Somebody Has Paid Somebody Off

When I first started dealing with GERD a couple years ago I was prescribed Nexium by he ENT specialist. It was on the non-preferred list of drugs and carried a much higher co-pay ($50 or 25% of cost.) I used it for about three months until my sore throat cleared and then I started using an OTC antacid. Pecid, for maintenance.

This worked good for a while, but the sore throat returned and my GP doctor wrote a prescription for Nexium. After he first month, my insurance administrator company (BCBS of AL) balked, they wanted me to step up to Nexium if this was to be a maintenance drug. I needed to start with a generic or preferred, we went with Protonix off the preferred list for a $25 a month co-pay.

The Protonix has worked out fine for the last year or so. The other day I got a letter in the mail telling me that starting October 1st, Protonix is being bumped to the non-preferred list, meaning a bigger co-pay. Guess what is replacing it on the preferred list? Nexium.

For grins I called my pharmacy to see what these medicines cost. They could only tell me list prices; 40mg Nexium is $180 a month, 40mg Protonix is $150 a month. The generic, omeprazole (AKA Prilosec) in a 20mg dose costs $110 a month and if I needed 40mg that would double to $220. Seems kind of backwards to me, the non-preferred drug is now the cheapest while the generic is he most expensive.

And just is what’s up with the generic, omeprazole, at $110 a month? You can get Prilosec OTC for less than $20 a month at the local drug store….

I know these costs don’t really accurately reflect he price of these drugs because the discounts negotiated by Blue Cross Blue Shield. The pharmacist told me to call BCBS to find out the real cost, but I didn’t feel like dealing with that today (maybe tomorrow.)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 420

Spenser For Sale

They won’t be here in time, but my birthday present is going to be the last eight of my unread Spenser books. They are all used, mostly paperbacks and from 4 different Amazon affiliate vendors. Figured it would be a lot easier to get them this way than to keep poking our noses into used book stores in the cities we visit.

Changed the gallery style to more match my new default theme. I’m on the fence with the new Post Office Gallery, it seems like more work than I want to do. I’ve got 23 new photos to add into 3 different directories and I have manually added the files to three different ext files so they can display 3 different ways. Plus there is that whole no descriptive caption thing, even though I am sometimes at a loss for what to write, when I do, it personalizes the photos. For now all I’ve done is stick the new images into the old gallery (which I may end up going back to.)

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 418

Burnin’ Baby

My DVD Burner was delivered by a guy in a brown truck today. Drive went in smooth and XP recognized it for what it is on boot up. I have played a DVD movie and an audio CD. The PC had 2 drives in it to begin with, a DVD player and a CDRW drive. I pulled out the DVD player to put in the new CD & DVD read/writer. Now I’m wondering which one I should keep as the second drive, the DVD player or the CDRW drive?

Because I went cheap, my package didn’t include a free copy of Nero or one of those other big name burning software titles. A quick trip over to Sourceforge and 2.6Megs later I was in business – InfraRecorder. So far I can highly recommend it, but all I’ve done with it is back up all my MP3s to 5 DVD +R discs. Further testing is required.

I pulled the fancy flash gallery/viewers from the the two picture galleries I did last week. I did like the interface, but hated the lack of captioning. I guess I’ll have to get busy and change the galleries to have the same red/maroon color scheme as the new WordPress theme.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 415

Tough Guy Withdrawl

Pickens, SC 29671I was wrong about the number of Post Offices we did yesterday, we did 16, not 13, in the morning, so with the seven nighttime photos, we did 23 in one day, a new record for us. Though I don’t think we will do too many more nighttime shots. Sometimes you will get a nice picture, but you don’ get a real good sense of what they look like. Plus, these places are hard enough to find in the daytime, what with the usual lack of addresses on buildings and all, making it darn near impossible sometimes once the sun has gone down.

For the first time in quite a few weeks I have no Spenser novel to read. Finished my 26th book last night and I have no others waiting in the wings. I am missing the latest book and the rest are from the first dozen novels. Just this afternoon my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I had no answer, maybe I’ll ask for an Amazon gift certificate and buy some used copies of the earlier books.

