and went to do my morning stuff.  My e-mail inbox was EMPTY!!!!  I’m one of those folks that keeps a lot of stuff in there that I should run off or save to disk.  You all know who you are.

Actually, it wasn’t completely empty.  There was a failed notice to someone whose e-mail changed a while ago and I never deleted it.  There was also an e-mail from myself stating that I was stuck in London without money – you’ve heard it.  “…I’m freaking out…”

Now I am freaking out.  It got sent to my other e-mail account and evidently all my contacts.  If you get one, ignore it.  Just e-mail me back your correct e-mail. 

I reported to Yahoo.  I changed my password.  I Facebooked.  I Tweeted.  Computer Geek will be sooooo proud of me. 

There are all kinds of little red and green lines under stuff in the word processor as I type this.  I don’t care.  I’m blazing mad at the computer right now.  I’m also really glad that we don’t keep our patient information from electronic medical records “in the cloud”.  I knew there were reasons not to trust the internet. 

Around the Web – Medical Blogs Early January 2012

I actually read all those blogs that you see on the side panel.  They are my favorites.  I read a bunch of others, too.  Here are a few articles that I found interesting this week. 

I. Wonderful article about why we are heading towards a major physician shortage:

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/01/physician-shortage-perfect-storm.html

“Predictable? Yes. This is an expected consequence of American demographics. Since it takes more than ten years to properly train a doctor of medicine, we should be aware of this and brace for the impact.

Have we prepared for the doctor shortage? Of course not. We are talking about your government here. Instead, the Federal Government has interjected itself in between you and your doctor. In spite of ubiquitous protests from virtually every physician group, the Federal Government passed the socialistic and unconstitutional “Affordable Care Act”.”

II. CPR has changed.  We now only do compressions.  I love this short video about how it is done.  Obviously done in Great Britain where they dial “999”

http://torontoemerg.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/making-cpr-fun-and-funny/

It’s worth a watch.

III.  “In traditional Western medical ethics, a doctor’s fundamental responsibility is to practice to the best of his ability for his patient’s benefit. But lately, doctors are being taught a radical new collectivist medical ethics where the “social good” trumps the individual patient’s welfare.”  Interesting concept.

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/paulhsieh/2011/12/30/who_will_your_doctor_work_for_under_obamacare

Newegg promotional codes are always available for the latest computer.

Around the Web – Doctors on End of Life Care

This is an interesting article that a doctor friend of mine shared on a web site I spend entirely too much time on called Sermo. http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die/read/nexus/ 

The article is written by a physician.  He talks about those of us who know what all those end of life interventions mean.  Things like CPR, or having a tube in your throat and being on a respirator….   We know the side effects.  We know the risks and benefits.  Some of us have spent our professional lives trying to help patients make the same decisions that we would now be facing.  We administer those treatments. 

I remember a conversation I had with MY mother.  Her father was a physician.  My grandpa sat her down one day and told her that HE didn’t want all those machines when it was his time to go.  He knew what he would face if his relatives wanted to “do everything”.  It was not for him.  Mom felt the same way.  She died at home with hospice. 

I think the article is thought provoking.  I’ve had this discussion with my family.  Think about it.  Have the discussion with your family.  It’s awful when family starts arguing when a member is terminally ill. 

Around the Web – Broaching the End of Life Topic with Loved Ones

There is a campaign around the web to have all of us discuss with loved ones how we want our end of life care handled.  It is called The Engage with Grace Blog Rally.  The web site is: http://www.engagewithgrace.org/Default.aspx

There are a few basic questions that every person should answer concerning this time in our lives.  The people behind this organization have decided there are five questions. 

http://www.engagewithgrace.org/content/theoneslide.pdf

If you can’t get this printed from the blog, it is available on their web site. 

I agree that it is wise to have this discussion.  It avoids the family arguments that happen in emergency departments and intensive care units all over the USA.  Settle things now to avoid pain later. 

Getting a Person, Not a Computer

This web site comes recommended by some of my doctor friends.  If you are trying to get through to companies and would like to get a person, not a computer, try it.

http://gethuman.com/

Contact numbers, reviews, tips are available.

Feedback appreciated.

New Video – Wear Your Seatbelt

In a former life, Mr. Lasermed was a paramedic.  He taught me the value of wearing seatbelts.  I don’t like them, but I wear them.  This is a great internet video to help make the point: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p916yeFa2Xk&noredirect=1

Menopause Info Web Site

ACOG (the professional organization for all us OB / GYN docs) sent me this link yesterday.  This web site is FREE.  You have access to their magazine PAUSE, which is filled with information about menopause, and can sign up for a newsletter.

http://pause.acog.org/

Check it out!

Plane Crash, Hockey and Autism

Yesterday there was a terrible plane accident in Russia.  Why am I writing about this?  Because the passengers were an entire European hockey team.  My autistic son is devastated.  He follows sports and memorizes statistics.  He has done this for years.  Hockey is one of his favorite sports.

He told me about this accident practically as soon as I came in the door last night.  I had to get on the internet, because it wasn’t on our news.  As I was reading the story on Yahoo, he was telling me every team that the players had played for.  It’s like he actually knows each and every one of these players and coaches personally. 

This is all he has talked about since yesterday.  He wants to know when the funeral is going to be.  He is concerned about rebuilding the team.  He keeps saying it is a “terrible tragedy”, which indeed it is.  He is going to go to school and tell his teachers all about it.  I made sure his brothers knew all about what is going on, in case the teachers get confused.  That’s one of the cool things about having triplets.  I still may get a phone call, because he may act out in school today.

We have to be “pro-active” when there may be abnormal behaviors with our autistic child.  Things that upset him sometimes cause behaviors that are somewhat abnormal.  It’s important to be extra vigilant when there is a major event in his life.  Hopefully, because we have decompressed and distracted, we will avoid a major blow up. 

Our lives are definitely NOT average.