The day started with phone calls

 

Anyone who knows Commercial Street in Provincetown, MA will notice something very wrong about the AI generated image above.  I gave ChatGPT instructions to draw me in front of the Lobster Pot restaurant in Provincetown and got the above picture.  Can you tell me what's wrong with the image?

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There were several things on my docket for today, and two of them involved phone calls.  First was a call to RQS to tell her NOT to bring up her fancy dress, as we'll be a little bit more casual tonight when we go out for dinner.  The second had me being more apprehensive, as it was to return a call from my doctor's office.  I found that the assistant couldn't get the GLP-1 drugs cheaper than the prices I found, and was asking me to check with my mail order pharmacy to see if they had a better price for the drugs.  So, I have another phone call to make soon.  RQS would be coming up later in the day, and that meant that I also had some laundry to take care of before  I picked her up at the train station. 

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Around 1 pm, I put laundry into the washer, and started my process of getting ready to go out.  By 3:30 pm, my laundry was done and I was ready to go out.  At 4:30, I picked up RQS at the station, and we drove to Chappaqua for dinner - French Food on the last Friday of Restaurant Week.  It was a good thing we got there when we did, as the place was empty when we got there, but getting full by the time we left. The food was very good, but I made one mistake in my choices: I chose the wrong liquid in which my mussels were prepared.  I chose the white wine sauce, when I had a craving for something like the Dijon mustard sauce.

Once we were done with dinner, we went to the supermarket to do some shopping.  And finally we were home for the night.  It was nice to take off my bra again.  RQS will never understand why I want the headaches of being female, but then, how many people understand us TGs?

 

 

Another Doctor Visit, Another Prescription. Another Co-Op Board Meeting, Another Evening Dinner Delivery.

 

There was no chance that I'd spend any time as Marian for the next day or two, so I moved my license and insurance card into Mario's wallet, showered, shaved, dressed, and headed off to my doctor's office.  I always dread this, but today's visit was a little worse than usual.

Around 10:15 am, I drove to the doctor's office, and there were no parking sport near his office.  This was an omen if there ever was one.  I had to drive an extra 5 minutes before I could get a nearby spot on a side street.  Several minutes after I arrived, I was shown to one of his rooms where he took my weight, my blood pressure, and proceeded to check my liver and some glands on my throat.  Now, he wants me to get another ultrasound.  AARGH!  To make things worse, he prescribed a medicine that's going to run me another $200/month - without consulting whether I could afford it or not.  When I mentioned the outrageous GLP-1 drug price, he wanted me to spend another $500+/month on the drug, something I will not do.  Until doctors start pushing back on drug prices being charged to patients, there is no way health care prices in this country will drop.  They are at the front lines of health care, and they should be our primary advocates for what we must do to maintain our health AND to keep the overall cost of that healthcare down low enough for the average person to afford it.  (Although I will soon have another $700/month coming into my pocket, do I really want to spend it on 2 drugs?)

When I was done with the doctor, I went home to rest.  I had a co-op board meeting starting at 5:30 pm, and there would be a lot to do at the meeting.  One good thing: We should be able to sell an abandoned apartment as-is, and help deal with our financial issues.  But I knew I would be very hungry afterwards, so my plan for the evening was to use the Slice app to order Italian to go, and have some Chicken Parmigiana and Penne pasta delivered - I would be in mo mood to cook or reheat food.

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Tomorrow, I'll be heading to my tax preparer, and then back to Croton for the yearly co-op dinner.  Yes, it'll be Italian food again, but I'll order something very different from what I ordered tonight. 

    

A ghost package at USPS & billing screwups via my doctor

 

I occasionally have use of the skills I developed when I was a technology guru.  One of them is root cause analysis.  Today, I was able to diagnose the root cause of a problem and have it confirmed by my doctor's office.  But before that, I had to deal with a "Ghost Package" supposedly waiting for me at the local post office.

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When I awoke this morning, I knew that I'd have to visit the post office as Mario and show legal identification to claim a package that USPS said was waiting for me.  So, I got dressed and went to the post office at 10 am, presenting the paperwork to the lady behind the counter.  She couldn't find the package in the back, and asked me: "Did you receive it already?" I responded in the negative, and I heard her chatting with a supervisor, and then crickets for 15 minutes.  When she returned, she said it was a glitch in their computer system.  And I left with nothing to show for it.

But this got me to thinking.  Given that I often have unusual static interference when I use my cell phone to call people I know, could the regime in Washington have me on its watch list?  Could this USPS ticket have been a tool to get me out of my apartment so that they can bug my apartment?  I openly oppose the Orange Snowflake, and being TG, have honest concerns as to how far this government may go to silence opposition.  Even if I sound overly paranoid right now, I'm letting my mind explore the extremes to see if anything fits - even if I don't believe these things at the moment.

When I got home, I found an explanation of benefits from a former insurance provider.  They rightfully did not cover the lab tests my doctor requested.  In early afternoon, I receive 4 different texts from Quest Diagnostics telling me that I could pay the bill electronically, or wait for the paper bill to come. Well, I prefer receiving paper to verify that all is on the up and up.  But I knew I had to call my doctor's office while the issue was fresh in my mind (and when he was in the office).  So, around 1:30 pm, I called the doctor's receptionist and told her of the problem, and she told me that she'd update the account with Quest.  AARGH!!!!  This is what I requested be done over a month ago at my last appointment.  Hopefully, I'll be done dealing with Quest on this issue.  

I had figured that the problem with Quest was a paperwork issue coming from my doctor's office, and I was right.  But how does one communicate something simple, when one doesn't know the precise details of what goes on within a black box?  In my case, I knew that Quest defaults to insurance information provided by the doctor when each test is given.  So, the point of failure was at my doctor's office.  And once I could pinpoint the area of responsibility, the solution should be simple.  We'll see about this when I visit my doctor next month. 

Financial stuff by day, with an open afternoon and evening.

 

The above sign was posted through London (from what I recall from history books) throughout "The Blitz".  It is something that we should keep in mind today, as the implied message is: "You have no control of when your number is up. So focus on the here and now, instead of worrying about the future."  In an age where our media wants us to live in fear, so they can have more eyeballs and ears, it's hard to keep our focus on the present.  But that's what I had to do with issues facing the co-op, and with issues affecting me as a transgender person.

Today started out with a meeting with a representative from our lender, as we look to deal with issues resulting from problems which occurred last year.  We were prepared for the worst, but the meeting went better than expected.  There is a good way to deal with our issue, and I expect that we'll finally see some movement on things soon.

Next up was a phone call to the lab testing company.  Two weeks ago, my doctor ordered some blood tests, and I received a bill for them.  After making the call, I found out that the doctor's office keeps supplying incorrect information to the lab, and that they keep billing the wrong insurance carrier.  The billing problem has been fixed with the lab test company.  But now, I have to hector the doctor's office to get things straight when they send things off to the lab test company, as the doctor's office keeps overwriting information I have corrected each time they order a lab test.

After taking care of morning activities, put on a dress (with leggings) and went on a Costco and Stew Leonard's shopping run.  It was a good way to waste some time.  But it was not a good way to stay frugal.  At least, I got a year's supply of AA and AAA batteries out of the trip....