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September 29, 2016 - 11:06 p.m.
"another quack" or "birthday celebration #3"

Hey Journal!

Well, today was another crazy day. Not AS crazy as the past few days but definitely still up there.

I got up this morning a little later than usual. It was nice to sleep an extra half hour. I had a follow up doctor's appointment with the gastroenterologist at 9:30 and his office is right around the corner.

I arrived there at about 9:28 and signed in. I had to pay another $40 copay. I sat in the waiting room until 9:38 and that's when the doctor strolled into the office. He took another five minutes or so to get settled in and then they called me in.

He's nice and friendly, but I really feel like this was the biggest waste of time. He asked me the pain in my side was getting better and I told him that it's not as constant as it used to be. It used to feel sore all the time, now it just feels sore about half of the time. The soreness is still of the same severity, but it may be happening less frequently.

He told me it seemed like I was getting better and that this was nothing to worry about. I asked him if he had an idea what the problem could be and he said, "I have a lot of ideas but I don't know which one it is." Then I asked, "Well, what do you think...what are some of the things it could be...?" He said, "I can't really say..."

Ugh. I mean, I don't care -- if it's nothing and it's going to get better on it's own, tell me what you think might be causing me this pain. Give me some ideas. What a pain in the ass. He said he wanted to see me again in two weeks but I can tell you for sure that's not happening. I was in there for 2 minutes with him today. He didn't examine me or anything. For that, I had to pay $40. What a joke.

The quickest way to get over any ailment is to be forced to pay co-pays. I'll get better just to not have to pay any more!

As soon as I was done with that, I headed off to work. I got in around 10:30 and I passed Dan's dad on the way to work. I didn't realize it but he called me to tell me.

Work was better than I expected it to be today (and that's saying something.) I expected to be inundated and while I still have a lot of work piled up, I was able to take it a little easier today.

I worked on Steve's plot reconciliation for a while and got my numbers to match with Brian's. Tomorrow he will give me his final number and I suspect they will match perfectly. So glad this craziness is coming to an end. There are a few more back-year's numbers that need to be sorted out but they aren't as important as 2015 and 2016.

I got some work done in the morning and then Dan's dad started this whole thing -- saying he thought we should start accepting credit cards for more things at work. The idea isn't in itself a bad one, but what drives me crazy is that he says these things without analyzing the situation. The real questions we have to ask are, "is not accepting them causing us to lose business?" I don't think the answer to that is yes. Secondly, it's an industry thing that most private clubs do not accept credit cards. We're a bit different in that we do accept them for dues. That's a result of the 2008 economic issues. We did it to encourage more people to remain members and once you open that door, you can't close it again.

The other issue is that opening up credit cards has the potential to, conservatively, cost us an additional $30,000 a year. That's insane. Do we really think we'll get that much more business that justifies that expense? I don't. But I'm not against discussing that point. It just doesn't make sense to come to conclusions without running any of the numbers.

Anyway...that's my rant for the day. We went over it with Bill and he also thinks it doesn't make sense. Possibly for different reasons than I have, but nevertheless it just doesn't seem to add up to me.

Alas, the rest of the day I cracked down on getting work done. I had the Tuscan with broccoli for lunch and then left work at 5:00.

I got home and Dan and I sat down at the computer to order our new Verizon Fios. We are leaving Cablevision (sorry...Optimum) after all these years. I really didn't want to do it but they pushed us. They are price-gougers. I mean, so is Verizon, so I am sure we'll have our problems with them, too -- that being said... we have a two year contract so it can't be raised. Thank goodness!

Basically, we were paying 84.58 (all in) for Cablevision. We had a package with limited channels, but we had all the ones we REALLY needed. All the basic networks plus TNT, TBS, CNN, and a couple of other cable channels. They sent us a letter saying that the price would jump to about $150/month. That's unreal! We get nothing and STILL they want to charge us like crazy.

The Verizon deal is this -- it comes out to roughly $83/month (all in) and that includes this router we had to buy for $150 spread over the two year term.

Anyway, we get a TON more channels and we picked the sports package because Dan really wanted SNY and that stuff. The best part is that we don't have to do this all over again in a year, we get TWO years at a fair price.

TV is ridiculously expensive. The TV channels make their money on ads, the Cable companies make their money on ads on cable channels. There's not reason to gouge the customers. They charge such a wild web of prices. I would feel much more comfortable if they had a list of packages and their prices. That's it. Not weird discounts and expiring promotions. It's just madness.

It's also a joke that Cablevision won't give you a lower price but THEN, once you switch, they offer to give you a good price AND pay your term fees with Verizon. I mean, they're the ones that lose...so why not just win beforehand.

Anyway, we ordered the Verizon package online because they waive your install fee if you do it over the computer instead of the phone. Once we did that, we had to call on the phone and remove the cable box and add a cable card. (They don't let you choose just a cable card on the computer.)

So, that was that. Dan called, and we're all set.

Dan went for a walk and when he got back we got dressed and ready for dinner at Dan's parents' house for my birthday.

We had chicken parm and it was very enjoyable. After dinner, Dan's mom and I did today's cryptoquote, jumble, and then the crossword puzzle. We almost finished the entire crossword but we couldn't figure out two or three of the words...sadly!

We had cake for dessert and then Dan and I headed home. I showered up and we watched the rest of tonight's World News.

We watched Tuesday's SHIELD and we're SOOOOO behind on a bunch of shows. We have two weeks of HTGAWM, one Quantico, another Designated Survivor, and I think there's something else, too!

So, now it's time for bed! I have to get up early to bring my car for its 9,000 mile checkup in the morning.

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)