I’ve finished up my new theme. Because I left the old theme, ‘Painted Desert’, as an option, most all of you noticed no change. When or if you clean out your cookies, when you come back you will see the new look. If you want to see the new look now, scroll down, look for the Theme Switcher section and click ‘Brian’s Red’. There are a couple others to try if you want. Should you decide you want the old standby, all the themes have a place where you can just pick ‘Painted Desert’ and get back the familiar.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 414

67,000 Kajillion Watts

Gnuclear GnormThe Emperor passed through the 67,000 mile mark not too far from the Oconee Nuclear Station. We stopped in and photographed Gnorm sitting on a concrete block just outside the plant. He really liked the looks of the round water tower that had rings around it so it took on the appearance of an atom. In case you can’t read the words on the yellow tag, it says, Radioactive Material, RWP Required for Entry, Notify RP Prior to Entry, Authorized Entry Only.

We finished up taking pictures of all the fish we could find and ended up missing only two (well, three because we just have a picture of the empty base of one.) All 46 photos can be seen in my Flickr photo set: Fish Out of Water 2.

On the Post Office front, we did 13 this morning and 7 more tonight. May do some more on Sunday morning before heading home (may not either.) So it will take me a while to sort through and post them.

We also brought along my Godson Gnorm and snapped about 10 travel log photos of him that will need to be tweaked and uploaded to Flickr! as well.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 413

Gone Fishing

Fishies In July we discovered CarTrek, a public art project of fiberglass cars in Darlington County. We did manage to take few pictures of some of the cars, but we never did make a concerted effort to try and get them all. In August, while taking a Post Office photo in Beaufort, we stumbled on a decorated mermaid which was part of their community art project called Beaufort’s Big Swim, but we never did make it back to take any more mermaid photos.

New month, new art project. We are spending the night in Anderson, SC to do some upstate Post Office hunting this weekend and while researching things to do around town, Donna found a web site promoting, Fish Out of Water. Thirty two 6′ painted and decorated fiberglass large mouth bass. She printed out the page and we headed out, destination downtown Anderson, where most of the fishies were located. We found some that were mis located and we found some that different from what the brochure said should be there. We found the Arts Center on Main St and inside discovered that we had a flyer from the first event back in 2004. Good fortune was smiling on us because they were doing it again in 2007.

We snagged almost all the downtown fish except one, called Fingerprint Fish, that wasn’t any where near the Farmer’s Market as advertised. The woman in the Arts Center thought it was still in storage or something. We couldn’t find a couple that are supposed to be near the Civic Center this evening and may go back and look again. Tonight we headed over to the hospital to get 5 that are there. Tomorrow including PO pictures we will see about two more near a downtown lake and there is one at the SC Welcome Center on I-85 that we will probably get when we go over that way.

The daytime pictures are up on Flickr already, tonight’s and tomorrow’s will get uploaded on Saturday. Fish Out Of Water 2.

If you ever find yourself in downtown Anderson around lunchtime, you can not do better than dining at the Main Street Deli. On Fridays they grill burgers fresh right outside the door. Donna had a cheeseburger and it was great. But it was overshadowed by the absolutely marvelous Broccoli Salad. I had a sandwich called The Benson Street (Pepperoni, Bianco D?Oro Salami, Bologna & Jalapeno Havarti Cheese on Focaccia Bread) that was the best eating I’ve had in quite sometime. For a side I choose the Cole Slaw and while it paled in comparison to the Broccoli Salad, it was the best slaw in the gastronomic universe.

We dodged light rain and sprinkles all day, so the top did a lot changing.

Started up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 409

Shaggin’ Over Charleston

And I don’t mean doing the South Carolina State Dance either. Although, I’m sure there are a few residents of the Palmetto state that might consider this horizontal variation the real official state dance.

Always wanted to try and join the Mile High Club, but were afraid that the flight attendants would report you to the FAA? Or maybe you didn’t think you could manage it such a small space as the lavatories on airliners? If you live near Charleston, SC your worries are over, you can now book a flight on a Cessna Centurion that is especially outfitted for you to join he club.

Club Mile High

I think I’ll just stick to finding a cheap motel and dumping a few quarters into the Magic Fingers machine. Same sound, same vibration, just close your eyes and imagine…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 399