Trying to catch up

Once upon a time I religiously published an issue of my web site every month. Of late – that would be the last two years – my record has been deplorably spotty. I have my excuses. They are mine and quite private – I shan’t share them with you. However I will do my best to do better in the future.

Definitely out of warranty

I knew that I was well out of warranty, but I’ve been appalled at how shoddy the workmanship has been.

It pays to have a good insurance agent

Mine is so good that I married her. A few years ago Deb insisted that I should have a comprehensive medicare supplement policy. I pointed out that it was expensive and that I hardly ever went to see the doctor. Healthy as a horse, that’s me. Don’t need no insurance, don’t have anything serious wrong with me, don’t want to waste money on foolishness. So I said. You can guess who won that argument.

So for the past couple of years I have been forking out about $2500 a year in premiums for a plan that covers everything that medicare doesn’t cover. Every year I showed a loss – the plan covered about $200 a year in miscellaneous expenses.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. Money wasted on insurance. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Er, that is, until this year. In 2011 the insurance company paid out about $7500 in co-payments. All that money they made off of me — it went out to the medical world this year. I figure that my medical bills this year were close to $40,000. Medicare paid 80%, the plan paid 20%.

All I can say is that it pays to have a good insurance agent.

What about December?

Don’t ask about December. In fact I no longer recall what happened in December. If you’re really curious go read about The saga of the cars.

Things in my bathroom

There are things about this being married business with which I am still coming to terms. In particular there is this business about things hanging from the shower curtain rod. Now I have long been aware that women have a special relationship with their delicate underthings. (Men don’t have delicate underthings – they have shorts and t-shirts and there is nothing delicate about them.) Apparently you can’t just toss those, ah, frilly underthings into the washing machine and then into the dryer. No, they have to be washed in a special way and then hung up to dry. This could be done in any of several ways but I have learned by observation and experience that the preferred mode is to hang the delicates on the shower rod.

That was okay by me. As part of the deal we put in a second bathroom, so Deb has hers and I have mine. I have no problem with her hanging her frillies on her shower curtain rod.

One catch. She has a shower door instead of a shower curtain. No shower curtain rod. Second catch. The washer and dryer are in my bathroom. My bathroom does have a shower curtain rod. Guess where all the frillies hang out to dry. Right.

It goes on. We just got a new washer and dryer with all kinds of features. It has been explained to me (words were not necessary) that she who understands laundry is running these infernal devices. That’s okay with me. I have observed that in successful marriages males cultivate an ignorance of domestic activies. (My impression is that women want men to help with household chores as long as they don’t get in the way.)

However it has also been explained to me that my dress shirts should be partially dried and then hung up to finish drying. This is better for the shirts or something like that. Actually words were not needed for the explanation. I understand how these things work. You keep your mouth shut and go with the flow.

There is one small hickup though. I like to take a shower in the evening before I go to bed. When my love does laundry she usually does in the evening. In consequence I often face hangers full of frillies and shirts stretched across the space where the shower curtain ought to be.

I manage. When I want to take my shower I find places to hang the sundry hangers that infest my shower curtain rod. I cleanse my body of the bodily soiling produced by my labors of the day and then restore the, ah, things in my bathroom to their appointed places.

It has all been very educational. As I suspected, marriage is a learning experience.